WWII BeginsSeptember 1, 1939 – Germany

invades Poland• Non-Aggression

Pact

• Hitler & Stalin agree to invade Poland and not to attack each other

December 8, 1941America Joins WWII

Japan? Germany?

Which enemy should the US first concentrate their resources on? Why?

Big Three:

• Agree that Germany is the bigger threat

• Joseph Stalin (U.S.S.R) asks for U.S. and England to invade Northern Europe

• Churchill thinks they do not have the resources for such an attack.

U.S. – Franklin D Roosevelt

Great Britain- Winston ChurchillSoviet Union – Joseph Stalin

July 1942Allies invade North Africa

• Patton vs. Rommel– Tanks become

important part of combat

• Stalin not happy – Why?

War in the Soviet Union• Hitler invades all the way to

Stalingrad and Moscow(pg.431)– Kills much of the population

along the way

• Of the almost 50 million people killed in WWII almost half were from the Soviet Union– Half of those were civilians– Battle of Leningrad est. 1.6 – 2

Million Dead

• Early 1942 Stalin begins to push Germans back

Axis Military Civilian Total

Germany 3,500,00 700,000 4,200,000

Japan 2,000,000 350,000 2,350,000

Romania 300,000 160,000 460,000

Hungary 140,000 290,000 430,000

Italy 330,000 80,000 410,000

Other Nations 312,000 106,000 418,000

Allied Military Civilian Total

Soviet Union 10,000,000 10,000,000 20,000,000

China 2,500,000 7,500,000 10,000,000

Poland 100,000 5,700,000 5,800,000

Yugoslavia 300,000 1,400,000 1,700,000

France 250,000 350,000 600,000

Czechoslovakia 200,000 215,000 415,000

United States 400,000 0 400,000

Great Britain 326,000 62,000 388,000

Other Nations 199,000 465,000 664,000

Est. Total Deaths 20,858,000 27,372,000 48,231,000

Operation Overlord

• Invasion of Northern Europe becomes priority in early 1943

• General Dwight D. Eisenhower put in charge of Allied Forces in Europe.

• 2 Million U.S Soldiers based on Southern England

Operation Overlord in Actions(D-Day) June 6, 1944 – July 25, 1944

• 1st Invasion– 150,000 soldiers– 1500 Tanks– 5300 Ships– 12000 Aircraft– 24000 Airborne Troops

• Over 400,000 people killed in battle

Germany caught between 2 fronts

• Allied bombing from Western front– Berlin 25,000 killed– Dresden 60,000 killed

• Soviet invasion from Eastern front– June – Sept. 1944: 1.3

Million German soldiers killed.

Hitlers last chance

• Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16 1944)– Sends bulk of troops into

Belgium– Attempting to:

• Split Allied troops • Cut off supplies

– Allied troops vastly outnumbered and trapped by speed.

– Jan. 1945 Allies push back and win

Allied forces invade Germany

• Soviet Union takes Berlin from the east

• Allied forces invade from the West

• Meet at Elbe River• Results:

– April 29, 1944 Hitler commits suicide

– Germany soon signs peace• May 7, 1945: V-E Day

(Victory in Europe)– Troops learn about the

Holocaust

WWII effects the World