GFPA 2043

Modern World History

Week 12 (31 Dec – 06 Jan)
The Second World War 1939-1945
 Causes

• Unfair terms in the Treaty of Versailles

• Economic slump
• Rise of totalitarian government
• War trauma & appeasement policy
• Militarism in Japan
 Events of the War - Europe
07/03/36
30/01/33 Remilitarisation of
Hitler became the Rhineland
Chancellor 25/05-
03/06/40 03/09/43
Operation Allied 30/04/45
9/11/23 27/02/33
Dynamo invasion of Adolf Hitler
Munich Reichstag fire 25/10/36
(Dunkirk Sicily committed
Beer Hall Rome-Berlin Axis 06/06/44
Putsch formed evacuation) suicide
19/10/33 Normandy
Germany landings
10/07-
withdraw XX/09/38
31/10/40
from League Sudeten Crisis & 25/04/45
Battle of
of Nations Munich Mussolini
Britain
Agreement executed

23/08/39 08/09/41- 08/05/45

03/10/35 27/01/44
Molotov- Germany
Mussolini Siege of
Ribbentrop surrenders
invasion of Leningrad
Ethiopia Pact

03/09/39
Britain and
France
declared war
16/03/35 on Germany
Germany re-
armament 16/12/44-
restarts 28/01/45
30/09/41-
01/09/39 Battle of the
07/01/42
Germany 05/07/43- Bulge /
Battle of
invasion of 23/08/43 Ardennes
02/08/34 Moscow
Poland Battle of Offensive
Hindenburg died. Kursk
11/01/23 – Office of
25/05/25 Chancellor & 16/03/39 22/06/41- 19-25/8/44 16/04/45-
French occupation President Germany 07/01/42 Liberation of 02/05/45
of the Ruhr Valley combined occupation of Operation Paris Battle of Berlin
Prague Barbarossa

30/10/21 23/03/33 12/03/38

Enabling Act Anschluss with 14/06/40 23/08/42-
Mussolini elected Germany 02/03/43
as Prime Minister passed Austria
occupation of Battle of
Paris Stalingrad
 Events of the War (1939-1941)

• In Europe, the war began with

German attack on Poland in
Sept.1939.
• In 1940, Norway, Denmark,
Holland, Belgium fell to
Germans. Air strikes made on
England.
• In 1940 Italy, Germany and
Japan signed Tripartite Pact.
(Axis Powers)
• In 1941 Germans attacked
Russia and also British in Libya
and Egypt.
 Events of the War 1942-1944

• Tide turns in 1943 as blitzkrieg

was halted and allied forces
prevailed as victors.
• Russians got back Stalingrad.
• British freed North Africa from
the Germans.
• Allied forces made foothold in
continental Europe in June
1944, reopening the Western
front of the European theatre.
Events of the War 1942-1944
 Events of the War 1945

• Mussolini arrested & executed.

• Hitler committed suicide on 30th April 1945.
 Events of the War - Pacific

22/08/10 13/04/41 07/12/41

Japan-Korea Japan-Soviet Attack on Pearl
Annexation Neutrality Pact Harbor 07/08/42- 23-26/10/44 11-25/08/45 Soviet
Treaty 09/02/43 Battle of Leyte invasion of South
Guadalcanal Gulf 01/05/45- Sakhalin
08/12/41- Campaign 30/08/45
07/07/37- 15/02/42 Borneo
02/09/45 Malaya- 14/08/45 Soviet
01/08/41 Campaign
Second Sino- Singapore landings in Korea
US
Japanese War Campaign
imposed 01/04/45-
full oil 20/10/44-15/08/45 22/05/45
embargo Philippines Campaign Battle of
13/12/37 on Japan 08/12/41- Okinawa
Rape of 08/05/42
Philippines 15/08/45
Nanjing Japan
begins Campaign
declares
surrender

