WW II for Texas Edition US History

1. World War Looms
Why might the Unites States try to
remain neutral?

2. Examine the Issues
 How might involvement in a large scale war
influence the United States?
 How can neutral countries participate in the
affairs of warring countries?

3. Dictators Threaten World Peace
Main Idea
The rise of rulers with total power in Europe
and Asia led to World War II.
Why it Matter Today
Dictators of the 1930’s and 1940’s changed
the course of history, making world leaders
especially watchful for the actions of
dictators today.

4. Nationalism Grips Europe and Asia
 The postwar years also brought the rise of
powerful dictators driven by the belief in
nationalism-the loyalty to one’s country
above all else-and dreams of territorial
expansion.
 Failures of World Peace
 Treaty of Versailles caused anger and
resentment

5. Stalin Transforms the Soviet Union
 Joseph Stalin- “Man of Steel”
 Made the Soviet Union a communist state
 #1 goal was control both agriculture and industry
 He abolished all privately owned farms
 He transformed the Soviet Union from the a rural nation to
an industrial power.
 1928- He outlined his “5 year plan”
 All economic activity was controlled by the government
 Stalin was responsible for some 8 million deaths

7. The Rise of Facism in Italy
 Benito Mussolini
 Facist Party- stressed nationalism and placed
the interests of the state above those of
individuals.
 Facists believed in a single strong leader.
 1922- marched on Rome w/the “Black Shirts”
 Il Duce- “the leader”

9. The Nazis Take Over Germany
 Adolf Hitler
 Der Fuher “the leader”
 Mein Kampf-”My Struggle”
 Unify all Set forth the basic beliefs of Nazism that later
became the plan of action for the Nazi Party.
 Nazism- extreme nationalism
 German-speaking people
 Racial Purification
 Lebensraum- “living space”
 Storm Troopers or Brown Shirts
 Third Reich “Thousand Year Reich”

11.  Militarist Gain Control in Japan
 Japan launches a surprise at China and seize control of
Manchuria in 1931
 Japan leaves the League of Nations
 Aggression in Europe and Asia
 Hitler builds up army and invades the Rhineland
 Mussolini invades Ethiopia
 Civil War Breaks Out in Spain
 Gen. Francisco Franco rebelled against the Spanish
republic
 3,000 Americans-Abraham Lincoln Battalion
 Civil War in Spain. Franco backed by Hitler & Mussolini
 Rome-Berlin Axis signed

13. The United States Responds
Cautiously
 Most Americans were alarmed by the international conflicts of
the mid thirties but believed that the United States should not
get involved.
 1928-Kellog-Briand Pact
 62 countries signed saying they would not use war as an
“instrument of national policy.”
 America Clings to Isolationism
 Senator Gerald Nye (Nye Committee)-banks & manufacturers
made money during the war.
 Neutrality Acts:
 1st two- outlawed arms sales to nations at war
 3rd- banned the sale of arms to nations at civil war.

14. Neutrality Breaks Down
 Japan launched an attack on China in July
1937.
 Roosevelt finds a way around the Neutrality
Acts
 Send arms to China

15. Organization Information
Russia Italy Germany Japan
Type of Totalitarian Fascism Nazism Militarism
Government Communism (Third Reich) Nationalism
Leader Joseph Stalin Benito Adolf Hideki
“man of steel” Mussolini Hitler Tojo
“Il Duce” “Der Fuher”
Actions 1. Industrial 1. State 1. “Racial 1. Left
power power purificat League
Taken
ion” of
2. Gov. 2. “Black Nations
Control Shirts” 2. Mein 2. Invaded
Kampf Manchur
ia

16. December 8, 1941

17. Dictators Threaten World Peace
 What were Stalin’s goals and what steps did he
take to achieve them?
 To make the Soviet Union socialist by ending private
enterprise; to transform it into a great industrial power by
building state-owned factories and power plants.
 How did Germany’s and Italy’s involvement affect
the outcome of the Spanish Civil War?
 Hitler and Mussolini’s military support helped Franco take
power in Spain.

18. War In Europe
Main Idea
Using the sudden mass attack called
blitzkrieg, Germany invaded and quickly
conquered many European countries.
Why it Matter Today
Hitler’s actions started World War II and still
serve as a warning to be vigilant about
totalitarian government

19. Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
 Hitler declared that to grow, Germany needed the land of its
neighbors. His plan was to absorb Austria and
Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich.
 Union with Austria
 March 12, 1938-German troops marched into Austria
unopposed.
 Bargaining for the Sudetenland
 Western part of Czechoslovakia
 Hitler invites Edouard Daladier & Neville Chamberlain to Munich
 Hitler says the annexation of the Sudetenland will be his “last
territorial demand”
 Sept. 30, 1938- Munich Agreement
 Appeasement- giving up principles to pacify an aggressor.

