World War II

Italy

• March 23, 1919 Benito Mussolini formed the basis for the Fascist Party

• Oct. 28, 1922 March on Rome; Mussolini took power in Italy

Soviet Union (USSR)

• 1922 Soviet Union formed under V.I. Lenin

• 1924 Lenin died; Trotsky and Stalin vie for power

• 1928 Stalin began forced industrialization (Five Year Plan)

• 1929 Stalin became dictator

• 1932-1933 Famine created in the Ukraine and other Soviet satellites

Germany 1919-1923

• Weimar Republic• Social and political

unrest• Military occupation of

western regions of Germany

• Economic hardships• Freikorps

Adolf Hitler

• Born near Linz, Austria on April 20,1889

• Early life• Enlisted in the German

army in 1914, and served throughout WW I. Decorated with the Iron Cross.

• Remained in the army after the war.

• Sent to spy on small German Worker’s Party (DAP)

Hitler

• 1920 Changed name of the party to the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP)

• Nov. 8-9, 1923 Beer Hall Putsch

• Hitler spent 5 months in prison for his role in the putsch.

• Mein Kampf

Nazi Rise to Power 1925-1933

• 1925 Restructuring of the NSDAP

• SA• Legal election.• 1929 Great Depression• By 1930 Nazis were the

second largest party in Germany

• Jan. 30, 1933 Hitler became chancellor

Nazis in Power 1933-1934

• Feb. 27, 1933 Reichstag fire

• March 23, 1933 Enabling Act

• SS Heinrich Himmler• June 30, 1934 Night

of the Long Knives• Aug. 2, 1934

Hindenburg died; Hitler in sole power.

Road to war 1935-1939

• 1935 Versailles Treaty renounced; Germany began rearmament

• March 13, 1936 Rhineland reoccupied

• Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

• March 1938 Austria annexed

• Sept. 28, 1938 Sudetenland

• March 1939 Czechoslovakia annexed

War

• Aug. 23, 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact

• Sept.1, 1939 Poland invaded

• Sept. 3 Britain and France declared war

• Sept. 17 Soviets invaded eastern Poland

• Sept. 27 Poland surrendered

Poland 1939

Western Front 1939-May 1940

• Sept. 1939- April 1940 Phony War

• April 1940 Wehrmacht invaded Denmark and Norway

• May 1940 Belgium and the Netherlands invaded

• May 10 France invaded through the Ardennes Forest

• May 26 OPN DYNAMO• June 22 France

surrendered

Battle of Britain

• Began July 10, 1940 after Churchill declined to negotiate peace

• First battle fought entirely in the air

• Luftwaffe 2800 planes Royal Air Force 700

• Radar and command and control stations

• Sept. 7 Beginning of the Blitz.

• Oct. Luftwaffe switched to night bombing.

Balkans 1940-1941

• Oct. 28, 1940 Italy invaded Greece

• April 1940 British troops arrive in Greece

• April 1941 Yugoslavia and Greece overrun by Wehrmacht

• May 20-June 1 Battle of Crete

OPERATION BARBAROSSA JUNE 22, 1941

• 116 divisions (14 motorized), 19 panzer divisions, 9 support divisions

• Set for April, but postponed until June due to Greek and Yugoslav operations

• June 22 Invasion

• 2000 Soviet planes destroyed in 1 week

• Siege of Leningrad Sept. 1941-Jan. 1944

Russia Oct.- Dec. 1941

• Georgy Zhukov appointed head of the Red Army

• Oct. 19 Moscow declared under siege

• Russian winter• Dec. 5 Russian

counteroffensive• Germans driven 40

miles from Moscow

Russia 1941

Japan 1937-1941

• July 28, 1937 Japan invaded China

• US declared an embargo on Japanese war material

• Sept. 27, 1940 Japan joins the Axis powers

• Yamato and Musashi

Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941

• Pearl Harbor attacked by aircraft from 4 carriers• Arizona, Oklahoma, West Virginia, California

sunk• 18 damaged ships total, 188 aircraft, 3581 US

service personnel and civilians killed• Japanese losses totaled 50 men and 30 aircraft• US declared war on Dec. 8; Dec. 11 Germany

and Italy declared war on US

Pearl Harbor

US and Japanese Naval Power

Pacific War 1942

• The Philippeans fell to the Japanese on May 6,1942

• Bataan Death March

• April 18 Doolittle Raid

• May 2-7 Battle of the Coral Sea

• June 4-6 Battle of Midway

• Aug. 7- Feb. 7, 1943 Battle of Guadalcanal

1942 Pacific

Pacific Losses 1942

• Battle of the Coral Sea May 7-8• US: 1carrier, 66 aircraft, 543 men killed• Japan: 1 carrier, 77 aircraft, 1074 men killed• Battle of Midway June 4-7• US: 1 carrier, 147 aircraft, 307 men• Japan: 4 carriers, 1 cruiser, 272 aircraft, 3500 men• Gaudalcanal August 7-February 9, 1943• US: 1600 killed, 4200 wounded• Japan: 23,000 killed, 1000 prisoners

