Overview
During the 1930’s, Hitler began what is known as a “lightning war”, or blitzkrieg. During World War I, the Allies gave port cities from Germany over to Poland, and in 1939, Hitler demanded to have them returned to him in a speech he made to Reichstag (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/blbk13.asp). “Hitler's only real concern was that a sudden German invasion of Poland might alarm Stalin and trigger a war with the Soviet Union” (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/invasion_poland_01.shtml). Stalin had been excluded from the Munich Conference, so when Hitler offered to divide up Poland between the two of them, Stalin agreed to do so rather than help the west. This agreement between Stalin and Hitler was called the non aggression pact, which essentially ensured neither country would attack each other, that they would divide Poland between themselves, and had secretly allowed for the Soviets to take over Finland, and the Baltic countries (http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005156). On September 1, 1939, Germany attacked Poland, “This was characterized by extensive bombing early on to destroy the enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, followed by a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery” (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-invades-poland). Poland fell, and Germany annexed the western half of it. Two days after the invasion, September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany. On September 17, Stalin annexed eastern Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. They attempted to annex Finland as well, but failed to do so due to the extremely harsh winter. On April 9, 1940, Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway in order to be able to attack Britain more easily. With bigger plans for attacking France, Hitler quickly defeated Belgium, Luxembourg, and Holland. Soon after he sent troops through northeastern France and Luxembourg: the Ardennes. On May 26, 1940, Germany trapped the Allies, the Allies then quickly headed to the beaches of Dunkirk, where the British Navy came in and evacuated them. On June 22, 1940, France surrendered and Germany took control of the northern part. Germany attempted to take over Britain, but the Battle of Britain ended on May 10, 1941. “On June 22, 1941, Adolf Hitler launched his armies eastward in a massive invasion of the Soviet Union: three great army groups with over three million German soldiers, 150 divisions, and three thousand tanks smashed across the frontier into Soviet territory” (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/operation-barbarossa). Although the invasion was brutal, the Soviets did not surrender. The U.S was at this point not involved in the war, but Roosevelt and Churchill secretly met together to create the Atlantic Charter “The President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, being met together, deem it right to make known certain common principles in the national policies of their respective countries on which they base their hopes for a better future for the world” (http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/atlantic.asp). Germany began a naval war with America when they fired a U-boat on a U.S destroyer on September 4, 1941.
Japan, seeking more natural resources and more room for their overpopulation, began expanding in 1931. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack against America. Japan flew over Pearl Harbor and began bombing. “The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes” (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor). America had stayed out of World War II up until then, but this attack drew them in. On December 8, the US declared war on Japan. Franklin D. Roosevelt said that it was “a date which will live in imfamy” (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm). After the attack, Japan began taking over more and more countries, for example: Guam, Wake Island, the island of Corregidor, Hong Kong (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16526765), the Dutch East Indies, and Burma. Burma road was one of China’s major ways of obtaining supplies, once Japan seized it they shut it down, cutting China off. In the new lands, Japanese started the Bataan Death March, where they brutally treated 150,000 prisoners of war. “By the first of April, 1942, most of the starving men had lost as much as thirty percent of their body weight and they became so weak that they could barely lift their weapons. As medical supplies ran out, malaria, dysentery and other tropical diseases ravaged their ranks” (http://www.army.mil/asianpacificsoldiers/history/bataan.html). Japan then sought after American airfield, Midway island. “One of Japan’s main goals during WWII was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. Japan hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing dominance in the region” (http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/midway.html). As the Japanese came into Midway, American carrier planes began to attack the Japanese ships. This US strategy was very successful and allowed them to win the Battle. “This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles.” (http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/midway.html). Island-hopping was a strategy created by Douglas MacArthur, where they would seize Japanese islands and then cut off supplies to their troops.
