War in Europe

Hitler on the Move• Hitler begins his conquest to take Europe

• November 5, 1937 – he meets with his top military advisors

• In order for Germany to grow, Germany needed the land of its neighbors

•Wanted to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich

• Austria was Hitler’s first target

Austria and Czechoslovakia• The majority of Austria’s population was

German and they favored a unification with Germany

•March 12, 1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed.

• The US and other countries did nothing to prevent this

Austria and Czechoslovakia• After taking over Austria, Hitler turns to

Czechoslovakia

• 3 Million speaking Germans lived in Czechoslovakia, or the Sudentenland

• Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia to make more living space for the German people and control its natural resources.

• Hitler claimed the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten German people and began massing troops at the border of Czechoslovakia

Austria and Czechoslovakia• Early in the conflict, France and Britain promised to

protect Czechoslovakia

• Hitler then invites the French premier, Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, to meet with him in Munich

• He demands that Czechoslovakia will be his last territorial demand.

• To avoid war, they grant him this land – September 30, 1938 – they signed the Munich Agreement giving the Sudetenland to Germany without bloodshed

Chamberlain and Churchill• Chamberlain came home saying there was peace

and honor and there would be no war

• Churchill was not satisfied with Chamberlain’s statement

• Churchill claims they showed signs of appeasement – giving up principles to pacify an aggressor

• Churchill warned this would lead to war, but British Parliament signed the agreement anyway

German Offensive Begins• As Churchill warned, Hitler was not finished

expanding his Third Reich

• March 15, 1939 – German troops poured into the rest of Czechoslovakia

• After this, Germany turned his attention to Germany’s Eastern Neighbor….Poland

Soviet Union declares Neutrality

• Poland had a large German speaking population – claimed they were being mistreated by the Poles

• People thought Hitler was bluffing – it would put him close to the USSR and Britain and France would almost certainly declare war

• They would be fighting a two-front war, just as in WWI which exhausted the Germans

Soviet Union declares Neutrality

• As tensions rose, Stalin surprised everyone when he signed the nonaggression Pact with Hitler.

• This stated that the USSR and Germany would not attack each other

• They also signed a second pact that divided Poland between the two powers.

• September 1, 1939 – German air force roared over Poland and tanks were rolling through the country. This was known as Blitzkrieg – lightning war

Poland Falls

• In three weeks, the major fighting was over

•By the end of the month, Germany attacked from the west and Russia from the West.

• Poland ceased to exist and WWII had officially begun

The Phony War

• For the next several months, French and British troops sat on the Maginot Line

• They stared into Germany while the German troops stared back – referred to the Phony War

• April 9, 1940 – Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order to protect their freedoms and independence

France and Britain Fight On

• France’s maginot line was ineffective

• Hitler sent his lines to Northern France to avoid French and British resistance in the Ardennes, which were supposed to be impassable

• German offensive trapped 400,000 British and French soldiers as they retreated to the beach of Dunkirk

• In less than a week 800 vessels carried 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety

France Falls

• A few days later, Italy joined the war allying with Germany and invaded France from the south

• June 22, 1940 – Hitler gave his orders of surrender to France

• Germans would occupy the northern part of France and a Nazi controlled puppet government would be set up in Vichy, southern France

• When France fell, Charles De Gaulle fled to England and set up a government in exile, proclaiming “France may have lost the battle, but France did not lose the war.”

Moving away from Neutrality• FDR persuades Congress to pass a Cash and

Carry policy

• The US can supply nations at war with arms as long as they paid cash and moved them with their own ships

• Providing the arms would help the British defeat Hitler and keep the US out of war

• 1939 – Congress passes the Neutrality Act and the Cash and Carry Policy goes into effect

Axis Threat• Summer 1940 – France had fallen, Britain is being

bombarded

• Roosevelt wants to aid Britain ASAP

• By June – 500,000 rifles and 80,000 machine guns

• September – 50 old destroyers sent to Britain on lease

• September 27 – US gets news that Japan, Germany, and Italy signed a Tripartite Pact – If a nation declares war on one of these countries, they all join in the war effort

Building US Defenses• Brought US’ worst nightmare, a two front war (Pacific and

Atlantic)

• Roosevelt asked congress to increase spending

• Due to Nazi victories in 1940, US thinking changed Congress boosted defense spending

• First peacetime military draft was passed as well – Selective training and Service Act

• Under this act – 16 million men ages 21-35 were now enlisted and 1 million would be brought into service

The Great Arsenal for Democracy

• Roosevelt ran for a third term and wins

• “No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it”

