World War II

World History II

Mr. Taglieri

  1. Fascism- Militant political movement emphasizing loyalty to the state and obedience to “the leader”
  2. Must struggle (fight) or be conquered – Ultra Militaristic
  3. Extreme nationalism (close to if not racism)
  4. Totalitarian - also see common qualities of totalitarian regimes
  5. One-party rule, violently suppressed opposition
  6. Denied individual liberty
  7. Controlled various aspects of society
  8. Protected private property and maintained classes
  9. Gained support of wealthy class
  10. Mussolini
  11. Italy’s discontent
  12. Disrespected at Paris Peace Conference
  13. Did not get Great Nation status
  14. Inflation and unemployment
  15. Democratic government seemed ineffective
  16. Wanted strong leader to take definitive action

B.Benito Mussolini

  1. Created Fascist Party in 1919
  2. Made promises of strong and glorious Italy
  3. Created Black Shirts who attacked Communists and Socialists
  4. Fear of communism strong due to poor economy
  5. Gained support of middle and upper classes
  1. Mussolini takes over
  2. Oct. 1922 30,000 Fascist march on Rome
  3. King Emmanuel III puts Mussolini in charge of government
  4. Abolished democracy and all other political parties
  5. Secret Police jailed any opponents
  6. Censored media and produced propaganda
  7. Outlawed labor unions and only influenced but did not totally control business –corporate state
  1. Hitler’s Early Career
  2. Nazi Party
  3. Overturn Treaty of Versailles
  4. Fight against communism
  5. Became fascist after Mussolini described term
  6. Private militia, Brown shirts or storm troopers
  7. Hitler became der Fuhrer of Nazi’s because of ability to speak and organize
  8. Munich 1923
  9. Inspired by Mussolini, tried to take over government in Munich in 1923 – Beer Hall putsch
  10. Failed and was arrested
  11. In jail wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

D.Mein Kampf- goals of Germany

  1. Master race- Germans or Aryans were superior to all others
  2. Created hierarchy with Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies on bottom
  3. Treaty of Versailles an outrage
  4. Lebensraum: Germany needed living space and should take it from Eastern Europe and Russia
  1. 1924 released from jail and reestablished Nazi party
  2. Largely ignored with economic recovery but when economy failed people turned to him again
  1. Hitler becomes Chancellor
  2. 1932- Nazi party- largest in Germany
  3. 1933- Conservatives believe they can control Hitler and advise President Paul von Hindenburg to name Hitler Chancellor
  4. As chancellor called for new parliamentary election to get Nazi majority
  5. Fire in Reichstag blamed on communists just before election
  6. Nazis win
  7. Now firmly in control turns Germany into totalitarian state
  8. Banned political parties other than Nazis
  9. Had opponents arrested
  10. Created SS, black uniformed elite protection squad, arrested and murdered hundreds of Hitler’s enemies
  11. Gestapo, secret police used terror to gain obedience
  12. Controlled economy
  13. Banned strikes, controlled labor unions
  14. Unemployment went from 6 million down to 1.5 million
  15. Controlled people
  16. Press, literature, radio, film, painting- propaganda
  17. Censored media and burnt books
  18. Churches forbidden to criticize government
  19. Hitler’s Youth and League of German Girls
  20. Beginning of Holocaust
  21. Scapegoats
  22. Jews 1% or population
  23. Blamed for all Germany’s problems
  24. 1933- Laws passed depriving Jews of their rights
  25. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) Nov. 9 1938
  26. Nazi mobs attacked Jews in their homes and in streets, destroyed businesses
VI.Japan’s Aggression
  1. Why and How
  2. Constitution left military to govern itself outside of parliament’s control
  3. 1929- When economy crashed military took control and ruled in Emperor Hirohito’s name
  4. Motivation for expansion (continuation of imperialism)
  5. Solve economic problems
  6. Raw materials and markets
  7. Population outlet

B.When and Where

  1. 1931- Invaded Manchuria
  2. League of Nations protested
  3. 1933- Japan withdraws from League
  4. 1937- Took over Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing
  5. Full scale war with China
  6. Mao led Communists, Jiang Jeshi Nationalists
  7. Japan was a ruthless conqueror

i.Horrible atrocities, especially in Nanjing

  1. European Aggression and Appeasement
  2. Italy
  3. 1935- Mussolini invades Ethiopia
  4. Haile Selassie appeals to League who condemned the attack but did nothing to stop it
  5. Italy’s modern technology no match for Ethiopia
  6. Germany
  7. Hitler announces he will rearm in violation of Versailles Treaty, 1935
  8. League mildly condemns
  9. March 1936- German troops moved into Rhineland
  10. Britain and France did nothing to stop him

