World+War+II

(1939-1945) by Lance Wilson, Austen Tyryfter, and Cole Bachmeier
" Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future." - Adolf Hitler

As part of his lebensraum policy, Adolf Hitler believed that Germany required more land to support a larger population. He believed that this land could be found in the Soviet Union. Once conquered, the Slavic peoples would be used as slaves. This would ensure the thousand year domination of the Third Reich. In 1935, Hitler increased the size of the armed forces in Germany and sent some of those troops into the demilitarized Rhineland. Great Britain, France, and Italy condemned these actions because they were a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. France had the right to use force against Germany, but without the support of Great Britain they would do nothing. Great Britain would not use force because they believed that if Germany was appeased, it would be content with its situation, and that would create peace in Europe. Hitler, meanwhile, was gaining allies to prepare for its war with the Soviet Union. Hitler provided support for Benito Mussolini when Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935. In November 1936, Germany signed two agreements with Italy and Japan: with Italy, it signed the Rome-Berlin Axis, which created an alliance between Germany and Italy, and with Japan Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which created a common ground against communism. On March 13, 1938, Hitler began the first of his border expansions by annexing Austria. On September 15, 1938, Hitler demanded that an area of Czechoslovakia, called the Sudetenland, be given to Germany. Hitler was willing to risk another world war to gain this land. The other western powers, which wanted to avoid war, gave in to most of Hitler's demands. Hitler also took control of Bohemia and Moravia, and Slovakia was turned into a puppet state controlled by the Nazis. Still Great Britain and France did nothing. It was not until Hitler demanded to be given the Polish port city of Danzig that they finally reacted. Great Britain offered protection to Poland in a war. Both Great Britain and France began to form an alliance with the Soviet Union. This concerned Hitler, as a British-Soviet alliance would mean a two front war for Germany. He signed his own pact with Joseph Stalin on August 23, 1939: the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact. He was now free to attack Poland, which he did on September 1, 1939. Two days later, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, beginning World War II. During the war, Hitler was quick to kill those who he believed did not belong in the Aryan race. The Holocaust is the name given to Hitler's "Final Solution", which would rid the Aryan race of the Jews, who he viewed to be parasites, and the execution of European civilians by the Germans in general. Reinhard Heydrich was the head of the SS Security Service, and he was given the task of carrying out the Final Solution. The Einsatzgruppen was to follow in the wake of the German armies, round up the Jews in the conquered areas, and execute them. By 1942, they had killed over a million Jews. For Hitler, though, this was too slow. The Jews were grouped into ghettoes in the cities, and were then sent to concentration and death camps, where they would die by being overworked at a labor camp or by being sent to a gas chamber. By the end of the war, 90 percent of the Jews in Germany and Poland were killed, and approximately 6 million Jews, or two thirds of the total in Europe, had been killed. About 10 million other Europeans had been killed as well.

September 28, 1939. The subjugation of Poland in just under four weeks shocked the rest of Europe. During the winter, however, there were no major military assaults. Many newspaper were calling this the "phony war". But on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched the Blitzkrieg again, this time at Denmark and Norway. On May 10, Hitler attacked France. However, instead of going directly into France and hitting the Maginot Line, as was expected, they went through Belgium and the Netherlands. This attack split the French army and drove part of their forces and the entire British army to the beaches at Dunkirk. The British Royal Navy was brought in to evacuate over 338,000 men accross the English Channel. France signed an armistice on June 22. France was now divided between the German controlled north and Vichy France, the puppet state set up by the Nazis in the south. Great Britain was now the only remaining free Allied Power on the Western Front. They called on the United States for help fighting Germany. The American people, however, were set on remaining neutral. Several neutrality acts had been passed during the 1930's to prevent the US from becoming involved with European wars. These policies were partially relaxed in order to supply Great Britain with weapons and food. The United States still remained out of the war. Hitler, meanwhile, was planning an amphibious invasion of Great Britain. He realized, however, that this would only be possible if he could control the skies. Beginning in August, the Luftwaffe began attacking British military targets. However, the Royal Air Force was able to inflict major damage on the Luftwaffe, and at the end of September, the invasion of Britain was postponed. The freedom of Great Britain was owed to the men of the Royal Air Force. This led Hitler to believe that Great Britain was only remaining in the war because of being supplied by the Soviet Union. He planned to attack them in the spring of 1941, but the attack was delayed until June 22 because of spending time securing the Balkans. The Germans advanced quickly, and they were at one point within 25 miles of Moscow. An early winter caught the Germans without winter uniforms, and the strong Soviet resistance combined to stop the Germans for the first time during the war. On the other side of the world, Japan was attempting to create a New Order in East Asia. This would consist of Japan, China, and Manchuria, and would lead all of east Asia into prosperity and industrialization. Japan also planned to take control of resource-rich Siberia from the Soviet Union. Japan could not do this on its own, so it enlisted the help of Nazi Germany. When Germany signed the nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union, Japan began to look for resources in southeast Asia. The United States, however, threatened to impose sanctions on Japan if it attacked southeast Asia. Japan, which needed the resources it was getting from the US, agreed, but secretly planned a surprise attack on both southeast Asia and the United States. On December 7, 1941, launched the assault. On that day it attacked several European colonies in southeastern Asia, and within a few months the western Pacific would be under Japanese control in what they called a community of nations called the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The attack that stands out on December 7, is the US naval base located in Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. The Japanese believed that this would make the US accept Japanese domination of the Pacific Ocean. However, the attack only convinced the United States to do the one thing they had been abstaining from: declaring war. The United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain soon formed the Grand Alliance, and agreed to fight until the Axis Powers surrendered unconditionally.