20. The German Offensive Begins
 Hitler warned he was not finished expanding the Third
Reich.
 March 15, 1939- German troops poured into what was left
of Czechoslovakia. Then later into Poland.
German Offensive
Soviets Declare
Blitzkrieg in Poland The Phony War
Neutrality
Sitzkrieg
Lighting War
Nonaggression Pact Hitler attacks Norway, Denmark
Britain & France Declare
w/the Soviet Union Netherlands, Belgium,
War
Luxembourg

22. France and Britain Fight On
 France’s Maginot Line proved to be ineffective; the German army
threatened to bypass the line during its invasion of Belgium.
 The Fall of France
 Germans trapped almost 400,000 British & French soldiers as they fled to
the beach of Dunkirk.
 Italy enters the war on the side of Germany and attacks France from the
south.
 France surrenders- June 22, 1940
 Charles de Gaulle- French general flees to England and sets up a
government-in-exile
 The Battle of Britain
 Summer of 1940- Luftwaffe begins to bomb Britain
 Destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF)
 1,000 planes every night for 2 months bomb London.
 New technology helped Britain curb the bombing- the Radar

23. Battle of Britain
Why were the Germans defeated ?
 The Germans fought too far away from their bases so
that refueling and rearming were impossible. The
German fighters had a very limited time which they could
spend over Britain before their fuel got too low.
 British fighters could land, refuel and rearm and be in the
air again very quickly.
 The change of targets was crucial. It is now believed that
Fighter Command was perhaps only 24 hours away from
defeat when the attack on the cities occurred. The
breathing space this gave Fighter Command was crucial.
 Radar

24. War in Europe
Review
 Why was the blitzkrieg effective?
 It surprised the enemy and then crushed it with
overwhelming force.
 What terms of surrender did Hitler demand of the
French after the fall of France in 1940? What was
General Charles de Gaulle’s reaction?
 German occupation of northern France and the
establishment of a Nazi-controlled puppet government in
southern France; de Gaulle fled to England and set up a
government-in-exile.

25. The Holocaust
Main Idea
During the Holocaust, the Nazis systematically
executed 6 million Jews and 5 million other “non-
Aryans”
Why it Matters Today
After the atrocities of the Holocaust, agencies
formed to publicize human rights. These
agencies have remained a force in today’s world.

26. The Persecution Begins
 On April 7, 1933, shortly after Hitler took power in Germany, he
ordered all “non-Aryans” to be removed from government jobs.
 Hitler moves for racial purity that eventually led to the Holocaust-the
systematic murder of 11 million people across Europe.
The Holocaust
Kristallnacht
Jews Jewish
“Night of Broken Glass”
Targeted Refugees
Attacked Jewish Businesses

27. Jews arrested during Kristallnacht

28. Hitler’s “Final Solution”
 Obsessed with a desire to rid Europe of its
Jews, Hitler imposed what he called the “Final
Solution”-a policy of genocide, the deliberate
and systematic killing of an entire population.
 The Condemned
 Jews
 Gypsies-whom the Nazis believed to be an “inferior
race”
 Freemasons- charged as supporters of the “Jewish
Conspiracy”
 Jehovah’s Witnesses- who refused to join the army or
salute Hitler
 Homosexuals, people w/mental illnesses, the disable

29. “Final Solution” cont’
 Forced Relocation
 Jewish forced into
Ghettos in Poland
 Concentration
Camps
 Life in the
concentration
camps was a cycle
of hunger,
humiliation, and
work that almost
always ended in
death.
 Those too weak to
work were killed.

30. The Final Stage
 The Final Solution
reached its final stage in
Auschwitz
early 1942.
 The 3rd phase would add
murder by poison gas.
 Mass Extermination
Death
 The German built 6 death Camps
camps in Poland.
 Chambers could kill
12,000 people a day. Dachau Treblinka
 An estimated 6 million
Jews died in the death
camps.

31. The Holocaust
Review
 What groups did Nazis deem unfit to belong to the
Aryan “master race?”
 Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, people with mental or
physical disabilities, Poles, Ukrainians, and Russians.
 How did some Europeans show their resistance
to Nazi persecution of the Jews?
 Some people risked death by hiding Jews in their homes
or helping them to escape to neutral countries.

32. America Moves Toward War
Main Idea
In response to the fighting in Europe, the United
States provided economic and military aid to help
the Allies achieve victory.
Why it Matters Today
The military capability of the U.S. became a
deciding factor WWII and in world affairs ever
since.

33. The United States Musters Its Forces
 As German tanks thundered across Poland,
Roosevelt issued an official proclamation of
neutrality.
U.S. Musters Forces
Building U.S.
U.S. Neutrality The Axis Threat
Defense
Tripartite Act Selective Training &
“Cash-&-Carry”
German, Italy, Japan Service Act

34. The Great Arsenal of Democracy
 Not long after the Lend-Lease
election, President Act
Roosevelt told his
radio audience during
a fireside chat that it Great
Arsenal
would be impossible to
German Supporting
negotiate a peace with Wolf Packs Stalin
Hitler.

35. FDR Plans for War
 With the army provided for, Roosevelt began
planning for the war he was certain would come.
 The Atlantic Charter
 Great Britain and U.S pledged: collective security,
disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation,
and freedom of the seas.
 Shoot on Sight
 U-boat attacks
 “When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you crush
him”
 Full-scale war seemed inevitable.

36. Japan Attacks the United
States
Japan
Attacks
Japan in the Attack on Reaction to
Peace Talks
Pacific Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor
Hirohito negotiates Dec. 7, 1941
Hideki Tojo “A day that will live
Tojo plans attack 2,403 killed
Japan in Indochina In infamy”
Dec. 6, 1941 U.S. 1,178 wounded
U.S. oil embargo Congress declares war
Issues warning

40. America Moves Toward War
Review
 What congressional measures paved the
way for the U.S. entry into World War II?
 Increased defense spending, peacetime draft,
Lend-Lease Act, and an end to the ban against
arming merchant ships.
 Why did the United States enter World War
II?
 Because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.