World+War+II



June 14, 1940 was not a good day for the allies in World War II. This is the day that France fell to the German inaders from the north and east, while Italy attacked form the south. France fell so fast due to Hitlers blitzkrieg strategy. France had also misplaced their Maginot Line. The German troops ended up just going around it. The troops that were left including English and French escaped at Dunkirk, a beach in NW France. France would not be liberated until August of 1944.
 * "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be: Fight on the beaches, hills, and landing grounds. We shall never surrender!" Winston Churchill**

“I shall return” was what Douglas MacArthur said when he was forced off the Philippines by Japenese troops. This saying came true in the fall of 1942. It was won back in the Battle of Legete Gulf. It was a great air and sea fight. When troops landed they took revenge on the Japanese for what they had done to the POWs during the Bataan Death March. This is when Japense fortunes began to really fade.

The greatest battle of World War II was said to be the battle of Stalingrad. Germany troops invaded the Soviet Union and were destroying the Soviets. This all changed at this battle. Germans wanted the oil fields near Stalingrad. The Germans did not have winter uniform and this was helpful for the Soviets. The Soviets drove the Germans out of Russia and destroy the German Sixth army, the best of the german troops.



**People**

 * 1. __Adolf Hitler__- Chancellor of Nazi Germany from 1933 until his death in April 1945**
 * 2. __Winston Churchill:__ Prime Minister of England**
 * 3. __Nazis__- They were members of the National Socialist Party in Germany. This party was establsihed in Munich in 1919 and in 1921 it was taken over by Adolf Hitler. It was from the outset dominated by hatred of the Jews.**
 * 4- __Mussolini__- Italian politician who ruled Italy as a dictator from 1922 to 1943, had the characteristics of Hitler, but described as a poser by the end of his reign.**
 * 5. __FDR__- In WW2, Franklin Roosevelt played a major role as president of the US. He pulled the US out of the depression and victory in the second world war**
 * 6. __Chiang Kai-shek:__ He was the President of the Republic of China during WWII**
 * 7. __Admiral Yamamoto__- He was the mastermind that decided to plan and pursicute the attack on Pearl Harbor**
 * 8. __Douglas MacArthur__- US commander of allied forces in pacific**
 * 9. __Jimmy Doolittle__- He was promoted to Liutenant Colonel in WW2, and on January 2, 1942, and assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan the first retaliatory air raid on the Japanese homeland.**
 * 10. __General George Patton__: His nickname was Old Blood and Guts, he played a crucial role in the use of armour after the successful landings at D-Day. He didn't live much longer after the war, because in late 1945, he was killed in a road crash at the age of 60.**

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**Terms** __**Policy of appeasement**__: Great Britain adopted this policy because they thought it would keep the Germans happy. It was the belief that if you pleased the dissatisfied power peace and stability would develop.

__**Blitzkrieg:**__ This was Hitlers “lighting war.” It used armored columns, called panzer divisions, supported by airplanes. Each division had about 300 tanks and had troops and supplies.

__**Genocide:**__ This is the physical extermination of a group of people. The Nazis attempted this with the Jewish people. It was considered the Final Solution.

__**Einsatzgruppen:**__ They were mobile killing units for the genocide. They followed the German Armys advance and would then round up Jews, kill them, and then bury them in mass graves.The graves were often dug by the Jews.

__**Demilitarized Area:**__ A area where there are no weapons allowed. The Rhineland between Germany and France was one of these. Hitler crossed this and broke the Treaty of Versailles which led to war.

__**Sudentenland**__ : Area in northwestern Czechoslovakia. It was largely inhabited by Germans and Hitler wanted it. Hitler said he would risk world war to get it. The allies gave it to him.

__**Manchukuo**__ :Land Japanese took from China after China supposedly blew up a train. The train was actually blown up by the Japanese themselves.

__**Partisans:**__ Resistance fighters in Italy. Mussolini was shot by them on April 30th 1945.

__**Collaborators**__ : People who helped Germany during the war. They mainly helped the Germans hunt down the Jews.

__**Kamikaze:**__ This means divine wind in Japanese. They were pilots who ran their ships into U.S. Ships. They did quite a bit to our ships.

**Timeline**
1938: Times Magazine names Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year September 1, 1939: Germany invades Poland, envoking WW2 in Europe 1940: Times Magazine names Winston Churchill man of the year 1940: The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis was formed in September 1941: On May 26, the Sinking of the Bismarck, a German Battleship, which was thought of as unsinkable 1941: Pearl Harbor, a Japanese surprise attack on U.S. Pacific Fleet, the US loses 70 ships 1941: USA declares war just a day after Pearl Harbor on Japan Nov. 42-Feb. 43: Battle of Stalingrad, was the Greatest battle of WWII, the Red Army drives Germans out of USSR 1944: June 6, D-Day was the invasion of France 1944: July 24, Mussolini resigns 1944: The Germans were pushed back into Germany in September 1945: The Fall of Berlin in April had the U.S. controlling the West and USSR in the East 1945 April 28, Mussolini was imprisoned, publically humiliated and killed 1945: Late april Hitler commits suicide 1945: World War II comes to a close