WWii and total war

World War II
Total War
IB HL History Y!
Causes, Practices, Effects of Wars

Focus Questions

In what ways can WWII be considered a ‘total
war’?

Why did the Axis powers lose World War II?

Six Focus Areas

1. The War in Europe

2. Operation Barbarossa

3. The Defeat of Nazi Germany

4. War in the East

5. How WWII was Fought

6. WWII as a Total War

1. The War in Europe

Blitzkrieg ‘lightening war’-the invasion of Poland(Sept 1 1939)

Hitler’s Panzer(tanks) supported by the
Luftwaffe(air force), smashed over the border
into Poland.

The USSR invaded from the east, as agreed
by the Nazi-Soviet Pact, and by Sept 29
Poland we divided by the two countries.

Blitzkrieg
“lightening War”
“lightening War”

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The War In Europe

The Phoney War

Little happened for the 5 months after the invasion of
Poland.

Even though Britain declared war on Germany, they
could not get troops into Poland, and thus were forced
to watch as Hitler and Stalin took over Eastern Europe

The War In Europe

The Phoney War

The USSR took over Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and
Finland, in the ‘Winter War’

The French manned the ‘Maginot Line’ and
waited

The Maginot Line
What does the Maginot Line say about the
Western approach to WWII?

The War in Europe

Invasion of Denmark and
Norway (April 1940)

Chamberlain believed the
Maginot line would ‘bring
Hitler to his knees’ and that
Hitler had ‘missed the bus’

Four days later Hitler invaded
Denmark and Norway

The War in Europe
The Invasion of Denmark
and Norway

This was vital to Hitler’s
armaments industry as the
areas contained iron ore

This brought the downfall of
Chamberlain in Britain

May 10 Winston Churchill
leads the lead of a coalition
government

The War in Europe
The invasion of
Holland, Belgium
and France.

May 10: Hitler invades

The Maginot Line did
not continue along the
French and Belgium
border

The War in Europe
The invasion of
Holland, Belgium and
France.

Marshal Petain believed
the Ardennes forest would
stop the Germans.

This is where the
Germans broke through

Link to B of B Bastogne
ep.6

The War In Europe
The invasion of
France.

Using Blitzkrieg
tactics, reached the
English Channel with
6 days

“Dunkirk Spirit’ saved
the men, but morale
was low.

The War in Europe

The invasion of
France.

‘Dunkirk Spirit’

The evacuation of
British troops from
Europe was a serious
blow for the Allies.

The War in Europe

The invasion of
France.

Paris was captured on
June 14 and the
French HOS, Marshal
Petain, requested an
armistice

The War in Europe

The invasion of
France.

The ceasefire
agreement was signed
on June21, in the
same railway coach as
the 1918 armistice

The War in Europe

The invasion of
France.

Southern France
remained unoccupied
and sovereign, but in
reality collaborated
with the Germans.

The War in Europe

The invasion of Holland, Belgium and France.

By June 1940 Hitler had achieved more than
Kaiser’s Germany did in the whole of WWI

Hitler’s Europe
June 1940
June 1940

The War in Europe
The Battle of Britain (1940)

Britain now stood alone
against Germany

‘The battle of France is over. I
expect the Battle of Britain is
about to begin’-Churchill

Hitler hoped for an alliance
rather an invasion

The War in Europe

Churchill was totally opposed to any negotiation with Hitler, a

Why we fight link

The War in Europe

Operation Sealion:
Hitler believed the
Luftwaffe would
destroy the Royal Air
Force

This would leave
Britain exposed and
willing to negotiate

The War in Europe

Operation Sealion:

1. Started bombing British
airfields

2. Bombed british cites

The War in Europe

Reasons Operation
Sealion Failed:

1. German bombers
were vulnerable once
the fighters had to
turn back for fuel. (10-
20min in Britain)

2. Radar: could locate
incoming aircraft from
120 miles

The War in Europe

Reasons Operation
Sealion Failed:

3. Switch to bombing
cites gave the RAF
time to recover

This was the first time Hitler had been stopped

The Mediterranean and
the Balkans(1940-41)
Italy enters WWII in
1940

Italy moved into Egypt,
Greece, and Crete but
failed as a result of
British resistance

Result: Brought Hitler
into N.Africa and the
Balkans

Hitler in N.Africa and the Balkans

General Rommel
drives the Allies out of
Egypt, Libya,
Yugoslavia, Greece,
and Crete.

