1. World War II
An overview of the
Major Events and Key
Players.

2. Key Players in the War
Axis Powers Allied Powers
 Adolf Hitler  Neville Chamberlain
 Benito Mussolini  Winston Churchill
 Hideki Tojo  Charles De Gaulle
 Franklin Roosevelt
 Harry Truman
 Joseph Stalin

3. ADOLF HITLER
 Brought prominence to the
National Socialist German
Workers Party (NAZI Party)
 Head of the 3rd Reich
 Believed in Master Race –
Aryan Race
 Unite all German-speaking
people
 1933 took power
 Anti-communist
 Private property with strong
governmental control
 Das Fuhrer

4. BENITO MUSSOLINI
 Led fascist movement in
Italy
 Black-shirt army
 Totalitarian State under
his rule
 AKA - Il Duce- The
Chief
 Anti-communist
 Private property with
strong government
control

5. HIDEKI TOJO
 Militant Japanese general
 Took control of Japan in
1941
 Pushed for vast colonial
empire stretching from
China to Thailand
 Organized attack on Pearl
Harbor

6. NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN
 British Prime Minister at
the onset of War
 Believed in policy of
Appeasement for dealing
with Hitler.
 Signed Munich Pact to
turn over Sudetenland
 Believed he obtained
“Peace in Our Time”

7. WINSTON CHURCHILL
 Critical of Chamberlin’s
policies toward Hitler.
 Became Prime Minister
During the War (1940)
 Strong Ally for the
United States
 Powerful public speaker
he helped to rally his
troops to fight German
Aggression

8. CHARLES DE GAULLE
 French General
 Fled to England after
Germany took over
France.
 Set up government-in-
exile

9. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
 President through
Much of the War
(Died in 1945)
 Lend Lease program
to aid Allies prior to
US entry into the War
 Signed order to intern
Japanese after Pearl
Harbor.

10. HARRY TRUMAN
 VP under FDR
 Took over Presidency
at the end of the War.
 Made Decision to
Drop Atomic Bomb
on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki

11. JOSEPH STALIN
 Totalitarian Regime in USSR.
 Awaited world-wide
Communist revolution.
 Great Purge of the 1930s to
clear out enemies from country
 1939 – Signed nonaggression
pact with Germany. (Divide
Poland)
 Germany broke the pact,
opening up the Eastern Front
of the War.

12. Background
 Treaty of Versailles (1919) - Harsh treatment of
Germany: land losses, reparations, military reductions,
and war guilt
 League of Nations (1920) – International organization
charged with preventing future wars. United States
senate refused to allow the United States of America to
become a member. The League had neither the will nor
the power to check the rising totalitarian governments.

13. Background
 Washington Conference (1922) – Italy, Japan, the United
States of America, France, and Britain agree to not build
up their navies for ten years
 Mussolini takes over Italy (1922)
 Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) – sixty-two nations agree to
solve problems diplomatically
 Japan invades Manchuria (1931)
 Hitler comes to power (1933)

14. Short Term Causes
 Italian, Japanese, and German aggression
not stopped by League of Nations

15. Short Term Causes
 Appeasement – Britain and France wanted to avoid war
and therefore gave in to Hitler’s demands
 Western democracies would not act aggressively
– Britain – Sympathetic towards Germany – knew Versailles
Treaty too harsh, wanted to avoid war
– France – Would not do anything without Britain
– United States of America – Isolation from Europe

16. Major Events of the War-
The Onset of War
 Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland
 1938 – Hitler unites Austria with Germany
 1938 – Signed Munich Pact to Gain control of
Sudetenland (In Czechoslovakia)
 1939 – Hitler and USSR sign nonaggression pact
(Agreed to divide Poland)
 1939- Blitzkrieg in Poland
 September 1, 1939 – World War II official start

17. Major Events of World War II-
The War
 Inactive Winter 1940 –Britain and France Defend
the Maginot Line
 1940 – Germany invades Norway and Denmark
 1940 – France Falls
 Summer 1940 – Britain withstands the German
onslaught
 1941- Germany broke pact with USSR
– German setbacks- the harsh winters in Soviet Union;
Bitter defeat in Stalingrad

18. Major Events of World War II -
American Involvement
 Lend-Lease Program to aid Allies
 Attack on Pearl Harbor – December 7,
1941- A Day that will live in infamy
 US enters World War II
 1942 – War turned in favor of the Allies
– Victories in North Africa versus Germany
– Victory in the Battle of the Midway in the
Pacific

19. Major Event of World War II -
Allied Conferences
 Tehran (1943)
 Yalta (1945)
 Potsdam (1945) - After Victory in Europe
– United States, Britain, and Soviet Union
participated

20. Major Events in World War II –
The End of the War
 June 6, 1944 – Storming of Normandy
 December 1944- Hitler lost the battle of
the Bulge
 Germany surrendered in May 1945
 Atomic Bomb dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki in August of 1945
 Japan Surrendered in September 1945