WWII-In a nutshell

New Leaders in Europe

• Josef Stalino Communismo Leader of U.S.S.Ro Totalitarianism

• Gov’t has complete control over its citizens

• Benito Mussolinio Fascismo Leader of Italy

• Stressed nationalism and placed the needs of the state above those of the individual• Power rested with a single strong leader and a group of devoted party leaders

More new leaders• Adolf Hitler

o Leader of Germanyo Nazi

• Extreme form of fascismo Powerful public speaker

• Called himself “der fuher” the leadero Wrote Mien Kampf (My Struggle)o Wanted racial purification to an Aryan raceo Took control of Germany in 1932o Established the “Third Reich” Third Empire

Hitler’s Aggression• Part of Nazi plan was expansionism• Hitler invaded and took over Austria in 1937• Also charged that the Czechs were abusing the

German speaking people of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakiao Also wanted to expand Germany’s control and resources

Sudetenland• France and Great Britain offered to protect

CZ.• Neville Chamberlain was P.M. of G.B.• A conference was called by Hitler to solve

the situation• French premier and Chamberlain were

invited to Munich• Hitler said that the Sudetenland would be

his last territorial demand

Appeasement• Signed “Munich Agreement” Sept. 20,

1938o Turned Sudetenland over to Germany

• Chamberlain came home and pronounced that he had achieved “peace in our time”.

• Winston Churchillo Chamberlain’s political rival in parliament

• Believed that Chamberlain had appeased Hitlero “Britain had to choose between war and

dishonor. They chose dishonor.”o Believed that Hitler would want more-He was

right

Poland• Once CZ was conquered, Hitler moved

against Poland• Most believed that Hitler was bluffing

o Might begin a war with Soviets, French, and British

o Wouldn’t risk a two front war

• Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler in 1939o Secret vow was to split Poland between them

Defenses• The Nazis had control of Poland in three

weekso Allies were not able to set up defenses that

quicklyo France and Britain set up defenses in Eastern

France• Some newspapers called it a “Phony War”

o No fighting was going on

• Stalin annexed Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania and began to take over Finland in late 1939

• Chamberlain was replaced as P.M. by Winston Churchill

War Expansion• Hitler launched an invasion of Denmark and

Norway in April 1940o Needed bases to attack G.B.

• The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg were next on Hitler’s hit listo End of the phony war

France• Italy began taking Southern France• Germans pushed into Paris• Nazis controlled Northern France

o Puppet gov’t was set up in France• “Vichy Government” set up in the south

• Gen. Charles DeGualle fled France after it fello Set up a gov’t in exile in England

FDR’s Support for the War

• Roosevelt was willing to help France and Englando The country wanted to stay isolated

• FDR created a “cash and carry program”o We would sell arms but only if they paid in cash and picked them up

themselves (1939)

Axis Powers• Tripartite Treaty

o Germany, Italy, and Japano If war was declared by U.S. it would face a two ocean war.

• U.S. began building defenseso 1940 Selective Service Act

• 16 million men age 21-35 registered• Drafted 1 million men at a time for 1 year at a time• Poor Army, fat and untrained

Election of 1940• FDR ran for a third term

o Refused to actually say he was a candidate until he was nominated

• Ran against Wendell Wilkie• FDR won with 55% of the vote• Led FDR to strengthen aid to Europe

Lend Lease• FDR would lend European allies supplies that

would either be returned at the end of the war or replaced.o Saw this as lending a garden hose to a neighbor if his house was

burning

• Roosevelt believed that, given the chance, Hitler would attack USo Saw this as a measure to try and defeat Hitler

Lend Lease cont.• FDR wanted the US to be the “Arsenal of

Democracy”• Also gave aid to Soviets• Hitler invaded USSR in1941 ending the N-A pact

of ’39• “If Hitler invaded Hell, the British would be

prepared to work with the devil himself” -Winston Churchill

FDR at home• FDR was keeping the US war prepared on a

shoestringo Extension of the draft barely passed the house

• Couldn’t ask for a dec. of war but wasn’t doing anything to prevent one

• There had been some naval confrontations between U-boats and US ships

What about Japan?• Most of the focus was on Hitler• French, Dutch, and British were fighting for

their homelando Left pacific colonies unprotected

• Japan began expanding into East Asia• 1937 Japan invaded Manchuria in China• 1941 invaded French Indochina (Vietnam)• U.S. protested invasions by cutting off oil

to Japan

Tojo• Japan was ruled by Emperor Hirohito• Hideki Tojo was the Army Chief of Staff

