Topic 8.

8
World War II
I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We have before us an
ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of
struggle and of suffering. ... You ask, what is our aim?
I can answer in one word: It is victory.
-Winston Churchill, speech to the British people, May 13, 1940
 Essential Question: How did technology and
innovation affect the course of World War II and
the 20th century?

• World War II took place in two major regions of the globe, or

theaters of war-the European theater and the Pacific theater.
• The war pitted the Axis powers against the Allies.
• The Axis powers consisted mainly of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
• All had fascist governments dedicated to military conquest.
• Adolf Hitler of Germany, Benito Mussolini of Italy, and General
Hideki Tojo of Japan led the Axis nations.
 Essential Question: How did technology and
innovation affect the course of World War II and
the 20th century?
• The major nations of the Allies were Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
• France's exiled government continued to assist the Allies even after its surrendered and the
country was occupied by Germany.
• Other European governments-in-exile supported the Allies as well.
• The British Commonwealth nations of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand also fought with the
Allies.
• Winston Churchill of Britain, Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Joseph Stalin of the
Soviet Union led the Allies.
• Britain and the United States were both democracies, while the Soviet Union was a Communist
dictatorship.
• The three nations decided to put their political differences aside, however, to combat a common
enemy.
 Topic 8.8 World War II

• Steve Heimler https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfrhE76B75o

