CHY4U - The West & The World

Unit 4 - Lesson #12 World War II and the Rise of

Global Superpowers

Japan Conquers Manchuria 1931

•  Facing severe economic problems and overcrowding on its islands, Japan invades Manchuria, just north of Korea.

•  The League of Nations takes no decisive action against this Japanese aggression

•  China protested to the League – Japan was at fault, but no action was taken against them

•  The League Failed to do what it was set out to do.

Germany Rearms 1933

•  Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and immediately begins expanding the army and air force.

•  Went beyond the limits set out in the Treaty of Versailles

•  Military slogan in Germany –  “Today Germany. Tomorrow the world!”

Mussolini Invades Ethiopia 1935

•  Italy invades Ethiopia in Africa •  Wants to expand its territory and to obtain

the regions’ rich oil resources •  Again, the League of Nations takes no

decisive actions.

Hitler Occupies the Rhineland 1936

•  German troops march into the Rhineland •  By the Treaty of Versailles, German troops

were forbidden from moving within 50km of the Rhine River.

•  No one stops the German advance

German Annexation of Austria March 1938

•  Nazi soldiers occupy Austria without a single shot being fired.

•  Again, other nations make no attempt to stop Hitler’s advance because they want to avoid another war.

•  Austria is the first sacrifice made for the sake of peace (Appeasement)

•  Austrian Citizens were German speaking, something Hilter would use as an excuse to unite the German people of Austria and Germany into a Greater Germany.

Munich Agreement September 1938

•  Britain and France meet with Hitler and sign the Munich Agreement.

•  They allow Germany to have the Sudetenland (North Western Part of Czechoslovakia) because they think it will save the world from war. This policy becomes known as “appeasement”

•  Hitler also claimed to be saving the Sudetenland Germans who became Czechoslovakian citizens and lived in the country when it was created after WWI.

Appeasement •  To give way in the hope that the

aggressor will be satisfied and ask for no more (supported by British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain)

•  He also felt bad for the way that Germany was treated with the Treaty of Versailles

•  Also, another war was unthinkable and anything was better than the spread of communism.

Rome-Berlin Axis Pact is Signed October 1938

•  Hitler signs a pact with Mussolini •  Mussolini allows Hitler to take Austria and other

territories in northern and central Europe. •  Hitler promises to let Mussolini take over

southern Europe (Mussolini wanted to create a new empire that would circle the Mediterranean)

•  Japan would join this Axis in 1940 and these countries would be known as the Axis Powers.

Hitler Occupies Czechoslovakia March 1939

•  In the Munich Agreement, Hitler promised that the Sudetenland would be his last demand for territory.

•  However, in March 1939, Nazi troops occupied all of Czechoslovakia.

Non-Aggression Pact August 1939

•  Germany signs a pact with the Soviet Union

•  The two countries promise not to fight each other in the event of a war.

•  They also secretly agree to divide Poland between them.

•  Hitler no longer has to worry about an attack from the East( 2-front war) and is free to plan his moves against France and Britain in the West.

Hitler Invades Poland September 1, 1939

•  Hitler demands that the Polish Corridor (awarded to Poland after the Treaty) be handed back to Germany

•  Poland refuses. The Germans launch a Blitzkrieg (lightning war) on Poland.

•  Poland falls to the Nazi attack.

Germany Declares War

•  Germany declared war on Poland on September 1, 1939.

•  By September 9, the German army had already surrounded Warsaw.

•  Warsaw surrendered by September 27th and the remainder of Polish forces were defeated by October 1st.

Britain & France Declare War September 3, 1939

•  Realizing that appeasement is not the best route at this stage, Britain and France declare war on Germany

World War?

•  Although commonly dated to September 1, 1939 as the start of WWII, the “world war” actually does not start in 1939.

•  It is not until December 1941 that you can really call it World War II.

•  Before 1941, which saw Russia and the United States enter the war, there were a series of “skirmishes” between Great Power pretenders.

•  Japan fought China. •  Germany defeated Poland, Denmark,

Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. •  Britain defended itself against German air

attacks. •  The Invasion of Russia, Operation

Barbarossa, and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour are the real start dates for the Second World War.