Germany, using a tactic called the Blitzkrieg, or Lighning War, made quick work of Poland. It was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union on 1942 would be the turning point of World War II. At the beginning of the year, German armies took control of the Crimea and had broken through the British armies in Egypt. In a speech, Hitler was recorded as saying that within two years that would have control of India and Afghanistan, which would cut of the British oil supply and cause their empire to collapse. However, the German forces in Africa were stopped in El Alamein, and were driven to retreat. By May of 1943 they had surrendered to the British and American forces. On the Eastern Front, Hitler decided to take control of Stalingrad, which was a major industrial city on the Volga River; his generals had advised him to take the oil fields in the Caucasus. At Stalingrad the German Sixth Army, which was considered to be Germany's best troops, was surrounded by the Soviet armies and forced to surrender. By Spring 1943 it became obvious even to Hitler that the Soviet Union could not be defeated. The Allied Powers were now advanced on Germany. Japan was also losing ground. On June 4, 1942, the Battle of Midway took place. The Americans defeated the Japanese navy and established its own dominace of the Pacific. The Allied forces were split into two. One piece would take control of the southern Pacific islands held by Japan. The other section would island-hop up to Japan itself. The Allied Powers were now in control of the war. In May 1943, the Allies took control of Sicily and began moving into southern Italy. However, the Germans swooped in to Italy's defense, and set Benito Mussolini at the head of a puppet state controlling the northern half of Italy. The southern half, which was controlled by King Victor Emmanuel III, was the base of the Allies. The Allies, however, were unable to break through the German defenses. Rome would not fall until June 4, 1944, by which time the Allies were awaiting the reopening of the Western Front in France. On June 6, the awaited invasion occurred. The date, called D-Day, marked when the Allies, led by US General Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed on the beaches of Normandy. Despite heavy resistance, the Allies were able to gain a foothold in France, and Paris would be liberated by the end of August. In March 1945, the Allies crossed into Germany. With the US and Great Britain coming from the west and the Soviet Union from the east, Hitler moved to an underground bunker, where he would commit suicide on April 30, 1945. On May 7, the Germans surrendered, ending the war in Europe. The war would continue for a few more months in the Pacific, where the Allies would soon be ready to launch an assault on Japan. President Truman was convinced this would result in a huge number of casualties for the US. He had another option, though. The Manhattan Project had been formed with the intent of the US creating an atomic bomb before Germany did. Truman could choose to drop these bombs on Japan, though it was unknown what the effect would be. Truman decided to drop the bombs. On August 6, the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The second was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. On August 14, 1945, Japan surrendered. World War II was over, though at the cost of as many as fifty million people, both in battle, in the Holocaust, and in the bombing of civilian targets. However, true peace would not follow the war. What followed was a period of political tension known as the Cold War. After World War II, Germany was divided into four parts, which would be given to the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France, who would rebuild that part of Germany. It was also agreed that a United Nations would form, and in Eastern Europe the countries would have their government decided by a vote. Stalin, however, wanted a buffer of pro-Soviet countries to protect the Soviet Union from Western aggressors. He had Communist governments installed in all of Eastern Europe to insure this protection. This would not be reversed without an invasion by the other powers. This conflict between American democracy and Soviet Communism would be the base of the Cold War. Germany's leaders were tried in the Nuremberg Trials for crimes against humanity. World War II was over, but an "iron curtain" had been placed across Europe, dividing the Communist east with the democratic west.

