2. ACTS OF AGGRESSION 1931 - Japan Invades Manchuria The League of Nations opposes the attack and said it would deal with the government of the aggressor nation. But how could this succeed when the government had no control over the army which was the cause of the problem ? The Japanese army ignored the Japanese government and launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria. Soon, it had occupied the whole of the province.
3. ACTS OF AGGRESSION 1935 – Italy Invades Ethiopia On October 3, 1935, Italy attacked Ethiopia from Eritrea and Italian Somaliland without a declaration of war. On October 7, the League of Nations unanimously declared Italy an aggressor but took no effective action.
4. Benito Mussolini “ I refuse to believe that the real people of Great Britain and France, who have never had discords with Italy, are prepared to run the risk of hurling Europe along the road to catastrophe for the sake of defending an African country universally branded as a country without the slightest shadow of civilization.” How Does Mussolini justify the attack of Ethiopia?
5. “ It is my duty to inform the Governments assembled in Geneva, responsible as they are for the lives of millions of men, women and children, of the deadly peril which threatens them, by describing to them the fate which has been suffered by Ethiopia… Representatives of the World I have come to Geneva to discharge in your midst the most painful of the duties of the head of a State. What reply shall I have to take back to my people?” On June 30, Haile Selassie made a powerful speech before the League of Nations in Geneva in which he set forth two choices--support for collective security or international lawlessness. Haile Selassie
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7. AXIS POWER Adolf Hitler ( right ) is considered one of the most brutal dictators in history. After purging possible rivals for leadership, Hitler rearmed Germany into a modern war machine. He and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini ( left ), both Fascists , became allies in 1936. They are shown here in Munich, Germany, in 1937.
8. GERMAN AGGRESSION Adolf Hitler preached to the Nazi party faithful that they were a superior race that deserved more than they had, including additional Lebensraum , or living space, and a higher standard of living. Hitler was an emotional speaker who had a mesmerizing effect on those who listened. By 1938 he had amassed the best-equipped, best-trained army in the world.
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10. Acts of Aggression Lead to WWII Country Area Attacked Reason Allies Reaction Japan 1931 - Manchuria China 1. Need for natural resources. League of Nations condemned the action but did nothing. Italy Ethiopia - Africa 1. Distract Italians from depression. 2. Promised to build the new Roman Empire League of Nations did nothing. Other nations concerned with their own problems. 1. Austria (1938) 1. German people lived there. 1. None even though it was a direct violation of the treaty Germany 2.Czechoslovakia/Sudeten-land (1938) 2. German people lived there. 2. Hitler promised he was finished. Britain & France appeased and didn't fight. 3. Poland (1939) 3. Desire for land. 3. Britain and France declare war.
11. The Munich Conference After Germany invaded the Sudetenland, the British and French met with Hitler in Munich on September 30, 1938. They agreed to allow the Nazi leader to seize the Sudeten districts of Czechoslovakia in return for an assurance from him that he had no further territorial claims in Europe. Their appeasement policy once again gave in to the _____________________.
12. The Policy Of Appeasement Based on what you have learned, and these Dr. Seuss cartoons, what does ‘appeasement’ mean?
13. PEACE FOR OUR TIME! “ An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last.” - Winston Churchill On 15 March 1939, the German army occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia. “ My good friends… I have returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time… Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.”
14. Peace For Our Time "We, the German Führer and Chancellor, and the British Prime Minister, have had a further meeting today and are agreed in recognizing that the question of Anglo-German relations is of the first importance for our two countries and for Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. We are resolved that the method of consultation shall be the method adopted to deal with any other questions that may concern our two countries, and we are determined to continue our efforts to remove possible sources of difference, and thus to contribute to assure the peace of Europe. My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." The following is the wording of the printed statement that Neville Chamberlain waved as he stepped off the plane on September 30, 1938 after the Munich Conference had ended the day before:
16. Nazi-Soviet Pact On August 23, 1939, the world was shocked when, suddenly, Russia and Germany signed a non-aggression pact. In addition, the two countries had a secret agreement to invade and divide ______________ between them.
17. GERMANY INVADES POLAND On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Hitler introduced a new kind of war called a blitzkrieg , which means “lightning war.” German bombers targeted railroads, shown here, which crippled Polish military mobilization. Hundreds of tanks smashed through Polish defenses and rolled deep into the country. The Poles fought hard, but on September 17, the Soviet Union invaded their country from the east. By the end of the month, Poland had fallen.
