World History - WW2 Review

Reasons for Japanese expansion across Asia and attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor.

1931 - Japan expands into China, for raw materials to help industrialize. Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of Japanese forces from Manchuria and China, the United States imposed economic sanctions on Japan. Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia. Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack severely damaged the American fleet and prevented, at least for the short term, serious American interference with Japanese military operations. In response, the United States declared war on Japan.

Roosevelt

32nd president of the United States (1933-45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, and he served as the principal architect of the successful effort to rid the world of German National Socialism and Japanese militarism.

U.S. Island hopping campaign (Leyte Gulf, Okinawa, Iwo Jima)

After the Battle of Midway, the Allies went on the offensive. They followed a strategy of capturing Japanese-held islands using them as stepping-stones. Each captured island became a base for attacks on other islands. A tactic known as leapfrogging—bypassing or "jumping over" certain islands—allowed them to carry out this strategy with limited resources. Cut off from reinforcements and supplies, Japanese forces on the bypassed islands were left to wither. Battle of Leyte Gulf, (Oct. 23-26, 1944) Decisive air and sea battle of World War II that gave the Allies control of the Pacific. After the U.S. amphibious landing on the Philippine island of Leyte (Oct. 20), the Japanese reacted with a plan to decoy the U.S. fleet north while moving three attack forces into Leyte Gulf. The U.S. discovery of one of the forces as it moved into position set off three days of continuous surface and air clashes. In the largest naval battle of the war, U.S. forces crippled the Japanese fleet and forced it to withdraw, allowing the U.S. to complete its invasion of the Philippines. The Allied push through the Pacific steadily shrank the defensive perimeter the Japanese had established around Japan. That perimeter disappeared after the Allies captured the key islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa in early 1945. Iwo Jima's airfields provided a base for fighter planes to escort bombers over Japan. Control of Okinawa, just 310 miles south of Japan, gave Americans a staging area for an invasion of Japan itself. On the small volcanic island of Iwo Jima, the defenders dug caves, tunnels, and concrete-lined bunkers. Three months of Allied bombardment before the February 1945 invasion did little to soften these defenses. The month-long land battle was among the bloodiest of the war. Nearly all of the 22,000 Japanese troops fought to their deaths. More than 6,800 American troops died. To take the much larger Okinawa, the Allies mounted a huge invasion in April 1945. More than 1,200 American and British ships, including 40 aircraft carriers, supported a force of 182,000 American troops. As on Iwo Jima, the 120,000 troops defending Okinawa fiercely resisted the invaders. The Battle of Okinawa continued for two months. It claimed the lives of more than 100,000 Japanese people and some 12,000 American soldiers.

-German invasion of the Soviet Union (Leningrad & Stalingrad)

Battle of Stalingrad, (July 17, 1942-February 2, 1943), successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), Russia, U.S.S.R., during World War II. Russians consider it to be one of the greatest battles of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. Siege of Leningrad, also called 900-day siege, prolonged siege (September 8, 1941-January 27, 1944) of the city of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in the Soviet Union by German and Finnish armed forces during World War II. The siege actually lasted 872 days. Lake Ladoga.

-The Battle for Berlin

By April 1945, the Red Army had fought its way through Poland and into Germany, to the outskirts of Berlin. On April 30, with advancing Soviet soldiers just half a mile from his Berlin bunker, Hitler killed himself. German forces quickly began surrendering. On May 8—Victory in Europe Day, or V-E Day—the war in Europe officially ended.

Patton

Commanded the Seventh United States Army in the Mediterranean theater of World War II, and the Third United States Army in France and Germany after the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. He is well known for liberating on behalf of the us for liberating germany.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During ww2, A U.S. Army general who held the position of supreme Allied commander in Europe, among many others. Eisenhower was perhaps best known for his work in planning Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of Europe. After the war, he was a very popular figure in the United States and was elected to two terms as U.S. president, taking office in 1953.

-How did these new technologies change warfare and nations?

