World War Looms

Chapter 16

Section 1-Dictators Threaten World Peace

What was WWII?

• Largest war in human history• Involved countries, colonies, and

territories around the entire world • Over 70 million died• WWII-1939 to 1945

Nationalism Grips Europe

• People angry after WWI • Peace had not brought stability, but revolution• Dictators rose up to deal with hard times• Nationalism-

– Pride in one’s country, loyalty, dreams of expansion

Failures of WWI Peace

• Treaty of Versailles did not bring peace, but resentment

• Germans feel picked on• Germany in depression, could not pull itself

out (b/c of reparations)• Young democracies in Europe were quickly

overthrown

Joseph Stalin and Soviet Union

• 1917-Communist state set up• 1924-Lenin dies and Stalin takes

charge• Government controlled all aspects of

the economy, no private ownership• Became an industrial giant off the

backs of its workers

Joseph Stalin and Soviet Union

• Instituted five year plans• Became 2nd largest industrial country in

world• Purge- Stalin killed 8-13 million people who

got in his way or possibly could• Established a totalitarian government:

Individuals have no rights, gov. supreme power

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• Mussolini establishes himself in Italy• Nationalist ideals• Fascism: nationalism and state above

all else• Had to be one leader to have power

Rise of Fascism in Italy

• 1922 marched on Rome–Took power

• Il Duce- “The Leader”• Totalitarian Government-

Individuals have no rights, the gov. suppresses all opposition

Nazis in Germany

• Nazi Party-– 3 goals:

• 1.) Racial Purification• 2.) Unite all German people• 3.) Expansion of Germany

• Adolf Hitler– Rose to power through the party– Plan was in Mein Kampf:

Nazis in Germany

• Depression allowed Nazis to come to power

• Storm Troopers- Hitler’s private army

• 1933- Hitler named chancellor• Third Reich- Third German Empire

Militarists Gain Control in Japan

• Need to expand–Japan = small island

• Attacked China–Japan gained control of Manchuria

in 1931• League of Nations was powerless to

stop it

Totalitarianism

USSR:Communist Dictatorship

Germany & Italy:Fascist

Dictatorship

Japan:Military

Dictatorship

Aggression in Europe and Africa

• Dictators realized League had no power– Germany pulls out of League in 1935– Violated the Treaty of Versailles

• Hitler-– Sent troops into Rhineland, not stopped 

• Mussolini- – Attacks Ethiopia

Adolf Hitler-Germany

Hideki Tojo -

Japan

Benito Mussolini-Italy

Joseph Stalin-USSR

Civil War Breaks out in Spain

• 1936-Franco Francisco and his army revolts against Spain

• Whole world interested in it–USSR sent weapons– Italy and Germany sent troops–U.S. did nothing

• 1939- Franco becomes Spain’s fascist dictator

US Cautious Response

• US alarmed, but still clings to Isolationism• Nye Commission said U.S. was dragged into

WWI and could not do that again• Neutrality Acts-

– 1st and 2nd- Banned the sale of weapons to nations at war

– 3rd – Expanded this to countries in civil war

Section 2-War in Europe

Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall

• 1937 Hitler decides to absorb Czech. and Austria

• Austria created after WWI–Most were Germans who favored

reunification• 1938-Hitler marched in, unopposed • Anschluss: Union w/ Austria

How did WWII start?

• Germany invaded Poland to get lebensraum

Bargaining for the Sudetenland

• Sudetenland: Czech. Border of Germ.–Most spoke and were German

• Lebensraum: Elbow (Living) Room• Hitler said Czechs. were mistreating

Germans in Sudetenland

Bargaining for the Sudetenland

• France and England promised to protect the Czechs

• Daladier: France, Chamberlain: England meet with Hitler in Munich

• 1938 Munich Agreement- –Appeasement- Give Hitler what he

wants and he’ll stop

German Offensive

• 1939- Hitler sets his sights on Poland• Attacking Poland = War with Russia• The two front war killed Germany in

WWI, so Hitler would not make the same mistake

• Stalin signs Non-aggression Pact in 1939• Now no fear from USSR, Poland is target

German Offensive

• September 1st, 1939• Germany invades Poland• Hitler uses Blitzkrieg: Lightening war• Sept. 3, 1939- Brit. and France declare war on

