World

War II
• SSWH19 Demonstrate an understanding of the global political,
economic, and social impact of World War II.
• a. Describe the major conflicts and outcomes, include: North
African, Pacific, and European theatres.
European Theater & N. Africa
• Hitler and Stalin signed a pact not to fight in August 1939 but to
divide Poland instead.
• Germany used a tactic called “blitzkrieg” (lightning war) to quickly
attack Poland on Sept. 1, 1939 using airplanes, tanks and infantry.
• Britain & France declared war on Germany but did little until April
of 1940 when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway
• Germany & Italy (Axis powers) controlled all of continental Europe
except neutral nations by 1941. They also controlled most of N.
Africa
• From July to October 1940, Germany constantly bombed Great
Britain (called the Battle of Britain) doing great damage but unable
to force a surrender
European Theater & N. Africa
• May-June 1941: Hitler broke the non-aggression pact and invaded
the Soviet Union
• While the U.S. aided the Allies with the Lend-Lease Act and oil
embargos in the Pacific, it took the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii on Dec. 7, 1941 for Americans to enter the war.
• The Japanese continued to attack and controlled nearly all SE Asia
• In North Africa, the British drove the Axis armies back to Tunisia in
late 1942 in the Battle of El Alamein. America and British armies in
Operation Torch forced the complete surrender of Axis forces in N.
Africa by May 1943
• From N. Africa, the Allies invaded Sicily and Italy in July 1943
European Theater & N. Africa
• The Soviets stopped the German invasion of the Soviet Union at
Stalingrad in 1943 using the extreme cold and massive manpower to
their advantage
• June 6, 1944: Allied forces landed on the Normandy coast of France
in what was called the D-Day Invasion. This surprised the Germans
who expected an invasion 300 miles further North at Calais. The
Allies liberated Paris and moved east toward Germany.
• The Soviets pushed the Germans out of Russia and moved westward
into Poland and Romania
• A final German offensive slowed the Allied advance from the west
and led to the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and early 1945
• Allies entered Germany from both sides and Germany surrendered
on May 7, 1945 & Hitler committed suicide in Berlin.
Pacific Theater
• The Allies were successful against the Japanese in the Pacific in May
1942 at the Battle of Coral Sea which stopped the Japanese from
invading further south
• In June 1942, the Allies stopped Japanese advance to the east at the
Battle of Midway; after this, the Allies began a strategy of “island
hopping” or bypassing Japanese strongholds and taking poorly
defended islands closer and closer to the Japanese mainland; this
strategy was successful but slow and caused many casualties on
both sides
• The Japanese navy was mostly disabled by Fall 1944 and relied on
the army for defense while using suicide missions of Kamikaze pilots
to crash planes full of explosives into American ships
Pacific Theater
• The Americans advanced to Iwo Jima in March 1945 and Okinawa in
May 1945
• Pres. Truman issued the Potsdam declaration on July 26, 1945 to tell
Japan to surrender or be destroyed
• Japan refused to surrender and the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on
Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9; Each bomb killed
as many as 70,000
• Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945
• 19b. Identify Nazi ideology and policies that led to
the Holocaust and its consequences.
The Holocaust
• Hitler outlined his racial ideology in “Mein Kampf”: Germanic
peoples were descendants of ancient Aryans whose spreading
language proved superiority. He claimed modern Germans
inherited this superiority to become a master race.
• Other races/peoples were ranked with some as tolerable, Slavs as
inclined to slavery, Roma (Gypsies) as criminal, and Jews as
dangerous
• Germanic peoples with congenital disabilities, mental illness, &
criminal backgrounds were pollutants to the German bloodline.
