Questions
- What do these photos represent for you? Varied
- What is the third photo saying? The war is almost over, we’ll be coming home soon.
WW2 Facts:
- Over 60 million people were killed;
- Over 80 million deaths from war-related disease and famine;
- Total combat deaths from 21 to 25 million;
- Six million Jews died in the Holocaust;
- 45,000 Canadian soldiers and military members died;416,800
- 418,500 Total American deaths
- Soviet Union 8,800,000-10,700,000
- Soviet Union military deaths 383,000 450,700
- Total deaths 24,000,000
- Yugoslavia 446,000 1,000,000
- Over 20 million total soldiers and military ;
- Canada enters WW2 10th September 1939;
- 1.1 million Canadians in the Army, Navy, and Air Force;
- 439,000 women worked;
- What did World War II cost?
U.S.
$341 billion in 1945
2
Germany
$272 billion in 1945
3
Soviet Union
$192 billion in 1945
4
Britain
$120 billion in 1945
5
Italy
$94 billion in 1945
6
Japan
$56 billion in 1945
Total
$1.075 trillion in 1945
would cost
$3,582,143,803,399.78 in 2005.
would cost
$2,857,311,186,289.56 in 2005.
would cost
$2,016,925,543,263.22 in 2005.
would cost
$1,260,578,464,539.51 in 2005.
would cost
$987,453,130,555.95 in 2005.
would cost
$588,269,950,118.44 in 2005.
would cost
$11,292,682,078,166.46 in 2005.
Allies
Axis
Tanks, self-propelled artillery, vehicles
4,358,649
670,288
Artillery, mortars, guns
6,792,696
1,363,491
Aircraft
637,248
229,331
Missiles
45,458
Ships
54,932
1,670
Tanks & SPGs
Armored vehicles
Other vehicles
Artillery
Mortars
Machine guns
Personnel
British Empire
47,862
47,420
1,475,521
226,113
239,540
1,090,410
11,192,533
USA and territories
102,410
2,382,311
257,390
105,055
2,679,840
10,000,000
USSR
106,025
197,100
516,648
200,300
1,477,400
34,401,807
Other
Allies
256,297
47,420
4,054,932
1,000,151
544,895
5,247,650
Germany and territories
67,429
345,914
159,147
73,484
674,280
1,000,730
16,540,835
Questions
- What do all these statistics tell you about WW2?
- Where does Canada rank against the other allied countries?
As late as 1936 King had told Parliament "Our country is being drawn into international situations to a degree that I myself think is alarming." Both the government and the public remained reluctant to participate in a European war, in part because of the memories of the Conscription Crisis of 1917 that divided French and English Canada. Both King and opposition leader Robert James Manion stated their opposition to conscripting troops for overseas service in March 1939. Nonetheless, King had not changed his view of 1923 that Canada would participate in a war by the Empire whether or not the United States did. By August 1939 his cabinet, including French Canadians, was united for war in a way that it probably would not have been during the Munich Crisis (The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. The agreement was signed in the early hours of 30 September 1938 (but dated 29 September) after being negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe, although both cabinet members and the country based their support in part on expecting that Canada's participation would be "limited".
It had been clear that Canada would elect to participate in the war before the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. Four days after the United Kingdom declared war on 3 September 1939, Parliament was called in special session and both King and Manion stated their support for Canada following Britain, but did not declare war immediately, partly to show that Canada was joining out of her own initiative and was not obligated to go to war. Unlike 1914 when war came as a surprise, the government had prepared various measures for price controls, rationing, and censorship, and the War Measures Act of 1914 was re-invoked. After two days of debate, the House of Commons approved an Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne on 9 September 1939 giving authority to declare war to King's government. A small group of Quebec legislators attempted to amend the bill, and CCF party leader J. S. Woodsworth stated that some of his party opposed it. Woodsworth was the only Member of Parliament to vote against the bill and it thus passed by near-acclamation. The Senate also passed the bill that day. The Cabinet drafted a proclamation of war that night, which Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir signed on 10 September. King George VI approved Canada's declaration of war with Germany on Sept. 10. Canada later also declared war on Italy (11 June 1940), Japan (7 December 1941), and other Axis powers, enshrining the principle that the Statute of Westminster conferred these sovereign powers to Canada.
