Chapter 20: World War II - Weebly

Germany invades Poland;World War II begins.

1939 Japanese forces invade Manchuria.

1931

Germany and Japan surrender; World War II ends.

1945 The SpanishCivil War begins.

1936

194519401930 1935

20C h a p t e r

1930–1945

World War II

> Movement Japan, Italy, and Ger-many carry out expansionist policies.Section 1

> Cooperation The United Statesand Great Britain move slowlytoward an alliance, while Germanyand Italy make major territorialgains in Europe and the Mediter-ranean. Section 2

> Conflict Two separate and oppos-ing alliances, the Allies and the Axis,wage a worldwide war. Section 3

> Conflict The Allies make majorgains against the Axis Powers. Section 4

> Innovation New military tech-nologies, such as the atomic bomb,affect the war’s outcome. Section 5

SThetoryteller

On June 6, 1944, the Allies mounted an all-out attack

against German forces in Normandy, France. Years later an

American soldier named Elliott Johnson could still vividly recall

the events of the day:

“I remember going up to the highest part of that ship and

watching the panorama around me unfold. In my mind’s eye, I

see one of our ships take a direct hit and go up in a huge ball of

flames. There were big geysers coming up where the shells were

landing and there were bodies floating, face down, face up.”

The invasion of Normandy was one of the key events of

World War II. Although the war began in 1939, it had its roots

in the peace treaties that settled World War I.

How did World War II affect the world balance ofpower? What nations emerged from conflict as world powers?

Historical Significance

600

Chapter Themes

Chapter 20 World War II 601

Create a two-column chart thatshows the significance of ten key events inWorld War II. In column one list theevent and date. In column two write ashort statement of why the event wasimportant to the outcome of the war.

Your History Journal

Allied forces led by the United States land in the Pacific islandof Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands. History

Visualizing

Chapter Overview

Visit the World History: The Modern Era Web site at worldhistory.me.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 20—Chapter Overviewto preview the chapter.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/worldhistory/whme2001/chapter20/overview.html

In the 1930s the Western democracieswatched uneasily as militaristic dictator-ships came to power in Europe and Asia.

Despite their fears, Britain, France, and the UnitedStates could not agree on what steps to take toensure their collective security, or what was need-ed to defend their common interests against enemyattack. Much of the unrest in Europe and Asia canbe traced to the peace settlements made at the endof World War I. Great Britain, France, and theUnited States were substantially satisfied withthese settlements; however, Japan, Italy, andGermany were not.

Japan’s Expansion in AsiaJapan was the first of the nondemocratic pow-

ers to reveal its territorial ambitions in the interwarperiod. With limited natural resources of its own,Japan depended heavily on foreign sources for rawmaterials and on foreign markets for finishedgoods. To acquire more of these materials and mar-kets, Japan sought new territories for conquest.

The Japanese military used a bomb explosionon the South Manchurian Railway in September1931 as an excuse to overrun Manchuria. The fol-lowing year Japan established Manchuria as anindependent state, renamed it Manchukuo, and setup former Chinese emperor Pu Yi as puppet ruler.

When China protested in the League of Nationsabout Japan’s actions, the League ordered a com-mission under British statesman Lord Lytton toinvestigate the affair. Lytton’s commission laid theblame squarely on Japan and ordered the Japanesegovernment to return Manchuria to China. TheLeague voted overwhelmingly in favor of this rec-ommendation, to which Japan responded in March1933 by withdrawing from the League. TheManchurian incident not only revealed that theLeague of Nations was powerless, but also boostedthe expansionist ambitions of Italy and Germany.

602 Chapter 20 World War II

> Terms to Definecollective security, sanctions, appeasement

> People to MeetChiang Kai-shek, Benito Mussolini, HaileSelassie, Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler,Joseph Stalin, Neville Chamberlain

> Places to LocateManchuria, Ethiopia, Spain, theRhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia

Europeanpowers meet at theMunich Conference.

1938 Germany occupies the Rhineland. 1936 Japan withdraws

from the League of Nations. 1933

1930 19401935

Joseph Stalin sent an invitation to formalnegotiations to Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator.Hitler read the note and drummed both fists

against the wall, exclaiming,“Now I have the world in mypocket.” German ForeignMinister Joachim vonRibbentrop and Stalinarranged the division ofEurope and agreed never toattack each other, then cele-brated with an elaborate din-ner. Each side toasted theother and told jokes the otherside did not find funny. Afterdinner, in a final show of hos-

pitality, Stalin drew the German foreign ministeraside and told him that he personally could guar-antee, on his word of honor, that the Soviet Unionwould not betray its partner.

—adapted from Joseph Stalin: Manand Legend, Ronald Hingley, 1974

S e c t i o n 1

The Path to War

SThetoryteller

Joseph Stalin

Read to Find Out Main Idea World War II was partially aproduct of World War I.

In the early 1930s, theJapanese military wanted toacquire the rich oil reserves ofthe East Indies to supply itsships and airplanes. But to con-trol the East Indies, Japan need-ed Chinese ports. Consequently,in the summer of 1937, Japaneseforces invaded China and cap-tured major eastern and south-ern cities. In the capital ofNanjing, they engaged in massbrutality, killing over 200,000civilians. Meanwhile, the Nation-alist government of Chiang Kai-shek retreated inland andlater allied with the Westernpowers. From 1937 to 1945, the Nationalists, the ChineseCommunists, and the Japanesefought each other for control of China.

Italy’s Conquest of EthiopiaThe relative ease with which Japan acquired

Manchuria encouraged Italy to make a similarmove. Italy’s goal was to secure control of theancient kingdom of Ethiopia in eastern Africa. In1934 Italian and Ethiopian forces clashed in a dis-puted zone on the border of Ethiopia and ItalianSomaliland. When the Italian dictator, BenitoMussolini, demanded an apology and reparations,the Ethiopians responded by asking the League ofNations to investigate the matter. The Leaguedecided that because each side viewed the areawhere the incident took place as its own territory,neither side was to blame.

The League’s decision did not satisfy Mussolini,who thought an Ethiopian colony would enhanceItaly’s image as a world power. Consequently, inOctober 1935, Mussolini ordered the Italian army toinvade Ethiopia. In a dramatic appearance at theLeague of Nations, Ethiopian Emperor HaileSelassie appealed for help. This time the Leaguecondemned the action and voted to impose econom-ic sanctions, measures designed to stop trade andother economic contacts, against Italy. The Leagueforbade its members to sell Italy arms and certainraw materials. But the sanctions did not include oil,coal, and iron, all vital to Italy’s war efforts.

Once again the League’s actions were ineffective.Mussolini completed his conquest of Ethiopia, andin May 1936 he formally annexed the African nation.

Spanish Civil WarA civil war in Spain further inflamed the inter-

national situation in the 1930s. After presiding overyears of social and economic chaos, King AlfonsoXIII abdicated in 1931, and Spain became a repub-lic. The new republican government immediatelybegan a program of social reforms. It ended theCatholic Church’s role in educating Spanish youthand redistributed land from nobles to peasants.

As a result of these and other reforms, manyright-wing groups in Spain opposed the republicand wished to restore the old order. In July 1936right-wing army chiefs staged an uprising inSpanish Morocco that soon spread to Spain. Forthree years the conservative Spanish Nationalists,led by General Francisco Franco, and the left-wingLoyalists, or Spanish Republicans, battled for con-trol of Spain.

Early in the fighting several foreign powersintervened in the Spanish war. The Soviets sup-ported the Loyalists, while the Germans andItalians aided the Nationalists. Volunteers fromBritain, France, the United States, and other coun-tries around the world flocked to Spain to join theInternational Brigade and fight for the Republicancause against fascism. The governments of theWestern democracies, however, refused to inter-vene because they feared a general European war.

Germany’s dictator, Adolf Hitler, viewedGerman participation in the Spanish Civil War as a


Haile Selassie (center) appealed to the League of Nationsfor action against Italian aggression in Ethiopia. The

League’s failure to halt Axis expansion led to its own downfall. Why werethe League’s sanctions against Italy ineffective?

HistoryVisualizing

way to strengthen ties with Italy and to secure avital supply of Spanish iron ore and magnesium.Hermann Goering, head of the Luftwaffe—orGerman air force—saw an opportunity “firstly, toprevent the further spread of Communism; second-ly, to test my young Luftwaffe in this or that techni-cal aspect.” To accomplish these goals, Goeringformed the Condor Legion, an all-German air andground force. They used Spanish towns and citiesas testing grounds for new weapons and militarytactics, such as the combined use of fire and high-explosive bombs.

By the summer of 1936, the Nationalists hadtaken most of western Spain. When the Sovietsstopped sending aid to the Loyalists in 1938, Francolaunched his final offensive. In March 1939 Franco entered Madrid, the last of the Loyaliststrongholds. The civil war had ended, but morethan half a million Spaniards had died, and muchof the country lay in ruins. Although Spain joinedItaly and Germany as countries headed by fascistdictators, Franco did not ally himself with Italy andGermany.

Hitler on the OffensiveThe same year the Spanish Civil War broke out,

Hitler made his move in Germany. The German dic-tator was convinced that Germany needed morelebensraum, or living space, for its expanding popu-lation. In his book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), Hitlerwrote:

Only an adequate large space on this earthassures a nation freedom of existence….Wemust hold unflinchingly to our aim … tosecure for the German people the land andsoil to which they are entitled….

Occupying the RhinelandSince 1919, the Versailles Treaty had forbidden

German troops in the Rhineland, a German regionbetween the Rhine and the French border. This banwas designed to provide security to France. Hitlergambled that if he violated the treaty, France andGreat Britain would do nothing to stop him. InMarch 1936, therefore, Hitler sent troops into theRhineland. France had the right to take militaryaction, and Britain had the obligation to back Francewith its own armed forces. Neither country acted,however, because neither was willing to risk a war.

In October 1936, Hitler and Mussolini agreed tothe Rome-Berlin Axis, an alliance that they hopedwould be the “axis” around which world affairswould turn. Known thereafter as the Axis Powers,Italy and Germany later joined Japan in the Anti-Comintern Pact, an alliance against Soviet commu-nism. Viewing the Pact as a threat to his country, theSoviet dictator Joseph Stalin urged the West tounite against the Axis. But the West, fearing warand distrusting Stalin, refused.

Seizing AustriaHitler, meanwhile, grew bolder. For a long time

he had dreamed of Anschluss (ANSH•luhs)—thejoining of Austria to Germany. “German-Austriamust return to the great mother country,” he wrote.“One blood demands one Reich.”

In 1934 Hitler had tried to take over Austria butbacked down when Mussolini responded by mobi-lizing Italy’s troops. In 1938, now that Germanyand Italy were allies, Hitler tried again. He invitedthe Austrian chancellor to Berchtesgaden, hismountain retreat in the German Alps, and bulliedhim into appointing Nazis to key posts in Austria.The Austrian chancellor appealed to Britain andFrance for help, but once more the two majordemocracies in Europe did nothing. In March 1938Hitler sent German troops into Austria and thenproclaimed it part of Germany. He insisted that hewas only promoting political stability in centralEurope by uniting German-speaking peoples intoone country. The Western democracies, however,refused to take military action.