From microwaves to space exploration, the scientific and technological advances of World War II forever changed the way people thought about and interacted with technology in their daily lives. The growth and sophistication of military weapons throughout the war created new uses, as well as new conflicts, surrounding such technology. World War II allowed for the creation of new commercial products, advances in medicine, and the creation of new fields of scientific exploration. Almost every aspect of life in the United States today—from using home computers, watching the daily weather report, and visiting the doctor—are all influenced by this enduring legacy of World War II.

-Oscar Schindler

German businessman, wanted to make money from Jewish labor, but had a change of heart. - Used his factories to shield Jews from Germans.

Zhukov

He was a Soviet marshal and the most important Soviet military commander during World War II. He directed a successful counteroffensive against Japanese forces there in 1939. During the Winter War, Zhukov served as chief of staff of the Soviet army. He was named a marshal of the Soviet Union soon afterward. He also commanded the red army to drive to germans from ukraine and belorussian region and the attack on berlin.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact

Hitler needed the Soviet Union to remain neutral if Britain and France went to war. The geography of such a war concerned him. The Soviet Union lay to the east of Germany, while Britain and France lay to the west. Hitler did not want to fight on two fronts, east and west, at the same time. For that reason, Soviet neutrality was vital. The Nazis and Communists despised and distrusted each other, so the world was shocked when Hitler and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin signed a nonaggression treaty in August 1939. The pact served the interests of both leaders. Hitler no longer had to worry about going to war with the Soviets before he was ready. For Stalin, the pact satisfied his desire for more power and for secure borders. In return for Stalin's pledge not to attack Germany, Hitler secretly promised him a part of Poland and a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. Paris soon fell to the Germans as well. Mussolini took this opportunity to declare war on Great Britain and France. On June 22, France surrendered to Germany. Under the terms of the armistice, Germany occupied three-fifths of the country. A puppet government ruled the unoccupied region. It was called Vichy France, for the town that was its capital.

Why Dunkirk was a "miracle" for the British & "Never Surrender" Speech.

Hitler then switched his focus to the west. He moved 2 million soldiers to Germany's border with France and the Low Countries—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. As its main defense, France relied on the Maginot Line, a string of heavily armed fortresses along the German border. British forces crossed the English Channel and prepared to aid France and the Low Countries. For the next few months, not much happened. Newspapers began referring to this as the "Phony War." Suddenly, Hitler struck in a series of lightning actions. In April 1940, German forces launched surprise attacks on Denmark and Norway. Within a few weeks, they had conquered these two Scandinavian countries. Then on May 10, the Germans invaded the Low Countries. In 18 days, those three nations were in German hands. Using Blitzkrieg tactics, the German army burst through Luxembourg and southern Belgium into France in just four days. Skirting the Maginot Line, the Germans sped westward toward the French coast. Hundreds of thousands of French and British troops found themselves trapped in a shrinking pocket of French countryside. They retreated toward the port of Dunkirk on the northwest coast of France. Britain sent every boat it could find across the English Channel to evacuate the soldiers. The daring rescue saved some 338,000 men.

-Dr. Joseph Mengele (5 examples of experiments on prisoners & why were they done?)

I. Head doctor at Auschwitz, performed experiments on prisoners. a. Freezing Temps b. High Altitude c. Sea Water d. Artificial Insemination and/or Sterilization e. Eye Color f. Horrific experiments on twin children, experimental surgeries.

The Munich Agreement.

In September 1938, the prime ministers of Great Britain and France met with Italy's Benito Mussolini and German dictator Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany. The British and French leaders feared that Hitler's actions were pushing Europe toward another war. He had demanded parts of neighboring Czechoslovakia, which Britain and France were pledged to defend. Instead, the two leaders agreed to Hitler's demands. Hitler and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain declared their desire to resolve further differences through consultation rather than war. Cheering crowds, relieved that the threat of war had passed, welcomed Chamberlain home. Britain had achieved "peace with honor," Chamberlain claimed. "I believe it is peace for our time." However, not everyone was convinced.By signing the Munich Pact in September 1938, he acquired the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia. He told Chamberlain that this would be his "last territorial demand." Just six months later, however, Hitler revealed that he wanted more than to bring all ethnic Germans into the German Reich. In March 1939, he annexed Bohemia, an ethnically Czech region.

