Teacher's notes

Retaking of Europe

Rise of Dictators

           I. Fascism

              A.  Benito Mussolini – Il Duce “The Leader”

                   1. Italian army invades Ethiopia

              B.  Adolph Hitler – Fuhrer

                   1. Failed Artist

                   2. Karl Lueger – Vienna Mayor

                   3. Lanz von Liebenfels – ex-Catholic monk

                   4. Richard Wagner – composed plays

              C. Japan – “Asia for Asians”

                   1. Invade Manchuria 1931

      II. Communism

          A. Joseph Stalin

              1. Head of mail office

              2. Lenin distrusted him

              3. Paranoia engulfs him towards the end of the war

     III. Japan and Germany Treaty

          A. Common front against communism (Anti –Comintern Pact)

          B. Had alliance before this pact

     IV. Flaws of Versailles Treaty

          A. Written by victorious Allies

          B. Germany accepts responsibility for war guilt

          C. Reparations form Germany

          D. Took land way

              1. Alsace and Lorraine to France

              2. Created new Polish state

      V. Effects of Depression

          A. 6 million people unemployed (1/3 out of work)

          B. German people find guidance

              1. NSDAP (later became Nazi Party)

                    a. Placed blame on Jews & Communist

              2. Anti-Semitism

                    b. Biological racism stem from pseudoscientific interpretation

                       (Social Darwinism)

                    c. Huston Chamberlain – Aryans superior race

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Apathy’s second cousin…. Appeasement

I. Nazis begin to stockpile 

              A. Military conscription introduced (against Versailles Treaty)

              B. Spanish Civil War breaks out

                  1. Send aid to Spain inform of Luftwaffe

                  2. Italy also sends military aid      

 II. Britain + France + Apathy + Depression = Appeasement

              A. Preserve international and social order (Pacifism)

              B. Germany creates an army/ Britain naval agreement

              C. Germans take Rhineland back

              D. Help in the Spanish Civil War (Francisco Franco)

              E. Italy in Ethiopia and Germany in Austria

              F. Munich Conference

                  1. Czechoslovakia

                  2. Soviet Union

                   3. Hitler’s terms accepted

             G. Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

III. Stance of United States

             A. Neutrality Act of 1935 (Spanish Civil War)

                 1. Act made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to country at war

             B. Isolationism

                 1. U.S. sets restrictions on refugees

                 2. “Open Door” policies shut in East (Japan)

                 3. FDR allows “emergency visas” (Einstein)

             C. Cash and Carry Policy

                 1. Passed after invasion of Poland

                 2. Carry supplies on countries’ own ships

                 3. Benefit allies

             D. Lend-Lease Act

                 1. Lend-lease arms to countries “vital to the defense of the U.S.”

                 2. U.S. contributed $50 million in weapons, vehicles and other supplies

                 3. Later extended to Russia

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1^st West then East through the “Underbelly” to the Beast.

           I. U.S. enters war through Pacific

                        A. Pearl Harbor

                        B. Japanese strategy

    C. Philippines

                            1. General Douglas MacArthur

                            2. Retreat to Australia

                            3. 78,000 prisoners taken to prison camp (Bataan Death march)

                        D. Doolittle Raid

                            1. Bombs dropped on Japan

                        E. Role of Chinese in Pacific

                        F. Battle of Coral Sea

                            1. U.S. sent carriers Yorktown and Lexington

                            2. Lexington sank and Yorktown damaged, but Japanese call off landing

   G. Battle of Midway

                            1. Turning point

             II. U.S. lands in Africa

                        A. Why Africa?

                        B. General Erwin Rommel (a.k.a. “Desert Fox”)

                        C. Bernard Montgomery

 III. War on the home front

                        A. Women join army and work force

                        B. Minorities

                            1. African Americans

                            2. Mexicans – “zoot suit riots”

                            3. Japanese

                        C. Rationing

                            1. Victory gardens

                            2. Scrap drives

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Retaking of Europe

         I. Nazis, Stalin & Mussolini

            A. Stalin invades Finland and eastern Poland

            B. Mussolini invaded Greece and moved against

   British in Africa

          C. Bombing on Britain – Hitler won/lost

          D. Nazis – Romania (join Axis), Yugoslavia and

   Greece

               1. Hitler launches Operation Barbarossa

   (invasion of Russia)

               2. Implement “Final Solutions”

               3. Sank “Hood”

II. U.S. & Russia jump into fray in Europe

              A. Russia – caught off guard

                  1. Winter saves “Mother Russia”

                  2. Germany inflicts 4.5 million causalities on Red Army

                  3. Hitler decides to focus on Caucus Mt. (oil fields)

                      a. Turning Point

             B. 1943 – Casablanca…. unconditional surrender

             C. Battle @ Kursk (largest tank battle in history)

             D. U.S./ Allies land in Italy

                 1. Mussolini and Fascists overthrown

                 2. Allies bombing of Hamburg (40,000 dead in 2 hrs.)

             E. Russia pushing into Poland

                 1. Red Army brakes siege of Leningrad

              F. Roosevelt and Stalin in Tehran

             G. D-Day – invasion into Normandy, France

             H. Hitler survives assassination (brief case explodes, table saves life)

                1. Rommel forced to commit suicide

III. Battle of the Bulge

               A. Hitler’s last offensive

                   1. Split supplies lines in Bastogne and Antwerp

                   2. Surprise attack through 6 inches of snow

                   3. U.S. wins battle after 3 weeks

              B. V-E Day

                  1. Russia had driven Nazis back to Oder River 35 mi. east of Berlin

              C. Yalta Conference – leading towards “Cold War”

                  1. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin

                  2. Poland gov’t set up by Soviets

                  3. Declaration of Liberated Europe

                      a. “The right of all to choose the form of government under which they will live.”

                 4. Reparations paid with goods and product not case

                 5. Shaping the “Cold War,” Russia forcing

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