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Period: to
World War II
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The Holocaust
The Holocaust began as Hitler gained the authority. Holocaust is the movement conducted by the Nazis to exterminate Jews. As Hitler became the leader, he defined Germans as the superior race of the world. Hitler set the laws against the Jews to restrict their movements. Nazis constructed the concentration camp to imprison the Jews. This was the crucial act done by the Nazis during the world war II. It shows Hitler's biased sight to control over the world by setting his race greater than others. -
Hitler became a Chancellor of Germany
The President Hindenburg chose Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany. His party, the Nazi and his supporter protested for Hilter's great power. This event is very significant beecause starting from this point, Hitler began to gain power. Thus, being a Chancellor gave Hitler a chance to become a Führer. -
Hitler became the president of Germany
After Hindenburg's death, Hitler declared himself as the president. He thought that it might be more stable if he becomes the president due to his party, Nazis, which were largest in Germany. As soon as he became the president of Germany, he called himself as the Führer. The began Hitler's absolute power over whole Europe. In addition, he was definately an anti-communist. Therefore, the Britain and the France supported Hitler. -
Hitler reformed Germany
Germany was upset about the result of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler knew this fact and decided to reform his country. The action he took was to reintroduce the draft and rearmed Germany. Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles. After he rearmed, he passed the law so that the German Jews were stripped of rights; Nuremberg Race Laws. Jews lost their citizenship, were not allowed to employ aryan women and started to be recorded. -
Hitler invaded Rhineland
Rhineland was located between the border of France and Germany. Invading this area was a great opportunity to Hitler to attack France more affectively. After invading Rhineland, he sent some of his troops here and watch France. If Hitler did not conquered Rhineland, attacking and taking over Fracne would be harder. Therefore, his area was a luck to Hitler to take over his enemy, France. -
The Spanish Civil War
In July 17, Francisco Franco of Spain revolted and processed the civil war. He was also an ally of Hitler. Thus, to support a nice Nationalist ally, Hitler sent 26 fighter aircraft, 30 Junker 52s. Besides aiding Germany's ally was not the only significance. This war in Spain was a great chance to Htler to test his tactics, weapons and commanders. -
Japan invaded China
In the 20s, Japan became more democratic and the militarists controlled the country. They believed that they could control all over Asia. As their desire grew, their population grew impressingly. Japanese had three doors. They chose was the expansion to the other region. However, the world were asked about the legitimacy. They answered it that is is for helping Manchuria and othe regions in Chia to be civilzed. This is the significant event because it is the start of Japan's expansionism. -
Munich Conference in Sudetenland
In March 1939, Nazis took over Czechoslovakia. This shows Hitler's empire building in Europe. The siginificance of this event is that by taking over the Czechoslovakia, he broke the faith between Germany and Britain-France ally. This was one cause which allowed Britain to declare war on Germany. -
Peace in our Time
The Britain and the France agreed to the appeasement because they thought this would keep their country’s peace. The reason they signed was because they were afraid of the other war to be caused. By not sending arms nor weapons nor attacking each other, they considered it would bring the long lasting peace. However this did not happened in reality. Since they cannot help any other countries by sending troops or weapons, they began to lose their allies. Thus, at last, they had to declare the war -
Non-Aggression Pact
Soviet Union and Germany signed "Non-Agression Pact" to stand against the Britain and France. This was significant because before, Hitler was a definite anti-communist. However, he allied with the Soviet because he wanted have powerful ally to fight against the Britain and France -
Invading Poland
After invading Czechoslovakia, Hitler's troops moved forward to Poland. Attacking the Czechoslovakia also alarmed Britain's entrance. Yet, invading Poland finally led to Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand's entrance to the war. Therefore, taking over Poland ignited the world war II which most countries wished to avoid. -
Phony War
After invading Poland, Germany suggested peace to Britain and France. However, these two countries denied Hitler's suggestion. Therefore, German troops were ready at the Rhineland to attack France affectively in case of raid. Nevertheless, Britain and France did not make any offensive attacks. Therefore from September 3, 1939 to May 10 1940, the war continue. Yet, there was no military movements involved. -
Operation Sea Lion 1940
The Operation Sea Lion was a tactic that was planned to invade Britain. By then, Britain had no allies in Europe left to fight with them; France was invaded by Hitler. In addition, due to their geographical location, they could not contact with other remaining allies, Australia and New Zealnd. Even with all these disadvantages, Britain won with their high technology and became the significant battle for the allies. For example, they had radars to detect German airplanes and handle the attacks. -
Home Front during the War
While the soldiers faught, many people remained at the home front. More than 3,500,000 people: children, women, old people, were evacuated to the ‘safe places.’ To save the supplies, their foods were rationed by points and each family could attain foods from the store whre they registered. Women aided the soldiers by helping the evacuees, driving ambulances, nurseries and others. Children grew looking at the propagandas which allowed them to have minds of hatred of Germany or other Axis Powers. -
Shifted attention to the Balkans
After few moment, Hitler shifted his attention to the Mediterean and Balkan areas. Thus, in the summer of 1940, Hitler made a plan to invade USSR. For more support, he persuaded the near countries of the Soviets: Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary to join the Axis Powers. Yet, as Yugoslavia and Greece resisted, Hitler invaded. This shows Hitler's dangerous ambition of expansionism. Hitler was trying to follow the path that the previous conquerors failed to do. -
Invading USSR