Hitler believed that the Aryans, the German people, where the superior race. This deep nationalism lead Hitler to begin wiping out the Jewish people, along with Gypsies, Polish, disabled, and anyone else who did not fit his expectation for a German. In 1933, the Holocaust began. Hitler blamed the Jewish people for their downfall in World War I, and for their economic struggles (http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/why-the-jews.shtml). On September 5, 1935, Hitler set in place the Nuremberg Laws. These laws denied Jews the right to citizenship, from marrying a non- Jew, and from most political rights (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695). “In 1937 and 1938, the government set out to impoverish Jews by requiring them to register their property and then by "Aryanizing" Jewish businesses. This meant that Jewish workers and managers were dismissed, and the ownership of most Jewish businesses was taken over by non-Jewish Germans who bought them at bargain prices fixed by Nazis” (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695). All Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so the Nazis could easily tell apart a Jew from a non- Jew. On November 9, 1938, Nazis began attacking Jewish communities, synagogues, and homes. “By the end of the rampage, gangs of Nazi storm troopers had destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported some 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX99.html).This was called Kristallnacht, and after that night, Jews were scared of what else was to come and began emigrating out of Germany into the U.S, Britain, France, etc. This pleased Hitler and he began trying to get more and more Jews to emigrate. These countries though did not want any more people coming in, so Hitler created ghettos in Poland. The ghettos were very crowded areas designated for the Jews. “All ghettos had the most appalling, inhuman living conditions. The smallest ghetto housed approximately 3,000 people. Warsaw, the largest ghetto, held 400,000 people. Lódz, the second largest, held about 160,000” (http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/ghettos.htm). Hitler had intended for them to starve to death or die from disease in the ghettos, but he grew impatient and launched his plan: the Final Solution. The Jews were taken out of the ghettos and brought to concentration camps. The prisoners were given extremely hard jobs to do, fed very minimal amounts of food, and were beaten severely by the Nazis and the guards. Those who were not starved or worked to death in 1942 were brought to crematoriums, where they would be gassed.
Hitler hoped that 1942 would be as successful as the previous year had been, fortunately for the Allies, it was the opposite. Winston Churchill convinced America and Britain to attack North Africa and South Europe, which Stalin was opposed to. In June 1942, British general Erwin Rommel seized Tobruk. Soon after, Bernard Montgomery took control of British forces in North Africa. August 23,1942 was the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. Germany invaded the Russian city of Stalingrad, breaking the ten year non aggression pact signed by Hitler and Stalin in 1939 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/22/newsid_3526000/3526691.stm). In November 1942, Germany controlled about ninety percent of the city. The Soviet’s that were not in the city began to counterattack, trapping the Germans inside the city and cutting off their supplies. Although the counterattack was successful, “The death toll at Stalingrad was immense. About a half million Red Army soldiers died in the battle, more people than Great Britain or the United States lost in the entire war” (http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-2/ep2_battle_stalingrad.html). On July 10, 1943, the Allies seized Sicily from the Italian and German troops. “When the struggle was over, Sicily became the first piece of the Axis homeland to fall to Allied forces during World War II” (http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-16/72-16.htm). In 1944, the Allies were planning an attack in the coast of Normandy, France. Hitler suspected an attack coming his way, but he was not sure where or when it would happen. In order to trick him, the Allies set up a dummy army and created a false plan called Operation Overlord. The actual attack, the D-Day Invasion, happened on June 6, 1944. The invasion was a successful one, liberating France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the Netherlands. On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide, and on May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted the surrender of the Third Reich. The Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945 ending the war. They wrote the Instrument of Surrender document. The second paragraph stated, “We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated” (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/japanese_surrender_document/).
