The Great Depression and World War II

1929 - 1946

The 1920s: Temporary Prosperity

Optimism and prosperity in the 1920s led many to hope that large scale conflict could be avoided.

This hope ended abruptly in October, 1929, with the onset of the Great Depression.

The Great Depression’s Causes

After effects of World War I

Overproduction

Tariffs and other trade barriers

Stock market crash

Bank failures in the US and other countries

The Great Depression (1929-1941)The Great Depression (1929-1941)

The New York Stock Exchange in October, 1929

Bank Failures

The Dust Bowl

Responses to the Great Depression

The enormous economic decline led many western governments to take greater control over their nation’s economies.

Many saw the Depression as evidence that democratic governments and capitalism were incapable of solving problems or meeting the needs of modern society.

US reaction to the Depression

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt the US enacted a reform program known as the New Deal.

The New Deal expanded government powers and regulated the US economy more closely than ever before.

Programs such as Social Security were designed to help Americans through the worst effects of the Great Depression and, it was hoped, prevent another.

Western European Reactions

Social Democratic governments were elected in Scandinavia. They were socialist but democratic.

In England, the Labour Party took power

France’s government was led by the Popular Front, a mixture of socialist and moderate parties.

These governments attempted to help end the Depression by taking more power over their economies

The Soviet Union

Because its economy was independent and did not depend on external trade, the Soviet Union had few economic troubles during the 1930s.

Joseph Stalin boasted that this demonstrated the superiority of socialism over capitalism, and some Westerners agreed.

Stalin’s Five Year Plans and focus on heavy industry and militarization made the Soviet Union a powerful force.

Japan

Japan had fought on the Allied side during World War I, but was disappointed with its treatment by the other powers afterwards.

By the 1930s, military leaders or warlords had taken power.

Japan began to construct the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, promising “Asia for the Asiatics.”

Germany

After World War I Germany’s economy was devastated, its territory shrunken, and its military force depleted.

Many Germans felt their country had been badly treated by the Treaty of Versailles, and were eager for revenge.

The Great Depression made Germany’s situation worse, and many Germans looked to new leadership.

The German MarkThe German Mark

The German MarkThe German Mark

The “Stabbed-in-the-Back” TheoryThe “Stabbed-in-the-Back” Theory

Disgruntled German WWI veteransDisgruntled German WWI veterans

Adolf Hitler

Born 1889, Austria

Obsessed with German racial superiority

Anti-Semitic

World War I veteran, took leadership of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi) in early 1920s

Attempted to seize power in 1923, but was imprisoned.

Wrote Mein Kampf

Appointed Chancellor after Nazis won the German elections in January, 1933.

The Third Reich By 1934 Hitler had taken total power and

become Der Fuhrer, or “The Leader” of Germany

He began to remilitarize Germany in defiance of the Versailles Treaty.

Anti-Semitic Decrees first separated the Jews from the Germans, then began to limit their rights, eventually leading to the Holocaust.

Nazi Propaganda

Anti-Semitism

The Road to World War II

Many point to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in Northern China in 1931 as the true beginning of World War II.

During the 1930s, Mussolini’s Italy invaded and conquered Ethiopia, Japan continued to invade and conquer China, and Germany made aggressive moves towards war

The Spanish Civil War of 1936-1938 was another omen of greater conflicts to come.

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

The Austrian Anschluss, 1938The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

“Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.”“Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr

Hitler is a man we can do business with.”

British Prime Minister Neville ChamberlainBritish Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939

The “Pact of Steel”The “Pact of Steel”

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop & Molotovvon Ribbentrop & Molotov

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Blitzkrieg [“Lightning War”]Blitzkrieg [“Lightning War”]

The “Phony War” Ends:Spring, 1940

The “Phony War” Ends:Spring, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis:The Tripartite PactSeptember, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis:The Tripartite PactSeptember, 1940

Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”Battle of Britain:The “Blitz”

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Operation Barbarossa:Hitler’s Biggest MistakeOperation Barbarossa:Hitler’s Biggest Mistake

Pearl HarborPearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941

“A date which will live in infamy…”

Pacific Theater of OperationsPacific Theater of Operations

Allied Counter-Offensive:“Island-Hopping”

