WW2 Revision Slides PDF

WW2 Revision Slides Uppal  Factions Allies: Great Britain Soviet Union United States of America – joined the war after 1941 due to the Attack on Pearl Harbour Axis: Germany Italy Japan  Key Events Leading to WWII (1931–1939) The lead-up to World War II s...

WW2 Revision Slides Uppal  Factions Allies: Great Britain Soviet Union United States of America – joined the war after 1941 due to the Attack on Pearl Harbour Axis: Germany Italy Japan  Key Events Leading to WWII (1931–1939) The lead-up to World War II saw several key events as tensions grew worldwide. 1931: Japan invades Manchuria, beginning expansion into Asia. 1933: Adolf Hitler rises to power in Germany. 1935: Nuremburg Race Laws enacted. Jews are no longer citizens of Germany and are considered different to their non-Jewish neighbours. 1938: Germany annexes Austria and seizes Sudetenland. 1939: Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany.  Major Turning Points (1941– 1945) Key battles and events changed the course of the war from 1941 onward. 1941: Germany invades the Soviet Union; Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, bringing the US into the war. 1942: USA wins Battle of Midway – a significant turning point in the Pacific. 1943: Soviet Union wins the Battle of Stalingrad, marking a turning point on the Eastern Front. 1944: D-Day (June 6) – Allied forces invade Normandy, France.  The End of WWII (1945) 1945 marked the end of the war, but with major global impacts. May 1945: Germany surrenders following the fall of Berlin. August 1945: The US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. September 1945: Japan formally surrenders, marking the end of WWII. 1945-46: Nazi Germany leaders stood trial for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes during the Nuremburg Trials.  6 Stages of the Holocaust STAGE 1. Definition STAGE 2. Isolation STAGE 3. Emigration Once individuals are labelled as Jews; Jews are encouraged to leave Jews are defined as the “other” or they are separated from mainstream Germany. With the beginning “inferior” through legalised society. of World War II in 1939, the discrimination. Nazis apply their racial laws to  Through laws: Jews were not allowed the countries they invade and  Through racism: categorizing people to attend German schools or occupy. Thus, Jews in these into fixed categories based on universities. They could not go to territories also tried to (supposed) bloodlines. public parks or movie theatres. All emigrate outside of the Third  Through laws: The Nuremberg laws German youth were obliged to join the Reich. defined who was a Jew and who was Hitler Youth Movement; Jewish youth not a Jew. were excluded from membership.  Through discriminatory laws:  Through propaganda: Cartoons,  Through social practices: Many Many Jews, especially artists books, movies, and posters portrayed Germans stopped associating or and academics, left Germany Jews as different from (and inferior to) “being friends” with Jews. Jews and when they were no longer their Aryan neighbours. non-Jewish Germans were not allowed allowed to work in the to join the same clubs. universities.  Through the economy: Jews were  Through new immigration excluded from the civil service and laws: Jews were allowed to Jewish businesses were taken over by obtain exit visas so long as Germans. Jewish doctors and lawyers they left behind their had their licenses taken away. This valuables and property.  6 Stages of the Holocaust STAGE 4. Ghettoization STAGE 5. Deportation STAGE 6. Mass Murder Jews are forcibly removed to Jews are transported from ghettos to segregated sections of Eastern It is estimated that the Nazis murdered concentration camps and death camps. approximately 11 million innocent European cities called ghettos.  The Nazis built the first concentration camp civilians during World War II. These are  Ghettos were walled-off areas of a in 1933 as a place to detain (place-by force) civilians killed not in the crossfire of city where Jews were forced to live. armed combat but murdered for being communists and other opponents to the an “enemy of the state” or for They were not allowed to leave their Nazi Party. At the beginning of World War belonging to an undesirable group. The ghetto without permission from Nazi II, the Nazis began building more Nazis and those who worked for them officials. Likewise, except for Nazi concentration camps where they could killed children, women, and men mostly officials, non-Jews were not allowed imprison “enemies of the state,” including through shooting, suffocation in gas to enter the ghetto. Jews, Gypsies, and homosexuals, as well as chambers, and imprisonment in labour  Conditions in the ghettos were prisoners or war. Many concentration and death camps. Conditions in the crowded and filthy. Many families camps were such that many prisoners camps functioned as labour camps, where died from disease, such as typhus, were forced to share one small inmates worked until they either starved to malnutrition, and exhaustion from apartment. There was limited access death or died of disease. overwork. Of those killed, six million to proper waste disposal. Jews had to  Death camps, also called extermination were Jews. Two-thirds of the entire give up their property and valuables. camps, were designed for the purpose of European Jewish population was killed There were very few jobs in a ghetto killing large numbers of people in the most by the Nazis. and since everyone had to give up efficient manner possible. their property and valuables, most of  Examples of the 6 Stages 1. Definition Example: Nuremberg Laws (1935) – The Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws, which defined Jews as a separate racial group, marking them for discrimination. These laws stripped Jews of German citizenship and prohibited marriage or sexual relations between Jews and “Aryan” Germans, legally isolating Jews within German society. 2. Isolation Example: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass, 1938) – Jewish homes, synagogues, and businesses were attacked in a coordinated series of violent events. Jewish people were arrested, beaten, and fined to pay for damages, isolating them further from German society and instilling widespread fear. 3. Emigration Example: Jewish Emigration Policies and the Evian Conference (1938) – The Nazis initially encouraged Jews to emigrate, but restrictive immigration quotas in other countries limited options. The Evian Conference highlighted global reluctance to accept Jewish refugees, closing avenues of escape for many.  Examples of the 6 Stages 4. Ghettoization Example: Warsaw Ghetto (1940) – Jewish people in occupied Poland were forced into crowded, walled-off ghettos with poor living conditions. The Warsaw Ghetto was one of the largest, with over 400,000 Jews confined in a small area, separated from the rest of the population and deprived of adequate resources. 5. Deportation Example: Wannsee Conference (1942) – Nazi leaders formalized the “Final Solution,” coordinating the deportation of Jews from ghettos to concentration and extermination camps across occupied Europe. Trains began transporting massive numbers of Jews from ghettos like Warsaw and Lodz to camps such as Auschwitz. 6. Mass Murder Example: Auschwitz-Birkenau Extermination Camp (1942-1945) – Auschwitz-Birkenau became one of the most infamous death camps, where Jews were systematically murdered in gas chambers. Approximately 1.1 million Jews were killed here, representing the grim fulfillment of the Nazis' genocidal aims.  End of the War – Nuremburg Trials Purpose: Held to bring Nazi leaders to justice for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Significance: Established the precedent that individuals, not just nations, could be held accountable for atrocities. Outcome: 24 high-ranking Nazis were charged; 12 received death sentences, others received prison terms. Emphasized international justice and introduced concepts of "crimes against humanity" and "genocide."