History Unit 8 World War II Test

Events Leading to WWII

1. Treaty of Versailles - Germany not happy with War guilt cause 2. Axis powers: Germany, Italy, Japan. 3. Hitler creates treaty with Stalin (non-aggression pact) 4. 1931-Japan invades Manturia 5. 1933-Hitler comes to power 6. 1939-Hitler invades Poland, Austria, and Czechoslovakia, (this causes Britain and France to declare war on Germany) 7. December 7, 1941- Pearl Harbor, US pulled into the war when the Japanese bomb the naval fleet->Germany declares was on US because they are allies with Japan

**German Occupation of France

Germany invaded Poland and this was the first time that Germany had used their new military strategy - the blitzkrieg. Hitler annexed the western half of Poland and the soviets occupied the eastern half.

Invasion of Poland

Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. After signing the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Stalin, Hitler had a surprise attack and German tanks and troops rumbled across the Polish border. This broke their agreement, and on September 3, 1939 Britain and France declared war, starting World War II.

Rape of Nanjing (Nanking)

In 1937, Japan conquered northern China & killed 300,000 unarmed soldiers & civilians during the "Rape of Nanking" Japanese attack on Chinese capital from 1937-1938 when Japanese aggressorts slaughtered 100,000 civilians and raped thousands of women in order to gain control of China.

Bataan Death March

Japanese forced about 60,000 Americans and Philipinos to march 100 miles with little food and water, most died or were killed on the way

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with explosives and crashed them into American ships

Roosevelt

Albert Einstein wrote to FDR about creating a nuclear weapon and began the process of building it but died before it could be launched

Truman

Became President after FDR died and ordered the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 when Japan refused to surrender

Churchill

British Prime Minister who opposed the policy of appeasement and led Great Britain through World War II. The British air force fought German planes aided by radar & the ability to crack German codes in the Battle of Britain. Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed that the British would "never surrender". Met in Tehran to coordinate a plan to defeat Germany with FDR and Stalin.

End of the war in the Pacific

Dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the end of the war in the pacific.

Japanese Aggressions

In 1931, Japanese forces invaded Manchuria in order to seize its iron and coal mines, and by 1937 they conquered Northern China and killed 300,000 unarmed soldiers and civilian during the Rape of Nanjing. The League of Nations condemned Japanese aggression but did nothing to stop the attacks to maintain peace.

Spanish Civil War

In 1936 a rebellion erupted in Spain after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists, and Communists was elected. General Francisco Franco led the rebellion. The revolt quickly became a civil war. The Soviet Union provided arms and advisers to the government forces while Germany and Italy sent tanks, airplanes, and soldiers to help Franco.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

In 1939, Hitler demanded that western Poland be returned to Germany but he did not want to provoke a war with the Soviet Union. This caused Stalin & Hitler to agree to the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, promising never to attack each other. Secretly, Germany & the USSR agreed to divide Poland. Then on September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered the German military to attack Poland and they invaded them.

American Response to Early Japanese Aggressions

One of the main Japanese Aggressions were when Japan threatened to take the US colonies of Guam and the Philippines. They also attacked Pearl Harbor.

End of the war in Europe

VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day Announced the end of war in Europe in May of 1945. The Allied Forces pushed to the streets of Berlin and forced Germany to surrender.

Hitler's Aggressions

Because the League of Nations failed to stop Italian and Japanese aggressions, Hitler was encouraged to expand Germany. 1. In 1935, Hitler defied the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and expanded the size of German military. 2. In 1936, Hitler moved his army to the Rhineland ( rich in natural resources that Germany needed) -Both times the League of Nations refused to stop Hitler in order to maintain peace in Europe 3. In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria 4. Next, Hitler demanded that the western border of Czechoslovakia, an area known as the Sudetenland, be given to Germany

The Holocaust and Responses to it (don't forget the American response)

The Holocaust took place in Europe between 1993 and 1945. Six million Jews were systematically and brutally murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. Millions of non-Jews, including Roma and Sinti(Gypsies), Serbs, political dissidents, people with disabilities, homosexuals and Jehova's Witnesses, were also persecuted by the Nazis. The Nazis did this by slowly isolating the Jews. They wouldn't let them go to school, public parks, and movies where others wee at, Germans and Jews couldn't associate with each other, and they were excluded from civil services. They also encouraged Jews to leave Germany by having discriminatory laws, wouldn't allow them to obtain exit visas i unless they left behind their valuables, and used fear through Kristallnacht. The Jews were also sent to areas called ghettos which were walled off areas of a city where they were forced to live, and were not allowed to leave/enter. The conditions were bad, as it was very crowded, filthy, poor, and they had to share the scarce food, there were very little jobs and they had to give up their valuables. Jews were also deported to concentration an death camps. In the death camps/ extermination camps large amounts of people were killed in the most efficient way, while in concentration camps they were worked and starved to death or the people died of diseases there.

