World War II (1939-1945) was a global conflict initiated by fascist aggression led by dictators like Mussolini and Hitler, resulting in widespread military confrontations across Europe and Asia. Key events included the invasion of Poland by Germany, the U.S. entry following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and major battles like Stalingrad and D-Day, which shifted the tide against the Axis powers. The war concluded with the unconditional surrender of Japan after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to significant geopolitical changes and the establishment of communist regimes in Eastern Europe.

1. World War II
1939 - 1945

2. The Rise of Fascism
Fascism is a nationalistic political
philosophy which is anti-democratic,
anti- communist, and anti-liberal. It puts
the importance of the nation above the
rights of the individual.
The word Fascism comes from a Latin
word meaning “ bundle of sticks.”
These Fasces were used in ancient
Rome to beat Senators who did not
vote the way the emperor wanted.

3. Fascism
Fascist dictators
began to take over
in parts of Europe
in the 1920’s and
1930’s due to bad
economic
conditions created
by WWI and the
Great Depression.

4. Italy
Benito Mussolini became the Prime
Minister of Italy in 1922. He used this
position to outlaw all non-fascist
political parties and soon became and
dictator.

5. Germany
Adolph Hitler became
the Chancellor of
Germany in January,
1933. Through a
variety of manipulative
actions, Hitler soon
dismantled the German
government and
became a dictator.

6. Europe Moves Toward War
1936: German troops
moved into the
Rhineland. This was
prohibited by the Treaty
of Versailles.
1936: Hitler and
Mussolini signed an
alliance, creating the
Axis.

7. The Spanish Civil War
1936-39: Spanish Civil War: Fascist
forces aided by Italy and Germany take
over Spain. (WWII dress rehearsal).

8. More Steps Toward War
March 1938: Germany annexed
Austria.
Sept. 1938: Munich conference: Hitler
forced the British and French to give
him the Sudetenland in return for a
promise not to invade the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
March, 1939: Hitler took over
Czechoslovakia.

9. War in Europe Begins
March 31, 1939: Britain and France
agreed to protect Poland in case of a
German invasion.
August, 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-
Aggression Pact
Sept. 1, 1939: Hitler invaded Poland,
starting WWII.
Sept, 3, 1939: Britain and France
declared war on Germany and
Germany and Italy declared war on

10. The Japanese Empire
Japan wanted to expand to meet the
land needs of a growing population and
to obtain more raw materials and
markets for its industries.
1931: Japan seized Manchuria
1937-40: Japan seized most of E.
China
Sept. 1940: Japan joins the tripartite
pact, becoming an ally of Italy and
Germany.

11. America and WWII
America initially stayed out of the war,
but began a naval build up in the Pacific
to counter the expansion of Japan.
1939: FDR moved the Pacific fleet from
San Diego to Pearl Harbor.
Disillusionment from WWI and the
Great Depression contributed to the
popularity of isolationism in America.

12. American Involvement Grows
Neutrality Acts of the mid to late 1930’s
made it impossible for the US to give
loans to nations at war or to allow any
combatant to buy on credit.
FDR had to find other ways to help out
the British and the French in their fight
against Fascism.
March 1941: Lend-lease began.

13. The Atlantic Charter
August 1941: FDR and Winston
Churchill met secretly on a ship off the
coast of Newfoundland to agree on war
goals, since both foresaw US joining the
Allies, soon.
They agreed to ensure national
sovereignty for all nations and drew up
the outline for the United Nations. This
was the Atlantic Charter.

14. America gets closer to war
Mid 1941: Japanese forces seized
French territories in Indochina.
In response, the US froze Japanese
assets in the US and cut off all trade
with Japan.
Americans began to crack the
Japanese secret code and intercepted
messages saying that Japan was
planning to seize more islands in the
Pacific.

15. Problems in the Pacific
October 1941: General Tojo became
Prime Minister of Japan and wanted
war with the US.
Nov. 1941: The US intercepted
messages showing that a Japanese
force was moving towards SE Asia to
take more land.
FDR demanded that it be recalled and
that Japan withdraw from conquered
territories.

