Chapter 18 Section 3

The Global Conflict: Allied Successes

Setting the Scene World War II was fought on a larger scale and in more places than any other conflict in history. It was also more costly in terms of human life than any previous war. Civilians, as well as soldiers,

were targets. In 1941, a reporter visited a Russian town that had been home to 10,000 people before the German invasion. The reporter found a lone survivor: "[She was] a blind old woman who had

gone insane. I saw her wandering barefooted around the village, carrying a few dirty rags, a

rusty pail, and a tattered sheepskin.” From 1939 until mid-1942, the Axis ran up a

string of successes. The conquerors blasted villages and towns and divided up the spoils.

Then the Allies won some key victories. Slowly, the tide began to turn.

I. Occupied LandsThe Axis conquered Europe, Asia and the Pacific and set out to build a "new order" in the occupied lands

I. Occupied LandsThe Nazis stripped conquered nations of art, factories, and other resources and forced “inferior races” to work as slave laborers

The World Jewish Congress says the Nazis seized up to

$30 billion worth of art Dachau Concentration Camp,

1938

I. Occupied LandsHitler's policy was to kill all "racially inferior" people – Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, communists, and the mentally ill

A Nazi about to shoot the last Jew left alive in Vinica, Ukraine

Gas Chamber at Auschwitz

I. Occupied LandsThe Nazis forced Jews into ghettos and concentration camps and by 1941, had plans for the "final solution of the Jewish problem"

I. Occupied LandsHitler had special death camps built in Poland - places like Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka

I. Occupied Lands

By 1945, the Nazis had massacred six million Jews and 6 million other "undesirable" people in what became known as the Holocaust

I. Occupied LandsAs Japan expanded, it created the anti-imperialistic Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

I. Occupied LandsThe Japanese killed and tortured civilians, destroyed cities and towns, and made people into slave laborers

During the six weeks of the Nanking Massacre, the Chinese were not simply murdered. They were tortured, humiliated, and raped. The

Japanese used a wide variety of methods of murder.

II. The Allied War EffortIn 1942, the Big Three—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—agreed to defeat Hitler before turning their attention to Asia

The "Big Three" Allied leaders at Yalta:

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

II. The Allied War EffortThe Allies were committed to total war - governments directed the economy, rationed goods, and regulated prices and wages

II. The Allied War EffortGovernments limited the rights of citizens, censored the press, and used propaganda to win public support for the war

II. The Allied War EffortAs men joined the military, millions of women built ships and planes, produced munitions, and staffed offices

Rosie the RiveterArtist: Norman Rockwell

II. The Allied War EffortWomen served in the armed forces, fought in the resistance, and became soldiers in the Red Army

Marie-Madeleine Fourcade

USSR Soldier

III. Turning PointsDuring 1942 and 1943, the Allies pushed back the Axis powers and turned the tide of war

III. Turning PointsBritish General Montgomery and American General Eisenhower defeated Rommel in May 1943 at El Alamein

III. Turning PointsIn July 1943, the Allies landed first in Sicily and then in southern Italy and defeated the Italian forces

III. Turning PointsThe Italians overthrew Mussolini and signed an armistice, but the fighting did not end for 18 months

The bodies of Benito Mussolini (C) and his mistress, Clara Petacci (R) were hung by their heels after they were killed by

Italian partisans in Milan in April 1945.

III. Turning PointsAfter the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, the Red Army advanced into Eastern Europe

III. Turning PointsThe Allies invaded France on June 6, 1944, - D-Day – and by September all of France was free

III. Turning PointsThe Allies focused their attention on conquering Germany and defeating Japan