UNIT 5

SECOND WORLD WAR (1939-1945)

Teacher:
Paqui
Course
2023-2024

2nd Term
 INDEX
1- The causes
- The expansionist policy of the
Nazi Germany
- The Anschluss
- The outbreak of war in Europe
- Japanese imperialism in Asia
2- The war development
- The “blitzkrieg”
- The Battle of Britain and the
Desert War
- The campaign against the USSR
- The war in the Pacific. The
US intervention
- Japanesse defeat and End of the
War
3- Europe under Nazi rule
The Nazi occupation
The Nazi defeat
The concentration camps
Collaboration and resistance
4- The Peace Conferences and the
creation of the UN
5- The consequences
The demographic impact
The economic impact
The moral impact
II World War is the most devastating conflict of the 20th century:
72 states participated and 110,000,000 men were mobilized.
The cost of war material was 935,000,000 dollars.
There were between 40 and 65 million deaths.

It was a “total war” that had the civilian population as its main victim. And it was
also a civil war that pitted those who supported fascism against those who
defended democracy within the countries.
 1- THE CAUSES.
1.1 The expansionist policy of the Nazi Germany

In the field of international relations, the first consequence of Hitler's rise to power
(January 1933) was Germany's abandonment of the League of Nations. Japan had already
done it, in 1931, after being condemned for its attack on China; and, in 1935, Italy would
do so, disagreeing because the highest international organization had condemned its
annexation of Ethiopia. Force was beginning to replace diplomacy in relations between
states.

Abandoning the League of Nations

1931: 1933: 1935:

Japan Germany Italy
 TASK 1: TEXT COMMENTARY

We will not continue within the League of Nations because we believe that
(...) it is an organization defending the injustice of the Treaty of Versailles.

We withdraw from the SDN because (...) it has denied us the right to equality
of
armament and, consequently, defense.

We will never be part of it again, because we have no intention of

give up our freedom of action (...).

Finally, we do not intend, in the future, to allow ourselves to be directed by

any international institution (...). If the SDN existed for a century, the
international situation would become comical, because this institution is
manifestly incapable of understanding historical or economic needs (...).

Hitler's speech in the Reichstag. February 20, 1933

TASK 1: TEXT COMMENTARY
Hitler, in his attempt to build the Third
Reich and obtain what he called
“living space”:

•At the beginning of 1935, the

Saarland was annexed (awarded to
France in the Peace of Versailles).

•In March 1936, the militarization of

the Rhineland began, also
prohibited in Versailles.
•On the other hand, the Spanish
Civil War made clear the division of
the democratic nations, which
signed the Non-Intervention Pact.
It was based on the idea that the
Spanish conflict was internal and it
was decided not to allow the
Republic to purchase weapons on
the international market.

•This immobility in the face of Hitler,

who did not hesitate to support
Franco. This intervention caused the
fascist side to have more weapons
and therefore easier to win the war. GREAT BRITAIN
FRANCE
ITALY
GERMANY
 1.2 The Anschluss
In March 1938, German troops
occupied Austria. After a referendum,
its territory
It was incorporated into Germany, in
what was called the Anschluss.

Blank ballot that says:"Do you

agree with the reunification of
Austria with the German Empire on
March 13, 1938 and do you vote in
favor of the list of
our Führer Adolf Hitler?"

The larger circle is for "yes" and the

smaller one is for "no."
Weeks later, Hitler occupied the Czech region of the Sudetenland, under the pretext that
Three million Germans lived in this area.

Sudeten Germans are forced to walk in front of

the bodies of 30 Jewish women sentenced to
death by starvation by German SS troops.
Neither of the two actions was clearly rejected by the democracies. It was Hitler himself
who called the Munich Conference (September 1938), to which the leaders of Great
Britain, France and Italy were to attend. At this meeting, the democracies accepted
Germany's annexations in exchange for it respecting, in the future, what remained of
Czechoslovakia.