16. Pearl Harbor
Japanese negotiators agreed to meet
with US diplomats.
While they met, the Japanese decided
to sent a fleet to Pearl Harbor to destroy
the US Pacific fleet.
Dec. 7, 1941: Japanese forces
attacked Pearl Harbor killing 2,400,
wounding 1,200, and destroying 300
Am. Planes, 18 warships, and 8 of the 9
US battleships.

17. WAR
Dec. 8, 1941: FDR delivered a war
message to Congress. Within 3 days, the
US was at war with Japan, Germany, and
Italy.

18. A Grim Future for the Allies
In Jan. 1942, the Axis powers had a big
advantage in Europe. By then, Britain
was almost defeated, the Axis
controlled almost all of continental
Europe, and German troops had
captured most of North Africa.
German subs were trying to keep food
and supplies from reaching Britain.

19. The Battle of the Atlantic
American and
British ships fought
to maintain control
of the Atlantic and
protect Britain from
defeat.
Allied ships used
Sonar to locate and
attack German
subs.

20. Capture of U-Boat 505
Although the subs
did a lot of
damage, the
invention of sonar
helped to defeat
the German
wolfpacks.

21. The North African Campaign
Nov. 1942: Br. General Montgomery
wins the Battle of El Alamein in Egypt.
This starts the retreat of German
General Rommel.
Nov. 1942: Am. and Br. troops
commanded by Dwight Eisenhower
landed in Morocco.
Eventually the two allied armies met,
forcing a German surrender in Africa.

22. Casablanca Conference
January 1943: FDR and Churchill met
in Casablanca, Morocco.
They agreed to win the war in Europe
before concentrating on the Pacific.
They agreed to demand only an
unconditional surrender from all of the
Axis powers.

23. The Invasion of Italy
July, 1943: Am. Troops commanded by
General George Patton attacked Sicily.
38 days later, Sicily fell and Mussolini
was overthrown by a disillusioned
Italian population.
Hitler captured Mussolini and set up a
fascist state in N. Italy, and Italian and
German troops continued to fight the
Allies in Italy.

24. War in Italy
Sept. 1943: Italy surrendered to the
allies, and many Italians began to fight
against Mussolini and Hitler.
Sept. 1943 - Jan. 1944: US forces are
stalled by Hitler’s troops .
Finally in January, the US landed forces
behind the German lines at Anzio, just
South of Rome.

25. The Battle of Anzio
This battle took 4 months and 72,000
German deaths to win.
Soon after the battle, Rome fell to the
Allies.
N. Italy finally surrendered to the Allies
in April, 1945, after 190,000 Americans
and 483,000 Germans died there.

26. War in the Soviet Union
June, 1941: Germany attacked the
Soviet Union with 3.6 million German
soldiers.
The USSR asked the US for lend-lease
help, but FDR refused, afraid to be
caught helping a communist nation.
Eventually, the USSR repelled the
German attack, but this was only a
temporary victory.

27. The Battle of Stalingrad
1942: Germany again attacked the
USSR, this time concentrating its
attacks in the Southern part of the
country.
Sept. 1942: the Germans attacked
Stalingrad, a major oil and railroad
center.

28. Map of the
1942
German
Invasion of
the USSR

29. The Battle of Stalingrad
From September to November, 1942,
the Germans shelled and attacked the
city of Stalingrad.
The USSR refused to surrender the city
and house - to - house fighting saved
the city from defeat.
By late November, the USSR launched
a counteroffensive and began to win the
battle.

30. A Turning Point
Jan. 31, 1943: 90,000 surviving
German soldiers surrendered to the
Soviet army in Stalingrad.
This was the turning point of the war in
the east: after this the USSR never lost
another battle, and the Germans did not
launch any more offensives in the east.

