Causes ofWWII/Europe
Sarah Wall, Emma Dowd, Chris Griswold
Map of Europe before WWII
Map of Europe after WWII
Timeline
•October 1929- Stock Market Crash that sent Europeinto the Great Depression
•1930 – German economy reaches an all-time low
•Holocaust begins- January, 1933
•Nazi party won the election in 1934
•Germany’s invasion of Poland- Sept. 1st, 1939
•Britain and France declare war on Germany- Sept.3rd, 1939
•D-Day Invasion- June 6th, 1944
•Germany officially surrenders- June 7th, 1945
The Great Depression inEurope
•Europe falls into debt after the Treaty ofVersailles
•Stock Market crash in 1929
•7 million Germans unemployed
•Decade of deflation, unemployment and povertyuntil WWII
•Political parties lose unity
•Nazi Party comes to power
World War II
•Adolf Hitler becomes the Chancellor of Germany and beginsrallying the German people against the rest of Europe
•Began September 1st, 1939 – Germany invades Poland
•Two days later, Britain and France declare war on Germany
•Germany and the Nazi party went on to control the majorityof Western Europe
The leaders of the Axis Powers
The Holocaust
•The systematic murder of the Jewish people across Europe
•Began January 1933
•Jews, Homosexuals, Blacks, and people with disabilities sentto Concentration camps
•Jews from Poland, Russia, Italy, France, and more also sent tocamps
•6 million Jews killed from 1933 to 1945
Nazi Ideology
•Idea of an “Aryan Race”
•Believed that German people deserved “Lebensraum”
•Blamed Jews for the economic turmoil in Germany
D-Day Invasion
•June 6th, 1944. Normandy, France
•Allied Powers attack the Axis Powers
•Heavy casualties on both sides
•Invasion opened up a major front against theGerman army, which put Germany in a two frontwar.
•German surrender
•“Beginning of the end of war in Europe”
•Germany divided into four zones.
German Two-Front War
•
Germany was surrounded by Allied troops on the North and the West, resulting
in their eventual defeat. Germany then surrendered World War II.
Big names: Nazi Party
•Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party use depressionfor their benefit
•Hitler promised a better life and to overthrowTreaty of Versailles
•Appealed many people by promising to create astable government
•Gain supporters and eventually is selected in1934
Big names: Adolf Hitler
•Leader of the Nazi Party and Chancellor
of Germany
•Lived in Austria in his 20’s, but moved
back to Germany to fight in World War I
•Although he directed the execution of
the Holocaust, Hitler’s Grandfather was
a Jewish landowner, making Hitler himself
¼ Jewish.
•Wrote the book “Main Kampf” while in prison, outlining hisplans for the expansion of German territory and extinction ofthe Jews
Dwight D. Eisenhower
•Supreme Commander in 1943
•Motivated soldiers on June 6th, 1944.
•“You are about to embark upon the GreatCrusade, toward which we have striventhese many months. The eyes of the worldare upon you.”
•34th President of the United States
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower motivating his Allied troopsprior to the D-Day Invasion on the beaches ofNormandy.
WAOI
•Condoms were issued to soldiers during World War II in orderto stop the spread of STD’s, but soldiers used them to covertheir rifles instead.
•Before the Holocaust, boy babies were given pink clothes andgirl babies were given blue socks, but after gay men weregiven pink triangles to identify them, the trend changed.
•Sex dolls were issued by the Nazi Party to their soldiers toslow the syphilis epidemic that they were contracting fromFrench prostitutes.