Homosexuals threatened virility of the race
• About 100,000 men were arrested as homosexuals between 1933
and 1945 and sent to prison or used as forced labor
The Holocaust
• Over 300,000 were sterilized beginning in 1934 because of disability
or ethnicity; about 200,000 mentally ill or disabled Germans were
executed (1940-1942) in Nazi euthanasia programs
• Roma (Gypsy) populations were forced into concentration camps,
used as forced labor, used as research subjects by Nazi doctors or
executed; 200,000 died by the end of the war
• 3 million Polish Catholics were killed to deprive the Polish of leaders
and thousands of German or Austrian Jehovah’s Witnesses were
arrested for not swearing loyalty to the state and subjected to
forced labor in camps
The Holocaust
• the Jews were the most targeted group of the Holocaust since Hitler
hated Jews because he blamed them for losing WWI and the Great
Depression
• 1935 Nuremburg Laws: revoked German citizenship from Jews,
restricted Jewish business & financial transactions
• 1938 Kristallnacht: “Night of the Broken Glass”-Nazi’s attacked &
broke windows in Jewish businesses/property
The Holocaust
• 1939: Jews forced into walled ghettos in German & Polish cities; also
began building more concentration camps
• “Final Solution”: massive complexes built to kill/incinerate
thousands of people per day; most death camps in Poland; the weak
were sent to gas chambers and the strong were used as forced
labor; over 6 Million Jews killed by the Nazis
• 19c. Analyze the impact of the military and diplomatic
negotiations between the leaders of Great Britain, the
Soviet Union, and the United States.
Tehran Conference
• Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met to discuss:
• allied invasion in Northern France
• Russian offensive in the East
• Stalin agree to help fight Japan after Axis defeat in Europe
Yalta Conference
• Roosevelt, Churchill, & Stalin met again in February 1945 to discuss
what to do with postwar Germany, Austria, and Eastern Europe;
• they agreed to divide Germany/Austria and the city of Berlin into 4
occupational zones (USA, Fr., GB, USSR controlling one each);
• Stalin agree to allow free elections in Eastern European nations liberated
from Nazi control
• Agree on basic structure of UN; US, GB, FR, USSR, & China would have
permanent seat on a Security Council with power to veto any UN action
• Stalin reaffirmed commitment to declare war on Japan
Potsdam Conference
• (July 1945): meeting of Truman, Stalin, & Atlee after Nazi surrender
• Implemented plans for German occupation zones and demilitarization
• Planned the Nuremburg Trials to identify, try, & punish war criminal
• Stalin reneged on promise to allow free elections in Eastern Europe—start of
the Cold War
• Britain, US, China issued Potsdam Declaration to warn Japan of
destruction if it did not surrender
• 19d. Explain Post-World War II policies and plans for economic
recovery, include: the Marshall Plan for Europe, MacArthur’s plan
for Japan, and the formation of the United Nations, NATO, and the
Warsaw Pact.
The Marshall Plan
• Post-war economic/political stability caused some European nations
to turn to Communism
• The Truman Doctrine (March 1947) declared the U.S. would try to
prevent the spread of Communism (containment)
• The Marshall Plan gave $12.5 billion to rebuild Europe to nations
who rejected Communism
MacArthur’s Plan for Postwar Japan
• Japan was in ruins after the war and the U.S. occupied it led by Gen.
MacArthur; his plan would bring democracy, help the economy, &
prevent Japanese aggression
• Leaders of the military oligarchy of Japan were found guilty of war
crimes and executed but American investigators found Emperor
Hirohito innocent and allowed him to stay on the throne but with
less power
• MacArthur & his team helped write a new constitution for Japan &
it became a constitutional monarchy like Britain; it had a 2 house
legislature elected by citizens over the age of 20; it also included a
bill of rights
MacArthur’s Plan for Postwar Japan
• MacArthur redistributed Japanese land by selling it back to small
farmers; he allowed factory workers to create union
• Japan was demilitarized; constitution included a provision to forbid
offensive war or having a military with offensive war capabilities
Formation of the United Nations (UN)
• UN replaced League of Nations in 1946; it was designed to prevent
war but gave it more power to enforce decisions
• Two main UN bodies
• General Assembly: included all member nations with a single vote
• Security Council: could issue enforceable directives; 11 member nations (5
permanent with veto power)
NATO & the Warsaw Pact
• US, Britain, & France allowed West Germany to become an
independent nation but Berlin was still in the Soviet Occupation
Zone & the USSR tried to take West Berlin by closing land access in
June 1948; Britain & U.S. responded by airlifting supplies into West
Berlin until the Soviets backed down in May 1949
• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed as a
result of tensions caused by the Berlin situation; 10 Western
European nations plus the U.S. & Canada agreed that an attack on
one member was an attack on all members
• In 1955, the Soviet Union formed an opposing military alliance
called the Warsaw Pact which included the USSR and 7 eastern
European nations