Mr. Gentry’s Western Cultures class

Unit 7- World War II 

 

Notes:

Web Assignments:

 

 

Notes:

 

The Steps to World War II (1920’s- 1930’s)

 

1.    World War I and the Treaty of  Versailles- ruined economies, fear of Communism, (20’s-30’s)

 

2.    Rise of fascism (extreme nationalism –the state is more important than any individual) –Italy (Mussolini) and Germany (Hitler)  Both  had totalitarian governments

 

3.    Communism in Soviet Union under Stalin –(Totalitarian government)

 

4.    China in civil war between Communists (Mao Zedong) and Nationalists (Sun Yixian and Jiang Jieshi)

 

5.    Militarism in Japan- aggression in Manchuria, China (1931)

 

6.    Americans remain neutral- policy of isolationism

 

7.    Spanish Civil War- Fascists (Francisco Franco) win with support in this “practice war”

 

8.    1930’s- Rome- Berlin- Tokyo Axis  (non-aggression pact with agreement to fight communism)- what 3 countries?

 

9.    Italy- (Mussolini) becomes aggressive and takes Ethiopia and claims land in Europe

 

10.           Germany (Hitler)  re-arms, moves army into Rhineland, Austria (1938) to create the Aunschlus or union ,

 

11.           Hitler takes Czechoslovakia- after being given the Sudetenland at the Munich conference of 1938 (Appeasement- to give into)

 

12.             Stalin and Hitler sign Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, Britain and France agree protect Poland, Hitler and Stalin invade Poland (1939)  

 

 

The Early Phase of World War II (1939-1941)

 

Western Democracies hoped that diplomacy would take care of Nazi aggression- so they failed to respond early 

 

Sept 1, 1939- Germany attacks Poland with Blitzkrieg or “Lightening War” as Stalin invades from the East –it took a month

 

Stalin occupies the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania)

 

French hide behind the Maginot Line in a Phony War

 

Germany attacks Norway and then Denmark, The Netherlands, and Belgium

 

Germany attacks France in May of 1940 as the French and British troops escape to Britain during the “Miracle of Dunkirk

 

France falls on June 22, 1940 – France surrenders in the same railroad car that Germany signed the WWI Armistice in and they set up Occupied France and Vichy France with a puppet government

 

Axis (Italy) forces attack British held Egypt but are defeated. Then Germans, under Rommel (“The Desert Fox”) help them win many battles  but is eventually stopped by General Montgomery (Br) 

 

Technology is increasing- Radar, Sonar, air bombing, paratroopers, tanks, etc.

 

Germany attacks Britain by air to prepare for an invasion, (daily attacks of London that became known as the Battle of Britain)- they failed to win and could not invade so they attacked the Soviet Union (1941)

 

The German operation against the Soviets stalled in the winter as they approached Moscow and Leningrad –scorched earth tactics and the harsh winter defeated the Germans (2.5 million Soviets killed) (what other army leader tried this?)

 

Early 1941- U.S. Congress passes the Lend-Lease Act to supply arms and money to those countries that were believed to be necessary to U.S. defense (Britain, France, Russia, etc.)

 

The FDR and Churchill meet in August of 1941 and decided on war goals and a plan for the world after WWII- this Atlantic Charter was a secret meeting held at sea

 

Japan advances into Southeast Asia and then on December 7, 1941 Attacks Pearl Harbor, (U.S. Declares war on the Axis) and then proceeded to take more territory in the South Pacific

 

 

Japanese and German Occupations

 

Japanese:  Set out to create the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity

Sphere” to “free Asia from the Western colonial rule” but instead they used the countries and people for their own purposes too and often times far more harshly than the original colonizers.

 

Germans: Set up puppet governments when they were inhabited

by “Aryans,” and occupied those areas where “Aryans” were not

living The Slavs of Eastern Europe were considered inferior and

were forced into labor in the German War Industries. They also attempted to kill all people that were judged to be racially inferior or bad for the German race– including Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, mentally ill, handicapped, and homosexuals. – This would eventually mean that 6 million Jews and 5 million others would be killed. When some resisted, their entire villages or group could be killed.

 

The Tide Turns- World War II (1942-1945)

(Allied Victory)

 

After the U.S. enters the war, the “Big Three” – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin, agree to win the war in Europe first. (these three distrusted each other)

 

The Allies switched to war production and rationing of essential goods (such as rubber, steel, butter, silk, etc), while some people (some Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps till the war ended)

 

Women worked in war industries, in non-combat positions in the military and even in combat in the Soviet army

 

Turning Points in the War:

1.    El Alamein, Egypt (British win) and the Americans trap Rommel (German) who then surrenders North Africa (1942)

2.    Allies Invade Sicily and then Italy. Italy surrenders after Mussolini is overthrown. He is rescued by Germany and the fighting against Germans went on in Italy (Hitler now fighting two wars)

3.    The Russians defeat the Germans at the battle of Stalingrad (that cost the Germans 300,000 men) The Russians then proceed to push the Germans out of the Soviet Union and into Eastern Europe (by early 1944).

4.    The Allies Attack at Normandy on June 6, 1944- called D-Day. This set up a third war for the Germans. The Allies had liberated France by the end of September.