I. World War II Begins
 I. World War II Begins
• In 1937, Japan invaded and conquered a large part of eastern China,
instigating the initial phase of the war in the Pacific.
• In Europe, Germany prepared to seize Poland. Germany relied on a strategy
called blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
• Blitzkrieg used a combination of tanks, troops, and air power to overwhelm
the oppositions defenses as rapidly as possible.
• Once the Germans broke through enemy lines, they used maximum force to
intimidate the civilian population and crush the opposing army.
• German officers became experts in blitzkrieg tactics.
• Between 1939 and 1941, Germany conquered Poland, Yugoslavia Denmark,
and the Netherlands.
 I. World War II Begins – Polish
Campaign of 1939
• World War Il began in Europe with the German invasion of Poland on
September. I, 1939.
• In the face of such blatant Nazi aggression, Britain and France could no longer
avoid war.
• Honoring their commitment to Poland, they declared war on Germany two
days later on September 3.
• They could do little to help Poland, though.
• In line with the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany’s nonaggression treaty
with the Soviet Union, the Soviets had invaded Poland from the east on
September 17; quickly occupying that half of the country.
• On September 27, Poland surrendered.
 I. World War II Begins – France
Surrenders
• From October 1939 through April 1940, there was very little
actual fighting in the west, during what historians refer to as the
Phony War.
• However, in April 1940, the Germans used blitzkrieg tactics in the
west.
• After quickly gaining control of the Low Countries (Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg), Germany invaded France in May
1940.
• France surrendered to Germany on June 24, 1940.
• Marshal Pétain signed the armistice on behalf of France.
I. World War II Begins – France
Surrenders
• In return for his cooperation, Hitler gave him
official control of southern France, which became
known as Vichy France, named for the town that
was home to Pétain's collaborationist
government.
• Germany controlled northern France, including
the city of Paris.
• In theory, Vichy was a free state.
• In reality, it was a puppet state of the Nazis.
Pétain simply enacted Nazi laws.
I. World War II Begins – France
Surrenders
• After France's surrender to Germany,
General Charles de Gaulle began to
organize a French army in exile.
• In France, a strong resistance
movement worked to undermine
German rule and helped the Allies by
providing intelligence on German
movements.
 I. World War II Begins – France
Surrenders
• In return for his cooperation, Hitler gave him official control of southern
France, which became known as Vichy France, named for the town that was
home to Pétain's collaborationist government.
• Germany controlled northern France, including the city of Paris.
• In theory, Vichy was a free state.
• In reality, it was a puppet state of the Nazis. Pétain simply enacted Nazi laws.
• After France's surrender to Germany, General Charles de Gaulle began to
organize a French army in exile.
• In France, a strong resistance movement worked to undermine German rule
and helped the Allies by providing intelligence on German movements.
 I. World War II Begins – Operation
Barbarossa
• On June 22, 1941, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, a three-
pronged invasion of the Soviet Union.
• Hitler had never intended to honor his non-aggression pact with Stalin.
• He needed Russia’s natural resources, especially iron, coal, and oil, to
support his army.
• He also saw the Soviet Union as a threat to his control of Eastern Europe.
• More than 3 million soldiers attacked the Soviet Union.
• The Eastern Front stretched nearly 1,500 miles from the Baltic Sea in the
north to the Black Sea in the south.
 I. World War II Begins – Operation
Barbarossa
• Germany anticipated an easy victory.
• The Soviets, however, rallied after a series of initial losses and put
up surprising resistance, forcing the Germans to endure a Russian
winter.
• Soviet forces repelled a German attack on Moscow in the winter of
1941.
• Germany continued to occupy parts of the Soviet Union until
1944, but they were never able to subdue the country completely.
II. Path to Allied Victory
 II. Path to Allied Victory
• The United States entered World War II with the
Japanese bombing of the US naval base at Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
• Immediately after the attack, the United States
declared war on Japan; Germany and Italy declare
war on the United States, which then responded in
kind.
 II. Path to Allied Victory
• Although Germany had a highly trained army, the Allies
enjoyed significant advantages.
• The United States was rich in natural resources especially
oil.
• The United States also had a large population that could
be mobilized for war and manufacturing industries that
could produce weapons and other war material.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
Britain Holds Out
• Under the leadership of Winston Churchill, the British had
proven that they had the will to resist Germany.
• They withstood severe aerial bombardment during the
Battle of Britain from July to November 1940.
• The battle took place almost entirely in the air, and
Britain's Royal Air Force demonstrated it had the skill and
determination to protect the British Isles from German
invasion.
II. Path to Allied Victory –
Russian Endurance
• Russians also resisted the
German onslaught.
• In December 1941, Soviet forces
drove Germans from Moscow.
• During the Siege of Leningrad,
which lasted from September
1941 to January 1945, Soviet
civilians and military endured
brutal conditions rather than
surrender to the Nazis.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
Russian Endurance
• The most significant battle took place at Stalingrad.
• The Germans launched a massive attack in the summer of 1942 in an
effort to seize the Volga River and the oil fields of the Caucasus.
• By the spring of 1943, the Germans had lost the entire 6 th Army (more
than 750,00 casualties) and the Russians had held Stalingrad.
• From that point, the Germans were on the defensive on the Eastern
Front.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The War in North Africa
• Hitler regarded the conquest of North Africa as key to the
control of the shipping lanes of the Mediterranean and the
Suez Canal.
• He wanted access to the oil fields of the Middle East in
order to fuel German tanks and planes, and he wanted to
deny that oil to the British.
• After a four-year battle for North Africa, the Allies won
control of the region in 1943.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The War in Italy
• After the conquest of North Africa, the Allies turned to Italy.
• If they could seize the airfields in Rome, they could launch
bombing raids on Berlin from there instead of London.
• The shorter distance would conserve fuel and lives.
• British and American troops invaded the island of Sicily in July
1943, a few months before Mussolini was overthrown.
• After a year of hard fighting, the Allies controlled Rome.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The War in Western Europe
• On June 6, 1914, Allied troops, led by U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower
and British General Bernard Montgomery, landed on Normandy Beach on
the coast of France.
• Known as D-Day, the invasion was the first step in the Allied effort to
liberate Western Europe from Nazi control and ultimately defeat Germany.
• Approximately 175,000 Allied troops faced 850,000 German soldiers.
• The two sides fought for more than a month.
• Air support tipped the battle in the Allies' favor.
• Allied bombing raids pushed the Germans back.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The War in Western Europe
• On July 25, the Allies broke through German lines.
• Within a month, Allied forces had liberated most of France, Belgium,
and the Netherlands.
• In December, the German army attempted to stop the Allied
advance at the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium.
• Although the Allies suffered about 75,000 casualties.
• The German toll was even higher, and the assault failed.
• The Allies continued their advance on Berlin from the west.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The War in Western Europe
• Meanwhile, Soviet forces drove the Germans out of Eastern
Europe.
• They march toward Berlin from the east.
• Facing certain defeat, Hitler and several of his high ranking
officers committed suicide.
• On May 7th, 1945, the German army surrendered to Allied forces.
• The war in Europe was over.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The Yalta Conference
• On February 4, 1945, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met at the Yalta
Conference in the state of Crimea in order to discuss the Allied
occupation and treatment of Germany and how to deal with liberated
countries: They agreed on the following.
• France should take part in the administration of Germany after the war .
• Germany as a whole, and Berlin in particular, would be divided into four occupation
zones administered by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France.
• Eastern European countries liberated from Germany would be allowed to hold free
elections.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The Yalta Conference
• Stalin also agreed that the Soviet Union would join the Allies in the war
in the Pacific against Japan.
• All parties agreed that Germany would be required to pay reparations,
but the reparations would not be excessive, and the civilian population
would be allowed to rebuild their country as long as they accepted the
terms of the Allied victory.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The Yalta Conference
• However, the Soviets did not fully honor the promise of free elections in
Eastern Europe.
• Stalin wanted pro-Soviet governments in that region to serve as a buffer
between the Soviet Union and Germany.
• Even before the end of the war, it became clear to Roosevelt and Churchill
that Eastern Europe would become part of the communist bloc of nations.
• Nevertheless, the Yalta Conference did foster peaceful cooperation among
the Allies in Western Europe and helped set the terms for the German
surrender.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
The End of the Pacific War
• In July 1945, the Allied Powers met at Potsdam, Germany, to discuss
issues regarding occupied Europe as well as the final defeat of Japan.
• The Allies and some Japanese leaders recognized that Japan was almost
defeated.
• In August the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
• Japan formally surrendered on September 2.
 II. Path to Allied Victory –
Unprecedented Casualties
• The death toll both on and off the battlefield in World War I was astounding.
• There had never before been a war with so many losses.
III. The Technology of Industrial
Warfare
III. The Technology of Industrial
Warfare
• What made World War II so much more deadly than
any other war in history?
• The main players in the war devoted every aspect of
their societies to the war effort.
• In this atmosphere of "total warfare," new military
technologies could be produced, and established
technologies could be enhanced at a pace never
before imagined.
 III. The Technology of Industrial
Warfare
• Out of this atmosphere of industrialized warfare, the
Nazis created an efficient mechanism for the wholesale
murder of the majority of Europe’s Jews, as well as that
of other "undesirables" - the Roma people, Poles,
Communists, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and
others. (See Topic 8.9. for more about the genocide
perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II.)
 III. The Technology of Industrial
Warfare
• After World War II, the Allied cooperation continued between the
United States and Europe.
• However, the Soviet Union broke away from its wartime allies and
hostility replaced cooperation.
• This led to a long-standing "cold war' between the superpowers-
the United States and the Soviet Union.
• The superpowers' development and proliferation of nuclear
weapons in the 19405 became a threat to all countries.
• Nuclear war became the next possibility, and that threat continues.