World War II
Introduction
The Second World War was the most widespread and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries and resulting in more than 50 million military and civilian deaths. September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland without warning sparking the start of World War Two. By the evening of September 3rd, Britain and France were at war with Germany and within a week, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa had also joined the war. The main Allied powers were Great Britain, The United States, China, and the Soviet Union. The leaders of the Allies were Franklin Roosevelt (the United States), Winston Churchill (Great Britain), and Joseph Stalin (the Soviet Union). The main Axis powers were Germany, Japan and Italy. The Axis leaders were Adolf Hitler (Germany), Benito Mussolini (Italy), and Emperor Hirohito (Japan).
War in Europe - German Invasion of Poland
On this day in 1939, German forces bombard Poland on land and from the air, as Adolf Hitler seeks to regain lost territory and ultimately rule Poland. World War II had begun. The German invasion of Poland was a primer on how Hitler intended to wage war–what would become the “blitzkrieg” strategy.
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) was the Führer (leader) of the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi Party) and of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. In 1923 the Nazi launched the Munich Putsch in failed, Hitler was jailed. Hitler had millions of Jewish killed during the Holocaust. |
Holocaust
Holocaust was historically used to describe a sacrificial offering burned on an altar. The Nazis believed that the Aryans had the most "pure blood" of all the people on earth. Concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy.
Ann FrankAnnelies Marie "Anne" Frank (12 June 1929 – February 1945) was a teen writer who went into hiding during the Holocaust, journaling her experiences in the renowned work The Diary of Anne Frank. In September 3, 1944 Anne was sent to Auschwitz. She was stripped naked, her head got shaved and she was tattooed with her ID number. In March 1945, Anne Frank dies of typhus disease. |
Pearl Harbor - America Enters the War
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, but Japan and the United States had been edging toward war for decades. The United States was particularly unhappy with Japan’s increasingly belligerent attitude toward China. During the 1930s Germany, Italy and Japan led a group of nations called the Axis. The leaders of these countries were dictators. They wanted their own countries to grow and others to become weaker. In the years before the beginning of World War II all three Axis powers had strengthened and modernized their armies.
Franklin D. RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) helped the American people regain faith in themselves. Early in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the Pacific Fleet to Hawaii from its pervious base in San Diego and ordered a military buildup in the Philippines in the hope of discouraging Japanese aggression in the Far East. |