Tension Builds in Europe Austria was the first victim of Hitler’s policy of

expansion. Czechoslovakia was the next. In the late1930s, Czechoslovakia was the only democratic nationin central Europe. It held a key strategic position in theregion. Its standard of living was second only to that of


Writers at WarThe Spanish Civil Warbecame a crusade for many

writers. In For Whom the Bell Tolls, American writerErnest Hemingway describes an idealisticAmerican fighting the Fascist forces in Spain. TheEnglish novelist George Orwell, in Homage toCatalonia, presents his experiences on the Aragonfront and his nearly fatal gunshot wound.

Germany. Czechoslovakia alsohad a strong army and allianceswith France and the Soviet Union.

The nation of Czechoslovakiawas created by treaty at the end ofWorld War I. In addition toCzechs and Slovaks, it had 1 mil-lion Hungarians, half a millionRuthenians, and more than 3 mil-lion Germans. During the 1930sthese minorities began to demandmore freedom than they hadreceived under the terms of thetreaties, creating serious prob-lems for the Czechoslovak gov-ernment. Hitler took advantage ofCzechoslovakia’s ethnic problemsto destroy the country.

Sudeten CrisisOn September 12, 1938, Hitler

demanded that the Germans ofthe Sudetenland, a heavily forti-fied region in northwesternCzechoslovakia, be given theright of self-determination. Czecho-slovak leaders responded by pro-claiming martial law. In an effortto avert an international crisis,British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sug-gested to Hitler that they meet to discuss the matter. France supported his request.

Chamberlain met with Hitler in Germany onSeptember 15, 1938. There Hitler demanded thatthe Sudetenland be given to Germany. At a secondmeeting a week later, Chamberlain acceptedHitler’s demands. He thought that a policy ofappeasement, granting concessions to maintainpeace, would stabilize Europe. As the British andtheir French allies searched for a peaceful solution,Hitler raised his demands. The Sudetenland, hestated, must be united with Germany.

The Munich ConferenceOn September 29, Chamberlain met with Hitler

a third time in Munich, Germany. Also attendingwere French Premier Édouard Daladier and Italy’sdictator Benito Mussolini. Czechoslovakia and theSoviet Union were not represented.

Mussolini offered a “compromise” that gaveGermany control over the Sudetenland. In return,Hitler promised to respect Czechoslovakia’s sovereignty. He also promised not to take any moreEuropean territory and to settle future disputes bypeaceful negotiation. Still hoping to avoid war,


Great Britain and France accepted the terms. OnSeptember 30, Czechoslovakia reluctantly acceptedthe Munich Agreement.

Chamberlain returned home to cheeringcrowds, proclaiming that he had ensured “peace inour time.” He trusted Hitler and believed that theNazis would cause no more trouble. Events soonproved him wrong. On March 15, 1939, Hitler senthis armies into Czechoslovakia and took control ofthe western part of the country. The eastern part,Slovakia, became a German puppet state. After thetakeover the Western democracies could no longermaintain their illusions about Hitler’s plans andbegan to prepare for war.

The Coming of WarMore German demands followed the Munich

agreement. In March 1939 Hitler turned his attention to eastern Europe. He forced Lithuania to give up the German-speaking city of Memel.Next the German dictator put pressure on Poland,threatening to take over the Baltic port of Danzig

In May 1938 Adolf Hitler (left) visited Rome, Italy, tomeet with his Italian ally Benito Mussolini (right). The

visit was designed to demonstrate the unity of the Rome-Berlin Axis.What role did Mussolini play in the Czech crisis later that year?

HistoryVisualizing

and the Polish Corridor, a narrow strip of Polishland that separated the German region of EastPrussia from the rest of Germany. Great Britain andFrance promised to help Poland defend its bordersif it became necessary. The Polish governmentaccepted the support of the Western democraciesand firmly rejected Hitler’s demands.

The West and the SovietsTo defend Poland, the democracies had to con-

sider the Soviet Union, Poland’s neighbor but alsoits traditional enemy. During the late 1930s, Stalinhad urged the Western powers to do somethingabout Hitler. He suspected that the MunichAgreement was an attempt by the British and theFrench to turn Hitler’s attention away from theWest and toward the Soviet Union. Chamberlain,on the other hand, did not trust Stalin. He suspect-ed that the Soviet leader wanted to extend his influ-ence in eastern Europe. This confusion as towhether the Fascists or the Communists were thegreater enemy contributed to the coolness of theBritish and the French toward Stalin.

Despite Chamberlain’s suspicions and his lack of faith in the fighting ability of the Sovietarmy, he asked the Soviets to join Britain andFrance in an alliance to contain Nazism. Stalinagreed on the condition that the West acknowledgethe Soviet right to occupy a broad zone stretchingfrom Finland to Bulgaria. Chamberlain refused therequest, deepening Stalin’s suspicion that the Westwould like nothing better than to see Germany andthe Soviet Union destroy each other.

Nazi-Soviet TalksStalin believed that Hitler’s desire for “living

space” would eventually lead the German dictatorto move into the rich agricultural areas of eastern

Europe. Because he doubted that the West wouldcome to his country’s aid if Germany threatened it,Stalin began secret talks with the Germans. OnAugust 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germanysigned the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.

According to the agreement, Germany and theSoviet Union pledged that they would never attackeach other. Moreover, each would remain neutral ifthe other became involved in a war. Stalin andHitler also secretly agreed to create spheres of influ-ence in eastern Europe. Germany would occupy thewestern part of Poland, while the Soviets wouldgovern the eastern part. They agreed to includeFinland, part of Romania, Estonia, Latvia, andLithuania in the Soviet sphere of influence.

Neither Stalin nor Hitler had any illusionsabout their agreement. They were long-term ene-mies who, for their own purposes, needed a short-term arrangement. Stalin still believed that warwith Germany was inevitable. But he thought thatthe pact would improve Soviet security. If nothingelse, it would buy the Soviets time to prepare forwar. Hitler saw the pact as a means of securingGermany’s eastern border.

The pact shocked Western leaders, who realizedthat it destroyed the last barrier to war. The Westhad also lost a potential ally, and Hitler had won apledge of neutrality that freed him to pursue hismilitary objectives regarding Poland. Hitlerremained convinced, however, that the West woulddo nothing if he moved against Poland. “The men ofMunich,” he said, “will not take the risk.” With thisthought in mind, Hitler sent his armies across thePolish frontier on September 1, 1939. However, hehad finally misjudged what the Western leaderswould do. Two days after Hitler’s invasion ofPoland, Great Britain and France declared war onGermany. World War II had begun.


SECTION 1 ASSESSMENT

Main Idea1. Use a chart like the one below

to identify ways in which WorldWar II was a product of WorldWar I.

Recall2. Define collective security,

sanctions, appeasement.3. Identify Chiang Kai-shek,

Benito Mussolini, Haile Selassie,Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler,Joseph Stalin, Neville Chamberlain.

Critical Thinking4. Evaluating Information

Why did Stalin make a pact

with Hitler rather than theUnited States or Great Britain?

Understanding Themes5. Movement How was the

response of the League ofNations to Japanese expansionin 1933 similar to the responseof the Western democracies to German expansion in 1938?How was it different? Explainyour response.

How WWII Was a Product of WWI

1.

2.

3.


On September 1, 1939, the GermanLuftwaffe roared toward its targets inPoland, spreading panic and confusion

with its bombs. At the same time, armored tankdivisions known as panzers swept across the Polishborder. Next came the infantry, a million and a halfstrong, in motorized vehicles. This was blitzkrieg,or “lightning war,” a new German strategy aimedat taking the enemy by surprise.

The blitzkrieg worked with speed and efficien-cy, devastating Poland in a few weeks. Great Britainand France could not move fast enough to sendtroops to Poland. The Soviet Union, meanwhile,quickly moved its forces to occupy the eastern halfof that nation.

Stalin also forced the Baltic republics of Latvia,Lithuania, and Estonia to accept Soviet militarybases. When he tried to do the same with Finland,war broke out. The Finns held out heroically untilMarch before the Soviets forced them to surrender.As a result of their victory, the Soviets moved theirfrontier 70 miles (112 km) to the west, making thecity of Leningrad less vulnerable to German attack.

Hitler Looks to the WestAll through the winter and spring of 1939–

1940, the western front was quiet. The Germanscalled this period the “sit-down war,” or Sitzkrieg,while the West dubbed it the “phony war.” Manyhoped that an all-out war could still be avoided.

When Finland capitulated to the Soviets, how-ever, the British took steps to ensure that the samefate would not befall Norway. In early April 1940,they mined Norwegian waters to block any shipstrading with Germany. Hitler used the mining tosupport his claim that the Allies were about toinvade Scandinavia. He delivered an ultimatum toNorway and Denmark, demanding that they acceptthe “protection of the Reich.” The Danes acceptedhis demands; the Norwegians did not.

The Soviet Union fights Finland.

1939 Franklin D. Rooseveltand Winston Churchill issuethe Atlantic Charter.

1941 France surrenders to Germany; the Battle of Britain begins.

1940

1939 19411940

> Terms to Defineblitzkrieg, blitz, cash-and-carry policy, lend-lease

> People to MeetWinston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Franklin D. Roosevelt

> Places to LocateFinland, Norway, London, Libya

Saturday night, August 24th, 1940, the firstGerman bombs fell on London. That September,bombing became more frequent and deadly aswaves of planes came over the city. For hoursbombers would attack; then, to fight the fires, thou-sands of firefighters went into action. ManyLondoners lost their homes. An observer reportedthat boats normally used by tourists on vacationbecame evacuation boats “chugging along theriverside … defying high explosive and incendiarybombs, walls of flame, and clouds of choking

fumes.… With a few bun-dles of clothes the refugeesclimbed aboard and weretaken by river to the safe-ty zone or ferried across tothe opposite bank.”

—adapted from The LostTreasures of London,William Kent, 1947

S e c t i o n 2

War in Europe

SThetoryteller

German bombers

Read to Find Out Main Idea Hitler took over most ofEurope, sparking responses from GreatBritain and the United States.

Lambert Conic Conformal Projection

0 200

200

400 mi.

0 400 km

N

E

S

W

VICHYFRANCE

FRANCEInvaded May 10, 1940

Surrendered June 22, 1940 SWITZER-LAND

DENMARK1940

SWEDEN

FINLAND1941

BELGIUM1940

ESTONIA1941

LATVIA1941

LITHUANIA1941

MemelTerritory

1939

EASTPRUSSIA

(Ger.)POLAND

1939

USSR

GERMANYSudetenland

1938

NORTHERNIRELAND

GREATBRITAIN

SPAINCivil War 1936–39

FrenchMorocco

ALGERIA

SpanishMorocco

TUNISIA

LIBYAEGYPT

TRANS-JORDAN

(Br.)

PALESTINE(Br.)

SYRIA(Fr.)

LEBANON(Br.-Fr.)

