-
Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he
quickly became the party’s leader. Calling himself Der Führer—“the Leader”—he
promised to bring Germany out of chaos. he joined a struggling group
called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi
Party. Despite its name, this party had no ties to socialism.
Hitler, dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great
German empire. -
Mein Kampf
In his book Mein Kampf [My Struggle], Hitler set forth the basic beliefs of
Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism ,
the German brand of fascism, was based on extreme nationalism. Hitler, who had
been born in Austria, dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great
German empire. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy
unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes, some communist-led. played on
the fears of economic collapse and communism. In this way, he won the support
of many discontented Italians. Fascism stressed nationalism and
placed the interests of the state above those of individuals.
To strengthen the nation, Fascists argued, power
must rest with a single strong leader and a small group
of devoted party members. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
nationalistic
military leaders were trying to take control of the imperial government of
Japan. shared in common with Hitler a belief in the need for more
living space for a growing population. Ignoring the protests of more moderate
Japanese officials, the militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of
the Chinese province of Manchuria. Within several months, Japanese
troops controlled the entire province, a large region about twice the size of Texas, rich in natural resources. -
storm troopers
Many men who
were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts).
The German people were desperate and turned to Hitler as their last hope. -
Third Reich
In January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor (prime minister). Once in power,
Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he
established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third
Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years. -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
In
1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of the League. In 1935, he began a military
buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. A year later, he sent troops into
the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized
as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. league did nothing. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
By the fall of 1935, tens
of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on
Ethiopia. When the invasion began, however, the League’s
response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more
than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. -
Francisco Franco
In 1936, a group of
Spanish army officers led by General Francisco Franco,
rebelled against the Spanish republic. Revolts broke out all
over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Spanish civil war. Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco’s forces with troops,
weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. The war forged a close
relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who
signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. -
Hitler's Anschluss
Austria was Hitler’s first target.
The Paris Peace Conference following World War I had created
the relatively small nation of Austria out of what was left
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of Austria’s 6
million people were Germans who favored unification with
Germany. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its
Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. -
Munich Agreement
Hitler invited French
premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to
meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the
annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their
eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On
September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the
Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
“man of steel,” took control of the country. Stalin focused on creating a model communist state. In so doing, he made both agricultural and industrial growth the prime economic goals of the Soviet Union. Stalin abolished all privately owned farms and replaced them with collectives—large government-owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families. to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have
no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
A year later, he sent troops into
the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized
as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler. -
Phony War
For the next several months after the fall of Poland,
French and British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications
built along France’s eastern border (see map on p. 538), sat
staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen. On the
Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back. The
blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg
(“sitting war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the
phony war. -
Nonaggression pact
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a
nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23, 1939 fascist
Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other.
Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to
divide Poland between them. With the danger of a two-front war eliminated, the
fate of Poland was sealed. -
Blitzkrieg
Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology—such as fast tanks and
more powerful aircraft—to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all
opposition with overwhelming force. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
German tanks raced across
the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This invasion was the first
test. On September 3, two days following the terror
in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. -
The Battle of Britain
Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the
French coast. naval power could not compete
with that of Britain, Germany launched an air war at
the same time. Its goal was to gain total control of the
skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force.Every night for two solid months, bombers pounded
London. The Battle of Britain raged on through the summer and
fall. The RAF fought back new
technological device called radar, British pilots accurately
plotted the flight paths of German planes -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony
war had ended. -
Hitler's invasion of Denmark and Norway
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion
of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom
and independence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the
coasts to strike at Great Britain. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony
war had ended. -
Germany and Italy's invasion of France
Italy entered the war on the side of
Germany and invaded France from the south
Germans closed in on Paris from the north. On June 22,
1940, at Compiègne, as William Shirer and the rest of the
world watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of
surrender. Germans would occupy the northern part of
France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, headed
by Marshal Philippe Pétain, would be set up at Vichy,
in southern France. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
On June 22,
1940, at Compiègne, as William Shirer and the rest of the
world watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of
surrender. Germans would occupy the northern part of
France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, headed
by Marshal Philippe Pétain, would be set up at Vichy,
in southern France. -
Lend-Lease Act
By late 1940, however, Britain had no more cash to
spend in the arsenal of democracy. Roosevelt tried to help by suggesting a new
plan that he called a lend-lease policy. Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose
house was on fire. He asserted that this was the only sensible thing to do to prevent
the fire from spreading to your own property. Isolationists argued against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the Lend-Lease
Act in March 1941. -
Pearl Harbor attack
a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor—
the largest U.S. naval base in the
Pacific. The bomber was followed by
more than 180 Japanese warplanes
launched from six aircraft carriers. As
the first Japanese bombs found their
targets, a radio operator flashed this
message: “Air raid on Pearl Harbor.
This is not a drill.”
For an hour and a half, the
Japanese planes were barely disturbed
by U.S. antiaircraft guns and
blasted target after target. -
Pearl Harbor attack
In less than two hours, the Japanese had killed 2,403
Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had
sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships—nearly
the whole U.S. Pacific fleet. More than 300 aircraft were
severely damaged or destroyed. These losses constituted
greater damage than the U.S. Navy had suffered in all of
World War I. By chance, three aircraft carriers at sea
escaped the disaster. Their survival would prove crucial to
the war’s outcome. -
Internment
in 1942, the War Department called for the mass evacuation of
all Japanese Americans from Hawaii. General Delos Emmons, the military governor
of Hawaii, resisted the order because 37 percent of the people in Hawaii were
Japanese Americans. To remove them would have destroyed the islands’ economy
and hindered U.S. military operations there. However, he was eventually forced
to order the internment, or confinement, 1,444 Japanese Americans, 1 percent
of Hawaii’s Japanese-American population. -
Manhattan Project
warning that the Germans
could use their discovery of the atomic bomb to construct a weapon of enormous destructive power.