British Evacuate May
1941

Significance of
campaigns:

1. They were severe
setbacks for the Allies

2. Weakened British
presence in N.Africa

3. Hitler’s plan to invade
the USSR was delayed a
crucial 6 weeks, Winter
would set in Moscow.

Maximum area of Italian control in the
Mediterranean theatre in summer/fall
1942.

2.Operation Barbarossa
(June 22 1941)
(June 22 1941)

Operation Barbarossa
(June 22 1941)
(June 22 1941)

Three Pronged attack:

1. North towards Leningrad

2. Centre towards Moscow

3. South through the
Ukraine

Involved over 4.5 million
Axis troops

(June 22 1941)
(June 22 1941)

Operation
Barbarossa June
1942 moved to
secure:

1. Agriculture in the
Ukraine

2. Soviet Slave Labour

3. Oil, Oil, Oil in the
Caucasus.

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February 1943

Suffering from shortages of
ammunition and food, and
being outnumbers, the
Germans in Stalingrad
surrendered in February
1943

Hitler launched another
major attack (Battle of Kursk)
in the summer but failed.

1944
1944
By 1944:

1. Leningrad was liberated

2. Germans were pushed out
of the Ukraine

3. Soviets reached Poland
and Romania

4. Jan 1945, East Prussia

1945
1945

Battle of Berlin 1945

May 2,1945 the
Soviets reached Berlin

1945
1945
Why were the Soviets able to
defeat the German Army?

1. German were not prepared,
lacked supplies and equipment to
face the Russian winter

2. 1941, Hitler takes over the
army, was disastrous in the
USSR.

3. Germans carried out brutal
attacks against civilian
populations which fed Russian
resistance and motivation.

1945
1945
Why were the Soviets able to
defeat the German Army?

4. German supply lines were
overstretched

5. Continued loss of aircraft and
tanks what could not be
replaced.

Began with 328 tanks/division,
averaged 73/division by 1943,
fell back on horses

Why were the Soviets able to defeat
the German Army?

6. Installation of radios in
tanks and aircrafts

7. Stalin withdrew from
military command.

8. Removed political
influence over the army

9. Increased patriotism:
Save “Mother Russia”,
not communism

Why were the Soviets able to defeat
the German Army?

10. Russian Orthodox
Church was reinstated

11. Still out-produced
the Germans militarily

12. UK and US
assistance, Lend-
Lease agreements

Review Questions
Review Questions
Why were the Germans successful with
Blitzkrieg in Europe?

Why did the Blitzkrieg tactics fail in the USSR?

Develop a mind map outlining the Soviet
Victory over the Nazi’s. Highlight the main
reasons.

3. The Defeat of Nazi
Germany
While the Soviets fought in the
Germans in the USSR, Britain
and the US fought an air and sea
war from Dec 1941

Stalin was desperate for the
Allies to open up a two front war

Neither the US nor Britain had
the resources needed to launch
an invasion of mainland Europe

R.Overy

The Defeat of Nazi Germany
El Alamein(1942)
El Alamein(1942)

Britain decided to fight
on in N.Africa

Defeated Rommels
forces at El Alamein in
Nov 1942

‘Operation Torch’
secured with whole of
N.Africa by May 1943

El Alamein(1942)
El Alamein(1942)

Operation Torch was significant:

1. Prevented Egypt and the
Suez from falling to Hitler

2. Gave the Allies experience in
large-scale seaborne offensives

3. Provided a launching pad for
the next Allied target, Italy.

The Fall of Italy (1943-45)

‘Fortress Europe’ began on July
10, 1943

Within 6 weeks Sicily was in
Allied hands, which called the fall
of Mussolini

Marshal Pietro Badoglio, signed
an armistice and brought Italy on
to the Allied side