World War II was one of the most devastating wars in history. After the war, thousands of people died from famine and disease. The allies held the Nuremberg Trials, where they put Nazi leaders on trial. “Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most of the defendants admitted to the crimes of which they were accused, although most claimed that they were simply following the orders of a higher authority. Those individuals directly involved in the killing received the most severe sentences. Other people who played key roles in the Holocaust, including high-level government officials, and business executives who used concentration camp inmates as forced laborers, received short prison sentences or no penalty at all” (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722). The allies also began the demilatirazation of Japan, where they demobilized the Japanese armed forces. This was to ensure that fighting would completely come to an end. “The Japanese war and navy ministries, the ministry of munitions, the Greater East Asia Ministry, and the related agencies of Japanese aggression were abolished. The infamous secret police system was crushed” (http://www.army.mil/article/4613/Occupied_Japan____A_Progress_Report/). In 1951, the US and 48 other countries signed a peace treaty with Japan (http://www.taiwandocuments.org/sanfrancisco01.htm).
Japan, seeking more natural resources and more room for their overpopulation, began expanding in 1931. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack against America. Japan flew over Pearl Harbor and began bombing. “The barrage lasted just two hours, but it was devastating: The Japanese managed to destroy nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight enormous battleships, and almost 200 airplanes” (http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor). America had stayed out of World War II up until then, but this attack drew them in. On December 8, the US declared war on Japan. Franklin D. Roosevelt said that it was “a date which will live in imfamy” (http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrpearlharbor.htm). After the attack, Japan began taking over more and more countries, for example: Guam, Wake Island, the island of Corregidor, Hong Kong (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16526765), the Dutch East Indies, and Burma. Burma road was one of China’s major ways of obtaining supplies, once Japan seized it they shut it down, cutting China off. In the new lands, Japanese started the Bataan Death March, where they brutally treated 150,000 prisoners of war. “By the first of April, 1942, most of the starving men had lost as much as thirty percent of their body weight and they became so weak that they could barely lift their weapons. As medical supplies ran out, malaria, dysentery and other tropical diseases ravaged their ranks” (http://www.army.mil/asianpacificsoldiers/history/bataan.html). Japan then sought after American airfield, Midway island. “One of Japan’s main goals during WWII was to remove the United States as a Pacific power in order to gain territory in East Asia. Japan hoped to defeat the US Pacific Fleet and use Midway as a base to attack Pearl Harbor, securing dominance in the region” (http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/midway.html). As the Japanese came into Midway, American carrier planes began to attack the Japanese ships. This US strategy was very successful and allowed them to win the Battle. “This critical US victory stopped the growth of Japan in the Pacific and put the United States in a position to begin shrinking the Japanese empire through a years-long series of island-hopping invasions and several even larger naval battles.” (http://www.nationalww2museum.org/learn/education/for-students/ww2-history/at-a-glance/midway.html). Island-hopping was a strategy created by Douglas MacArthur, where they would seize Japanese islands and then cut off supplies to their troops.
Hitler believed that the Aryans, the German people, where the superior race. This deep nationalism lead Hitler to begin wiping out the Jewish people, along with Gypsies, Polish, disabled, and anyone else who did not fit his expectation for a German. In 1933, the Holocaust began. Hitler blamed the Jewish people for their downfall in World War I, and for their economic struggles (http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/why-the-jews.shtml). On September 5, 1935, Hitler set in place the Nuremberg Laws. These laws denied Jews the right to citizenship, from marrying a non- Jew, and from most political rights (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695). “In 1937 and 1938, the government set out to impoverish Jews by requiring them to register their property and then by "Aryanizing" Jewish businesses. This meant that Jewish workers and managers were dismissed, and the ownership of most Jewish businesses was taken over by non-Jewish Germans who bought them at bargain prices fixed by Nazis” (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007695). All Jews were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so the Nazis could easily tell apart a Jew from a non- Jew. On November 9, 1938, Nazis began attacking Jewish communities, synagogues, and homes. “By the end of the rampage, gangs of Nazi storm troopers had destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, set fire to more than 900 synagogues, killed 91 Jews and deported some 30,000 Jewish men to concentration camps” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/peopleevents/pandeAMEX99.html).This was called Kristallnacht, and after that night, Jews were scared of what else was to come and began emigrating out of Germany into the U.S, Britain, France, etc. This pleased Hitler and he began trying to get more and more Jews to emigrate. These countries though did not want any more people coming in, so Hitler created ghettos in Poland. The ghettos were very crowded areas designated for the Jews. “All ghettos had the most appalling, inhuman living conditions. The smallest ghetto housed approximately 3,000 people. Warsaw, the largest ghetto, held 400,000 people. Lódz, the second largest, held about 160,000” (http://fcit.usf.edu/holocaust/timeline/ghettos.htm). Hitler had intended for them to starve to death or die from disease in the ghettos, but he grew impatient and launched his plan: the Final Solution. The Jews were taken out of the ghettos and brought to concentration camps. The prisoners were given extremely hard jobs to do, fed very minimal amounts of food, and were beaten severely by the Nazis and the guards. Those who were not starved or worked to death in 1942 were brought to crematoriums, where they would be gassed.