In May 1939, Hitler and

Mussolini signed the Pact of
Steel. The war was getting
closer.
 1.3 The outbreak of war in Europe
The next step in the Nazi expansionist policy was Poland, although Hitler was aware that
this could provoke war, due to the pacts that this country had signed with France and
Great Britain.

The Wehrmacht
crossing the Polish
border on
September 1, 1939
•On the other hand, convinced that it
would be impossible to maintain a war
on two fronts, Hitler proposed a
rapprochement with the Soviets. The
objective was to achieve Stalin's
neutrality in the event that war broke
out in the western zone

Molotov (Soviet Foreign Minister

is about to sign. Ribbentrop (Minister of
A. German Foreign Affairs) is behind him, with
the eyes closed and with Stalin to his left.
In the first days of September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The
excuse was Hitler's claim to the free city of Danzig, inhabited by
Germans, and his right to build a road and railway through Polish
territory.

The response of France and

Great Britain was to declare
war on Germany, which marked
the beginning of the World War.
 TASK 2. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1-
1- Please write all you know about the two areas (Rhineland and saaland) that Hitler
wanted to add to the Third Reich.

2- What was the AntiKomintern Pact?

3- Explain all you know about the Non-Intervention Pact. Did Hitler fulfill the Pact? Do
you think that Hitler´s intervention affected to the development of the Spanish War?

4- What were the Sudeten Germans forced to do in the Czech region?

5 - What did the democracies accept at the Munich conference?

6- Did Poland sign pacts with France and Great Britain? Did Hitler know that he was
breaking these pacts when he occupied Poland? Did Hitler know that this could start
the war?

7- How did Hitler secure the western zone?

 1.4 Japanese imperialism in Asia

•Japan had the problem of having

insufficient territory for its growing
population and its new economic power.
And he designed an expansionist policy in
Asia based on force of arms. The
objective was to conquer a “living space”
on the continent to extract raw materials
and place its manufactured products.

•To achieve these goals, it developed a

powerful arms industry and approached
Germany through the Antikomintern
Pact, due to Japan considered the USSR
as his main obstacle to expanding in the
area.
 2- THE WAR DEVELOPMENT.
2.1 The Blitzrieg
•The invasion of Poland marked the
beginning of the “blitzkrieg” (Blietzkrieg,
in German), based on surprise, the speed
of movement of the Wehrmacht (German
army) with its tanks, and the action of a
powerful air force.

•The objective was the destruction of the

enemy and the annihilation of their
infrastructure so that the campaigns
were short.
Blitzrieg was
developed in 2 steps:

- The first step: they

headed towards the north:
Sweden, Denmark and Norway
were quickly conquered.
- The second step:
objective was France. The attack
occurred through Belgium and
Holland, which were occupied
within 48 hours (May 1940). The
French army had no response to
a huge attack: it had placed its
defense line (the so-called
Maginot Line) on the border
with Germany and was surprised
by the attack across the plains of
the Netherlands.
The Germans entered Paris,
because Marshal Pétain, signed
the armistice.

The occupation divided France

into two zones:
-The north, controlled directly by
the Nazis.
-The south, with a puppet
government led by Pétain, who
established his capital in Vichy..

•From London, “Free France”, led by General

Charles de Gaulle, made
a call for resistance from the French.
 TASK 3. ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

1- Why Japan decided to expan its territory' please explain the reasons.

2- Please write the three main steps of the Japan´s territory expansion.

3- Explain shortly in your own words what was the blitzkrieg.

4- Where and what was the Maginot Line?

5- Was Marshal Pétain in favor or against the Germany occupation?

 TASK 4. TEXT COMMENTARY

This war is not limited to the sad territory of our country. This war was not
decided in the Battle of France. This war is a world war. All the errors, all the
delays, all the suffering do not prevent there from being, in the universe, all the
necessary means to one day crush our enemies. Crushed today by mechanical
force, we can win in the future with superior mechanical force. The fate of the
world is at stake.