The Germans were determined
to hold onto Italy and diverted
troops to the peninsula

Slow progress meant Rome
was not liberated until June
1944 and Northern Italy had to
wait until April 1945


Consequences for the Allies:

1. Fascism ended in Italy,
Germany’s most important Ally

2 Tied down German divisions
that were needed in Russia

3. Showed the Soviets the Allies
were willing to fight in Europe.

Operation Overlord (June 1944)

Also known as D-Day

326,000 British, Canadian, and
American troops landed on a 80
km stretch of beaches in
Normandy

Supported by 4000 ships and
12000 aircrafts

Subterfuge plans diverted attention to Calais

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D-Day


Within a month 1,000,000 had
landed on the beaches of
Normandy

Within weeks Northern France,
Brussels, and Antwerp were
liberated

Germans did continue to succeed
along the Siegfried Line at
Arnhem and the Ardennes forrest


The Germans could not replace
troops

The first months of 1945 saw
steady disintegration of the
Wehrmacht

The Allies crossed the Rhine in
March 1945 which brought a two
front war upon the Germans


April 30,1945 Hitler
killed himself

May 7, the German
surrendered
unconditionally

The Weakness of the Axis Powers

Why did the Allies
defeat Hitler?


1.
Hitler allowed Britain to survive

Therefore keeping the war
going in the west, Atlantic,
and Africa

Britain acted as a launching
pad for Germany and
‘Operation Overlord’


2. The invasion of the USSR was a huge mistake

Undid the gains of the Nazi-
Soviet Pact

Pushed Germany into a two front
war

Russia was 3x pop, 80x the land,
and a much larger industrial
output.


3. Declaring war on the USA,
Sept 11, 1941, was also a major
error

This allowed Allies to: a.
Invade Italy b. Bomb
Germany c. Open up
the second front (1944)

Hitler was unable to attack the
US directly and didn’t have the
same collaborative relationship
with the Axis powers


4. Taking command of Military
operations

Seen clearly in the USSR as the
Germans were not prepared for
a winter campaign

Refused to retreat in Stalingrad,
which lead to surrender in Jan
1943

Concentration on V-rockets

The Strength of the Allies

1. Economic Superiority

USSR easily transitioned into a
‘wartime economy’ and
outproduced the Germans by
1943

American production
outproduced the Germans while
turning out 70 000 tanks and 120
000 aircrafts annually


2. Turning economic strength
into affective fighting power

Improved quality and quantity of
military forces and technology

Ensured excellent back-up
services. US 18:1 ratio in the
Pacific, Japanese 1:1


3. Established civilian support for
the Allies

Men with the best organization
skills helped plan on the civilian
front, rather than in combat

Allowed for better integration of
intellectual, economic, and
organizational strengths towards
the war effort


4. Key Strategic Decisions

Concentrating the attack in
Germany, 85% of US war effort
was towards Germany, only 15%
towards Japan

Pouring funds into strategic
bombing, forced Germany to
focus on anti-aircraft strategy

Will to win, promoting the ‘just
war

4. War in the East
An Overview
An Overview

After Pearl Harbour, the USA
and Britain declared war on
Japan, as did their regional allies

Dec 11 1941, Germany declares
war on the US

The conflict was now a ‘World
War’

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Pearl Harbor

War in the East
An Overview
An Overview
Within hours of Pearl Harbor
Japan attacked Wake, Guam,
the Philippines, Malaya, and
Hong Kong

As well we the Prince of Wales
and the Repulse, British naval
ships needed for defense in the
region

This left Singapore and Burma
undefended

War in the East
An Overview
An Overview
Dec 25/26 Japan overtook Hong
Kong and captured 12,000 prisoners

Jan 6 1942, the Dutch East Indies
were invaded

By the end of Jan ’42 British,
Australian, and Indian forces had
retreated to the tip of the Malay
Peninsula to Singapore

An attack followed forcing 80,000
troops to surrender and became one
of the worst defeats in British history

War in the East
An Overview
An Overview

By mid 1942, The Japanese had
successfully captured the Dutch
East Indies, the Philippines, and
Burma

