World+War+II+Notes

WW2 NOTES

Who was involved?

Axis Powers Germany Italy Japan

Allied Powers U.S.A Britain France

Who were the leaders?

Axis Powers Adolf Hitler (Germany) Benito Mussolini (Italy) Emperor Hirohito (Japan)

Allied Powers President D. Roosevelt (U.S.A.) Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Brit) French leader was overthrown by Germany

When did the Axis Powers officially form? September 27, 1940

Leader Backgrounds Hitler- 1933 Chancellor 1934 Fuhrer (Leader of the German people) -wanted to control Europe -wanted to rule of over weaker people and countries. -wanted a supreme race. (ALL GERMAN)

Mussolini- -Dictator of Italy Founded Fascism (one leader, one party has all power) -Heavily influenced Hitler.

Hirohito- -Emperor from 1926-1989 -Still emperor after the war. -No one had heard his voice until he surrendered on radio on 8/14/45

Generals at war Heinrich Himmler -Second in command -Commander of the Gestapo (German Police) (The Gestapo was put into place to enforce Hitler's laws and to punish anyone who opposed is views)

Victor Emmanuel III- Italy

-Was the King of Italy and the head of the Italian Army. In reality he did whatever Mussolini told him to do until Mussolini was removed from power. Hideki Tojo- Japan

As the P.M. of Japan, Tojo was a major supporter of the Pact that Germany had with Italy. Other countries that were a part of the Axis Alliance:

-Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland.

How did the United States enter the war?

- In the Pacific Ocean the Japanese captured most of China along many with islands.

-In December 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.

- the U.S. joined the war against the Axis Powers.

-The U.S. and Russia were strong forces against the Axis Powers, although the A.P. had better weapons, they were not ready for the harsh weather in Russia.

-Italy surrendered to the Allies Immediatelyin September 1943. This made the A.P. crumble. How the U.S. responded to the bombing of Pearl Harbor

-On June 6, 1944 the allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy (in Northern France)

-The allies held the beaches and pushed toward Germany.

-Within a month allies had gone far into France and liberated Paris, the capital of France.

-On May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered.

-In the Pacific the Allies were winning battles against the Japanese and captured islands from Japanese control.

-By the spring of 1945 the Allies began bombing Japanese cities.

-The new American weapon, the atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 6, 1945.

-The A-Bomb killed more than 70K people in Hiroshima.

-3 days later a 2nd bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, which finally made the Japanese surrender. (Aug. 14, 1945)

D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy
 * The storming of Normandy is known as D Day***

On June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces of Britain, America, Canada and France attacked German forces on the Coast of Normandy, France.

-Over 150,000 soldiers attacked and were victorious on D-Day.

-To gain land, the troops gathered large amounts of equipment in Britain and increased air strikes and bombings over Germany.

-The D-Day invasion had been planned for months. It was almost cancelled because of bad weather. Germans never saw them coming. Kinds of attacks

- Paratroopers (Men who jumped out of planes with parachutes_

-Dummies or fake men were also dropped to cause confusion.

-Bombs

-Warships

-Cutting phone lines and destroying railroads (French) After the battle

- 150K troops landed in Normandy over the next several days.

-By June 17th over half a million had arrived and pushed Germans out of France. D-Day leaders

-Supreme Commander Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley (U.S.A) and Bernard Montgomery and Trafford Leigh-Mallory from Britain. Erwin Rommel and Gerd von Rundstedt (Germany)