I, General De Gaulle, currently in London, invite the French officers and soldiers
who are in British territory, or who came to meet there, with or without their
weapons; I invite engineers and specialist workers in the arms industry who are
in British territory to contact me.

Whatever happens, the flame of the French Resistance must not be

extinguished and must not be
will turn off.
Tomorrow, like today, I will speak on London Radio.

Charles de Gaulle. June 18,

1940
 2.2 The Battle of Britain
and the desert war
In the summer of 1940, only Great Britain
constituted a danger to German expansion. And
Hitler decided to start the Battle of Britain:

The plan was a naval invasion preceded by a

massive air attack.

In August, attacks by German aircraft (the Luftwaffe)

against military and civilian targets began.

But neither the bombs from the air nor the maritime blockade managed to defeat
the British, whose air force convinced Hitler that his objective was, for the
moment, impossible.
At the same time, a new war front Italian tanks
opened in North Africa: advancing
Italian troops attacked Egypt, which through the
was then a British colony, in order desert, April
to control the Suez Canal, very 1941
important for the transportation of
oil..
 2.3 The campaigne aggainst the URSS
Since the summer of 1940, and
despite the pact signed the
previous year, Hitler was
preparing Operation Barbarossa
to invade the Soviet Union. The
attack was carried out in three
directions: Leningrad in the
north, Moscow in the center and
Ukraine in the south.
But Soviet resistance thwarted
the German plans and Germany
surrendered in February 1943.
This made Hitler decides
to intervene in the east,
specifically in the area of
the Balkans:
- Hungary, Romania,
Slovakia and Bulgaria
became German satellite
states.
 2.4 - The war in the Pacific.
The US intervention
Japanese expansionism in China and the European
colonies in the Pacific took its final leap on December
7, 1941 by attacking the North American base at Pearl
Harbor (Hawaii) without a prior declaration of war.

Photograph of Pearl Harbor taken from a Japanese plane at

the beginning of the attack.

The United States, with

public opinion divided over
whether its country should
become involved in the
conflict, declared war on
Japan, Germany, and Italy.
Definitely, the war had
become global.
 2.4 - The Japanesse defeat. End of the War
The Philippine Islands fell to the United States in October 1944, after the Battle of Leyte, in
which kamikazes (Japanese suicide pilots) appeared.

High school girls bid farewell to a pilot with sakura

branches

Suicide attack against

USS Langley on April 11,
1945.

The Americans achieved some important victorie but the Japanese surrender did
not seem close.
In this context, President Truman
(Roosevelt's replacement, who
died in April 1945) decided to
drop two atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August
6 and 9). Japan surrendered
unconditionally on September 2.

Little Boy, the bomb dropped on

Hiroshima.

Mushroom cloud created by bomb

about Nagasaki
 The war was
over.

A sailor and a nurse

kiss in Manhattan
Times Square,
celebrating the end
of World War II. 14
of
August 1945.
 TASK 4. TEXT COMMENTARY

Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date that will live in infamy, the United States of
America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the
Japanese Empire.

The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the request of Japan, was still
in negotiations with the government and its emperor with a view to maintaining peace
in the Pacific.

[…]

Yesterday's attack against the Hawaiian Islands has caused great damage to American
naval and military forces. Many American lives have been lost. In addition, American
ships have been reported to have been torpedoed on the high seas between San
Francisco and Honolulu.

[…]

Japan, consequently, has unleashed a surprise offensive throughout the entire Pacific
area. Yesterday's events speak for themselves. The people of the United States have
already formed their opinion and understand well the implications for the very life and
security of our nation.
 ACTIVIDAD 4. COMENTARIO DE TEXTO 2/2

As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have ordered that all
the measures for our defense.

[…]

I believe it speaks to the will of Congress and the people when I maintain that we will not
only defend ourselves to the fullest, but we will also ensure that this form of betrayal never
endangers us again.

