Chapter 19 Notes

Chapter 19 Notes Chapter 19 Section 1 German Path to War Adolf Hitler believed that the “Aryan race” was superior and that Germany needed more land Hitler indicated he would conquer the Soviet Union and would use the land for German peasants; the Slavic people would be used as slaves and the Aryan racial state would dominate Europe for a thousand years Hitler said that he wanted to revise the Treaty of Versailles peacefully March 9, 1935 Hitler starts crating a new air force; he starts a draft that would expand Germany’s army from 100k to 550k troops France, Britain and Italy too distracted by the depression to do anything about Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles 1936 Hitler sends troops into Rhineland (supposed to be demilitarized) Britain will not support military action against Hitler Britain begins appeasement and believes if Europe satisfies some of Germany’s reasonable demands, there will be peace in Europe New Alliances Mussolini wanted to create a Roman Empire in the Mediterranean Oct. 1935 Mussolini invades Ethiopia; Britain and France oppose this; Hitler supports him 1936 Italy and Germany send troops to Spain to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War Italy and Germany form alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis; Germany and Japan sign the Anti- Comintern Pact – promising to work against communism 1937 Germany is a world power; Hitler threatens to invade Austria, so Austrian chanceller is forced to put Austrian Nazis in charge of government German troops enter Austria March 13, 1938 Hitler has annexed Austria Demands and Appeasement Hitler wants northern Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland) French, German, Italian, and British representatives agree to let him occupy it British Prime Minister Neville Chamberland said there would be “peace for our time” Hitler promised to not make any more demands Hitler considered the western democracies weak and thought they would not fight March 1939 Hitler invaded and took control of Bohemia and Moravia in west Czechoslovakia; Nazi Germany has puppet government in eastern part of Czechoslovakia Britain offers to help protect Poland if Hitler invades British and French realize they need Soviet Union as an ally and begin negotiations with Joseph Stalin Hitler is concerned that Britain and France will make an alliance with Soviet Union He negotiates with Stalin; Aug. 23, 1939 – Nazi-Soviet Nonagression Act signed Hitler offers Stalin east Poland and the Baltic states (he knew he would just break that promise too) Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler invades Poland; Sept. 3, 1939 Britain and France declare war on Germany Japan’s Path to War Sept. 1931 Japan seizes Manchuria (needed natural resources) Japan uses “Mukden incident” (a Chinese attack on a Japanese railway) as an excuse to attack; (Japanese soldiers really did the attack, just disguised as Chinese) League of Nations condemns Japan’s expansion; Japan leaves League of Nations Japan continues to expand into Northern China Militants have control in Japan (led by Tojo) U.S. refuses to recognize Japanese takeover in Manchuria but is unwilling to use force. Japan’s War with China Chiang Kai-shek tried to avoid fighting Japan; considers communists a greater threat Chiang allows Japan to govern areas of North China Japan moves south into more of China Chiang’s troops fight Japan; Chiang refuses to surrender and moves his government farther west Japan wanted to create a new Order in East Asia made of Japan, Manchuria, and China Japan would guide its neighbors to prosperity Japan wanted to seize Soviet Siberia Germany and Japan Ally Late 1930s, Japan cooperates with Nazi Germany; Japan assumes they will eventually attack the Soviet Union and divide it Since Germany has signed a pact with the Soviet Union, Japan can’t attack it without help Japan wants to go into French Indochina (Vietnam) U.S. threatens with economic sanctions Japan needs oil and iron from the U.S. They see the U.S. as getting in the way of their long term goals Chapter 19 Section 2 Europe at War  Hitler used Blitzkrieg “lightning war” –fast strikes with huge armies and artillery to conquer Poland (only took 4 weeks)  Sept. 28, 1939 – Germany and Soviets divide Poland  Hitler resumes attacks after Winter; April 9, 1940 blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway  May 10, 1940 Germans attack Netherlands, Belgium, and France through Luxembourg and Ardennes Forest  Germans go around Maginot Line (concrete and steel fortification near the French border with Germany)  British navy and civilian boats able to evacuate 338,000 British troops  French sign armistice with Germany on June 22; Germans occupy 3/5 of France  Authoritarian regime was set up by Germany to control