The End Of World War II European Theatre

Battle Of Berlin 16 April – 8 May 1945 The Nazi Army was down to 766,000 men. They were going up against 2,500,000 Russian and Polish soldiers. American and British troops were also closing in from France. Nazi territory had been reduced to the point where they only controlled the city of Berlin. Hitler and his closest officers were hiding in a bunker in the middle of Berlin.

Streets of Berlin 1945

Death of Mussolini On the 24th of July 1943, the Italian King held a vote to arrest Mussolini. He was thrown into prison by the king. On September 12, German Special forces rescued him from prison. On April 28, 1945 he was caught trying to escape from Italy. He was killed and his body was hung upside-down on display at a service station in Milan. His body was often desecrated by people while it was hung on display.

Death Of Adolf Hitler Hitler issued orders to the defending Nazi army, but his attack orders were not feasible. As a result, his orders were ignored. Without his armies following his orders, Hitler knew he was defeated. Hitler married his longtime lover Eva Braun on April 29. He then dictated his last will and testament to his secretary. On April 30, Hitler shot himself in the head and Eva swallowed a poisonous cyanide pill. One of the most evil men in history killed himself rather than face capture or the disrespect that happened to Mussolini’s corpse.

German Surrender In Hitler’s Last Will he appointed  Karl Dönitz and  Joseph Goebbels as the President and Chancellor of Germany (respectively). Goebbels committed suicide the day after Hitler, leaving Donitz in charge. Donitz told the German people he was going to continue Hitler’s fight after his death. However he knew the war was unwinnable and was secretly negotiating the German Surrender. He did his best to make sure that the Nazi soldiers would surrender to the British or American troops, rather than the vengeful Russian soldiers. On the 7th of May 1945, all German forces surrendered unconditionally. German soldiers were ordered to stop fighting by 2300 hours and the European Theater of WWII ended on the 8th May 1945

Why Did Germany Lose? Hitler was very successful at the start, but they spread themselves too thin too quickly and couldn’t effectively defend their newly conquered land. Hitler did not think that England would join the war after the invasion of Poland. This is why he had to accelerate his plans and attack Britain quicker than what he would have preferred. Hitler thought the invasion of Russia would not take so long. As a result, the Nazi army got caught by the harsh Russian winter. Hitler underestimated the strength of the Russian forces.

Division of Germany Germany was in ruins. To leave Germany in the state it was would have created many problems for Europe in general. As a result, Germany was divided into 4 sections amongst the British, Russian, French and Americans. Each nation was responsible for the reconstruction of their section of Germany.

The Berlin Wall In 1949, two countries, East and West Germany were created. East Germany was communist and West Germany was capitalist. Communism in East Germany was inspired by the Russian occupation, and capitalism was inspired by the allied occupation. They were divided by The Berlin Wall. If you tried to cross the border without proper papers, you were a trespasser and would be shot.

End Result of World War II in Europe World War II has been the deadliest military conflict in history. 60 Million people were killed in total. 2.5% of human life was wiped out due to World War II. The resulting peace resulted in large amounts of distrust between communist governments and capitalist governments. Especially between USA and Russia

Your Task: Questions: Explain why the Nazis lost the war. How did Hitler die and why did he do it? What was left of Germany at the end of WW2? What was the Berlin Wall? In a paragraph, try to explain what the world learned from World War 2 Was the war a just war? Why or why not? Provide Essay style arguments to back your point. Activity: PREPARE FOR YOUR CAT WHICH IS GOING TO BE DONE IN THE NEXT LESSON!