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Rise of Fascist Dictators
Two of the most famous fascist dictators were Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Mussolini appeared when Italy was in chaos after the Paris Peace Treaty in the 1920's. Hitler rose to power also during a time a chaos, the government was attempting to establish a democracy called the Weimar Republic and the people hated it (1933). Adolf would lead Germany and Mussolini would lead Italy into World War II. -
Japanese Agression in Asia
The military leaders in Japan thought that their country's power should equal the western powers. Japan would seize Manchuria in 1931, most of China in 1937, and Siberia in 1939. The League of Nations disapproved the agression and Japan withdrew from the group. The western opinions had no affect on the agression. -
Nazi Genocide
Hitler planned te exterminate all groups he deemed unfit to live like Jews, Slavs, gypsies and the mentally ill. At first the Germans only forced Jews to live in ghettos and concentration camps but by 1941 they decided to exterminate all of them. Hitler built special death camps in Poland like Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka. They would gas them, work them to death, and even perform cruel "medical" experiments on some of the Jews. By 1945, almost 12 million "undesirable" people were killed -
Nazi Genocide
Continued: The Jews resisted but most rebels usually were killed quickly. Few countries tried to save the jewish populations, most pretended not to notice. -
Annexation of Autria
In 1938 Hitler was ready to add Austria to the region of Germany and called this the Anschluss. Earlier that year, Hitler forced the Austrian Chancellor to place Nazi's into many high powered posts and when the Chancellor refused to follow other requests, Germany sent their army into Austria. The Anschluss violated the Versailles Treaty and it scared people with the thought of war but Hitler silenced his enemies in Austria. Again, the western powers would do nothing. -
Munich Conference
The Munich Conference was attended by British and French leaders. Hitler was demanding some Czechoslovakia territory which was one of the two remaining democracies in Europe. Again, the two major countries gave in to Hitler's demands. The French and British then persuaded the Czech's to surrender Sudetenland without conflict. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The war in the seas against German submarines intensified. Right after Germany declared war on the U.S., Hitler sent submarines into American waters. German subs easily sunk cargo ships. Some things America did to protect the ships was; dim the city lights so the cargo ships' sillouettes couldn't be seen, set up a convoy system and used new technology like depth charges, sonar and radar. In 1942 German submarines sank about 1.2 tons of ships, however the allies produced 1.1 new tons of ships -
Battle of the Atlantic
Continued: From July 1942 onward, America produced more ships than were sunk. Slowly, the Germans began to lose the war in the Altantic. -
Nazi Soviet Pact
Hitler and his communist enemy, Stalin of Russia formed a pact that bound the two countries to peaceful relations. That is what they told the world but in fact, there were a few extrra details to this pact. What they did not say, was that they would divide up Poland and other regions of Europe with this pact. Also, they agreed to abstain from fighting eachother if they both went war. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
The german forces were streaming into France and trapped the british between the English Channel. The english then sent every boat possible to try to save their troops. These boats ranged from the Navy to citizens' pleasure boats. They ferried about 300,000 soldiers and greatly improved the brit's morale. -
Fall of France
Germany and Italy both attacked France in the south. In April of 1940, the french finally surrendered. Then in June, Hitler forced the french to sign the surrender papers in the same train car Gernany signed the armistice of WW I. German forces then stayed in France and set up a "puppet state" and the capital was at Vichy. Some french officials escaped and set up a government in England. Inside France, the citizens used guerrilla warfare to try and fight back. -
Battle of Britain
Britian was alone but unlike Hitler had thought, they did not surrender. Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallied England to fight on. Hitler formed Operation Sealion where German forces would bomb major cities. At first the military areas in England were attacked but then the Germans switched to bombing the cities. September 7 is when the first bomb was dropped on London. The bombs rained down for 57 days and about 15,000 people died. -
Battle of Britain
Continued: The citizens and the government officials proceeded on with their lives. Hitler thought that he had damaged England beyond repair however, he only raised their morale again. -
Phoney War
During the first winter the french bunkered down behind the Maginot line. Soon, England sent some troops to wait with the french. This period of time was very quiet and troops saw little to no action. This is because Hitler decided to force the 2 major country's armies to wait the hard winter. -
Operation Barbarossa