Allied Counter-Offensive:“Island-Hopping”

“Island-Hopping”: US Troops on Kwajalien Island

“Island-Hopping”: US Troops on Kwajalien Island

Battle of Midway Island:June 4-6, 1942

Battle of Midway Island:June 4-6, 1942

Axis Powers in 1942Axis Powers in 1942

Battle of Stalingrad:Winter of 1942-1943

Battle of Stalingrad:Winter of 1942-1943

German Army Russian Army1,011,500 men 1,000,500 men

10,290 artillery guns

13,541 artillery guns

675 tanks 894 tanks

1,216 planes 1,115 planes

The Italian Campaign [“Operation Torch”] :

Europe’s “Soft Underbelly”

The Italian Campaign [“Operation Torch”] :

Europe’s “Soft Underbelly”• Allies plan Allies plan

assault on assault on weakest Axis weakest Axis area - North area - North Africa - Nov. Africa - Nov. 1942-May 19431942-May 1943

• George S. George S. PattonPatton leads leads American American troopstroops

• Germans Germans trapped in trapped in Tunisia - Tunisia - surrender over surrender over 275,000 troops.275,000 troops.

D-Day (June 6, 1944)D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Normandy Landing (June 6, 1944)

Normandy Landing (June 6, 1944)

Higgins Landing Higgins Landing CraftsCrafts

German German PrisonersPrisoners

TThe Liberation of Paris:August 25, 1944TThe Liberation of Paris:August 25, 1944

De Gaulle in De Gaulle in Triumph!Triumph!

The Battle of the Bulge:Hitler’s Last Offensive

The Battle of the Bulge:Hitler’s Last Offensive

Dec. 16, 1944Dec. 16, 1944toto

Jan. 28, 1945Jan. 28, 1945

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River: April 25, 1945

US & Russian Soldiers Meet at the Elbe River: April 25, 1945

Horrors of the Holocaust ExposedHorrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Crematoria Crematoria at at

MajdanekMajdanek

Entrance to Entrance to AuschwitzAuschwitz

Horrors of the Holocaust ExposedHorrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Horrors of the Holocaust ExposedHorrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Slave Labor at BuchenwaldSlave Labor at Buchenwald

Horrors of the Holocaust ExposedHorrors of the Holocaust Exposed

Mass Graves at Bergen-BelsenMass Graves at Bergen-Belsen

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945

Hitler Commits Suicide April 30, 1945

The FührerThe Führer’’s Bunkers Bunker

Cyanide & PistolsCyanide & Pistols

Mr. & Mrs. HitlerMr. & Mrs. Hitler

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)V-E Day (May 8, 1945)

General Keitel General Keitel

Japanese Kamikaze Planes:The Scourge of the South PacificJapanese Kamikaze Planes:

The Scourge of the South Pacific

Kamikaze PilotsKamikaze Pilots

Suicide Suicide BombersBombers

US Marines on Mt. Suribachi,Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

US Marines on Mt. Suribachi,Iwo Jima [Feb. 19, 1945]

The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos, NM

The Manhattan Project:Los Alamos, NM

Dr. Robert Dr. Robert OppenheimerOppenheimer

‘I am become

death, the destroyer

of worlds!”

‘I am become

death, the destroyer

of worlds!”

Major GeneralMajor GeneralLesley R. Lesley R. GrovesGroves

Hiroshima – August 6, 1945Hiroshima – August 6, 1945

• 70,000 killed 70,000 killed immediately.immediately.

• 48,000 buildings. 48,000 buildings. destroyed.destroyed.

• 100,000s died of 100,000s died of radiation poisoning radiation poisoning and cancer. and cancer.

Nagasaki – August 9, 1945Nagasaki – August 9, 1945

• 40,000 killed 40,000 killed immediately.immediately.

• 60,000 injured.60,000 injured.• 100,000s died of100,000s died of

radiation poisoningradiation poisoningand cancerand cancer..

Japanese A-Bomb SurvivorsJapanese A-Bomb Survivors

End of the War (September 2, 1945)

End of the War (September 2, 1945)

V-J Day in Times Square, NYCV-J Day in Times Square, NYC