World War II and Interwar Period

• Kemal Atatürk founded modern Turkey.
• He secularized and westernized the country.
  • Including abolishing the caliphate.
  • Introduced the Latin script.
  • Introduced women’s rights.
• The Balfour Declaration was a British statement in 1917 that supported a Jewish homeland in Palestine and led to tensions in the Middle East.
• The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in 1939 was an agreement between Hitler and Stalin to not attack each other, included secret protocols to divide Poland.
• Appeasement, specifically at the Munich Conference, refers to Allies (Britain & France) giving in to Hitler’s demands for the Sudetenland to avoid war, but it emboldened him.

WWII Battles

• Stalingrad was the turning point on the Eastern Front where Soviets defeated Germany.
• Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific, where the U.S. crippled Japan’s navy.
• The Battle of Britain involved German air raids on Britain.
  • Royal Air Force (RAF) defended successfully.
• D-Day was the Allied invasion of Normandy.
  • It marked a turning point in Western Europe.
• The Battle of the Bulge was Germany’s last major offensive, ultimately won by the Allies.
• Pearl Harbor was a surprise attack by Japan that led the U.S. into WWII.

Political Ideologies

• Fascism is nationalist, authoritarian, and anti-democracy.
  • Exemplified by Hitler and Mussolini.
• Communism aims for a classless society with state control of the economy.
  • Notable in the USSR.

Interwar Period & Cultural Shifts

• Einstein and Freud revolutionized physics and psychology, challenging traditional ideas.
• Expressionism and Surrealism (e.g., Dali’s art) reflected the uncertainty and chaos of the interwar period.

Key Leaders

• Mussolini was an Italian fascist dictator, who promised to revive Roman greatness.
• Neville Chamberlain was a British Prime Minister known for his policy of appeasement toward Hitler.
• Winston Churchill gained popularity for opposing appeasement and rallying Britain during WWII.

Hitler’s Early Moves

• Rhineland in 1936 was remilitarized, defying the Treaty of Versailles.
• Anschluss in 1938 refers to the annexation of Austria.
• Sudetenland in 1938 was given to Germany via the Munich Agreement.

Major WWII Events

• WWII started when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
• Yalta & Potsdam Conferences were Allied meetings to discuss post-war Europe.
  • Tensions grew between the U.S. & USSR.
• The Great Depression’s economic collapse led to the rise of fascism and militarization in Germany, Italy, and Japan.
• The League of Nations failed to stop Japanese aggression in Manchuria in 1931.

Japanese Aggression & WWII in the Pacific

• The Rape of Nanking in 1937 involved atrocities committed by the Japanese army in China.
• Japan felt ignored by Western powers post-WWI.
• Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928 was an international agreement to renounce war, that ultimately failed.
• Mein Kampf is Hitler’s book outlining his ideology and plans.
• Blitzkrieg means “Lightning war”, a military strategy used by Germany.
• The Wannsee Conference outlines the Nazi plan for the Holocaust, also known as the Final Solution.
• Operation Barbarossa in 1941 was the German invasion of the Soviet Union.
• The Holocaust was the systematic genocide of 6 million Jews and other groups.
• The Weimar Republic existed from 1919–1933 as post-WWI democratic German government that failed due to economic crisis and political instability.