WWII 1939-1945
Dec 17, 2015
Key People
• Hitler (Germany)• Mussolini (Italy)• Hideki Tojo (Japan)• Emperor Hirohito (Japan)• De Gaulle (France)• Roosevelt (US)• Churchill (Great Britain)• Stalin (Soviet Union)
Countries/Alliances
• Axis Powers- Germany, Italy, and Japan• Allied Powers- Originally Britain, France, and
China; later joined by US and USSR
Long-term Causes
• MAIN• WWI/ Treaty of Versailles• Worldwide Economic Depression• Rise of Fascism• Weak League of Nations• Munich Pact Appeasement
Immediate Causes
• Japan invaded China• Italy invaded Ethiopia• German Aggression in Europe• Appeasement• Germany invades Poland
Italy Invades Ethiopia in 1935
“It is us today. Tomorrow it will be you….God and history will remember your judgment.”- Haile Selassie
Munich Pact• “We will have peace in our time”~British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain after negotiating peace with Hitler
• Hitler gets to keep all the countries in Europe he took over as long as he promises not to invade anymore countries
Kristallnacht
• Night of the Broken Glass
• November 9, 1938• Jewish owned stores,
synagogues, homes were looted and burned by Nazi storm troopers as they shouted “Death to the Jews” and “Revenge for Paris”
Aspects of WWII• London Blitz• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression
Pact Operation Barbarossa• Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor• US declares war• Kamikaze Pilots• Bataan Death March• Holocaust exposed• Unit 731: Nightmare in
Manchuria• D-Day• VE Day• Bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki• VJ Day
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Hitler signs an agreement with Stalin not to touch the Soviet Union invades Soviet Union in 1941 (Operation Barbarossa)
US declares war
• December 7th- “a day that will live in infamy”
• Pres. Roosevelt declared war on Japan on Dec. 8 1941.
Immediate Effects
• Hitler and common law wife commit suicide
• Mussolini and mistress Clareta Petacci are hung in Milan
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• US bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan
• In total, 110,000 killed immediately;
• 100, 000’s would die in the years to follow of cancer and radiation poisoning
VJ Day- September 2, 1945
• Japan surrenders agrees to dismantle its military and become a democracy
Immediate Effects
• Creation of UN• Universal Declaration of
Human Rights• Nuremberg Trials• Creation of State of
Israel• Beginning of Cold War
Creation of the UN
• United Nations- International organization with member nations whose goal is to promote world peace
• Founded October 24, 1945
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Article 3: Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. . . .
• Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. . . .
• Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. . . .
• — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Nuremberg Trials
• War crime trials held in Nuremburg after World War II to try the surviving Nazis concerning the Holocaust, aggressive war making, and mistreatment of prisoners among other things.
Creation of the State of Israel
• “. . . The Nazi holocaust, which engulfed millions of Jews in Europe, proved anew the urgency of the re-establishment of the Jewish state, which would solve the problem of Jewish homelessness by
• opening the gates to all Jews and lifting the Jewish people to equality in the family of nations. . . .” (Zionism)
Long-term Effects
• Mideast Peace Crisis• Cold War• Arms Race• Space Race• Colonial Independence Movements
Arms Race
• Source: Ellis and Esler,World History: Connections to Today, Prentice Hall, 2001 (adapted)
Capitalism v Communism
• Source: Student Artwork: Shaneekwa Miller, Fashion Industries High School (adapted)