A Second Global Conflict

1. A Second Global Conflict An End to the European World Order

2. Steps to War • The German people grew increasingly dissatisfied with their government (Weimar Republic) • The people were angered by their signing of the Versailles treaty, civil war, but most importantly the hyperinflation of the 1920’s.

3. Nazi Rise and promises • As social discontent and political turmoil increased, the National Socialist German Worker’s party (Nazi Party) grew in popularity. • The first and most important promise made by Hitler and the Nazis was to bring jobs back to Germany and put people to work. A majority of these jobs, as it turns out, would focus on rearmament and military build-up (another promise of Hitler’s). • Additionally, the Nazis vowed to retake German lands lost during WWI and take revenge on Germany’s domestic enemies (minorities like Jews, Slavic peoples, Poles, Russians, communists, gypsies, blacks, the disabled, etc…)

4. The “Employment Miracle” Unemployment in Germany Total • January 1933 - 6 million • January 1934 -3.3million • January 1935 -2.9 million • January 1936 -2.5 million • January 1937 -1.8 million • January 1938 -1.0 million • January 1939 -302,000 • German propaganda was a master of deception. Records were tampered with to reflect massive employment. • For example, women were no longer included in the statistics. The unemployed took whatever work they were offered, or were labeled as “work-shy” and placed in a concentration camp.

5. The “Employment Miracle” • There is no doubt, however, that work was created by Hitler and the Nazis. • Ditches were dug for irrigation, roads constructed for the autobahn, and weapons were mass produced.

6. Aggressors on the March • The first country that began aggressive actions after WWI was Japan. • When the Japanese invade and capture Manchuria in 1931, it is the first real violation to the League of Nations. The League’s response was pathetic. The merely issued a stern “warning” to Japan. • In reality, the member nations of the League were too weak at that time to go to war. • Mussolini will follow Japan’s lead and take the African kingdom of Ethiopia. • Hitler will militarize the Rhineland in 1936, annex Austria in 1938, and take Czechoslovakia in the same year. Meanwhile, the League continued to do nothing.

7. Aggressors on the March (Japan)

8. British and French Reaction • Meanwhile, Germany was continuing their defiance of the Treaty of Versailles in Europe, with little interference from the British or French. • Both Britain and France used the now infamous policy of appeasement. That is giving into an aggressor in hopes that they will be satisfied and you can avoid war. • After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, he invited British and French representatives to Munich, Germany for the infamous Munich Conference. He convinced these leaders that Czechoslovakia would be his “last territorial demand”. • The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain allowed it.

9. Winston Churchill’s stance on appeasement • “At Munich, we had the choice between dishonor and war. We chose dishonor, we will now receive war.” • “Appeasement is like feeding a crocodile, hoping he will eat you last.”

10. Fascism’s spread in Europe • With Italy and Germany now fully fascist, they looked to create allies and spread their influence. • Hitler and Mussolini sent aid to the fascist forces of Spain (lead by Francisco Franco) during that nations civil war, aiming to establishing another ally in Western Europe. • It also served as a training ground for their pilots as they prepped for further military conflicts.

11. Guernica by Pablo Picasso This painting was created by Picasso in just three months after the bombing of the Spanish village of Guernica by German and Italian air forces who were supporting Francisco Franco’s fascist army in the Spanish Civil War.

12. WWII Begins in Europe • As we have seen, WWII was provoked by the aggressive actions of both Nazi Germany and militarized Japan. • Along with that, the failure of western democracies to challenge this aggression only fed into further expansion from Japan and Germany. • Germany now set it’s sights on Poland. In August 1939, Hitler sign the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. This was an agreement between the 2 countries that they would not attack one another and that they would split Poland between themselves. A week later, Hitler attacked Poland. • The war in Europe began officially on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. • In the Pacific, the war actually began in 1931 with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria.

13. Blitzkrieg • The Nazi invasion of Poland introduced the world to Hitler’s preferred method of attack, the blitzkrieg. • Blitzkrieg means "lightning war". Blitzkrieg methods were first used by the Germans in WWII and was a tactic based on speed and surprise. • A military tactic based around light tank units and armored vehicles supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers) was essential to the method.

14. Japanese escalation in East Asia • First, in 1931, they seized the northeastern Chinese province of Manchuria for its valuable coal and iron reserves. • In 1937, the launched a full-out invasion into the Chinese mainland, attacking several eastern coastal cities like Shanghai and Nanking (the Nationalist capital). This was the start of WWII in the Pacific arena. • The Nationalist forces retreated to the interior of China, leaving many of the civilians of Nanking to the mercy of the Japanese. • Brutal tactics of torture, rape, and mass killings by the Japanese ensued. Most notably, a prolonged attack on the Chinese capital known as the Rape of Nanking.

15. Japanese Brutality Chinese civilians were beheaded by the thousands. A toddler orphaned in Shanghai after Japanese bombing

16. The Axis Powers • In 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact to hopefully neutralize the Soviet Union and stop communism’s spread. • By 1940, Italy has joined, creating the Tri-Partite pact. • They were known as the Axis Powers.

17. Early War German success • In the early years of WWII, Hitler’s blitzkrieg method was extremely successful. • The Nazis used this method to take Poland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and most importantly France, all by the summer of 1940. • Given the alliances Germany had at the time with Spain and Russia, Britain was about the only democratic nation left in Europe for the Nazis to conquer.

