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Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Gremany
In Germany, Adolf Hitler had followed a path to power similar to Mussolini’s. At the end of World War I, Hitler had been a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919, 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.
• Extreme nationalism and racism
• Militaristic expansionism
• Forceful leader
• Private property with strong
government controls
• Anticommunist -
Mein Kampf
One of the Nazis’ aims, as Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.” 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. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist gov. in Italy
While Stalin was consolidating his power in the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini was establishing a totalitarian regime in Italy, where unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes, some communist-led. By 1921, Mussolini had established the Fascist
Party. 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. -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian gov. in the Soviet Union
In Russia, hopes for democracy gave way to civil war, resulting in the establishment of a communist state, officially called the Soviet Union, in 1922. After V. I. Lenin died in 1924, Joseph Stalin, whose last name means “man of steel,” took control of the country. By 1939, Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition. -
Japanese invasion of Manchuria
Halfway around the world, nationalistic military leaders were trying to take control of the imperial government of Japan. These leaders 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 in 1931. Within several months, Japanese troops controlled the entire province, twice larger than texas. -
Storm troopers
By 1932, some 6 million Germans were unemployed. Many men who
were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts). -
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
The failure of the League of Nations to take action against Japan did not escape the notice of Europe’s dictators. 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. The League did nothing to stop Hitler. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Mussolini began building his new Roman Empire.His first target was Ethiopia, one of Africa’s few remaining independent countries.By the fall of 1935, tens of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on Ethiopia.When the invasion began, the League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen.In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian emperor, appealed to the League for assistance.Nothing was done. -
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 result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler -
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. The war aroused passions not only in Spain but throughout the world. The Western democracies remained neutral. Although the Soviet Union sent equipment and advisers, Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco’s forces with troops, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. -
Hitler's Anschluss
On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its
Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The United
States and the rest of the world did nothing. -
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. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The war forged a close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. After a loss of almost 500,000 lives, Franco’s victory in 1939 established him as Spain’s fascist dictator. Once again a
totalitarian government ruled in Europe. -
Non aggression 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
This invasion was the first test of 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. On September 3, two days following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The blitzkrieg tactics worked perfectly. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
Major fighting was over in three weeks, long before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense. In the last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in western Poland contained almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end of the month, Poland had ceased to exist—and World War II had begun. -
Phony war
The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg (“sitting war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the phony war.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. -
The Battle of Britain
In the summer of 1940, the Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast. Because its naval power could not compete with that of Britain, Germany also launched an air war at the same time. The Battle of Britain raged on through the summer and fall.Night after night, German planes pounded British targets. At first the Luftwaffe concentrated on airfields and aircraft. Next it targeted cities.Londoner Len Jones was just 18
years old when bombs fell on his East End neighborhood. -
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. -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Despite being neutral, the Netherlands in World War II was invaded by Nazi Germany on 10 May 1940, as part of Fall Gelb. On 15 May 1940, one day after the bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces surrendered.April 1940 Hitler attack Germany and Norway
May he turned west to the Netherlands and Belgium After bombing raids the Netherlands , the dutch surrendered .Belgium fought but Germans overwhelmed Blitzkrieg France falls by 1940 -
Germany and Italy's invasion on France
Italy entered the war on the side of
Germany and invaded France from the south as the
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
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. -
Pearl Harbor attack
Early the next morning, 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. -
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. Britain depended on supplies from the sea. The 3,000-milelong shipping lanes from
North America were her lifeline. Hitler knew that if he cut that lifeline,
Britain would be starved into submission. -
Battle of Stalingrad
a 1942-1943 battle of World War II, in which German forces were defeated in their attempt to capture an industrial port city on the Volga River in the Soviet Union; one of the most deadly battles of wwii; crushing defeat for Germany. turning point in the war, along with Allied victories in North Africa; crushing defeat for Hitler and the Nazis. -
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. Under this plan, the president would lend or lease arms and other supplies to “any country whose defense was vital to the United States.” Isolationists argued bitterly against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the Lend Lease Act in March 1941. -
Internment
Early 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, of 1,444 Japanese Americans, 1 percent of Hawaii’s Japanese-American population. -
U.S. convoy system
The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in the First World War. The convoys were 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. -
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942. An attack on French North Africa was proposed, which would clear the Axis Powers from North Africa, improve naval control of the Mediterranean Sea and prepare for an invasion of Southern Europe in 1943. President Franklin D. Roosevelt suspected the African operation would rule out an invasion of Europe in 1943 but agreed to support Winston Churchill. -
Unconditional surrender
It means the victor decides all the conditions the loser must agree to. The Allies wanted Germany and Japan to agree to unconditional surrender. -
Manhattan Project
code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II. Built by United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. -
Office of Price Administration
. The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. The higher taxes reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. -
War Productions Board
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. During one five-month-long paper drive in Chicago, schoolchildren collected 36 million pounds of old paper—about 65 pounds per child. -
Battle of Stalingrad
By the winter of 1943, the Allies began to see victories on land as well as sea. The first great turning point came in the Battle of Stalingrad. battle of World War II, in which German forces were defeated in their attempt to capture the city of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Harsh winter is too much for the German forces and they are forced to turn back; turning point of war in Eastern Europe -
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 (WAAC).“There are innumerable
duties now being performed by soldiers that can be done better by women,” Marshall said in support of a bill to establish the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Under this bill, women volunteers would serve in noncombat positions. U.S. army unit created during World War II to enable women to serve in noncombat positions -
Korematsu v. United States
Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in the courts and in Congress. The 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.” -
Bloody Anzio
January 1944, US landed on Beaches and held them until they broke the Italians; Allied forces only took Rome instead of German, extended fighting -
D-Day
June 1944, invasion of France, allowed major foothold in Europe and boosted morale.Gave allied troops a "foothold" in France to begin pushing nazis back into germany. -
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 last ditch 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. -
V-E Day
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. -
Death of Hitler
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. -
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.
