WWII• Germany invades Poland on

September 1, 1939• Two days later, Britain and

France declare war on Germany

• Germans took Poland in less than a month

• In late August, Hitler and Stalin had signed a nonaggression pact

• Red Army entered Poland from the east and the two split the country

Germany Invades Poland

HITLER’S GERMANY INVADES POLAND SEPTEMBER 1, 1939

RUSSIAN INVADES EASTERN POLAND

JEWS FLEE EUROPE IN PREPARATION FOR WAR

PHONY WAR LASTS FROM OCTOBER 1939 TO APRIL 1940

After war starts Congress passes Neutrality act of 1939

Permits Britain and France to purchase weapons on cash and carry basis

Loans and credit purchases still illegal

German aggression scared Americans

BLITZKRIEG DEVASTATES NORWAY, DENMARK, THE NETHERLANDS AND

BELGIUM

APRIL 1940 GERMANY INVADES DENMARK AND NORWAY.

WITHIN WEEKS THESE COUNTRIES FELL TO GERMANY AS DID BELGIUM AND THE NETHERLANDS

THE MAGINOT LINE FAILS TO PROTECT THE FRENCH COUNTRY SIDE

IF YOU ENTRENCH YOURSELF BEHIND A STRONG FORTRESS YOU COMPEL YOUR ENEMIES TO SEEK A

SOLUTION ELSEWHERE

GERMAN FORCES POUR INTO FRANCE

ALLIED SOLDIERS TRAPPED BETWEEN GERMAN ADVANCE

AND ENGLISH CHANNEL

MIRACLE AT DUNKIRK

DUNKIRK

338,000 BRITISH AND FRENCH SOLDIERS SAVED

FRANCE FOLDS JUNE

22, 1940

FRANCE SIGNS ARMISTICE IN SAME RAILROAD CAR THAT GERMAN SIGNED

ARMISTICE TO END WORLD WAR I

BATTLE FOR BRITAIN STARTS “OPERATION SEALION”

HITLER IS DETERMINED TO TAKE BRITAIN

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

OPERATION SEALION TURNS AWAY FROM ATTACKING MILITARY POSITIONS TO CIVILIAN ONES

THE BLITZ ATTACKS MAJOR CITIES

DESTROYS BUILDINGS ALL OVER BRITAIN

HITLER WANTS BRITISH

CIVILIANS TO DEMAND SURRENDER

BRITAIN FIGHTS ON, USES RADAR

TO BEAT GERMANS

American Sympathy (and little else) Goes to Britain

• Americans in shock by German attacks on British civilians.

• Awed by British perseverance and will.

1940-41

• Hitler had conquered all of the Balkan region• In June, 1941, he launched his invasion of the

Soviet Union• FDR moved Pacific fleet from California to Pearl

Harbor in May, 1940• September 27th- Japan joined the Axis powers• When Japan occupied Indochina in July, 1941,

FDR froze all Japanese assets in the US and cut off its oil supplies

GERMANY FAILS IN BRITAIN GERMANY FAILS IN BRITAIN AND ITALY IN AFRICAAND ITALY IN AFRICA

• WHILE GERMANYWAS BEING PUSHED BACK BY THE BRITS THE ITALIANS, JEALOUS OF THE SUCCESS OF HITLER LAUNCH THEIR OWN SERIES OF ATTACKS IN NORTH AFRICA AND GREECE

MUSSOLINI AIDS THE ALLIED CAUSE

• HITLERS PLAN TO ATTACK RUSSIA NEEDED TIMING

• MUSSOLINI’S FAILURES IN NORTH AFRICA AND GREECE PUSHES BACK THE INVASION BY 6 WEEKS

• JUNE 22, 1941 THE INVASION BEGINS

OPERATION BARBAROSSA

• WHY BREAK THE TRUCE?– LAND– RESOURCES– END COMMUNISM

HITLER ATTACKS WITH 3 MILLION MEN

RUSSIAN ARMY UNPREPARED

LOSE 2.5 MILLION SOLDIERS EALRY IN THE FIGHTING

NAPOLEON REDUX

• HITLERS ARMIES EXPLODE INTO RUSSIA SOVIET ARMY FORCING INTO A MASSIVE RETREAT– ARMIES DESTROY FACTORIES, CROP

AND BUILDING IN THEIR RETREAT– BY FALL, NAZI’S ARE READY TO TAKE

MOSCOW AND LENINGRAD– GERMANS STALL AS THE RUSSIAN

WINTER KICKS IN (-20) freeze to death.

