World War II Begins

1. World War II Begins

2. After World War I, Germany was left with a large amount of debt that it could not pay off. • Hitler and the National Socialist Party (Nazis) were elected into power because they promised to help Germany. • Hitler wanted to create a new empire for Germany in Eastern Europe.

3. Hitler wanted to reunite the German people, so he tried to expand into the Sudetenland.

4. Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Britain, told Czechoslovakia they needed to give Germany back any lands with a “German majority.” • This began a policy called appeasement.

5. After making a deal with the Soviet Union, Germany invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939. • Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany on September 3rd. • Within a month Poland was defeated by Germany and the Soviet Union and divided between them.

6. The Holocaust was a “planned” extermination of 6 million Jews between 1933 and 1945. • Approximately 200,000 Gypsies were killed • Approximately 200,000 Mentally Handicapped People killed • Approximately 5 Million Poles (both Jew and Non-Jewish) killed • Approximately 3.3 Million Soviet Prisoners were killed • Approximately 2.2 Million Slavs were killed • Approximately 20,000 Blacks Sterilized or killed • Approximately 15,000 Homosexuals were killed • Approximately 200,000 Freemasons and Communists killed • Approximately 5,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses were killed • The “real” number for the Holocaust is ~ 17.14 Million

7. Hitler called his decision to kill the Jews the “Final Solution.” • The “Jewish question” had been around for centuries. • The essential question was what to do with the Jews. • Hitler decided the best answer to that question was to eliminate them and provide more land/resources for Aryan Germans (blonde hair and blue eyes).

8. Concentration Camps • After September 1939 concentration camps became places where millions of ordinary people were often starved, tortured and killed. • During the War, new Nazi concentration camps for "undesirables" spread throughout the continent. • About 1,200 camps and sub-camps were run in countries occupied by Germany,[while the Jewish Virtual Library estimates that the number of camps was closer to 15,000.

9. America Enters the War

10. Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and other Allied nations with war materials between 1941 and 1945. • We would “lend” ammunition, tanks, oil, etc. and the Allied nations needed to return or replace at the end of the war. • It was a way to help the Allies without formally joining the war. It angered the Axis powers because they saw this as joining the war without fighting.

11. The Japanese attacked the U.S. Naval base in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 • “A Day that will live in infamy” • Japan wanted to destroy the U.S. Fleet to make sure they wouldn’t interfere with the Japanese Empire’s actions in the Pacific. • The base was attacked by 353 Japanese planes. • The Japanese did not know that not all of the fleet was stationed in Pearl Harbor, their attack failed to destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

12. The U.S. Reacts • Immediately following the attack the U.S. started to question Japanese men that worked for Japanese companies in America. • 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the Pacific Coast were put into “War Relocation Camps” in 1942. • Japanese Americans were placed under curfew, and relocated to camps where they were confined to an area surrounded by barbed wire.

13. On January 2, 1945, the exclusion order was removed entirely. • The internees then began to leave the camps to rebuild their lives at home. • The freed internees were given $25 and a train ticket to their former homes.

14. The first U.S. troops came to the British Isles in 1942, but it would be another year before they would fight the Axis. • The immediate concern for the Allies was the “European Theater,” but the U.S. was preparing for action in the Pacific as well.

15. Operation Overlord

16. The Battle of Normandy (known as D-Day or Operation Overlord) gave the Allies a toe-hold in Europe. • Battle took place on June 6th 1944 and involved 160,000 Allied troops. • This battle is important because the Allies needed to open Germany up to a Western Front (To help out the Soviet Union). Winning at Normandy meant that Germany had to fight on two sides.

17. The approach to the beach was difficult because there were mines in the water, barriers on the beach, and barbed wire in the path of the soldiers. • There were also machine gun “nests” protecting the beach. • Due to a bad storm the 101st Airborne who had parachuted into France were blown off course and were not able to assist at D-Day.

18. 10,000 Allied soldiers died in the invasion. This was actually less than expected. Churchill and the American commanders expected 20,000 casualties. • 3 Million Allied soldiers occupied France by the end of 1944 and it all started with the Battle of Normandy

19. What if D-Day Failed • Eisenhower: “In Case of Failure” • "Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops. My decision to attack at this time and place was based upon the best information available. The troops, the air and the Navy did all that Bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone."

20. Battle of the Bulge

21. A major German offensive launched toward the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium from December 16th 1944 to January 25th 1945. • The offensive was planned with the utmost secrecy, minimizing radio traffic and moving troops and equipment under cover of darkness. • Even though Army intelligence staff predicted a major German offensive, the Allies were still caught by surprise. • Near-complete surprise against a weakly defended section of the Allied line was achieved during heavy overcast weather, which grounded the Allies' overwhelmingly superior air forces. 

22. The Germans penetrated deep into Belgium, creating a dent, or “bulge,” in the Allied lines and threatening to break through to the N Belgian plain and seize Antwerp. • An American force held out at Bastogne, even though surrounded and outnumbered. • Improved flying weather (after Dec. 24) facilitated Allied counterattacks. By Jan. 16, 1945, the German forces were destroyed or routed, but not without some 77,000 Allied casualties.