23. France Falls! In May 1940, the Germans attacked France. the French army was caught off guard. Although both armies were about equal in strength in terms of troops and tanks, the Germans had superior numbers of aircraft and an invasion plan. The blitzkrieg sent French forces into a confused retreat, and as the Germans marched into Paris on June 14, the French government collapsed.
24. Evacuation - "miracle" of Dunkirk The German army quickly pushed into France. However, they inexplicably waited around the perimeter of Dunkirk. Maybe the Panzer tanks and armored divisions were short of fuel and supplies after their successful but frantic dash into France. Whatever the reason, this gave the Allies a window of opportunity to save as many troops as possible- though all their equipment and weapons had to be left behind. Navy ships were hastily gathered and sent to the port of Dunkirk. Troops waited their turn to be evacuated on the surrounding sandy beaches. At the port, ships and beaches came under increasing aerial attack, civilian small boats were sent across to help take men directly off the beaches.
27. The Bombing of Britain In Summer of 1940, the German Luftwaffe hit London with the Blitz, with bombing raids on the capital and dog-fights in its sky during the Battle of Britain .
31. Turning Point: Pearl Harbor On Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft initiated a surprise attack on the United States Pacific Fleet at Hawaii’s Pearl Harbor. The Japanese hoped to cripple the American fleet , which they perceived as the principal threat to victory in a war against the United States. Within a few hours the Japanese had destroyed four battleships and damaged four more, including the USS Arizona (pictured), destroyed other naval vessels and a large number of combat aircraft, and killed and wounded many American naval and military personnel.
32. United States Declares War On December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Roosevelt called December 7 th “ a date which will live in infamy .”
34. Japanese Aggression in Pacific After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese took over the Philippines, Indochina, Taiwan, and many other Pacific islands.
35. Turning Points: Africa and Italy Operation Torch, 1942-43 El Alamein, 1942-43 Invasion of Sicily and Italy, 1943 Operation Overlord (D-Day), 1944
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37. Turning Point: Stalingrad During the fall and early winter of 1941, German armored divisions had advanced toward Moscow at a rapid pace, capturing hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops in the process. But by the first week of December, snow began falling, and temperatures plunged to -40° C (-40° F). The German soldiers, not dressed for winter weather, were freezing and losing their will to fight. Their equipment also froze , becoming useless. The Russian winter finally accomplished what its military had failed to do: It halted the German offensive. Results: 90% of the city was in ruins 90,000 German soldiers surrender – Germans push back for first time!
38. Invasion of Italy Patton (farthest left) comes ashore after the 1st Divison saved the beachead on Sicily from a massive German counterattack At the Casablanca Conference held in January 1943, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to launch an invasion of Sicily. It was hoped that if the island was taken Italy might withdraw from the war. It was also argued that a successful invasion would force Adolf Hitler to send troops from the Eastern Front and help to relieve pressure on the Red Army in the Soviet Union .
39. Patton "No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
40. Liberation of Sicily! On 17th August 1943, General George Patton and his troops marched into Messina. The capture of the island made it possible to clear the way for Allied shipping in the Mediterranean. It also helped to undermine the power of Benito Mussolini and Victor Emmanuel III forced him to resign.
41. The “Big Three” A meeting in Tehrān, Iran, in 1943 was held to discuss the military strategy and post-World War II policy for Europe. The leaders decided to invade France in 1944, against Churchill’s recommendations. The meeting marked the apex of the East-West wartime alliance. Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill
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43. To ensure against such a landing, Hitler ordered Field Marshal Erwin Rommel to complete the Atlantic Wall --2,400 miles of fortifications made up of concrete bunkers, barbed wire, tank ditches, landmines, fixed gun emplacements, and beach and underwater obstacles. These obstacles were specially designed to rip out the bottoms of landing craft or blow them up before they reached the shore.
44. More than 150,000 men, a fleet of 5,000 ships and landing craft, 50,000 vehicles, and 11,000 planes were ready to secretly cross the English Channel. This force was the largest armada in history!
45. D-Day: Operation Overlord On June 6, 1944, a force of about 152,000 Allied soldiers from the United States, Britain, and Canada stormed the beaches of Normandy in northern France, where they were supported by about 23,000 paratroopers.
