WWII Starts
- September 1st, 1939-Hitler invades Poland
- Uses blitzkreig- “lightening war”
Blitzkreig-How it Works?
Luftwaffe, the German air force, bombed airfields, factories, towns, and cities
Dive bombers fired on troops and civilians
Tanks moved quickly and troops moved into Poland, surrounding whole divisions and forcing them to surrender
Soviet Union Attacks
Soviet Union attacks in the east and took lands promised to them by Nazi-Soviet Pact
Soviet Union - forced Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to host military bases
Seized part of Finland
Battle of Dunkirk
French positioned behind Maginot Line
Britain sent troops to wait with French
German – little fighting during Winter
April 1940 - Hitler launches blitzkrieg against Norway and Denmark
Moved onto Netherlands and Belgium
May 1940 - Germany attacks through Ardennes Forest in Belgium
Bypassed Maginot Line, allowing German troops to enter into France
Retreating British found trapped between the English Channel and the Nazi army
British gamble and send all boats to rescue troops from beach of Dunkirk
Saved 300,000 troops and increased morale
France Falls
Germany forces head to Paris
Italy declared war on France and attacked from south.
June 22, 1940 - France surrendered
Forced to sign surrender in same railroad car that Germany had signed armistice ending WWI
Germany occupied northern France and set up a “puppet state” with a capital at Vichy
Some French officers able to escape to England
Led by Charles de Gaulle, exiled French set up a government working to liberate France
Operation Sea Lion/Battle of Britain
Britain stood alone in Western Europe
Winston Churchill - new prime minister
Operation Sea Lion - planned invasion of Britain, but never happens
August 1940 - Hitler has German bombers bomb England’s southern coast daily
Royal Air Force battled the Luftwaffe for a month
Germany Launches the Blitz
Germany changes tactics and begin bombing major cities
September 7, 1940 - German bombers first appeared over London
Continued for 57 consecutive nights and then sporadically until May
Citizens resumed daily lives only taking shelter during the attacks
Hitler unsuccessful in claiming air superiority and Britain was more determined to defeat the Nazis
Axis Powers
Tripartite Agreement – Sept. 27, 1940
Germany, Italy, & Japan become alliesFight Soviet communism
Agreed to not interfere with one another’s plan for territorial expansion
Hungary and Romania joined in November 1940 and Bulgaria joined March1941.
Africa and the Balkans
September 1940 – Mussolini order forces from their colony Libya into Egypt.
Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel; “Desert Fox” to North Africa.
Pushed the British back across the desert towards Cairo, Egypt.
October 1940 – Italian forces invaded Greece
1941 – Germany provided reinforcements
Greece and Yugoslavia added to growing Axis Empire.
Greek and Yugoslav guerillas plagued the occupying forces
Bulgaria and Hungary joined the Axis alliance.
Germany Invades Soviet Union
June 1941 – Hitler nullified the Nazi-Soviet Pact-Nullified – made invalid
Operation Barbarossa – invaded the Soviet Union
Crush Communism in Europe and defeat Stalin: “If I had the Ural Mountains with their incalculable store of treasures in raw materials, Siberia with its vast forests, and the Ukraine with its tremendous wheat fields, Germany under National Socialist leadership would swim in plenty.” – Hitler
Hitler unleashed blitzkrieg in the Soviet Union about 3 million German soldiers invaded.
Stalin suffering from the Great Purge
Soviet Union lost 2 and a half million soldiers
When retreating – destroyed factories, farm equipment, and burned crops
By autumn, Nazis were poised to take Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg)
Siege of Leningrad – started September 1941 and lasts two and a half years
Leningrad did not fall to the Germans
Stalin urged Britain to open a second front in Western Europe.
Churchill did not offer much help, but the two powers agreed to work together.
United States
Isolationism – The policy or doctrine of isolating one’s country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc…,seeking to devote the entire efforts of one’s country to its own advancement and remain at peace by avoiding foreign entanglements and responsibilities.
Declared neutrality at beginning of war, but found ways to provide aid around Neutrality Act.