Superpowers?

•  To understand the significance of World War II to the future, you need only focus on how it affected the development of the United States and Russia.

•  World War II is essentially the last gasp of European world hegemony.

•  Britain, France and Germany would be, by 1946, mere shadows of their former great power status.

•  Global politics would be dominated by the two continental superpowers who emerged at the end of the war with the greatest combination of military might, natural resources and technology.

•  The latter half of the 20th Century will be dominated by the ideological, economic, technological and political struggle between the United States and USSR.

1940 – War Resumes

•  In April 1940, the calm of the “phoney war” was shattered as Germany invaded Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and France.

•  On April 9, 1940 Germany attacked Denmark and Norway.

•  On May 10, 1940 Germany attacked Belgium, the Netherlands and France.

Lightning War & Lightning Victories

•  Belgium and the Netherlands were defeated in 5 days!

•  As the German Panzers smashed through the Allied forces; 340,000 British and French troops were evacuated at Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th.

•  On June 14, 1940 German Panzers entered the city of Paris, by June 22nd France officially surrendered.

France Falls!

•  After the fall of France in June of 1940, the only thing that stood between Hitler and the invasion of England was the English Channel.

•  The Defence of Britain depended on the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force (RAF).

•  Hitler needed to clear the English Channel before even considering an invasion of England.

Operation Sea Lion

•  The Key to Hitler’s plan to invade England, named Operation Sea Lion, was the Luftwaffe’s (German Air Force) ability to gain air superiority over the Channel and Southern England.

•  The Luftwaffe started at a disadvantage because their planes were not designed for long range missions.

•  Britain also had an early Radar system that allowed them to detect and track aircraft.

The Battle Of Britain

•  The Battle had three main phases. •  Phase 1 began in July and lasted until mid

August with Germany attacking shipping and port facilities in the English Channel.

•  During this phase, both sides began to lose planes and pilots.

•  Replacing both would be difficult for Britain and Germany, but Britain had help.

Canadian Assistance

•  Britain turned to a Canadian businessman, Lord Beaverbrook, to organize aircraft production.

•  Beaverbrook was able to keep the RAF supplied with planes to replace the heavy losses suffered during the Battle of Britain.

•  The biggest problem was not planes, but pilots, the RAF only had 3000 pilots and as losses mounted, they became less skilled and less experienced.

Canada and Pilots

•  Nearly 15% of the RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain were Canadians.

•  Additionally, the British Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP) began to train pilots and air crew in Canada to replace lost pilots fighting in Britain.

•  Canadian assistance in these areas proved to be invaluable to Britain.

Phase 2

•  Phase 2 of the Battle of Britain began in August with German attacks on Radar stations and airfields in an attempt to knock out the RAF.

•  By early September the Germans seemed to be winning but Hitler’s impatience caused him to change his strategy.

Phase 3

•  Thinking that the RAF was virtually wiped out, Germany began to attack cities.

•  On September 7, 1940; 1000 German bombers attacked London.

•  Although they caused many deaths and a lot of damage, this change in strategy allowed the RAF to concentrate on defending fewer targets.

Britain’s Response

•  Hitler felt that bombing cities would make the people of Britain less willing to continue fighting.

•  The British responded by evacuating thousands of people from London into the countryside, including 6000 children sent to Canada.

•  Britain, under the leadership of Churchill, also made an important tactical decision.

Britain’s Defence?

•  Churchill decided that the RAF would no longer “defend” cities from German bombers.

•  This used up too much fuel and was also not that effective, bombers always got through.

•  Britain decided to wait until after the bombers actually attacked a city, and then attack the bombers on their way home.

Advantages

•  This strategy had several advantages. •  RAF fighters knew exactly where the

enemy was and where they were going. •  German fighters, now low on fuel, could

not properly defend the bombers. •  The change led the RAF to loose fewer

planes while shooting down more German bombers and fighters.

The Battle of Britain Ends

•  By September 12th the threat of an invasion passed because the weather and sea conditions were not favourable to a large scale invasion.

•  Although the bombing continued, Germany was left with a weakened Luftwaffe which lost nearly 1400 aircraft while the RAF lost only 790!

•  For the first time, Hitler did not win.

