f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the War1. The start of the war:• The alliances:A. The Axis: Germany, Italy, Japan and territory

conquered by Hitler

B. The Allies: Great-Britan, France, Poland, United States, countries of the and USSR (which joined later)

f) The Unfolding of the War– September 1st 1939:• Invasion of Poland by Germany begins the war

– September 3rd:• France and England declared war on Germany

– September 10th, 1939:• Canada declared war on Germany

– Not much enthusiasm in Canada, many had lost relatives during WWI

f) The Unfolding of the War• Phony war:– Declaration of war by England and France, but neither

one was fighting for seven months

– Conflict rages in eastern Europe

f) The Unfolding of the War

• Asia:– Japan is leading a campaign to expand

its empire and influence

– Japan invaded several Pacific islands and a large part of China (Manchuria)

– Japanese troops rape, torture and murder, they have committed the worst war crimes ...

f) The Unfolding of the War2. The victories of the AxisScandinavian countries:

• The USSR attacked Finland in December 1939

• The Germans do the same with Denmark and Norway in April 1940

f) The Unfolding of the Warb) France:• The Germans passed through the

Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg to attack the French

• May 10, 1940:– French and English replicate towards

the Northeast but find themselves surrounded and the back to the sea• 350,000 men were able to escape

thanks to boats that brought them to Dunkirk

– On June 21st 1940, France surrendered

f) The Unfolding of the Warc) The Battle of Britain:– Air battle that begins in July 1940– England, unprepared, finds itself alone against the Axis– Hitler wants air supremacy before planning a landing on ground– The Luftwaffe (German airmen) bombed military and civilian

targets: this is the beginning of the total war

– The airmen of the RAF (Royal Air Force) and British civilian morale will save England

f) The Unfolding of the War

d) North Africa:

• The Germans and Italians under the direction of the

German General Rommel (Desert Fox), causes huge

losses to the Allies in the region

f) The Unfolding of the Ware) Operation Barbarossa:

• H i t l e r , d e s p i t e t h e n o n - a g g r e s s i o n p a c t w i t h S t a l i n , a tt a c k e d t h e U S S R i n J u n e 1 9 4 1

• This attack, which included 3 million German troops and 10,000 tanks, is named Operation Barbarossa

• Soviet resistance and the cold winter saved the USSR and German troops were stopped 10km from Moscow

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the War3) Turning points of the war:• In the first 3 years of the war, the Nazis, the Italian

Fascists and the Japanese had won almost all their battles

• But from 1943, the Allies retook the initiative of war

f) The Unfolding of the Wara) Pearl Harbor:• December 7, 1941, Japan bombed

military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii

• The Japanese mission was executed with kamikaze pilots,– aka: suicidal flights

• This event pushed the U.S. to enter the conflict

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the Warb) Stalingrad, USSR:– Battle begins with the Germans trying to remove the

Soviet city of Stalingrad in August 1942

– As the Germans had failed in August 1942, they try again in October

– This time, the Soviets organized a counter-attack and the soldiers on both sides were fighting in urban areas

f) The Unfolding of the War– Despite the many German casualties and loss of position

to the Red Army, • Hitler imposed his generals to fight to the last man

– Upon arrival of a brutal winter, German troops retreat– This irrational decision will cost Hitler 330 000 men and a

huge loss of territory

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the Ward) The battle in the Pacific:– In 1942, American forces won two battles against Japan

– The first took place at Midway, a small island north of Pearl Harbor where the Japanese fleet took U.S. by surprise

– A few weeks later, on Guadalcanal, American and Japanese fleets fought a huge battle where the Americans emerged winners

– The Allies now had the advantage in the Pacific

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the Ware) Invasion of Italy:– In July 1943, the Allies invaded Sicily, an island off the

coast of Italy– In five weeks of fighting, the British, American and

Canadian forces succeeded in driving the Axis from the island

– In August, the Allies were in southern Italy, causing the fall of dictator Mussolini

f) The Unfolding of the War– As the new Italian government prepares to sign a peace

treaty with the Allies, Hitler intervenes and mounts a counter attack • In cities around the southern mountains, the Germans mount a

defense

– Among these cities was that of Ortona which Canadians were in charge of capturing

– The streets of Ortona were narrow and winding, making Canadian tanks useless

f) The Unfolding of the War– From house to house and from street to

street, the Canadian infantry drove the Germans

– Ortona was one of the hardest battles of the war for Canadian troops

f) The Unfolding of the Warf) Invasion of France:– While Canadians fought in Italy, senior Allied

commanders planned an invasion of France

f) The Unfolding of the War– A huge invading army gathered in Britain

– With thousands of ships and troops from Britain, Canada, the U.S.A and those of Free France; the Allies were preparing to reconquer France

f) The Unfolding of the War– The invasion began on June 6th 1944 and will be known as

D-Day– More than 120,000 troops and 800,000 men, including

15,000 Canadians, landed on the coast of Normandy

f) The Unfolding of the War– The Germans resisted as best they can, but the 5000 ships

and 11,000 Allied aircrafts are simply too powerful

– The Allies drove the Germans from their positions and take control of the ports

