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The Kellogg-Briand Pact was passed in 1921 to renounce war as an instument of national policy, trying to ban war.
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Mussolini began his rise to power in 1919, and began fascism, which consisted of a strong, centralized government led by a powerful dictator. Although anti-communist, Fascist Italy and the United States were enemies during the war. Mussolini was in office from 1922-1943
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Stalin took over the Soviet Union in 1924, and wanted to create a sound communist state and wait for world revolution, and hoped for eventual rule by the working class. The Soviet Union and the United States were allies during WWII
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The Nazis took Jews from their homes and herded them into trains and trucks for shipment to concentration camps, where they faced hunger, humiliation, and were literally worked to death.
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Franklin Roosevelt became president in 1933 and tried to keep the United States out of World War II until it couldn't wait any longer.
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The Holocaust was the systematic killing of over 11 million people. 6 million of which were Jewish people.
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<a href='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9ku8VsX-zM&feature=related' >Hitler's first speech as Chancellor;a>
Hitler became the leader of the Nazi party, and laid out the basic beliefs of Nazism when he wrote "Mein Kampf". He was appointed the Chancellor in 1933 and created the 3rd Reich. The Nazis and the US were enemies in WWII -
In 1935, Congress passed several neutrality acts to try to avoid the war
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After Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations, he sent troops into the Rhineland, bordering France and Belgium.
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Mussolini targeted Ethiopia, which was Africa's only remaining independent country. The Leauge of Nations was slow to respond, and by June of 1936 Ethiopia had fallen
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Roosevelt spoke out strongly against isolationism to peace-loving nations, telling them to quarantine aggressor nations in order to stop the spread of war.
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German Troops march into Austria which was at termoil at the time
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Germany, Italy, France and Great britain signed the pact brininging agreement to Hitler's demands
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On September 30, 1938, Prime Minister of England Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, and he came home and proclaimed: "My friends,... there has come back from Germany peace with honor", saying there would be no war.
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After Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact, and said he had created "peace with honor", his rival Winston Churchill said Chamberlain had adopted a shameful policy of appeasement, and had given up principles to pacify an aggressor. He said "Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war."
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On the night of Novem\ber 9th gangs of Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues all across Germany, breaking windows by the hundreds and leaving broken glass everywhere. Afterwards, the Nazis blamed the Jews and arrested over 20,000.
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Francisco Franco was the Fascist leader of Spain who won the Spanish civil war when he was aided by Hitler and Mussolini. He gained power in 1939.
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A pact made between Germany and the Soviet-Union that stated that Germany and the Soviet Union would not attack each other. It was supposed to last ten years but only lasted two
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"Lightning War", Germany's military strategy which enabled the Germans to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force.
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After a few months of "sitzkrieg" (sitting war), Stalin and the Soviets invaded some of the countries that had been lost after WWI. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania fell with little struggle, but FInland fought fiercely for three months, but were forced to surrender.
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Germany invaded with over 10,000 troops from the coasts of Oslo, Begen, Kristiandsund, Trondheim, and Narvik. They were met by almost no opposition in Denmark but in Norway they suffered heavy casualties to their Navy
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After launching a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway, Hitler brought Blitzkrieg to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, which all fell by the end of May
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Every night for two months, the Nazis bombed London with up to 1,000 planes at a time. The Royal Air Force, RAF, quickly struck back with a new technology called radar and shot down 56 German planes in one night. Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefinately.
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Italy declared war on France on June 10 but Germany had already begun its invasion. Ultimately France fell to The italians and Germans.
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Japan, Germany, and Italy were the Trio that made up the Axis powers. They were opposed to the Allied Powers. They were united with the Tripartite Pact
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Roosevelt chose to break the tradition set by George Washington and seek reelection to his third term against Republican Wendell Willkie. There was little difference between the two and Roosevelt won with 55% of the votes.
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General Douglas MacArthur held his 80,000 troops against the Japaneese's 200,000 troops for four months oosing 14,000 and having 48,000 wounded he held out for another month on Corregidor. Eventually they withdrew and fled from the Phillipines.
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A new plan put into place by Roosevelt that would lend or lease arms to "any country" that was vital to the defense of the United States. In this case it was the Soviet Union after Hitler and the Germans had invaded them.
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Randolph was the president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the nation's leading African-American labor leader who organized a march on Washington so blacks could fight in the war. They marched under the banner "We Loyal Colored Americans Demand the RIght to Work and Fight for Our Country".
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FDR and Winston Churchill met secretly on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland, where they spelled out the causes for which WWII was fought, although the US hadn't officially entered into the war yet.
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Hideki Tojo was blamed for the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, which catapulted the U.S. into WWII. After the war he was hanged for war crimes.