• Roosevelt warned if Britain fell, the Axis powers would be left unchallenged and everyone in the US would have a gun pointed at them

• To prevent this, the US had to help defeat the Axis powers and turn itself into “The Great Arsenal for Democracy”

Lend-Lease Plan• Late 1940 – Britain had no money to spend on

the Arsenal for Democracy

•Most people favored this and it was passed in March 1941 – Lend Lease Act – lend or lease any arms and other supplies to countries whose defense was vital to the US

Aiding……Stalin?• June 1941 – Hitler broke his agreement with the

USSR and invaded Russia

• “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” – Roosevelt began sending lend lease supplies to the USSR

• Churchill stated, and Roosevelt agreed “If Hitler invaded hell, the British would be prepared to work with the devil himself”

• To prevent these deliveries, Germany sent out U-boats to attack supply ships

German Wolfpacks• Spring-Fall 1941 – at night groups of 40 U-boats patrolled the

North Atlantic where supply ships were expected – known as Wolfpacks

• These wolfpacks were successful in sinking 350,000 tons of shipments in a single month

• June 1941 – Roosevelt granted US ships the right to attack German U-boats in self-defense

• By late 1943 – the submarines were contained by electronic technology techniques, especially radar

Atlantic Charter• Roosevelt and Churchill had a secret meeting

• They created the Atlantic Charter meaning both countries pledged to:

• Collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, and freedom of the seas

• Told Churchill he could not ask congress for a declaration of war, but said he would wage war and do everything to force an incident

Atlantic Charter•The charter became a basis for the “Declaration of the United Nations”

• It expressed the common purpose of the allies

•Signed by 26 countries

“Shoot on Sight!”• After attacks on the US Destroyer Greer, Roosevelt

ordered the navy to fire at German submarines on sight

• Two weeks later, the Pink Star was sunk, then the US Kearny was torpedoed

• Finally, the US Reuben James was sunk near Greenland and 100 lives were lost

• Senate finally repealed arming merchant ships

Japanese Expansion• Japan saw this is as the perfect time to expand their

empire

• By 1941 – the British are too busy to protect their colonies against the Japanese expansion

• July 1941 – take over Indochina (Vietnam Camboaida Laos)

• US responded by cutting off trade, including oil – this was critical to Japan

Japan attacks the US• Until November 5, 1941 – Japanese government

attempts to stay in peace talks with US

• November 5 – Japan prepares to launch a navy attack on the US

• US broke Japanese secret code and knew Japan was preparing for an attack

• December 6, 1941 – Roosevelt received a code that Japan would deny all peace proposals. He stated “This means war”

Pearl Harbor• December 7, 1941 – 180 Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor

• 2,403 men were killed 1,178 more wounded

• 21 ships damaged or sunk, including 8 battleships

• However, 3 aircraft carriers happened to be out at sea, which was critical in the wars outcome

• Roosevelt stated “December 7 1941, a day that will live in infamy”

US in WWII• Selective service needed to expand

•Went from 5 million to 10 million soldiers

• Armies need were growing

• George Marshall – pushed for a Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps

• This became law on May 15, 1942

US in WWII• New dilemmas for minority groups

• Racially segregated neighborhoods, reservations, and denied citizenship rights, these groups questioned whether they wanted to fight in the war.

• 300,000 Mexican Americans

• 1 Million African Americans

Production takes off• Factories quickly converted to war production.

• By 1944 18 million are working in the war industry

• 6 million were women

• Many defense contractors refused to give African Americans jobs (75%)

• Philip Randolph organized a march on Washington

Discrimination• Roosevelt asked Randolph to back down due to fear

of White violence

• Randolph refuses. Roosevelt backs down and calls for the equality of all workers in the defense industry

• Office of Scientific Research and Development create (OSRD) – improved radar and sonar

• Their biggest achievement – creating the Atomic bomb

Atomic Bomb• Interests began in 1939

• Germans found out how to split Uranium atoms

• Roosevelt received a letter explaining what the German’s discovered

• Roosevelt created a committee.

• Committee estimated it would take 3-5 years to build a bomb

Atomic Bomb• 1942 – begin the production of the atomic bomb –

Manhattan Project

•With war production up, consumer goods were down.