18. Battle of Britain • With most of the major European powers conquered by Germany or allied with them, only Britain stood in Hitler’s path of expansion. • Since it was an island, his blitzkrieg method was useless. He would have to attack by air using the German air force, the Luftwaffe.

19. Battle of Britain • The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization… The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war… Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'Thiswastheirfinesthour'. • Winston Churchill, speaking in the House of Common (11 June 1940).

20. Battle of Britain • Despite constant bombardment from summer of 1940 to spring of 1941, the British were able to win the Battle due to: • A) Radar technology • B) American financial aid • C) Unwavering commitment to persevere. • We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. • Winston Churchill

21. Operation Barbarossa • With failure at the Battle of Britain, Hitler found himself in a difficult situation. He desperately sought land and resources for his growing empire. • To achieve this, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. He hoped to take all of the Soviet oil fields and farmland. • In doing this, he broke the non-aggression pact with Stalin and brought the Soviet Union fully into the war on the Allies side.

22. Battle of Stalingrad • As the Nazis marched into the Soviet Union, the Russians purposefully retreated, using the scorched-earth policy that had been so effective in the past (against the Swedes and Napoleon). • Once the Germans reached Stalingrad (a valuable port city), they unleashed wave after wave of soldiers on the city. Stalin responded in kind. • What resulted was the deadliest battle in human history (almost 2 million dead). • As winter approached, Hitler was forced to abandon his campaign and leave Russia. • This was the turning point of the war in Europe.

23. Stalingrad The Motherland Calls Statue

24. Jewish persecution under the Nazis • Once Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, Jewish persecution began in earnest and escalated until the end of WWII (1945). • Nuremberg Laws in 1933 • Kristallnacht in 1938 • Establishment of Jewish concentration camps and ghettos in 1940 • Hitler’s ”Final Solution” in 1941.

25. Western indifference • As Jewish persecution increased in Nazi territory, restrictions were placed on Jewish travel. • Additionally, western powers had strict immigrant quotas in order to protect their fledgling economies. • As a result, very few Jews were able to escape the persecution of the Nazis, unless they were exceptionally affluent. • Additionally, western powers failed to bomb railway lines leading to major concentration camps which could have slowed down the mass killings.

26. U.S. Entry into WWII • Unlike WWI, the U.S. was much more involved in the war effort in the years leading up to our entry in the second world war. • Like many other nations, we saw the actions of Germany and Japan as violations of the Versailles Treaty and overtly aggressive. As a result, we began aiding Allied nations in an attempt to help them defeat the Axis Powers. Our hope was that they would be able to defeat them without the U.S. having to send troops. • The U.S. signed the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 which gave the president the power to give war supplies to any nation deemed vital to US security without the expectation of compensation. Britain, the Soviet Union, and China were the main recipients. • In late 1940, Japan invaded Indochina (an area ruled by France). The US was worried about Japan attacking the Philippines which was an American protectorate. In response, we cut off shipments of oil and scrap metal to Japan, significantly weakening their economy. • Japan decided that it could not be held hostage by the US, and had to eliminate our presence in the Pacific. So on December 7, 1941, they attacked our Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor. The US joined the war the next day.

27. Pearl Harbor attack (Dec. 7, 1941)

28. European Theater Major events of the European Theater European Theater D-Day Invasion (June 6, 1944)

29. Pacific Theater (Hiroshima in 1946, eight months after bombing) Major Events of the Pacific Theater Pacific Theater Battle of Midway, Island Hopping, and the atomic bombs

30. Nagasaki A-bomb cloud (August 9, 1945) Atomic Bombs Atomic Bomb Diagram (Little Man and Fat Boy)

31. The United Nations • Even before the war was over, the Allied powers were planning a post-war settlement that would prevent another global crisis. To do so, they created the United Nations. • The United Nations is an international organization created after WWII with the aim of providing a forum to negotiate disputes. • It is the successor to the League of Nations. • It has proven time and again to be a vital organization in shaping international policy and levying economic sanctions in order to avoid all-out war. • It was actually created before the war’s end, on June 26, 1945.

32. The Conferences • At the Yalta Conference in Feb. 1945, the United Nations was formed and the “big three” of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed to divide Germany into four occupation zones after the war (one for each of the Allies). • In June of the same year, they met again to determine the terms for the end of the war once Japan had been defeated. This was called the Potsdam Conference. Roosevelt had died in April, so our new president was Harry Truman.

33. Japan’s Defeat and Superpowers Emerge • After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan would surrender on September 2, 1945 (officially ending WWII). • This date is known as Victory in Japan Day. • All of Japan’s wartime gains were stripped away. In addition, the U.S. began an occupation of Japan and focused on rebuilding the infrastructure and economy of that nation. • Once the war ended, it was clear that the U.S. and Soviet Union had emerged as the two dominant world powers. Both had plans for a post-war world that were very different. These differences laid the foundation for the Cold War from 1945 to 1991.

34. This iconic picture was taken on August 14, 1945, after the Japanese government had unofficially surrendered to Allied forces. The official terms of surrender were not signed until September 2nd. If you want the real story behind the kiss, read here: https://nypost.com/2012/06/17/the-true-story-behind-the-iconic-v-j-day-sailor-and-nurse-smooch/ Times Square Kiss