World+War+II

toc 1939-1945 By: Mike Holland, Luke Morman & Devon Wagenman


 * "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." - Dr. Robert Oppenheimer**

**World War II Explained:**

World War II was a very influential war for the United States. In this war the Germans, led by Adolf Hitler, wanted to take over all of Europe. At first Hitler and the Germans said he only wanted to take Sudetenland which was an area in northwestern Czechoslovakia. This area was inhabited largely by Germans. He was willing to start a “World War” for this land. Hitler arranged a conference in Munich, which included the British, French, Germans, and Italians. None of these groups objected to Hitler’s plan but instead reached an agreement that met virtual all of Hitler’s demands. This meant that German troops were allowed to occupy the Sudetenland. This forced the Czechs were abandoned by their western allies and were left helpless. The Holocaust was one Hitler’s excuses for the war. Hitler said he was purifying Germany of its racial struggles. The final solution for the Jews was called genocide. This was the complete extermination of the Jews. Reinhard Heydrich was the head of the SS and was given the task of carrying out the Final Solution. After the defeat of Poland, Heydrich gave the order to round up all of the Polish Jews. Then in June 1941, the SS were given the job as mobile killing unit. These SS death squads were given the job to round up Jews in their villages, execute them, and bury them in mass graves. The graves were often giant pits dug by the victims themselves before they were shot. Pearl Harbor was a major turning point in the war. This event was the bombing of a naval port in Hawaii. The Japanese surprised the U.S. to keep the naval fleet from interfering with military actions of the Empire of Japan. The base was attacked by 353 japanese fighters, bombers and torpedo planes in two waves. Eight U.S. battleships were damaged with four being sunk. There were also 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, 2,402 Americans killed and 1,282 wounded. The Japanese losses were lighter with only 29 aircraft, 5 midget destroyers and 65 men killed or wounded. Only one Japanese sailor was captured.





= Key Terms =

1. **__Appeasement__** - A policy practiced by Great Britain that involved satisfying the demanding powers to avoid war and create stability in Europe. 2. __**Demilitarized**__ - An area not permitted to have weapons or fortifications. Rhineland is a zone in Germany that should be demilitarized according to the Treaty of Versailles, but Hitler moved troops in anyway causing problems. 3. __**Sanctions**__ - Sanctions were restrictions that had to be made to enforce international laws. The United States warned Japan that they would apply sanctions if Japan touched French Indo-China. 4. __**Blitzkrieg**__ - Hitler's form of attack that's speed and efficiency startled Europe. It had armored columns called Panzer divisions including 300 tanks with forces, supplies, and airplanes. 5. __**Phony War**__ - A period in between HItler's attack on Poland on September 28, 1939 and resumed on April 9, 1940. It was called the phony war because the first attack was not the real start to the war. 6. __**Partisans**__ - Resistance fighters in Italy that killed Mussolini, right after the suicide of Adolf HItler, and ended the war on May 7th, 1945. 7. __**Genocide**__ - The final solution of the Nazi's, was genocide. Genocide was the total attempt to exterminate the Jewish race by force. 8. __**D-Day**__ - De-embarkation day, known as D-Day, took place on June 6th, 1944. Under Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Allied forces invaded Normandy and liberated Paris at the end of August. 9. __**Auschwitz**__ - The largest extermination center, or concentration camp in all of Europe created by the Nazis to finish off all of the Jewish race. Jews were gathered and shipped to these areas, only to be starved and killed off. 10. __**Collaborators**__ - Collaborators were people who helped the enemy, in this case the Nazis. These Collaborators helped the Nazis find jews and hunt them down, to be placed in concentration camps.

= Map =



= Important Leaders =

__**Adolf Hitler**__- was the Chancellor of Germany throughout World War 2. He was the leader of the Nazi regimen, and thought to be the biggest contributor to the war. __**Mussolini-**__ was active in the socialist party until they supported the allies in World War 1. He resigned in 1915, and when they entered the war, he joined the Italian Army. __**Franklin Delano Roosevelt**__- was born in New York on 30th January, 1882. In 1921, he was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and became almost totally paralyzed. He was elected president in 1932. __**Joseph Stalin**__- was born in Georgia on December 21 in 1879. He was the leader of the USSR during World War 2. He sided with the allies in trying to defeat Germany. __**George Patton**__ – he was the US general during WWII. He also invaded Italy with his forces. __**Marshall**__ - US Chief of Staff. Responsible for organizing the US Military and Officers quickly for war, picking the top US commanders in each theater and deciding which theater received the most logistical backing. __**Alan Brooke**__ - Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Responsible for deciding the general overall strategy employed by the Allies in Europe, responsible for picking the top ranking British commander of the war, for choosing which theater received most attention and for organizing the British War effort __**Vasilevsky**__ - Soviet Chief of the General Staff. Responsible for organizing and coordinating the Soviet War effort against the Nazis. __**Truman**__ - President of the US. Took over after FDR's death, tried to control Stalin unsuccessfully, approved the dropping of the A-Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 * __Eisenhower__** - SCAFE, Top ranking Allied Commander in Europe who oversaw the camping in the west. Gave Berlin to the Soviets.





= Videos & Widget =

media type="youtube" key="v5OI9xrJ8Zw" height="360" width="640" media type="custom" key="16407210"

media type="youtube" key="Mh4_O6cVIk4" width="425" height="350"

media type="custom" key="16927526"

= For More Information =

media type="custom" key="16922366"


 * 1) [|Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact] - this website talks about the pact made between the Nazis and the Soviets and the agreements that were made between them.
 * 2) [|World War II in Europe] - this website shows what happened in WWII from 1939 to 1945.
 * 3) [|Entire History of Europe: Interactive Map] - this website has a map of WWII but it explains the events that occured in certain areas for each year of WWII, you can also look at the effect of the war on each country, the casualties in each country, and compare the modern political boundaries to the WWII boundaries.
 * 4) [|Vichy France] - this website talks about Vichy France in WW2 and hichlights the key people, places, and vocabulary.
 * 5) [|The Battle of Britain] - this website gives a brief description of the Battle of Britain and gives videos related to the air battle.
 * 6) [|The Cruise of the Bismarck] - this website deeply describes the German battleship //Bismarck//, and also describes its encounter with the Allied ships that sunk it.
 * 7) [|Operation Barbarossa] - this website talks about the Nazi Germany invasion of the Soviet Union and shows what each army consisted of in tables.
 * 8) [|New Order in East Asia] - this website talks about the "New Order in East Asia" and briefly describes what lead to this.
 * 9) [|Pearl Harbor] - this website talks about the Japanese invasion on Pearl Harbor and has videos and photos relating to the invasion.
 * 10) [|The Battle for Stalingrad]- this website lets you read a brief intro to the battle, see highlights, maps, and documents of the battle.