• It was anticipated that these costs would go way up

• Roosevelt creates the Office of Price Administration

• Fought inflation by freezing the price of most goods

OPA• Government also raised income taxes and extended

to tax to millions of people

• Government also encouraged Americans to buy war bonds

• Government also needed to assure that the army would have the resources they needed to win the war

• He creates the War Production Board

WPB• Companies that went from peace time to war time

production

• Collected scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags

• In addition, the OPA also set up rationing – establishing a fixed allotment of goods

• Rations on meat, sugar, coffee, gas

• People were given rationing coupons

War in Europe• Churchill met Roosevelt in the White House on

December 22, 1941

• He planned the war for the next three weeks with Roosevelt

• After Pearl Harbor – Hitler order German submarines to attack the ships on the Atlantic in America

• Goal was to prevent food and war materials from getting to Britain

War in Atlantic• German U-boats were destroying the ships going to Britain

• In response, US organizes it ships into convoys – ships traveling together for mutual protection

• Escorted with destroyers that were equipped with sonar

• Also had airplanes that used radar to find the U-boats

• Extremely successful and destroyed man German U-boats

US in the Atlantic• 1943 - US launched a crash ship building program –

140 liberty ships built each month

• Mid 1943 – tide of the Atlantic had turned.

•Winter 1943 – Allies began to see victories on land and at sea

• First turning point – Battle of Stalingrad

• Hitler hoped to capture all oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains

Battle in the East•Wanted to also wipe out Stalingrad, which was a

major industrial city

• August 1942 – German Army approaches the city

• The Lufwaffe had prepared the invasion by bombarding the city at night

• By September – Hitler controlled 9/10 of the city

• However, another winter hit

Stalingrad• Soviets saw this as an opportunity to roll Tanks

across frozen land and begin a massive counter attack

• They surrounded the city and trapped he Germans, cutting off their supplies

• Germany surrendered January 31, 1943

• Soviets lost 1.1 million soldiers

• Major turning point – Soviets began moving westward toward Germany

A Second Front• Stalin pressured America and Britain to attack

Germany to open another front and divert troops away from the USSR

• Launched Operation Torch – an invasion of North Africa – commanded by Eisenhower

• 107,000 troops, mostly American, landed in Casablanca

• They chased the Afrika Korps led by General Rommel “Desert Fox”

A Second Front• May 1943 – Afrika Korps surrender

• The Italy campaign was to begin next

• Summer 1943 – Sicily is captured

• This made the Italians angry and they wanted Mussolini out of power

• He is eventually stripped of all his power and Italians cheer for joy

Italian Campaign• However, Hitler wants to fight in Italy and not on

German soil

• Hardest battle for the Allies – Battle of Anzio – four month battle – May 1944

• 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties

• During the year, German forces maintained a strong resistance in Italy

• It would not fall until May 1945, when Germany itself fell

Americans Liberate Europe• Minority groups also played a crucial role in the

Italian campaign – Mexican, African and even Japanese Americans

• Americans began to create the task Operation Overlord

• 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops gathered

• Eventually, leads to D-Day – June 6 1944 (Originally was for June 5, but bad weather caused a delay)

D-Day• Even with Aerial and Sea bombardment, the landings

were brutal, especially at Omaha beach

• Despite heavy casualties D-Day was a success

• July 25 – Omar Bradly led a massive aerial bombardment clearing the way for George Patton and his Third Army

• France was liberated August 25, 1944

War in Europe winding down

• By September 1944 – Belgium, France, and Luxembourg are free

• October 1944 – First German city captured – Aachen

• Hitler makes one last gasp for an offensive

• December 16 – German tanks broke weak American lines – created a bulge in the lines. Became known as the Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge• Battle raged for a month

• Germans were pushed back and lost too many men, tanks, and weapons.

• Had no choice but to retreat

• Allied troops continued to push east and the Soviets pushed west towards Poland

Liberation of Death Camps• Soviets come across the camps in July 1944

• Germans tried to quickly burn all the evidence of their crimes, but are unsuccessful

• Soviets are horrified at what has happened. Find the largest crematorium, starving prisoners, and 800,000 shoes

• Americans were equally horrified when they found these camps

German Surrender• April 25, 1945 – Soviets stormed into Berlin

• Hitler prepared for the end underground

• April 29 – he wrote his last address to the German people and married Eva Braun

• He blamed the Jews for the war and his generals for his loss

• He shot himself and his wife swallowed a pill

• Their bodies were soaked in gasoline and burned

V-E Day• A week later, Eisenhower accepted the unconditional

surrender of the Third Reich.

• May 8, 1945 – Americans celebrated Victory in Europe Day

• Roosevelt had died before V-E Day

• He died April 12, 1945 and Harry Truman would become the 33rd president of the United States