The ‘Greater Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere’ was complete

War in the East
The Battle of Midway(June 1942)
The Japanese suffered two
serious setbacks 1.
Port Moresby(SE New Guinea)
would have brought Australia
with reach of their bombers 2.
Midway (June ’42) hoped to
draw out US aircraft carriers

Americans were able to break
Japanese codes and knew the
attack was coming and
destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft
carriers

War in the East

American success was a
crucial turning point for the
Pacific War

Japan could not recover, the
Americans soon had a fleet with
which the Japanese could not
stand against

Japan was condemned to fight a
defensive war (link to ‘The Pacific’ Guadalcanal)

War in the East
Japanese Retreat
Japanese Retreat
Although catastrophic, the loss
at midway did not cost the
Japanese territory

Headed by Gen.
D.MacArthur(Head of the Allied
Forces in SE Pacific), The Allies
slowly pushed back the
Japanese through ‘island
hopping’ or ‘atoll hopping’,
stepping stones towards
Japan

Allies superiority in the air and
sea made this possible

War in the East
Japanese Retreat
Japanese Retreat
Admiral C.Nimitz (US Pacific Fleet
Commander-in-Chief) In a two
pronged assault, advanced through
the central Pacific

Victories occupied the Philippines
and Japan’s sea route to oil
supplies in the East Indies

Oct 1944, brought the largest naval
battle of all time, the battle of
‘Leyte Gulf’

War in the East
Japanese Retreat
Japanese Retreat
Battle of Leyte Gulf

Facing fanatical resistance the US
now had to clear the Japanese out
of the Philippines, the islands of
Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.

Okinawa was the most brutal of
these battles, 160,000 Japanese
died fighting and another 110,000
died refusing to surrender

By May 1945, Allied Commander
L.Mountbatten had cleared the
Japanese out of Burma

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Battle of Okinawa

War in the East
The Atomic Bomb
The Atomic Bomb
With Germany defeated in MAy
1945, America could focus all
their forces on Japan

Soviets also promised to divert
troops to the East

Japan was clearly on the verge
of defeat

American forces were nearing
Japan and their cites had been
consistently bombed since Nov
1944

War in the East
The Atomic Bomb
The Atomic Bomb
PM Admiral Kangaroo Suzuki,
tried to negotiate peace that
would preserve the position of
the Emperor

The Allies would accept nothing
but ‘unconditional surrender’

US were concerns: 1.
Soviet involvement would mean
the growth of Stalin in the region
2. Loss of US
troops

War in the East
The Atomic Bomb
The Atomic Bomb
The Americans had been
developing the A-bomb,
through the ‘Manhattan
Project’, to use against
Germany, but they
surrendered before it was
ready

Pres. H.Truman gave the
order to drop ‘Little Boy’ over
Hiroshima on Aug 6, 1945
and ‘Fat Man’ on Nagasaki
on Aug 9, 1945

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The Atomic Bomb

War in the East
The Atomic Bomb
The Atomic Bomb
After the dropping of
the Atomic Bomb,
which killed over
240,000 civilians
immediately, the
Japanese government
surrendered.

The War was finally
over

War in the East
Why were the Allies successful in defeating
Japan?
Japan?
Several Factors in common with
defeat over the Germans:

1. The emphasis on back-up
support for the military 2.
Involvement of civilian in military
planning and logistics 3. As with
Germany, Japan neglected
these areas

Post-war surveys indicated
neglect maintenance, logistic
support, communications and
control for airfields or bases

War in the East
Japan?
Japan?

Technologically, the US began
the war at a disadvantage

The US adjusted and learned
from their mistakes to build up
naval and air superiority by
building new planes and aircraft
carriers

War in the East
Why were the Allies successful in defeating Japan?
Why were the Allies successful in defeating Japan?