Hitler hoped that 1942 would be as successful as the previous year had been, fortunately for the Allies, it was the opposite. Winston Churchill convinced America and Britain to attack North Africa and South Europe, which Stalin was opposed to. In June 1942, British general Erwin Rommel seized Tobruk. Soon after, Bernard Montgomery took control of British forces in North Africa. August 23,1942 was the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. Germany invaded the Russian city of Stalingrad, breaking the ten year non aggression pact signed by Hitler and Stalin in 1939 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/22/newsid_3526000/3526691.stm). In November 1942, Germany controlled about ninety percent of the city. The Soviet’s that were not in the city began to counterattack, trapping the Germans inside the city and cutting off their supplies. Although the counterattack was successful, “The death toll at Stalingrad was immense. About a half million Red Army soldiers died in the battle, more people than Great Britain or the United States lost in the entire war” (http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/episode-2/ep2_battle_stalingrad.html). On July 10, 1943, the Allies seized Sicily from the Italian and German troops. “When the struggle was over, Sicily became the first piece of the Axis homeland to fall to Allied forces during World War II” (http://www.history.army.mil/brochures/72-16/72-16.htm). In 1944, the Allies were planning an attack in the coast of Normandy, France. Hitler suspected an attack coming his way, but he was not sure where or when it would happen. In order to trick him, the Allies set up a dummy army and created a false plan called Operation Overlord. The actual attack, the D-Day Invasion, happened on June 6, 1944. The invasion was a successful one, liberating France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and most of the Netherlands. On April 30, 1945, Hitler committed suicide, and on May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted the surrender of the Third Reich. The Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945 ending the war. They wrote the Instrument of Surrender document. The second paragraph stated, “We hereby proclaim the unconditional surrender to the Allied Powers of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and of all Japanese armed forces and all armed forces under Japanese control wherever situated” (http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/japanese_surrender_document/).
World War II was one of the most devastating wars in history. After the war, thousands of people died from famine and disease. The allies held the Nuremberg Trials, where they put Nazi leaders on trial. “Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most of the defendants admitted to the crimes of which they were accused, although most claimed that they were simply following the orders of a higher authority. Those individuals directly involved in the killing received the most severe sentences. Other people who played key roles in the Holocaust, including high-level government officials, and business executives who used concentration camp inmates as forced laborers, received short prison sentences or no penalty at all” (http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007722). The allies also began the demilatirazation of Japan, where they demobilized the Japanese armed forces. This was to ensure that fighting would completely come to an end. “The Japanese war and navy ministries, the ministry of munitions, the Greater East Asia Ministry, and the related agencies of Japanese aggression were abolished. The infamous secret police system was crushed” (http://www.army.mil/article/4613/Occupied_Japan____A_Progress_Report/). In 1951, the US and 48 other countries signed a peace treaty with Japan (http://www.taiwandocuments.org/sanfrancisco01.htm).