the rest of the country  The authoritarian leader was French war hero Marshal Henri Petain  British are still not defeated and ask the U.S. for help U.S.’s First Role in WWII  Franklin D. Roosevelt denounced aggressors but said U.S. would remain in isolationism and remain neutral  Laws had been passed to prevent the U.S. getting involved in more wars; many felt U.S. got involved in WWI because of money and didn’t want it to happen again  Roosevelt said neutrality encouraged Axis aggression; eventually neutrality acts were reduced and the U.S. supplied food, ships, planes, and weapons to Britain Battle of Britain  Hitler realized an amphibious invasion of Britain could work if he had control of the air  Aug. 1940 Hitler’s air force launches major offensive against British, bombing air bases, naval bases, harbors, communication centers and war industries  British fight back with determination  British had made an attack on Berlin  Hitler wants to break British morale so he bombs British cities; British air force responds well and Hitler has to postpone his invasion of Britain Attack on the USSR  Hitler believed British would surrender if the Soviet Union was smashed and that the British were waiting on Soviet support  Hitler thinks Soviets are pathetic and he can beat them easily  Mussolini fails to take Greece so Hitler invades and takes Greece and Yugoslavia  He invades the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, thinking it will be easy and quick  Germans capture 2 million Russian soldiers; come within 25 miles of Moscow  Russians fight back  Winter sets in  Do you want to be in Russia during the winter with no winter uniforms?  Germans are defeated in Russia Japan at War  Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese aircraft attack Pearl Harbor in Hawaii  Japan strikes Philippines and Dutch East Indies  By Spring 1942 Japan has almost all of Southeast Asia and some of the Pacific islands are controlled by Japan  Japan calls this new empire the “Greater East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere”  Japan says it will liberate Southeast Asia from colonial rule (Japan was using conquered countries for resources)

 Japan thinks that they can knock out a huge enough part of the U.S. navy at Pearl Harbor that the U.S. will accept their domination of the Pacific  They think the U.S. has become “soft by material indulgence”  Pearl Harbor unified Americans on getting involved in the war  U.S. joins European nations and Nationalist China to defeat Japan  Hitler thought the U.S. would be too involved in the Pacific to be effective in Europe so he declares war on the U.S. on Dec. 11, 1941  There is another WORLD WAR! Allies Advance  Soviets have joined Allies due to Hitler’s invasion  The Allies (U.S., Britain, USSR) (France has already been taken but attempts fighting) ignored political differences for the common cause of winning the war  1943 the Allies agree to fight together until the Axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan surrender unconditionally Fighting in Africa and the Middle East  Hitler is still doing relatively well in 1942 until later in the year  German forces led by General Erwin Rommel broke through British lines and advanced in Egypt  Germans advance and Hitler plans to take Iraq, Iran, and cut of British oil supply so the empire will collapse  North African troops eventually stop Rommel  British and Americans invade North Africa and force the German and Italians to surrender in May 1943 Hitler Still Fixated on the USSR  Hitler wants to take the Industrial center in Stalingrad  Nov. 1942-Feb. 1943 Soviets surround Germans, no supply line, cold winter  Germans must surrender; Hitler’s best soldiers were lost  Hitler realizes he can’t win in the Soviet Union War in Asia  Battle of Coral Sea on May 7-8, 1942; Americans stop Japanese from advancing to Australia  Battle of Midway Island June 4 U.S. planes destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers and established naval superiority in the Pacific  Fall of 1942 Allies in Asia launch a dual attack on Japanese held islands; they would bypass some islands “island hopping” to Japan  A lot of fighting in the Solomon Islands; U.S. keeps winning Last Years of the War  1943 not going well for Germany, Italy, and Japan  Axis forces in Tunisia surrender  Allies cross Mediterranean Sea and attack Italy, what Churchill called the “soft underbelly” of Europe; Allies take Sicily and invade mainland  Mussolini loses support and is arrested by Victor Emmanuel II, kind of Italy; a new Italian government surrenders to allies  Mussolini was rescued during a German raid and becomes head of state in Northern Italy (puppet German state)  Germans move in and occupy some of Italy and to Rome  Allies advance, lose many soldiers and don’t take Rome