i.Appeasement- giving in to aggressor to keep peace

ii.Hitler later admitted he would have turned around had he been challenged

  1. Axis Powers
  2. October. 1936 Italy and Germany became allies
  3. Nov. 1936 Japan added
  4. Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
  5. Nationalists (Fascists) led by Franco vs. Republicans
  6. Germany and Italy aid Franco; Britain, France, and U.S did nothing; only Soviets helped Republicans
  7. 1939- Fascists won
  8. March 1938, Germany peacefully absorbs Austria
  9. Known as Anschluss, part of plan to unite German people
  10. Violation of Versailles; League did nothing
  11. Munich Conference
  12. Hitler wanted Sudetenland (border of Czechoslovakia) because of large Germanic population living there
  13. Britain and France agreed to let him take it as long as he promised to respect Czechoslovakia’s new borders
  14. classic appeasement
  15. Czechoslovakia not even consulted, were willing to fight if Allies supported them
  16. 1939, less than six months after agreement, Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia
  1. Non-Aggression Pact
  2. Signed by Germany and Soviet Union
  3. Agreed not to fight for 10 years
  4. Secretly divided eastern Europe
  5. Russia would get Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, also Eastern Poland
  6. Germany gets Poland and Southeastern Europe
  7. Germany wants Polish Corridor
  8. Historically theirs and had large German population
  9. Allies finally rejected Hitler and told him it would mean war.
  10. Sept. 1, 1939- Hitler invades Poland
  11. Blitzkrieg- “lightening attack”
  12. Airplanes and tanks quickly overwhelm enemy
  13. Massive infantry follows
  14. Sept. 3, 1939Britain and France declare war
  15. Soviet Aggression
  16. Sept. 17, 1939 Soviets invaded eastern Poland
  17. Then invaded Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
  18. Did not resist
  19. Finland struggled
  20. Stalin sent 1 million troops to Finland
  21. Thought they would win quickly so did not bring winter equipment - big mistake
  22. Finns attacked wearing skis
  23. Soviets out numbered and out gunned but Finns put up good fight causing heavy Soviet losses
  24. March 1940, Soviet win
  25. The Phony War
  26. After declarations of war, French and British mobilized troops to Maginot Line (system of fortification along German border)
  27. Germans held at Siegfried Line
  28. Sat looking at each other for months
  29. Sitzkried or phony war
  30. April 9, 1940-Germany invades Denmark in just 4 hours, Denmark falls
  31. Then invades Norway which resists for two months
  32. The Fall of France
  33. May 1940, swept through Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
  34. “Squeezed through” Maginot Line in the Ardennes forest
  35. Dunkirk
  36. Allied forces trapped at beaches of Dunkirk
  37. Makeshift armada of Royal Navy ships and civilian boats transported 338,000 troops to England under heavy German bombings
  38. May 26- June 4, 1940
  39. FranceFalls
  40. After Dunkirk French defense collapsed
  41. June 14 Paris Fell
  42. June 22 France surrendered
  43. Northern half governed by Germany
  44. VichyFrance
  45. Southern half governed by French WWI hero Philippe Petain; puppet
  46. Charles de Gaulle
  47. Set up government in exile in London
  48. Organized Free French military forces
  49. Battle of Britain
  50. Winston Churchill became new Prime Minister of Britain
  51. Much tougher than appeasing Chamberlain
  52. With continental Europe under control Hitler turned his attention to Britain for invasion
  53. First needed to knock out Royal Air Force (RAF)
  54. Summer 1940 Luftwaffe began bombing GB
  55. 1st bombed airfields and aircraft factories
  56. Sept 7, 1940 switched to bombing cities especially London

i.Attempted to destroy morale

  1. British technological advantages
  2. Radar- could track incoming planes
  3. Enigma – German code machine

i.British cracked code

  1. British held out until May 1941 when Hitler gave up
  1. Mediterranean and Eastern Front
  2. North Africa
  3. Sept. 1940 - Mussolini attacked British in Egypt to take Suez Canal
  4. Key to mid-east oil fields
  5. Britain strikes back
  6. February 1941- push Italians 500 miles back and capture 130,000 Italian prisoners
  7. Hitler sent Rommel to help
  8. Afrika Korps pushed British to Tobruk, Libya

i.Then defeated British there after initial loss

ii.Big loss for British

  1. Balkans
  2. Hitler wanted Southeastern Europe as base for invasion of Russia
  3. Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania gave in to threat
  4. Yugoslavia, and Greece resisted 11 and 17 days respectively
  5. Soviet Union- Operation Barbarossa, June 22, 1941
  6. Germans pushed 500 miles in with little resistance
  7. Scorched earth by Russians
  8. Sept 8, 1941- Siege of Leningrad
  9. Hitler cut off food and bombed food warehouses
  10. 1 million of 2.5 million died in winter 1941-1942