ITALY

AUSTRIA1938

HUNGARY1940

YUGOSLAVIA1941

ROMANIA1940

BULGARIA1941

TURKEY

GREECE1941

ALBANIA1939

NORWAY1940

CZECHO-SLOVAKIA

1939

NETHERLANDS1940

Line of Dec. 5, 1941

Lineof June 21, 1941

Rhineland1936

Allied nations

Neutral nations

Axis nations

Occupied byGermany

Occupied by Italy

Vichy France and colonies

Axis offensive

Siegfried Line

Maginot Line IRELAND

Sicily

Crete

Rhodes Cyprus

Sardinia

Corsica

POR

TU

GAL

Italy invades Ethiopia1935

LUXEMBOURG1940

60°N

40°N

30°N

15°W 0° 15°E 30°E 45°E

Baltic

Sea

Black Sea

NorthSea

ATLANTICOCEAN

50°N

Mediterranean Sea

Axis Expansion Into Europe 1935–1941

By the end of 1941, Germany had seized control of much of Europe.Location Which European nations chose to remain neutral during the war?Map

Study

The Invasion of ScandinaviaIn the early morning hours of April 9, three

small German transports steamed into the harbor ofCopenhagen, the Danish capital. After meeting lit-tle resistance, the Germans took control ofDenmark. That same morning, German forces alsolanded along the coast of Norway. British forceshad been busy laying mines in Norwegian watersin an effort to cut off German shipment of iron orefrom neighboring Sweden. Within hours, however,the Germans had seized Norway’s major cities,including the capital of Oslo.

Although Germany now controlled Norway,the Norwegian invasion proved costly. Germany

lost a large number of destroyers and cruisers. Onthe other hand, Hitler won the outlet to the Atlanticthat he needed to ensure that the German navywould not be bottled up in the Baltic Sea like it hadin World War I.

News of the fall of Norway and Denmarkcaused an uproar in the British House of Commons.The Labour and Liberal opposition stronglyattacked Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain andhis policies. Knowing that he had lost the confi-dence of his own Conservative party as well,Chamberlain stepped down. On May 10, 1940, KingGeorge VI summoned Winston Churchill toBuckingham Palace and asked him to form a new


government. Churchill, one of the few politicians towarn of the Nazi danger in the 1930s, was nowprime minister.

The Fall of FranceOn that same momentous date, the war began

in earnest on the western front. Along the MaginotLine, the British and French watched and waited.The Maginot Line was impressive, but it had onemajor flaw. It had a 50-mile (80-km) gap in theArdennes. Although the Germans had invadedthrough Belgium and the Ardennes during WorldWar I, the French still believed that the forests,swamps, and hills of that region were a sufficientbarrier. A French tank commander, Charles deGaulle, pleaded for more tanks and planes, but theFrench command insisted that the Maginot Linewas impenetrable.

Hitler, meanwhile, carried out a massive attackon the Low Countries—Luxembourg, theNetherlands, and Belgium. Before dawn on May 10,1940, German troops parachuted into theNetherlands. It was the first large-scale airborneattack in the history of warfare and caught theDutch by surprise. Five days after the start of theinvasion, the Dutch capitulated.

On the same day that Germany invaded theNetherlands, Britain and France moved their besttroops into Belgium. German panzers swept intothe Ardennes and began to encircle them. Otherpanzer divisions drove through Luxembourg andraced toward France.

DunkirkAlthough the Belgian forces fought valiantly,

they did not hold out as long as had been expected.The Germans were now rolling through undefend-ed open country. They pushed westward towardthe English Channel, trapping the Belgian, British,and French forces in the northwest corner ofFrance. The only hope for the Allies was an evacu-ation by sea from the French port of Dunkirk. WithGerman forces within sight of the coast, the rescueof 300,000 Allied soldiers seemed impossible. Butfor reasons never entirely understood, Hitlerordered his forces to halt.

The British Admiralty began a desperate rescueoperation at Dunkirk on May 26. A ragtag armadaof 850 vessels, ranging from destroyers and cruisersto trawlers, tugs, yachts, and fishing boats, leftEngland and set sail for Dunkirk. Civilians operat-ed many of the smaller boats. Over the next ninedays, under fierce air and ground attack, this hasti-ly assembled fleet rescued the Allied armies.

The evacuation of Dunkirk was a stunning

military achievement, but as Churchill said, “warsare not won by evacuations.” Faced with an unpre-pared French army and a confused French govern-ment, the Germans continued their sweep intoFrance and on June 14 entered Paris. A week laterFrance signed an armistice with Germany.

Vichy and the Free FrenchBy the terms of the armistice, the Germans

occupied all of northern France and the Atlanticcoastline to the Spanish border. In southern France,the Nazis set up a puppet government in the city ofVichy under French Marshal Henri Pétain. Pétainand other officials in the so-called Vichy govern-ment collaborated with the Germans. Many Frenchcitizens, on the other hand, continued to fight forfreedom. In Britain, de Gaulle organized a FreeFrench government, while in France many joinedthe French Resistance, an underground movementthat opposed the German occupation.

Battle of BritainAll that stood between Hitler and German

domination of western Europe was WinstonChurchill and the determined British people. Hitlerexpected that Britain would seek peace withGermany, but he misjudged the resolve of theBritish. Alone and only partially prepared, Britainfaced the mightiest military machine the world hadever seen.


Wilmington

DELAWARE

Wilmington, Delaware, 1938Wallace H. Carothers, a chemist at the DuPont Company in Wilmington, Delaware, created fiber from coal or petroleum in a solution form in the early 1930s. These early products melted at a temperature that was too low to make them useful for textiles. Carothers came up with a product called nylon 66–the first completely synthetic textile fiber. One of its most common uses was in women’s stockings. During World War II, nylon was widely used for making parachutes.

Chemist Invents Chemist Invents NylonNylon

AROUND THE

On May 13, 1940, Churchill delivered his firstspeech before the House of Commons. He told theCommons that he had “nothing to offer but blood,toil, tears, and sweat” and ended with these words:

You ask, what is our policy? I will say: itis to wage war, by sea, land, and air, withall our might and with all the strengththat God can give us: to wage war againsta monstrous tyranny, never surpassed inthe dark, lamentable catalogue of humancrime. That is our policy. You ask, what isour aim? I can answer in one word:Victory—victory at all costs, victory inspite of all terror, victory, however hardand long the road may be; for withoutvictory, there is no survival.

Immediately after France fell, Hitler beganmaking plans to invade Great Britain. Hitler andthe German High Command soon realized that thisinvasion depended on winning air supremacy over

the English Channel and destroying British air-fields and vital industries. The Luftwaffe began tobomb Britain’s southern coast in August 1940. Thebombings damaged four aircraft factories and fiveRoyal Air Force (RAF) airfields, but British fighterplanes known as Hurricanes and Spitfires shotdown 75 German planes. Hermann Goering, headof the German air force, then focused his attacks onthe RAF. From August 24 to September 6, Goeringsent over 1,000 planes a day. The RAF lost 466 fight-ers and 103 pilots, but the Germans lost even more.

Seeking to do better, the Luftwaffe switched tonight bombings of London. From September 7 toNovember 3, German bombers pounded London inits great blitz, or series of air raids. In one nightalone, the Luftwaffe dropped 70,000 fire bombs. Thedevastation was enormous, killing and injuring thou-sands of civilians, damaging light, power, and gaslines and destroying buildings, roads, and railways.But the bombings did not break British morale.

The Luftwaffe never did gain air supremacyover Britain. While incurring heavy losses the RAF

of theof the

The BlitzDuring World War II, German bombers

rained destruction on London and strategic tar-gets in an attempt to knock out Great Britain’sdefenses and force the British to surrender.

Public shelterswere set upthroughout Londonin subway tunnelsand other protectedareas. At the heightof the blitz, 1 out of7 Londoners slept ina shelter.

Many London schoolchildren were evacuated tosafer parts of Great Britainand even overseas toescape the bombing.

610

downed more than 1,700 German aircraft duringthe Battle of Britain, blocking Hitler’s invasion.Churchill spoke for all Britons when he said of theRAF pilots: “Never in the field of human conflictwas so much owed by so many to so few.”

Anglo–American CooperationThroughout the early phase of the war, the

United States was determined to remain neutral.Even before the fighting began, Congress hadenacted laws designed to prevent Americaninvolvement. The Neutrality Acts, passed in 1937,prohibited arms shipments, loans, and credit to belligerent nations. Congress later banned theexport of armaments to either side in the SpanishCivil War.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt, however,became convinced that Germany’s expansionendangered American security and that Britain andFrance could not stop Hitler without American aid.

Throughout his presidential campaign in 1940,Roosevelt tried to rally national opinion. As theylistened to news of German aggression, Americansbecame more sympathetic to Britain’s plight.

After Dunkirk, Churchill appealed to theUnited States for help. Roosevelt gave the British 50old American naval destroyers in return for the right to maintain American bases inNewfoundland, Bermuda, and the British WestIndies. He also convinced Congress that a cash-and-carry policy—in which Great Britain tradedcash for greatly needed supplies—would allow the

REFLECTING ON THE TIMES

1. What did the Germans achieve by bombingLondon during World War II?

2. How did the British people respond to theGerman attacks?

611

The bombing of London, which lastednightly beginning in September 1940,caused much ruin, but failed to break thedetermined spirit of the British people.

The Royal Air Force (RAF) wonthe Battle of Britain, the first bat-tle ever fought to control the air.RAF pilots intercepted Germanplanes with the help of groundradar stations that warned ofthe German planes’ approach.

Student Web Activity 20

Visit the World History: The Modern Era Web site at worldhistory.me.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 20—Student Web Activities for an activityrelating to the Battle of Britain.

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/worldhistory/whme2001/chapter20/webact.html

Europe, Mussolini was dreaming of building aMediterranean empire for Italy. On June 10, 1940,Mussolini declared war on France and Britain.Italy’s armies in Libya were poised for an attack onthe British forces guarding Egypt and the Sudan.Although vastly outnumbered, the British attackedthe Italians on December 9. In the following weeksthey scored victory after victory along Libya’snorth coast.

Churchill, however, halted this advance anddiverted some of the troops to stop a Germanadvance in southeast Europe that had alreadyclaimed Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. It was afatal decision. German forces, sweeping throughYugoslavia and Greece in April 1941, forced theBritish into a second Dunkirk. Although mostBritish troops escaped by sea, they left behind their tanks and 12,000 men. Meanwhile, Hitler sentErwin Rommel, a brilliant general who had led the7th Panzer Division in France, to command a tankforce in Libya and to rescue the Italians. By April 11,Rommel had pushed the British out of northernLibya, except for a small force at Tobruk.


Main Idea1. Use a diagram like the one

below to list the means bywhich Hitler took over most ofEurope.

Recall2. Define blitzkrieg, blitz,

cash-and-carry policy, lend-lease.

3. Identify Winston Churchill,Charles de Gaulle, Franklin D.Roosevelt.

Critical Thinking4. Analyzing Information What

mistakes did French military

leaders make that led to the fallof France?

Understanding Themes5. Cooperation How did the

United States government inthe early 1940s move from apolicy of isolationism to a poli-cy of openly assisting theBritish in the war effort againstthe Nazis?