Causes of WWII

1. High unemployment, desperation, and feelings of betrayal led to the rise of totalitarian dictators 2. Fascist dictator's Mussolini and Hitler threatened to conquer new territories for Italy and Germany 3. Extreme nationalism and a need for raw materials led to a desire to expand in Japan under Hideki 4. Britain and France were the leaders of the League of Nations but both wanted to avoid another war, and the US was focused on the Great Depression

Battle of Britain

1940-1941 German air forces invaded Britain but the British Royal Air Force drove them out with the help of the new invention radar that let them know where the German planes were When France fell to the Nazis, Britain was the only nation at war with Germany. In 1940, Germany began a massive bombing campaign using its air force, Called the Battle of Britain. The British Air Force fought Germany plane aided by radar and the ability to crack German codes. Prime Minister Winston Churchill vowed that the British would never surrender. After 8 months, Hitler called off the attacks and focused on Eastern Europe Hitler was focused on invading Great Britain. He first wanted to knock out the Royal Air Force an then land more than 250,000 soldiers on England's shores. The German Air Force began bombing Great Britain in the summer of 1940. AT first, they targeted British airfields/factories, and then on September 7, 1940 they focused on cities so they could destroy British morale but it did not work. The RAF hit back hard even though they were outnumbered. The Germans stopped daylight raids in October 1940 in order to avoid RAF attacks. This battle continued until May 10, 1941, and they were surprised by the British resistance, Hitler decided to call his attacks and to focus on the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe, and taught many that Hitler's attacks could be stopped.

Operation Barbarossa

1941-1942 Operation Barbarossa was codename for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The Soviet Union was not prepared for this attack.The invasion occurred for many weeks until the Germans pushed 500 miles in the Soviet Union, and as the Soviet's retreated they burned everything in their way. Leningrad was under siege by September 8 and by early November it was completely cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. In order to make them surrender, Hitler was ready to stave 2.5 million people and he destroyed warehouses where the food was stored. This caused nearly 1 million people to die, but the city refused to fall. This also led to USSR joining the Allies.

Battle of Midway

1942 After the Battle of Coral sea, Japans next target was midway island which was the location of a key American airfield. Thanks to the Allied codebreakers, Admiral Nimitz, the commander and chief of the US pacific fleet, knew that a huge Japanese force was heading towards them. On June 4, the American forces hid, and allowed the Japanese to begin their assault. As the first Japanese planes got in the air, American planes attacked the Japanese fleet. Many planes were still on the decks. their strategy was successful, and by June 7, 1942 the battle was over. After this, Japan would be fighting a defensive war, rather than an offensive one.

Battle of Coral Sea

1942 As part of Japan's desire to conquer the Pacific, they began to move towards Australia. The Americans and Australians challenged this southward movement in the Battle of Coral Sea (just of the coast of Australia). In this battle, both sides used a new kind of naval warfare. The opposing sides did not fire a single shot. In fact, they often could not see one another. Instead, airplanes taking off from huge aircraft carriers attacked the ships. The Allies suffered more losses in ships and troops than the Japanese, however, the Battle of the Coral Sea was something of a victory for the Allies, they had stopped Japan's southward advance

Battle of Guadalcanal

1942-1943 After the Battle of Midway, the Allies took the offensive. General Douglas MacArthur developed a plan to handle this problem. He believed that storming each island would be too much, so they developed the island-hopping plan and seize islands that were not well defended but close to Japan. They then figured out that the Japanese were building a huge air base on the island of Guadalcanal. Then, on August 7, 1942, US marines and Australian support landed on Guadalcanal. It wasn't too hard for them, but the battle for control of the island turned into a savage toggle as both sides poured in fresh troops. The battle finally ended after 6 months.