Questions:
- What did William Lyon Mackenzie King say to parliament about Canada`s role in WW2. "Our country is being drawn into international situations to a degree that I myself think is alarming."
- What was the Munich Agreement? The Munich Agreement was a settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers, for which a new territorial designation "Sudetenland" was coined. The agreement was signed in the early hours of 30 September 1938 (but dated 29 September) after being negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe
- On what day, month and year did Canada declare war on Germany?
- On what day, month and year did Canada declare war on Italy? 11 June 1940
- On what day, month and year did Canada declare war on Japan? 7 December 1941
Canadians on the battlefield
As many as 156 Canadian prisoners of war are believed to have been executed by the 12th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following the D-Day landings. In scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy countryside, they were taken aside and shot.
A total of 20 Canadians were executed near Villons-les-Buissons in the Abbaye d'Ardenne, a massive collection of medieval buildings -- including an early Gothic church and several farm buildings -- encircled by walls and surrounded by grain fields. This was where Kurt Meyer, Commander of the 25th Panzer Grenadier Regiment (of the 12th Panzer Division), had established his headquarters.
On June 7, the Germans were counter-attacking the Allies in force. The North Nova Scotia Highlanders, supported by tanks from the 27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (CAR -- the Sherbrooke Fusiliers), were engaged in heavy fighting around Authie. Several of the CAR tanks were disabled and the infantry was overwhelmed. (A street corner in southern Authie was named Place des 37 Canadiens in honour of the 37 Canadians killed there that day.)
The abbey quickly filled with POWs captured during and after the fighting. Ten of them were randomly picked and dispatched to the chateau adjacent to the abbey; the rest were moved to Bretteville-sur-Odon. An 11th POW, Private Hollis McKeil of B Company of the North Nova Scotia Highlanders, had been wounded in the fighting near Buron and also remained behind. That evening, the 11 POWs were taken to the chateau's garden and killed. Several months later, six of the bodies were discovered with crushing blows to the head. Four more were also found afterwards; it was evident they had been shot in the head. McKeil was also later found to have suffered the same fate.
The 11 Canadians were executed.
On June 17 it is believed two more Canadians were executed here -- Lieutenant Fred Williams and Lance-corporal George Pollard, both of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders. They had been patrolling for disabled German tanks near Buron and went missing. It is known that two wounded Canadian POWs were evacuated by the Germans to the abbey's first-aid post on June 17. Witnesses later reported hearing shots in the vicinity of the abbey at two different times that day.
The Abbaye d'Ardenne was liberated by the Regina Rifles shortly before midnight on July 8. Their members discovered the body of Lt. Williams (who is buried in the Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetery), however no trace of LCpl. Pollard was ever found. The Bayeux Memorial (near the Bayeux War Cemetery) lists him as missing.
Kurt Meyer was brought to trial for the Abbaye d'Ardenne executions in December 1945 and denied knowledge of them. He was found guilty and sentenced to death -- a sentence later commuted to life imprisonment. He served eight years in a New Brunswick penitentiary and, on September 7, 1954, was released. He died of a heart attack seven years later.
On the night of June 7/8, 1944, 18 Canadian soldiers were murdered in this garden while being held here as prisoners of war. Two more prisoners died here or nearby on June 17. They are dead but not forgotten.
This is just one little story of pain and loss in war, that has thousands.
Questions
- How many Canadian prisoners of war were executed by the 12th SS Panzer Division? As many as 156 Canadian prisoners of war are believed to have been executed by the 12th SS Panzer Division (the Hitler Youth) in the days and weeks following the D-Day landings. In scattered groups, in various pockets of the Normandy countryside, they were taken aside and shot.
- Where did these executions take place? L’Abbaye d’Ardenne.
- Do prisoners of war have rights? Yes, thanks to the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of war.
- Are soldiers responsible for their actions? Yes.
Awards and Honorable mentions
Gallantry Awards
Sgt. Major John Osborn, Winnipeg's - Victoria Cross
Several enemy grenades were thrown which Company Sergeant-Major Osborn picked up and threw back. The enemy threw a grenade which landed in a position where it was impossible to pick it up and return it in time. Shouting a warning to his comrades this gallant Warrant Officer threw himself on the grenade which exploded, killing him instantly. His self-sacrifice undoubtedly saved the lives of many others.
