World war

• Long-term causes

  Big 3

  • UK
  • David Lloyd George
  • Compromised peace
  • France
  • Clemenceau
  • Harsh peace
  • USA
  • Just peace
• The Japanese perspective (2 goals)

  • Maintain control of German colonial possessions in China
  • Recognition of equality with other Western victors of the way (long term)
• The Australian perspective

  • UK - wanted Aus and other dominions to follow their lead
  • USA - wanted Aus to agree with 14 points unquestionably

  PM Hughes

  • Independent negotiating power
  • Wilson too idealistic, didn't make change
  • Got land from Papua New Guinea
  • Helped block Japan’s Racial Equality Proposal for League of Nations
  • Kind of aligned with France
• Treaty of Versailles

  • Signed on 28th June 1919
  • German reparations of 6.6 billion euros
  • War guilt clause 
  • Acceptance of Germany’s guilt
  • All of G’s colonies gone
  • Gave land to: France, Poland, Holland and Denmark
  • Demilitarisation 
  • 15 years occupation of Rhineland - now League of nations
  • Army limited to 100,000 men 
  • Very small, also had no tanks etc
  • Creation of a 58-nation-strong League of Nations 
  • Uk, Fra, Japan, Aus etc
  • There were NO: USA, Ger.
• End of WWI

  • Abdication of Kaiser (king of Germany)
  • Weimer republic established Nov 1918
  • Ger had to go to the Paris Peace Conference
  • But, not allowed to negotiate
  • Didn’t know the terms until they signed
  • They had to sign
• Weimar Republic - 1919

  • New government formed after WWI before Nazis rose to power
  • Was weak
  • Had social, political and economic problems
• Spartacist Putsch


  Jan 1919 - Communists who wanted power and wealth to be shared among the population, wanted to overthrow government, no impact
• Kapp Putsch


  March 1920 - Military takeover of government, no impact
• Munich Putsch


  Nov 1923 - Wanted to overthrow the government, no impact
• Economic Problems 1918-1923


  • Inflation - printed so much money to the point where money became worthless
  • Wall Street crash (USA), lead to the great depression
  • No jobs, no money - economic downfall
• Rise of Hitler


  1933-1944 - Trigger point when he became Chancellor and made a new position for him called Furher, Lots of power and control
• Saar Plebiscite


  1919-1935 - Vote held to determine where Saar should belong to (France, Germany, LON), 90% voted in favour of Germany (Propaganda), Appeasement
• German Rearmament


  1933-1935 - Secretly building the army and revealed to everyone in 1935, Appeasement from other countries, Germany said they would comply with any rules, No one wants war
• Anschluss


  Mar 12 1938 - Unification with Austria, 99.75% voted in favour (Propaganda and voter intimidation), Going against one of TOV's rules
• Sudeten Crisis


  Sep 1938 - German annex Sudetenland because of high population of Germans living there, Expansionism
• Munich Agreement


  Sep 1938 - Agreement held by France and Britain for German to annex Sudetenland but no more (Appeasement)
• Nazi Soviet Pact


  Aug 23 1939 - Pact made for no military action for the next 10 years (non-aggression pact), Secret agreement to split up Eastern Europe amongst themselves, Nazis give Soviets false sense of security to launch surprise attacks unopposed, Soviets avoid war
• Invasion of Poland


  Sep 1 1939 - Trigger point for war, Nazi response to 'Polish Threat' (propaganda), War then declared by Sep 3
• Phoney war- Sep 1939 - Mar 1940


  Nothing happened for 6 months

  1. Britain sends troops to France

  2. France sends troops to border
• Blitzkrieg and Nazi domination - 1939-1940

  • Lightning war
  • Used up-to-date tech
  • Bombs, planes, radar, submarines
  • Quick victories = expansion = more resources (coal, food)
  • No one was prepared because they wanted to avoid war except for Germany
• German occupation of Denmark + Norway - 9 Apr 1940

  • Wanted naval bases
  • Britain wanted to help both but failed
• German occupy France - May - 12 Jun 1940