SEIGE OF LENINGRADSEIGE OF LENINGRAD

• SEPTEMBER 1941, 2.5 YEAR SEIGE OF LENINGRAD STARTS.

• PEOPLE OF LENINGRAD GIVEN ONLY TWO PIECES OF BREAD A DAY– ATE ALMOST ANYTHING:

WALLPAPER, BRIEF CASES– 1 MILLION RUSSIANS DIE

The Soviet Union

• Hitler’s forces overran the Red Army, killing or capturing nearly 3 million soldiers

• Soviet resistance- Russians cut German supply lines and sent every available resource to Russian troops outside Moscow

• Summer of 1942, Hitler decided to attack Stalingrad, a major industrial city on the Volga River; Soviets suffered more casualties in these battles than Americans did in the entire war

STALINGRAD PROVES COSTLY• GERMANS

SURROUND THE CITY• RUSSIAN ENCIRCLE

THE GERMANS– STREET TO STREET

AND HOUSE TO HOUSE FIGHTING RAGED

– RUSSIAN TRAP THE GERMAN ARMY IN STALINGRAD

HITLER FAILS IN RUSSIAHITLER FAILS TO TAKE MOSCOW WHEN HE HAS THE CHANCE INSTEAD ATTACKING LENINGRAD

THEN HE FAILS TO TAKE STALINGRAD OR RETREAT AND LOSES HIS WHOLE ARMY IN THE SOUTH.

continued

• February, 1943- German 6th Army was defeated

• In retreat, Germans lost another major battle in the Ukraine

• US lend-lease program helped the Russians

Atlantic Charter• Secret meeting between FDR and Churchill

in August, 1941

• To map out military strategy and declare “common principles”

• Similar to Wilson’s 14 Points

US Prepares for war• FDR move Pacific

Fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor in early 1940

• Why did he do this?

Pearl HarborDecember 7, 1941

• Within 2 hours, Japanese pilots had destroyed nearly 200 American planes and badly damaged the fleet, more than 2,400 Americans were killed and 1,200 wounded

• On the same day, Japan struck US bases on the Philippines, Guam, and Wake Island

Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Attack on Pearl Harbor

December 8th

• Roosevelt called the attack on Pearl Harbor a date that “will live in infamy,” and asked Congress for a declaration of war against Japan

• With only one dissenting vote- by pacifist Jeannette Rankin of Montana- Congress acceded

• Hitler asked the Reichstag on December 11th to support war against the “half-judaized and the other half Negrified” American nation Mussolini joined in the declaration of war on America

Allied Offensive

• Spring, 1942- Germany, Italy and Japan commanded territory from France to the Pacific Ocean

• Battle of El Alamein- October, 1942- Egypt- British 8th Army stopped a major offensive by the German General Rommel, the “Desert Fox”

North Africa

• Americans entered the war in Europe as part of Operation Torch, the landing of British and American troops in Morocco and Algeria in November

• Casablanca Conference- January, 1943 FDR and Churchill announced that they would only accept unconditional surrender from their enemies

• May, 1943- Allies controlled N. Africa

Allied Invasion of Europe

• In July 1943, British and American troops Land in Sicily• Mussolini was dismissed by the king July 25 1943

(Arrested• Italy surrendered on September 8, 1943• Hitler sent troops to northern Italy Rome 9-11-43• Hitler rescues Mussolini 9-12-43• 6-5-44 allies enter Rome• Warsaw Ghetto Uprising- spring, 1943• Partisans were active in many sections of Europe

D-DayJune 6, 1944

• Stalin continues to call for a “Second Front”• Operation Overlord- the invasion of Normandy• Allied fleet brought more than 175,000 troops and

more than 20,000 vehicles to France• Germans killed 2,500 troops.• In the next six weeks, one million more Allied

soldiers came ashore

D-Day, Invasion of France

Aerial Bombing

• US pilots preferred the daylight hours, while the British bombed during the night

• Bombing missions over the Rhineland and the Ruhr took out many German factories

• Royal Air Force leveled the city of Hamburg• 60 other cities were hit hard also• Feb 13-15 45 Dresden 3,900 tons of bombs, 30,000 dead• Air offensive weakened German morale

End of European War• Allied troops arrived in Paris in August, 1944• One occupied country after another fell• Battle of the Bulge- Allies were taken by surprise

driving them back 50 miles before they were stopped

• This last effort exhausted the German capacity for counterattack

• It was the bloodiest American battle since Gettysburg

BATTLE OF THE BULGE

V-E DAY• Hitler commits suicide on April

30th

• Adm. Karl Donitz surrenders on May 8th

• The “Thousand Year Reich” ends after 12 years and millions dead