5.    Americans had lost the Philippines in May of 1942, but started winning again at the Battle of Coral Sea and then the Battle of Midway. (their aircraft carriers were destroyed). They then started Island-hoping, to gain islands closer to Japan in order to bomb them (in 1944)

6.    As the Allies advance on Germany and continue bombing their cities and factories, the Germans make their last major advance that became known as the Battle of the Bulge.

7.    Mussolini is executed by Italian guerrillas

8.    The Allies move toward Berlin where Hitler commits suicide and they surrender the next day (May 8, 1945- called V-E Day )

9.    In 1945, Japan still had an army of 2,000,000 men yet very little navy or air force left.

10.                       Japan was given an ultimatum by the allies: “surrender or face “utter and complete destruction.” They failed to surrender so the new U.S. president, Harry Truman, gave the OK to drop the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

11.                       The Russians declared war on Japan and invaded Manchuria on August 8, 1945

12.                       August 9, 1945- A-Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki and the next day Emperor Hirohito forces the cabinet to surrender. The surrender was officially signed on September 2, 1945 and the Americans then occupied Japan with their own army

 

The Aftermath of The War:

·       Japan is forced to accept new constitution under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur

·       Germany is divided into occupation zones by the allied armies and much of Europe is left devastated with many refugees, destroyed cities, food shortages, disease, and much more.

·       The total war had killed as many as 75 million people with 22 million from the Soviet Union alone.

·       War crimes trials were held in Nuremberg Germany, Italy, and Japan to show that leaders could be held responsible.

·       The United Nations was formed in 1945 to promote and maintain world peace (stronger than the League of Nations)

·       The “Cold War” developed between the Soviet Union and the United States as they both had different ideas and goals for the world.

·       Stalin used force to set up “puppet” governments in the countries they had occupied during the war and the Americans grew afraid, as Stalin desired to take over the world. (He was also building protection for his country from the possibility of German invasion again)

·       Churchill described the new order in Europe as an “Iron Curtain” that separated the communist Soviets and their “Satellite countries” from the democracies of the west

·       Truman establishes the Truman Doctrine, that said the U.S. would protect any free people who are opposing outside pressures or armed minorities inside. They also attempted to keep communism from spreading in a policy called “containment”

·       The U.S. offered billions of dollars in European countries to help them rebuild and to establish friendships under the “Marshall Plan”

·       The cold war tensions increase and West Berlin is blockaded but supplied by the Berlin Airlift for over a year before Stalin backs down

·       1949- The U.S. and its allies form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and in 1955- the Soviets form the Warsaw Pact. These are Military alliances to protect against the other group.

·       Each side of this new divided world (U.S. and Soviets) built up their army and tried to stay ahead of the other at all times. This is called an “arms race”

·       The “Cold War” would last for another 40 years 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

­­­

Assignments:

 

The Steps to World War II Worksheet    Name ___________

 

1.     What treaty was blamed for many of the problems after WWI?

 

2.     What type of government did they have in Russia that was a one party dictatorship and was also totalitarian in the way it ran?

 

3.     What do we call extreme nationalism where the state is more important than the individual people and the government is run as a dictatorship?

 

4.     What country took part of China because it needed the resources that could be found there?  (China was weak the too)

 

5.     Identify the 2 parties and their leaders who were fighting a civil war in China when Japan took part of their country

Party______________________ Leader_____________________

Party______________________ Leader_____________________

 

6.     What was America’s official policy concerning involvement in foreign problems?

 

7.     What was the effect of this American Policy?

 

 

8.     Why did other counties get involved in the civil war in Spain?

 

9.     Who won the civil war in Spain and what kind of government did he have?

 

10.            What three countries formed a non-aggression pact and also agreed to fight communism?

1. ________________________

2. ________________________

3. ________________________

 

11.            List the acts of aggression or disobedience of treaties that Hitler ordered which brought Europe into war again.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

 

____________________________________________________________

Web Assignment

 

Axis Occupations                           

Web worksheet           

 

Directions:

1.     log onto http://darteach.tripod.com and proceed to the course outline section

2.     click on the link for Unit 7

3.     Click on the link for the web assignment and the work your way through the worksheet by clicking on the links on the web-page and answering the questions below.

 

1.Read the introduction to this web-sight:                                                                  ( http://www.gotrain.com/dan/nanking1.htm )and then explain how the Japanese occupations differed from that of the German occupations.

 

 

 

 

2. Using the same web-sight as # 1 – read below the introduction to explain what happened when Japan attacked Nanking in China.

 

 

 

 

 

3.     The following web-sight:

( http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/kic/a06/e/3/t1/t1_13.html ) tells about the Japanese occupations but is given in less detail and is from the Japanese perspective. How is it different from the story told in the last web-sight?

 

 

 

 

 

4.     Why would the above two web-sights be different in the amount of information

given and the way in which the story is told?

 

 

 

5.     The Japanese had planned to take control of India and needed a supply route to be able to do this. They decided on a train route from Bangkok to Burma (modern day Myanmar) and decided to use POW’s to build  this. Click around and skim over some of the pages on the following web-sight and explain how they treated the prisoners they had captured in battle. http://www.ean.co.uk/Bygones/History/Article/WW2/Death_Railway/