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Rise of Fascist Dictators in Europe
There was a lot of chaos occurring in Italy becuse of various reasons such as not recieving promised land, unemployment, and a bad economy. Benito Mussolini took advantage of this low point by promising Italy no more turmoil, peace, and more power, Finally, in 1925, after gaining more and more power, Mussolini became Il Duce, or the leader of Italy. Adolf Hitler gained power the same type or way. After WWI, the Weimar Republic began running Germany. Almost everyone hated the Weimar Republic for -
Rise of Fascist Dictators in Europe (continued)
hated the Weimar Republic for various reasons, and on top of that, they were very weak. Hitler promised to help Germany Rise again, and was elected chancellor in 1933. -
Japanese Agression in Asia
Germany's powerful submarines saw American cargo ships as easy targets, and therefore continuously attackes them during the duration of WWII. this forces American ships to take actions such as dimming their lights at night to avoid being seen, or setting up a concoy system , which allowed ships to travel in groups that were protected by U.S. naval ships. -
Annexation of Austria
Hitler decided in 1938 that he should make Aushluss, the union of Austria with Germany, official. Even thought the Austrians weren't too fond of this idea, when Hitler ordered Nazi troops into Austria to "preserve order," their attitude surely changed. Hitler made a speech in Hofburg Palace announcing him as Austria's new leader, Although this was against the treaty of Versailles, nobody stopped him. -
Munich Conference
Hitler was looking to continue to expand Germany. To do this, he wanted to annex Sudetenland, a region in western Czechoslovakia, to Germany. Britain and France, who usualy would stand up for Czechoslovakia, agreed at the Munich Conference to convince Czechoslozaia to give up Sudetenland. Hitler "promised" them he wouldn'y annex any more land. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin created a pact that promised nonaggression towards eachother. The pact said they wouldn't fight if the other went ot was and to divide up parts of aeastern Europe, including Poland. They both agreed to it for their own selfish, power-hungry reasons. Hitler wanted more powere over some of Poland and he didn't want to worry about fighting against the Soviet Union while Stalin wanted to build up Soviet defenses and conquer more territory. -
Phony War
In the winter of 1939, French troops stayed under the radar by staying begind the Maginot Lines. British troops were also sent to stay with the French. This was called the phony war because there wasn'y any fighting actually taking place. It wasn't until April of 1940 that the wat actually started to show signs of action when Hitler attacked Norway and Denmark, and eventually took them over. -
Miracle at Dunkirk
As Germant pursues British forces in France, Britain had no choice but to retreat. Eventuallym they found themselves trapped between the Nazi troops and the English Channel. So, Britain sent in all the ships, planes, etc. that they could to save the forces stuck on the shore of Dunkirk. They saved 300,000 soldiers. -
Battle of Britain
Britain was left all alone since France had been forced to surrender. Even thought it was expected that they'd fllow the same route France was forced to take, Winston Churchill, their new leaderm encouraged them to continue to fight. Germany's tactics for the next year would be to continuously bomb parts of Britain and cities such as London. But, Britain showed no signs of defeat, forcing Hitler to find a different target. -
Fall of France
At this point, France not only had the powerful German army attacking them, but they now had Italy against them from the south. Hitler forced France to sign documents of surrender in the same railroad car Germany had to in 1928 when France had bea them. Of course, Hitler seized this opportunity and took over parts of France. -
Nazi Genocide
Adolf Hitler decided to carry out what he calls the "final solution," to kill all Jews or other "inferior" peoples in germany or in Germain-controlled nations. He'd have the Jews shipped to concentration camos, or death camps, just so they could await their executions, whether is was being hung, gasses, or worse. Hitler had no real reason for the mass extermination of the people he thought to be inferior, except his own opinion. -
Operation Barbarossa
Operations Barbarossa is Hitler's mission to defeat and conquer the Soviet Union, run by Joseph Stalin. He sent in 3 million German soldiers to the Russia , and caught the Soviets off guard, This forced the Soviets to retreat further and further into Russia. The German troops, however, did not expect temperatures of -4 degrees during the winter. This set Germany a little back because they lost thousands of men to the cold. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