46. "In wartime, truth is so precious that she must always be attended by a bodyguard of lies." Winston Churchill, 1943 The main objective of the Allied deception strategy was to convince the Germans that an invasion would indeed take place-but not at Normandy. The most obvious choice for an invasion site was Calais, located at the narrowest part of the English Channel, only 22 miles from Britain. Hitler was almost certain that the Allies would attack here. This 25-pound gun and its carriage were made from plywood
48. The Allies encouraged Hitler's belief by employing an ingenious ruse. Throughout southeastern England they built phony armies, complete with dummy planes, ships, tanks, and jeeps. With the help of British and American motion picture crews, they created entire army bases that would look authentic to German reconnaissance aircraft. These "bases" gave the impression of a massive Allied buildup in preparations for an invasion of France at Calais. The ruse worked. Hitler ordered a heavy concentration of troops and artillery in the Pas de Calais region. In doing so he left Normandy less heavily defended. A Sherman tank made from inflatable rubber
50. D-Day was the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion at Normandy took the Germans by surprise, because they expected an invasion from the narrowest part of the English Channel. The Germans fought the invasion fiercely, but by the end of the day, all five beaches were secured by the Allies.
54. The Yalta Conference In February 1945 the leaders of the Allied powers, known as the Big Three , met at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula to discuss Allied military strategy in the final months of World War II.
55. VE-DAY, May 8, 1945 Winston Churchill acknowledges crowd on VE-Day. VE Day marks the day of the Allies’ victory in Europe during World War II. After 3½ years of war, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally in 1945.
57. Island Hopping Strategy Successful Led by Douglas McArthur, the United States began an island-hopping campaign that would push the Japanese back to Japan. Midway, 1942 Iwo Jima, 1944-45 Guadalcanal, 1942-43 Philippines, 1944 Okinawa, 1945
58. Turning Point: Midway The Battle of Midway was a victory for American forces and marked a turning point in the Pacific theater during World War II. The battle was fought in the waters off the Midway Islands in June 1942 between United States land-and carrier-based planes and Japanese carrier-based planes. The Japanese lost four aircraft carriers, two cruisers, and three destroyers. The Americans lost the aircraft carrier Yorktown and one destroyer.
59. Battle of Iwo Jima In March of 1945, American marines gained control of the tiny, but strategically located, island of Iwo Jima. Iwo Jima is just 660 miles from Tokyo. This victory came after losing more than 20,000 more soldiers than they had ever lost in a single battle.
61. Pacific War Battles On! Kamikaze, which in Japanese means “divine wind,” were suicide squadrons organized by the Japanese air force in the last months of World War II. Pilots flew their aircraft, loaded with explosives, directly into U.S. naval vessels. Kamikaze pilots, sacrificing their lives in a last - ditch effort to stop the American advance, sank about 40 U.S. ships .
63. Harry Truman When Franklin Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Harry Truman came into office. The European war was coming to an end, and he was left to concentrate on the war in the Pacific. The only obstacle that the United States needed to overcome was _________________________. Although much of the Japanese naval fleet and air force had been destroyed by Allied raids, their ancient _________________ tradition prevented a surrender. Therefore, an Allied victory would create extremely high casualties; military advisors predicted that an invasion of Japan would cost over ____________________ American lives. This fact put Truman in a very difficult position. Japan Shinto 250,000
64. Although much of the Japanese naval fleet and air force had been destroyed by Allied raids, their ancient Bushido tradition prevented a surrender. Therefore, an Allied victory would create extremely high casualties; military advisors predicted that an invasion of Japan would cost over 1 million American lives. This fact put Truman in a very difficult position. He had to choose between the massive destruction the bomb would cause Japan and saving the lives of his American soldiers. What would you do? Use the Atomic Bomb to make the Japanese surrender, invade Japan, or find another solution?
65. Atomic Bomb On August 6, 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a Japanese city and military center. The blast destroyed 68 percent of the city and damaged another 24 percent. An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people were killed or reported missing, according to U.S. estimates, and thousands more were made homeless. Sixteen hours after the attack, U.S. President Harry S. Truman’s report of the event was broadcast to radio listeners.
66. Nagasaki Three days later, on August 9 th , a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. Over 20,000 people died instantly. In the successive weeks, thousands more Japanese died from the after effects of the _______________ exposure of the blast.
67. The Atomic Age Begins! The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945, during World War II. The blast destroyed 68 percent of the city and damaged another 24 percent, and an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people were killed or reported missing, according to United States estimates.
68. VJ-Day: The War is Over! Japanese officials formally surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, aboard the United States battleship Missouri. Japan's surrender brought an end to World War II (1939-1945).