Baixe The Second World War e outras Slides em PDF para História, somente na Docsity! THE SECOND WORLD WAR Isabelle Chao - Literature Before it all started.. ■ During the 1930’s, the storm clouds of war gathered on the world horizon. The Peace treaty of Versailles, which had formally ended World War I, forbade Germany to maintain a large army, but, the Germany Chancellor Adolph Hitler ignored the treaty and secretly ordered a rapid expansion and re-arming of Germany’s armed forces. Hitler claimed that the Germans were a master race destined to rule the world. He had an insane hatred for Jews, as he proved during the war when, to the horror of the rest of the world, he had millions of Jewish men, women, and children carried off to concentration camps to be murdered in gas chambers. Also, in 1938, he ordered the annexation of Austria and part of Czechoslovakia, while ignoring the feeble diplomatic protests of Britain and France. The Miracle of Dunkirk ■ The evacuation of the army from Dunkirk was the most famous retreat in British history. The British navy, supplemented by thousands of privately owned vessels of all sizes and descriptions, stood off the beaches where the British and French soldiers awaited the German attack which seemed certain to begin at any moment. ■ But that final devastating attack never came, and the British fleet succeeded in pulling some 300,000 troops off the beaches and taking them back across the Channel to England. ■ Although a military defeat, the evacuation of Dunkirk was a moral victory for the British, since they saved their army from complete destruction and were able to continue fighting from their island home. “We shall never surrender’’ ■ The British navy maintained control of the English Channel, but in spite of that the threat of invasion was very real, as the German army assembled its forces along the French coast and began collecting invasion barges. The best defense the British had was the voice of the indomitable Churchill, whose speeches in Parliament and on radio lifted the people's morale and strengthened their determination to resist the Nazi onslaught. ■ In a speech delivered to the House of Commons and broadcast on national radio, Churchill exhorted his countrymen to face the menace of invasion with a fierce will to fight to the end. Instead of trying to invade immediately, however, Hitler decided to send his air force across the Channel to destroy the Royal Air Force. With control of the air, Hitler hoped to be able to cross the Channel in spite of the presence of the British navy. Once again, Churchill urged the British people to stand firm. The End of the War ■ In the following months the German air force, the "Luftwaffe’’, bombarded British Cities in an attempt to force the British people to their knees and sue for peace. Instead of weakening under the constant air attacks, however, the will of the British to fight back grew stronger. ■ The Royal Air Force was vastly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, but it nevertheless possessed faster and more maneuverable fighter planes and a newly invented contraption called radar, which helped the British locate incoming German planes. Aided by these technical advantages, the British pilots fought bravely and skillfully against the waves of German bombers and shot down hundreds of them. The air attacks continued into the autumn of 1940, but by late summer it was clear that the Luftwaffe would not win the Battle of Britain. With his air force beaten back and - beginning the following year, 1941 - his armies occupied on the Eastern front against the Russian armies, Hitler had to give up his plans to invade Britain. After two years of German victories the tide of the war began to turn in favor of the Allies. In May of 1945, five years after English cities were "blitzed" by German bombers, British and other Allied troops accepted the surrender of the remaining German forces. ■ Churchill’s real genius lay not in history but in oratory. Churchill's oratorical style was old-fashioned and flowery but supremely effective. He was able to reach the hearts of his countrymen and raise the morale of an almost defeated nation at a time when it seemed that nothing but his own voice prevented the German armies from swarming across the English Channel and conquering the British Isles. Churchill' wartime speeches express the same unremitting determination to win, whatever the odds. ■ In 1965, at the advanced age of 91, Churchill became ill and had to have an operation. The man who had loved to give names to the great Allied military operations of World War Il now gave a name to his last operation: "Operation Hope Not." In spite of the efforts of his doctors, Churchill fell into a coma. Even unconscious he struggled for a few more days to hold on to his life, but this time the odds were too heavily against him. He died quietly in his bed, a statesman-hero mourned by the entire world. Exercises 1)What forbade Germany to maintain a large army? A: The Peace treaty of Versailles. 2) When did the war broke out? A: The war broke out on September 1, 1939. 3) What did Churchill delare to his fellow countrymen? A: He declared ‘’I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” 4) What was the evacuation from Dunkirk? A: It was when the British fleet succeded in pulling some 300,000 troops off the beaches and taking them back across the Channel to England. 5) What did Churchill’s speeches lift? A: His speeches lifted the people’s morale and strengthened their determination to resist the Nazi onslaught. 6) What happened to Churchill in 1940? A: He was ellected Prime Minister. 7) What was History of the Second World War based on? A: It was based on notes he kept during his first term as Prime Minister. 8) What was the name of Churchill’s last operation? A: The name of his last operation was “Operation Hope Not.