01/08/40 XX/11/44-
02/09/45
Greater East 07/08/45
Signing of
Asia Co- 04-07/06/42 Burma
Instrument of
Prosperity Battle of Midway Campaign
Surrender
Sphere
Announced 29/07/41
Invasion of 18/08-01/09/45
south Soviet invasion of
French the Kuril Islands
18/09/31-28/02/32 Indochina 04-08/05/42
Mukden Incident Battle of the Coral Sea
27/09/40
Japan signed Tripartitite
Pact with Germany &
16/07/45 09/08/45
22/09/40 Italy
Trinity test Soviet invasion of
17/11/05 Invasion of 19-20/06/42
Manchukuo
Japan- French Battle of the
Korea Indochina Philippines Sea
Treaty 15/06-09/07/43 09/08/45
Battle of Saipan Bombing of Nagasaki
08/02/04-05/09/05 19/02/45-26/03/45
Russo-Japanese War Battle of Iwo Jima 06/08/45
Bombing of Hiroshima
 Events of the War

• During the Sino-Japanese War, the United States

and the United Kingdom keeps on sending
weapons and supplies to China.
• Multiple act of atrocities were committed during
the Sino-Japanese war, and the occupation of
Japan itself.
• After Japanese annexation of French Indochina,
the United States placed an oil embargo on
Japan.
• To secure the resources in Southeast Asia and
prevent America’s intervention, Japan attacked
Pearl Harbor, triggering a war between them.
• Within 6 months of 1942 Japan conquered most
of S.E.Asia.
Events of the War – Cont.
 Events of the War – Cont.

• Tide turns after the Battle of

Midway in 1942 which results
in four IJN carriers being sunk.
• US forces starts amphibious
invasions of Japanese held
islands in the Pacific.
• The bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki results in Japan
surrendering on 2nd Sept.
1945.
 European Theatre vs Pacific Theatre

European Theatre Pacific Theatre

Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, United Kingdom, United States of Imperial Japan, United Kingdom, United States of America,
America, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Republic of China, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Belligerents

Political leaders Political leaders

Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Franklin Delano Hideki Tojo, Hirohito, Joseph Stalin, Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Joseph Goebbels Roosevelt Winston Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong
Key
Military leaders personalities Military leaders
Karl Donitz, Erwin Rommel, Dwight David Eisenhower, George Douglas MacArthur, Isoroku Yamamoto, Arthur Percival
Smith Patton, Omar Nelson Bradley, Bernard Montgomery,
Georgy Zhukov, Heinz Guderian, Erich von Manstein
1st September 1939 (Invasion of Poland) – 8th May 1945 (VE 7th/8th December 1941 - 15th August 1945 (surrender
Time-frame
Day) document signed 2nd September 1945)
Air raid (bombing & fire-bombing), airborne personnel, Air raid (bombing & firebombing), island-hopping,
Strategy /
amphibious landing, combined arms maneuver amphibious landing
Tactics

The Holocaust, the SS, Katyn massacre, Dunkirk evacuation, Mukden Incident, Rape of Nanking, Fall of Singapore,
Warsaw uprising, Siege of Leningrad, Battle of Stalingrad,
Notable Firebombing of Tokyo, Multiple death marches, Unit 731,
Operation Barbarossa, Battle of Kursk, Firebombing of events / Battle of Midway, Firebombing of Tokyo, Capture of Iwo Jima
Dresden, Normandy landing, Operation Market Garden, Battle organizations
of the Bulge
Surender of Germany, Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
Partition of Germany and the City of Berlin, Surrender of Japan,
Nuremberg War Trial, Outcomes American military occupation/administration,
division of Europe into East (Soviet-controlled) and West Partition of the Korean Peninsula
Tokyo War Trial,
 Paris Peace Treaty 1947

• Allied powers signed peace

treaties in Paris with Italy,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania,
Finland.
• No peace treaty was signed
with Germany.
• Germany divided into 4
zones, each zone was
occupied by US, French,
British and Russian troops.
 Effects of the War

• Loss of life and property.

• Formation of the United
Nations.
• Decolonization &
independence movements.
• Cold-War – emergence of
super powers.
• Beginning of the atomic age.