Continued: Finally, Britain and Russia teamed up and began attacking Germany eventhough their forces were weak. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was performed by Germany and was the conquest of the Soviet Union. Hitler wanted the Eural mountains for their raw materiels, Siberia for its forests, and the Ukraine for its wheat fields. The Russians tried destroying their land as they were pushed back like they had done in previous years. The Germans were now deep inside Russia, however they were stopped when the winter came and German soldiers were unprepared. -
Pearl Harbor
General Tojo sent some Japanese pilots to surprise bomb the American port, Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. They destroyed 19 ships and killed about 2.400 people. President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.. -
Battle of Midway
U.S. ships and planes damaged Japanese forces at Midway Island. The battle of the Coral Sea and Midway Island weakened the Japanese naval power and stopped them from advancing. This also offered a safe place for U.S. warships to refuel. This was the beginning of the turning tide of the war. -
Battle of El Alamein
The British halted Rommels' advances in Egypt. They then pushed the axis powers back across Lybia and back to Tunisia. This was the first of many victories for the allies. -
Battle of Stanlingrad
Hitler wanted to capture Stalins' namesake city. The German forces surrounded the city. Then, the Russian forces surrounded the German forces. As winter came, the Germans were trapped withough supplies. Germany lost 300,000 men to injuries or death. The battle ended February 2, 1943. -
Invasion of Italy
American and British forces joined together and defeated the southern Italian forces in about one month. The Italians overthrew Mussolini and then signed the armistice. Hitler sent German forces to save Mussolini and prevent the allies from moving up the Italian penninsula. The allies did suffer huge losses but it weaked Hitler by opening up another huge battlefront. -
D-Day
This basically was the U.S. invasion of France. At night time, the allies dropped soldiers from airplanes behind enemy lines. Then at dawn, 176,000 allied soldiers were shipped across the English Channel. They then fought their way into the country. The allies finally broke through the German defenses. In the south, more allied troops fought their way through to Paris. At the same time, the French rioted against their captors. -
D-Day
Continued: The Germans retreated and on August 25, allies entered Paris and soon all of France was free. -
Battle of Okinawa
The airbases vital to the future invasion of Japan were at stake. The Japanese forces changed their tactics of resisting at the shore to a defense in depth to try to buy time. Also, the Japanese army and navy performed many "suicide missions" just to try and damage the U.S. ships. The battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest etween America and Japan. During this battle, the Japanese showed that they would rather fight to the death than surrender. -
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin took place from April 16 to May 2, 1945. Many high ranking Nazi officials and Hitler committed suicide. Also on May 2nd, Berlin surrendered unconditionally. This was officially the last battle of WW II in Europe. -
Use of Atomic Weapons
Early in the 20's scientists belived that if an atom were to be split, great amounts of energy would be released. Countries all around the world raced to develop the first atomic bomb. In July 1945, American scientists successfully tested the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, New Mexico. President Trueman was at first wary of using the bomb, so he gave Japan a deadline, if they did not surrender by then, the americans would drop the bomb. -
Use of Atomic Weapons
The first atomic bomb used in war was dropped on August 6, 1945 on the fairly large city of Hiroshima.The bomb instanly killed 70,000 people, however the Japanese government did not respond. Then the Soviet Union declared war o Japan and invaded Manchuria, but the Japanese government still did not respond. Lastly, another atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. -
Nazis Defeated
May 7, 1945 was when Germany surrendered. After the allies freed France, the travelled into Belgium and Germany launched their last successful offensive attack. This attack was called Battle of the Bulge and took place December of 1944. This caused massive amounts of casualties on both sides and only delayed the allies a little bit. Germany was under intense attack, in 10 days Hamburg was almost completely erased. In February 1945, Dresden was raided and about 135,000 people died. -
Nazis Defeated
Continued: In March, the allies entered Western Germany and Soviet troops closed in on Berlin from the east. In late April, the Russians and Allies met at the Elbe River and everywhere Axis powers began to surrender. -
United Nations
In april, delegtes from 50 all met together and formed a charter for the United Nations in San Fransisco. The UN would take on more responsibility and act faster than the League of Nations. A tinier group called the Security council which included; the U.S., the Soviet Union, China, Britain, and France could veto any decision. This mini council ended up causing more problems because of the countries differences. The UN will take on other problems in the future, not just ensuring peace. -
Surrender of Japan
After two atomic bombs and an invasion of Manchuria, the Japanese government still could not make up their mind whether to surrender or not. The Japanese emporer intervened, a rare act, and forced the government to surrender on August 10, 1945. The peace treaty was signed on the battleship the Missouri. The date of this meeting was September 2, 1945.
