Mr. Peña AP World History

WORLD WAR II: CAUSES, CHARACTERISTICS

“Nature is cruel, so we may be cruel, too… I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin”

-Hitler

Adolf Hitler

CAUSES OF WWII

Political instability & economic devastationDepressionHigh war debt owed by GermanyHigh inflationMassive unemployment

Rise of FascismFascism = militarist, dictatorialGermany – Adolf HitlerItaly – Benito MussoliniJapan – Hideki Tojo*Became the Axis Powers (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo

Axis)

Rise of HitlerNazi Party organized, 1920s

Nazi party largest in Germany, 1932

Hitler voted as chancellor, 1933New parliament created

450, 000 membersLarger than German army

Benito Mussolini in ItalyFascist leader who took

control of Italy in 1922Wanted to create another

Roman EmpireInvaded Ethiopia in 1935

Japanese ExpansionSought total control

of Pacific (resources)1931- military

occupation of Manchuria

1936- Japan signs Pact with Germany, Italy

Nanking Massacre- December 1937

Immediate Causes of WW II

In Germany Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933 as a fascist dictator.

Hitler Hated the Treaty of Versailles and violated it. First he built up the German military. Then he sent troops into the Rhineland. This was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles, which said in 1919 that Rhineland was a demilitarized zone.

Immediate Causes of WW II

Hitler wanted to conquer whoever he felt was inferior to the Germans or Aryans. He wanted “living space” for the Germans in Eastern Europe.

On September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland without a declaration of war. This starts World War II.

Immediate Causes of WW II

Britain and France declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939.

Italy declared war on France and Britain on June 10, 1940.

“Blitzkrieg”In German blitzkrieg means “lightning war”.

Hitler used blitzkrieg during his invasion of Poland.

Blitzkrieg included surprise attacks, rapid advances into enemy territory, and massive air attacks that struck and shocked the enemy.

Germany achieved most of its victories in World War II with the Blitzkrieg tactic.

Blitzkrieg

“Phony War”

Britain sent troops to wait with the French down behind the Maginot Line.

Reporters called this quiet time of not much action the “phony war”

Maginot LineThe Maginot Line was a defense for France against

an invasion of Germany.

The Maginot Line was established after World War I.

The line showed to be little use in 1940 when Germany invaded France for the third time.

Maginot Line

“Blitzkrieg: German soldiers being parachuted into Holland - May 10, 1940”

Early Axis TriumphsIn April 1940 the quiet time of the war exploded

into action.

Hitler launched a series of blitzkriegs.

Norway and and Denmark both fell.

Germany had overrun the Netherlands and Belgium.

Germany along with Italy forced France to surrender.

World War II in 1939/1942

Fall of France

Hitler’s Major BlunderThe Germans invaded France in May 1940.

Retreating Allied forces made it to Dunkirk and found themselves trapped between the advancing Nazis and the English Channel. The British sent every boat they could get across the English Channel to pick up troops off the beaches of Dunkirk.

Miracle at DunkirkThe event at Dunkirk is called a miracle because

the retreating allies had lost hope and then the British pulled through for them and rescued 338,000 men.

France Surrenders (June 22, 1940)On June 22, 1940 France signs an armistice with

Germany in occupied France.

An armistice is a cease fire or a truce.

The Franco-German Armistice divided France into two zones. One zone was under German military occupation and the other was under French control.

In 1942 Germans occupied all of France

June 22, 1940

Battle of Britain The Germans developed two plans to take Britain

Operation Sea Lion, an amphibious landing on the British coast A great air offensive to gain air superiority and destroy the British

industrial base “Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that, if

the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’” (Winston Churchill)

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

Japanese aggression in the East (China)

December 7, 1941 – Pearl HarborU.S. attacked without warning

U.S. declared war on JapanGermany declared war on the

United States

Pearl Harboris attacked on Dec. 7, 1941

U. S. Involved In War

World War II in the Pacific Japan mounted combined operations in 1941 in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and across the Pacific, opening a war front from the borders of India to Hawaii. This supremely aggressive move was meant to secure the resources and markets needed to sustain the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” It proved impossible to defend: Chinese resistance, a daring US island-hopping campaign in the Pacific—culminating in the explosion of atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki—and Soviet assaults on Manchuria defeated Japan completely.

The Eastern Front (in Europe)Hitler had strategic and ideological

reasons for invading RussiaStrategically he knew that the Soviet Union

and the US were critical to Britain’s willingness to keep fighting

He also felt he needed the agricultural and raw material resources of Eastern Russia

Ideologically he viewed the Soviet Union as an amalgamation of his greatest enemies, the Jews and the Slavs

Operation BarbarossaHitler based his plan on the assumption

he could destroy the Soviet Union within one year

Critical to his success would be to catch and destroy the Soviet Army at the border areas

If that did not occur, the Russians could use their vast territory to trade space for time and cause the Germans huge logistical problems

Operation BarbarossaOn June 22, 1941,

Hitler invaded Russia in Operation Barbarossa

The operation encompassed a total troop strength of about 4 million men, making it the biggest single land operation ever

Benefiting from initial surprise, by the end of July Hitler had occupied a portion of Russia twice the size of France

Operation Barbarossa: Battle of Moscow

Despite dropping temperatures and critical supply shortages, the German high command pressed on with the attack

The German soldiers were still in summer uniforms and suffered terribly

German soldier during the battle of Moscow

Operation Barbarossa: Battle of Moscow

By Dec 4 the Germans had clawed their way to Moscow’s outskirts, but they could not continueThat night

temperatures were -25 degrees Fahrenheit

One infantry regiment suffered 300 frostbite casualties

On Dec 6 the Soviets counterattacked

Stalingrad (1942)On June 28 the

Germans launched their summer offensive

The Germans made good headway with one advance moving east toward Stalingrad and the Volga River and another moving south into the Caucasus

In August Hitler’s erratic attention swung from the Caucasus to Stalingrad

StalingradOn Aug 24 the Germans

attacked Stalingrad’s suburbs and began fighting their way into the city

Hitler began shifting forces from the Caucasus to Stalingrad

The nature of the urban fighting favored the defenders and the Soviets mounted a stubborn defense

Stalingrad began to drain the German army but Hitler would not back off

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

Stalingrad

StalingradOn Nov 19 the Soviets

launched a massive counterattack north of Stalingrad

Hitler’s overly centralized and completely out-of-touch command system broke down in the face of the Soviet onslaught

The Soviets encircled Stalingrad and Hitler ordered his commanders to stand fast anyway

By this point in the war, no one was willing to confront Hitler

Stalingrad (1943)

All attempts to breakout or break through failed and on Feb 2 the Germans surrenderedOut of 250,000

soldiers trapped in the Stalingrad pocket, approximately 90,000 became prisoners

Barely 5,000 survived the war

German POWs

Greatest Extent of Axis Control

The Eastern FrontUltimately enormous logistical shortcomings

made Barbarossa a failureGermany proved capable of fighting battles

very well, but was less capable of fighting a war of prolonged duration

In the total four years of fighting on the Eastern Front, an estimated 4 million Axis and 9 million Russians were killed in battle

20 million Soviet civilians were killed as a result of extermination campaigns against Jews, communists and partisans, casual massacres, reprisal killings, diseases, and (sometimes planned) starvation.

Battle of Stalingrad Losses

0

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1st Qtr

Germany

Soviet Union

Allies push back into Europe

D-DayJune 6, 1944 - Landing on Normandy Beach

Normandy Invasion,D-Day June 6, 1944

Allies United:U.S.S.R, England and The U.S.

Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, & Winston Churchill