In the spring of 1941,Erwin Rommel, “the

Desert Fox,” drove the British out ofLibya into Egypt. Why had Churchilldiverted some troops from Africa to south-east Europe?

HistoryVisualizing

United States to supply the British, without riskingthe loss of American neutrality. Throughout 1940the British imported American food and arma-ments. They paid cash and transported the goodson their own.

But the cost of the war drained the British treasury. Britain ordered 12,000 airplanes from theUnited States in 1940 but could not pay for them.On Roosevelt’s urging, Congress approved a policyof lend-lease. It authorized the President to lendwar equipment to any country whose defense hedeemed vital to national security.

On August 9, 1941, Churchill met withRoosevelt on a British battleship off the New-foundland coast to discuss war aims. The leadersissued a joint declaration called the AtlanticCharter. It upheld freedom of trade and the right ofpeople to choose their own government. But it alsocalled for the “final destruction of Nazi tyranny.”

Eastern Europe and AfricaWhile Hitler was conquering much of western

Hitler’s Meansof Taking

Over Europe



A school wants to cut funding for one ofits programs. If you talk to parents,read newspaper articles, and watch TV

reports, you can put together, or synthesize, theinformation to better understand the issue.

Learning the SkillWhen synthesizing information, we combine

information from separate sources. To write aresearch report, you study several sources—encyclopedias, books, and articles. Eventually, you synthesize this information into a report.

Before synthesizing information, analyze eachsource separately. Determine the value and relia-bility of each source. Then, look for connectionsand relationships among the different sources.

Practicing the SkillStudy the passage and the map on this page.

Then answer the following questions.1. What is the main idea of the passage?2. What does the map tell about this topic?3. By synthesizing the two sources, what conclu-

sion can you draw about the extent of theNazis’ “final solution.”

I have received a report which is of thegreatest importance.… It is stated in thisreport that very large numbers of …Jews first deported to Poland or directlysent to [Auschwitz-] Birkenau in thewell-known cattle-trucks from Germany,France, Belgium, Holland, Greece, etc.have been killed in these establish-ments. The bodies have been burnt inspecially constructed stoves and theashes have been used as fertilizers. Allthose who died by starvation or ill-treat-ment in the various labour-camps nearbywere also burned in these stoves.—Letter from Richard Lichtheim of the Jewish

Agency, June 19, 1944

Applying the SkillFind two sources of information on the same

topic and write a short report. In your report,answer these questions: What kinds of sourcesdid you use—primary or secondary? What arethe main ideas in these sources? How does each source add to your understanding of thetopic? Do the sources support or contradict eachother?

For More PracticeTurn to the Skill Practice in the Chapter

Assessment on page 629 for more practice in synthesizing information.

Synthesizing Information

Critical ThinkingCritical Thinking

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The Glencoe SkillbuilderInteractive Workbook, Level 2provides instruction and practice in key social studies skills.

In the spring of 1941, Great Britain stoodalone against Nazi Germany, which nowcontrolled almost all of western Europe.

In Africa, the Nazi General Erwin Rommel had suc-ceeded in pushing the British back and had takencontrol of most of Libya. In Asia, meanwhile, theJapanese held Manchuria and controlled much ofChina. By the end of 1941, the expansive war wouldgrow even larger. Events since June drew two moremajor powers into the conflict: the Soviet Unionand the United States.

Invasion of the Soviet UnionHaving failed in his attempt to defeat Great

Britain, Hitler now turned his attention to theSoviet Union. Only by conquering the vast Sovietsteppe, Hitler reasoned, could the “living space”believed vital to Germany’s future be gained. Healso wanted the wheat of Ukraine and the oilreserves of the Caucasus region.

On June 22, 1941, Hitler launched OperationBarbarossa, a massive attack on the Soviet Union.Despite British warnings and the massing ofGerman troops along the border, the invasion tookStalin by surprise. In the first few days of fighting,the Germans destroyed the greater part of theSoviet air force, disabled thousands of Soviet tanks,and captured half a million Soviet soldiers. AsGerman divisions advanced deeper into Soviet ter-ritory, Stalin appealed to his people to resist theinvasion and issued his famous scorched-earth pol-icy. If the Germans forced Soviet forces to retreat,Stalin ordered, Soviet citizens should destroyeverything that could be of use to the invaders.

By November 1941 German armies had pushed600 miles (960 km) inside the Soviet Union to theoutskirts of Moscow. In addition to controlling 40percent of the Soviet population, the Germans hadcaptured Kiev and begun the siege of Leningrad.Yet the Soviets refused to surrender. Young Soviet


> Terms to Definescorched-earth policy, Holocaust, genocide

> People to MeetIsoroku Yamamoto

> Places to LocateMoscow, Kiev, Leningrad, Dachau, Warsaw, Auschwitz, Pearl Harbor

German forces invade the Soviet Union.

JUNE 1941 German forces reach the outskirts of Moscow.

NOV. 1941

FEB. 1942NOV. 1941MAY 1941

The Nazis order themass killing ofEurope‘s Jews.

JULY 1941 Japan stagessurprise attack on Pearl Harbor; the United Statesenters World War II.

DEC. 1941

AUG. 1941

In 1942 a young Jewish woman wrote: “Ofcourse, it is our complete destruction they want!But let us bear it with grace.… And a camp needsa poet, one who experiences life there, even there

… and is able to sing aboutit.… At night, as I lay inthe camp on my plank bed… I was sometimes filledwith an infinite tenderness,and lay awake for hours let-ting all the many, too manyimpressions of a much toolong day wash over me, andI prayed, ‘Let me be thethinking heart of these bar-racks.’ And that is what Iwant to be again. Thethinking heart of a wholeconcentration camp.”

—from An Interrupted Life,the Diaries of Etty Hillesum,1941–1943, translated byArno Pomerans, 1983

S e c t i o n 3

A Global Conflict

SThetoryteller

Surviving in a concentration camp

Read to Find Out Main Idea Particular events led theSoviet Union and the United States toenter World War II.

soldiers rallied to the cry, “Behind us is Moscow—there is no room left for retreat!” The Germansfaced not only a steely Soviet resistance but anoth-er equally formidable foe—the Russian winter. AGerman soldier described the conditions:

We had no gloves. We had no wintershoes. We had no equipment whatsoeverto fight or withstand the cold…. We lost aconsiderable part of our equipment….Due to the cold we lost a lot of peoplewho got frost-bitten, and we had not eventhe necessary amount of ointments, or themost simple and primitive things to fightin…. Guns didn’t fire anymore. Even ourwireless equipment didn’t work properlyanymore because the batteries werefrozen hard….

On December 2, 1941, German troops began anassault on Moscow, and in just one day they drewwithin sight of the city’s center. It was as far as theyever got. When all seemed lost, the Soviets staged acounterattack and forced a German retreat.

The Nazi OrderHitler wanted to conquer the Soviet Union as

part of his plan to create a “New Order” in Europe.In the new world that Hitler envisioned, the Naziswould rule Europe and exploit its resources. Inaddition to enslaving the conquered peoples andforcing them to work for the German “master race,”the Nazis would exterminate “undesirable ele-ments” such as the Jews and the Slavs.

The Nazis began to implement Hitler’s plan byplundering the occupied countries. They seized arttreasures, raw materials, and factory equipment. Atthe same time, the Nazis drove millions into forcedlabor and concentration camps and massacred mil-lions more. Between 1939 and 1944, about 7.5 mil-lion people were deported to Germany and put towork in factories, fields, and mines. Many people inthe occupied countries, however, joined under-ground resistance movements to combat the Nazis.

The HolocaustBeginning in 1941, Nazi leaders carried out a

plan that aimed at the complete extermination of allJews in Europe. During the next four years, the

Nazis murdered more than 6 million Jews. Thismass destruction of the Jewish people based onracial grounds has become known as theHolocaust. Another 6 million people, including theSlavs and Gypsies, also were killed by the Nazis.

BeginningsIn mid-1940, the Nazis began to persecute Jews

in the lands they had conquered. They expelledJews from jobs and schools and forced them to wearyellow badges showing the Star of David, anancient Jewish symbol. Some Jews managed to fleeNazi-occupied Europe; others went into hiding; butmany more failed to escape and were sent to con-centration camps, such as Dachau (DAH•KOW) insouthern Germany.

The largest number of Jews in Nazi-occupiedEurope lived in areas of Poland and the SovietUnion. To control this sizable Jewish population,the Nazis at first forced the Jews into specially des-ignated areas of towns and cities called ghettos. Thelargest ghetto was in Warsaw, where almost half amillion Jews were kept.

Life in the ghettos was unbearable. Familieshad to crowd into unsanitary housing, and conta-gious diseases spread rapidly. The Nazis deliber-ately tried to starve residents by allowing onlysmall amounts of food. As a result, tens of thou-sands died in the ghettos from hunger, disease, andthe cold. Despite their suffering, many peoplecourageously tried to live as normally as possible.For example, many young people carried out theireducation by attending secret classes organized andtaught by adults.


The powerful German panzers wereno match for the harsh Soviet winter

of 1941. The intense cold froze lubricating oil andcracked engine blocks. What other problems did theGerman invaders encounter during that winter?

HistoryVisualizing

CON

NECTIONS

CO

NNECTIONS

The Killing SquadsThe German invasion of the Soviet Union in

June 1941, proved to be a turning point in the Nazimistreatment of the Jews. At that time, the Nazisturned from the forced emigration and imprison-ment of Jews to the mass murder of them. Specialunits of Nazi soldiers known as the SS moving withthe German army acted quickly to kill any Jews theycould find in occupied Soviet territory. CapturedJews had to surrender their valuables and wereforcibly marched to open areas on the outskirts ofcaptured towns and cities. There they were shot,and their bodies dumped into mass graves. Thekilling squads murdered more than a million Jewsand hundreds of thousands of other innocent peo-ple. At Babi Yar, near Kiev in Ukraine, about 35,000Jews were murdered in two days of shooting.

The Final SolutionIn January 1942, Nazi party and German gov-

ernment leaders secretly agreed to what they called“the final solution to the Jewish question inEurope.” The “final solution” was the Nazi codeword for the destruction of all European Jews.Never before had a modern state set out on a cam-paign of genocide, the deliberate, carefully planned

killing of an entire people on the basis of race, poli-tics, or culture.

Beginning in the summer of 1942, the Nazisarrested and rounded up Jews throughout occupiedEurope by the hundreds of thousands. The Jewsthen were transported by train or trucks to deathcamps, such as Auschwitz (AUSH•VIHTS) in Poland,where most eventually died. Many of the people inthe camps were murdered in poison gas chambers.Others died of starvation or were the victims of cruelexperiments carried out by Nazi doctors.

Response and ResistanceThe Nazis tried to keep the killings and death

camps secret from the world. Even European Jewsat first had been unaware of the fate in store forthem. But once they became aware of Nazi inten-tions, Jews fought back in Warsaw and otherEuropean ghettos. However, Jewish resistancegroups in the ghettos were outnumbered andlacked the arms to fight the Germans. In spite oftheir heroic efforts, Jewish resistors were easilydefeated.

