2. Quick Facts:
A. War Costs
1. US Debt 1940 - $9 billion
US Debt 1945 - $98 billion
• The war cost $330 billion -- 10 times
the cost of WWI & as much as all
previous federal spending since 1776
4. Quick Facts:
B. Human Costs
1. 50 million people died (compared to
15 million in WWI)
• 21.3 million Russians (7.7 million civilians)
• 11 million died as a result of the HOLOCAUST
(6 million Jews + 5 million others)
5. When?
•1939-1945
•US involvement 1941-1945
1939 1941 1945
Sept.1 - Sept. 3 Dec. 7 – May - Sept. -
Germany -Britain & Japan bombs Germans Atomic
invades France Pearl Harbor; Surrender Bombing
Poland declare US enters the of
(official war on War Hiroshima
start to the Germany &
war) Nagasaki,
Japanese
Surrender
6. Who?
Allies Axis
(major powers) (major powers)
Great Britain Germany
Russia Italy
United States Japan
France
(note: France surrendered
to Germany in 1940 (after
6 weeks of fighting)
7. • “He who wants to live must fight, and he who
does not want to fight in this world, where
eternal struggle is the law of life, has no right
to exist.”
» Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
» Adolf Hitler
8. The Rise of Dictators
• Ruthless people rose to power in the 1920’s and 1930’s
• Some Europeans resented terms of Treaty of Versailles
– Germans had to take full responsibility of WWI
– Pay billions of dollars in reparation to allies
– Disarm completely
– Give up all overseas colonies and some territory in Europe
– Carved up Austro-Hungarian and Russian Empires to create
several European countries (borders were later disputed)
– League of Nations was part of the Treaty
9. The Players
• Germany –
• Italy –
• Japan-
• Soviet Union –
• United States –
18. • Established totalitarian rule
– A single party and its leader suppress all opposition and
control all aspects of people’s lives
• Believed Germans had a right to expand its territory,
needed lebensraum -living space
• Rebuilt Germany’s military- going against the treaty
• Made an alliance with Italy to support his expansion
plans
20. Italy
• Benito Mussolini
– Appealed to those who felt they had not won enough
from the Treaty of Versailles
– Made fascism popular in Italy
• Control over a country’s economic and political system
– His fascist party became so strong he forced the king
of Italy to declare him ruler of the government
21. – He banned all political parties but fascism
– Ended all democratic rule, no civil liberties or free
press
– Children were enrolled in military organizations, taught
loyalty to regime
– Began attacking and annexing neighboring lands,
Ethiopia, Albania…withdrew from the League of
Nations
23. Japan
• Japanese grew frustrated during the depression
• Military leaders rose to power in the 1930’s
• These leaders thought they could solve Japan’s
problems by expanding their power into Asia
• 1931 attacked Manchuria, China
• League condemned the act, but took no action
• Slowly took over most of China
• 1940 signed a pact of alliance with Germany and Italy
to form the “Axis”
26. Soviet Union
• Late 1920’s Joseph Stalin rose to power
• Communist leader
• Demanded complete obedience from his people
• Got his through force
• Executed rivals and those thousands suspected of
supporting his rivals
• Sent millions to Russian labor camps
• Reorganized nations economy, forcing millions to
work on government owned farms
29. The United States of America
• Most Americans wanted to avoid involvement
in foreign affairs
• Congress passed Neutrality Acts between
1935 and 1937
– Banned the sale of weapons to nations at war
– Restricted trade to nations on a cash only basis
(WWI debt from European countries remained
unpaid)
31. Hitler Begins
• Rhineland
– March 1936 Begins march
– German territory west of the Rhine River
– Considered a neutral zone by the treaty
– German soldiers prohibited in area
– France and Britain protested, but did nothing else
33. • Sudetenland (area of Czechoslovakia)
– Many German speaking people lived here
– Falsely claimed these people were being
persecuted
– Czechs did not want to be annexed; Britain &
France sought peaceful solution
– Leaders of Germany, Italy, France, Great Britain
met in Munich
35. The Munich Pact
– Czechs did not want to be annexed; Britain &
France sought peaceful solution
– Leaders of Germany, Italy, France, Great
Britain met in Munich
– France and Britain wanted to avoid war
– Let Germany have the Sudetenland;
appeasement
36. The Munich Pact
– In return, Germany could not expand
farther.
– Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister,
cheered
– March, 1939, Germany invaded
Czechoslovakia
– World is realizing Hitler cannot be trusted
38. Nazi-Soviet Pact
• Germany making plans to invade Poland
• Poland bordered Russia
• Hitler did not want to anger Stalin, yet.
• Both signed Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact-
August 1939
• 2 leaders pledged not to attack each other
• Agreed to divide Poland
• Pact shocked the world
40. War in Europe
Hitler sends Great Britain &
Troops to France declare
Poland War on
Germany
9-1-39 9-3-39
42. The Attack
• Swift and Fierce
• Planes bombed
• Machine guns got their targets
• Tanks blasted holes in Polish defenses
• Thousands of German soldiers crossed into
Poland
44. Blitzkrieg
• Lightning War
– The German offensive way of fighting
– Moving in quickly, forcefully, from all sides
49. The Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and
Churchill sign
treaty of
friendship in
August 1941.
Solidifies alliance.
Fashioned after
Wilson’s 14 Points.
Calls for League of
Nations type
71. Potsdam Conference:
July, 1945
FDR dead, Churchill out of office as Prime
Minister during conference.
Stalin only original.
The United States
has the A-bomb.
Allies agree Germany
is to be divided into
occupation zones
Poland moved P.M. Clement President Joseph
Atlee Truman Stalin
around to suit
the Soviets.
72. The Manhattan Project:
Los Alamos,
NM
I am become
Major General
Lesley R. Groves death,
the shatterer
Dr. Robert
Oppenheimer of worlds!
80. V-J Day (September 2, 1945)
Mus.
fton.k12.wi.us/highschool/schill/ushistory/WWII%20terms/WWII%20terms_
81. WW II Casualties: Europe
Each symbol
indicates 100,000
dead in the
appropriate theater
of operations
82. WW II Casualties: Asia
Each symbol
indicates 100,000
dead in the
appropriate theater
of operations
83. Country Men in war Battle deaths Wounded
WW II
Australia 1,000,000 26,976 180,864
Austria 800,000 280,000 350,117
Belgium 625,000 8,460 55,5131
Brazil2 40,334 943 4,222
Bulgaria
Canada
339,760
1,086,3437
6,671
42,0427
21,878
53,145 Casualties
China3 17,250,521 1,324,516 1,762,006
1. Civilians only.
Czechoslovakia — 6,6834 8,017
2. Army and navy figures.
Denmark — 4,339 —
3. Figures cover period July 7,
Finland 500,000 79,047 50,000 1937 to Sept. 2, 1945,
France — 201,568 400,000 and concern only Chinese
Germany 20,000,000 3,250,0004 7,250,000 regular troops. They do not
Greece — 17,024 47,290 include casualties suffered
Hungary — 147,435 89,313
by guerrillas and local
military corps.
India 2,393,891 32,121 64,354
4. Deaths from all causes.
Italy 3,100,000 149,4964 66,716
5. Against Soviet Russia;
Japan 9,700,000 1,270,000 140,000 385,847
Netherlands 280,000 6,500 2,860 against Nazi Germany.
New Zealand 194,000 11,6254 17,000 6. Against Soviet Russia;
Norway 75,000 2,000 — 169,822
against Nazi Germany.
Poland — 664,000 530,000
7. National Defense Ctr.,
Romania 650,0005 350,0006 —
Canadian
South Africa 410,056 2,473 —
Forces Hq., Director of
U.S.S.R. — 6,115,0004 14,012,000 History.
United Kingdom 5,896,000 357,1164 369,267
United States 16,112,566 291,557 670,846
Yugoslavia 3,741,000 305,000 425,000