World War II & its

aftermath
Syeda Dua Ali (1917221-8A)
 Reasons of World War II
• Treaty of Versailles: The terms of the Treaty of Versailles signed between the Allied powers and Germany after
World War I were harsh and suffocating for the Germans, leading to economic hardships and a weakened political
structure.

• Rise of Nazi Party: German economic despair led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party that sought to regain
Germany's position of power and strength through totalitarian ideology.

• Appeasement Policy: The Western powers adopted an appeasement policy towards Hitler's aggressive expansionist
plans, hoping to avoid another war. This allowed Hitler to continue his expansionist policies unchecked.
• Aggression of Axis Powers: The Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan sought to expand their spheres of
influence and territory using bold military strategies.

• Failure of League of Nations: The League of Nations failed to deter aggression by Japan, Germany, and Italy,
leading to the belief that military might was the only way to achieve justice and peace.
 Outbreak of World War II (1939)

In late August 1939, Hitler and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin signed the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which
incited a frenzy of worry in London and Paris. Hitler had long planned an invasion of Poland, a nation to which Great
Britain and France had guaranteed military support if it were attacked by Germany. The pact with Stalin meant that
Hitler would not face a war on two fronts once he invaded Poland, and would have Soviet assistance in conquering and
dividing the nation itself. On September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland from the west; two days later, France and
Britain declared war on Germany, beginning World War II.

On September 17, Soviet troops invaded Poland from the east. Under attack from both sides, Poland fell quickly, and by
early 1940 Germany and the Soviet Union had divided control over the nation, according to a secret protocol appended to
the Nonaggression Pact. Stalin’s forces then moved to occupy the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and defeated
a resistant Finland in the Russo-Finnish War. During the six months following the invasion of Poland, the lack of action on
the part of Germany and the Allies in the west led to talk in the news media of a “phony war.”
 Outbreak of World War II (1939)

At sea, however, the British and German navies faced off in heated battle, and lethal German U-boat submarines
struck at merchant shipping bound for Britain, sinking more than 100 vessels in the first four months of World War II.

World War II in the West (1940-41)

On April 9, 1940, Germany simultaneously invaded Norway and occupied Denmark, and the war began in earnest. On
May 10, German forces swept through Belgium and the Netherlands in what became known as “blitzkrieg,” or
lightning war.

The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was evacuated by sea from Dunkirk in late May, while in the south French
forces mounted a doomed resistance. With France on the verge of collapse, Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini
formed an alliance with Hitler, the Pact of Steel, and Italy declared war against France and Britain on June 10.
 World War II in the West (1940-41)
To pave the way for an amphibious invasion (dubbed Operation Sea Lion), German planes bombed Britain extensively
beginning in September 1940 until May 1941, known as the Blitz, including night raids on London and other industrial
centers that caused heavy civilian casualties and damage. The Royal Air Force (RAF) eventually defeated the Luftwaff
(German Air Force) in the Battle of Britain, and Hitler postponed his plans to invade. With Britain’s defensive
resources pushed to the limit, Prime Minister Winston Churchill began receiving crucial aid from the U.S. under the
Lend-Lease Act, passed by Congress in early 1941.
 Hitler vs. Stalin: Operation Barbarossa (1941-42)
By early 1941, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria had joined the Axis, and German troops overran Yugoslavia and
Greece that April. Hitler’s conquest of the Balkans was a precursor for his real objective: an invasion of the Soviet
Union, whose vast territory would give the German master race the “Lebensraum” it needed. The other half of Hitler’s
strategy was the extermination of the Jews from throughout German-occupied Europe. Plans for the “Final Solution”
were introduced around the time of the Soviet offensive, and over the next three years more than 4 million Jews would
perish in the death camps established in occupied Poland.

On June 22, 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Barbarossa. Though Soviet
tanks and aircraft greatly outnumbered the Germans’, Russian aviation technology was largely obsolete, and the impact
of the surprise invasion helped Germans get within 200 miles of Moscow by mid-July. Arguments between Hitler and
his commanders delayed the next German advance until October, when it was stalled by a Soviet counteroffensive and
the onset of harsh winter weather.
 World War II in the Pacific (1941-43)
• With Britain facing Germany in Europe, the United States
was the only nation capable of combating Japanese
aggression, which by late 1941 included an expansion of
its ongoing war with China and the seizure of European
colonial holdings in the Far East. On December 7, 1941,
360 Japanese aircraft attacked the major U.S. naval base at
Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, taking the Americans completely
by surprise and claiming the lives of more than 2,300
troops. The attack on Pearl Harbor served to unify
American public opinion in favor of entering World War
II, and on December 8 Congress declared war on Japan
with only one dissenting vote. Germany and the other Axis
Powers promptly declared war on the United States.
 Toward Allied Victory in World War II (1943-45)
In North Africa, British and American forces had defeated the Italians and Germans by 1943. An Allied
invasion of Sicily and Italy followed, and Mussolini’s government fell in July 1943, though Allied fighting
against the Germans in Italy would continue until 1945.

On the Eastern Front, a Soviet counteroffensive launched in November 1942 ended the bloody
Battle of Stalingrad, which had seen some of the fiercest combat of World War II. The approach of winter,
along with dwindling food and medical supplies, spelled the end for German troops there, and the last of
them surrendered on January 31, 1943.
 Toward Allied Victory in World War II (1943-45)

On June 6, 1944–celebrated as “D-Day”–the Allies began a massive invasion of Europe, landing 156,000
British, Canadian and American soldiers on the beaches of Normandy, France. In response, Hitler poured all the
remaining strength of his army into Western Europe, ensuring Germany’s defeat in the east. Soviet troops soon
advanced into Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, while Hitler gathered his forces to drive the
Americans and British back from Germany in the Battle of the Bulge (December 1944-January 1945), the last
major German offensive of the war.
An intensive aerial bombardment in February 1945 preceded the Allied land invasion of Germany, and by the
time Germany formally surrendered on May 8, Soviet forces had occupied much of the country. Hitler was
already dead, having died by suicide on April 30 in his Berlin bunker.
 World War II End 1945

At the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, U.S. President Harry S. Truman (who had taken office after
Roosevelt’s death in April), Churchill and Stalin discussed the ongoing war with Japan as well as the peace settlement
with Germany. Post-war Germany would be divided into four occupation zones, to be controlled by the Soviet Union,
Britain, the United States and France. On the divisive matter of Eastern Europe’s future, Churchill and Truman
acquiesced to Stalin, as they needed Soviet cooperation in the war against Japan.
 World War II End 1945

Heavy casualties sustained in the campaigns at Iwo Jima (February 1945) and Okinawa (April-June 1945), and fears
of the even costlier land invasion of Japan led Truman to authorize the use of a new and devastating weapon.
Developed during a top secret operation code-named The Manhattan Project, the atomic bomb was unleashed on the
Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August. On August 15, the Japanese government issued a
statement declaring they would accept the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, and on September 2, U.S. General
Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan’s formal surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
 World War II Casualties and Legacy

World War II proved to be the deadliest international conflict in history, taking the lives of 60
to 80 million people, including 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis during
the Holocaust. Civilians made up an estimated 50-55 million deaths from the war, while
military comprised 21 to 25 million of those lost during the war. Millions more were injured,
and still more lost their homes and property.

The legacy of the war would include the spread of communism from the Soviet Union into
eastern Europe as well as its eventual triumph in China, and the global shift in power from
Europe to two rival superpowers–the United States and the Soviet Union–that would soon
face off against each other in the Cold War.
Thank you!