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World War II Terms:

 * **Demilitarized-**An area where countries are not allowed to have fortifications or weapons. After WWI, Rhineland was a demilitarized area because of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler broke this run on March 7, 1936 when he sent his German Troops there.
 * **Appeasement-**This was a policy in which the satisfied states satisfy the reasonable demands of dissatisfied state(s) hoping that the dissatisfied state(s) would be happy and content and that stability and peace would finally be achieved.
 * **Blitzkrieg-**Hitler’s “Lightning war” strategy in which he used armored columns, which were called panzer divisions or divisions of German Tanks that were very feared, which when were supported by airplanes. Each panzer division had about three hundred tanks accompanied by forces and supplies.
 * **Partisans-**These were resistance fighters. Italian partisans shot Mussolini on April 28, 1945, two days before Hitler had committed suicide on April 30. These partisans helped end World War II because they took out an important political figure.
 * **Genocide-**A physical extermination of a thing or group of things or people. Hitler, Himmler, and the SS had a plan, the Final Solution. Hitler’s Final Solution was a complete genocide of the Jewish people which he planned to accomplish through concentration camps and death camps.
 * **Holocaust-**The mass slaughter of European civilians, especially European Jews. Jews were sent to concentration and death camps where they were put to work or killed. Millions of Jews were killed in these camps through the gas chamber or cruel and painful “medical” experiments.
 * **Collaborators-**People who assisted the enemy. While many people pretended not to notice the terrible crimes of civil rights like the Holocaust there were people, collaborators, who helped the Nazis by hunting down Jews.
 * **Mobilization-**The act and process of assembling and preparing for war. This included rounding up troops and finding supplies to fight. The mobilization of women sprang up and they became an important role in the preparation of the wars.
 * **Enola Gay-**A U.S. B-29 Superfortress bomber that was credited for dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The destruction was widespread with an area of about 5 square miles was turned into ashes. This bomber was named after Enola Fay Tibbets.
 * **The Cold War-** A period of political tensions from the total victory of the Allies in World War II. This was primarily an ideological dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union. This war dominated world affairs until the end of the 1980’s.

Key Dates

 * March 13, 1938:** Germany annexes Austria, beginning a series of territorial gains demanded by Hitler.
 * September 1, 1939:** Germany invades Poland, beginning World War II.
 * May 10, 1940:** Germany attacks France through Belgium and the Netherlands, bypassing the Maginot Line.
 * June 22, 1940:** France surrenders, leaving the north under direct Germany control and the south under the control of Vichy France.
 * December 7, 1941:** Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, a US naval base in Hawaii, bringing the United States into World War II.
 * June 4, 1942:** The Battle of Midway takes place, shifting domination of the Pacific from Japan to the US.
 * June 6, 1944:** D-Day, in which the Allies create a foothold on the beaches of Normandy, takes place.
 * May 7, 1945:** Germany surrenders, ending the war in Europe.
 * August 6, 1945:** The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.
 * August 14, 1945:** Japan surrenders, ending World War II.

Map
These maps show Europe as it was on D-Day, as it was after the war, the maximum extent of Japanese occupied territory, and an animation showing the progression of Axis and Allied Occupations in Europe.