As Hitler well prepared his troop, he began the invasion. By then, the Soviets were not prepared for the war nor well-equipped compare to the Germans. Thus, in September 8, Germans sieged Leningrad. To force the surrender, Germany destroyed the warehouses, where Russians kept their food supplies. Yet, as time passed, winter came to the front. Due to their thin summer uniform, it was hard to endure the coldness. Therefore, because of cold weather and fights, Germans lost massive number of armies. -
Pearl Harbor
Pearl harbor is the biggest island in Hawaii. Unprovokably, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and caused many casualities. Before the attack, Pearl harbor was a beautiful place where most people admired. In addition, since then, the United States kept their neutrality. Japan was angry about US's action. They thought US was interferring although they declared neutrality. Thus, they attacked the Pearl harbor suddenly. This led US to enter the war. -
Battle of Stalingrad
German armies not only fought in Africa they also had to fight in the Soviet Union. However, the weather made the circumstance harder for Germans. The army had to capture Stalingrad, which was the major industrial center. As the Germans attacks continued, Soviet troops cut off Germans’ supplies. Yet, Hitler denied to retreat. As time passed, Germany was on the defensive and the Soviets were pushing them. This was the battle that started the fall of Germany due to loss of military and supplies. -
Battle of El Alamein
To defeat German troops in Egypt, London sent General Montgomery to an Egyptian village called El Alamein. However, the Germans were had advanced to the village and dug in so well that the British could not go around them. Therefore, the General had to come up with the strategy: he decided to progress a massive frontal attack. About 1,000 British guns took the Axis soldiers and they fought back and held the ground for few days. Yet, in November 4, Rommel and his troops fell back. -
Operation Torch
The allies launched another operation after Rommel’s retreat west. The Allied forces, mostly arranged by the Americans led by General Eisenhower, landed in Morocco and Algeria. Even though the German troops were strong with great tactics, Rommel’s Afrika Korps crushed after caught between Montgomery’s and Eisenhower’s armies. This was a strategical battle that pushed the Axis power up and be ready to attack Italy. -
Invasion of Italy
After the Battle of Stalingrad, the allies decided to attack Italy even with Stalin’s urge. The allied forces landed on Sicily and took it away from Italians. Invasion of Sicily collapsed Mussolini from force. On September 3, even though Italy surrendered, German put Mussolini back in charge. However, the Germans retreated and the Allies entered Rome. Moreover, after the Allies won against the Axis power, Italy turned its side to the allies and fought against Hitler. Germany lost a close ally. -
Propaganda campaigns on home fronts
People were all involved in the war. Civilians helped the allies by providing weapons and equipment that could lead to the victory. Factories made everything from guns, boots, and even tanks. Lack of men allowed women to have jobs in war industries. For more support of people, the government conducted propagandas. Nevertheless, the propaganda earned people’s attention and support, it also caused negative affects. The wave of bias turned against Japanese Americans and led to the internment. -
D-day invasion
The Allies were ready for the invasion force with well-prepared weapons and millions of troops to strike on the coast of Normandy. Germans, however, had no plan to prevent because they did not know where they are coming from. “Operation Overlord,” is the largest land and sea attack in history. After few months, the Allies marched into Paris. This battle resulted with the liberation of the former allied countries and the loss of German territories. Also,the allies fixed their sights on Germany. -
Battle of Leyte Gulf
By the fall in 1944, the allies landed on the island of Leyte. As the allies were going to attack, Japan came up with a plan to destroy the American fleet to prevent them from resupplying the troops. Even with the great risk of their own fleet, Japan committed it and lost disastrously.. As the battle of Stalingrad and Bulge showed the fall of Germany, this battle shows the death throes of Japanese military. Although, they lost against the allies and their dream of empire building failed. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Allies moved from the West and the Soviets marched toward from the East after the Operation. This put Hitler in a difficult situation: put the force on two fronts. Hitler decided to counterattack and wished a victory that could split the Allies forces. Germany broke through the weak American tanks. This attack pushed the Germans back. Thus, the German troops had to retreat because there were no ways to reinforce. As the Germans continued to retreat, this diminished the power of Germany. -
Battle of Okinawa
The allies’ next arrival was the island of Okinawa. Even though Japan had massive losses, they did not stop fighting against the allies. They put up a hopeless fight and by June, the bloodiest battle of the war ended. Due to this fight, Japan lost more than 100,000 troops while the allies lost about 12,000. Basically, this battle was just a total lost of Japan. Even with all these losses, they did not surrender and kept dreaming for the empire building. Thus, the allies then destory the cities. -
Death of the strong Fascist, Hitler
As Germany kept defeated by the Allies, Hitler were driven into the corner. Thus, in the morning of April 30, Hitler and his wife's body were found dead. Before then, there was a rumor that Germany had a plan called, "Decoy," which was to select who looked similar to Hitler. With the similar people, Germans wanted to keep Hitler safe from attacks. With rumors or not, the important fact is that after his death, the war ended in Europe, this shows Hitler's massive influence. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
For Japan’s surrender, the allies advanced to the homeland. To make the perfect attack, US planned to use the new weapon, the atomic bomb. People believed it would bring the end of the war. Thus, US warned Japan otherwise, they will experience a disaster. Yet, because Japan did not reply, they dropped a bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 and one on Nagasaki 3 days later. Due to this raid, more than 70,000 people were killed and suffer from radiation. Thus, this bomb raid forced Japanese to surrender. -
The end of the War
United States' atomic bomb attacks were affective to the Japanese. As soon as they were attacked in June, in August 15th, Japanese King annouced the surrender. After their collapse, the colonies those were conquered by Japan earned their independence. World War 2 was the other disaster of the world happened again just about 20 years the first one. The War showed people that invading by forces do not end beautifully. There is always collapse when people desire for the big things.
