WWII, in brief

WWII, in brief

Who was involved...

WWII was a series of battles between the Allied Forces and the Axis Powers. 

Multiple Choice

Which two groups were fighting against each other in WWII?

• The Axis and The Allied Powers

• The Flintstones and The Rubbles

• The Boston Red Sox and The New England Patriots

The war officially started on September 1, 1939 when Hitler, the leader of Germany, invaded Poland. Sixteen days later the Soviet Union also invaded Poland. 

Multiple Choice

What country did Hitler invade?

• France

• Poland

• England

• Germany

The Allied Forces

The Allies included: England, USA, France, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and Russia.

The Axis Powers

The Axis Powers were made of an alliance between Germany, Japan and Italy.

Multiple Choice

Which side were the Americans on in WWII?

• Axis Powers

• Allied Powers

• The Super Friends

Multiple Choice

What side was Hitler on in WWII?

• The Super Friends

• The Allied Powers

• The Axis Powers

What was so bad about Hitler?

Hitler, Germany’s leader since 1933, and a Nazi, sought to make Germany the most powerful empire in the world and exterminate all they viewed as inferior. In pursuit of this, he ordered the extermination of over 11 million people, the majority of them Jewish, but also including Roman Catholics, Roma (gypsies), Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the physically and mentally handicapped, and any others who did not meet Hitler's standards for "racial purity.”

Multiple Choice

What did Hitler want to do with all people he considered "impure"?

• exterminate them

• give them free money

• send them to another country

• teach them sign language

Hitler's plan

Hitler and the Nazis carried out their plan to exterminate “less pure” people by putting them to death in concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Buchenwald. They also conducted scientific research on people. In all, at least 6 million people were put to death. The Nazis destroyed many records, so no official number is known.

Multiple Choice

Where did Hitler exterminate people?

• At the beach

• On the street

• In Concentration Camps

• At home

The term Holocaust came out of WWII. It means the destruction or slaughter on a mass scale of the European Jews between 1941 and 1945, across German-occupied Europe.

Some important dates, slide 1

September 1, 1939. World War II Begins - Hitler invades Poland

September 17, 1939 Soviet Union invades Poland

December 7, 1941 Attack of Pearl Harbor (USA) by the Japanese

June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway (Fought between the Allies and the Empire of Japan, when Japanese planes launched bombing raids on Midway, a group of islands under US control.)

Multiple Choice

What lead to the US entering WWII?

• Americans were fed up with Hitler

• Americans did not like that so many Jewish people were dying.

• The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941

Some final numbers

With approximately 27 Million total fatalities (both military and civilian), the Soviet Union lost the most lives during World War II. China was next with approximately 11 Million total fatalities, followed by Germany with approximately 7 Million total fatalities. This does not include those put to death in concentration camps. 405,000 Americans lost their lives.

Some important dates, slide 2

June 6, 1944 D-Day (Allied Forces stormed the beach at Normandy, France)

April 30, 1945 Hitler killed himself

August 6, 1945 US dropped first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

August 9, 1945 US dropped second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, Japan surrendered

Multiple Choice

What date did WWII end?

• August 9, 1945

• December 25, 2020

Multiple Choice

What lead to the end of WWII

• People just gave up.

• Japan surrendered to the US after the US dropped a second atomic bomb on them.