World War II began in 1939 after Germany invaded Poland. Key events included the rise of dictators like Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy, Germany's invasion of numerous countries in Europe, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the US into the war, and the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 that led to Japan's surrender, ending the war. The war resulted in over 60 million deaths worldwide and changed the global political landscape, with the US and Soviet Union emerging as superpowers. It also saw the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and the revelation of the Holocaust.

1. World War II
1939-1945

2. I. Dictators Rise To Power
A. Treaty of Versailles-
created depression
in Europe and
resentment in Germany.
Countries were
economically ruined and
people feared
Communism in the East.

3. I. Dictators Rise To Power
B. New Leaders
Leaders promised a bright future for
their people and blamed others.
Benito Mussolini-Italy-Fascist Party

4. I. Dictators Rise To Power
B. New Leaders
Adolf Hitler-Germany-Nazi Party
Hitler believed in a "master race"
of Germans and used secret
police and the military to control
and manipulate the people.

5. I. Dictators Rise To Power
B. New Leaders
After gaining support, these leaders
became aggressive.

6. I. Dictators Rise To Power
C. Territorial Invasions
Japan invaded Manchuria
Hitler militarized the Rhineland

7. II. American Position
A. Good Neighbor Policy-continued in the
face a new developments. Many
Americans promoted isolationism.
-Congress passed the Neutrality Acts
to keep the United States out of
armed conflicts.

8. II. American Position
B. Roosevelt Challenges Isolationism
-Japan continued actions in
China and the U.S. supported
China with arms and funds to
rebuild.
-Roosevelt wanted to "quarantine" the
aggressors.

9. III. Hitler Marches in Europe
A. New Acquisitions
-March 11, 1938-Hitler annexed
Austria saying that he was
helping Germans in the country.
-March 1939-Hitler forced
Czechoslovakia to agree to
annexation.

10. III. Hitler Marches in Europe
B. Reactions
Munich Pact-Allowed Hitler to invade
the Sudetenland if he would stop
there.
Neville Chamberlain
proclaimed that
we had preserved
“peace in our time.”

11. III. Hitler Marches in Europe
B. Reactions
Appeasement-France and Britain had
adopted the policy of giving in to
Hitler's demands to avoid war.
Hitler broke his promise and took
over all of Czechoslovakia.

12. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
Axis Powers:
Germany
Italy
Japan
wanted to be the center of the world

13. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
1931-1932-Japan invaded and conquered
Manchuria
1935-Italy invaded and annexed Ethiopia
1935-1936-Germany violated Treaty of
Versailles with conscription and
remilitarizing the Rhineland

14. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
1936-1939-Germany and Italy
aided Francisco Franco
in the Spanish Civil War
1937-Japan conquered Chinese
coastal areas
1938-Hitler invaded and annexed Austria
to protect German speaking
people

15. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
1938-Munich Pact-France and Britain
allowed Hitler to take the
Sudetenland if he would demand
no more territory. 6 months
later, he broke his promise and
took all of Czechoslovakia.
1939-Mussolini invaded and annexed
Albania

16. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
1939-Germany signed the Non-Aggression
Pact with Russia saying that
Russia would not interfere in
Poland if Germany wouldn't
interfere in the Baltic states.
*Sept. 1, 1939-Germany invaded Poland,
France & Britain declared
war on Germany, starting WWII

17. IV. Timeline of Axis Aggression
Long Range Causes of WWII:
1. Dictatorships
2. Militarism
3. Nationalism
4. Imperialism
5. Failure of
Appeasement

18. V. Early Action of the War
A. German Successes
1. Germany unleashed blitzkrieg
warfare (lightning war). Quick
and effective coordination of
all parts of the military.
2. Germany rolled through Poland
and easily took Denmark &
Norway to secure naval bases.

19. V. Early Action of the War
A. German Successes
3. Germany invaded France through
Belgium & the Netherlands. Nazi
armies easily defeated the Allies
and France surrendered.
Germany set up a puppet
government in the south at Vichy
and occupied the north.