  • Wanted to eliminate enemy and gain resources
  • Invaded through blitzkrieg, invaded through forest
  • Britain again sent support but were defeated
  • France then surrendered on 21 Jun 1940
• Japanese occupation - 7 Dec 1941

  • Japan wanted to gain resources, limited by being an island nation
  • Wanted dominant power in the East
  • Already had Korea and Manchuria (Northern China)
  • War:
  • Expansion of territory
  • Invaded China, Philippines, Singapore etc
• Dunkirk - May 26 - Jun 4th 1940

  • Overall a risky evacuation because if they were found, they would all probably been killed
  • Had little boats to transport people to the big ships
• During

  • Air - Jul-Oct 1940
  • Luftwaffe (Ger airforce) and British Royal Air Force fighting
  • First attack - 10 Jul 1940
  • Ger bombed strategic sites
  • Factories, gov buildings, hospitals
  • Wanted to weaken Britain
  • Britain used radar (limited resources but effective)
  • Also had VERY few men compared to Ger
• The Blitz - Sep 1940 - May 1941

  • Went on for 57 consecutive nights
  • Shelters then to underground stations for hideout
  • German was just bombing London
  • But went for civilian areas
  • Hoped to crush Britains morale but only felt heartened by it
  • Over 43,500 civilians killed
  • Aim of bomb was to start fires and spread smoke
• Sea - 1939-1945

  • Battle of the Atlantic
  • Ger attacked allied supply routes
  • Supplies from US--> Br that were very valuable
  • Used lots of ships so Ger didn't know which one to bomb
  • Ger:
  • Had U-boats (submarines) and warships to attack
  • Britain:
  • Decoded Ger communications, radar to avoid U-boats
  • Aircraft carriers (boats that carried planes)
  • First 5 months of 1943, sank 100 U-boats
• Land - Jun - Dec 1941

  • Operation Barbarossa 
  • Nazi invading Russia
  • Wanted to destroy Soviet Army
  • Enslave population
  • Resources
  • Lebensraum (living space) for Aryan race
• Operation Barbarossa

  • Spread out
  • North - Leningrad
  • Centre - Moscow
  • South - Ukraine (then part of soviet union)
  • Initially won but lost eventually
  • Underestimated how long it would take
  • Strength of army
  • Quality of tanks
• The tide turns - 1942-1944

  • Africa
  • Control of Suez Canal
  • Oil - middle east
  • Raw materials - Aisa
  • Built a canal to make a shortcut
• Tobruk - 10 Apr 1941

  • 14,000 Aus soldiers fought
  • Aus forces in North Africa were called Rats of Tobruk
  • Nazi radio propagandists described them being caught like 'rats in a trap'
  • Outcome: counter-attack by British troops
• US in the pacific - 7 Dec 1941

  • Jap bombed Pearl harbour (Oahu Island) hoping to cripple US military
  • Americans declared war on Japan
  • Then made Europe first agreement between President Roosevelt and PM Churchill
  • Defeat Hitler first
• Battle of Coral Sea - May 1942

  • Carrier naval battle between Jap and US
• Battle of Midway - Jun 1942

  • War between Jap & China and US acted when Japan started attacking Pearl Harbour
• Guadalcanal Campaign - Aug 1942 - Feb 1943

  • Deadly naval battles that took place at Guadalcanal / Solomon Islands in the South Pacific
• El Alamein - 23 Oct 1942

  • Called First/Second battle
  • Ended with the axis army of Italy and Germany suffered a defeat by British Army
• D-Day - Jun 1944

  • Beginning of the end of war
  • War against Germany
• Fall of Berlin - 16 Apr-22 May 1945

  • Soviet Union attacked weak, disorganised Ger from East and South
  • 1.5 million Soviet troops assaulted Berlin
  • City surrendered on 2 May
  • Furher killed himself
  • Soviet troops gave out essentials
  • Soldiers also committed atrocities against civilians
  • Take down capital = take down gov
• Marshal signs  - 8 May 1945

  • Hitler dead so he signs unconditional surrender
• VE day - 8 May 1945

  • Victory day in Europe
  • War was over
  • Celebrated peace