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium. Hoping to shorten that time, the OSRD set
up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a bomb as quickly as possible. Because
much of the early research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan,
the Manhattan Project became the code name for research work that extended
across the country. -
Office of Price Administration
As war production increased, fewer consumer products available for
purchase. demand
increasing and supplies droppingRoosevelt responded to this threat by creating the
Office of Price Administration. fought inflation by freezing
prices on most goods. raised income tax rates and extended the tax
to millions of people who never paid it. The higher taxes reduced consumer
demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. government encouraged Americans to use extra
cash to buy war bonds -
War Production Board
the government needed to
ensure that the armed forces and war industries received the
resources they needed to win the war.
The WPB decided which companies would convert from
peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materials
to key industries. The WPB also organized drives to collect
scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for
recycling into war goods. Across America, children scoured
attics, cellars, garages, vacant lots, and back alleys, looking
for useful junk. -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps
The military’s work force
needs were so great that Army Chief of Staff General
George Marshall pushed for the formation of a Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps. Under this
bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. In July 1943, after thousands of women had enlisted, the
U.S. Army dropped the “auxiliary” status, and granted
WACs full U.S. Army benefits. WACs worked as nurses,
ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and
pilots—nearly every duty not involving direct combat. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler
ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast. The German
aim in the Battle of the Atlantic was to prevent food and war materials from
reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. Convoys
were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection. By early 1943, 140 Liberty ships were produced each month. Launchings of Allied
ships began to outnumber sinkings. -
US convoy system
Convoys
were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done
in the First World War. The convoys escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers
equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also
accompanied by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the ocean’s surface. Allies were able to find and destroy German Uboats
faster than the Germans could build them. spring of 1943, Admiral
Karl Doenitz, the commander of the German U-boat felt defeated -
Battle of the Atlantic
For a long time, it
looked as though Hitler
might succeed in his mission.
Unprotected American
ships proved to be
easy targets for the Germans.
In the first four
months of 1942, the
Germans sank 87 ships
off the Atlantic shore.
Seven months into the
year, German wolf packs
had destroyed a total of
681 Allied ships in the
Atlantic. Something had
to be done or the war at
sea would be lost. -
Operation Torch
While the Battle of Stalingrad raged, Stalin pressured
Britain and America to open a “second front” in Western Europe. He argued
that an invasion across the English Channel would force Hitler to divert troops
from the Soviet front. Churchill and Roosevelt didn’t think the Allies had enough
troops to attempt an invasion on European soil. Instead, they launched
Operation Torch, an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa, commanded by
American General Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Unconditional surrender
Even before the battle in North Africa was won,
Roosevelt, Churchill, and their commanders met in Casablanca. At this meeting,
the two leaders agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.
That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies
dictated -
Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive in the southern
Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains.
He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga
River. In defending Stalingrad, the Soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers—more
than all American deaths during the entire war.
the Soviet victory marked a turning point in the war.
Soviet army began to move westward toward Germany -
Korematsu v. US
he initial results were discouraging. In 1944, the Supreme Court decided, in
Korematsu v. United States, that the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese
Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity.” Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in the courts and in Congress. -
Bloody Anzio
Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy
rather than fight on German soil. One of the hardest battles the Allies encountered
in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. This battle, “Bloody
Anzio,” lasted four months—until the end of May 1944—and left about 25,000
Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. During the year after Anzio, German armies
continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until
1945, when Germany itself was close to collapse. -
D-day
The Allied invasion, code-named Operation Overlord,
was originally set for June 5, but bad weather forced a
delay. Banking on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower
gave the go-ahead for D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day
of the invasion. Shortly after midnight, three divisions
parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed
in the early morning hours by thousands upon
thousands of seaborne soldiers—the largest land-sea-air
operation in army history. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The battle raged for a month. When it was over, the
Germans had been pushed back, and little seemed to have
changed.
The Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and
assault guns, and 1,600 planes in the Battle of the Bulge—
soldiers and weapons they could not replace. From that
point on, the Nazis could do little but retreat. -
The Battle of the Bulge
Hitler hoped that a victory
would split American and British forces and break up Allied
supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory,
creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate lastditch
offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. As the
Germans swept westward, they captured 120 American
GIs near Malmédy. Elite German troops—the SS troopers—herded
the prisoners into a large field and mowed
them down with machine guns and pistols. -
Harry S. Truman
President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. On
April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, the president
had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman
became the nation’s 33rd president. -
Death of Hitler
In his underground headquarters
in Berlin, Hitler prepared
for the end. On April
29, he married Eva Braun, his
longtime companion. The
same day, he wrote out his last
address to the German people.
In it he blamed the Jews for
starting the war and his generals
for losing it. The
next day Hitler shot himself
while his new wife swallowed
poison. In accordance with
Hitler’s orders, the two bodies
were carried outside, soaked
with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
A week after Hitler's death, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of
the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in
Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over.