32. War in W. Europe
The US began to bomb Germany in
1942 using carpet bombing tactics.
In 1943, the amount of bombs dropped
in Germany doubled.
By 1944, the US was bombing
Germany 24 hours a day.
The bombing of Dresden was one of
the most famous campaigns of the air
war.

33. D-Day
June 6, 1944: Allied troops
commanded by Eisenhower landed on
the beaches of Normandy and began
the invasion of W. Europe and the
liberation of France.
Despite brutal German resistance, 2
million allied soldiers occupied France
by July.

34. The US Frees W. Europe
American forces
continued to defeat
the Germans and
freed Paris by
August, 1944. In
Sept., Belgium and
Holland were freed
from Nazi control.

35. The Battle of the Bulge
Dec. 1944: Germany launched its last
offensive in the war attacking
Americans in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Patton arrived a few days later with
250,000 men.
This was the largest battle ever fought
by the US army and the largest battle of
WWII.

36. The Battle of the Bulge
The US won the battle. Over 800,000
Americans fought here and 80,000
Americans died.
Germany fought with over 2 million
soldiers, and lost about 200,000 men.
After this battle, the Germans realized
the war was lost.

37. German Surrender
The Americans continued to bomb
Germany and attack from the Western
front, while the Soviets continued their
attacks on Germany from the East.
May 8, 1945: V-E Day: Germany
surrendered.

38. May
8,
1945:
V-E
Day

39. The Yalta Conference
Feb. 1945: The “Big Three” met at
Yalta in the USSR to plan the post-war
world.

40. Yalta Conference
All agreed to split Germany into 4 zones
of occupation and to also split the
capital city, Berlin.
Stalin promised to allow free elections
in the nations his army liberated from
Germany.
Stalin agreed to enter the war against
Japan soon after the German
surrender.

41. War in the Pacific
On Dec. 7, 1941, about one-half of
General MacArthur’s air force was
destroyed on the ground at Clark Air
Field in the Philippines.
Within days, a large Japanese force
landed in the Philippines and MacArthur
withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula on
Manila Bay. There he set up defenses,
hoping the US Navy could evacuate his
men to safety.

42. The Philippines
By March, 1942, FDR ordered General
MacArthur to escape to Australia. He
left with the words: “I shall return.”
On May 6, 1942, 11,000 Americans and
Filipinos surrendered. When the
Bataan Peninsula fell, approx. 76,000
Filipinos and Americans became
prisoners of war.

43. Bataan Death March
Japanese soldiers split the prisoners
into groups of 500-1000 and marched
them 60 miles to a railroad.
About 10,000 prisoners died during the
6 -12 day march and some were shot
by the guards.
Those who survived were shipped to
prison camps where they were held
captive for the rest of the war.

44. Bataan
The Japanese
general
responsible for
organizing the
march was one of
6 Japanese
executed for war
crimes after the
war.

46. Japanese Expansion
Japanese forces continued to expand
and were not stopped by allied forces
until the Battle of the Coral Sea in May,
1942.
This battle fought entirely with planes
from aircraft carriers. Enemy ships
never came within sight of one another.

47. Battle of the Coral Sea
Although both the US and
the Japanese navy lost
about 1/2 of their forces,
this battle stopped the
Japanese from
establishing the bases
they needed to invade
Australia.

49. The Battle of Midway
June 4, 1942: This battle was also
fought entirely from the air.
The US destroyed 3 of the 4 Japanese
aircraft carriers while they were still
loading bombs in their planes. This
carried with it the loss of 250 Japanese
planes.
This was the last Japanese offensive.

50. Battle of Guadalcanal
1st US offensive of the Pacific war.
August 1942: 11,000 US Marines
landed at Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands and about 2,200 Japanese fled
into the jungle. They fought there for 3
months.
Feb. 1943: Japan abandoned
Guadalcanal.

51. Island-Hopping
From February 1943 on, the US forces
began to selectively attack enemy-held
islands in the Pacific.
The Japanese fiercely defended their
positions and both sides suffered heavy
casualties.

