1. The Axis Advances

2. Axis vs. Allied Powers Two main alliances formed…
Axis: Germany, Italy, and Japan
Allied Powers: U.S., Britain, France, Poland and the Soviet Union (after the end of the Nazi-Soviet Pact)

3. Which regions were attacked and occupied by the Axis powers, and what was life like under their occupation?
Diplomacy and compromise did not bring peace with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or imperial Japan.
The Axis powers advanced, attacking countries in Eastern and Western Europe. In the Pacific, Japan captured countries and colonies on the islands and the mainland of Asia. The Axis powers brought misery to the peoples they conquered.

4. The Axis Attacks
Blitzkrieg, or “lightning war” Hitler used this tactic to overrun much of Europe, starting with Poland.
The German air force, the Luftwaffe, bombed airfields, factories, and cities in Poland. Then, fast-moving tanks and troops pushed their way in from the west.
Meanwhile, Stalin’s forces invaded Poland from the east. Within a month, Poland ceased to exist.

5. Blitzkrieg Video

6. The Battle of Dunkirk
Hitler waited out the winter. Then in the spring of 1940, German forces overran Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
Next, German troops poured into France, trapping the retreating British forces at Dunkirk. British vessels crossed the English Channel and ferried more than 300,000 British troops to safety.

8. The Battle of Dunkirk

9. Germany continued to attack Western Europe.
German forces headed to Paris. With Italy attacking from the south, France was forced to surrender in June 1940.
Germany occupied northern France and set up a puppet government at Vichy in southern France.

11. Operation Sea Lion
Next Hitler set his sights on Britain, calling this planned invasion “Operation Sea Lion”, which was the invasion of Great Britain
In September of 1940, the Luftwaffe began 57 straight nights of showering high explosives and firebombs on London.

12. London did not break under the Nazi blitz.
Citizens carried on with their daily lives, seeking protection in shelters and subways.
The Luftwaffe could not gain superiority over Britain. Operation Sea Lion was a failure.

13. Despite his failure to conquer Britain, Hitler seemed unstoppable.
German armies under the command of General Erwin Rommel pushed into North Africa.
In addition, Axis armies invaded Greece, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, and Hungary.
By 1941, the Axis powers or their allies controlled most of Europe.

14. Map of Europe 1941

15. The Breaking of the Nazi-Soviet Pact
In June 1941, Hitler broke the Nazi- Soviet Pact when he attacked the Soviet Union.
The attack stalled during the winter when thousands of unprepared Germans froze to death.
Leningrad withstood a two-and-a- half-year siege. Stalin made an agreement to work with Britain.
2.5 million USSR Soldiers died
Temps reaching -40 degrees C

16. Japan and Germany set out to build a “new order” in the lands they occupied.
Japanese troops seized crops, destroyed cities, and brutally treated local Chinese, Filipinos, and other conquered people.
The Nazis sent millions of Jews and political opponents to concentration camps.
The Nazis also targeted other groups they considered“inferior,” including Gypsies, Slavs, homosexuals, the disabled, and the mentally ill.

17. The Final Solution
By 1941, Hitler had devised plans for his“Final Solution”- the extermination of all Jews and the rest of the undesirable
At special death camps in Poland, some six million Jewish men, women, and children were systematically murdered in Europe. .

19. The Holocaust: Number of Deaths
Jews: up to 6 million
Serb civilians (on the territory of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina): 312,000
Soviet civilians: around 7 million (including 1.3 Soviet Jewish civilians, who are included in the 6 million figure for Jews)
People with disabilities living in institutions: up to 250,000
Soviet prisoners of war: around 3 million (including about 50,000 Jewish soldiers)
Roma (Gypsies): 196,000–220,000
Jehovah's Witnesses: Around 1,900
Non-Jewish Polish civilians: around 1.8 million (including between 50,000 and 100,000 members of the Polish elites)
Repeat criminal offenders and so- called asocials: at least 70,000
German political opponents and resistance activists in Axis-occupied territory: undetermined

20. Holocaust

23. The United States declared neutrality, but Roosevelt wanted to be prepared for war.
In August 1941, he met secretly with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to create the Atlantic Charter. Its goal was to destroy the Nazi reign.
Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act, allowing the United States to sell or lend supplies to Britain.
At the same time, tensions between the United States and Japan grew after the United States banned sale of war materials to Japan.

24. Pearl Harbor
In a sneak attack on December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes bombed the American fleet docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The next day, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

25. On December 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
As the United States mobilized for war, Japan expanded deeper into Asia.