Yamamoto

Isoroku Yamamoto (April 4, 1884-April 18, 1943) was the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet during World War II. It was Yamamoto who planned and executed the attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Initially against war, Yamamoto nevertheless planned and participated in many of the most important battles of the war.

-Reasons against using the bombs

Japan was on the verge of surrender. The USA could have tried harder to get a Japanese surrender. There was no need to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

-Allied bombing of German Cities (Dresden, Me262)

Hitler's losses in the Soviet Union left Germany with only one major source of oil—Romania. The Romanian oil fields became a prime target of Allied bombing. However, the Allies' main target in their air campaign was Germany. American pilots typically launched daytime raids. They favored aiming at specific targets such as oil refineries, railroads, and factories with the intent of disrupting Germany's ability to supply and equip its fighting forces. By the end of the war, Germany's infrastructure and economy were in ruins. British pilots relied mainly on saturation bombing, or the rapid release of a large number of bombs over a wide area. They usually flew nighttime raids over enemy cities. The strategy behind bombing cities, with its appalling loss of life, was to destroy civilian morale and force a surrender. This tactic turned German cities like Dresden and Hamburg into rubble-strewn graveyards. However, it did not bring an early end to the war. American military officials denied these appeals. They said they could not afford to divert resources from military targets. Their main goal was to hasten the end of the war.

3 examples of Hitler violating the Treaty of Versailles.

In 1936, also, Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles by moving troops into the Rhineland demilitarised zone. Hitler also broke the Treaty of Versailles in 1938 by invading Austria and declaring Anschluss. By the end of 1938, Hitler was doing the same thing in the Sudentenland, which the Treaty of Versailles had given to Czechoslovakia.

-Who was sent to camps and why?

Jews, Homosexuals, Gypsies, Mentally and Physically Disabled, Communists, others. 1st concentration camps were filled with political prisoners. Ex: Communists. They were sent to camps as the disabled people or the ill ones cant work and contribute to society so they are viewed as a burden so they wanted to eradicate them as for others political opposers or even normal offenders were viewed as the enemy of the state as they were a threat to nazi germany and hitlers ambitious third reich *6-7 million Jews, Roma, Gypsies, and others murdered.

people of ww2

listed consecutively:-

-Nagasaki "Fat Man"

"Fat Man" (also known as Mark III) is the codename for the type of nuclear bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States on 9 August 1945. It was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the first being Little Boy, and its detonation marked the third nuclear explosion in history.The name Fat Man refers to the early design of the bomb because it had a wide, round shape. Fat Man was an implosion-type nuclear weapon with a solid plutonium core

The Atomic Bombs -Hiroshima "Little Boy"

"Little Boy" was the codename for the type of atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 during World War II. It was the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. The bomb was dropped by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay piloted by Colonel Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., commander of the 509th Composite Group of the United States Army Air Forces and Captain Robert A. Lewis. It exploded with an energy of approximately 15 kilotons of TNT (63 TJ) and caused widespread death and destruction throughout the city. The Hiroshima bombing was the second man-made nuclear explosion in history, after the Trinity nuclear test.

-Chiune Sugihara

- Japanese diplomat in Lithuania who issued thousands of illegal visas to Jews.

-Irena Sendler

- Polish nurse, saved over 2,500 Jewish children, smuggled them to safety.