The Battle of Hong Kong
December 8-24, 1941
Canada's soldiers would see their first major combat experience in the Second World War not against Hitler's armies in Europe but against the expansionist Japanese in the Pacific. In late 1941, the Canadian government honored a British request to send two battalions of infantry and a brigade headquarters to bolster the defenses of Hong Kong by dispatching the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers. The battle for Hong Kong, a British Crown Colony, would turn out to be a debacle.
Strategically and tactically, Hong Kong was a difficult territory to defend. Moreover, the Canadians were still waiting for vehicles and other supplies before the battle began. The Japanese attackers overwhelmed the defenders. Although the 1,975 Canadian troops fought bravely, by Christmas Day 1941, they and the 12,000 valiant British and Indian troops had lost the battle. The entire Canadian force had been killed, wounded, or captured. The Canadian prisoners had to endure the appalling treatment at the hands of Japanese soldiers. A substantial portion of the Canadian contingent perished in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. At war's end, only 1,428 POWs from the battle returned to Canada.
Casualties
Country
Killed
Total
Canada
554
1,050
Britain
?
?
India
?
?
* Approximately 290 Canadian soldiers were killed in battle and, while in captivity, approximately 264 more died as POWs, for a total death toll of 554.
Questions
- Why is the battle of Hong Kong singled out for Canada? A total of 554 deaths, Canada fought a valiant fight but lost. This is symbolic of Canada’s efforts in WW2.
- What was so important about Japanese run prisoner-of-war camps? They were brutal and deadly.
- How many Canadians fought in Hong Kong? 1,975
- How many British and Indian troops fought in Hong Kong? 12,000
Canadian Japanese
Map of Hong Kong of world map 1941
Overview
On 8 December 1941, a day after the its Air Force had devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbour, the Japanese Empire launched an attack on the Britsh Crown Colony of Hong Kong.
In the ensuing battle, the Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers – the first Canadian ground units to see action in the Second World War—fought valiantly to defend the colony. Initially, the Grenadiers were dispatched to the Gin Drinkers’ Line, a chain of defenses in the New Territories on the Chinese Mainland, to hold back the onslaught. But heavy air raids and artillery attacks forced the Commonwealth troops to withdraw from the New Territories to their garrison on the island of Hong Kong. After several days of heavy bombardment, the Japanese stormed the island’s northern beaches on the night of 18 December.
The Japanese, well-supported from the air and reinforced from the Mainland, quickly separated the British East and West brigades, thus severing the Canadian contingent into two. With both brigades isolated, it was only a matter of time before the Island would fall. Still, the Canadian defenders fought on in the face of the relentless Japanese assault and suffered heavy casualties. On Christmas Day, the Canadians were forced to surrender; those who survived would have to endure three and a half years of hardships as prisoners of war.
Introduction
In the Second World War, Canadian soldiers first engaged in battle while defending the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong against a Japanese attack in December, 1941. The Canadians at Hong Kong fought against overwhelming odds and displayed the courage of seasoned veterans, though most had limited military training. They had virtually no chance of victory, but refused to surrender until they were overrun by the enemy. Those who survived the battle became prisoners of war (POWs) and many endured torture and starvation by their Japanese captors.
Result
The fighting in Hong Kong ended with immense Canadian casualties: 290 killed and 493 wounded. The death toll and hardship did not end with surrender.
Even before the battle had officially ended, Canadians would endure great hardships at the hands of their Japanese captors. On December 24, the Japanese overran a makeshift hospital in Hong Kong, assaulting and murdering nurses and bayoneting wounded Canadian soldiers in their beds. After the colony surrendered, the cruelty would continue. For more than three and a half years, the Canadian POWs were imprisoned in Hong Kong and Japan in the foulest of conditions and had to endure brutal treatment and near-starvation. In the filthy, primitive POW quarters in Northern Japan, they would often work 12 hours a day in mines or on the docks in the cold, subsisting on rations of 800 calories a day. Many did not survive. In all, more than 550 of the 1,975 Canadians who sailed from Vancouver in October 1941 never returned.
Questions
- Which two groups of Canadian soldiers were the first to see action against the Japanese in WW2? The Royal Rifles of Canada and the Winnipeg Grenadiers
- When were the Canadian soldiers forced to surrender in Hong Kong? Christmas day 1941
- How did many Canadian soldiers, captured by the Japanese, die? Torture, Starvation and cruelty.