A critical factor lay in 1.
Isolating Japan from its empire by
destroying its merchant marine,
navy, and naval air power
2. Japan overstretched
itself and was a small island with
limited supplies
3. The Japanese economy
couldn’t match the US capacity for
rapid expansion

By 1945 Japanese industry and
infrastructure were destroyed

5. How WWII Was Fought
The War on Land
The War on Land
The Germans learnt from WWI
and the Ludendorff offensive with
Stormtroopers,

Concentrated attacks with tactical
air cover was critical and they
developed Blitzkrieg with this in
mind

Instead of fighting a defensive
war, a offensive war that
consisted of surprise, speed and
movement using Panzers,
armored vehicles, and aircraft

5. How WWII Was Fought
The War on Land
The War on Land
1. An air strike took out the
opposing air force and
communication centers 2.
Parachutists were dropped
behind enemy lines 3.
Swift tanks and motorized
infantry-supported by air power-
would split the enemy lines
4. Allowed for
penetration into unprotected
territories 5. Encircled the
enemy 6. Thus rapid,
decisive victory was achieved

How WWII Was Fought
The War on Land
The War on Land
Blitzkrieg allowed Hitler to
achieve quick and decisive
victories that were not too
demanding in terms of
casualties and resources

The speed and surprise of
Blitzkrieg prevented countries
from mobilizing fully for total war
and had a devastating impact on
morale

How WWII Was Fought
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg

Success:

The deficiencies in equipment
was made up for with superior
tactics, speed, and organization

The element of surprise was
crucial to German success

How WWII Was Fought
Blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg
Failures: 1.
Despite quick advances, Germany
was not equipped to fight a long
war 2. Blitzkrieg was
effective in short confined areas-
this did not exist in the USSR
3.USSR was able to withstand
initial losses, reorganize their
economy and military and fight
back

By 1943 Germany had lost the
element of surprise, by 1944 the
Allies dominated the skies

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea
(the Battle for the Atlantic)

British naval power was critical
for maintaining vital trade routes
the British was dependent on

This allowed Britain to defend
its empire adn was essential to
army operations outside of
home waters

Thus, until 1944, Britain fought
mainly a naval war

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea

The German navy sufferd major
blows with the scuttling of the
‘Graf spee’ (1939) and the
sinking of the ‘Bismarck’ (1941)

German capital warships were
removed from the Atlantic as a
result

There was no Battle of Jutland,
as in WWI

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea
Sea warfare became about
controlling supply lines

1939-43 Germany and British
fought control over the Atlantic

Germany predominatly finding
success using U-Boats

By 1943 the Germans had sunk
over 3000 British Ships, which
seriously threatened the Allied
supplies

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea
To combat the U-boats, the
Allies had to both attack and
avoid them

By mid 1943 a few culminating
factors helped eliminate the U-
boat as a decisive threat:

1. Cracked Enigma codes: also
changed the Royal Navy codes
after discovering the Germans
had been deciphering them.
Thus gaining an intelligence
advantage

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea

2. High-Frequency Direction
Finder(HF/DF or ‘Huff Duff’):
provided an accurate bearing
towards any submarine that
used radio 3. Air Power:
Long-range B-24 Liberator
aircraft with short-wave radar
adn searchlights could pick
out U-boats on the surface at
night

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B-24 Liberator Bomber in action

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea

By 1943, 149/237 German
vessels sunk were victims of
aircraft and the Allies had won
the war for the Atlantic

R.Overy points notes the
importance of British and US to
undertake a revolution of
maritime strategy, which the
Germans were reluctant to do

After 1943 the Allies produced
more ships than they lost

How WWII Was Fought
The War at Sea
Naval war in the Pacific
Aircraft used in seaNaval was used the Pacific
warfare war in
very effectively in the Pacificwar in the Pacific
Naval war with
Japan

Japan used air power very effectively
in attacks against the Allies in hopes of
preventing reinforcements from
reaching the Pacific

The US access to radar, Japanese
codes, and superior shipbuilding
efficiency tipped the balance

1943-44 US shipyards out produced
aircraft carriers 7/90

The War at Sea

What was the
significance of the
Naval war and the
outcome of WWII?