23. The battle of Iwo Jima lasted from February 19-March 26 1945. • America tried to capture the island from Japan because of its two airfields. From those airfields America would be able to run air assaults to Japan.

24. Japan fortified Iwo Jima with miles of underground tunnels, caves, pill boxes and over 20,000 troops • The battle for Iwo Jima started on February 19, 1945 with naval bombardment to "soften" the Japanese positions on the island.  Because of the hardened fortifications, the bombardment did not have the desired results - The Japanese were fully capable of mounting an effective defense. • On the island, the Japanese fired upon Americans from the underground garrisons, caves, and "pill boxes", fortified positions of steel and concrete.  The Marines had to fight and "dig them out" one position at a time, using grenades, flame throwers, and rifle fire.

25. The taking of Mount Suribachi on the south end of the island on February 23 did not end the fighting.  In fact, the island was not declared secure for American forces until March 16, 1945 • Over the many weeks after the battle began, the United States incurred more than 28,000 casualties, over 6,800 deaths.  Nearly all 21,000 the Japanese defenders were killed.  Only about 1,000 were captured alive. • Once Iwo Jima was secured, the air base on the island was used for the fire bombings of Japan.  The firebombing of Tokyo on March 9, 1945 killed 100,000 Japanese and wounded 125,000.

26. Allied Victory in Europe

27. By the beginning of 1944 air warfare had turned overwhelmingly in favor of the Allies, who destroyed many German cities, transport lines, and industries throughout German-held Europe.  • After heavy fighting in Normandy, Allied armored divisions raced to the Rhine, clearing most of France and Belgium of German forces by Oct., 1944 • On the Eastern Front Soviet armies swept (1944) through the Baltic States. Having evacuated the Balkan Peninsula, the Germans resisted in Hungary until Feb., 1945, but Germany itself was pressed.

28. On Mar. 7 the Western Allies—whose chief commanders in the field were Omar N. Bradley and Montgomery—crossed the Rhine after having smashed through the strongly fortified Siegfried Line and overran W Germany. German collapse came after the meeting (Apr. 25) of the Western and Russian armies at Torgau in Saxony, and after Hitler's death amid the ruins of Berlin, which was falling to the Russians under marshals Zhukov and Konev. • The unconditional surrender of Germany was signed at Reims on May 7 and ratified at Berlin on May 8.

29. After securing Iwo Jima the U.S. was able to launch bombing raids from the ground into Japan. • The U.S. commanders recognized that in order to defeat Japan on the ground they would have to relive the horrors faced at Iwo Jima over and over until they finally reached the Japanese homeland. • Notably, FDR died on April 12th 1945 near the end of the Manhattan project.

30. Manhattan Project • The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomicbomb during WWII. • The Manhattan Project operated under a blanket of tight security • President Harry S. Truman had no idea the project existed, and upon the death of FDR had to decide whether or not to use this new technology.

31. In order to avoid more loss of U.S. life, Truman ordered the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on Aug 6 1945. • 70,000-80,000 people were killed immediately when the bomb hit • Japan did not believe the U.S. could have two weapons like this and saw it as a bluff. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki Aug 9th to prove we had more.

32. The surrender of the Empire of Japan on September 2, 1945 brought the hostilities of World War II to a close. • The Japanese surrendered to the US upon the USS Missouri • On August 28, 1945, the occupation of Japan by the Supreme Commander of the Allies began. • The U.S. military continues to occupy Japan to this very day

33. The Cost of War • For all of the countries involved it cost $2.88 Billion to fight World War II • $2,880,000,000.00 • By 2008 standards that is $3.4 Trillion • $3,444,848,000,000.00 • This is only the “monetary” cost

34. This money was spent on: • factory building, ship-making, tank building, plane crafting, fuel, ammunition, oil/gas, weapons, soldier salaries, creation of uniforms and helmets, various supplies (parachutes, medical equipment, tents), bunker building, Staff salaries, war factory worker salaries, creation of detention camps (US and Germany), rebuilding of cities/towns/factories, creation of operation centers, intelligence costs, research and development, provision of death benefits, trials for war criminals, training of soldiers, upkeep of vehicles, and propaganda campaigns.

35. Germany was required to pay $23 Billion to the Allies for reparations after the war. • Japan paid out over $1 Trillion to those Allied countries with claims against them (mainly the U.S. and China) • In the 1980’s the U.S. finally paid reparations to the families of Japanese-Americans that were detained during World War II; approximately $1.6 Billion

36. Cost of Life for the “Big Players” in World War II Germany- 8.68 Million Dead Italy- 457,000 Dead Japan- 3.12 Million Dead U.S- 418,500 Dead Great Britain- 450,900 Dead Soviet Union- 23.4 Million Dead Total (Plus Holocaust Victims)- 82 Million Dead

37. After the War • Due to widespread destruction the economies and industry of Europe was all but destroyed. • The U.S. was arguably the largest industrial power right after the conflict because we had escaped industrial destruction on our homeland. • Setting the stage for the decades that followed, the US and Soviet Union emerged from the conflict as “World Powers.”