– Hitler attempts a final offensive by sending his Panzers against the Allies, but it is just too late

– By the end of August 1944, Paris was liberated and General de Gaulle formed a provisional government

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the Warg) The conquest of Germany:

– After the liberation of France, the British, Canadians and

Americans liberate Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark

and Norway from German occupation

– In Eastern Europe, the Soviet Army drove German forces

from Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland

f) The Unfolding of the War– In their final push against Germany, the Canadians fought

on the Western Front and liberate the City of Dieppe, where many Canadians were killed in the disastrous raid of 1942

– Next, the Canadians drove the Germans from Belgium; opening the port of Antwerp

– In spring 1945, the Netherlands were liberated by the Canadians despite the efforts of the Germans to flood the fields by opening the dikes

f) The Unfolding of the War– The conquest of Germany was more difficult than expected

– The first Allied armies had crossed the German border in September 1944

– As the Germans had offered a stubborn resistance, Allied bombers attacked factories, refineries and German railways

– During the bombing, hundreds of thousands of civilians perished

f) The Unfolding of the War– In the return of warm weather, that is to say, in spring 1945,

the Allies resumed their advance on the German lines– On the eastern front, the Soviet armies encircled the

German capital, Berlin– In Italy, Mussolini was captured and executed by the Italian

resistance

f) The Unfolding of the War– Despite the advance of the Allies on Berlin, Hitler refused

to negotiate an end to the war– When the Red Army (Soviet) entered the center of Berlin in

late April 1945, Hitler committed suicide– A week later, May 7, 1945, Germany signed its

unconditional surrender

– After more than 6 years of armed conflict, the war in Europe ended

f) The Unfolding of the Warh) The 10 strategic mistakes of Hitler that led to his

downfall:

1. He declares war too soon

– Mussolini had warned him that he was not ready to go to war before 1943

– Japan was heavily involved in China– France and England had declared that they would help

Poland if it was attacked

f) The Unfolding of the War2. He underestimated the real strength of Great

Britain:– The use of radar allowed British forces to inflict huge losses

to the Luftwaffe– Several countries of the British Empire were far from

conflicts and could supply GB

f) The Unfolding of the War3. He underestimates the United States:• By the end of the war, the U.S. prove that they are a great military power

globally

4. Overestimates the strength of the Italian Army:• Weakened by its participation in the Spanish Civil War,

Mussolini is not ready to attack with Germany

• Delaying the launch of Operation Barbarossa against the Soviets

f) The Unfolding of the War5. He has not been able to exploit the defeat of the

Allies in 1940 at Dunkirk in France:• About to throw the British troops to the sea, the Germans, under

Hitler's orders, stop their advance during ten days– Allied troops eventually saved G-B by boat

f) The Unfolding of the War

6. He did not realize the strategic importance of the Middle East and the Mediterranean region:

• After the armistice with France in 1940, Hitler

made the mistake of letting free southern

France and all of the French Empire

• The Allies landed in North Africa

f) The Unfolding of the War7. He attacked the USSR 6 weeks too late:• Operation Barbarossa against the Soviets was to be triggered May 15, 1941• Instead, the Germans lost 6 weeks to fight in Yugoslavia and Greece

f) The Unfolding of the War8. He did not go to Moscow in August 1941:• Despite the advice of his military, Hitler refused to shorten the Front

• Deprived during the fierce winter, German troops are surrounded by the Soviets

f) The Unfolding of the War9. He has not been able to exploit the discontent of the

Soviets against the communist regime• At first, the Russian peasants had greeted the Germans as liberators• But the reign of terror and racism imposed by the Germans led the

peasants against them

f) The Unfolding of the War10. He had not managed to put

Japan against the USSR:

• On April 20th 1941, Japan and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact

• Hitler lost the opportunity to create a second front against the Soviets

f) The Unfolding of the War

i) THE FALL OF JAPAN:

• After the fall of Hitler there remained only Japan

• By 1945, the Americans had pushed the Japanese from most of the territories occupied since the beginning of the war

f) The Unfolding of the War

• In one attack on Tokyo in March 1945,

100,000 people died and more than 60%

of the city's buildings were destroyed

• Even after the destruction of its aviation

and its fleet, Japan refused to negotiate

peace

f) The Unfolding of the War

f) The Unfolding of the War

• The Americans had to make a choice between the invasion of Japan or the use of the atomic bomb

• The bomb had been developed with the help of British and Canadian scientists during the Manhattan Project

• The Americans also had detonated experimentally in the desert of New Mexico and had been surprised by its destructive power

f) The Unfolding of the War

• During the summer of 1945, the new U.S. President Harry Truman decided to use the atomic bomb against Japan

f) The Unfolding of the War

• In August 1945, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima

• 80,000 people died on the spot and 40,000 were seriously injured

• Thousands of others suffered from diseases caused by radiation

f) The Unfolding of the War

• Despite this terrible destruction and loss of life, Japan still refused to negotiate peace

• Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki

• Approximately 40,000 people died in this attack

f) The Unfolding of the War• As a result of these painful experiences, Japan accepted

the unconditional surrender on – August 14, 1945

• This ended the World War.