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
Strategic bombing

Focused on destroying
military and industrial
infrastructure

By focusing on the
home front, strategic
bombing blurred the
lines between
combatant and non-
combatant

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
Strategic Bombing in Europe

Early in the War the RAF was
forbidden form indiscriminate
bombing

This changed when the Luftwaffe
crew bombed East London

Churchill bombed Berlin in
retaliation

Hitler responded with a full scale
air assault on Britain (the Blitz)

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
The Allies switch to
indiscriminate bombing
followed

Sir Arthur ‘Bomber” Harris was
the Commander-in-Chief of
Bomber command in 1942

Initially operated at a high cost
to RAF air crafts and did not
lead to destruction of German
morale and industry

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
The introduction of the P-51B
Mustang in 1944 changed the tide

P-51B had auxiliary fuel tanks so
it could accompany bombers all
the way to their targets and take
on the Luftwaffe

The Germans lost 900 fighters in
February and March of 1944

By June 1944, the Allies had total
air superiority

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
With the Lufwaffe defeated,
Bomber Command was able to
bomb in daylight and carry out
precision attacks on industrial
targets, such as the steel industry
in the Ruhr

Anglo-American bombing of Dresden
in Feb 1945 killed 50,00 civilians

Germans responded with V-1 and
V-2 missiles, which were
unsuccessful

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
V-1 and V-2 ballistic missiles
were targeted at London and
did produce significant
casualties

However, they could not be
mass produced and were
unreliable and inaccurate

They also came into the war
too late and diverted resources
away from development on air
crafts

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
Strategic bombing in the Pacific
From Nov 1944, the USAAF,
launching from Saipan and
Guam, relentlessly began
bombing the Japanese mainland

The bombing of Tokyo on
March 9, 1945 destroyed 1
million homes and killed more
then 80,000 civilians

April-Aug 1945, most cities were
devastated by Bomber
Command

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
Japanese fled to the villages
causing 50% absenteeism in
factories

Bombing combined with sea
blockades devastated the
economy

Climaxed with the dropping of
two atomic bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki, after which Japan
surrendered

Air power caused the collapse

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
The debate about strategic bombing

Two major criticisms against
strategic bombing: 1.
Morally wrong. The British
claimed: a. the
Germans started it, b. it
was the only way they could
respond, c. and it
ended the war more quickly

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air

2. Ineffective: Some argue the
drop of production was due to
the attrition of war, not bombing

Many critics and historians
maintin that the devastating
effects on civilian populations
made strategic bombing
immoral

How WWII Was Fought
The War in the air
The War in the air

Document Analysis:
“Photocopy”

6. WWII as a “Total War”
‘Total War’ meand that a
country uses all its human,
economic, and military
resources to fight the war. In
practical terms : 1.
Creating a fighting force using
conscription 2. Using
civilians in the war effort
3. Using all weapons
available and developing new
ones

WWII as a “Total War”
4. Government control of key
aspects of the economy 5.
Government control over the
media 6. The
targeting of civilians as well as
combatants in war

Outline in what ways were WWI
and WWII total wars?

What war is considered to be
more of a ‘Total war’?

The aims of the belligerents

Hitler’s goals were clear; total
domination and the takeover
of the USSR to provide living
space for the German
peoples.

This involved elimination of
races - Jewish people in
particular

The Allies could afford no
compromise and saw themselves
as fighting for the freedom of
Europe

The same was true in the Pacific,
where the Japanese Co-
prosperity sphere, with its aims of
political, economic, and racial
domination, were considered
unacceptable

The racial aspect of fighting
increased the will to fight until the
end for the Allies

The use of weaponry
The use of weaponry

Outline the use of
weaponry throughout
WWII and how the
Allies and Axis powers
evolved throughout
the war

The role of civilians
The role of civilians

In WWI civilian casualties
accounted for roughly 1/10,
whereas in WWII they made up
closer to 2/3 of deaths

What caused this dramatic
shift?