52. American Offensives
The US first captured the rest of the
Solomon islands and then the Gilbert
islands.
After seizing the island of Tarawa in the
Gilbert islands, it was used by US
Admiral Nimitz to launch bombing raids
on Japanese bases in the Marshall
islands.

53. More US Offensives
By Feb. 1944, the US had crippled
Japanese air power and seized the
Marshall islands.
By June, 1944, the US captured parts
of the Mariana Islands.
The Mariana Islands were important
because they enabled US planes to
bomb Japanese cities.

54. The Philippines
Mid-October 1944: US forces invaded
the Philippine island of Leyte. Although
the US quickly captured the island, a
huge naval battle ensued.
The Japanese used kamikaze pilots for
the 1st time in this battle.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest
in Naval history, engaging more than
280 warships. As a result of the battle,
the Japanese navy was virtually
destroyed.

55. Japanese Kamikazes
Japanese kamikazes were suicide
pilots who crashed their planes which
were heavily loaded with bombs into
allied ships.
During the war, the US experienced
about 4,900 kamikaze attacks which
destroyed 57 American ships and
damaged about 650 others.

56. A
Kamikaze
Pilot

57. The Philippines
After securing Leyte, the US invaded
Luzon in an attempt to capture Manila,
the capital city of the Philippines.
In one month’s time, 100,000 Filipinos
died, 80,000 Japanese died, and
27,000 Americans also perished.
The US did not fully secure the
Philippines until June, 1945.

58. The Battle of Iwo Jima
The battle for this 14 square mile island
was one of the bloodiest battles of the
war.
25,000 Japanese protected the small
rocky island and it took over 110,000
Americans to defeat them. Only 216
Japanese surrendered--the rest died.
More US medals of honor were given
for this battle than any other single
battle of the war.

59. Marines Raising the US Flag
at Iwo Jima

60. American Offensives
Iwo Jima was located about 700 miles
from Japan. Its capture was another
step toward an eventual invasion of the
Japanese home islands.
The next island to fall to the Americans
was Okinawa, which was located about
350 miles from Japan.

61. Battle of Okinawa
April-June 1945: In another bloody
battle, nearly 100,000 Japanese
defended the island from an allied force
of 180,000 soldiers and 1,300 warships.
Japanese kamikazes launched nearly
2,000 attacks against the British and
American fleets.
This was the single bloodiest battle of
the Pacific war with nearly 50,000 allied
deaths and 93,000 Japanese deaths.

62. Okinawa

63. The Bombing of Hiroshima
August 6, 1945: On
President Truman’s
orders, the Enola
Gay dropped an
atomic bomb on the
city of Hiroshima.
It destroyed about
90% of the city and
killed about 140,000
people.

65. Nagasaki
When the bombing of Hiroshima did not
elicit a surrender from the Japanese
government, a 2nd atomic bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki on August 9,
1945.
The bomb on Nagasaki was equally
destructive and led to a Japanese
surrender.

67. V-J Day
August 14, 1945: Japan agreed to an
unconditional surrender.
The formal surrender was signed on
September 2, 1945 on the USS
Missouri in Tokyo Bay, officially ending
WWII.

68. The Results of the War
After the defeat of the Axis powers, all
territories that had been taken over by
Japan were returned to their pre-war
status.
All of the German-occupied territories
were supposed to be given free
elections, but only the W. European
nations became democratic. Stalin
refused to honor the Yalta agreements
and made E. Europe into a series of
Communist dictatorships.

69. World War II Allied Deaths
Nation Military Civilian Total
France 122,000 470,000 592,000
Britain 305,800 60,600 366,400
US 405,400 0 405,400
USSR 11,000,000 6,700,000 17,700,000

70. World War II Axis Deaths
Nation Military Civilian Total
Germany 3,250,000 2,350,000 5,600,000
Italy 226,900 60,000 286,900
Japan 1,740,000 393,400 2,133,400