 * People **


 * 1) **__Adolf Hitler:__** He started re militarizing Germany, ultimately starting WIII. He was the leader of Germany before and during the war. His first move was taking the Sudetenland because over 3 million Germans lived here. In Sept. 29, 1938 he went to the Munich conference where he said that he was not going to take over anymore land and that all he wanted was the Sudetenland. Later on march 1939 Hitler takes Czech. This leads to more tension between countries, England and France warned Hitler that if he invaded Poland that there would be war. To insure his victory of Poland he signs the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact with Stalin that stated they wouldn't attack each other and they would divide Poland and the Baltic states between them. On Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler invades Poland which leads to France and England declaring war. After the invasion of Poland he invades Norway. The Germans under Hitler’s command continued to take more and more land. He eventually achieved taking down France and capturing its capital Paris. On June 22, 1941 Hitler invades the USSR which leads to a 2 front war. Then with the battle of Stalingrad the Germans lost and started losing more battles which was bad for Hitler. On June 6, 1944 Hitler began losing France. On Aug. 25, 1944 Hitler lost France and it was liberated. With Hitler losing more battles he became more arrogant, scared, and fearful. On April 1945 Berlin falls to the allies and Hitler loses and then commits suicide on April 30.
 * 2) **__Joseph Stalin:__** General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death in 1953. In some ways, Stalin was responsible for the USSR’s severe losses at the beginning of World War II, as he failed to heed the warnings of his advisers and did not allow the Russian military to prepare a proper defense. At the same time, he did succeed in holding the country together and inspiring among his people an awesome resistance against Germany, which ultimately forced a German retreat. Stalin’s own regime in the USSR was just as brutal as the Nazi regime in many ways, and the alliance between Stalin and the Western Allies always remained rather tenuous because of mutual distrust.
 * 3) **__Franklin Delano Roosevelt: __**The 32nd U.S. president, who led the country through the bulk of World War II until his death from a cerebral hemorrhage in April 1945, just a few months before the war ended. Together with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, Roosevelt played a decisive role in holding together the Allied coalition that ultimately defeated Nazi Germany.
 * 4) **__Winston Churchill:__** The prime minister of Britain during most of World War II. Churchill was among the most active leaders in resisting German aggression and played a major role in assembling the Allied Powers, including the United States and the USSR.
 * 5) **__Benito Mussolini:__** Fascist prime minister who came to power in 1922 and ruled Italy as an absolute dictator. In many ways, Mussolini served as an inspiration to Adolf Hitler, with whom he chose to ally himself during World War II. In 1943 , Mussolini was overthrown in a coup orchestrated by some of his subordinates, and in 1945 he was executed by Italian partisans just prior to the end of the war in Europe.
 * 6) **__Hirohito:__** Emperor of Japan from 1926 until his death in 1989. Despite the power of Japan’s military leaders, many scholars believe that Hirohito took an active role in leading the country and shaping its combat strategy during World War II. After Japan’s defeat, he was allowed to continue to hold his position as emperor—largely as a figurehead—despite the fact that Japan was under U.S. occupation. Although many countries favored it, Hirohito was never tried for war crimes.
 * 7) **__Edouard Daladier:__** The French Premier, he came up with the Policy of Appeasement. This was the concessions made to an aggressor would need to be made in order to preserve the peace. He was a pacifist which means he refused to fight.
 * 8) **__Field Marshal Erwin Rommel:__** Nicknamed “The Desert Fox” he was the commander of the North African troops. The name of this force was Afrika Korps. He was driven out of Africa and into Tunisia by General Bernard Montgomery.
 * 9) **__General George Patton:__** His famous quote was “Old Blood and Guts” he was the 3rd and 7Th Army Commander. He was the one who invaded Italy on Sept. 1943. This was called the March into Rome.
 * 10) **__General Dwight D. Eisenhower:__** The supreme commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. His most famous quote was “Soldier, sailor, airmen, the eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and wishes of all freedom loving people are with you”.

Video
This video analyzes Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union. The one on the right talks about Einstein in WWII. media type="youtube" key="qIzJHxgglm0" height="315" width="420"media type="custom" key="18672948"

==World War II Links:

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Adolf Hitler This link explains all the ideas behind Adolf Hitler. It explains his key role in WWII, the Holocaust, and fascism. This link tells us that Adolf Hitler was born in Austria and that he was rejected from a fine arts school. He later wrote Mein Kampf. WWII This link colorfully explains World War II in great detail. This war took place between 1939 and 1945. This explains that many tools of mass destruction were in play such as the Holocaust and the use of nuclear weapons. These nukes were dropped on Japan. Anne Frank This site is the home page to a large site full of great information about Anne Frank's life. This site explains that Anne Frank was a Jew whose family went into hidding after they learned that Hitler was rounding up the Jews. This site explains her sad capture and death. Battle of Normandy This site explains the great and large battle that was the Battle of Normandy. It explains that this battle was the largest amphibious operation ever to take place as well as the largest invasion force in history. This was considered one of the most important battles of the war. Atomic Bombs This site explains that the United States of America dropped two atomic bombs during the final stages of World War II on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombings crushed the people of Japan and they in result, backed out of the war. These were the only two atomic bombs dropped in history.