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Communists Took Over Russia
-Vladimir Lenin took over in 1917 which lead to civil war causing the deaths of millions of Russians.
-Joseph Stalin took over after Lenin's death in 1924
-Stalin means "man of steel"
10 million Russians were killed for suspected betrayel
Fear and propaganda kept Stalin in power -
Depression in Italy
-Italy faced depression after World War 1
-In 1919 Mussolini formed the Fascist Party: promoted nationalism and promised to make Italy great
-"black shirts" fought against socialism and communists
-Mussolini outlawed political parties, took over the press, created a secret police, organized youth groups to indoctrine young, and supressed strikes against government. -
Germany in Severe Depression
-Germany was in a severe depression throughout the 1930's
-Nazis promoted ethnicity
-Hitler wrote "Mein Kemf": Germany's problems and how he would solve them. Use of propaganda.
-Anti-Semitic: prejudice towards Jews
-Hitler became Chancelor in 1933 and was sole leader by 1935
-Hitler's policies brought Germany out of depression by the end of the 1930's -
Spanish Civil War
-Italy invaded Ethiopia
-Fascists were victorious in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 won by Francisco Franco and Nationalist Army
-Hitler and Mussolini used Spain to test new military technologies -
Blitzkrieg on Poland
-Blitzkrieg as known as "lightning war" is a sudden attack using lots of firepower to damage as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
-Germany signed nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union on August 23, 1939
-Germany blitskrieged Poland, by the end of September Poland had fallen to Germany -
Pearl Harbor
-Pearl Harbor was the United States Navy's main base in the Pacific.
-December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan
-Japan sent 6 aircraft carriers, 360 airplanes, 28 ships in all along with several submarines
-FDR declared war on Japan December 8th
-Attack came in two waves:
1. main attack of ships and airfield
2. to finish off what was left
-Japan's objective to prevent U.S. from influencing Japan's war efforts in Southeast Asia
-Majority of U.S.'s ships were not in the harbor -
Mobilizing For War
-16 million Americans served in the U.S. military
-From 1941 to 1942 the Army and Navy doubled in size, while the Marines tripled in numbers
-Segregation was put aside and African Americans integrated into combat roles
-Women's Army Corps (WAC) formed so women could serve noncombat roles in the military
-War Production Board (WPB) supervised industrial production that went towards the war
-Office of War Mobilization (OWM) allocate scarce resources, regulate civilian goods, controlled inflation -
Bombing Germany
-Allies launched nonstop bombing runs on Germany from UK bases
-Saturation bombing inflicts as much damage as possible
-Strategic bombing targets politics and industries in order to destroy Germany's ability to make war
-Tuskegee Airmen: 1st African American fighter squadron and carried out 1,500 missions never losing a single bomber. -
Battle of Midway
-Midway was a vital U.S. naval base in the Central Pacific
-Admiral Chester Nimitz knew the Japanese plans of attack
-Attack on Midway began June 4, 1942 and was most important naval battle of World War II
-U.S. sank 4 Japanese aircraft carriers and shot down 250 planes, U.S. only lost 1
-Battle of Midway was the turning point of war -
Germany Surrenders at Stalingrad
-Germany attacked Russia in June 1941 with 3 armies: north to Leningrad, east toward Moscow, south to Stalingrad
-Garmans captured/killed millions of Russians but failed to conquer the Soviet Union
-1942 Hitler focused on Stalingrad and Caucasus Oil Fields
-The winter was brutal, soldiers were starving and sick but Hitler refused to surrender
-91,000 Germans surrendered Jan. 1943 but only 5,000 returned to Germany
-Turning point of the war in Europe
-Ended Hitler's plans of dominating Europe
