1. World War II

2. Historical Context
1919: Treaty of Versailles signed; not everyone happy
Great Depression military expenditures help mitigate effects…. But, also a rearmament for war
Arms build-up increases industrial output and protects against real or perceived threats
League of Nations has little power
No control of major conflicts
No progress in disarmament
No effective military force
Thus, just like WWI, nationalism, industrialism, and militarism were key factors in beginning WWII.

3. Europe 1920

4. Steps to War: Unchecked Aggression
Japan invades Manchuria, 1931
Italy attacks Ethiopia, 1935
Japan invades China, 1937
Germany invades the Rhineland, 1936
Germany invades Poland, 1939
The war officially begins

5. Nationalism and Propaganda
Propaganda was used to promote war effort (enlist in the military, buy war bonds, work in factories, accept the sacrifices of war) and to depict enemies as inferior and sometimes as monsters/animals
Constant use of propaganda resulted in governments becoming experienced in using technology to shape public opinion
Heightened nationalistic messages led to the support of a war that resulted in millions of deaths and widespread environmental damage

6. Key Dates 1939: invasion of Poland and fall of Czechoslovakia
1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
1940: surrender of France
1941: U.S. Lend-Lease Act
December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor U.S. militarily enters the war

7. Key Dates
April 1942: Bataan Death March, Philippines 76,000 Allied soldiers marched to prisoner-of-war camps; thousands died
June 4-6, 1942: Battle of Midway Island first clear Japanese loss of the war; forced Japan on the defensive
June 6, 1944: Normandy Landing/D-Day
August 1944: liberation of Paris by Allies
December 1944 – January 1945: Battle of the Bulge major Allied defeat of Germany; opened door for Allied invasion of Germany; compelled Germany’s surrender

8. Key Dates 1945: Mussolini and his mistress are hung
April 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide
May 8, 1945: V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
July-August 1945: Potsdam Conference meeting of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin; issued ultimatum to Japan; arranged post-war Europe
August 6 and 9, 1945: atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki end of war in Pacific

9. Aftermath Death toll- as many as 50 million dead
Horrors of Holocaust- 6 million Jews killed; 11 million total people (United Nations gives a name to this kind of killing: genocide)
Japanese unconditional surrender limitation of military and power of emperor
War crimes trials: Axis political and military leaders; many never captured/brought to trial
Establishment of United Nations

10. Aftermath
Divisions grow between the Allied forces Cold War begins between democratic countries and communist countries
US forms NATO; Soviet Union creates Warsaw Pact
Germany divided- East and West Germany, division of Berlin