i.Refused to surrender

  1. Oct 2, 1941- drove towards Moscow
  2. Germans troops not prepared for winter
  3. Russian Georgi Zhukov, general, counter attacked
  4. Germans ordered not to retreat

i.Held out until March 1943 losing 500,000

  1. U.S Aids Allies
  2. Neutrality Acts: illegal to lend money or sell arms to warring nations,
  3. Gradually began supplying more and more arms and money
  4. U.S. Navy began escorting ships
  5. Atlantic Charter- Roosevelt/Churchill joint declaration of freedom of trade and self-determination
  6. Germans shot U.S. ships, U.S. ships shot German subs in undeclared naval war
  7. Holocaust
  8. Hatred of Jews
  9. Master Race
  10. Aryans superior race
  11. Everyone else inferior, worst of all, Jews
  12. Anti-Semitism had deep root in European History
  13. Blamed Jews for all of country’s problems
  14. Defeat in WWI
  15. Economic problems after WWI
  16. Intense propaganda
  17. Holocaust Begins
  18. Nuremberg Laws 1935
  19. Deprived Jews of the rights of German citizen
  20. Forbade marriage between Jews and non-jews
  21. Later limited types of work Jews could do
  22. Kristallnacht “Night of Broken Glass” or “Crystal Night”
  23. Herschel Grynszpan, German Jew in Paris, shot German official after news of fathers deportation to Poland
  24. November 9, 1938- storm troopers attacked Jewish businesses and synagogues
  25. Close to 100 Jews murdered
  26. Streets covered in glass from business windows being smashed giving the night its name
  27. Jewish Refugees
  28. After Kristallnacht 1000’s wanted to leave Germany
  29. At first Hitler saw emigration as a good solution to the “Jewish Problem”
  30. After admitting tens of thousands countries like Britain, France, and U.S. closed doors
  31. Perception by Germany was that all countries had dislike of Jews
  32. Ghettos
  33. When emigration failed he began moving Jews to isolated cities called ghettos
  34. sealed off with barbed wire and stone walls
  35. Hoped Jews inside would die from starvation or disease
  36. Jewish people hung-on
  37. Formed resistance organizations
  38. Produced plays, taught school, kept records
  39. Final Solution
  40. Genocide- systematic killing of entire people
  41. Aryan racial superiority and purity needed to eliminate inferior “subhuman” races and nationalities
  42. Pimoa (gypsies), Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, disabled, incurably ill, and especially Jews
  43. Holocaust
  44. First SS shot ‘inferiors’ in places they conquered
  45. Those not shot were brought to concentration camps or slave-labor prisons
  46. Prisoners worked 7-days a week as slaves for SS or German businesses
  47. Severely beaten or killed for not working fast enough
  48. Starvation rations

i.Most prisoners lost 50 pounds in first few months

  1. Extermination Camps
  2. Huge gas chambers could kill 6000 people a day
  3. Auschwitz was the largest

i.Weak separated from strong and told to take shower

  1. instead of water, cyanide gas
  1. Later installed crematoriums to burn bodies
  2. 6 million European Jews died in death camps and Nazi massacres

i.Less than 4 million survived

ii.Survivors forever changed

  1. Total of 13 million died
  1. PearHarbor
  2. War with China very costly
  3. Japan needed more resources
  4. Looked to European colonies in Southeast Asia
  5. Invaded French Indochina in July 1941

i.U.S. placed oil embargo on Japan

  1. Wanted to take Europe and U.S. by surprise in order to capture PacificIslands
  2. Isoroku Yamamoto, Admiral of Japanese Navy, planned massive almost simultaneous attacks on British, Dutch, and U.S. possessions including Pearl Harbor
  3. Dec 7, 1941 – Day of Infamy
  4. Japanese surprise attack on U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor decimated it
  5. U.S. declared war
  6. Japan also attacked Guam and Wake Island (U.s.) Thailand, and Hong Kong
  1. Japanese Victories
  2. Philippines
  3. January 1942 began invasion, won in April
  4. Malay Peninsula and Singapore in Feb. 1942
  5. Dutch East Indies and Burma early 1942
  6. Prepared to strike India
  7. Treated conquered poorly as captives
  8. Bataan Death March
  9. Example of poor treatment of POW’s
  10. Believed surrender dishonorable
  11. Killed 16,000 on 50 mile march
  12. The Allies Strike Back (mainly Americans and Australians)
  13. Doolittle Raids- 16 B-25 bombers in April 1942 bombed Japan
  14. Little damage was done, but point was made
  15. Japan was not invincible
  16. Battle of Coral Sea
  17. Japan was advancing toward Australia
  18. The Allies cut them off at the Battle of Coral Sea
  19. Battle fought almost entirely with planes taking off from aircraft carriers
  20. Allies took heavy losses but won the battle, kept Japan from Australia
  21. Battle of Midway- June 7, 1942
  22. Yamamoto personally led the attack on this key U.S. island hoping to engage U.S. Pacific fleet
  23. Admiral Chester Nimitz knew attack was coming because U.S. had broken Japanese code
  24. Hid just out of view and launched surprise attack
  25. Huge success, greatly crippled Japanese fleet

