World war ll

• Japanese Invasion of China "The Rape of Nanking"
• Second Sino-Japanese War:

  • Japan invaded Shanghai in July 1937
  • Shanghai captured, Chinese military unprepared but resisted
  • Japanese moved on to Nanking
• Nanking:

  • Imperial Capital of China
  • Japan soldiers arrived in Nanking in December 1937
  • Many citizens fled the city
• The Rape of Nanking:

  • City fell after three days of intense Japanese attacks and battles
  • City fell on December 13, 1937
  • Over the next 6+ weeks, Japanese soldiers committed atrocities
• End of Atrocities:

  • After more than 6 weeks, the atrocities gradually ended
  • Japanese moved on to other battles
  • Some news of events got out of Nanking
• Results of Atrocities:

  • Japanese have never apologized for the massacre
  • Royal Family was never prosecuted, didn't have to testify
• Japan as an Imperialist Power:

  • Japan affected by the Great Depression
  • Military Leaders began to take more power
  • Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931
• Attack at Pearl Harbor:

  • Japan attacked the United States on December 7, 1941
  • Other Japanese victories included Guam, Wake Island, Philippines, Malaya, Dutch East Indies, Burma
• The Allies Strike Back in the Pacific:

  • Doolittle Raids in April 1942
  • Battle of Midway in June 1942
  • Island Hopping strategy by General Douglas MacArthur
• Battle of Guadalcanal:

  • Japanese building huge airbase on the island of Guadalcanal
  • Allies discover and need to act fast
  • Battle continued for months without a clear winner
• Life on Allied Home Fronts:

  • Mobilizing for Total War
  • Rationing
  • Japanese Americans imprisoned in the United States
• The European Theater:

  • Fascism promotes extreme nationalism, denial of individual rights, dictatorial one-party rule
  • The Rise of Fascism in Europe: Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), Francisco Franco (Spain)
• Hitler's Rise to Power:

  • World War I
  • Hitler blamed Weimar Democracy
  • Rearmed and rebuilt the military
  • German Occupation of the Rhineland
• The Third Reich - the German Empire:

  • Expansion plans announced in November 1935
  • German annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia
  • Munich Conference in September 1938
• German Attack on Poland:

  • Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939
  • Britain and France declared war on Germany
  • Poland overrun in one month
• Blitzkrieg in the West:

  • German attack on Denmark and Norway in April 1940
  • Germany swept through The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
  • Fall of France, including the Miracle at Dunkirk
• German Attack on Great Britain - Battle of Britain:

  • Operation Sea Lion
  • Battle of Britain with the Royal Air Force
  • British advantages of radar and the Enigma Machine
• British Advantages during World War II:

  • Radar
  • Enigma Machine
• Hitler called off the attack on Britain during the Battle of Britain on May 10, 1940, to focus on Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact:

  • Germany hoped to avoid a two-front war
  • Soviet Union moved into Eastern Poland and the Baltic States
  • Despite the pact, both Germany and the Soviet Union began preparing for war against each other
• Hitler's Attack on the Soviet Union:

  • Planned three major thrusts into the USSR
  • Northern thrust aimed to pass through the Baltic States to Leningrad
  • Center thrust aimed to destroy the Soviet heartland and Moscow
  • Southern thrust aimed to secure Ukraine and then move east to secure Stalingrad
• Germany invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941, with 3.6 million soldiers, 3,600 tanks, 2,700 aircraft, 7,000 artillery pieces, 600,000 motor vehicles, and 625,000 horses
• Operation Barbarossa:

  • Hitler's goals: Gain/Destroy Soviet resources, use Eastern European peoples as slaves, destroy Communism
  • Stalin's goals: Defend Soviet Union, destroy Fascism, legitimate Soviet system and Stalin's leadership
• Siege of Leningrad:

  • Lasted 900 days from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944
  • Nazi aim was to terrorize and starve the population into surrender
  • 800,000 died of starvation; 200,000 killed by bombings
• Battle of Moscow:

  • Occurred from October 1941 to January 1942
  • Germans attacked Moscow believing it would lead to the collapse of Russia
  • Soviet winter conditions turned the tide of the battle
  • Hitler forced Germans to hold the line until March 1943, costing 500,000 German lives
• Battle of Stalingrad:

  • Took place from August 1942 to February 1943
  • Nightly bombing raids by the German air force
  • Soviets launched a counter-attack in November 1942, trapping Germans in the city
  • Germans surrendered in February 1943, with 90,000 Germans taken prisoner
• Battle of Kursk:

  • Occurred in July 1943 and was the greatest tank battle of WWII
  • Last major German offensive in the east
• Allied Victory in Europe:

  • D-Day Invasion on June 6, 1944, led by Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • Battle of the Bulge
  • German surrender on May 7, 1945
• Allied Victory in the Pacific:

  • Japanese Retreat
  • Battle of Leyte Gulf
  • Kamikaze Pilots
  • Iwo Jima
  • Okinawa
• The United States Uses the Atomic Bomb:

  • Effects on Japan in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • Arguments for and against using the Atomic Bomb
• Europe and Japan After WWII:

  • Destruction in Europe and Japan
  • Yalta Conference decisions
  • Potsdam Conference outcomes
• Direct War Costs:

  • Military and civilian casualties and costs for the United States, Great Britain, France, USSR, Germany, and Japan