[…]

With confidence in our armed forces – with the unwavering determination of

our people – we will obtain the inevitable triumph – may God help us.

I request that Congress declare that since the dastardly unprovoked attack by Japan on
December 7, a state of war exists between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

President Roosevelt's speech to the United States Congress

 3- Europe under Nazi rule
3.1 The Nazi occupation
In the spring of 1943, the cycle
of Axis victories had ended:

Little by little, the economic and

human power of the allies had
been imposed.

Allied offensives had forced

Germany to retreat.

German cities began to be

bombed. After the bombing seen
from the top of the town
hall tower.
 3.2 The Nazi defeat

In July 1943, the Italian campaign began,

with the Allied landing in Sicily and the
advance from the south of the peninsula.

The fascist government fell and Mussolini

was imprisoned.

But Hitler reacted quickly by invading Italy.

Italy was divided in two zones:
In the north, the Fascist, and the south, an
anti-fascist monarchical regime.
On the Eastern Front, the advance of the Red Army
pushed the Germans back to their 1941 borders.
By 1944, the Soviets had occupied Romania and
Bulgaria.

On the Western Front, (June 6, 1944):

the Normandy landings, carried out
by British and American troops. The
Russians advancing from the east, and
the English and Americans from the
west, were heading towards Germany.
3.3 The concentrations
camps
The Gestapo and the SS arrested, tortured
and deported to concentration camps all
those who opposed their objectives. As a
notable fact, let's say that, in 1942, they
decided to eliminate all the Jews in Europe,
for which they used concentration camps
and extermination camps.
•The arrival of the war
and its development
caused the number of
camps to increase.

•It has been estimated

that some 15,000 camps
were created, not
including the small
facilities created for the
local population.
The most representative was Auschwitz-Birkenau, designed as an extermination camp,
and in which the most diverse techniques were put into practice for the elimination of
people: gas chambers, crematorium ovens, etc. It welcomed Poles, Russians, Jews,
Gypsies, etc. More than 10,000 human beings lost their lives every day

Entrance to the camp, where you can read the

famous motto Arbeit macht frei ("Work will set you
free")

Located about 43 km west of Krakow, it

was the largest extermination center in
history of Nazism, where one million
three hundred thousand died.
 This can contained these pebbles impregnated with
Zyklon-B gas. In a few minutes up to three
thousand people died.

A mother and children march towards the gas chamber

Auschwitz gas chamber, the only one that was not destroyed
by the Nazis
The prisoners were forced to wear signs identifying their condition (Jews,
homosexuals, communists) and were subjected to all types of torture and
humiliation. Mortality, under these conditions, was very high.
The basis of the marking code was colors:

•Yellow ▼ .Jews
•Red ▼politics prisioners.
•Green ▼ common criminals.
•Blue ▼ emigrants.
•Purple ▼ Jehováh´s witnesses
•Pink ▼ homosexuals
•Negro ▼for rebellious, lazy women,
•thugs, etc.
•brown ▼gipsies.
 The Germans had active
collaborators in the These
conquered countries. They collaborationist
were very women suffer a walk
important to facilitate the of shame through
regime of violence and Paris with shaved
terror: hair and barely any
clothes

At the same time, in the

occupied territories, anti-
fascist resistance movements
(Partisans) were emerging,
which opposed the injustice of
the occupation. They carried
out a covert war against the
Nazis.

The bodies of Mussolini and Clara

Petacci in the Milan morgue.
The Atlantic Charter (August 1941):
Roosevelt and
Churchill,
The President of the USA Roosevelt aboard the
intervened and Winston Churchill on USS Augusta
behalf of Great Britain
•This document was not a treaty between
the two powers.
•As the same document expresses it, it
was an affirmation of "certain common
principles in the national policy of our
respective countries, in which lie the
hopes of a better future for humanity."