United States involvement grows
Americans sympathized with those who battled the Axis powers
Lend-Lease Act - allowed President Franklin D. Roosevelt to lend or lease war materials “to any country whose defense” the President deems vital to the US.
“the arsenal of democracy”
Roosevelt secretly met with Churchill on a warship in the Atlantic in August 1941
Atlantic Charter: “the final destruction of the Nazi Tyranny”
Support “the rights of people to choose the form of government under which they will live” and called for a “permanent system of general security.
Japan and the US Face off
Japanese saw a chance to grab European possessions in Southeast China
Rich resources: oil, rubber, and tin
Would be helpful in its war against the Chinese
1940, Japan advanced into French Indochina and the Dutch East Indies
Banned sale of war materials, such as iron, steel, and oil to Japan
Japanese saw this as an attempt to interfere with their sphere of influence
Japan and the US held talks, however extreme militarist, such as General Tojo Hideki, hoped to expand Japan’s Empire.
December 7, 1941 - Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor“a date which will live in infamy”
December 8, 1941 - United States declared war on Japan
December 11, 1941 - Germany and Italy declared war on the United States
Executive Order 9066- 2/19/42- “I hereby authorize the Secretary of War the right to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine from which any or all persons may be excluded.”
Allies Turn the Tide
Another TOTAL war: Rations, War bonds, Prices/wages regulated, Increase in production (helps end depression), Propaganda, “Rosie the Riveter”-women are key
The US Joins British Forces
1)Defeat of Axis in Europe = Top Priority
Adolf Hitler considered #1 enemy
Stalin (Allied power since 6/41) in need of help
U.S. could only look for help in Pacific when Hitler defeated
2) Only unconditional surrender of the Axis powers allowed
Russian Campaign
Germans fought in USSR since June ’41→ Siege of Leningrad
Initial German push into Moscow- early ‘42
Continued with Stalingrad (oil and industry)
Battle of Stalingrad (July 42-Feb 43)
Luftwaffe bombed, Soviet counter attack
Feb ’43- winter forced German surrender
Turning point for war in Eastern Europe
North African Campaign
“Operation Torch”- invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa
Commanded by Eisenhower, later by Patton – going against Axis commander Erwin Rommel
Nov. 1942- May 1943- Axis forces finally surrendered
Italy
May 1939-Pact of Steel Italy and SU enter into military alliance
Enters War June 1940
Sept 40-failed invasion of Egypt
April 41-attacks Yugoslavia-quickly surrenders
Italian Campaign (July 43-May 45)
Captured Sicily (Summer ’43)
King stripped Mussolini of power
Hitler continued Axis fighting anyways
18 months of fighting
April 1945- Mussolini Shot-and hung in public
D-Day
Two years of building up troops
Targeted Normandy, fake force at Calais
June 6, 1944
Land-Air-Sea (Operation Overlord)
Allies took beaches
Massive air and land bombardment
Army headed east
August 25th- liberated Paris
Freed France, Belgium, Luxemburg
Battle of the Bulge
Last great offensive stand by Axis
Dec 1944- Hitler broke through US line
Battle lasted a month
Hitler lost many men and weapons he could not replace
Loss here meant end of the war
Yalta Conference
Feb 1945-Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin met at Yalta (S. SU)
Big Three-planned strategy-Stalin insists SU needed to maintain control of E. Europe to protect from future aggression
Roosevelt wanted self-determination for E. Europe
Churchill and Roosevelt need Stalin to win war
At Conference→3 agree SU would enter war in Pacific 3 months after Germany’s knocked out of war. Stalin in return would take possession of S. Sakhalin Islands, Kuril Island and occupation zone in Korea.
Germany would be temporarily divided into 4 zones. One to each ally-US, GB, France, SU
Stalin also agreed to free elections in Europe
Liberation of Camps
Soviets first, then Americans
V-E Day
April 25, 1945- Soviet Army stormed Berlin
Hitler prepares for end-marries Eva Braun April 29th-same day writes address to German people-blamed Jews for starting war and generals for losing it
Next day-shoots himself, Eva swallow poison→taken outside and bodies burned
May 8, 1945- V-E Day-General Eisenhower accepted unconditional surrender of 3rd Reich