Chapter 16: World War II 1939-1945 Main Ideas: 1)Germany, Italy, and Japan tried to build empires. 2) Developments in science and technology changed the.

Chapter 16: World War II1939-1945

Main Ideas: 1)Germany, Italy, and Japan tried to build empires. 2) Developments in science and technology changed the course of World War II. 3) Fighting WWII weakened European economies while the American

economy was strengthened

Section 1: Hitler’s Lighting War

Main Idea: Using the sudden mass attack called the blitzkrieg, Germany overran much of Europe and North Africa

Why it matters now: Hitler’s actions set off World War II. The results of the war still affect the politics and economics of today’s world.

Setting the Stage• Hitler had taken the Rhineland, Austria,

and Czechoslovakia– Appeasement; other nations let him

• Now Hitler wanted Poland– After World War I, Poland was given

German territory, called the Polish Corridor, to give it access to the sea; Hitler demanded this territory be given back to Germany

Germany Sparks a New War in Europe

• Stalin and Hitler had signed a nonaggression pact: had agreed to not attack each other– They also secretly agreed to divide Poland

between them• After signing this nonaggression pact, Hitler

moved ahead with plans to conquer Poland

Germany’s Lightning Attack• Germany invaded Poland using the

military strategy called blitzkrieg AKA “lightning war”– Use fast-moving planes and tanks,

followed by massive infantry forces, to take enemy defenders by surprise and quickly overwhelm them

• Germany attacked Poland on September 1, 1939 using this strategy

• France and Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939; however, Germany took Poland before they could do anything about it.

The Soviets Make their Move• As they had agreed, Germany and the Soviet

Union divided Poland among themselves– On September 17, 1939 the Soviet Union sent

troops to occupy the eastern half of Poland– The Soviet Union then moved to also occupy

Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland

The Phony War• After they declared war Germany,

France and Britain mobilized their armies and stationed them along the Maginot Line: fortifications along French-German border– Nothing happened. Neither side

attacked• The Germans called it sitzkrieg

“sitting war,” newspapers called it “the phony war.”

The Phony War Ends• On April 9, 1940, Germany ended the phony

war by launching a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway– Denmark fell in four hours; Norway 2 months later

The Fall of France• In May 1940 Hitler swept

through the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg– This kept the Allies

attention away from France

• Hitler then sent a larger force through the Ardennes (forest in northern France); from there they advanced into the northern coast of France

Fall of France- Rescue at Dunkirk

• By the end of May 1940, the Germans had trapped the Allied forces around the northern city of France, Lille– The Allies retreated to the beaches of Dunkirk, they

were trapped with their backs to the sea• Great Britain set out to rescue the army– They sent Royal Navy ships as well as civilian crafts– From May 26 to June 4, these ships sailed backed and

forth across the English Channel, taking the soldiers to safety despite heavy fire from the Germans

Rescue at Dunkirk

France Falls

• Following Dunkirk, resistance in France began to crumble. By June 14, the Germans had taken Paris

• The French surrendered to the Germans on June 22, 1940. The Germans took control of the northern part of the country– Left the southern part of France under a puppet government,

called Vichy France: French government but puppet to Nazi Germany

– Charles de Gaulle: a French General, set up a government in exile in London; he committed his energy to re-conquering France• Resistance

Nazis in France

The Battle of Britain

• With the fall of France, Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis– Winston Churchill became the prime minister of

Britain, was prime minister for the rest of the war• With France conquered, Hitler now turned to

an invasion of Great Britain– Destroy the Royal Air Force (RAF) then land

soldiers on English shores

The Battle of Britain

• Beginning the summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force, began bombing Great Britain– At firs they bombed airfields and aircraft factories– Then they began bombing cities, especially

London, to break British morale

Battle of Britain

• The RAF began to hit back hard. Two technological devices helped turned the tide in favor of the RAF

• Radar: could warn them of incoming German planes

• Enigma: German code-making machine. The British were able to get their hands on one of these machines and used it to decode German secret messages

• On May 1941, Hitler decided to call off the attacks; because British were not giving in

The Mediterranean and the Eastern Front

The Unites States Aids Its Allies