1931-1945

Allies vs AxisIn the Second World War, the Allies fought the Axis Powers + Japan. The Axis started the war and they were VERY prepared . With careful planning, the Axis did horrible damage until they were defeated.In hindsight, the Axis Powers were a small alliance and did not have a real chance once the Allies became organized. However, the opening phase of the war was a series of devastating Allied defeats.

THE AXIS POWERS The Axis nations included: Germany,

Italy, Japan, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.

Finland also assisted the Axis but ONLY to fight the USSR who had invaded Finland.

THE ALLIED NATIONS

The Allies were a huge alliance that grew throughout the war.

There were three main allies and many minor allies. Some of the Allies were knocked out of the war because they were conquered.

The Big THREE

Britain USA USSR

The Commonwealth Nations

The British had the significant help of many colonies and former colonies:

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, etc

China

In Asia, China was a HUGE Allied nation

But not very strong militarily

China was too big for Japan to conquer and Japan’s resources were tied up in the fight against such a large enemy.

Other Allied CountriesPoland France French ColoniesNepal Czechoslovakia NorwayDenmark Belgium NetherlandsDutch East Indies Greece YugoslaviaMongolia PanamaLuxembourgDominican Republic El Salvador HaitiNicaragua Philippines GuatemalaCuba Mexico BrasilEthiopia Iraq BoliviaColombia Iran LiberiaPeru Albania EcuadorParaguay Uruguay VenezuelaTurkey Egypt LebanonSyria Saudi Arabia ArgentinaChile Costa RicaNATIONS IN RED WERE CONQUERED BY THE AXIS

OR JAPAN.

The Alliance Grew During the War

The Allies joined at different times. Some joined in 1939-1941 when they were attacked:France, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Albania, Denmark, LuxembourgThese countries were occupied by Japan and Germany and were not able to provide much help for the rest of the war.

ALLIES Continued to join

Many countries joined towards the end, in 1945. It was clear by this time that Germany, Italy, and Japan were going to lose.

 Paraguay UruguayVenezuelaTurkey EgyptLebanonSyria Saudi ArabiaArgentinaChile Costa Rica Ecuador

A “WORLD” AT WAR

The war has two main parts.A Pacific Theater A European Theater

1931-1945 1939-1945

THREE PHASES OF THE WORLD WAR

1. A winning streak. Initial Axis victories make them look invincible.

2. A first loss. Allied countries finally stop the Axis offensive.

3. A losing streak. Allied countries counterattack and overwhelm the Axis nations.

Phase One—EuropeGermany conquered and occupied ALL of Europe except for the neutrals: Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, and Portugal.

Phase One: Asia 1931Japan invaded the Chinese province of

Manchuria in 1931.

Phase One—Asia 1941Japan overwhelmed much of the Pacific and

East Asia in a carefully planned rapid attack.

RED TERRITORIES WERE CONTROLLED BY JAPAN.

Japan’s 1st defeat: Midway Island Beginning in 1942, the Allies had organized enough to

stop Axis attacks.

US aircraft carrier “ Yorktown” under Japanese air attack. The Yorktown later sank.

Germany’s 1st defeat: El Alamein

British and Commonwealth forces pushed German and Italian armies back from Suez.

1942

USSR: Stalingrad 1942-43

The Red Army surrounded and destroyed a German army of 250,000 soldiers.

German POWs

The Axis hold on and defend Beginning in 1943, the Axis tried to

hold on to what they had captured.

Japan believed that if they fought stubbornly, the Allies would give up.

The Allies wanted to “liberate” captured lands, but they needed time to prepare.

Long Distance Attacks

MOST GERMAN AND JAPANESE CITIES WERE 75-90% DESTROYED.

While they prepared a counterattack, Allied planes bombed Japan and

Germany relentlessly.

The Final Phase—Counterattack1943

1943: Allies Invaded Sicily

Kursk

Sicily

“Bloody Tarawa”

1943: USSR won the Battle of Kursk

1943: The USA won several Pacific islands including Tarawa.

Counterattack in the Pacific1944

In 1944, the Allies moved closer to Japan

US forces captured the islands of Tinian, Saipan and Guam

From these islands, aircraft could reach and bomb Japan.

Allied Counterattack1944

In 1944, the USSR recaptured the Ukraine, the Baltic States, and part of Poland.

D-Day—Amphibious invasion of France On June 6, 1944, Britain, Canada, and

the USA invaded Normandy, France.D-Day 1944

Two-Front War

The invasion of France put pressure on both sides of Germany—EAST and WEST.

The Nazis did not last very long once they had to fight on two fronts.

Germany surrendered in less than one year.

VE-Day May 8, 1945

Celebration in Times Square, New York City

Final Phase—The Pacific Japan held out a few months longer. Attacking Japan required many

invasions

Mount Suribachi is in the background.

Iwo Jima, 1945

Amphibious AttackOne of the features of the Pacific war was the use of small boats to invade numerous islands.

“Island Hopping”Amphibious attack was extremely dangerous. The boats were slow and easy targets as they approached the beach. There was no place for soldiers to hide on a beach.

The HIGGINS Boat

The Americans chose to capture some islands, and bypassed others.

Bitter FightingJapanese soldiers usually would not surrender.

Each shelter had to be destroyed by fire and explosives.

They had very carefully prepared defenses of caves, concrete bunkers and log shelters.

Final Pacific Battles1945

In 1945, US forces captured the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The defense was carefully prepared.

Japanese defenders were stubborn. Most died.

US Soldiers raise a flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima.

Okinawa 1945

At the battle of Okinawa, more than 100,000 civilians died.

US soldiers together with Okinawan civilians.

Operation “Olympic”

After Okinawa, the US planned to invade Japan in the same way.

The Americans expected many hundreds of thousands of soldiers to die.

If the pattern of Okinawa repeated, millions of Japanese civilians would also die.

Invasion Avoided Atomic attack destroyed Hiroshima

on August 6, 1945.

Soviet armies invaded Manchuria on August 8, 1945

A second atomic attack destroyed Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.

JAPAN QUICKLY SURRENDERED.

VJ-Day: August 14-15, 1945

The End