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Aldolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
At the end of WWI, Hitler had been a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919, he had joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers' Party or the Nazi Party. The party had no ties to socialism. He had proved to be a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became the party's leader. He promised to bring Germany out of chaos. -
Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
In his book he had set forth the basic beliefs of Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism the German version of fascism, was based on extreme nationalism. Hitler had dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great German empire. He wanted to enforce racial "purification" at home. He wanted "Aryans o be a master race that was destined to rule the world. Hitler believed that Germany needed lebensraum or living space in order to thrive as well. -
Benito Mussolini's fascist goverment in Italy
Fascism stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state above the individuals. In order to strengthen the nation, they wanted power to 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. These leaders shared a common interest in more living space. The militarists launched a suprise attack and seized control of the Chinese providence of Manchuria. In several months, Japan was able to control the entire providence that was twice as big as Texas. -
Storm Trooper
The Great Depression has helped the Nazis come to power. Germany's economy was hit hard because of war debts and dependence on American loans and investments. 6 million Germans were unemployed, so they joined Hitler's private army called the Storm Troopers or Brown Shirts. Many Germans were desperate and turned to Hitler for their last hope. -
Third Reich
The Nazis had become the strongest political party in Germany. In January, Hitler was appointed chancellor and quickly dismantled the democratic Weimar Republic. He had established the Third Reich or Third German Empire. This would be a "Thousand-Year Reich" that lasted for a thousand years. -
Hitlers military build-up in Germany
The League of Nations had been estsblished after WWI to prevent aggressive acts. After hearing about the situation in Manchuria, the League of Nations failed to take action against Japan did not escape the notice of European dictators. Hitler had pulled Germany out of the L.N. In 1935, he began a military build-up in violation to Treaty of Versailles. A year later he sent troops to Rhineland that was demilitarized as a result of the treaty. The League did not to stop Hitler. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia
Mussolini began building his new Roman Empire. His first target was Ethiopia that was one of Africa's few remaining independent countries. The League of Nations reacted with "collective resistance to all acts of unprovoked aggression." -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
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 invaded the Rhineland which is a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized s a result of the Treaty. The League did nothing. -
Francisco Franco
Franco led a group of Spanish army officers to rebel against the Spanish republic.Revolts broke out all over Spain and the Spanish Civil War began. -
Rome-Berlin Axis
Nothing could stop the spread of fascism. The Western democracies were remaining neutral. Hitler and Mussolini had help back Franco's forces with troops, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. The war had created a close relationship between Germany and Italy. They had signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. -
Hitler's Anschluss
Hitler's first target was Austria since the Paris Peace Conference following WWI created a relatively small nation of Austria who had a majority of 6 million Germans. German troops marched into Austria and announced that its Anschluss or "union"was complete. -
Munich Agreement
Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia in order to provide more living space for Germany and control its important natural resources, About 3 million Germans were living in the border region called the Sudetenland. Hitler had invited French premier Edouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich. Hitler declared that the annexation of the the Sudetenland would be his "last territorial demand." In order to avoid war, both Edouard and Neville believed him. -
Joseph Stalin's Totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
Stalin tried to focus on creating a model communist state. 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 gov.-owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families) By 1939 he established a totalitarian government that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. Individuals don't have any rights and the gov. suppresses all opposition. -
The Phony War
After the fall of Poland, French and British troops on the Maginot Line which was a system of fortifications built along France's easter border, was sitting there waiting for something to happen. On the Siegfried Line German troops were there waiting as well. In Germany newspapers referred the blitzkrieg as a sitting war or phony war. -
Nonagression Pact
In Poland, there had been a significant amount of Germans who lived in Poland. Hitler wanted to attack Poland, but figured that it might cause a conflict with the Soviet Union. So Stalin had surprised everyone and signed the Non Aggression Pact with Hitler. The agreement promised that they will not attack each other. -
Blitzkrieg
The German air force arrived over to Poland, dropping bombs on military bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. Also German tanks were racing across the countryside. This invasion was the first test of German's military strategy called the Blitzkrieg or lightning war. Germans were using advanced military weapons to take the enemy by surprise and crush all opposition with overwhelming force. -
Britain and France declare war on Germany
After Germany had attacked Poland killing innocent people, Britain and France declared war on Germany -
Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands
Hitler had turned against the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg which was overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended. -
Germany and Italy's Invasion of France
The German offensive had trapped almost 400,000 British and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the English Channel. A few days later, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany and invaded france from the south as the Germans were closing in. Germany would control the north parts of France while Italy would set up a Vichy in southern France. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
After Italy and Germany had captured France, a Nazi-controlled puppet government would be set in in southern France that was led by Marshal Philippe Petain. -
The Battle of Britain
The Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast but new their naval power couldn’t compete with Britain. They also launched an air war and began making bombing runs over Britain. Their goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force. For two solid months, bombers pounded London. The RAF was able to use radar to accurately fight the German planes. -