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The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, and after an hour and a half over 180 Japanese planes had destroyed 18 ships, 350 planes, and killed 2400 people.
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Prime Minister Churchill visited the White Housein 1941 to meet with FDR for three weeks working out war plans. THey decided that the defeat of Germany should be the Allie's top priority.
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After Pearl Harbor, 5 million Americans enlisted in the armed forces, but it wouldn't be enough to fight a global war. So the Selective Service brought 10 million more GIs (Government Issue)
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America's automobile plants were retooled to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars, along with factories all across the nation.
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After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were prejudiced against the Japanese and the government sent about 110,000 to internment camps, even though about two thirds had been born in America.
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After the Germans sank 681U.S. ships we dicided we needed to keep from losing this war in the water, so we retaliated and destroyed german U-boats faster than they could build them. The Germans eventually reached and unbearable height to the amount of money lost to the ships
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An Australian-American fleet intercepted a Japanese fleet heading for Australia, and were able to stop them. All of the fighting was done by carrier-based airplanes, and the ships never saw one another. Although the Allies lost more ships, the Japanese were forced to turn back because they didn't have enough fuel to get to Australia
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The bill was harshly critisized but eventually passed forming the WAAC and woemn were therefore allowed to be in the army on auxillary branches but not in te direct fighting.
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Admiral Chester Nimitz learned from intercepted messages that a Japanese invasion force of 110 ships was heading toward Midway as part of a plan to eventually destroy Pear Harbor. Nimitz and the Navy were able to destroy 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 322 planes. The Japanese said that the U.S. had "avenged Pearl Harbor"
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19,000 marines stormed Guadalcanal in the Solomon Ilands. The Japanese called it the island of death by the time that they left six months later.
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The Allies decded that instead of listening to Stalin that they would invade North Africa. Some 107,000 troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in North Africa. They moved Eastward chasing Afrika Korps. Eventually they caught or killed them all and were free of opposition.
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After the German push into the Soviet Union had stalled Hitler sent his troops to press in on Stalingrad. They battled for three months, eventually controlling 9/10 of the city. In November the Soviets launched a massive counterattack and forced the Nazis to surrender.
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After two years of building an invasion force of troops the U.S. and Britain sent nearly 3 million troops to attack the Axis powers on the other side of the English Channel, focused on the Normandy Peninsula. Despite heavy casualties, the Allies held the beachfront and after 4 days liberated the French capitol from 4 years of German rule.
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The battle of the Bulge was the German's last major offensive befor retreating into their homr country and being defeted. The German goal was to break through Allied lines and retake the Belgian Port of Antwerp. The battle lasted a month and the Germans eventually were pushed back and they lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks ans assault guns and 1600 planes to the Allies
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In February, Roosevelt met with Churchill and Stalin to create a new international peacekeeping body, the United Nations. In April, representatives from 50 countries met in San Francisco to establish the UN.
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The Battle of Iwo Jima took 6,000 lives of marines, but also helped the U.S. get a great foothold on the Japanese empire. Imo Jima was one of the most heavily guarded places on Earth and also a base tat the U.S. needed most.
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While posing for a portrait in Georgia, Roosevelt had a stroke and died, which meant Truman would be the next president, though he had only met with Roosevelt twice.
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The Allies met in Casablanca and decided it would be best to invade Italy before attacking Germany. Italy's King forced Mussolini to step down from Prime Minister and arrested him. But Hitler came and forced Mussolini back into power and the Allies couldn't push the Germans back until 18 months later. The Italians found Mussolini disguised as a German soldier and shot him to death and hung his body in a Milan square.
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After Hitler and his wife commited suicide together General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich, and the Allies celebrated Victory in Europe Day, which ended the first part of the war.
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Just after Truman became president, the battle on Okinawa, Japan's last defensive outpost, began. The Japanese sent 1900 kamikaze attacks, and killed almost 5000 seamen. In the end 7600 Americans had died, but the Japanese had lost 110,000 people.
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In July, Truman met with Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam and they decided that "stern justicde shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties on our prisoners.
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The Manhattan project was the profject of the creation of the atomic bomb. Only 600,000 people really knew about it in the height of the project.
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After the Japanese refused to surrender, the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on two of Japan's most important cities. Hiroshima was completely destroyed, and three days later half of Nagasaki was decimated, An estimated 200,000 people were killed.
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The Japanese sent their entire fleet into the Battle of Leyte, and used kamikazes, suicide bomber planes to destroy 16 ships and damaging 80 more. Despite the damage, it was all a disaster for Japan, because in three days they lost 20 ships and nearly 400 planes.
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Germany was divided into four sectors. 23 people were tried for war crimes during the war trials and 12 of the 22 were sentenced for death.
