WORLD WAR II

SEPT 1, 1939-SEPT 2, 1945

• When you go home
• Tell them for us and say
• For your tomorrow
• We gave our today
• *Chiseled outside a cemetery on Iwo Jima by unknown person.
 Important Dates:
• Sept 1, 1939- Germany invaded Poland
• Sept 17, 1939- Russia invaded Poland
• Sept 28, 1939- Poland surrenders
• Sept 28, 1939/April 9, 1940-Phony war. No
actual fighting. Countries preparing for
war.
• Dec 7. 1941-Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.
 Key Dates Cont:
• May 7, 1945- Germany surrendered
• August 6, 1945- Atomic bomb dropped on
Hiroshima.
• August 9, 1945- Atomic bomb dropped on
Nagasaki.
• Sept 2, 1945- Japan surrendered
 KEY POLITICAL LEADERS:
• United States •
• President of the
United States
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
 Harry S. Truman
• President of the United
States 1945-1952
Neville Chamberlain
• • Neville Chamberlain:
Prime Minister of
Great Britain
Winston Churchill
• • Prime Minister of
Great Britain.
 Joseph Stalin
• • Dictator of Soviet
Union/Communists
Nikita Khrushchev
•
• • France
• Charles de Gaulle-
leader of Free-French
 Adolf Hitler
• Dictator of Germany •
• Henri-Philippe Petain •
• Leader of Vichy
Government in France
• • Japan
• Emperor Hirohito
 Japan
• Prime Minister •
• Hideki Tojo
• Italy •
• Benito Mussolini
• Dictator of Italy
 Causes of World War II:

• 1.After World War II, Germany had to sign the

Treaty of Versailles. Under the terms of the
Treaty signed unconditionally by Germany , the
Germans had to admit that they had started the
war, lost colonies overseas and at home(Rhineland
& Sudetenland), and they had to pay reparations
(money) to the allied countries for the damages as
a result of the war. The German military was also
limited in size.
 Causes Continued:
• The Germans were very angry as a result of
the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. It left
the door open for the Nazi party under
Adolf Hitler. He gave the German people
hope of better things to come. Began
building for war. Convinced the German
people that their problems were caused by
the Jews. Responsible for the Holocaust.
 Causes Continued:
• 2. Appeasement (Pacify):
• -To give into a country in order to keep
the peace. In 1936 Germany took over the
Rhineland. Annexed (add to) Austria in
1938. Annexed Czechoslovakia in March,
1939. France and Great Britain did nothing
to stop this.
 Causes Continued:
• 3. Nationalism
• 4. Economic Problems- Inflation in 1923
destroyed value of money in Germany. U.S.
helped restore German economy.
• 5. The United States entered the war because of
the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Japan wanted to
control resources located in the Pacific and Asia.
They needed natural resources. Believed the U.S.
would sue for peace quickly.
 Key Military Leaders:
• • Dwight D.
Eisenhower-General
U.S. Army.
• Leader of all allied
forces in Europe
 United States
• • George Patton
• General, U.S. Army
 United States
• Douglas MacArthur •
• General, U.S. Army
 United States
• • Mark Clark
• U.S. Army
• General
 United States
• Omar Bradley •
• General, U.S. Army
 United States
• • Chester Nimitz
• Admiral, United States
Navy
 United States
• William “Bull” Halsey •
• Admiral, U.S. Navy
• Paul Tibbits •
• Pilot of Enola Gay
• 1st Atomic Bomb
dropped on
Hiroshima,
• Aug 6, 1945
• • George Marshall
• General U.S. Army
• Lewis “Chesty” Puller •
• United States Marines
 United States
• • Holland Smith
• United States Marines
 Britain
• • Bernard Montgomery
• General, British Army
• Lord Mountbatten •
• General
• British Army
 Axis Military Leaders: Germany
• • Erwin Rommel
• General
 Germany
• Gerd von Rundstedt •
• General
 Germany
• • Adolf Eichmann
• General
• In charge of
overseeing the
Holocaust
 Japan
• General •
• Japanese Army
• Yamamoto
 Countries Involved:
Allied
• United States
• France
• Great Britain
• Poland
• Russia
• Canada
• Australia
• China
 Axis
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
• Austria
Major Battles of the European
Theater:
 Phony War
• Time period after the blitzkrieg (lightning
war) invasion of Poland.
• September, 1939/April, 1940
• No fighting
• Sitzkrieg (sitting war)
 Invasion of Low Countries
• April, Germany invades Norway
• May 10, 1940- invade the Low
Countries(Belgium, Luxembourg, 7& the
Netherlands)
• Germany went around the Maginot Line
(Heavy French fortifications)
 German invasion of France thru Belgium,
bypassing Maginot Line

