The History of WWII: An introduction to the HolocaustEnglish 8 – Scott Middle School

Mrs. Clifford

Important Words:

Civilians: People that belong to a community that are not involved in the military

Treaty: A formal agreement/contract between two countries

Allies: A group of nations – including the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union – who fought Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in World War II

Nazi: Abbreviation for the National Socialist German Workers’ party that ruled Germany from 1933-1945

WWI (1914-1918)• WWI took the lives of

millions of people

• WWI was called the “War to End all Wars.”

• The conflict was left unsettled after WWI, which led to WWII only 20 years later

WWII (1939-1945)• WWII involved most of

the world’s nations

• 25 million soldiers and 50 million civilians were killed

• In the end the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union defeated Japan and Germany.

The Treaty of Versailles (1918)• A peace agreement that ended

WWI in 1918

• Treaty made Germany responsible for the war

• Germany had to pay billions to the Allied Nations for war damages

• Germany lost territory

• Land was given to Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, and Japan

• Czechoslovakia became a new country

Adolf Hitler• German soldier during

WWI

• Believed Germany was “stabbed in the back” by its own government

• Vowed to bring Germany back to the country it once was

Adolf Hitler• Born in Austria in 1889

• Dropped out of High School when he was 16

• Joined National Socialist German Workers’ Party (later known as the Nazi party)

• Tried to overthrow the German government and failed – Hitler was imprisoned

• While in prison, Hitler wrote a book; Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

Great Depression 1930’s• 1929 – Stock market

crashed on Wall Street

• Germany was greatly affected

• Millions of people were without work

• Hitler spoke publically inspiring the broken nation by giving them the feeling of power

1933• Hitler was named

German Chancellor

• Hitler declared Nazis to be the only political party

• Hitler became the dictator of Germany

• The first anti-Jewish law was passed in Germany

• The first concentration camp opened--Dachau

Important Words:

Aryan race: People the Nazis considered to be of “pure” racial background; Caucasian (superior race)

Anti-Semitism: Extreme or irrational prejudice of discrimination against Jews

Ghetto: A section of a city where Jews were forced to live

Concentration camp: A prison camp – inmates were political prisoners: Jews, Gypsies, and other “undesirables”

Aryan Race• Hitler publically blamed

the Jews for Germany’s problems

• Hitler declared the Aryan race to be superior

• Aryan race: white people of Northern European heritage

• Other cultures/ethnicities were inferior

Anti-Semitism• Laws were passed that

discriminated against Jews

• Jews lost their jobs, their property was stolen (then sold), and their communities were walled off into ghettos

• Jews were forced to identify themselves by sewing a gold star patch on to their clothing

Ghettos• First action by the Nazi

party was to isolate Jews

• Jews were forced to leave their homes/communities and take with them only what they could carry

• Jews marched or were shipped in freight cars to ghettos

Ghettos Continued…• Ghettos were located

in the oldest, most run-down section of town

• Ghettos were enclosed with fences, barbed wire, or brick wall

• Food was rationed

• Jews tried to find whatever work they could

November 9, 1938: “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass”• Nazis raided Jewish

businesses

• Nearly 100 Jews were beaten to death

• 100’s were injured

• Thousands of businesses and synagogues were destroyed

• Streets were filled with broken glass

Concentration Camps• Hitler created concentration

camps to put into effect “The Final Solution”

• Camps were located in places that were easy to get to by road or train

• Jews were moved from the ghettos to the concentration camps

• Number tattoos were given to mark the camp prisoners upon their arrival

• Tattoo was tragically symbolic, marked like slaves or cattle

Germany Rising• Hitler ignored the rules of

the treaty, and worked to rebuild the military

• Hitler killed or imprisoned anyone in the country that opposed him

• Hitler sent Jews and other target groups to concentration camps where they worked for war effort or were murdered.

Rome-Berlin Axis• Hitler made friends with

Italy’s leader, Mussolini

• Together Germany and Italy formed the Rome-Berlin Axis and would later include Japan

• By the end of 1939 Germany had taken over much of Europe

• The French and British vowed to defend Poland from Germany’s attack

Blitzkrieg (September 1, 1939):• Germany flew in to

Poland and attacked by surprise

• Surprise attack called “Blitzkrieg” (Lightening War)

• Soviet Union signed an alliance with Germany

• Next on Hitler’s agenda: Belgium, Netherlands, and France

Nazi Advance• 1940: Germany took

over Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg

• British and French soldiers were trapped by German soldiers with their backs to the English Channel

Battle of Britain• 1940: Germans attacked Great

Britain by air

• Attack became known as Battle of Britain

• Great Britain fought back and bombed Berlin, Germany

• Bombing postponed Hitler’s English invasion

• United States provided 50 battle ships to Britain

• Britain gave United States a military base in Canada and the Caribbean

Operation Barbarossa• June 1941: Germany dishonored

their alliance with the Soviet Union

• Using thousands of tanks, aircraft and artillery, Germany attacked the Soviet Union

• Fighting continued for 4 years

• Stalingrad- an industrial city on the Volga River

• Germany wanted to raid Stalingrad for materials (oil, airplanes, war machines)

• The Soviets surrounded 250,000 German troops until the Germans surrendered

Attack on Pearl Harbor• December 7, 1941

(7:55AM): Japanese launch surprise attack on United States

• 2300 Americans killed

• President Roosevelt declared war the next day against Japan

• Germany and Italy declared war on US to defend Japan

United States • Thousands of Americans

joined armed forces

• Factories began making war materials: tanks, airplanes, guns and ammunition

• Women went to work to support their families while the men went to war

• Women worked in factories making tanks and battleships

“The Big Three”: leaders of the Allied forces• Franklin Roosevelt,

Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin

• Churchill and Roosevelt were the leaders of the world’s two greatest democracies

• Churchill and Roosevelt were both distrustful of Stalin, a Communist.

Invasion of Italy• Great Britain and United

States invade Sicily

• Germany formed a Gustav Line (defensive wall of soldiers) up Italy to keep Allied troops from invading

• June 4, 1944: United States and Great Britain break through German troops and take over Italy

Island Hopping• Island Hopping is a strategy the

United States came up with to overcome Japan

• United States attacked and occupied one island at a time- across the Pacific all the way to Japan

• Midway Island: Japan took aim at Midway Island 1,000 miles north of Hawaii to attack United States

• United States broke a secret Japanese code and attacked the Japanese fleet

• Japan never recovered

D-Day• Europe’s liberation had

begun

• 2,800,000 Soviet Union, United States and Great Britain Soldiers are in Europe

• Freezing temperatures grounded US planes

• German forced seemed to be gaining ground, and then their tanks ran out of gas

• January 1945: the Germans retreated- more than 100,000 Germans died

The Final Battle• Soviet Union

surrounded city of Berlin, German troops could not stop them

• Hitler hid in a Bunker below the city as 300,000 German soldiers defended the city

End of the War in Europe• The German occupied

areas were divided into zones

• The Soviets, British, Americans and French would each control one zone post-war

• Hitler and his wife and other leaders committed suicide before capture

Liberation in Europe• Allied soldiers moved

into Nazi-held areas of Europe and discovered the death camps

• Nazis murdered between 9-11 million innocent people

• Jews and other targeted groups were put to death in gas chambers, shot, hung and starved while working as slaves

Liberation continued• Allied troops freed

camp prisoners

• Some of the concentration camps are now museums to honor the victims of the Holocaust

WWII comes to an end• United States bombed

Japan by dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima

• 3 days later the United States dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki

• Japan’s Emperor announced unconditional surrender

• September 1945 ends WWII – the greatest conflict in human history ends