History
Mohawk Paratroopers in war paint
Native American Code Talkers
Comanche
Navajo
Meskwaki
Start of the War
March 13, 1938 - Germany annexes Austria
October 7–10 - Germany takes Czech region of Sudetenland
August 23, 1939 - German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
September 1 - Germany invades Poland
September 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany
September 17 - USSR invades Poland from the east
September 19 - German and Soviet forces meet in central Poland
September 28 - Warsaw falls to Germany
November 30 - Soviet forces invade Finland
INTERESTING NOTES
US lost 400,000 soldiers in WWII and 600,000+ were wounded.
Red Cross kept blood plasma from blacks and whites separate.
Ironically, Charles Drew, a black man, invented the process allowing plasma to be stored.
Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) led to women receiving full status, equal ranks, and equal pay for military duty in WWII. Navy had the WAVEs.
Health of nation improved during the war.
WWII ended the Depression and unemployment virtually disappeared by 1944.
Major Leaders
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
US President
Joseph Stalin
Russian Leader
causes of WWII
1. Treaty of Versailles
A. Germany lost land to surrounding nations
B. War Reparations
1) Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S.
2) Germany must pay $57 trillion (modern equivalent)
3) Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed Germans
British Prime Minister David Lloyd George, French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, and President Woodrow Wilson on their way to the Versailles Peace Conference.
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2. World-wide Depression
Desperate people turn to desperate leaders
Hitler provided scapegoats for Germany’s problems (foreigners, Jews, communists, Roma (Gypsies), mentally ill, homosexuals)
Kristallnacht - vandalism & destruction of Jewish property & synagogues
Wallpapering with German Deutschmarks
causes of WWII
The poor economic conditions caused by American high tariffs created strong anti-Western sentiment in Japan and were a strong factor in forcing the Japanese invasion of China.
In July 1939, President Roosevelt decided not to renew the 1911 U.S.-Japan Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, which was due to expire in January 1940.
Then, on July 2, 1940, the U.S. Congress passed the Export Control Act.
Together, these two actions effectively eliminated Japan’s primary source of oil, scrap metal, and other material resources needed for war.
These developments dealt not only a severe economic blow to Japan but also a humiliating slap in the face to Japan’s leaders
who felt that the United States had no right to pass judgment on them or to interfere in their affairs.
causes of WWII
JAPAN
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the name given to Nazi Germany’s invasion of Russia on June 22nd 1941. Barbarossa the largest military attack of World War Two and was to have appalling consequences for the Russian people.
The Soviets were not ready to fight against the Germans, even though the Soviets had a large amount of soldiers, they were not equipped and were not trained to fight. After about a week the Germans had pushed 500 miles inside the Soviets. While walking through the lands of the Soviets , the Germans killed and burned anything that was in their pathway. Then by early September the Germans had the city Leningrad captive, and made sure that no one could get out of that city. Hitler made the people starve and bombed all of warehouses, which made all the people starve to death. The people of Leningrad ate the cow and horse food, and cats, dogs, and even crows and rats. People were that hungry to even eat the dirty little animals that run around in sewers, and could have germs. About a million people or more had died in the winter of the city Leningrad, but the city still didn't want to fall.
Hitler saw that the city Leningrad would not fall so he went to the capital, Moscow and started to attack there. By winter the Germans were in the capital, but the Soviet General Zhukov attacked back. This was because he had 100 Siberian divisions and the bad winters were there to back him up. When the temperatures had fell the Germans could not get used to it, because they were in their summer uniforms. The Germans ended up having useless weapons, tanks, trucks, and frozen oil and fuel. That winter Moscow was saved from the Germans, and the Germans lost 500,000 lives.
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in the Pacific
Pearl Harbor: “a date which will live in infamy”
USS Arizona Sinking in Pearl Harbor
Surprise attack by the Japanese on American forces in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Effect?
US declares war on Japan & other Axis powers
Historians believe that anywhere from 30 million to 60 million people died as a result of World War II.
Bataan Death March
The Japanese forced about 60,000 U.S. and Filipino soldiers to march 62 miles with little food or water after Japan defeated the Philippines in 1942.
Americans improvise to carry comrades who have collapsed along the road from a lack of food and water.
April 9, 1942- 70,000 Filipino and American troops surrendered to Japanese troops on the Bataan Peninsula.
General Homma, the leader of the Japanese forces, commanded that the Filipino and American troops march 62 miles north to Camp O'Donnell.
Those who could not keep up were shot, beheaded, or bayoneted.
About 54,000 reached Camp O'Donnell.
Some were able to escape, but 10,000 died at the camp.
June 6, 1942- the Filipino prisoners were granted amnesty and were allowed to leave.
The American prisoners were then moved to the city of Cabanatuan.
After WWII, General Homma was tried and convicted of these war crimes.
He was executed by firing squad by the Filipino and American forces on April 3, 1946 .
The Bataan Death March
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Allied POWs with hands tied behind their backs pause during the Bataan Death March.
From left to right: Private First Class Samuel Stenzler (September 15, 1893-May 26, 1942); Private First Class Frank Spear (1919-July 9, 1945) and Captain James McDonald Gallagher (1915-April 9, 1942) are resting with hands bound during the Bataan Death March to Camp O'Donnell, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines in a captured Japanese photo. Their hands are bound because they were found to possess either Japanese money, personal photos, or some other contraband. The figure to the extreme right is a Japanese soldier, who the three appear to be listening to. It's likely Gallagher and possibly the other men were beaten soon after this view was taken. None of the three men would survive captivity; all were weakened by lack of food, extreme stress, and constant movement.
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Fall of Germany
November 20, 1944 - Hitler abandons headquarters
December 16 - Battle of the Bulge; Germans begin counteroffensive in Ardennes
December 24 - Germans surround Americans at Bastogne
January 16, 1945 - U.S. forces freed from Bastogne
February 4 - FDR, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta Conference
April 12 – FDR dies; Truman becomes U.S. president
April 16 - Soviets begin offensive on Berlin
April 25 - U.S. and Soviet advances meet for first time
April 28 - Partisans execute Mussolini
April 30 - Hitler commits suicide
May 7 - Germany signs formal surrender
May 8 - Western Allies declare V-E (Victory in Europe) Day
May 9 - USSR declares Victory Day
Fall of Japan
March 1945 - Allies begin mass bombing raids of Tokyo and other cities
July 16 - US successfully tests first atomic bomb
July 26 - Potsdam Declaration signed
August 6 - US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima
August 8 - USSR enters war against Japan
August 9 - US drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki; USSR invades Manchuria
August 15 - Hirohito announces Japan’s surrender
September 2 - Japan signs formal surrender
August 6, 1945: An atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.
The “Little Boy” bomb was the second nuclear device detonated in history. “Little Boy”” measured three meters long and less than a meter wide. It weighed around 4,400 kilograms. And it killed over 140,000 people, 60,000 as a result of the initial blast. Weeks before the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (and after the successful Trinity test), President Truman wrote in his diary:
We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.
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