•
 Retreat at Dunkirk
• May 26/June 4, 1940
• British saved 338,000 men to fight another
day
 Evacuation of Dunkirk
•
 Go To:
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/in
dex.shtml
German air bases used to bomb
England
•
Battle of Britain
• July to May, 1940-41
• British airforce
defeated the German
airforce
• British were greatly
outnumbered
German Messerschmitt 109
•
British Spitfire
•
 "Never in the field of
human conflict, was so
much owed to so few.“

Winston Churchill
Operation Sea Lion
• German plan to invade
England.
• British victory in the
Battle of Britain
stopped plan for
invasion.
 Operation Barbarossa
• June 22, 1941
• German invasion of
3 million soldiers, Russia
3580 tanks, • Severe Russian winter
7184 artillery guns,
1830 planes • German soldiers had
750,000 horses summer uniforms
• German attack
consisted of:
 Operation Barbarossa
• “We have only to kick in the front door
and the whole rotten Russian edifice
will come tumbling down.” (Hitler)
 Operation Barbarosa
• By Day 17 of the attack, 300,000
Russians had been captured, 2,500
tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250
aircraft captured or destroyed. This was
only in the territory attacked by Army
Group Centre. To any military observer,
the Russian Army was on the verge of a
total collapse and Moscow seemed
destined to fall.
 Invasion of Russia

•
 Battle of Stalingrad

• September, 1942/February, 1943

• Russians win!
• Some consider this battle to be turning point
in Europe because the Germans lost large
number of soldiers and the army was in full
retreat.
German Army Russian Army
Led by von
Led by Zhukov
Paulus
1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men
10, 290 artillery 13,541 artillery
guns guns
675 tanks 894 tanks
1,216 planes 1,115 planes
Supreme Commander to 6 Army, January 24, 1943

"Surrender is forbidden. 6 Army will hold their

positions to the last man and the last round and by
their heroic endurance will make an unforgettable
contribution towards the establishment of a defensive
front and the salvation of the Western world.“

Hitler's communication with von Paulus.

 The War Conferences:
• Casablanca- • Dumbarton Oaks-
January14/Jan 29, August/October,
1943: Churchill & 1944:discussed
Roosevelt present. developing of United
Declared for Nations
unconditional
surrender by Germany
 The War Conferences:
• Potsdam Conf- July • Tehran Conf- Nov
16/August 2, 1945: 28/Dec 1, 1943:
attended by the Big Stalin, Roosevelt, &
Three (Churchill, Churchill. Discussed
Stalin, Truman). a second front in
Discussed control of Europe. Russia
Germany. entering war against
Japan.
 The War Conferences:
• Yalta Conf-Feb 4/Feb
11, 1945: Stalin,
Churchill, &
Roosevelt. Russia
agreed to enter war
against Japan. Russia
received land in
Eastern Europe.
Battle of the Bulge
• December 16,
1944/January, 1945
• Last major German
offensive
• Allied forces defeat
the Germans
 D-Day, June 6, 1944
• Invasion of German occupied France
• Operation Overlord
• 5,000 ships
• 150,000 men ashore after first day
• Omaha Beach-over 2,400 U.S. casualties
Pacific Theater:
Pearl Harbor
• December 7, 1941
• 2,400 casualties
• 8 battleships sunk or
damaged
• 6 will fight again
 Propaganda
•
 Doolittle Raid
• April 18, 1942 • Lieutenant Colonel
• Raid on Japan Jimmy Doolittle
• First attack against • 16 bombers
mainland Japan • Launched from
• Gave Americans a aircraft carriers
boost.
B-25 taking off from Hornet
•
 Battle of the Coral Sea
• May, 1942
• First naval battle in history in which ships
did not see each other. Fought entirely by
carrier based airplanes.
• U.S. turns back Japanese invasion fleet.
• Japan planned on invading New Guinea.
• U.S. carrier Lexington sunk.
 Battle of Midway
• June 4-6, 1942
• Small island in the Pacific
• Airfield located here
• Considered turning point of war in the
Pacific
• United States navy sank 4 Japanese carriers.
• From this point on, Japanese were on the
defensive.
Yorktown listing

•
Japanese carrier Hiryu

•
U.S. carrier Yorktown on fire!