Events of WW2 -Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, was the first in a series of strikes against Allied territory in the Pacific. Within hours, Japanese planes had also attacked U.S. bases in the Philippines and British forces in Hong Kong, and Japanese troops landed in Malaya. By the end of March 1942, the Japanese had captured Hong Kong and Singapore, the American islands of Guam and Wake, and the oil-rich Dutch East Indies. Japan had also invaded several larger possessions of the Allies, including the American-held Philippine Islands and the British colony of Burma.Japan's string of victories in the Pacific hurt the Allies' confidence. To boost morale, President Roosevelt asked for a strike on the Japanese home islands.On April 18, 1942, 16 bombers took off from the U.S. carrier Hornet, which had sailed to within 650 miles of Japan, to bomb Tokyo and other Japanese cities.The Americans also learned of Japanese activity far to the south in the Coral Sea. The Japanese were moving into position to isolate Australia, a key ally.The resulting Battle of the Coral Sea, in early May 1942, was fought entirely by carrier-based aircraft.Despite the fairly even losses, the Americans gained a strategic victory and blocked Japanese expansion to the south.American forces achieved this goal at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. The Americans intercepted a Japanese message telling of plans for a major offensive. They figured out that the target was the U.S. base at Midway.When it was in striking distance, American planes from Midway and from three aircraft carriers demolished the enemy force. All four Japanese carriers and about 300 aircraft were destroyed. Japan never recovered from these losses. The Battle of Midway was Japan's last offensive action.

Oppenheimer

Robert Oppenheimer is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for leading the Manhattan Project, the program that developed the first nuclear weapon during World War II.

Rommel

Rommel was a highly decorated officer in World War I and He was a very respected and highly decorated german field marshal during ww2.Appointed Commander of Afrika Korps but soon promoted to field marshal then came back to Europe In 1944 Rommel was entrusted with the defense of France's Channel coast against a possible Allied invasion.

-Raoul Wallenberg

Swedish diplomat issued ten of thousands of visas to Jews in Hungary. - Arrested by the Russians, never seen again.

Truman

The 33rd U.S. president, who succeeded Franklin D. Roosevelt upon Roosevelt's death in April 1945. Truman, who led the country through the last few months of World War II, is best known for making the controversial decision to use two Atomic Bombs against Japan in August 1945. After the war, Truman was crucial in the implementation of the Marshall Plan, which greatly accelerated Western Europe's economic recovery.

Nanking atrocities, Westerners (names) who helped and why?

The actual military invasion of Nanking was preceded by a tough battle at Shanghai that began in the summer of 1937. Chinese forces there put up surprisingly stiff resistance against the Japanese Army which had expected an easy victory in China. The Japanese had even bragged they would conquer all of China in just three months. The stubborn resistance by the Chinese troops upset that timetable, with the battle dragging on through the summer into late fall. This infuriated the Japanese and whetted their appetite for the revenge that was to follow at Nanking. Their first concern was to eliminate any threat from the 90,000 Chinese soldiers who surrendered.They the unleashed their brutality- Smiling soldiers can be seen conducting bayonet practice on live prisoners, decapitating them and displaying severed heads as souvenirs, and proudly standing among mutilated corpses. Some of the Chinese POWs were simply mowed down by machine-gun fire while others were tied-up, soaked with gasoline and burned alive. Old women over the age of 70 as well as little girls under the age of 8 were dragged off to be sexually abused. More than 20,000 females (with some estimates as high as 80,000) were gang-raped by Japanese soldiers.The incredible carnage - citywide burnings, stabbings, drownings, strangulations, rapes, thefts, and massive property destruction - continued unabated for about six weeks, from mid-December 1937 through the beginning of February 1938. Young or old, male or female, anyone could be shot on a whim by any Japanese soldier for any reason. Corpses could be seen everywhere throughout the city. The streets of Nanking were said to literally have run red with blood. Back in Nanking, however, all was not lost. An extraordinary group of about 20 Americans and Europeans remaining in the city, composed of missionaries, doctors and businessmen, took it upon themselves to establish an International Safety Zone. Using Red Cross flags, they brazenly declared a 2.5 square-mile area in the middle of the city off limits to the Japanese. On numerous occasions, they also risked their lives by personally intervening to prevent the execution of Chinese men or the rape of women and young girls. These were the Westerners Who Saved Over 200,000- German - John Rabe (leader, spokesman,German businessman and Nazi Party member) Rev. John Magee- Played a role in saving thousands of Chinese from being murdered by the Japanese, setting up a refugee hospital to take care of wounded soldiers and refugees, and serving as chairman of the Nanking Branch of the International Red Cross and as a member of the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone Minnie Vautrin- "Goddess of Mercy" was an American missionary, diarist, educator and president of Ginling College. She was a Christian missionary in China for 28 years. she saved Minnie Vautrin, one of only two foreign women who remained in Nanjing, was one such individual. She was a woman of courage and conviction. As a key member of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Vautrin directed the efforts to specifically protect women and girls from the Japanese soldiers ; she would go in front of them and tell the japanese soldiers to kill her before going after them. Dr. Robert Wilson- During the Nanjing Massacre, Wilson was the main surgeon responsible for treating the victims of the ongoing atrocities (although several nurses were still available) and, along with John Rabe and Minnie Vautrin, was instrumental in the establishment of the Nanjing Safety Zone, which sheltered more than 200,000 people George Ashmore Fitch (missionary) - Snuck out movies reels of the atrocities to the USA.