Some Jews who succeeded in escaping from theghettos formed fighting units in densely forestedareas of eastern Europe. Others joined regular


Let Us Never Forget

From 1941 to 1945, Jewish artists, musi-cians, and writers in the Theresienstadt con-

centration camp created movingartistic expressions of their Holo-caust experiences. Since WorldWar II, their works—and those ofothers—have stirred hearts andconsciences of people everywhereabout one of the most horrifyingevents of our century.

In his memoir called Night(1958), the Romanian-bornwriter Elie Wiesel (vee•ZEHL), a

Holocaust survivor, described the horrors hewitnessed in the Auschwitz and Buchenwaldcamps. Another writer, the AustralianThomas Keneally, in his 1982 novel

Schindler’s List, tells a powerful true storyabout Oskar Schindler, a German manufac-turer who saved his Jewish workers from theHolocaust. The American filmmaker StevenSpielberg later turned Keneally’s novel intoan Oscar Award-winning movie in 1993.

Another 1993 event relating to theHolocaust was the opening of the UnitedStates Holocaust Memorial Museum inWashington, D.C. Through exhibits, videos,and special lectures, the museum commem-orates the millions of Jews and others mur-dered by the Nazis during World War II.

Concentration campsurvivors

Explain how people in theTheresienstadt concentration camptried to cope with their ordeal. Howhas the Holocaust been artisticallycommemorated since World War II?

Allied forces fighting the Nazis. One Jewish resis-tance fighter was Hannah Senesh, a Hungarian Jewwho had emigrated to Palestine in 1939. Alliedforces dropped her and other parachutists intoGerman-controlled Hungary to organize resistanceefforts. Before she could accomplish her mission,she was captured and executed.

A major factor hindering Jewish resistance bothin the ghettos and the forests was the widespreadlack of support for the Jews. Anti-SemiticEuropeans in occupied areas helped the Nazis huntdown Jews, and pro-Nazi governments, such asthose of France, Italy, and Hungary, sent tens ofthousands of Jews to the death camps. Even banksin neutral Switzerland accepted and profited fromthe money and valuables stolen from Jews by theNazis. Even as late as the 1990s, much of thiswealth had yet to be returned to the families of therightful owners.

Most people in occupied areas, however, didnothing, thinking that the plight of the Jews did notconcern them or fearing punishment if they gotinvolved. Despite dangers, a small number ofcourageous people did provide help to the Jewsand other persecuted people. Denmark, aloneamong the occupied countries, actively resisted theNazi regime’s efforts to remove its Jewish citizens.

During the Holocaust, evidence reached theoutside world about the Nazi mistreatment of Jewsand other groups. However, little action was taken.

Allied governments believed that fighting the warand defeating the Nazis was the only way theycould help those suffering from Nazi injustices. Thefull horror of the Holocaust was not realized untilAllied forces had liberated the concentration campsand death camps in 1945.

Japanese ExpansionAfter seizing much of China in the 1930s, Japan

shifted its attention to the European colonies in Eastand Southeast Asia and their stores of raw materi-als. Taking advantage of Hitler’s offensive inEurope, the Japanese acquired many of these terri-tories. The collapse of France and the LowCountries left French Indochina and the Dutch EastIndies virtually defenseless. And when theGermans threatened to invade Great Britain, theBritish withdrew their fleet from Singapore, leavingthat colony open to attack as well.

In July 1940 the Japanese governmentannounced its plan to create a “new order in greaterEast Asia.” Proclaiming “Asia for the Asiatics,”Japan moved to establish the “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere,” an appeal to Asians who wantedto rid their lands of European rule. First, it askedFrance for the right to build airfields and stationtroops in northern Indochina. After gaining thisfoothold, Japan invaded southern Indochina.


When theNazis

advanced throughout Europein 1939 and 1940, theyrounded up Jews—such asthese residents of Warsaw,Poland—and forced them towork as slave laborers. Later,the Nazis killed or imprisonedmillions of Jews. How did theAllies react to the Nazi persecu-tion and killing of Europe’s Jews?

HistoryVisualizing

PICTURING HISTORY


During World War II Japanese Americanswere feared and hated by many other Amer-icans, especially those living on the WestCoast. In Oakland, California, the Japanese

American owner of this small store—in an attempt toprevent its burning or looting—put up a sign assertinghis loyalty: “I am an American.” This very Americanscene emphasizes the cruelty of persecuting JapaneseAmerican businessmen. After the Japanese bombedPearl Harbor, U.S. politicians spoke with fiery rhetoric,

and newspapers ran hate stories that fanned the fear andantagonism against Japanese Americans.

This campaign of hate was a symptom of the bru-tality of the war in the Pacific. Both sides, Japanese andAmerican, found it necessary to demonize the enemyso that their own soldiers could fight a long and hardwar, and their own civilian populations could fullysupport their country’s war effort, despite wartimeshortages, extra-long working hours, or family mem-bers killed in the war. �

Japanese Americans�

Nat

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The United States retaliated by placing anembargo, or ban, on the sale of scrap iron to Japan.In response, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact withGermany and Italy on September 27, 1940. Underthis pact, the three powers affirmed the right ofevery nation to “receive the space to which it is enti-tled” and pledged to cooperate to reach that goal aswell as to come to one another’s aid if attacked.

Pearl HarborWhen the Japanese invaded southern

Indochina on July 24, 1941, President Rooseveltdemanded that they withdraw—not only fromIndochina but also from China. Congress alsoplaced an embargo on oil and froze all Japaneseassets in the United States. Negotiations with theJapanese government continued through the fall.

Japan decided to go to war with the UnitedStates because it believed the United States stood inthe way of its expansion in the East. To defeatAmerican military forces, however, Japanese lead-ers knew they had to destroy the American Pacificfleet based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Althoughmost American and Japanese leaders believed thatPearl Harbor was safe from attack, Admiral IsorokuYamamoto, the commander of the Japanese navy,did not agree. He convinced Japanese leaders thatbombers taking off from aircraft carriers andequipped with newly designed torpedos for use inshallow water could effect a successful surpriseattack on Pearl Harbor. In November 1941 theJapanese fleet set sail for Hawaii.

Meanwhile, negotiations between the UnitedStates and Japan had broken down. By nowRoosevelt knew that the Japanese were “poised forattack,” but was convinced that Japan’s movewould be in Southeast Asia. As a precaution,United States military leaders sent all aircraft carri-

ers and half the army’s planes from Pearl Harbor. On the morning of December 7, the Japanese

attack squadron took off from their carrier decksand began the attack on Pearl Harbor. Within thefirst 25 minutes of the attack, they sank or damagedthe battleships Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, WestVirginia, and California. The Japanese success waseven greater than they had hoped. In all, they sankor disabled 19 American ships and destroyed 188airplanes. They also killed more than 2,400 peopleand wounded 1,100. Fortunately for the UnitedStates, its aircraft carriers were at sea and escapedthe attack. Calling December 7 “a date which willlive in infamy,” President Roosevelt, in an appear-ance before Congress the next day, asked for andreceived a declaration of war against Japan.

The AlliesThe United States was now officially at war. On

December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy honoredtheir pledge to Japan in the Tripartite Pact bydeclaring war on the United States. Great Britain,backing the United States, declared war on Japan.

Although mistrust still lingered between theWestern democracies and the Soviet Union, theyput aside their differences to defeat their commonenemy. Meanwhile, the fighting in the Soviet Unionremained fierce. Vast areas of the country wereunder German occupation. The Germans had com-pletely surrounded Leningrad, trapping 3 millionpeople. Within two years, nearly 1 million of itspeople died from cold, hunger, and starvation.

Stalin urged the Allies to open a “second front” inEurope as quickly as possible. Although PresidentRoosevelt favored this, Winston Churchill wasopposed to it. He knew that Great Britain would haveto bear the brunt of any second-front operation.Consequently, the two Allied leaders postponed plansfor an invasion of Europe. Instead, they planned cam-paigns in North Africa and the Mediterranean.


below to identify the eventsthat caused the Soviet Union to enter World War II.

Recall2. Define scorched-earth policy,

Holocaust, genocide.3. Identify Isoroku Yamamoto.Critical Thinking4. Analyzing Information How

did the proposed “New Order”that Germany’s Adolf Hitlerwanted to create in Nazi-

occupied Europe affect differ-ent groups of people living onthat continent?

Understanding Themes5. Conflict What political and

economic issues caused the conflict between the govern-ments of Japan and the UnitedStates?

How Soviet UnionEntered War



Germanforces at Stalingrad surrender to the Soviets.

FEB. 1943 British halt German advance in North Africa at ElAlamein, Egypt.

October 1942 British naval forcessink German battleship Bismarck. MAY 1941

1941 19431942

In the early months of 1942, the war wasgoing badly for the Allies. By destroyingmuch of the American fleet at Pearl

Harbor, Japan had gained control of the PacificOcean and cleared the way for a seaborne invasionof American, British, and Dutch territories in thatregion. In December 1941 Japanese forces had captured the British colony of Hong Kong andinvaded the Malay Peninsula. In the West, mean-while, Rommel controlled a large area of NorthAfrica, and German forces held the upper hand inthe Soviet Union as well.

Despite these successes, the Axis powers wouldnever again enjoy such a strong position. By theend of 1942, the tide of the war had begun to turnin favor of the Allies.

Sea and Air BattlesEven before the United States entered the war,

it was shipping food and war supplies to Britainunder the Lend-Lease Act. But German sub-marines, or U-boats, threatened this vital lifelineacross the Atlantic. By the end of 1939, U-boats hadalready sunk 114 Allied and neutral ships. Germanair attacks also took their toll.

To make matters worse for the Allies, the newGerman battleship Bismarck, accompanied by thenew cruiser Prinz Eugen, entered the fight in May1941. With 11 Allied convoys either at sea or aboutto sail, the British hastily dispatched several shipsto intercept the Nazis. On May 23 they sighted thetwo German ships in the Denmark Strait betweenIceland and Greenland and opened fire. In the bat-tle that followed, the Bismarck sank the British battle cruiser Hood and damaged a new British battleship before slipping away to safety.

Three days later, on May 26, a British patrolplane spotted the Bismarck about 600 miles (965 km) off the French coast. In the battle that fol-lowed, the Bismarck sustained at least eight

> Terms to Definekamikaze

> People to MeetErwin Rommel, Bernard Montgomery, Dwight D. Eisenhower, DouglasMacArthur, Chester W. Nimitz

> Places to LocateStalingrad, Casablanca, Sicily, Guadalcanal

A kamikaze attack on an American aircraftcarrier, the Hornet, was recorded in photographsand by eyewitness accounts such as this one: “His[plane] already with flame blossoming on itsunderside, appeared high above the Hornet’s star-board quarter. Perhaps dead or dying, [the pilot]did not release his bomb but kept coming directly

at the carrier. He did notmiss.… Ruptured fueltanks sprayed the signalbridge with burning gaso-line, while the wreckedairplane smashed into theflight deck.…” The impactand burning fuel killedand maimed many men,and fires blazed for twohours.

—adapted from The FirstTeam and the GuadalcanalCampaign, John B.Lundstrom, 1994

S e c t i o n 4

Turning Points

SThetoryteller

Japanese kamikazepilot

Read to Find Out Main Idea The tide of war turned infavor of the Allies during 1942 and 1943.