Battle of Stalingrad

1942-1943 Unsuccessful German attack on the city of Stalingrad during World War II from 1942 to The German advance had stalled at Leningrad and Moscow in late 1941, but in the summer of 1942 Hitler sent more German troops into the USSR so they could capture Stalingrad. The battle began on August 23, 1942. The Luftwaffe went on nightly bombing raids that ruined the city. They seemed desperate but Stalin ordered his commanders to defend the city to death. The germans controlled 90% of the city by November 1942 and on November 19 the soviet troops launched a counter attack and surrounded the city and cut off supplies. Then, on February 2, 1943, the German troops surrendered to the Soviets.

El Alamein

1942-1943 The Germans advanced to El Alamein, an Egyptian village by 1942. The British forces could not go around them because of how deep in they were, so the British General Montgomery decided to do a massive frontal attack, causing the battle to begin on October 23. The Axis soldiers were surprised with the 1,000 British soldiers. They fought hard, but by November 4 Rommel's army was beaten and they fell back. As they retreated westward, the Allies launched operation Torch. On November 8, an Allied force of more than 100,000 troops - mostly Americans - landed in Morocco and Algeria. American general Dwight D. Eisenhower led this force. Caught between Montgomery's and Eisenhower's armies, Rommel's forces were finally crushed in May of 1943.

D-Day

1944 Operation Overlord (called D-Day) in June 1944 was the largest land & sea attack in history In 1943, the Allies began secretly building an invasion force in Britain. Their plan was to launch an attack on German held France across the English Channel. By May 1944, the invasion force was ready. Thousands of planes, ships, tanks, and landing craft, and more than three million troops awaited the order to attack, and General Eisenhower, the commander of this enormous force, planned to strike the coast of Normandy. The Germans knew that an attack was coming, but they did not know where it would be launched. To keep Hitler guessing, the Allies set up a huge dummy army with its own headquarters and equipment. This make-believe army appeared to be preparing to attack the French seaport. This invasion began on June 6, 1944. At dawn on that day, British, American, French, and Canadian troops fought their way onto a 60 mile stretch of beach in Normandy. The Germans had dug-in with machine guns, rocket launchers, and cannons. They sheltered behind concrete walls three feet thick. Despite heavy losses, the Allies held the beachheads. Within a month of D-Day, more than one million additional troops had landed. Then in July, the Allies punched a hole in German defenses and the U.S. Army broke out. A month later, the Allies marched triumphantly into Paris. By September they had liberated France, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Then they set their sights on Germany

Battle of the Bulge

1944-1945 The Allies pushed towards Germany from the West and at the same time, the Soviet army pushed from the East. This forced Hitler to fight a two-front war. In a desperate gamble, he decided to counterattack from the west. Hitler hoped a victory would split American and British forces and break up Allied supply lines. On December 16, 1944, German tanks broke through weak American defenses along a 785 mile front in the Ardennes. The push into Allied lines gave the campaign its name - the Battle of the Bulge. Although caught off guard, the Allied eventually pushed the Germans back. The Germans had little choice, but to retreat. After the Battle of the Bulge, the war in Europe quickly drew to a close. In late March 1945, the Allies rolled across the Rhine River into Germany. By May 1945, the Germans surrendered. However, the war was not over yet.

Battle of Okinawa

1945 American troops continued to follow the "island-hopping" campaign and were able to successfully move towards Japan by winning the Battles of Leyte Gulf, and Iwo Jima. Then on April 1, 1945 American troops moved onto the island of Okinawa, which is only about 350 miles from Southern Japan. The Japanese put up a desperate fight, using kamikaze attacks. On June 21, the war ended. The Japanese lost over 100,000 soldiers, and the Americans lost 12,000. After Okinawa the next step was Japan.

Isolationism

A policy of avoiding political or military involvement with other countries

Appeasement

Accepting demands in order to avoid conflict and to keep peace. Britain & France used appeasement with Hitler- they gave in to his demands in order to avoid war. 6 months after the Munich Conference, Hitler broke his promise and annexed all of Czechoslovakia

Eisenhower

Allied commander in WW2 in Europe; helped plan the D-Day invasion at Normandy; 34th President, took command of a joint British and American force in Morocco and Algeria

Rommel

Also known as the "Desert Fox" he was the the leader of the German African Corps. After being suspected of trying to kill Hitler, he commits suicide One of Hitler's most brilliant commanders.