o Held most of the power

• Peace talks began between US and Japan in 1941 but broke down

Pearl Harbor• November 1941, Tojo told Navy to prepare for

attack• U.S. had broken Japanese code and knew an

attack was plannedo Expected it last week of November

• December 6, 1941 Japanese ambassador told to reject any US peace plan

Pearl Harbor cont.• US sent warnings to Pacific bases:

o Philippineso Panama Canalo Pearl Harbor

• Attack came at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 @7:55 am

• Battleships were lined up perfectly to be destroyed by bombs and torpedoes

Pearl Harbor cont.• 180 planes from 6 carriers• Less than 2 hrs. 2,403 Americans were wounded

1,178 killed• Larger scale damage than the navy incurred in all

of WWI

WAR!!• FDR asked Congress

for a declaration of war on Dec. 8

• Called Dec. 7th “A day of infamy”

• Germany, honoring the Tripartite Pact of 1941, declared war on US Dec. 11, 1941

New Kind of War• Past battles had focused on using battleships

o Most were destroyed at PH

• Aircraft carriers had pulled out of PH prior to the attacko Dawn of depending on navel airplanes

• “I fear all we have done is awoken a sleeping giant and filled it with a terrible resolve”

-Admiral Yamamoto

Battle of the Atlantic• Hitler began to attack ships on the Atlantic to try

to stop goods from getting to the allies• “wolf packs” began to attack Allied ships• Allies brought back the convoy system from WWI

• Ships carrying goods were surrounded by a group of military ships, submarines, and planes

• Traveled in large groups

Battle of the Atlantic cont.

• Convoy system also included ships with sonar and radar

• U-boats were being destroyed faster than they could be replaced

• US was producing 140 “liberty ships” each montho Not really well built, but easily replaceable

• Allies were winning the Battle of the Atlantic by mid-’43

Battle of Stalingrad• Germans took the offensive in southern Soviet

Union• Wanted to wipe out Stalingrad

o Major industrial city

• Stalingrad was attacked for weeks• Winter set in and the Soviets surrounded the

mostly German controlled city

Stalingrad cont.• Soviets cut off German supply lines• Hitler ordered his troops to stay and fight• Germans surrendered Jan. 31, 1943• Soviets lost 1,100,000 troops• During the battle, Stalin wanted a second allied

front opened up to take some of the pressure off of him

Operation Torch• Tried to take pressure off of Stalin• Allies invaded North Africa• Dwight Eisenhower commanded the Allied troops

o American Generalo Would command the Allies in Europe for the rest of

the war

• Gens. George S. Patton and Omar Bradley along with Field Marshal Montgomery defeated Rommell’s Afrika Korps

Operation Torch cont.• Following success in North Africa, the allies

landed in Sicily and moved north into Italy• Mussolini was forced in July ’43 to resign and was

beaten to death by his own people• Allies got caught up just outside Rome

o “Bloody Anzio”o Lasted 4 monthso 25,000 Allies deado 30,000 Axis dead

Race War• Tuskegee Airmen

o All black squadron fought with distinction in Sicily and Italyo Thought to be too unintelligent to fly

• Japanese Americans also fought in Italyo Were not allowed to fight in the Pacifico 442nd Regimental Combat Team

• All 2nd gen. Japanese Americans• Most decorated unit in U.S. History

Douglas MacArthur• After P.H. Japan took control over a major area of

the Pacific• Japanese forced Gen. Douglas MacArthur out of

the Philippineso Left some US troops there to fight w/ Filipino rebels (March 1942)o “I shall return”

Doolittle’s Raid• Lt. Col. James Doolittle led a raid of bombers off

carriers and bombed Tokyo in April ’42• Japanese moral was damaged

o Believed that they were safe

Battle of Midway• Americans had broken the code of Japanese• Knew about where next attack would come• Admiral Chester Nimitz was the commander of US

naval forces• Found the Japanese fleet and bombed it before it

could inflict too much pain on Midway Island

Midway cont.• US planes were able to attack while the Japanese

planes were still on the decks of their carriers• Japanese lost 4 carriers, a cruiser, 250 planes• Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in

the Pacific

New War Plan in Pacific

• MacArthur created a hopscotch plan to defeat the Japanese

• Attack some islands while leaving others behindo Plan was to cut off supplies to those islands not attacked and let them

“wither and die”

Europe-Operation Overlord

• Planned invasion of Normandyo 3 million US, British, and

Canadian troopso Some dropped by air,

others came by sea• D-Day

o June 6, 1944o Largest air-sea operation in

historyo Utah and Omaha beaches

(US)o Gold, Juno, and Sword

beaches (British)

Europe - D-Day • Heavy casualties on beaches, but not as much as

plannedo 70% casualty rate plannedo 30% actual

• 1 million troops crossed through Northern France within a month of D-Day

Europe – Post D-Day • After D-Day Gens.

