Produce a World War 2 project powerpoint presentation based on the following:

 

Germany became a republic in 1918 after the First World War.

 

In 1932 Germany was in economic crisis with very high unemployment.

 

The Nazi Party won most of the seats in the election and its leader Adolf Hitler became Chancellor (Prime Minister) of Germany in January 1933

 

Hitler was angry about the humiliation brought to Germany after the First World War. He wanted Germany to become a powerful empire called the Third Reich.

 

Hitler had his rivals killed and he began to re-arm the country, even though he was not supposed to. 

Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s problems and began to persecute them. 

Nazis and their supporters attacked Jewish shops, homes and synagogues. 

Many Jews were forced to live in ghettos and wear a yellow star to show they were Jews. 

In 1938 Austria and Germany united. Hitler wanted to take back the areas of Europe that Germany had lost after the First World War. The other European powers allowed him to take back the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia but when he took over the rest of Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland on September 1^st 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany. 

The Second World War had begun.

Blitzkrieg was the name given to the system of warfare Hitler used in 1940.

It meant ‘Lightning War’. It was a fast way of wiping out enemy forces.

It was a surprise attack with large numbers of tanks to overrun a country’s ground defences, and aircraft to bomb any defences the tanks missed. 

Hitler used this system to take over Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France. He did this in one month in 1940. He expected to capture Britain before long. 

Italy was led by the dictator Mussolini and the country supported Hitler up to 1943.

The Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland stayed neutral during the war. 

The aerial bombing of British cities began in the summer of 1940. The Battle of Britain, between British and German air forces, lasted from July to November over the British Channel. 

During one of the worst periods London was bombed seventy-six nights in a row.

Germany expected Britain to surrender but it refused. Led by Winston Churchill the British people worked together like never before and survived a terrible ordeal. 

When Hitler failed to defeat Britain he turned his attention to the Soviet Union (Russia). 

This started was on another front, a war that Germany could not afford. 

The Germans soon overran large parts of the Soviet Union, however the severe winter and the resistance of the Soviet people turned them back at Leningrad in 1943. 

In June 1944 Allied armies broke into Europe with an invasion that had been planned for more than a year. 

June 6^th was known as D-Day. Four thousand Allied ships and 10,000 aircraft swooped on to the beaches of Normandy in France. They began a series of battles that eventually forced the Germans back to Berlin. 

After heavy bomb attacks from the Allies and Soviet attacks from the East, Germany surrendered on May 7^th 1945. 

Hitler committed suicide on May 7^th. 

On May 8^th celebrations were held in Europe to mark the end of the war in Europe. It was known as VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day. 

 

The war in the Pacific really began on December 7^th 1941 when the Japanese attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. 

America then entered the war. 

Within five months the Japanese had taken over Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. 

Australia was now under threat and it needed American help as most of their own troops were helping the Allies in Europe already. 

The Americans halted the Japanese advance. They managed to retake many of the Pacific islands. 

On August 6^th 1945 the worst destruction of all happened. The United States dropped the first nuclear/atomic bomb on Hiroshima. It killed 78,000 people. Three days later a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 40,000 people. 

Those near the centre of the blast were vapourised. Thousands more suffered horrific burns. Those who survived suffered the lifelong effects of radiation. 

The American president, Harry Truman, said that it was necessary to do so to prevent greater loss of life in the invasion of Japan. 

On August 15^th 1945 Japan surrendered. 

 

Britain, the Soviet Union and America decided to divide Germany into four areas or zones. These zones were to be occupied by troops from Britain, teh USA, the Soviet Union and France.

Nazi war criminals were brought to trial in the German city of Nuremberg. 

Germany was divided and it lost some of its territory to Poland  and the Soviet Union. 

Countries occupied by Germany and Japan were returned to their former position. 

1.     What was Hitler’s aim when he came to power in 1933?

2.     What happened on September 1^st 1939?

3.     What countries did Hitler take over in Europe?

4.     When and why did America enter the war?

5.     Where were the two nuclear bombs dropped?

6.     What happened on June 6^th 1944?

7.     What was the Battle of Britain?

 

 

1.     Why do you think Hitler wanted to take over all of Europe? Give two reasons for your answer.

2.     Do you think Ireland, Switzerland and Sweden should have joined the war against Hitler? Why/ why not?

3.     Do you think America should have dropped nuclear bombs?

4.     Do you think Hitler was wise to attack Russia?