WORLD WAR II

1939 - 1945
Began in Europe
Resentment in Germany following the end of

World War I; economic hardship

Rise of the Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler;
ruling party from 1933
1938 Germany invaded Austria
March 1939 invaded Czechoslovakia

 September 1939 invades Poland

Political treaty between Poland, UK and France
The Germans quickly invaded Denmark and Norway

(April 1940)
Luxemburg
the Netherlands and Belgium (both in May)
conquered France by June.
The Allies tried to disrupt them but failed

AXIS VERSUS ALLIED

POWERS
Axis allies Germany, Italy, and Japan
Allied powers UK, France, China, Canada
Soviet Union joined in June 1941 after

Germany attacked it
the U.S. joined in 1941 after the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor
Neutral countries included: Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland

WHO SERVED?
The 1939 National Services (Armed Forces) Act

forced all males between 18 and

41whoweren'tworking in a reserved
occupation (e.g. dock workers, bakers,
scientists, railway workers and utility workers
water, gas, electricity) were called up to do
National Service and fight for their country.
Over 24,517,000 soldiers (from both sides)
died during the war.

THE HOME FRONT

During World War II, Britain
was called the 'Home Front'
because the war affected
peoples lives at home as
well as those out fighting
on the front line in Europe.
Everybody helped in the
'war effort' in some way or
other.

EVACUATION
Evacuation means

leaving a place.

THE WAR EFFORT

Everyone in Britain was asked to help win the war
by making extra efforts at home

FOOD RATIONING
German submarines
attacked many merchant
ships bringing food from
other countries into Britain
as they were slow and
lightly armed. This led to a
shortage of some foods as it
was much more important
to carry war materials like
oil on guns on them.

OTHER RATIONING

Clothes rationing began

on 1st June 1941 as
textile factories
switched to war work,
making parachutes and
soldiers uniforms
instead.

FARMING
With so many men at war,
and with food in short
supply, farming became
very difficult.
Young adult children often
took on the roles that their
fathers had filled on the
farms before the war.

HOME GUARD
The Home Guard were
volunteers who
defended the five
thousand miles of
Britain coastline in the
event of an invasion
by Germany. They
were originally called
the Local Defence
Volunteers.

BLACKOUTS
At night, a blackout was
ordered to make it harder for
German bombers to locate cities
and town from the air.

AIR RAIDS
As much of
Britain was
within range of
German
bombers, the
threat of air-raids
on the towns and
cities was very
high.

D-DAY
D-Day took place on 6th
June 1944. It marked the
start of the Battle of
Normandy when the Allies
(Britain, Canada, and
America) landed on the
beaches of Normandy, in
northern France, to start to
liberate (free) mainland
Europe from German

V-E DAY
Following the successful DDay landings, the Allied
forces had gradually forced
the Germans to retreat from
(leave) many of the
countries which they had
occupied in Europe.

THE BLITZ
The appearance of
German bombers in
the skies over
London during the
afternoon of
September 7, 1940
heralded a tactical
shift in Hitler's
attempt to subdue
Great Britain.