NCWW - WWII (Lesson)
World War II
The roots of World War II actually were tied to the peace agreement that concluded World War I in 1918. The Second World War was a continuation of the First World War.
World War I was a turning point in geopolitics. The extension of Soviet power to Eastern Europe facilitated the communist movement in China and there was a power shift from Europe to the United States and the Soviet Union. (Think—this was the origin of the Cold War decades before it actually began.) World War I resulted in 40,000,000 to 50,000,000 deaths, making it the bloodiest conflict and the largest war in world history.
World War II formally began September 3, 1939, and ended September 2, 1945, and it involved every part of the world.
In August 1934 German President Paul von Hindenburg died, leaving Chancellor Adolf Hitler the opportunity to consolidate his power with that of the presidency and Hitler completed his rise to power as the Fuhrer (leader) of Germany.
To understand the German strategy, we have to consider several things:
- Hitler’s racist ideology: Hitler wanted to conquer the East and tie it to the extermination of the Jews. (Hitler hoped to do this by the next generation.)
- The system of power politics---since the 1920s the German plan was to--
- win power in Germany itself and consolidate Germany’s dominance in Central Europe.
- raise Germany to a world power on par with the United States.
To do this, Hitler wanted to 1) build up a continental empire over all of Europe including the European part of the Soviet Union, and 2) ally Germany and Great Britain through the acquisition of colonies in Africa and a strong naval fleet with bases along the Atlantic coast. Hitler hoped to do this through a decisive conflict with the United States and to lead Great Britain to an alliance with Germany.
In early 1939 German Chancellor Adolf Hitler, the leader of the far-right wing Nazi Party, was determined to invade and occupy Poland. (In anticipation of the invasion, Poland had solicited and secured support from France and Great Britain if it was attacked by Germany.)
Germany and the Soviet Union had engaged in secret talks on August 23-24, 1939, and signed the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in Moscow as an assurance that Germany wouldn’t invade the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union would not defend Poland against Germany. The pact also stipulated that the Soviets and the Germans would divide Poland--Germany would acquire the western 1/3 of Poland and the Soviet Union would retain the eastern 2/3 of Poland.
Hitler’s plan was to invade Poland on August 26; news of an August 25 formal agreement signed between Poland and Great Britain which ensured British support of Poland in the event of an invasion caused Adolf Hitler to delay the invasion of Poland by a few days.
Timeline of WWII
View the timeline below.
OPTIONAL Activity - Learn More: View the US Department of Defense's website regarding many of these events. Links to an external site.
Key People and Events of WWII
Please review the information in the activity below.
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