•
“Dauntless” dive bombers

•
Destroyer Hammann sinking

•
 Japanese attack Yorktown

•
 Battle of Guadalcanal
• August 7, 1942/Feb, 1943
• Japan was building an airfield.
• First invasion by American military on
Japanese held territory.
• Difficult battle
• United States wins
Japanese torpedo bombers

•
 USS Quincy burning and
illuminated by Japanese spotlight
•
Henderson Field

•
 Battle of Iwo Jima
• Feb 19, 1945/March 26, 1945
• 6,891 Americans killed
• 18,070 wounded
• 22,000 Japanese soldiers on island/only 212
will survive
 Mt. Suribachi
•
 Battle of Okinawa
• April 1, 1945/July 2, 1945
• 7,373 U.S. soldiers killed
• 32,056 wounded
• 107,000 Japanese killed
• 36 American ships sunk by Kamikaze’s
Kamikaze
•
Kamikaze
•
 Dropping of the Atomic Bombs
• August 6, 1945
• Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
• “Little Boy”
• 80,000 killed
• August 9, 1945
• Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
• “Fat Man”
• Estimates as high as 87,000 killed
•On August 6th 1945, the Enola Gay, a USA bomber,
dropped a bomb called "Little Boy" on Hiroshima. For
extracts from the plane's flight log - click here
•80,000 people were killed instantly
•Out of the city’s 55 hospitals, only 3 were usable
after the blast.
•90% of all doctors and nurses in Hiroshima were
killed or injured
•Radiation claimed many more lives after the bomb
was dropped.
•48,000 out of 76,000 buildings were destroyed.
•The initial heat blast was 900 times hotter than the
sun.
•Bodies were vaporized underneath the bomb blast.
•By 1950, 200,000 people had died as a result of the
bomb.
•Between 1950 and 1980, a further 97,000 people
died from cancers associated with the radiation
caused by "Little Boy".
Little Boys

•
Fat Man
Key Weapons:
Rockets
• Germans
• V1
V 2 Rocket
•
 Jets
•
 Me 262
•
 Me 163 Komet
•
 Gotho go 229 (Flying Wing)
•
 Atomic Bomb
• Little Boy
• Fat Man
 Helicopters:
•
• Sonar
• Radar
 Aircraft Carrier
*Became most important naval vessel of
World War II.
*United States had six carriers at beginning of
war.
*Japan had 10 carriers.
*Floating airfield
 USS Essex
•
 USS Hornet: B-25’s before
Doolittle Raid
•
 USS Ticonderoga
•
 Kamikaze attack on Intrepid
•
 USS Franklin after Kamikaze
attack
•
 Eugene Ely takes off from USS Birmingham, 1910

•
 Outcome of World War II
• Germany defeated.
• Japan defeated.
• United States and Russia become the two world
superpowers.
• 6 million Jews slaughtered (Holocaust).
• 6 million other peoples killed by the Nazi’s(gypsies,
homosexuals, mentally ill, Russians, etc…)
• U.S. and Russia begin the Cold War.
• The United Nations is formed as a result of WW II.
• Atomic Bomb developed.
 Historical Impact of the War:
• Rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party changed the
world.
• Convinced the world that a peacekeeping
organization was needed.
• Led to the United Nations which is still in
existence today.
• Most costly war in history in terms of death and
destruction. Estimated 50 million deaths.
 Historical Impact
• Death of 6 million Jews.
• Wiped out entire generations of family members.
• Many new weapons developed.
• Atomic bomb led to the nuclear age and the cold
war.
• Nuremberg Trials-held after WW II. Placed
German political, military, etc… leaders on trial
who committed war crimes.
 Historical Impact
• U.S. and Russia become superpowers.
• Cold War- attempt to stop the spread of
communism.
• Tuskegee Airmen- all African-American army
squadron. Escorted bombers in Europe.
• 442 Japanese-American Army Division-highly
decorated division
• Women worked in factories
Japanese Intern Camps
• Japanese were placed
in intern camps during
World War II.
• Afraid they were
spies, saboteurs, etc…
• While conditions were
not deplorable (Bad!),
they were not free to
go as they please.
 Surrender on USS Missouri
•