-Reasons for using the bombs

The cost in lives of an invasion:- The Japanese were not willing to consider surrender:- It was the Atomic bombings that ended the war

People who defied the Nazis -The White Rose Movement (members and how they defied the Nazis, what happened to them?)

The group's founder, Hans Scholl, and his sister Sophie grew up outside Munich. Their father instilled in them a strong moral compass and a religious worldview. Hans wanted to become a doctor, and when he was drafted, he was posted as a medic in France. After a tour of duty, he went back to the University of Munich to continue his medical studies. Sophie soon joined him as an undergraduate. Hans read widely — Plato, Socrates, St. Augustine and Pascal — and decorated his dorm room with Modernist French art. He attracted a circle of like-minded students: Alexander Schmorell, the son of a doctor; Christoph Probst, a young father of two toddlers; and Willi Graf, a thoughtful introvert. They soon found an intellectual mentor in Kurt Huber, a professor of philosophy and ardent believer in liberal democracy. In the summer of 1942, Hans and his friends — inspired by the sermons of the anti-Nazi bishop of Münster — began to distribute typewritten leaflets denouncing the regime.The members of the White Rose declared that all those who stood by were complicit and implored all citizens to engage in "passive resistance" to the Nazi state. They condemed the regime and were against killing of jews as they too were humans and as he reflected upon jews he told us that we have to ignore the fuhrer bring democracy to europe and also defeat was inevitable as all fronts were approaching. Sophie noticed that there were more copies in their suitcase and headed to the top of the stairs, which overlooked an atrium. She hurled the remaining leaflets in the air and watched as they drifted down the stairwell. The maintenance man, Jakob Schmid, an ardent Nazi, was watching. He immediately locked the doors and notified the authorities. The siblings were hauled to the Wittelsbach Palace, the headquarters of the Gestapo. Soon after, Probst, whose wife had had a third child weeks before, was also arrested. The three were interrogated for several days, but they refused to implicate others. All three were found of guilty of high treason and sentenced to death. Within hours, they were executed by guillotine. Before Hans placed his head upon the block, his final words echoed through the prison: "Long live freedom." Within weeks, the other core members of the White Rose were apprehended and executed.

-Allied invasion of Normandy

To meet that goal, Allies focused most of their resources in 1944 on an invasion of France. General Eisenhower directed the effort. To prepare for the invasion, he gathered more than 1.5 million troops in southern England.Troops would cross the English Channel by ship to Normandy, in northern France.In July, an American army under General Omar Bradley and a British army under General Bernard Montgomery began a rapid sweep across France. In August, the Allies liberated Paris. In September, the first American troops crossed the French border into Germany.

-Euthanasia (T4 Program)

prelude to holocaust Euthanasia -painless daeth for choronically ill people t4 program: gov program to kill the mentally and physically disabled people people wanted it to stop as they were horrified gov stopped but continued in war

Holocaust "Abeit Mach Frei" translation & use.

translation- work make free. It was written on camps because they wanted to make the jews think that if they worked hard enough in the camps they will be set free from them which was untrue as later on the will killed in death camps.