General TOjo of Japan ordered an unexoected attack to Pearl Harbor, an American Pacific Naval base in Hawaii.During the attack, airplanes targetted up to 19 ships, forced American planes to crash into the ground, and killed up to 2,400 people. The attack caused the U.S. to declare was on Japan, which put them up against Germant and Italy as well. -
Battle of Midway
In the Pacific Ocean, Japan seemed to be the clear victor. They had conquered Southeast Asia, Pacific Islands, and even the Philippines. In May and June of 1942, however, U.S. naval warships had damaged two important Japanese ships severely. This set Japan back by just enough to weaken them and cease their advancment. -
Battle of El Almein
The Battle of El Alamein, which took place in Egypt, was one of several victories the allies had that set the axis powers back a little bit. The battle was long and ugly, but Britain, led by General Bernard Montgomery, forced the axis powers to retret back through Libya into Tunishia. -
Battle of Stalingrad
Hitler's next goal was to take over Stalingrad, the city named after Hitler's enemy himslef. First, the German army circled around the city, while the russians tried to defend themselves. Battles would go on for dats just to gain the smalles piece of land. After 300,000 killes, wounded, or captured soldiers and no more food or ammunition left, the Germans surrendered. -
Invasion of Italy
Due to the Allies victories in Africa, they could now focus their attention on parts of Italy. An unstoppable army consisting of British and American soldiers defeated Italian forces in southern Italy in almost no time at all. After this, the italian fascist dictater, Mussolini, had neen overthrown by his own people. As Hitler sent in more troops to try to save Mussolini, the Allies worked their way up Italy, pushing through the strong German army on the way. -
D-Day
The Allies decided that by 1944, they were prepared to invade France, therefore creating a second frpnt in Europe. Allied planes droppped paratroopers behind enemy lines at midnight. Then at dawn, 176,000 Allied troops rushed up the English Channel, and eventually broke throught the German defenses into inland France. The allies proved to be too much for Germany because they retreated from France, therefore setting France free and allowing the Allies to focuse on conquering Germany and Italy. -
Battle of Okinawa
The battle of Okinawa is an attack by the Americans on a large southern island in Japan. Some people consider in the equivalent to D-Day in Europe. When U.S. troops bombarded the island, the Japanese didn't attempt to stop them, but rather retreated and dug in then waited for the Americans to arrive. The Japanese ended up losing the tough battle. -
United Nations
Just as had been done agter WWI, delegates from many nations decided to get together to talk about how to ensure peace in the world. The wat the power was divied up was not exactly even, but was done that way to ensure peace-making decisions would be made. The main goal of the United Nations is to achieve what the League of Nations failed to do: prevent another world war. -
Battle of Berlin
The Battle of Berlin occurs when Soviet Russia tries to take over Berlin, which is in Germany. Berlin is thought to be the battle to seal the deal of defeaat of Germany. After all, it ended fighting on the eastern front and Adolf Hitler ended up committing suicide during this battle. Germany was at a very low point, but this battle finished them off. -
Nazis Defeated
Hitler was losing more and more support with Germany as time went on. Germany had fallen very weak and was being bombed 24/7. Axis armies everywhere were beginning to surrender, seeing there was no hope left for them. Adolf Hitler committed suicide in an underground bunker, knowing this was the truth. On May 7, Germany had officially surrendered the war. -
Use of Atomic Weapons
America driped the first ever atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. The bomb crushed 4 square miles of land and killed more than 70,000 people. People also suffered from post-bomb issues such as radiation poisoning. The day after the Soviet Union declared was on Japan, the U.S. dropped a 2nd atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing 40,000 people -
Surrender of Japan
Japan would rather fight to the death than surrender, The atomic bombx, however, were more destruction than could be tolerated by Japan. On August 10, Hirohito, the emperor of Japan at the time, agreed to surrender. The formal peace treaty was signed September 2, 1945 in Tokyo Bay.