Deportation and genocide

The ideological and racial
aspect meant that certain
sections of civilian populations
were targeted with the intent
that they should be deported or
eliminated entirely

Hitler believed Jews in
particular were subhuman

The space that was necessary for
the Greater German Reich also
meant that the existing
populations in Poland and the
USSR had to be destroyed or
displaced

The Reich estimated ‘the
unwanted population would be
close to 50-57 million’

15% Poles, 25 % Ruthanians,
35% Ukrainians who would be
needed as laborers or deported to
Siberia

The Russian populations would
wither away through the use of
contraception, abortion, and
sterilization

The Jewish population would be
exterminated

Special SS squads called
‘Einsatzgruppen accompanied the
German army during the invasion of
Poland and the USSR, and had the
dedicated job of killing all Jews,
communists, and resisters


By July 1941, the
Einsatzgruppen had murdered
around 63,000 men women and
children, 90% of whom were
Jewish

Others such as Gypsies and
mental patients were also at
risk


The method of murdering such
large numbers of people was
very time consuming and costly

The ‘Final Solution’ was a new
method the designed to answer
the ‘Jewish question’ Sign used during the anti-Jewish boycott: "Help
liberate Germany from Jewish capital. Don't buy in
Jewish stores." Germany, 1933.
— Stadtarchiv Nürnberg


This involved transporting
Jewish people across Europe
to concentration camps and
extermination camps

Auschwitz-Burkenau was is one
of the most gruesome as
10,000 Jewish people a day
could be murdered

The Soviet Government also
deported Germans and
Tartars. Estonians,
Lithuanians, and Poles were
also dispersed to Siberia

Death tolls in E.Europe and the
USSR were at least 20 million,
more than half of which were
civilian

Poland suffered the most with
more than 6 million deaths out
of their 30 mill population


3,000,000 of these were Jewish
people and only 150,000
represent deaths in military action

Overall an estimated 1,000,000
gypsies and 6,000,000 Jewish
people were killed by the Nazis

The Japanese also had
ambitions linked to racial
superiority

Gen. Sakai yRu wrote ‘The
Chinese people are bacteria
infesting world civilization’

The Rape of Nanking and
Singapore Massacre are
examples of the implementation
of the Japanese genocidal
ideology


Overall, 10,000,000 Chinese died
at the hands of the Japanese

Filipinos, Indonesians, and Malays
were also used as slave workers,
resulting thousands of deaths

POW’s also suffered from physical
overwork, malnutrition, and abuse

Rape of East Germany: As the Soviets
pushed through to Berlin they took
revenge on the German population

‘Chief among victims were adult males
and women of any age’-Trudy Judt

Doctors and clinics reported that 87,000
women had been raped by Soviet
soldiers following the Red Army arrival in
Vienna

This number was much larger in Berlin
and does not reflect those rapes that
went unreported

Internment

German and Japanese civilians
living in America found
themselves rounded up and re-
located to interment camp by the
thousands

In America more than 100,000
Japanese had to leave their
homes and property behind

In Britain Germans and Austrian
civilians were interned

Civilians as part of the War effort

The Major combatants mobilized
between 1/2 and 2/3 of their
industrial workforce, and
devoted up to 3/4 of their
national product to waging war

This meant restrictions and
rations for civilian populations


Britain

Military conscription was
introduced by with caution to
keep key workers in important
industries

Industrial conscription was
introduced for women

Germany

Initially there was little change to
the economy

Albert Speer, Minister of
Armaments and War Production
attempted to re-organize human
resources from 1942 onwards,
but found little support

Having women in the workplace
was against Hitlers 3 K’s, Kinder,
Kirche, Kuche. ( Children, Church,Kitchen)


USSR

The centralized nature of the
USSR allowed civilians to be
easily mobilized towards the
war effort

Coercion play role

Slacking or absenteeism could
be punished by labour camps or
death

USSR

Women made up most of the
workforce

Women also volunteered for
the Red Army, latter having
three regiments (two bomber
and one fighter)

R.Overy calls the civilians of
Russia the ‘real heros’ of the
USSR’s economic revival after
the Nazi invasion


America:

Women also played a key role
in war industries

An estimated 350,000 women
also joined uniformed groups,
such as the Women’s Army
Auxiliary Corps, the Marine
Corps Women’s Reserve, adn
the Navy Nurse Corps


Japan:

The government was reluctant to
use women in the workforce

Preferring to conscript students to
women


Resistance fighters:

In all countries occupied by the
Nazis, there were civilians who
joined resistance groups, called
Partisans

They gathered intelligence, used
sabotage and murder, helped
rescue shot down pilots, and took
Jewish people into safety.

