World War 2 began in 1939 after Germany invaded Poland. Germany was led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, who had risen to power in 1933. Hitler aggressively expanded German territory by remilitarizing the Rhineland in 1936 and annexing Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938. In 1939, Germany formed an alliance with the Soviet Union and invaded Poland, prompting Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Germany then quickly conquered Western Europe using the new "blitzkrieg" approach of coordinated air and land attacks. The U.S. initially remained neutral through isolationist policies, but began providing aid to Britain through acts like Lend-Lease. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the U.

1. World War II

2. Adolph Hitler & Nazi Germany
Adolph Hitler & Nazis
given emergency dictatorial
powers in March 1933
Used resentment of treaty &
Jews as scapegoats
Nuremburg Laws (1935)
Kristallnacht
Began secretly rebuilding
military in 1935
Reoccupied Rhineland in
1936
Aftermath of Kristallnacht
SS Blood Flag Ritual

3. Axis Aggression & Appeasement
March 1938:
Sept. 1938: British & French
accepted German annexation of
Sudetenland at Munich
Conference (appeasement)
Aug. 1939: Germany & USSR
agreed to divide eastern Europe in
Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact
Sept. 1, 1939: Germany invaded
Poland
Sept. 3, 1939: Britain & France
declared war on Germany
© 2000 Wadsworth / Thomson Learning
Benito Mussolini & Adolph Hitler

4. The European Theater, 1939-41
Blitzkrieg
revolutionized warfare
Planes
Tanks
April 1940: Germany
conquered Denmark &
Norway
May 1940: Germany
overran Low Countries
June 1940: France
surrendered to
Germany

5. American Isolationism
Nye Committee (1934-37)
investigated whether the U.S. had
been duped into entering World
War I
1937 Gallup Poll showed 2/3 of
Americans thought U.S.
involvement in WWI had been a
mistake
1937 Neutrality Act:
Copyright 1997 Prentice-Hall

6. The Arsenal of Democracy
Nov. 1939 – Neutrality Act amended to allow arms
sales to belligerents
July 1940 – Republicans Henry Stimson & Frank Knox
brought into cabinet as War & Navy Secretaries
Sept. 1940 –
Destroyer-Base Deal
Selective Service Act –
March 1941 – Lend-Lease Act
U.S. got into undeclared naval war in Atlantic
escorted British convoys – several shooting incidents in fall
Marines took over Greenland & Iceland to secure route

7. Declaring War Aims
Aug. 1941 – FDR &
Churchill meet & issue
Atlantic Charter:
Collective security
Disarmament
Norman Rockwell,
“Freedom of Worship”
Churchill & Roosevelt, Aug. 1941

8. Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941
Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martins

9. U.S.-Japanese Conflict
Japanese had long resented U.S.
immigration policy & coveted
Philippines
After Japan signed Tripartite
Pact (Sept. 1940) & joined Axis,
U.S. embargoed aviation fuel &
scrap metal
MAGIC intercepts revealed attack
was coming, but not where it
would come
Hideki Tojo,
Japanese
Prime Minister
1941-44

10. The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese fleet crossed
Pacific in radio silence
60 ships
6 carriers with 360 planes
U.S. lost:
U.S. aircraft carriers
spared because out at
sea on exercises
USS Shaw
USS Arizona

11. Aerial Photo of Pearl Harbor

12. The War in Europe
Stalin wanted second
front immediately
British preferred to
attack “soft underbelly”
(N. Africa & Italy)
Russians deserve most
of the credit for winning
the war in Europe
Battle of Stalingrad

13. The War in Europe
Nov. 1942: U.S. & British
land at Casablanca
July 1943: U.S. & British
invade Sicily, then Italy
June 1944: Normandy
invasion (Operation
Overlord)
May 7, 1945 =

14. Race War in the Pacific

15. The Bataan Death March

16. The War in the Pacific
Turning point =
U.S. Strategy: “island-
hopping”
Victory at Leyte Gulf (Oct.
1944) began reconquest of
Philippines
Bloodbaths at Iwo Jima
(Feb.-March 1945) &
Okinawa (April-June 1945),
coupled with kamikaze
attacks, made invasion of
Japan unappealing
U.S. dropped atomic bombs on
Hiroshima (Aug. 6) &
Nagasaki (Aug. 9)
Aug. 14/15, 1945 = V-J Day

17. The Pacific Theater
Marines Raising the Flag on Mt.
Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Feb. 1945
Gen. Macarthur Returns to the Philippines

18. WWII Deaths
USSR = 25 million
China = 15 million
Poland = 6 million
Germany = 4 million
Japan = 2 million
Yugoslavia 1.5 – 2
million
USA = 400,000
U.S. Military Cemetery, Normandy

19. The Home Front
War Production Board oversaw
plant conversion & production
Big business benefitted the most
Received 2/3 of gov’t contracts
Corporate profits doubled, 1939-43
Union membership rose from 8.5
million to 14.75 million, 1940-45
Wages rose 135%, 140-45
6 million women entered workforce
• 2.5 million in industry
• 75% married

20. WWII Propaganda Posters

21. Internment of Japanese Americans
300,000 aliens (1/2 Japanese)
rounded up in week after Pearl
Harbor
FDR issued Executive Order
9066 Feb. 19, 1942
120,000 (2/3 U.S. citizens)
West coast, but not Hawaii
War Relocation Authority ran
internment camps
Upheld by Supreme Court in
Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
Nisei 442nd
Regiment one of the
most highly decorated units in
WW II