2. Content Standards
CA SOCIAL SCIENCE STANDARD 10.8: Students analyze the causes and consequences of World War II.
■ 10.8.1. Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other
atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.
■ 10.8.2. Understand the role of appeasement, nonintervention (isolationism), and the domestic distractions in Europe and the United
States prior to the outbreak of World War II.
■ 10.8.3. Identify and locate the Allied and Axis powers on a map and discuss the major turning points of the war, the principal theaters
of conflict, key strategic decisions, and the resulting war conferences and political resolutions, with emphasis on the importance of
geographic factors.
■ 10.8.5. Analyze the Nazi policy of pursuing racial purity, especially against the European Jews; its transformation into the Final
Solution; and the Holocaust that resulted in the murder of six million Jewish civilians.
■ 10.8.6. Discuss the human costs of the war, with particular attention to the civilian and military losses in Russia, Germany, Britain, the
United States, China, and Japan.
CA COMMON CORE STANDARDS:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights
gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2: Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary
that makes clear the relationship among the key details and ideas.
4. Discussion Questions
● What were the major battles of the war? What is their importance?
● Who were the important figures of the war? What was their impact?
● How was the Holocaust implemented and executed?
● How did the outcome of the war shape the future of the world?
5. How did get to another global conflict?
● 1919 - World War I ends
○ Treaty of Versailles
○ War Guilt Clause and the Blame for the War
● 1929 - Great Depression
○ Countries struggle financially
○ Germans financial troubles -> need for a “strong, capable leader”
6. Germany
● Treaty of Versailles and
○ War Guilt Clause, Article 231
● Weimar Republic and
○ The “Stab in the Back”
● Adolf Hitler
● Rise of the Nazis
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
7. Germany
● Great Depression hits Germany in 1929
● Hitler continues to rise through ranks, appointed Chancellor in 1939
● The Nazification of Germany (“Gleichschaltung”)
○ Enabling Act (1933)
○ Reichstag Fire Decree (1933)
○ Night of the Long Knives (1934)
○ Nuremberg Laws (1935)
○ Kristallnacht (1938)
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
8. Japan
● Russo-Japanese War, 1904
● Invasion of Manchuria, 1931
● Withdrawal from League of Nations, 1933
● Marco Polo Incident, 1934
○ Initiates invasion of China
● The Rape of Nanking, 1937
○ Occupation continues throughout World War II
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
9. Allies
● Great Britain
○ Recovery from World War I
○ League of Nations
○ Policy of Appeasement
■ Munich Agreement (1938)
● United States
○ Growth of Industrial Mass Production
○ Great Depression
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
10. The War Begins!
● The Axis Powers
○ Pact of Steel (1939): Germany and Italy
○ Non-Aggression Pact (1939): Germany and the Soviet Union
○ Tripartite Pact (1940): Germany, Japan and Italy
● Germany Expands Their Borders
○ Reoccupation of the Rhineland (1936)
○ Annexations of Austria (March 1938), the Sudetenland (1938) and
Czechoslovakia (1939)
○ Invasion of Poland (1939)
■ Final straw for Britain and France -> declaration of war on
Germany, World War II begins (Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
11. The Main Leaders of the War
Axis Powers:
Germany - Adolf Hitler
Japan - Emperor Hirohito
Italy - Benito Mussolini
Allied Powers:
Great Britain - Winston Churchill
Russia - Joseph Stalin
United States - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Free France - Charles de Gaulle
12. The European Theater
● Heinz Guderian and the German “Blitzkrieg”
● Invasion of Poland, 1939
● Invasion of Finland and the Winter War, 1939-1940
● Battle of Narvik, Spring 1940
● France falls, Summer 1940
● Battle of Britain, July-October 1940
○ Operation Sea Lion
● Strategic Bombings
● How was the “blitzkrieg” method eventually defeated? What was its
flaw? (Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
13. The European Theater
● War in the East
○ Moscow, 1941
○ Leningrad, 1941
○ Stalingrad, 1941
○ Operation Citadel -> Germans losing momentum
○ By 1943, the Eastern Front was against the Germans
■ The Soviets continued on towards the German
homeland
○ April 1945: The Soviets reach Berlin
● Why was creating a two-front conflict detrimental to the German
war effort? (Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
14. The European Theater
● War in the West
○ After fighting in North Africa, the focus shifted to Western Europe
○ Tehran Conference, November 1943
○ D-Day, June 6th, 1944
■ “Operation Overlord”
■ Plan to land over 150k men across the coast in 24 hours to break
German lines
■ Led by Dwight Eisenhower (USA) and Bernard Montgomery (BRI)
■ US, British and Canadian troops head towards five points of
entry
○ Allied troops break through German lines, begin march towards Berlin
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
15. The European Theater
● End of the War
○ Market Garden, September 1944
○ Battle of Huertgen Forest, September-December
1944
○ Battle of the Bulge, December 1944
○ Battle of the Bastards, December 1944
○ Hitler commits suicide, German forces surrender on
May 8th, 1945 (V-E Day)
● How did Hitler’s decisions inhibit German progress?
