Summary of Chapter 16

     Chapter 16 is about World War II (1939-1945). The start of the war was Germany's invasion of Poland, which then entered France and Great Britain into the war as well. Later, the United States entered the war after Japan launched the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. During World War II the Allied powers consisted of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union while the Axis powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan. Hitler and his Nazi Party came up with his "Final Solution" to eliminate all Jews, which is today known as the Holocaust. Eventually Germany surrendered to the Soviets. Japan then surrendered to the U.S. after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The devastation of World War II left Europe and Japan in ruins.

Important People

Important People of World War II:

                                                                            

                     

                       Adolf Hitler

Hitler was the Chancellor of Germany and the leader of the  Nazi Party. His surprise invasion of Poland was what began World War II. Hitler believed that Aryans, blonde hair and blue eyed Germans, were the master race. He wanted to eliminate all other people such as Jews, homosexuals, the physically and mentally ill, the elderly, etc. Hitler was responsible for the Holocaust which was the mass slaughter of civilians, especially Jews.

                   

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill became the new prime minister of Great Britain after the fall of France. He was devoted to his position and made it clear that he would never allow his nation to surrender. During WWII he led Britain's fight against Nazi Germany.Churchill was known as one of the greatest orators of all time and was an extremely motivating speaker. 

                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                      

          

 

General Dwight Eisenhower 

Dwight Eisenhower was the Supreme Command of Allied forces in Europe during the second world war. He was responsible for the invasion of Normandy, also known as Operation Overlord. This was the greatest military invasion in terms of military personnel in history. The invasion, known as D-Day, took place on June 6, 1944. After the war, Eisenhower was elected the 34th president of the United States.

                                                           

     

                     Harry S. Truman   

Truman became the thirty-third president of the United States after the sudden death of FDR. Only having a high school education, Truman was given the task to lead the U.S. through the end of WWII. Truman had no clue the U.S. had nuclear capable bombs until he was sworn into the presidency. Under his command, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. The first bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima and the second on Nagasaki. Truman previously warned the Japanese multiple times to surrender, but receiving no reply, he decided to drop the bombs.

ALL INFO FOUND IN Modern World History Patterns of Interaction by McDougal Little

Propaganda

The message of the cartoon to the right  is clearly to take Hitler down. Hitler is in the middle being strangled with a piece of cloth pulled in three directions. The three hands have flags to represent the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union working together to defeat Hitler. Beneath him are piles of dead bodies that he had killed during the Holocaust which is ironic since this image is portraying that he will be the next one dead.
 

                                                                                         

The propaganda war poster to the left is trying to get Americans to enlist in the war. The word "only" is in white to highlight the fact that overthrowing Hitler is the only way to end the war. The swastika with the red not symbol around it shows that the Nazis need to be taken down. The army man looks focused and ready to fight and the fact that the poster says, "strong men and women like you" makes it seem as if any person reading it is qualified to join. By saying "Are you doing all you can?" people will feel obligated to join and serve their country to help stop Hitler and the Nazi Party.

 

The political cartoon to the right is showing the time when the United States had first entered World War II as we can see hanging from the diaper. The baby is representing the U.S and the three headed enemy represents the strong, unified, axis powers at this time. All of the arms on the enemy contain weapons of war that are trying to eliminate the allies, who only have a small slingshot. The size difference shows the dominance that the enemy had over the world at this time. The rest of the allies are represented by the small, white stones and show how little control of the world they had then. The sarcastic title "Just Wait Until the Little Feller Grows Up" predicts the future collapse of the three headed enemy.






**All images found on google.com/images

The Holocaust

               

      When Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany he had  his own view of the perfect race, which he called Aryans. These were typically blonde hair blue eyed Germans and he considered them to be the "master race". Any Jew or non-Aryan person was then targeted by Hitler and his Nazi Party for punishment. Hitler encouraged prejudice against Jews and came up with the "Final Solution" to get rid of all Jewish people. This was done by putting them into ghettos or concentration camps with extremely horrible conditions, and eventually gas chambers were used to kill thousands per day. Around 5-6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust and it was the biggest act of genocide in history (McDougal Little).

     The Holocaust has always been the most interesting part of history, in my opinion. I cannot believe how someone could carelessly kill millions of innocent people the way Hitler did. The conditions that people had to live in were absolutely horrifying and I could never imagine living that way. I had always known this happened in history, but now after learning about the Holocaust more in depth, I know what mainly started it.  Kristallnacht, also known as the "Night of Broken Glass", was the event which fueled the Nazis hate for Jews  even more. This was the beginning of the Nazi plan to eliminate Jewish people. Going to see the Holocaust survivor speak at Lycoming College was such a great opportunity that I learned a lot from and I would love to visit the Holocaust museum one day. 

Connection Across Time

     Today we are fighting the War on Terror in the Middle East. Although both wars have major differences, one distinct factor both global conflicts have in common is the support the major players in each war received from their allies. The allied powers all received military assistance from nations that ranged from China to Yugoslavia. In the War on Terror, the US and the UK are the two main nations once again and received military assistance from the same allies (for the most part) that helped them in the second world war. Lots of people today refer to the War on Terror as the third world war. Although both wars were drastically different, the military presence from nations throughout the world were the same.