Germany vs Russia

•  Perhaps the single greatest aspect of World War II.

•  At the height of the fighting between these two powers nearly 6 million men would be engaged in battle along a 200 mile long front.

•  Germany enjoyed early success and nearly defeated Russia, but as time wore on Russia gained strength while Germany’s strength bled dry.

Operation Barbarossa

•  Hitler’s plan to invade Russia called for a two stage operation.

•  Encircle and destroy the Russian forces defending the German borders.

•  Rapid pursuit of retreating forces to a line from Archangel to the Caspian Sea capturing all of European Russia.

•  The plan called for 3 army groups to carry out this invasion: – Army group North to attack toward Leningrad. – Army group Centre to attack toward

Smolensk. – Army group South to attack toward Kiev.

•  The plan was called for the defeat of Russia in 8-12 weeks starting on May 15.

The Armies

•  Germany had 188 divisions plus 14 Romanian and 20 Finnish divisions.

•  19 German divisions were armoured. •  In total, Germany invaded Russia with 3.5

million men; 3350 tanks; 7200 artillery pieces; 600,000 vehicles; 625,000 horses and 2500 aircraft.

•  Russia’s defenders consisted of nearly 200 divisions, 158 in the west and 42 in the east to protect against the probability of a Japanese invasion.

•  22 or 23 of these were armoured divisions. •  In total, Russia had nearly 2.3 million

soldiers and 6000 obsolete aircraft. •  Russia’s advantage lay in their nearly

10,000 tanks and their ability to call up millions of replacement soldiers.

The Invasion

•  Started 5 weeks late due to Germany needing to bail out the Italian invasion of the Yugoslavia & Greece.

•  This delay would cost Germany the war. •  The early days and weeks of the war were

an absolute disaster for Russia. •  German panzers regularly encircled

Russian units allowing the infantry to wipe out or capture them.

•  During the invasion the Luftwaffe paved the way for the German blitz by taking out communications and disrupting attempts to reinforce embattled Russian units.

•  By the end of the 2nd week, the Wehrmacht was prepared to enter phase two of the invasion, the pursuit.

Hitler’s Mistakes

•  With his Generals pleading him to make Moscow the ultimate target of Barbarossa, Hitler pulled the armour divisions away from Army Group Centre.

•  They were split between Army Groups North and South to assist in the drives toward Leningrad and the Crimea.

•  By September, German forces approached Leningrad in the North and had driven past Kiev in the South opening the route to the Crimea and Stalingrad.

•  Hitler then changed his mind, agreeing with his generals, he decided to push toward Moscow.

•  He pulled all of the Panzers away from Army Group North and sent them to support Army Group Centre.

•  Instead of capturing Leningrad with his mechanized units, he would wait for the infantry to get into position to besiege the city and starve it out.

•  What Hitler did was give the Russian forces facing Army Group Centre a 6 week break to re-supply and reinforce.

•  He then hit them with everything he had instead of finishing the jobs he had already started.

On to Moscow

•  By November, German victory seemed all but guaranteed.

•  They had captured 2/3 of Russia’s coal reserves, 3/4 of her iron ore, and 35 million civilians lived in German occupied territory.

•  The Whermacht and Luftwaffe had destroyed or captured thousands of Russian tanks, aircraft, guns and well over 3 million Russian soldiers.

•  The German forces, however, were weakened, poorly supplied and had no reserves.

Winter

•  Russia’s greatest military advantage had always been January and February, but in 1941, winter came early.

•  Along with winter came the 42 divisions from Siberia to defend Moscow from the German invasion.

•  By early December the German advance was close to surrounding Moscow.

•  The early onset of winter essentially froze the German Whermacht.

•  Dressed in summer uniforms and using lighter summer oil in their vehicles and weapons, the -40°c temperatures haled the German advance 25 miles short of Moscow.

•  December 5th the German offensive ended. •  December 6th saw the beginning of the

Russian counter offensive. •  December 7th 1941 saw Japan attack Pearl

Harbour and the United States enter the war.

1942

•  Although it didn’t seem so at the time, 1942 would be the turning point of the war.

•  Hitler began to fire every general who disagreed with him and replaced them with those whose loyalty was stronger than their ability.

