WWII
-World War II, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history.
- it was caused in part by the economic crisis of the Great Depression and by
political tensions left unresolved following the end of World War I.
-The war began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and raged across
the globe until 1945, when Japan surrendered to the United States after atomic
bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
-Among the people killed were 6 million Jews murdered in Nazi concentration
camps as part of Hitler’s diabolical “Final Solution,” now known as the
Holocaust.
-Allied Powers - Britain, France, SU, China and the United States.
-Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan.
Operation Barbarossa (1941-42)
-On June 22, 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed
Operation Barbarossa.
-On December 7, 1941, 360 Japanese aircraft attacked the major U.S. naval base
at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, taking the Americans completely by surprise and
claiming the lives of more than 2,300 troops. On December 8 Congress declared
war on Japan.
-In 1945, Japan surrendered to the United States after atomic bombs were
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. By the end of World War II, an estimated
60 to 80 million people had died, including up to 55 million civilians.
1948 Italian Elections: The CIA conducted covert operations to influence the
outcome of the Italian elections in favor of anti-communist parties.
1953 Iranian Coup: The CIA, in collaboration with British intelligence,
orchestrated a coup to overthrow Iran's Prime Minister Mohammad
Mossadegh and restore the Shah to power, largely to prevent a potential
alliance with the Soviet Union.
1954 Guatemalan Coup: The CIA supported a coup to overthrow the
democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz, who was perceived as a
communist threat.