until June 4, 1944 D-Day  Allies plan invasion of France since 1943 from Britain across the English Channel  Allied forces under Dwight D. Eisenhower land at Normandy beaches on June 6, 1944  Allies fight through underwater mines, barbed wire, horrible machine gun fire  Allies create a diversion so Germans think they will attack elsewhere  Creates slow German response  In 3 months, allies land 2 million men and 500k vehicles at Normandy; they finally break through German lines  After they break German lines, they move south and east; in Paris, resistance movements rise against Germans  Allies liberate Paris in August 1944  Allies cross Rhine River and advance to Germany by March 1945  April 1945 Allies are in Northern Germany and link up with the Soviets The End of the European Front  Hitler made one more try against he Soviets in summer 1943, but loses  Germans were defeated by Soviets in a huge tank battle at the Battle of Kursk  Soviets advance west  Soviets reoccupy Ukraine  Soviets enter Berlin in April 1945  Soviets also sweep through Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria Hitler and Mussolini’s Fate  January 1945 Hitler moved into a Bunker 55 feet under the city of Berlin to direct the end of the war  In his final political statement he blamed the Jews for the war and refers to the Jews as “the poisoners of all people is international Jewry”  Hitler committed suicide on April 30 1945  Mussolini is shot by Italian resistance fighters on April 28, 1945  May 7, 1945 Germans surrender; the War in Europe was over The End of the Pacific Front  War in Asia continued  Allies draw closer main Japanese islands  Harry Truman becomes president in 1945 (FDR died)  Truman has a difficult decision, whether or not he should use newly developed atomic weapons to end the war  Truman believes using them would avoid a U.S. invasion of Japan and save many U.S. lives; Advisors told him that many Americans would die if they had to invade main islands of Japan  Truman decided to use the bombs  First bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945  August 9, 1945 second bomb is dropped at Nagasaki  Both cities were leveled  Thousand of people die immediately  Thousands die later from radiation  Emperor Hirohito steps in and forces the Japanese military leaders to surrender  Japan surrenders on August 14, 1945 Casualties of WWII  The military toll was about 25 million, including the deaths of about 5 million prisoners of war in captivity.  World War II is the deadliest war the world has ever seen  About 72 million people died during World War II  About 47 million of those who died, were civilians (20 million of those died from starvation and disease) Chapter 19 Section 3 The Holocaust Resettlement in the East • Nazis began to “resettle” Slavic people and Germans in eastern Europe • 1 million Poles were moved to southern Poland to make room for German resettlers • 2 million Germans move in Poland • Hitler said Poles, Ukrainians and Russians would be removed from their land to become German slave labor • Heinrich Himmler, leader of the SS was in charge of resettlement Himler’s Quote • Himmler told SS officers that 30 million Slavs may die to achieve German plans in the east • He also said, “Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only insofar as we need them as slaves of our culture. Otherwise it is of no interest.” German Labor Some came to Germany to work in factories on their own; 7 million were forced to work for Nazis The Holocaust • The SS was given the responsibility of what the Nazis called the “final solution” to the Jewish problem, genocide. • Reinhard Heydrich was given the job of administering the “final solution”; a special force of SS called the Einsatzgruppen would carry out Nazi plans • When Poland was taken, they were to get all Polish Jews and put them in ghettos, or to round up Jews in villages and execute them and bury them; the victims often had to dig their own graves before they were shot • 1 million were killed this way • Nazis wanted to kill all European Jews in death camps • 1942 Jews from countries occupied by Germany were taken, backed like cattle into freight trains, and shipped to Poland. 