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The Holocaust Part I
The Holocaust was period between 1933 and 1945 where nearly six million Jews, out of the nine million living in Europe, were killed along with disabled, gypsies and some Slavic people. The Holocaust was led by the Nazi Party in Germany who spread their influences throughout all of Europe during the Holocaust and World War II. Adolf Hitler who led the Nazis believed the Jews were inferior in race and had to be exterminated. -
The Holocaust Part II
The Jews either worked in a concentration camp or were killed upon arrival. The ones who lived ate very little and most died from disease and starvation if the were not killed in gas chambers upon arrival. -
Invasion of Poland Part II
The invasion of Poland was necessary to take back parts of West Prussia. The Germans deployed over 2000 tanks and 1000 planes in the invasion of Poland. -
Invasion of Poland Part I
In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland and defeated to polish army within weeks of invasion. They conquered the land in order to control all of Europe. Before Hitler attacked Poland, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1933, so Germany would not be attacked by a Polish-French Alliance before their army was rearmed. Hitlers plan was to obtain back all the land taken from Germany in World War I and then eventually it became to conquer all of Europe. -
German Blitzkrieg Part II
The tactic was used successfully in Poland, France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium and other countries because it was usually a quick and victorious fight for the Germans. -
German Blitzkrieg Part I
The German Blitzkrieg or Lighting War was a military tactic used by the Germans in 1939 through 1941. The military strategy involved tanks and planes to breach enemy defenses in a narrow path so they could easily spread out an eliminate other groups with surprise. The Blitzkrieg cause disorganization of enemy lines and shock among the army. It was an effective tactic that caused most of Europe to be conquered by the Germans by the end of World War II. -
Auschwitz Part II
Auschwitz and two other camps similar to it were built just to exterminate and race that the Nazi party thought was impure. -
Auschwitz Part I
Auschwitz, built in 1940, was the largest Nazi concentration camp ever built. In the camp almost a million Jews died only only about one hundred thousand survived. The camp was built near Oswiecim, Poland. SS guards patrolled the camps to make sure the Jews were doing work and not getting out of line. Jewish people in the camp were usually executed when they arrived but the strong men and boys were kept alive to work on different things. -
Fall of Paris Part I
May 10, 1940 Hitler and his Nazi army unleashed a blitzkrieg invasion into the lower countries of France. This attack quickly pushed back French forces and civilians out of Paris. After the French had accepted defeat the government leader, Marshall Petain, called on the Germans for an armistice. The Armistice was signed on June 22 in Compiegne. Under its terms, two thirds of France was to be occupied by the Germans. The French army was to be disbanded. -
Fall of Paris Part II
In addition, France must bear the cost of the German invasion. This had been exactly what Hitler wanted as he had avenged Germany's defeat of 1918 in a quarter of an hour. -
USSR in WWII
In 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union breaking a German-Soviet nonaggression pact signed in 1939. Destroying communism and the Soviet Union was one of the main goals for the Nazis to secure victory over all of Europe. The Soviets were the greatest threat to the Nazis and that's why they didn't want a direct attack from the Soviets because they knew that they could be stopped only by them. In the end the red army of the Soviet Union helped to bring down the Nazis. -
Wannsee Conference Part I
The Wannsee Conference was a meeting that was held on January 20, 1942, in Wannsee, Germany to discuss the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." Fifteen German officials and members of the Nazi party attended the meeting to discuss the final solution which basically states that the entire Jewish race should be eliminated. -
Wannsee Conference Part II
The conference took place to inform officials about the plan that Hitler had approved and also it told who Hitler had assigned the operation to be carried out by. The effect of this conference was the death of over six million Jews in the matter of only a couple of years. -
Battle of Midway Part I
The Battle of Midway, fought near the Central Pacific island of Midway, is considered the decisive battle of the war in the Pacific. Before this battle the Japanese were on the offensive, capturing territory throughout Asia and the Pacific. By their attack, the Japanese had planned to capture Midway to use as an advance base, as well as to entrap and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet. -
Battle of Midway Part II
Because of communication intelligence successes, the U.S. Pacific Fleet surprised the Japanese forces, sinking the four Japanese carriers, that had attacked Pearl Harbor only six months before, while only losing of one carrier. After Midway, the Americans and their Allies took the offensive in the Pacific. -
Battle of Stalingrad Part I