20. V. Early Action of the War
A. German Successes
4. Germany bombed Great Britain for
3 months to soften the island's
defenses for invasion.
The British air force claimed
victory in this Battle of Britain
when Hitler chose to postpone his
invasion of Britain.

21. V. Early Action of the War
B. U.S. Actions
1. Lend-Lease Act-1941-President could
lend or lease goods to anyone whose
defense was vital to the United States.
2. U.S. imposed embargo on Japan and
froze all Japanese assets in the U.S.

22. V. Early Action of the War
C. 2 Mistakes made by the Axis Powers
1. Germany invaded Russia-June 22, 1941-
Hitler violated the non-aggression
pact and invaded hoping to control oil
and mineral resources. Russia proved
to be a strong enemy with millions of
troops. Stalin foiled Hitler's invasion.
Known as Operation Barbarossa.

23. V. Early Action of the War
C. 2 Mistakes made by the Axis Powers
2. Japan attacked Pearl Harbor-Dec. 7,
1941-Japanese General Tojo launched
a surprise attack on the naval base
hoping to preserve their empire in the
Pacific. The Japanese underestimated
the power of the United States.

24. Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941-Japanese wanted to buy
some time to strengthen their position.
Our fleet in Hawaii was a threat to their
dominance of the Pacific islands.
Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said
"I fear all we have done is to
awaken a sleeping giant and fill
him with a terrible resolve."
Japanese reaction: "We won a great
tactical victory at Pearl Harbor and
thereby lost the war."

25. Pearl Harbor
American Results:
All together the Japanese sank or severely
damaged 18 ships, including 8
battleships, 3 light cruisers, and 3
destroyers. On the airfields the Japanese
destroyed 161 American planes and
seriously damaged 102.
U.S casualties: 2403 dead, 1178 wounded

26. Pearl Harbor
American Results:
16 Congressional Medals of Honor,
51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Crosses,
4 Navy and Marine Corps Medals,
1 Distinguished Flying Cross,
4 Distinguished Service Crosses,
1 Distinguished Service Medal, and
3 Bronze Stars were awarded to the
American servicemen who
distinguished themselves

27. Pearl Harbor
American Results:
Franklin Roosevelt called it “a date which
will live in infamy.”

28. VI. War on the Homefront
A. Economy
1. Agencies were created to
coordinate war production in
factories.
2. Government regulated prices and
rationed some supplies.
3. War cost $330 billion-income taxes
increased and war bonds were
sold.

29. WWII Posters

30. VI. War on the Homefront
A. Economy
1. Agencies were created to
coordinate war production in
factories.
2. Government regulated prices and
rationed some supplies.
3. War cost $330 billion-income taxes
increased and war bonds were
sold.

31. VI. War on the Homefront
B. Civil Liberties
1. No laws were passed to restrict
freedom of speech or press.
2. Japanese Americans were feared
and forced to "relocation"
centers, aka interment camps.

32. VII. War Comes to an End
A. Victory in Europe
1. *Battle of El Alamein-1942-British
defeated Germans in North Africa
leading to full Allied invasion of Africa
and Italy.
2. *Battle of Stalingrad-1942-Russians
defeated the German army of
300,000.

33. VII. War Comes to an End
A. Victory in Europe
3. Operation Overlord-June 6, 1944 (D-
Day)-Cross-channel invasion by the
Allies into northern France. Allied
forces recaptured Paris and drove the
Germans to Berlin.

34. VII. War Comes to an End
A. Victory in Europe
Yalta Conference-Feb. 1945, Stalin,
Churchill, and FDR met to discuss the
end of the war. They agreed to divide,
occupy, and denazify Germany.
Critics said that too
much was given to
Russia. They were
basically allowed to
control Eastern
Europe.

35. VII. War Comes to an End
The Death of Franklin Roosevelt
President Roosevelt died April 12, 1945
from a cerebral hemorrhage.
Harry Truman becomes president only 82
days after being elected VP. FDR was
president for 12+ years.

36. VII. War Comes to an End
A. Victory in Europe
4. Surrender-Hitler committed suicide
and Germany surrendered-May 8,
1945-(V-E Day)
Potsdam Conference-July 17, 1945-Leaders
agreed to direction of postwar Germany
and all dedicated to the unconditional
surrender of Japan.