6 extermination centers were there. • The largest center was Auschwitz • Some were sent to a labor camp, where they were worked to death or starved to death • The remainder went to gas chambers • Some were put through painful medical experiments • About 6 million Jews were killed • About 90% of Jews in Poland, Baltic countries and Germany were killed • Holocaust killed about 2/3 of all European Jews • Nazis also shot, starved or overworked about 9-10 million non-Jews including the Roma, or gypsies; about 400,000 Roma were killed in death camps • Leading Slavic citizens were killed • About 4 million Poles, Ukrainians and Belorussians died as slave laborers for Nazis • 3 to 4 million Soviet Prisoners of war were killed by Nazis • Jewish kids, because they were unable to work, were the first to go to the gas chamber • Many women were sent to gas chambers • Young boys tried to look as old as possible so they could look strong enough to work in order to survive • 1.2 million Jewish children died in the Holocaust Children of WWII • Many children were evacuated during WWII to avoid the bombings • Some refugee children’s ships were bombed by German torpedoes • By 1945 estimates show that 13 million children were orphaned in Europe • Hitler Youth fought on the front lines of war at ages 14 or 15 • Soviet children fought as young as 13 or 14 fought or were spies and were given decorations for killing the enemy • Slavic children were taught by the Nazis that God says to “obey the Germans” Japan’s Policies in Asia • Japanese promised they would help Asian countries set up local governments, but Japanese military really controlled them • Japanese forcibly took rice from Vietnamese, causing over 1 million Vietnamese to starve to death in 1944-45 • At first some Asian countries sided with Japan and against the allies, but eventually they realized Japan’s true intentions and turned against Japan • Indonesians were forced to bow toward Tokyo, Burmese Buddhist pagodas were used for Japanese military • When Japan took Nanjing, China, they spent several days killing, raping, and looting • 800,000 Koreans were sent to Japan as forced laborers • Japanese used POWs and people from colonized areas as forced labor. 12,000 Allied POWs and 90,000 forced laborers died building the Burma-Thailand railway Chapter 19 Section 4 The Home Front and Aftermath of War Fighting in WWII was more widespread than WWI. It was total war Mobilization was extensive Soviet Home Front 1.5 million civilians died in Leningrad due to starvation and cold when the Germans were attacking. 1943 – Stalingrad huge industrial city; 55% of all production went to the war effort Soviet women worked in industries, mines, railroad, and dug antitank ditches Soviet women fought in battle and served as snipers and aircrews in bomber squadrons U.S. Home Front U.S. was HUGE supplier for Allies; 1943 U.S. build 6 battleships per day and 96k planes per year 1 million African-Americans enrolled in the military (they were segregated); they were angry and some prepared to fight for civil rights Japanese Americans were forced to live in camps German Home Front Nazis had to accept women working in factories because of the need for supplies Many women did not want jobs and there was not a huge increase in women in the job market Japanese Home Front People were encouraged to sacrifice their resources and sometimes lives for the national cause Kamikaze “divine wind” – intentionally crashing planes into U.S. ships on a suicide mission became popular Tojo did not want women to work in factories and brought in forced labor from Korea and China instead The Bombing of Cities Sept. 1940 London was bombed; for months Germans bombed every night Thousands were killed and injured German cities such as Cologne and Dresden were bombed by Britain Fuel supplies and transportation systems were destroyed but Germany kept producing war materials Japan faced bombings from the U.S., especially with the atomic bomb; Truman decided to use the Atomic bomb instead of a land invasion The Tehran Conference The “Big Three” (U.S., Britain, and USSR) met at Tehran in 1943 USSR-Stalin, U.S.-Roosevelt, -Britain-Churchill Britain and U.S. would attack from west, USSR would attack from east and meet in Germany. They would split Germany when they won Yalta Conference The Big Three meet in Yalta (southern Russia) in Feb. 1945 U.S. wants USSR’s help against Japan so they agree to give Stalin some Pacific islands and railroad rights in Manchuria They could not decide on what would happen in Eastern Europe after the war Also, FDR wanted to create the United Nations to discuss problems; this is established Decided Germany must surrender unconditionally and divide it into four zones controlled militarily by the U.S., Britain, France, and Germany Potsdam Conference FDR died, Truman demands free elections for Eastern Europe at this conference Stalin would not allow this and said that if government had free elections it would be anti-Soviet War Crimes Trials Summer 1945 Allies held a trial for war leaders committing crimes against humanity Nazi leaders were tried and condemned as war criminals at the Nuremberg war crimes trials; war crimes trials were also held in Italy and Japan By 1946, people began to worry about the division between capitalists and communists Churchill said that “an iron curtain” had been “descended across the continent” dividing Europe into two hostile camps