Resistance Fighters:

Research one resistance
group from one of the
follow occupied countries:
Denmark, France, Belgium,
Norway, Holland.

Find out how it was
organized, its activities, and
to what extent it had an
impact on the final defeat of
the Germans.

The growth of government power
Britain
Britain
Britain
The government extended it
powers to organize its human and
economic resources

Churchill exercised supreme
political and military power

Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour
and National Service was able to
complete the task virtually
unrestricted

Britain
Britain
Britain
Mines, shipping, and
railways came under state
control

Rationing and conscription for
both men and women were
introduced

Bevin improved the health and
welfare of the nation, improving
healthcare, nurseries, and working
conditions

Germany
Germany
Germany
The single party already existed,
yet, planning remained confused
and decentralized

1942, Albert Speer was put in
charge of the Central Planning
Board

1944, Joseph Goebbels, the
Propaganda Minister, was
appointed Commissioner for Total
Mobilization of Resources for War

Germany
Germany
Germany
According to R.Overy, neither
appointment overcame the
problems of a system that was
‘poorly co-ordinated,
uncooperative, and
obstructive’(Overy, Why the Allies
Won, 2006)

Until 1943 production focused on
quality and sophistication rather
then mass production of standard
weapons

USSR
USSR
USSR
The centralized all-powerful state
already existed

Soviet survival after 1941 was due
to careful planning and mass
production, as well as the efforts of
the people

Stalin turned the USSR into a
‘single war camp’ through a single
national war plan (1943) that
liberated restrictions previously
limiting workers from completing
objectives

USA
USA
USA
US government also assumed control
of industrial production

The War Production Board (1942)
changed production priorities to the
needs of the military. Eg. Car
factories now produced tanks and
planes.

The War Commission recruited
workers

Relied on expertise of big business in
mass production and technological
innovation

USA
USA
USA

Thus without changing the free-
market nature of the American
economy, the USA was able to
expand its manufacturing
capacity immensely, ending the
war as the most powerful
economy in the world

Japan
Japan
Japan
The military government strengthen
power through ‘voluntary’ dissolution
of main political parties and the
creation of the Imperial Rule
Assistance Association

Trade unions were replaced by the
Great Japan Patriotic Industrial
Association to oversee employers
and workers

Tight control was not productive due
to the power of the ‘Zaibatsu’ and the
Army and Navy rivalry

Propaganda
Propaganda

Propaganda remained a key
weapon

Goebbels stoked the German
fear of communism

Stalin promoted the ‘Great
Patriotic War’ and defense of
the ‘Motherland’

Propaganda
Propaganda
Change in public in the opinion in
the west came as a result of the
actions of the Axis powers rather
then through intense propaganda

Propaganda did still remain
important to the war effort for the
west

Churchill, established the Political
Warfare Executive

In America, the Office of War
Information was established

Propaganda
Propaganda

Propaganda and censorship were
used to help maintain morale,
encourage civilian thriftiness,
involve women, and stress the
evil nature of the enemy

BBC broadcast daily reports to
maintain morale and inform
resistance movements

Propaganda
Propaganda

American propaganda against the
Germans differed greatly to the
propaganda used against the
Japanese

Propaganda against Germany
stressed the Nazis evil nature

Whereas Propaganda against
Japan was of an openly racial
nature aimed at all Japanese, not
just the leaders

Propaganda
Propaganda
American propaganda
portrayed the Japanese as
primitive, uncivilized, inferior,
and were treacherous and
barbaric

The British Daily Mail
refereed to a Japan that is
“dominated by a fanatical belief int he
superiority of the Japanese race and its
mission to spread the paternal rule of the
divine Emperor....the natural outcome of
tribalism which has peristed beneath the
veneer of different cultures borrowed from
other countries” 18 Feb 1942

Propaganda
Propaganda

WWII and Total War
Essay Planning
Essay Planning

WWii and total war

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