37. VII. War Comes to an End
B. Victory in the Pacific
1. Japanese successes were stopped at
the Battle of the Coral Sea and at the
Battle of *Midway. (1942)
2. Allies used "island-hopping"
recapturing the Phillipines, Guam,
Iwo Jima, etc. The Japanese lost
20,000 of their 22,000 soldiers
defending Iwo Jima. The U.S.
casualties were 26,000 dead or
wounded.
5 Marines and 1
Navy Corpsman
raise the flag
atop Mount
Suribachi

38. VII. War Comes to an End
B. Victory in the Pacific
3. U.S. dropped 2 atomic bombs: 1 on
Hiroshima and 1 on Nagasaki. The
devastation forced the surrender of
Japan. September 2, 1945 (V-J Day)

39. VII. War Comes to an End
Facts about the Atomic Bombs
-The Manhattan Project was the
government program headed
by J. Robert Oppenheimer that
developed the weapons.
-The two bombs were known as “Little
Boy” and “Fat Man”

40. VII. War Comes to an End
Facts about the Atomic Bombs
-The plane that dropped the first bomb,
“Little Boy” was
named The Enola
Gay.
-The bombs killed over 200,000 people on
or just after the days of explosion.

41. VII. War Comes to an End
Facts about the Atomic Bombs
Nagasaki Memorial at the Hypocentre
(the center of the explosion)

42. VIII. Results of the War
A. Changes in Warfare
1. Total war-civilians of countries
participated in any way possible.
2. Global war-60 nations involved on 3
continents.
3. Technology-radar, guided missiles,
jets, atom bombs, new medicines.
4. Airplanes-air combat became
essential to warfare.

43. VIII. Results of the War
B. Economic Costs
1. War cost billions of dollars and ruined
economies.
C. Social Costs
1. 22 million dead & 34 million wounded
2. Millions of refugees left their home
countries
3. Genocide-Hitler's racial policies
including the extermination of over 6
million Jews in concentration camps
throughout Europe.

44. VIII. Results of the War
The Holocaust
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party sent
millions of European Jews to
concentration camps all over the
continent.
Hitler believed that the Jews were
“untermencsh”, (less than human),
and blamed them for the failures of
German society after WWI.

45. VIII. Results of the War
The Holocaust
Prisoners at these camps were
mistreated, underfed, and diseased.
The prisoners were used as forced
laborers for many German factories.
Nazi scientists also used the prisoners
for experiments and
scientific/psychological studies.

46. VIII. Results of the War
The Holocaust
The most notorious of these camps were:
Dachau, Auschwitz, Bergen Belsen,
Sobibor, Treblinka, Buchenwald, etc.
The Jewish population of Europe was
devastated. Over 90% of all Jews in
Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany,
and the Baltic States were executed.

47. VIII. Results of the War
The Holocaust
When Allied armies liberated these
camps, they found some survivors and
thousands of victims.

48. VIII. Results of the War
The Holocaust
Jews were not the only prisoners or
victims. Anyone who was subversive or
“undesirable” was sent to the camps.
These included: Poles, Gypsies,
handicapped, homosexuals, Soviet
citizens, religious opponents, and
political prisoners. Each had their own
symbol to wear in the camps, designating
what type of prisoner they were.

49. Yellow=Jewish
Red=
political prisoner
Pink=Homosexual
Green=criminal
Black=asocial
Brown=Gypsies
Purple=
Religious prisoner
Blue=immigrant,
forced labor

50. VIII. Results of the War
D. Political Costs
1. Colonialism in Africa & Asia declined
as France and Britain lost power.
2. Soviet Union acquired satellite states
in Eastern Europe.
3. United Nations was founded to keep
world peace.
4. Germany was divided into Communist
East and Democratic West.

52. VIII. Results of the War
D. Political Costs
5. The United States and the Soviet
Union emerged as superpowers.
6. The Atomic Age began.

53. VIII. Results of the War
The Nuremberg Trials
Series of tribunals in which prominent
members of the Nazi Party were
prosecuted for their involvement in the
war and crimes
against humanity
associated with
the Holocaust.