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Eastern Front 1941–1944

Some of the fiercest battles of World War II took place on the eastern front in the Soviet Union.

Place How did the German offensive affect thecity of Leningrad?

torpedo hits before it finally sank. With this crucialvictory, the British put an end to German efforts towin the Battle of the Atlantic with surface ships.Gradually, the Allies devised new methods for pro-tecting their convoys against U-boats as well.

As they fought for control of the Atlantic, theAllies carried out an air offensive against Germany.These attacks were directed at factories, railroads,dockyards, and cities and towns. Their purposewas to destroy German war industries and weakenthe will of the civilian population to continue thewar.

StalingradIn July 1942 the military situation in the Soviet

Union looked desperate. With the Soviet army infull retreat, the Germans were approachingStalingrad, a major industrial center on the VolgaRiver. In angry exchanges with Churchill, Stalincontinued to press for a second front in the West totake some of the military pressure off his nation.But in August Churchill went to Moscow to tellStalin that there would be no second front in 1942.

On August 22 the Germans attacked Stalingrad.Because it was named after Stalin, losing the citywould have been a blow to Soviet morale. As deter-mined to protect Stalingrad as Hitler was to take it,Stalin ordered that the city be held at all costs.

The Soviets launched a counterattack inSeptember and encircled the German troops threat-ening the city. They cut off German supply lines.Although the Soviets and the frigid winter weatherwere closing in on the Germans, Hitler refused toallow his troops to retreat. By the time German offi-cers finally surrendered in February 1943, theGerman army had lost the best of its troops. Manyhistorians now view the Soviet victory at Stalingradas the major turning point of World War II. Bykilling about 100,000 German soldiers, capturing80,000 more, and seizing large quantities of Germanmilitary equipment, the Soviet Union broke theback of the Nazi military machine.

War in the DesertIn January 1942 Allied forces in North Africa

were struggling to regain ground lost to theGermans. They faced a formidable foe. ErwinRommel, commander of the Afrika Korps, appliedblitzkrieg tactics to warfare in the desert. Hisexploits earned him the nickname “the Desert Fox.”

In the spring of 1942, Rommel pushed theBritish two-thirds of the way back to the Egyptianfrontier. He struck again at the end of May, but theBritish, under General Bernard Montgomery,stopped him two months later at El Alamein (ELA•luh•MAYN), a railway junction about 70 miles(112 km) from Alexandria. In October Montgomerylaunched a counterattack that forced the Germansback across the Egyptian-Libyan frontier and endedwith the British capture of Tripoli, the capital ofLibya, in January 1943.

As Montgomery was advancing westward, theAllies were landing troops in Morocco and Algeriaas part of a planned offensive against Rommel. Byadvancing from the east and from the west, theAllies hoped to trap Rommel with their “pincers”strategy. But the Allied landings met with heavyresistance from the Vichy French, who governedFrench North Africa. To end the fighting, Alliedcommander Dwight D. Eisenhower struck a dealwith Admiral François Darlan, a Vichy official. In


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Afrika Korps Surrender May 1943

BenghaziNov. 1942

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Kasserine PassFeb. 1943

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Under Axis control, July 1943Neutral nationsAllied victoryAllied offensive

1944

1943

N

E

S

W

40°N

30°E

15°W 0° 15°E 30°E

North African and Italian Campaigns 1942–1945

Before the Allies could invade Italy, they had to defeat the Italians and Germans for control of North Africa. Region From which country in this region did the Allies eventually launch theirinvasion, and why did they choose this region?

MapStudy

return for Allied support of his claim to FrenchNorth Africa, Darlan ordered an end to the resistance.With the armistice concluded in November 1942,the Free French, under Charles de Gaulle, joined theAllies in Africa. Meanwhile, in a series of powerfulattacks, the Allies began closing the pincers. WhenRommel flew to Berlin to tell Hitler that the situa-tion was hopeless, the Nazi dictator rejected hisgeneral’s assessment and barred Rommel fromreturning to Africa. But Rommel was right. In May1943, General von Arnim, the new commander ofthe German forces in Tunisia, surrendered. TheAllies now controlled all of North Africa.

Invasion of ItalyIn early 1943, the American and British chiefs of

staff and political leaders met at Casablanca inMorocco to discuss their next move. Because theywanted to secure communications in theMediterranean and intensify the pressure on Italy,they decided to invade Sicily, the large island nearthe southern tip of the Italian Peninsula.

Under the command of General Eisenhower,the Allies began a combined air and sea attack onSicily in July 1943. The seaborne landings met little

resistance at first, but when the Allies approachedMessina, on the extreme northeastern tip of theisland, the Germans put up a stronger fight to covertheir withdrawal across the Strait of Messina. In sixdays nearly 40,000 German and 70,000 Italiantroops escaped to Italy.

The conquest of Sicily led quickly toMussolini’s downfall. On July 25, King VictorEmmanuel III, pressed into action by antiwar fac-tions, fired Mussolini and had him arrested. Thenew prime minister, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, soondissolved the Fascist party and on September 3signed a secret act of surrender.

That same day, Allied forces crossed the Strait ofMessina and landed in Calabria on the Italian main-land. The broadcast announcement of Badoglio’sunconditional surrender caught the Germans by sur-prise, but they recovered in time to occupy Rometwo days later, forcing the king and Badoglio towithdraw to the south. The Germans later rescuedMussolini and put him in control of northern Italy.

For the remaining months of 1943 and earlymonths of 1944, the Allies fought their way up theItalian Peninsula. Allied troops could not penetratethe German defenses at Monte Cassino, a sixth-cen-tury monastery located on a mountaintop thatdominated the road to Rome. In the end it took a


massive artillery bom-bardment and almost fivemonths for the Allies todislodge the Germans inMay 1944. One monthlater, on June 4, Alliedforces entered Rome.

Pacific WarWhile war raged in

Europe, Japan took overmuch of Southeast Asiaand the Pacific. At firstwelcomed as liberators,the Japanese soon werehated by local peoples fortheir killing of civiliansand taking of property.Resistance groups arose tofight Japanese forces.

Meanwhile, the Allieswere able to make somegains. In May 1942, in theBattle of the Coral Sea, theAllies claimed a victory.And in June, at the Battleof Midway, the Americansdefeated the Japanese navyand ended Japanese navalsuperiority in the Pacific.

To follow up this victory, the Americanslaunched an attack against the Pacific island ofGuadalcanal in early August. While troops underGeneral Douglas MacArthur attacked the Japanese on land, naval forces under AdmiralChester W. Nimitz confronted them at sea. The six-month land, sea, and air battle ended in victory forthe Allies. Guadalcanal was the first in a series ofisland battles the Americans fought as theyleapfrogged their way north to Japan. Their strat-

Main Idea1. Use a chart like the one below

to list the events of 1942 and1943 that turned the war tothe Allies’ favor.

Recall2. Define kamikaze.3. Identify Erwin Rommel,

Bernard Montgomery, DwightD. Eisenhower, DouglasMacArthur, Chester W. Nimitz.

Critical Thinking4. Synthesizing Information

How did Adolf Hitler’s political

and military decisions con-tribute to Nazi Germany’sdefeats in both Stalingrad andNorth Africa?

Understanding Themes5. Conflict Why did the Allies

decide to “leapfrog” their wayto Japan rather than launch adirect attack?

0°

40°N

20°N

INDIANOCEAN

CoralSea

PACIFIC

OCEAN

160°W

160°E120°E

CHINA

MONGOLIA

USSR

Manchukuo

KOREA JAPAN

BURMA

THAILAND

FRENCHINDOCHINA

MALAYSIADUTCH EAST INDIES

PHILIPPINES

Sakhalin

Kuril Island

Attu AleutianIslands

MidwayIslands

HawaiianIslands

MarshallIslands

GilbertIslandsSolomon Islands

Caroline Islands

Guam

MarianaIslands

IwoJima

Okinawa

TAIWANHONGKONG

Hiroshima

N

E

S

W

Mercator Projection

0 500

500

1,000 mi.

0 1,000 km

AUSTRALIA

To 1942

Anglo-American advances, 1943-1945

Soviet advances, 1945

Allied victory

Area held by Japan in 1910

To 1931

To 1941

Japanese Empire 1910–1945

Between 1910 and 1942, Japan took over large areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific. Region Why were the Japanese able to seize the European colonies in this region so easily in 1941 and 1942?

MapStudy

egy was to capture some islands and bypass others.Those bypassed would be cut off from supplies andmade to “wither on the vine.”

After Guadalcanal, the Americans paused tobuild up their Pacific forces. When the Americanadvance resumed in November 1943, Japanesepilots known as kamikazes volunteered for suicidemissions, crashing their bomb-laden aircraft intoAllied bases and ships. The Japanese were far fromready to surrender.

Events of 1942 and 1943


1.

2.


(D-Day) Alliesland in Normandy. JUNE 6, 1944 V-E

(Victory in Europe)Day celebrated inAllied countries.

MAY 8, 9, 1945 Battle of the Bulge begins.

DEC. 16, 1944 The United States drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.

AUG. 6, 1945

DEC. 1945JUNE 1945DEC. 1944JUNE 1944

To fight the Axis, Allied democraciesgeared their economies for war produc-tion, rationed goods, and regulated prices

and wages. The wartime emergency limited citi-zens’ rights , but unemployment ended as factoriesturned out weapons and supplies. With men joiningthe military, women in large numbers entered in-dustry and served in supporting roles in the armedforces. Outside of the democracies, women sup-ported the Allied cause by fighting in the resistanceforces of occupied Europe; in the Soviet Union, theysaw combat as ground soldiers and pilots.

D-DayAt a 1943 conference in Tehran, Iran, Roosevelt

and Churchill told Stalin about their plan to open asecond front the following spring. Meanwhile,General Eisenhower assembled a force of 176,000soldiers, 600 warships, and 10,000 aircraft inEngland for Operation Overlord, the invasion ofFrance. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, or the day ofattack, convoys carrying troops and equipmentsailed across the English Channel to the Frenchprovince of Normandy. British bombers attackedGerman coastal defenses, and Allied airbornetroops parachuted into France to assist the inva-sion. As battleship guns pounded German posi-tions, Allied soldiers moved from their landingcraft onto the beaches, fighting their way forwardamid German machine-gun fire.

Despite the battle’s confusion and the heavyGerman resistance, the invasion was a success.From their Normandy foothold, the Allies launchedan offensive against the Germans. By early August,American tank commander General George Pattonand his forces were racing across northern France.At the same time, in Paris, French resistance fight-ers rose up against the occupying Germans.

> Terms to DefineD-Day, partisan

> People to MeetGeorge Patton, Harry S Truman, ClementAttlee

> Places to LocateRhine River, Berlin, Yalta, Potsdam, Hiroshima, Nagasaki

An American woman, living in Russia, laterrecalled how hope for Allied rescue was everywherein Russia during the spring of 1944:

“They knew it must come this summer, for thewar was already in Europe.… On a day in earlyJune the air was split by a radio announcement:‘Stand by for a special broadcast at 1:45.’ We knewwhat it would be. Everybody knew. ‘Today, June 6,1944, early in the morning, General Eisenhower’sforces began landing operations on the northern

coast of France.’” Thelong-awaited secondfront was a reality.People laughed andslapped each other onthe back.