Tehran Conference (November 28 and

December 1, 1943): Stalin, Churchill and
Roosevelt participated.
Various decisions were made about the
Stalin, progress of the war, such as supporting the
Roosevelt and partisans in Yugoslavia, allowing the border
Churchill between Poland and the USSR to be
modified, and opening a second front in
France
Yalta Conference (Crimea, February 1945):
same participants from Tehran. They decided
on the denazification and the creation of a
commission to evaluate the reparations that
Germany had to pay.
It was also decided to create an international
organization that would guarantee peace:
the UN (United Nations Organization).

Potsdam Conference (Germany, July-August 1945):

Along with Stalin, Churchill and Truman (American

president who had replaced the late Roosevelt)
participated.

Germany would be divided into four zones, administered by

the allies. Berlin was organized in a similar way.

It ended badly, with accusations between Truman and Stalin

of seeking world hegemony.
Paris conference (1946):

signed with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland.

The one in Austria, which remained occupied by the Allies, was not closed until 1955.

Peace with Japan was signed the same year, although the Soviet Union did not participate.

Germany never signed a treaty.

San Francisco Conference (April-June, 1945) when it was decided to create the United
Nations (UN):

• Initially, 46 states joined.

• It sought to maintain peace and cooperation among its member states.
•It established the equality of all signatory countries when it comes to resolving
conflicts,

In blue, the
46 founding
states
 5- The Consequences
5.1. The demographic impact
World War II was devastating. 40-65 million
- Almost half (about 30 million) belonged to the
USSR.
- A large part of the victims were civilians, around
60%
- The main cause was the new way of waging war,
which included systematic bombings
- To these death tolls, we must add 35 million
injured and 3 million missing.
-The number of “indirect victims” (malnutrition
and effects of atomic bombs)

On the other hand, after 1945,

population displacements
Germans
continued , changes in borders and
expelled
the expulsions of ethnic minorities.
- Nearly 30 million Europeans
roamed the continent in the
immediate postwar period
 5.2. The economic impact
- Based on the concept of “total Women working in the
war”, all states intervened in construction of an aircraft..
the economy

- The military industry

grew significantly.

- Possible incorporation of
women into working life.
At the end of the war, the devastation
was especially notable in Eastern Europe.
In Western Europe, the most affected
were infrastructures.

Varsovia and Bucarest

destroyed
Rotterdam bombed by Germany in May
1940.
Japan and the industrial centers were destroyed, and the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were devastated after the atomic bombs.

Hiroshima, before and after the bomb

 The countries that had been
territorially left out of the war
became richer; especially, the
United States. Miss America 1945.
The Americans did not suffer the
consequences of the war in their
territory.

The reconstruction of Europe seemed

an almost impossible task. It could be
possible due to the recovery of the
supply of food and raw materials
facilitated by the
American aid.

An industry with stamps of the emblem

of American aid on a container.
Another decisive element was
Clement
the intervention of the state in Attlee,
the economy. leader of
In several countries, left-wing the
parties won the elections. British
Labor
- The redistribution of wealth Party,
winner of
through a more equitable tax
the
system. elections
- The state budget grew, which held in
made it possible to meet health, 1945
educational and housing needs.
 5.3. The moral impact
The war was brutal.

The moral values on which

Western civilization had been
based were destroyed.

They were six years of

violence and terror:
- Nazi horror in the
concentration camps,
- Soviet massacres in Eastern
Europe
-Atomic bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
The Nuremberg Trials were held
between 1945 and 1946.
- The 24 most important Nazi leaders
were judged: 11 were sentenced to
death and three to life imprisonment.

As we see, few Nazi leaders were tried

in Nuremberg:
- Some, like Hitler, Goering or
Goebbels, had committed suicide.
- Others had managed to escape:
Borman or Eichmann

Borman
Eichmann,
executed in
Israel1962

Goering
This trial brought Nazi atrocities to light and set a precedent for the future that
criminal acts carried out by political leaders and senior military officials would not go
unpunished.

Court in session
of the 30th
September 1946