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
16. Time to Discuss: European Theater
● How was the “blitzkrieg” method eventually defeated? What was its flaw?
● Describe how Hitler’s decision-making was detrimental to German war effort?
● Explain how the decision of initiating a two-front conflict led to the German downfall?
17. U.S. Involvement Begins, 1941
● Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941
○ Japanese aircrafts lead surprise attack on U.S. naval
base in Hawaii
○ Over 2,400 dead and 1,200 wounded
○ U.S. aircraft carriers were out to sea, not destroyed in attack
○ Repair and oil storage facilities were not severely damaged
● U.S. declares war on Japan on December 8th
○ “A Date Which Will Live In Infamy”
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
18. The Pacific Theater
● Battle of Coral Sea, May 1942
● Battle of Midway, June 1942
○ 4 Japanese carriers sunk, only 1 U.S. carrier sunk
● Allied “Island Hopping Campaign”
○ Two Areas
■ Main effort through Central Pacific
■ Side effort through the Phillipines and Solomon
Islands
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
19. The Pacific Theater
● Guadalcanal Campaign, August 1942-February 1943
○ Battle of Bloody Ridge, September 12th
○ Naval Battle of November 12-15th
● Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 1944
● Battle of Leyte Gulf, October 1944
○ Largest naval battle of World War II
● How were the U.S. able to consistently defeat the
Japanese through the years of 1942 and 1943?
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
20. The Pacific Theater
● Battle of Iwo Jima, February-March 1945
● Battle of Okinawa, April-June 1945
● Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945
○ Manhattan Project
○ Harry Truman chooses to drop nuclear bombs due to Japanese
reluctance to surrender
○ Over 60,000 dead and 35,000 injured at Hiroshima
● Japan surrenders on September 2nd, 1945 (V-J Day)
● Was it unethical to drop nuclear weapons on a civilian
population? (Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
21. Time to Discuss: Pacific Theater
● Discuss whether the United States should have gotten involved before the attack
on Pearl Harbor.
● Explain how the Allies’ Island Hopping plan was able to defeat the Japanese over
the years.
● Evaluate the ethical dilemma of using nuclear weapons on a civilian population.
22. The Holocaust
● Persecution of Jews, homosexuals, others
began in 1933
● Nuremberg Laws (1935)
● Kristallnacht (1938)
● Babi Yar Massacre (1941)
● The Final Solution
○ Wannsee Conference (January 1942)
● Liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, May 1943
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
23. The Holocaust
● German forces begin deportations of Jews to
concentration camps in the Summer of 1942
● Use of camps for mass extermination/torture
● Deaths
○ Over 6 million Jews in total
○ Auschwitz - 1,100,000
○ Treblinka - 800,000
● The Nuremberg Trials (1945-46)
● How can we work to prevent a horrendous act like
this from occurring again?
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
25. The Cold War Begins
● Rise of the “Super Powers”
○ U.S. vs. Soviet Union
● Economic Destruction
○ Collapse of Infrastructure
● The Iron Curtain
● Nuclear Warfare Initiated
○ The Manhattan Project
(Dr. McLain, HIST 311)
26. Culminating Discussion: Impact of the War
● Was this conflict inevitable? How could it have been avoided?
○ Defend/Criticize the actions of the Allied and Axis leaders
● How would the world be different if the United States did not have to use
nuclear weapons on Japan?
○ Calculate the impact that these weapons had on the future of the world