i.Equalizer after Pearl Harbor

  1. Island Hopping
  2. McArthur developed island hopping theory as commander of Pacific ground forces
  3. Bypass heavily fortified islands and take weaker ones that are closer to Japan
  1. Battle of Guadalcanal, August 7, 1942
  2. Japanese were building large base there
  3. Very bloody 6 months
  4. U.S. finally won
  1. The Tide Turns
  2. North Africa
  3. June 1942 Rommel advanced to Tobruk, Libya
  4. British loss, sent General Bernard Montgomery to Africa
  5. In meantime Rommel pushed to El Alamein, Egypt
  6. October 23, 1942 “Monty” launches full frontal attack on Rommel who is dug in at El Alamein
  7. Battled until Nov. 4 when Rommel began retreat
  8. Operation Torch
  9. Nov. 8, 1942 - 100,000 Allies, mostly American, landed in Morocco and Algeria, led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower
  10. May 1943, Eisenhower and Montgomery pinched Rommel and captured his army
  11. Stalingrad
  12. German army had stalled at Leningrad and lost at Moscow
  13. Especially tough winter of 1941
  14. Summer 1942- Hitler sent 6th Army under Paulus to capture CaucasusMtn. oil fields and Stalingrad
  15. Battle of Stalingrad
  16. August 23, 1942 began nightly bombings

i.Russians told to defend to the death, city reduced to rubble

  1. Nov. 1942, Germans controlled 90% of the city
  2. As winter set in Stalin ordered counteroffensive that trapped Germans inside ruined city

i.Hitler would not allow Paulus to retreat

  1. Feb 2, 1943 - 90,000 soldiers surrendered out of original 330,000, frost bitten and starving

i.99% of city destroyed, 1 million Russians dead but Germans on retreat

  1. The invasion of Italy
  2. Stalin wanted Allies to open second against Germany in France

i.Instead decided to invade Italy first

  1. July 10, 1943

i.After defeating Germans in North Africa, invaded Sicily which fell within a month

  1. July 25, 1943, King Emmanuel III had Mussolini arrested

i.Sept. 3, 1943Italy surrendered

  1. German forces continued to fight in Italy until Germany fell

i.Put Mussolini in charge of Northern Italy

ii.June 4, 1944 Allies took Rome

iii.April 27, 1945-Italian resistance fighters ambushed truck containing Mussolini, shot him the next day

  1. Victory in Europe
  2. D-day Invasion June 6, 1944
  3. Began preparing for invasion of France from England in 1943, ready by May 1944
  4. More than 3 million troops, and thousands of planes, boats, tanks, and landing craft were in position
  5. Eisenhower was the commander, he planned on attacking beaches of Normandy
  6. Created fake army to look like attacking Calais to keep Germans guessing
  7. June 6, 1944- Operation Overlord began, largest sea land attack in history, very deadly
  8. Within one month 1 million additional troops landed
  9. Retaking of Europe
  10. July 25, 1944 Patton’s 3rd Army punched a hole in German defenses at Saint Lo
  11. By end of August took Paris
  12. By Sept. liberated France and Low Countries
  1. Battle of the Bulge
  2. Last effort of Hitler to defend Germany

i.tried to break enemy supply lines in half and separate British and Americans

ii.Caught Allies off guard and pushed into Allied lines but eventually repelled

  1. Germany’s Unconditional Surrender
  2. Soviets and Allies converged on Berlin
  3. April 30, 1945 Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide
  4. May 7, 1945- General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender from German military

i.May 9, 1945 armistice officially signed V-E Day

  1. Victory in the Pacific
  2. Leyte Gulf
  3. After MacArthur landed in Philippines Japan sent entire fleet to destroy American Navy in Leyte Gulf and there cut off American ground forces
  4. Entire Japanese fleet destroyed and navy eliminated from war only kamikazes left to attack Allied ships
  5. Iwo Jima and Okinawa
  6. March 1945- Iwo Jima
  7. April 1945- Okinawa ended June 21
  8. Both very bloody, Japanese fought to death – no surrender
  9. Now within striking distance of main islands of Japan
  10. Atomic Bomb
  11. Only thing left was getting Japan to surrender
  12. 2 options
  13. Invasion- very costly in lives, Japanese fight to death
  14. Atomic bombs- quick finish though still deadly
  15. August 6, 1945-Hiroshima

August 9, 1945-Nagasaki

August 1945- Japan surrendered