—adapted from FiftyRussian Winters, AnAmerican Woman’sLife in the SovietUnion, MargaretWettlin, 1992

S e c t i o n 5

Allied Victories

SThetoryteller

American troops landin Normandy

Read to Find Out Main Idea New technology affected theconduct and outcome of World War II.


Pressured on all sides, German forces retreated, andon August 25, Allied troops, led by Free Frenchforces, entered Paris.

Victory Over GermanyMonths before D-Day, Soviet forces advanced

steadily toward Germany from the east. By the sum-mer of 1944, they had pushed the Germans out ofSoviet territory and were moving into easternEurope. Despite the Allied gains, Hitler was con-vinced that a surprise offensive in the west might still

reverse the Allied advance. In December 1944, theGermans cut through the center of the Americanforces, creating a bulge in the Allied line of troops.The Allies finally checked the German drive atBastogne, Belgium, and in March 1945, stormed acrossthe Rhine River, Germany’s historic defense barrier.By this time, Germany’s cities had undergone re-peated Allied air attacks, which destroyed industrialcenters and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

Meanwhile, from the east, the Soviets inflicteda savage revenge on the German population andfought their way into the city of Berlin. In lateApril, American and Soviet troops met on the Elbe

Allied offensive

German offensive

Land held by Allies, Sept. 1944

Land held by Allies, Jan. 1945

Land held by Allies, May 1945

Land held by Germans, May 1945

NORWAY

SWEDEN

FINLAND

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

POLAND

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

DENMARK

GERMANY

AUSTRIAHUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

GREECE TURKEY

ITALY

SWITZER-LANDFRANCE

SPAIN

POR

TU

GA

L

SpanishMorocco

GREATBRITAIN

IRELAND

Corsica

Sardinia

Sicily

Crete

D-Day June 6

BrestSept. 18

ParisAug. 25 Metz

Nov. 22

Battle of the Bulge

Dec. 16–Jan. 16

RouenAug. 30

BrusselsSept. 3

Antwerp Sept. 4

Cologne Mar. 7

NurembergApr. 20

MunichApr. 30

Vienna Apr. 13

Budapest Feb. 13

Torgau Apr. 25

OrléansAug. 16

Berlin Apr. 22–May 2

Hamburg May 3

Bremen Apr. 26

N

E

S

W


0 150

150

300 mi.

0 300 km Mediterranean Sea

ElbeR

iverATLANTIC OCEAN

Baltic Sea

NorthSea

BlackSea

Adriatic Sea

60°N

50°N

40°N

0° 20°E

Allied Offensive in Europe June 1944–May 1945

From D-Day in June 1944 to its surrender in May 1945, Germany was in full retreat on both the western and eastern fronts. LocationLocation Where did the one German offensive occur during this period?

MapMapStudyStudy


River. On May 7, the Germans surrendered uncon-ditionally, and the next day was proclaimed V-E(Victory in Europe) Day in the Allied democracies;May 9 was celebrated as V-E Day in the SovietUnion. With the German surrender, the war inEurope had finally ended. The end also came for theFascist dictators. Italian partisans, or resistancefighters, had shot Mussolini, and Hitler had commit-ted suicide in an underground chamber in Berlin.

Yalta and PotsdamIn February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and

Stalin had met at Yalta, a Black Sea resort in theSoviet Union, to discuss issues affecting the postwarworld. The Allied leaders proposed that France andChina join their countries in forming the UnitedNations, a permanent international organization tomaintain peace after the war. They also agreed todivide Germany, as well as the city of Berlin, intofour zones that Great Britain, France, the UnitedStates, and the Soviet Union would occupy.

Roosevelt and Churchill obtained from Stalin apromise to hold free elections in Soviet-occupiedeastern Europe. In return, they gave Stalin the east-ern part of Poland. Poland would receive Germanland in return for yielding its eastern territory.

To hasten the end of the Pacific conflict, theWestern leaders sought and received Stalin’s promiseto declare war on Japan. In return, Stalin gained theKuril Islands and the southern part of SakhalinIsland. These islands, located off the coast of Siberiain the northern Pacific Ocean, were ruled by Japan.

Six months later, the Allies met in Potsdam inGermany, but by this time some of the key partici-pants had changed. After Franklin D. Roosevelt diedin April, Harry S Truman succeeded him as Presi-dent. Although Churchill was there at the opening,his Conservative party lost the general election, andClement Attlee of the Labour party replaced him asprime minister halfway through the conference.

The atmosphere at Potsdam was also quite dif-ferent from that at Yalta. The Allies made plans forthe occupation of Germany and issued an ultima-tum to Japan demanding unconditional surrender.However, more issues were raised than were set-tled. New tensions over the future of Europe werebeginning to pull apart the wartime alliance.

Victory Over JapanBy end of 1944, an Allied victory over Japan

seemed inevitable. American planes bombedJapanese cities, and General Douglas MacArthurregained the Philippines. In early 1945, theAmericans defeated the Japanese in bloody battleson the Pacific islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa,and the British completed the destruction ofJapanese forces in Southeast Asia. Despite setbacks,Japan’s military leaders, such as General HidekiTojo, refused to surrender.

When Japan rejected an American ultimatum inJuly, President Truman decided to use a new secretweapon—the atomic bomb. His stated reason forusing the bomb against Japan was to end the warswiftly and to avoid the enormous loss of life thatwould have resulted from an American invasion ofthe Japanese home islands. Concerned about grow-ing Soviet-American rivalry, Truman also may haveused the bomb to impress the Soviets withAmerican military might.

On August 6, 1945, an American plane droppedan atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a munitions center.The blast leveled most of the city. When no response

Celebrating the Red Army’s captureof Berlin, a group of Soviet troops

unfurl the Soviet flag over the ruins of the Germanparliament building. What advances were made by theWestern Allies during the spring of 1945?

HistoryVisualizing


came from Japan, three days later the Americansdropped a second atomic bomb on the port city ofNagasaki. Altogether, about 200,000 Japanese died inboth cities. In the following months, many morewould die from the blasts’ radioactivity.

On August 14, 1945, Japan finally surrendered.A few weeks later, on September 2 (proclaimed V-J—or Victory over Japan—Day by the Allies) Japaneseofficials signed the official surrender document onboard the American battleship Missouri anchored inTokyo Bay. World War II was over.

Effects of the WarMore than 70 million people fought in World

War II. The casualties were staggering. Altogether,some 55 million people perished because of theconflict. The Soviet Union lost 22 million people,Germany almost 8 million, Japan 2 million, and theUnited States almost 300,000. In addition, millionsof people in Europe and Asia died in campaigns ofgenocide.

In February 1945,Allied leaders

Winston Churchill, Franklin D.Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin metat Yalta on the USSR’s CrimeanPeninsula. They discussed a num-ber of issues related to the post-war Europe. What major agreementwas made at Yalta regarding the waragainst Japan?

HistoryVisualizing


below to identify the globaleffects of World War II.

Recall2. Define D-Day, partisan. 3. Identify George Patton, Harry

S Truman, Clement Attlee. Critical Thinking4. Analyzing Information War

crimes trials after World War IIheld Axis leaders responsible

for actions in wartime. Giveexamples of similar trials afterrecent conflicts.

Understanding Themes5. Innovation What factors

made World War II the mostdestructive war in the historyof the world?

After the war the Allies began to address thewrongs committed by the Axis Powers. BetweenNovember 1945 and September 1946, trials held atNuremburg, Germany, brought many Nazi leadersto justice for pursuing “aggressive war” and for“committing crimes against humanity.” Similar warcrimes trials were held in Japan and Italy.

In addition to the casualties, many areas ofEurope and Asia lay in ruins. The use of deadly newweapons made World War II the most destructivewar in history. Heavy aerial bombing and shiftingbattlelines left as many as 12 million people home-less. Food, medicine, and clothing were in short sup-ply. One Japanese student recalls life after the war:

When winter came we were really miser-able. We had neither food nor clothing....We were told to go to the countryside andfind food wherever we could. There wasnothing in Tokyo.

For millions of people the suffering and hardshipslasted long after the war’s end.


WWII:Global Effects

Reviewing Facts1. History Use a diagram like the one below to

show similarities and differences between theconferences at Yalta and Potsdam.

2. Citizenship Explain why the League of Nationscould not stop Japan’s expansion. How didJapan treat its conquered peoples?

3. History List the countries that Germany occu-pied before the outbreak of war.

4. History Identify the causes and effects of WorldWar II.

5. History Explain Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.6. Citizenship Identify the Holocaust and discuss

the different stages of its implementation.

Critical Thinking1. Apply Why did the Western democracies let

Hitler overrun much of Europe before trying to stop him?

2. Analyze What factors account for the responsethe world gave to the Holocaust?

3. Synthesize If the Japanese had not bombed Pearl Harbor, would the United States have entered the war? Explain your position.

4. Evaluate Was the United States justified inusing the atomic bomb to end the war withJapan?

Using Key TermsWrite the key term that completes each sentence. Then write a sentence for each term not chosen.

a. blitzkrieg g. D-Dayb. sanctions h. scorched-earth policyc. lend-lease i. genocided. appeasement j. Holocauste. kamikazes k. collective securityf. partisan l. cash-and-carry policy

1. British Prime Minister Chamberlain pursued__________ with Nazi Germany in hopes of stabilizing Europe.

2. In the __________, the Nazis murdered almost 6 million Jews during the war.

3. The _________ allowed the United States to sup-ply the British in return for payment withoutrisking American neutrality.

4. Joseph Stalin tried to thwart the German inva-sion of his country by a _____________.

5. During the 1930s, the Western democracies wereunable to agree on what steps to take to ensuretheir ____________.


Select one event from your chart about important events in World WarII. Write a paragraph showing how theevent affected other developments in thewar.

Using Your History Journal

CHAPTER 20 ASSESSMENT

Yalta

Both

Potsdam

Self-Check Quiz

Visit the World History: The Modern EraWeb site at worldhistory.me.glencoe.com and click on Chapter 20—Self-Check Quiz to prepare for the Chapter Test.

Using the Internet Searchthe Internet for a WorldWar II Web site that includesmemoirs or excerpts from Holocaust survivors.Copy or print a part of the memoirs that youfind especially moving. Create a bulletin boardabout the Holocaust. Post the excerpts on thebulletin board under the heading “Voices ofWorld War II.” Include pictures of the Holo-caust with captions underneath providingexplanations.

Technology Activity

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/worldhistory/whme2001/quiz.shtml?BOOK=005&CHAPTER=20&TITLE=World+War+II

Understanding Themes1. Movement What were Hitler’s objectives in

Europe? What were Japan’s objectives in Asia?2. Cooperation What assistance did the United

States provide to Great Britain before Americanentry into the conflict?

3. Conflict Why did Stalin press the Allies toestablish a second front in Europe?

4. Conflict Why did the Western Allies at Yaltaagree to give Stalin the Kuril Islands and thesouthern part of Sakhalin Island?