Bradley and Patton advanced through France

• By Sept. ’44 France, Luxembourg, and Belgium were free

• Helped to elect FDR to a fourth termo New running mate:

Harry Truman

Europe-Battle of the Bulge

• Allies began to invade Germany o Took Aacher in October ’44

• Nazis responded by an offensive against the Allies• Nazi tanks drove 60 miles into Allied lines

o Last ditch offensive on the Nazi’s part

• Lasted 1 month – turned the war

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Europe-Battle of the Bulge

• Germans lost:o 120,000 troopso 600 tankso 1,600 planeso Could not be replaced

• Allies continued to push at Germany from both East and West

Europe – Coming to an End

• Soviets invaded Poland and began freeing Death Camp prisoners

• FDR didn’t think that he could free the camps and still keep focused on beating Hitler

Pacific- Back to the Philippines

• MacArthur continued to the Philippineso Returned in ’44

• Battle of Lete Gulfo Japanese began

Kamikaze attackso “divine wind”o Suicide missions that

crashed planes into ships

o Sunk 16 ships and damaged 80

Pacific- Back to the Philippines

• Battle of Lete Gulf lasted 3 days• Crippled the Japanese Navy

o Lost:• 3 battleships• 4 carriers• 13 cruises• 500 planes

Pacific-Iwo Jima• After Philippines, MacArthur needed

Iwo Jima as a bomber base• Defended by 27,000 Japanese• 6,000 marines died taking Iwo Jima

o Most lost in the Pacific up to that point

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Pacific-Okinawa• April ’45• 1,900 Kamikaze attacks

o Sunk 30 shipso Damaged 300 moreo 5,000 seamen killed

• US faced stronger opposition than in Iwo Jima

• 7,600 Americans died• 110,000 Japanese died• Invasion of Japan could lead to even more

dead

Yalta Conference• Close to victory in ’45• Stalin, Churchill, and

FDR meet at Yalta to discuss division of Europe

• Stalin wanted to punish Germany and divide Germany into occupied zones

• Churchill strongly disagreed

• FDR mediated

Yalta cont.• FDR wanted:

o Soviets to join war against Japano Soviet support for the new UN

• Agreed to temp. division of Germanyo British, Soviet, and US

• Stalin promised free elections in Poland and agreed to enter into the war with Japan

Harry S Truman• FDR died April 12, 1945• Truman took over• FDR left Truman on the outside of most decisions

o No Knowledge of the Manhattan Project

Victory in Europe• V-E Day May 8, 1945• Soviets moved in and took Berlin• Hitler committed suicide and left orders that his

body be burned

Potsdam Conference• July ’45• “Big 3” met again• Churchill's party had lost elections

o Churchill was replaced as P.M.

• Stalin had changedo Probably knew of A-bombo Hadn’t intended to provide Poland with free elections

Manhattan Project• Led by J.Robert Oppenheimer• Top secret project• First test was July 16, 1945• Truman ordered the dropping of two bombs

Manhattan Project cont.

• August 6, 1945 • b-29 “Enola Gay” dropped “little boy” on

Hiroshima• Leveled the city• Japan refused to surrender• Three days later “fat man” dropped on Nagasaki

o 200,000 people died

• Sept. 2, 1945 Japan signed the surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

• V-J Day

Occupation of Japan• MacArthur controlled Japan after the war• 1,100 Japanese were tried for war crimes

o 7 sentenced to death, including Tojo, for atrocities against civilians or P.O.W.s

• 7 year occupation of Japan by MacArthur• Introduced:

o Free market economyo New constitutiono Women’s suffrageo Basic freedoms

Occupation of Japan cont.

• The Emperor was allowed to continue to help the transition from the old world to the new democracy

• Had to admit to not being a god

Paying for the War in Europe

• 24 surviving Nazi leaders were put on trial for :o Crimes against Humanity

• Murder• Enslavement• Extermination

o War Crimes• Killing hostages• Plundering private property• Destruction of towns and cities

o Crimes against the Peace• Planning and waging an aggressive war