Patton

American general who was involved in the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge; known for his great ability in tank warfare

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

An alliance between Italy, Germany, and Japan against communism. The Axis powers agreed to fight Soviet communism and not to interfere with one another's plans for expansion; the agreement cleared the way for these anti-democratic, aggressor powers to take even bolder steps.

Pearl Harbor

In 1941, the United States cut off sales of iron & oil with the Japanese. Japan interpreted the embargo as interfering with their right to expand, so on December 7, 1941 Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The surprise attack crippled the U.S. navy & killed 2,300 Americans. After the attack, the USA declared war on the Axis Powers & entered WWII After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese took the Philippines & threatened to take India and Australia

The European Theatre

When WWII began, Germany used a "lightning war" strategy called Blitzkrieg that relied on fast, strong attacks using air raids, artillery, and tanks. By 1940, Germany conquered Poland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, and France using this technique. The US vowed to remain neutral when WWII began. After the fall of France and attack on Britain, the US began selling war supplies to the allied powers. In 1940, Italian and German troops moved to take control of North America, meanwhile Hitler took control of the Balkans. In 1941, Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact and invaded the Soviet Union. By 1942, the Axis powers controlled most of Europe and North America but were unable to defeat Britain and the USSR. Once the USA entered the war, Stalin wanted the Allies to open a Western Front and divide the German Army. Instead, Britain and US agreed to fight the Axis Powers in North Africa (Stalin was angry). The Allies defeated the German army at the battle of EL Alamein in 1942 and then pushed the Axis Powers out of Africa. American and British troops invaded Italy, took Sicily and seized Rome in 1944. In 1945, Mussolini was captured and executed by the Italian resistance. Meanwhile, the Soviet army stopped the German attack in Moscow and Leningrad in 1942 and the Soviets defeated the German army at the Battle of Stalingrad, which was a turning point because the Russians began pushing towards German from the East. Then, in 1943, Stalin, FDR, and Churchill met in Tehran to coordinate a plan to defeat Germany. By 1944, the Allies decided to open a Western Front by invading Nazi occupied France. Operation Overload (D-Day) in June 1944 was the largest land and sea attack. Then in 1945, the Big Three met at the Yalta Conference to create a plan for Europe after the war was over. Stalin agreed to send troops to help the US invade Japan and agreed to allow self determination in nations freed from Nazi rule and agreed. They also agreed to create and join a United Nations. As the Allies pushed into Germany and Poland, troops discovered and liberated concentration and death camps. Then, in April 1945, the Soviet Army captured Berlin, Hitler committed suicide, and the German Gov signed an unconditional surrender to the Allies.

Dropping of the Atomic Bombs

When the allies won the battle of Okinawa, they began firebombing Japanese cities, but japan would not surrender. In May 1945, the war in Europe was over & U.S. began preparing for a land invasion of Japan. But, Albert Einstein wrote President Roosevelt about the potential to build a nuclear weapon. Then FDR created a secret project called the Manhattan Project. Physicist Fermi created the nuclear reaction and the bomb was secretly constructed. After FDR died, VP Truman had to decide how to end the war in the Pacific. They tested the bomb and it was successful. Once the atomic bomb was ready, they issued the Potsdam Declaration to Japan: "surrender or face destruction". When Japan refused to surrender, Truman ordered the bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. After 3 days, Japan did not surrender so a 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. After the second atomic bomb, Emperor Hirohito agreed to a surrender, which ended WWII.

The Pacific Theatre

While the European Theatre was going on, the Japanese were expanding throughout the Pacific. From 1939-1941, Japan conquered European colonies in Asia including French Indochina. Japan threatened to take the US colonies of Guam and the Philippines. Then in 1941, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese took the Philippines and threatened to take India and Australia. By 1942, Japan controlled a large empire in the Pacific, "Asia for the Asiatics." While the war was ending in Europe, the Allies continued to fight the Japanese. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway occurred, and then the fight for Guadalcanal. Then, in March 1939 Einstein wrote to FDR about an atomic bomb to drop on Hiroshima/Nagasaki because Japan was not surrendering, and it ended WWII.