•  Russia had managed to push the Germans back nearly 200 miles from Moscow, but the Germans were ready for a new spring offensive.

•  While Germany got weaker, Russia’s strength was growing largely due to the production of 10,000 tanks and 18,000 aircraft in Britain, Canada and the United States.

•  The greatest contribution was the over 385,000 trucks produced by Russia’s allies which made it possible to quickly move the immense number of Russian soldiers.

Stalingrad

•  The key battle in 1942 would be fought at Stalingrad.

•  The famed German 6th Army reached Stalingrad in August 1942, but understood that the Russians outnumbered them badly.

•  Stalingrad was the point at which the Russian retreat stopped.

•  By November, 5 Russian armies defended Stalingrad against the German 6th Army and 4th Panzer Army.

•  Stalingrad became a nightmare of urban warfare as the Russians and Germans fought to control the city.

•  As Germany poured more men into Stalingrad, it weakened its front lines North and South of the city .

•  The Russians waited for the onset of winter, and moved 9 armies into positions North and South of the city to trap the Germans.

•  On November 19 the Russians assaulted the Romanian defended areas of the German front lines and broke through.

•  By November 25, the Russians surrounded Stalingrad trapping the German 6th Army inside a 50 mile diameter circle surrounded by 12 Russian armies!

•  Hitler ordered the 6th Army to fight to the death and supplied them by the Luftwaffe.

•  By February the Germans destroyed 6th Army.

The United States in 1942

•  Concentrated on 3 objectives: supply their allies, build up its forces in Britain and begin to move against Japan in the Pacific.

•  North Africa was, at best, a diversion of American forces to keep the British happy.

•  The Americans fought the Japanese at Guadalcanal, Midway, the Coral Sea and began to slowly move toward Japan.

1943

•  Saw the allies move to the offensive in all theatres of the war.

•  The Russians began to drive the Germans out of Russia.

•  The Americans continued to push back the Japanese in the Pacific.

•  The British & Americans cleared North Africa and invaded Italy.

•  Considered to be the “soft underbelly of Europe” by Winston Churchill, the Italian campaign would prove to be anything but soft.

•  The American, British and Canadian forces were forced to fight their way north along the mountainous peninsula, often fighting bloody urban battles like Ortona, the “Stalingrad” of the west.

Winning the War

•  By 1944 the Axis powers were in full retreat in all of the 1943 theatres of operation.

•  June of 1944 saw D-Day, the largest amphibious assault in world history, symbolically re-open the western front that the Russians had demanded since 1942.

•  With the allies on the ground in France, Germany’s collapse was a mere matter of time.

•  By May 8th, the Russians had captured Berlin, despite the British and American attempts to do so, and Germany collapsed.

•  Germany unconditionally surrendered to the allies and the horrors of Germany’s liquidation of occupied territories became known.

•  By August, after being devastated by two American atomic bombs, Japan also surrendered ending the war.

Cost of War

•  World War II ended the lives of nearly 40 million soldiers and civilians.

•  Nearly 70 million men were mobilized to fight the war and over 17 million were killed.

•  Germany put nearly 20 million men in uniform with nearly 3.5 million dying.

•  Japan mobilized 10 million and 6 million died.

•  Russia lost nearly 6 million soldiers and over 14 million wounded.

•  Russia also suffered the deaths of between 10 and 20 million civilians.

•  More Russians died at Stalingrad than Americans died in the entire war!

•  Of the 16 million Americans mobilized for war, only 400,000 died.

•  The war destroyed Europe, physically and in human terms.

Repercussions

•  The war destroyed the economic, political and military power of Western Europe.

•  The victors of the war were Russia’s unstoppable numbers and the productive capacity of American industries.

•  In 1945 the two states stood alone, in Europe and Asia, as major military powers.

•  American possession of the Atomic bomb further distanced the emerging superpowers from the rest of the states of the world.

•  The war did not end the mistrust and suspicion which existed between the US and USSR, it only worsened it.

•  The destruction of their enemies also destroyed their only reason for cooperation.

•  The inability of the superpowers to cooperate in the post war era signalled the opening of a new war, a new type of war.