Hitler invades Denmark and Norway
Hitler had launched a surprise invasion of Denmark and Norway in order "to protect those countries freedom and independence." But he planned to build bases along the coasts to strike Great Britain. -
Office of Price Administration (OPA)
When war production increased, there were very few consumer products available for purchase. Roosevelt had responded to this threat by creating the OPA which fought inflation by freezing prices of most goods. Congress had also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who never paid it before. The higher tax reduced consumer demand on scarce goods by leaving workers with less to spend. -
Lend-Lease Act
Roosevelt had a plan who compared it to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose house was on fire. He stated that it was the only sensible thing to do to prevent the spreading of the fire to your own property. In March Congressed had passed this act. -
War Productions Board (WPB)
Besides controlling inflation, the government needed to ensure that the armed forces and was industries received the resources that was given. The WPB took responsibility and decided which companies would make war products and allocate raw materials. They also organized drives to collect scraps to recycle into war goods. -
Manhattan Project
The most significant achievement of the OSRD was a secret development of a new weapon, the atomic bomb. German scientists were interested in the weapon. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Roosevelt warning that the Germans could use their discovery to cause destruction. Roosevelt created an Advisory Committee to study it, but reported it would take 3-5 years. The OSRD set up an intensive program to develop the bomb. The research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Prime minister Hideki Tojo promised the emperor that there would be peace with the US. But he ordered them for an attack. The US military decoded Japan’s coded and knew about the strike but didn’t know the exact location. A Japanese dive-bomber swooped over Pearl Harbor. More than 180 Japanese aircrafts followed. In less than 2 hrs the Japanese killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178. It had sunk or damaged 21 ships and severely damaged 300 aircrafts. These losses was greater damage than WWI. -
Internment
General Delos Emmons, the military government of Hawaii resisted the order to evacuate all Japanese-Americans from Hawaii since 37% lived there. In order to remove them it would have destroyed the islands' economy and hindered U.S. military operations so he forced to order the internment or confinement of 1,444 Japanese Americans which was 1% of Hawaii's population. -
Battle of the Atlantic
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler ordered submarine raids against America's east coast. The German aim is to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Britain depended on the materials from the sea since it was their lifeline. Unprotected American ships proved to be easy targets for the Germans, so in the first four months the Germans sank 87 shipps. Seven months into the year, the Germans had sank a total of 681 Allied ships. -
U.S. convoy system
The Allies had responded to the Germans by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. A convoy was a group of ships traveling together for protection. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers that was equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater. They were also accompanied by airplanes that use radar to spot U-boats on the ocean's surface. The Allies were able to find and destroy German U-Boats faster than the Germans could build them. -
Battle of Stalingrad
In 1942, the Germans took the south of the Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains & wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center.The German army took Stalingrad. And the air force had set the city on fire. Stalin grew furious and ordered his army to defend the city. By the end of Sept. germany controlled 9/10th of the city. When winter set in, the Soviets had cut the Germans supplies. Caused them to starve and eventually surrender. -
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
The military's work force was needed so Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall pushed the formation of a WAAC. He stated that there are nummerabkle duties performed by soldiers that can be done better by women. Under this bill, women can volunteer to serve in noncombat positions. -
Operation Torch
Stalin had pressured Britain and America to open a "second front" in Western Europe. He had argued that the English Channel would force Hitler to divert troops from the Soviet front. Churchill and Roosevelt argued that Allies didn't have enough troops to invade European soil. So they had launched Operation Torch which was an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa that was commanded by Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Unconditional surrender
Before the battle in North Africa, Roosevelt, Churchill and their commanders met in Casablanca where the two leaders agreed to only unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. The enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies dictated. They also discussed where to strike next. -
D-Day
The Allied began working on a plan to invade France in order to free Western Europe from the Nazi. The code name, Operation Overload was set for June 5, but it was delayed due to bad weather. American General Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower gave a go-ahead for D-Day. After midnight three divisions parachuted down behind German lines. -
Bloody Anzio
Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy. This was one of the most hardest battles the Allies encountered. It lasted for four months and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. German armies continued to put up strong resistance in effort to free Italy that did not succeed until 1945 when Germany collapsed. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The Americans were able to capture a German town named Aachen. Hitler had responded by ordering his troops to break through the Allies lines and recapture the Belgium port of Antwerp. He hoped it would disrupt the enemy's supply lines and demoralize them. On Dec. 16th, 8 German tanks broke through American defenses into their territory. They created a bulge. The battle lasted for a month and the germans were pushed back where they lost so much. -
Korematsu v. United States
Japanese Americans were fighting for justice. In the case the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity”. -
Death of Hitler
On April 29th he married Eva Braun. On the same day he wrote his last address and blamed the Jews for starting the war and losing. The very next day Hitler had shot himself while his wife swallowed poison. -
Harry S.Truman
President Roosevelt did was not able to see V-E Day. While the president was posing for a portrait he had a stroke and died. On that night, Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president. -
V-E Day
A week later, General Eisenhower accepted unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. In May the Allies have celebrated V-E Day (Victory in Europe).
