*Up Beat Music*
Ten Hut
At ease.

Hi, My name's Willy and I'm here to tell you about World War 2.

Now hopefully you've been briefed on World War 1,
because that's where we're picking up from, is the end of World War 1.
The collapse of the central powers
Germany
Austria-Hungary
Bulgaria
and the Ottoman Empire,
which includes Turkey,
brought about the end of World War 1.
This collapse brought a treaty, a very important treaty,
It's the treaty of Versailles.
And this treaty of Versailles was signed in the palace of Versailles.
In France, in the Hall of Mirrors.
Now it's not really a lot of mirrors,
but it was just like some art work and it was like really cool.
They signed this treaty, which required Germany
to give back all the land they required during World War 1.
They had to fully disarm,
meaning they had to give up all their guns, their tanks and their planes.
And they had to pay back billions of dollars in damages,
that's a lot of scratch.
So the end of World War 1 brought prosperity to the United States.
Excuse me while I slip into something more comfortable.
Ah yeah, that's much better.
*Sniffle*
Ahhhhh.
The roaring twenties,
It was fantastic.
The dancing.
*Singing*
Charleston, charleston, che, che che, che, Charleston.
Everybody was dancing, everybody was having a great time.
It was a time of wonderful automobiles,
and the growth of industry.
Women won the right to vote, which was fantastic.
The world was working to recover from the devastation
of World War 1.
But then in 1929, when the stock market crashed,
it threw not only the United States into a depression
but the whole world went into a depression.
Food was scarce, things were hard to come by.
The depression covered the globe and and most everyone was in despair.
The world was ripe again for discontent,
and discontent brings war.
And then 1933, a gentleman by the name of Adolph Hitler
rose to power
and became the chancellor of Germany.
and as head of the Nazi party
Hitler did not want to abide by the Versailles treaty.
He rebelled.
Hitlers position was that Germany should not, could not and would not abide by the treaty of Versailles.
An alliance was formed, Hitler of Nazi Germany
the fascist regime of Italy with its dictator Mussolini,
and Emperor Hirohito of the Empire of Japan.
Formed the axis powers
each regime had its individual goals to expand their power,
and control through out the region of the world.
and though each member agreed not to interfere with each other,
they, however, did not combine their efforts
they rarely assisted each other
they didn't have a plan.
Tensions ran high through out Europe,
In 1935, Benito Mussolini,
sought to enlarge his power and influence by aggressively
colonizing cross the mediterranean sea.
the country of Ethiopia and Northern Africa.
And the Empire of Japan continued its hostilities against China
and through out Asia and the islands of the pacific ocean.
OK this is the important part.
Great Britain and France declared war against Nazi Germany,
when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.
You got that?
This bold act of violence occurred unprovoked, Poland was no threat.
Now those who opposed the Axis powers were called the Allies,
or the Allied powers.
They were France, Great Britain, Belgium,
Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa,
Poland, China, Greece, the Netherlands,
the countries belonging to the United Kingdom,
and Yugoslavia.
Canada, Australia, Brazil, and the Soviet Union
later joined with the Allies.
The United States did not join up with the Allied powers at this time,
but provided money and war materials.
In London the klaxon sound of the air raid siren,
struck fear and terror with all the civilians and it meant one thing,

run to a bomb shelter!
The London blitz during 1940 and 41, was a series of bombing raids by the Nazi's.

London was bombed 71 times.
Other cities in England were also bombed.

England did not surrender, they continued their work of resistance to Hitler,
and the evil Nazi attempt to overtake all in its path.
The Nazi regime was responsible for carrying out
one of the most despicable acts of genocide ever imagined
called the great Holocaust, the Nazi's gathered 11 million Jews
and those who the Nazi's deemed undesirable
and imprisoned them in concentration camps.
Many people lost their lives, it was a sad time in the world.
The United States was not fully involved in the war until Japan bombed
the U.S. naval fleet unprovoked on the island of Oahu,
territory of Hawaii, on December 7th 1941.
Pearl Harbor.
We lost a lot of great men and women that day.
The very next day the U.S. of A. under the president of Franklin D. Roosevelt
declared war on Japan.
The United States joined the Allies to help prevent the spread of tyranny across the globe.
The battle of Midway was an important victory
for the Americans against Japan in the Pacific.
Many battles would be fought, some lost and some won by the Allied powers
but a series of important victories began to decisively change the tide.
The invasion of Italy by the Allies, resulted in the surrender of Mussolini
and his fascist regime.
And on June 6th 1944, the Allies stormed the beaches of Normandy, France
D-Day also known as the code name Operation Overlord
was an important victory because it reversed the course of World War 2.
Breaking the Nazi grip on France, and setting the stage for the liberation of Europe.
And later at the battle for Paris, Nazi Germany surrendered to Allies
and France became free once again.
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major battle of the western front.
Taking place in a densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium,
north east France and Luxembourg,
in December of 1944.
Germany launched counter offensive in hopes of turning the tides of war
in Hitlers favor.
Hitlers armies took the Allies by surprise
but after a hard fought battle the Allies were victorious!
The armies of Imperial Japan continued their aggression against he United States
in the theater of the pacific.
until August 6th, 1945.
When then President Harry S Truman ordered the most devastating weapon
ever conceived...
The Atomic Bomb.
To be dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
The only nuclear bombs to be used in warfare.
Japan then offered their unconditional surrender.
World War 2 would reveal some of the most despicable people
who would ever rise to power.
But World War 2 would also develop Americas greatest generation.
Men, women and children would sacrifice everything to assist in the war effort
for the cause of freedom and liberty throughout the world.
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