5. Innovation What effect did new technologyhave on the war?

Geography in History1. Location Refer to the map below. What were

the relative locations of territories held in Franceby the Allies in September 1944?

2. Region What areas touching the MediterraneanSea were in Allied control by September 1944?

3. Movement Beginning in June 1944, the Alliedstrategy was to pressure Germany on two fronts—East and West. How does the map show thatthe plan was a successful way to end the war?

4. Location Where did Soviet and American forcesmeet in April 1945?

1. To avert war with Germany, the Europeandemocracies allowed Hitler to occupyCzechoslovakia. How did the UnitedNations react to Iraq’s occupation of Kuwaitin 1990? Do you think the United Nationsmade the correct decision? Explain.

2. In the 1940s, several publications calledChurchill “Man of the Century.” Do youthink he still deserves the title? Explain.

Skill PracticeReread the section of Chapter 20 that describes the bomb-ing on Hiroshima, pages 626–627. Then read the passageon this page written six years later by a survivor. Usethe two sources to answer the questions below.

I was eating breakfast … when there wasbright light in front of my eyes and an inde-scribable orange light surged in.… It musthave been ten or fifteen minutes later whenI recovered consciousness.… but I could seenothing because the place was filled withwhite smoke.… I tried to stand up and fellagain.… What on earth had happened? …

I looked over my shoulder and saw ourhouse was a flattened wreck, and at theback waves of swirling flames were threat-ening to sweep down on us at anymoment.… I suddenly heard my sister’svoice calling, ‘Someone help me! …’ Shewas my own sister but the sight of her washorrifying. Her dark hair which reached hershoulders, that hair was now pure white. Atthe side of her mouth was a crescent-shapedgash through which her gums were pitiful-ly exposed, and from which bright redblood flowed… When I saw this figure mysister had been transformed into, for a fleet-ing moment, I just couldn’t think that it washer. I was afraid even to go near her.

—Eiko Matsunaga, 11th grade girl, 1951

1. What is the topic of the two sources?2. What information does the textbook give about

this topic?3. How does the passage add to your understand-

ing of this topic?


NORWAY

SWEDEN

FINLAND

ESTONIA

LATVIALITHUANIA

POLANDCZECHOSLOVAKIA

DENMARK

GERMANY

AUSTRIAHUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

GREECE TURKEY

ITALY

SWITZER-LANDFRANCE

SPAIN

POR

TUG

AL

SpanishMorocco

GREATBRITAIN

IRELAND

Corsica

Sardinia

Sicily

CreteLand held by Allies, Sept. 1944

Land held by Allies, Jan. 1945

Land held by Allies, May 1945

Land held by Germans, May 1945

N

ES

W


0 150

150

300 mi.

0 300 km

Mediterranean Sea

ElbeRiverATLANTIC

OCEAN

Baltic

Sea

NorthSea

BlackSea

Adriatic Sea

60°N

50°N

40°N

0°20°W 20°E

The Allies Regain Europe

CHAPTER 20 ASSESSMENT

630 Unit 5 World in Conflict

Unit 5

Chapter 18

The Great Depression

In October 1929 the United States’s stock marketcrashed—investors were ruined, businesses weredestroyed, and millions of people lost their jobs. The1930s brought a period of economic gloom, poverty,and despair. Joseph L. Heffernan, an Ohio mayor,describes life during the Great Depression in thisexcerpt.

As time went on, business conditionsshowed no improvement. Every night hun-dreds of homeless men crowded into themunicipalincinerator,where theyfound warmtheven thoughthey had tosleep onheaps ofgarbage. InJanuary 1931,I obtained thecooperation ofthe CityCouncil toconvert anabandonedpolice station into a “flop-house.” The first night it was filled, and it hasremained filled ever since. . . .

This descent from respectability, frequentenough in the best of times, has been has-tened immeasurably by two years of busi-ness paralysis, and the people who havebeen affected in this manner must be num-bered in millions. . . . I have seen thousandsof these defeated, discouraged, hopeless menand women, cringing and fawning as theycome to ask for public aid. It is a spectacle ofnational degeneration. . . .

During the first half of the

1900s, two destructive wars

raged throughout the world and

brought about tremendous

political and social change.

World War I destroyed the power

of European monarchies and led

to a Communist revolution in

Russia. Nazi aggression in

Germany eventually led to World

War II—the most destructive

war in history.

VOCABULARY PREVIEWincinerator: a furnace that burns waste

paralysis: a state of being powerless to act

abstention: deliberate avoidance

annihilation: complete destruction

✦

For more primary sources to accompany this unit, use the World History Primary Source Document Library CD-ROM.

✦

✦

Men receiving soup during the Depression

Unit 5 World in Conflict 631

Chapter 19

Gandhi on Nonviolence

After World War I, protests against British rulein India began to spread, and Mohandas K. Gandhibecame the leader of the independence movement.Gandhi developed a nonviolent form of civil disobedi-ence that was lateradopted in other parts ofthe world. While on trialin 1922, Gandhi madethe following statementexplaining his theories of nonviolent civil disobedience.

In fact, I believethat I have rendereda service to Indiaand England byshowing in non-coopera-tion the way out of theunnatural state in which both are living. Inmy humble opinion, non-cooperation withevil is as much a duty as is cooperation withgood. But in the past, non-cooperation hasbeen deliberately expressed in violence tothe evildoer. I am endeavoring to show tomy countrymen that violent non-cooperationonly multiplies evil and that as evil can onlybe sustained by violence, withdrawal of support of evil requires complete abstentionfrom violence. Nonviolence implies voluntarysubmission to the penalty for non-coopera-tion with evil. I am here,therefore, to invite andsubmit cheerfully to thehighest penalty that canbe inflicted upon me for what in law is adeliberate crime andwhat appears to me tobe the highest duty of a citizen. . . .

11.. Why does Heffernan say people needed public aid in the 1930s?22.. Why did Gandhi refuse to resort to violence?33.. What did the SS try to do to the prisoners? Why?44.. CRITICAL THINKING: Why were “derealization” and “depersonalization”

so crucial to concentration camp prisoners’ survival?

Applications ActivityImagine that you are a mayor of a city during the Great Depression. Prepare a list of proposals you would make to get people working again.

Interpreting Primary Sources

Chapter 20

Surviving the NaziConcentration Camps

During World War II the Nazis sent millions of Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, and others to concentrationcamps, where they were tortured and murdered. Inthis excerpt, one of the few Jewish survivors describeshow prisoners managed to stay alive.

The most horrible things happened to youas well as to others. Later, from readingBruno Bettelheim’s work, I learned about thestrange experiences, protective mechanisms,called “derealization” and “depersonaliza-tion.” Derealization is when reality is notexperienced as reality: this cannot be true;this doesn’t exist. And depersonalization,that is the phenomenon of a split of the per-sonality: . . . You are the object of your ownobservation, and at the same time, you arethe subject who walks off, or who is hungry,or who is suffering. . . .

The goal of the SS was, aside from physi-cal annihilation, to degrade a person . . . tomake you into a rag, without any will.Because of the isolation, . . . you didn’t knowanything about the outside world, but youalso didn’t know anything about the“inside” world. You didn’t know what youwould do the next day, what they were upto—whether the doors of the gas chamberwould open for you the next day. . . .

Mohandas Gandhi1869–1948

632 Unit 5 World in Conflict

Standardized Test Practice

1. The United States did not enter WorldWar I until 1917. Which of the followingwas the most important factor inconvincing the American public tosupport the war?

A German submarine attacks againstAmerican merchant ships

B Continued loss of troops and land bythe Russian army

C Failure of the British and French todefeat Germany

D The threat of a German invasion

2. Under the Communist governmentestablished by Lenin, which of thefollowing changes were made toRussian society?

F Working conditions and wagesimproved.

G People were granted more personalfreedoms.

H There was no tolerance for politicaldissent.

J The economy improved because ofpublic ownership.

3. Which of the following new technolo-gies, developed in the 1920s, had thegreatest impact on settlement patterns in the United States?

A The radioB The semiconductorC The automobile D The motion picture

4. The rise of dictatorial governments inItaly and Germany in the 1920s and1930s was a result of all of the followingEXCEPT

F the land divisions created under theTreaty of Versailles.

G middle-class fears of social disorder.H severe economic downturns.J the new appeal of religion.

Directions: Choose the best answer to each of the followingmultiple choice questions. If you have trouble answering aquestion, use the process of elimination to narrow your choices.Write your answers on a separate piece of paper.

Test-Taking Tip: The important phrases in this question are greatest impact and settle-ment patterns. Although the radio certainly hadan important effect on modern life, it is not theanswer most closely related to settlementpatterns.

Test-Taking Tip: This question requiresyou to remember a fact about World War I.Since the majority of Americans favored anisolationist policy, answer C is not a strongenough reason to change public opinion.

Test-Taking Tip: Be careful—questionscontaining the words NOT or EXCEPT are a common source of error. Remember, threechoices will fit with the question. Choose theanswer that does not fit.

Test-Taking Tip: Eliminate answers thatyou know are incorrect. Lenin’s policy of “warcommunism” placed more restrictions onpeople, which is the opposite of answer G.

Unit 5 World in Conflict 633

Standardized Test Practice

Read the passage below and answer questions5 and 6 that follow.

Mohandas K. Gandhi was a pacifist. In keeping withhis beliefs, Gandhi used protest methods based oncivil disobedience, or the refusal to obey laws thatare considered unjust.

In 1930 Gandhi protested the salt tax. First he ledthousands of his followers on a 200-mile march fromAhmadabad to the sea, where they made salt from seawater. One month later, Gandhi openly defied Britishauthority by wading into the sea and picking up alump of salt. Gandhi and thousands of followerswere eventually arrested by the British.

5. The movement for freedom from Britishrule in India was similar to the AmericanRevolution in which of the following ways?

A Both used nonviolence as a means toachieve freedom.

B Both involved long marches to gainattention.

C Both were fueled by British arrest of alocal leader.

D Both used a tactic of a symbolic protestover the taxation of a common food.

6. Gandhi’s protest against the British tax onsalt resulted in

F Gandhi’s arrest and execution.G no action by the British.H Gandhi’s arrest and the arrest of

thousands of his followers.J the British leaders repealing the salt tax.

7. Which of the following was a turning pointin Europe during World War II?

A The Munich ConferenceB The Spanish Civil WarC The defeat of the Germans by the

Russians at StalingradD The bombing of Pearl Harbor

Test-Taking Tip: Be aware of the orderof events asked about in a question. Thisquestion specifically asks about World War IIin Europe. Both choices A and B are eventsthat occured before the war had begun, andare thus incorrect.

Test-Taking Tip: This question asks for a comparison. Although it is clear from thepassage that nonviolence was a strategy usedin the movement for freedom in India (answerA), this statement is not true for the AmericanRevolution. Choose the answer that applies toboth conflicts.

Test-Taking Tip: Make sure your answeris supported by information in the passage.For example, choice F asks you to draw aconclusion from information not given, andthus is incorrect.

Chapter 20: World War II - Weebly

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