Germany• Poland split between Russia and Germany• WWII had begun

Hitler Attacks

• April 9th, 1940- Hitler attacks Norway and Denmark, Netherlands, Belgium and moves into France

• France and Britain fight on• Frances defenses fell quickly

–Hitler takes France

The Battle of Britain• A series of air battles

– Daily battles that lasted the summer of 1940

– German bombers escorted by fighter planes

• Royal Air Force out-shot Luftwaffe• England able to replace losses

– England out-produced Germany fighter planes (avg. 563/month)

• England had Radar – RAF would not be caught on ground

The Blitz• September 1940

– Luftwaffe changed targets from RAF to cities, especially London

– Most terrifying phase of battle occurred mostly at night

• Sept 1940 to June 1941– ‘The Blitz’ – British cities

bombed day and night– Battle of Britain effectively

over once Hitler moved from trying to destroy the RAF, ‘Operation Sealion’ was put on shelf

St Paul’s Cathedral, 29 Dec 1940

The Battle of Britain

• Winston Churchill–“Never in the field of human

conflict, was so much owed, by so many, to so few.”•Winston Churchill, Aug 19th,1940

British & German aircraft destroyed July 1st – October 31st, 1940

British German1 – 15 July 51 10816 – 31 July 69 1171 – 15 Aug 156 25916 – 31 Aug 249 3321 – 15 Sept 268 32316 – 30 Sept 133 2131 – 15 Oct 100 14716 – 31 Oct 90 161Totals 1,116 1,660

Section 3-The Holocaust

The Holocaust

• Targets:– Jews

• Anti-Semitism: Hatred of Jews• Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s

failures• 1935-Nuremberg Laws: Jews stripped of

citizenship, property, forced to wear the star of David

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The Holocaust

• Kristallnacht- Night of broken glass• Nov. 9-10, 1938• Nazis attacked Jewish homes and

businesses• Killed 100 people, 30,000 arrested• Blamed the Jews for the destruction

Nazi Targets

• Jews, Gypsies, Freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, mentally or physically challenged, homosexuals, physically disabled

• Final Solution- A policy of genocide that systematically killing of an entire population

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Forced Relocation

• Ghettos- Segregated Jewish area–Miserable existence

• Warsaw- Meant for 5,000, had to cope with 50,000

• Did their best to resist, but outnumbered and betrayed by countrymen

Concentration Camps

• Concentration Camps: Labor and Death• 1942: Mass Exterminations

– Bullets too expensive, starvation took too long – Need a faster way

• Gas Chambers- 2,000 people at a time sometimes 12,000 a day

• Chelmo-1st camp• Auschwitz- Largest

– Medical Experiments

Survivors

• By 1945 nearly 6 million Jews had died in the camps

• Generations have been affected and entire families were wiped out

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Section 4- America Moves Towards War

Moving away from Neutrality

• Cash and Carry– Warring nations could buy arms as long as they

had money• Some people said good way to stay out, others

said going to pull us into the war• Britain was holding on by a thread.

– We gave them ships for bases

Axis Threat

• 1940-Italy, Japan and Germany sign treaty to form the Axis

• They agreed to help each other if ever under attack

Building U.S. Defenses

• Had to increase national defenses– Peacetime military draft 

• FDR runs for third term • Arsenal of Democracy

– Build an arsenal to help defeat Hitler• 1941-Lend Lease Act- Program in which the

U.S. would lend the Allied nations large amounts of military supplies

Supporting Stalin

• 1941-Germany attacks Russia–Now has a reason to help Russia

• German Wolf Packs–FDR had to allow US ships to

sink U boats for safety

FDR Plans for War

• Not everyone thrilled with him– He got a bill passed to extend draft terms

• Atlantic Charter– FDR and Churchill meet in secret on Augusta– Collective security, disarmament, self determination,

economic cooperation, freedom of seas• Beginnings of United Nations

– Allies created

Shoot on Sight

• 1941-Germans fire on USS Greer–Shoot on sight policy–Pink Star sunk –U.S.S. Kearny torpedoed

• Still won’t declare war, but foregone conclusion

Japan Attacks U.S.

• Japan controlled most of China under Tojo–Go into Indochina

• U.S. protested and stopped trading with Japan

• U.S. knew Japan was going to attack us, but did not know where and when

Japan Attacks U.S.

• December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl–2,403 Americans Killed–21 ships sunk or damaged–The U.S. now ready to enter the

war