World War II  Causes of World War II  Major Events  Leaders of WW II

Causes of World War II  F ailure of Treaty of Versailles  A ppeasement  N ationalism  M ilitarism  A lliances  I solationism & Pacifism  L eague of Nations

Treaty of Versailles Germany  Had to take BLAME (War Guilt Clause)  Had to PAY ($33 Billion USD)  NO submarines and NO Air Force Only 6 battle ships Limit to Army of 100,000 men No troops in the Rhineland (50 mile strip of land near France)  LOST territory in Europe Colonies given to Britain and France

Failure of Treaty of Versailles  Not enforceable  Germany has no choice but to try and break it…why???

Appeasement - “if we don’t get involved in small fights, we’ll avoid a big fight”  Munich Conference – 1938 England and France give in to some of Hitler's demands in the hopes that he will not take more

Nationalism  Germany Prove its superiority and get revenge for Treaty of Versailles  Italy Return to the glory days of Rome when Italy was powerful  Japan Establish its dominance in Asia

Militarism  Germany Annexes surrounding areas Creates the "Third Reich“  Italy Invades Ethiopia  Japan Invades Manchuria, Korea, and China

Alliances  Axis Germany Italy Japan  Allies Great Britain France

Isolationism & Pacifism  U.S. Avoid involvement in European conflict  Europe Avoid another war and continue to recover from WWI

League of Nations  Unable to back up demands -- no military strength

Major Events  Invasion of Soviet Union  Pearl Harbor  D-Day  Atomic Bombs  German Blitzkrieg  Fall of France  Battle of Britain  Holocaust

German Blitzkrieg  Lightning warfare fast-moving troops combined with damaging weapons

Fall of France  "Occupied France" - northern half of the country, controlled by Germany  “Vichy France" - southern portion of the country, remains somewhat independent  Charles de Gaulle - French general that escapes to England and continues to fight the Germans

Battle of Britain  German "Luftwaffe" vs. British “Royal Air Force” (RAF)  First use of radar  British defeat Germans, despite being outnumbered

Holocaust  Caused because of German "anti-Semitism"  Hitler believed in a master race - "blond- haired, blue-eyed Aryans" were genetically superior  Phase 1: Kristallnacht - night of broken glass - attack on Jewish businesses and synagogues  Phase 2: segregation of Jews in "ghettoes"  Phase 3: Genocide - mass extermination using concentration camps (Auschwitz), firing squads, gas chambers and crematoriums

Invasion of Soviet Union  "Non-Aggression Pact" - Germany and Russia sign a truce at beginning of war  Hitler breaks treaty and invades after France is conquered  Russians use "scorched earth" in defense  Battle of Stalingrad - turning point in war - Russians defeat Germans

Pearl Harbor  December 7th, "a date that will live in infamy"  Surprise bombing of American naval fleet by Japanese military  Forces U.S. Into the war

D-Day  June 6th, Allied invasion of France  Allows Allies to begin pushing back the Germans

Atomic Bombs  Bombs were named “Little Boy" & “Fat Man"  Bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki  Kills 110,000 Japanese  U.S. Believed bombs would save American lives by not having to invade Japan

Leaders of WW II  Russia  Germany  United States  Great Britain  Japan  Italy

Russia  Joseph Stalin - replaces Lenin as ruler of Russia  Executes over 2 million Russian citizens during his rule

Germany  Adolf Hitler - "Führer" of Germany and leader of Nazi party  Josef Mengele - Known as the "Angel of Death", he performed medical experiments on Jews in concentration camps

United States  Franklin D. Roosevelt - President during most of the war  Harry S. Truman - FDR's Vice- president, takes power after his death, drops the bomb on Japan  Dwight Eisenhower - led the D-Day invasion  Douglas McArthur - led Pacific campaign against Japanese

Great Britain  Neville Chamberlain - Prime Minister who believed in appeasement  Winston Churchill - Prime minister after Chamberlain, refused to surrender to Hitler

Japan  Hirohito - Emperor of Japan  Hideki Tojo - General of Japanese military

Italy  Benito Mussolini - Known as “ Il Duce ", he was the dictator of Italy and allied himself with Hitler