The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad in the U.S.S.R. during World War II. Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. -
Battle of Stalingrad Part II
If they had not stopped them the Germans could have used Stalingrad to launch further assaults in Caucasus as the Volga river provides the. A strategic point. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million. -
Allied Invasion of Italy Part I
On July 10, 1943, the Allies began their invasion of Axis-controlled Europe with landings on the island of Sicily, off mainland Italy. Encountering little resistance from demoralized Sicilian troops, Montgomery’s 8th Army came ashore on the southeast part of the island, while the U.S. 7th Army, under General George S. Patton, landed on Sicily’s south coast. Secretly the Italian government had surrender to the Americans and had plans to join with the Allied forces. -
Allied Invasion of Italy Part II
Within three days, 150,000 Allied troops were ashore. On August 17, Patton arrived in Messina before Montgomery, completing the Allied conquest of Sicily and winning the so-called Race to Messina. May, 1 all German forces in Italy had surrendered and after losing Italy six days later all of Germany surrendered. -
D-Day Part I
During World War II, the Battle of Normandy, which lasted from June 1944 to August 1944, resulted in the Allied liberation of Western Europe from Nazi Germany’s control. The invasion was one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history. Prior to D-Day, the Allies conducted a large-scale deception campaign designed to mislead the Germans about the intended invasion target. -
D-Day Part II
After a successful invasion in Normandy, Allied forces then prepared to enter Germany, where they would meet up with Soviet troops and finish off the Nazi. -
Battle of the Buldge Part II
During the Battle of the Bulge, the Germans suffered more than 100,000 casualties; the Americans approximately 81,000 -
Battle of the Buldge Part I
January 7, 1945 is when the Battle of Bulge took place. England and allies of them, attempted to penetrate across the western border of Germany in late 1944, the Germans tried one last gambit to reverse their fortunes. The American advance continued, eliminating all German gains by the end of January 1945. Without halting, US forces challenged the German defenses of the Siegfried Line, now undermanned after the heavy German losses during the Ardennes offensive. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps Part III
Disease remained an ever-present danger, and many of the camps had to be burned down to prevent the spread of epidemics. Survivors of the camps faced a long and difficult road to recovery. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps Part I
As Allied troops moved across Europe in a series of offensives against Nazi Germany, they began to encounter tens of thousands of concentration camp prisoners. US forces liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, on April 11, 1945, and there were more than 20,000 prisoners at Buchenwald. They also liberated Dora-Mittelbau, Flossenbürg, Dachau, and Mauthausen. -
Liberation of Concentration Camps Part II
One of the most well known camps liberated was Auschwitz, the largest killing center and concentration camp, in January 1945. Liberators confronted unspeakable conditions in the Nazi camps, where piles of corpses lay unburied. The small percentage of inmates who survived resembled skeletons because of the demands of forced labor and the lack of food, compounded by months and years of maltreatment. -
PTSD in Veterans Part II
This book showed that no one is immune to mental illness, and that environmental factors play a large role in the development of psychological problems. Combat exhaustion was thought to encompass such symptoms as hypervigilence, paranoia, depression, loss of memory, and conversion. Although psychiatrists were advancing in their understanding of war trauma, combat exhaustion was not universally accepted until National Mental Health Act was passed. -
PTSD in Veterans Part I
WWII differed from previous wars in its use of bigger field weapons and bombs, which placed soldiers at greater risk. Additionally, soldiers were placed into smaller combat groups, which reduced the social interaction which may have been a protective factor for psychological afflictions. In 1947, the U.S. Army released a documentary, entitled Shades of Gray, about the causes and treatment of mental illness during WWII. -
Atomic Bombs Part I
August 6, 1945 the worlds first atomic bomb, Little Boy, was dropped on Hiroshima. Around 80,000 people were killed in the direct impact of the bomb, and 35,000 more people were injured. The aftermath of the bomb or fallout would be the cause of another 60,000 people. U.S. President Harry S. Truman had order this bombing in hopes of ending WWII and saving millions of lives. -
Atomic Bombs Part II
Early that year, top military commanders had told him that "Operation Downfall", or invading the Japanese mainland, could result in 1 million U.S. casualties, so in efforts to avoid it they used the atom bombs. After the devastating bombing Emperor Hirohito did not surrender, so the second bomb, Fat Man, was dropped in Nagasaki. The Fat Man more powerful than Little boy made the Emperor surrender on August 15, 1945.