Battle for Africa 1924-1943

• Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel

• Aug. 13 Bernard Montgomery

• Oct. 23- Nov. 5, 1942• Nov. 8, 1942 OPN

TORCH• May 7, 1943

Germans defeated in Africa

Russia 1942-1943

• Spring 1942 German Sixth Army began a drive to Stalingrad

• Aug. 19 First attacks on Stalingrad

• Fierce house to house fighting

• Nov. 19 Russian counteroffensive encircles German Sixth Army

• Hitler orders Sixth Army to hold its ground

• Dec. 23 relief attempt ends in failure

• Feb. 3, 1943 Von Paulus surrendered

• Germans resurgent• July 5-23, 1943 Battle of

Kursk

Russian Front 1942-1943

Eastern Front LossesSept-July 1943

• Battle of Stalingrad Sept.-Jan. 1943• Germans 207,000 killed or wounded, 93,000

taken prisoner• Soviets 480,000 killed and missing

• Battle of Kursk July 5-13, 1943• Germans 50,000 killed 323 tanks destroyed• Soviets 177,880 killed 1614 tanks destroyed

Italy 1943-1944

• July 9- Aug. 7, 1943 OPN HUSKY

• Sept. 3, 1943 Italy surrendered

• Winter 1943- May 11, 1944 Battles for Monte Cassino

• Jan. 22, 1944 Anzio

• June 4, 1944 Rome captured

Air Warfare 1943-1945 Europe

Tanks of World War II1944 Western Front

Battle for France 1944

• June 6 D-Day• July 3 OPN Cobra• July 20 Bomb Plot• Aug. 19-25 Battle for

Paris• Sept. 17-25 OPN

MARKET-GARDEN• Dec. 16-Jan. 25, 1945

Battle of the Bulge

1944

1944 Pacific

• June 15 Saipan• June 19-20 Battle of

the Philippean Sea “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”

• July-Sept. Guam and Peleliu fell to US

• Oct. 23-26 Battle of Leyte Gulf

1945 Europe

• Jan-April Russians push into eastern Europe

• Feb. 4-11 Yalta Conference• March-April US and British

forces cross the Rhine into Germany

• April 22 Russians reach Berlin• April 25 US and Russian

troops meet at Torgau• April 30 Hitler committed

suicide• May 2 Berlin surrendered as

did Germans in Italy• May 7-8 VE Day

1945 Europe

Europe 1944-1945

• Battle for France June 6-August 25• Allied: 43,000 killed, 172,000 wounded• Germans: 509,000 killed, wounded and captured• OPN Bagration June 22-August 29,1944• Germans: 350,000 killed wounded and captured• Soviets: 178,000 killed, 587,000 wounded• Battle of the Bulge Dec. 16-Jan. 16, 1945• US: 81,000 killed wounded or captured• Germans 100,000 killed wounded or captured• Battle of Berlin April16-May 2, 1945• Germans: 500,000 killed wounded or captured• Soviets: 81,000 killed, 272,000 wounded

1945 Pacific

• Jan. 9 US troops land in the Philippeans

• Feb. 19-Mar. 26 Battle of Iwo Jima

• April 1-June 23 Battle of Okinawa

• Aug. 6 Hiroshima• Aug. 9 Nagasaki• Sept. 2 VJ Day

1945 Pacific

Pacific 1945

• Iwo Jima Feb. 19-March 26

• US: 6,821 killed 19,217 wounded

• Japan: 20,867 killed, 1,083 captured

• Okinawa April 1-June 30

• US: 12,000 killed, 36,000 wounded

• Japan 107,539 killed, 23,764 sealed in caves or buried, 10,755 captured

Nazi War CrimesThe Holocaust

• 1935 Nuremburg Laws• Nov. 9, 1938 Kristallnacht• 1940-1945 Ghettos and mass deportations to

eastern Europe• 1941-1943 Einsatzgruppen• Jan 20, 1942 Wannsee Conference• 1942-1945 Concentration Camps• Auschwitz, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Dachau,

Bergen-Belsen• Nov. 14, 1945-Oct. 1, 1946 Nuremburg Trials

Nazi Atrocities

Holocaust

Aftermath of World War II

• Allies• 14,000,000 military

deaths• 36,000,000 civilian

deaths• 6,000,000 Jews

murdered by Nazis

• Axis• 8,000,000 military

deaths• 4,000,000 civilian

deaths• 72,000,000 total

deaths for all of World War II