Kevin Beadle

Mr. Haskell

World History

1 May 2006

Outline Ch. 31

Early Challenges to World
a. Challenges to peace followed a pattern throughout the 1930s
b. One of the earliest tests was posed by Japan
c. In the face of the democracies apparent weakness, Germany, Italy and Japan formed what became known as the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

The Spanish Civil War
a. In the 1920s Spain was a monarchy dominated by a landowning upper class, the Catholic Church, and the military
b. Both sides committed unbelievable atrocities, the ruinous struggle took almost one million lives
c. By 1939, Franco had triumphed, once in power he created a fascist dictatorship like those of Hitler and Mussolini

German Aggression Continues
a. Hitler pursued his goal of bringing all german-speaking people into the Third Reich
b. From the outset, Nazi propaganda had found fertile ground in Austria
c. The Czech crisis revealed the Nazi menace

The plunge Toward War
a. As Churchill predicted, Munich did not bring peace, instead Europe plunged rapidly toward
b. The pact was based not on friendship or respect but on mutual need
c. For his part, Stalin had sought allies among the western democracies against the Nazi menace

Why War Came
a. Many factors contributed to World War II
b. Since 1939, people have debated issues such as why the western democracies failed to respond forcefully to the Nazi threat and whether they could have stopped Hitler if they had responded
c. Many historians today think that Hitler might have been stopped in 1936, before Germany was fully rearmed

The first Onslaught
a. in September 1939, Nazi forces stormed into Poland, revealing the enormous power of Hitler’s Blitzkrieg, or lighting war
b. During that first winter, the French hunkered down behind the Maginot Line
c. The whirlwind Nazi advance revealed the awesome power of modern warfare

The Battle of Britain
a. Late on the afternoon of September 7, german bombers appeared over london
b. For Londoners, the Blitz became a fact of life
c. The city did not break under the Blitz

Charging Ahead
a. While the Luftwaffe was blasting Britain, Axis armies were pushing into North Africa and the Balkans
b. In 1940, Italian forces invaded Greece, and the Germans Came to the rescue and added Greece to the Axis Empire
c. Meanwhile, both Bulgaria and Hungary had joined the Axis Alliance

Operation Barbarossa

a. In Operation Barbarossa, Hitler unleashed a new Blitzkrieg
b. Hitler caught Stalin unprepared , his army still suffering from purges that had wiped out many of its top officers
c. More than a million Leningraders died during the German Siege

Growing American Involvement
a. in early 1941, FDR convinced Congress to pass the Lend Lease Act
b. In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly on a warship in the atlantic
c. They pledged to support the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live and called for a permanent system of general

Japan Attacks
a. on December 7 1941 the Japanese launched an surprise attacked on Pearl Harbor Hawaii to try and destroy the whole Pacific fleet
b. They attack because the United States did not agree to sell them materials such as iron, steel, and oil for airplanes
c. In the long run the Japanese attack would be as serious a mistake as Hitler invasion of Russia

Occupied Lands
a. Hitler set up a puppet governments in Western European countries that were peopled by Aryans or related races
b. The most savage of all Hitler’s programs was to Kill all Jews and others that he judged racially inferior such as Slavs, Gypsies, and the mentally ill.
c. Japan wrapped itself in the mantle of anti-imperialism

The Allied War Efforts
a. In 1942 , the big Three – Roosevelt , Churchill, and Stalin- agreed to finis the war in Europe first before turning their attention to the Japanese in Asia
b. Like the Axis powers the allies committed to total war
c. As men joined the military and war industries expanded, millions of women replaced them in essential jobs

Turning Point
a. Later in 1942, American general Dwight Eisenhower took command of a joint Anglo-American force in Morocco and Algeria
b. Victory in North Africa let the allies leap across the Mediterranean into Italy
c. Italians, fed up with Mussolini, overthrew the Duce

The Red Army Resists
a. In 1941 the Germans were stopped outside Moscow and Leningrad by the Red Army
b. As the winter closed in the Germans were fighting the Russians in Stalingrad over one Building
c. The Red army then was able to run the Germans out of the Russia

Invasion of France
a. In 1944 the allies were ready to take make and execute a plan for a second front in Europe
b. Around 176,000 British, French, and American troops were sent across the English Channel
c. The Germans were expecting an attack from the allies from the English Channel

War in the Pacific
a. A major turning point in the Pacific war occurred just 6 months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
b. After the Battle of Midway, the US took the offensive under the command of General Douglas MacArthur.
c. In October 1944, MacArthur began to retake the Philippines while the British were pushing the Japanese back in the jungles of Burma and Malaya.

The Nazis Defeated
a. Hitler scorned talk of surrender and he said, “If the war is to be lost, the nation also will perish”.
b. After freeing France, the Allies battled toward Germany and a massive counterattack was thrown upon them which caused the bloody Battle of the Bulge.
c. By the time, Germany was reeling under round-the-clock bombing and this type of air war had only become real during this war.

Defeat of Japan
a. With war won in Europe, the Allies poured their resources into defeating Japan.
b. People were worried because they believed that the invasion was going to cost the US a million or more casualties and in end Truman ended up deciding to use the new atomic bomb.
c. Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan brought a quick end to World War II and it also unleashed terrifying destruction.

Looking Ahead
a. After the surrender, American forces occupied the smoldering ruins of Japan.
b. Meanwhile in Germany, the Allies had divided Hitler’s fallen empire into four zones of occupation.
c. In both countries, the Allies faced difficult decisions about the future and how they could avoid mistakes such as in 1919.

Aftermath of War
a. While the Allies celebrated victory, the appalling costs of the war began to emerge.
b. During the war, the Allies knew about the existence of Nazi concentration camps, but only at wars end did they learn of the true horror of the torture and misery that was in them.
c. At wartime meetings, the Allies had agreed that Axis leaders should be tried for “crimes against humanity”

The United Nations
a. As in 1919, the WWII Allies set up an international organization to secure the peace.
b. Under the UN Charter, each member nation had one vote in the General Assembly, where member could debate issues.
c. The UN’s work would go far beyond peace-keeping and it ended up taking on many world problems such as preventing diseases.

The Crumbling Alliance
a. Amid the rubble of war, a new power structure emerged that would shape events in the postwar world.
b. During the war, the Soviet Union and the nations of the West had cooperated to defeat Nazi Germany.
c. Stalin has 2 goals in Eastern Europe, first he wanted to create a buffer zone of friendly governments as a defense against Germany, and second he wanted to spread communism.

Containing Communism
a. Like Churchill, President Truman saw communism as an evil force creeping across Europe and threatening countries around the world
b. Truman wrote the Truman Doctrine and it outlined a new policy to Congress.
c. Postwar hunger and poverty made Western European lands fertile ground for communist ideas.