- How long were Canadian soldiers who fought in Hong Kong imprisoned by the Japanese? 3 and ½ years
Upon capture, Canadian soldiers imprisoned in camps, those captured in Hong Kong in late 1941 would suffer as POW’S for nearly four years. Two such camps where Canadians were imprisoned were: Sham Shui Po Prison Camp on the mainland, near Kowloon and North Point Camp in Northern Hong Kong.
The Canadians were forced to endure conditions that could rightly be described as horrific and horrendous. Exhausted from battle, many wounded, they were hoping for the best. What they faced was unknown, but the Geneva Conventions that set out humane rules for the treatment of prisoners gave them some cause for hope. Three and a half years of brutal captivity proved just how illusory those hopes were.
Excerpt regarding the conditions of North Point Camp:
North Point was originally a camp on the outskirts of the city, built to house 300 refugees from China. It was badly damaged during the battle, and several of the huts were burned to the ground. The others had been looted of anything that survived the shelling. To further sweeten the pot, the Japanese had quartered their horses and mules there. It was a mess! A stinking mess! To compound all this, one end of the camp had originally been a dump; the shelling had uncovered all the old garbage, which turned it into a paradise for flies. The other end was littered with dead bodies of Chinese civilians and Japanese pack animals who had been killed by the defenders.
The first month was tough as chaos reigned. There was no water in the camp. It had to be brought in by truck and the delivery of any food was unpredictable. We had nothing to eat for the first two days, and the situation looked grim.
Accommodation was no better, as at first we had all the British and Indian troops as well as the Canadians. We were packed about 200 men into a hut designed to hold perhaps 30 refugees. There was no glass in the windows and in some huts large holes in the roof. Most of us had no blankets and the concrete floor was no Beauty Rest Mattress. Hong Kong can be damp and surprisingly cold at that time of the year.
The Conditions
The conditions in which the Canadian Prisoners of War lived in were inhumane. The camps were, in short, a living hell. The casualty rate was high. While 290 soldiers had died in battle or had been executed by the Japanese, almost the same number died in the POW camps. In total, 554 soldiers of the 1,975 soldiers who originally sailed to Hong Kong were buried or cremated in the Far East.
Camps were surrounded by barbed wire fence about seven feet high, later, at North Point Camp an electric fence was installed about eighteen inches outside the barbed wire fence. The buildings were made of wood siding with windows built over concrete floors, at North Point, the wooden huts were one hundred and twenty feet long by eighteen feet wide. The buildings were usually drafty, filthy and infested with lice, bed bugs and flies.
Here are some conditions at North Point Camp (excerpts from Dark Side of the Sun):
Latrines (Toilets):
“Latrine Facilities were at first non-existent. Sanitary arrangements had been greatly damaged during the battle and most of the material of value had been looted by the Chinese. Shell fire had broken the water mains and for about one month, there was no running water available. The camp was bordered by the saw wall and this was used as an open latrine [hanging their behinds over a sea wall] until sufficient repairs could be made. For several weeks a number of Chinese bodies were carried in and out with the tide, adding to the dismal setting. At no time during the operation of this camp were the latrine facilities sufficient.”
Sleeping Quarters:
“The prisoners found themselves crowded with a minimum of 125 to as many as 200 men per hut. The fortunate had one blanket while many were without covering. The bunks were pushed together in pairs, and in this way seven could seep in the floor space otherwise occupied by three – two on the top bunk, there below and two on the floor.”
At Sham Shui Po: The men often slept on concrete floors. “When I went to sleep at night, I put all my clothes on and wrapped myself in the gas cape and lay down on the cement floor, and used my boots as a pillow. There was no protection from the wind and rain as all the windows and doors were missing; we had to stay in the spot assigned to us.”
Mr. Castonguay describes conditions at North Point, a Japanese Prisoner of War Camp:
“We were piled up one on top of the other, four or five stacks high. That was no fun. And we had bed bugs, lice, and fleas, lots of fleas but especially bedbugs. And ants, many ants that bite. And body was you know really bit, bitten all over. Scratchy, it was awful.”
Created b: F. Fung Oshawa Central Collegiate 2007
Kitchen Facilities:
“The first few days were hectic as the Japanese were not able to supply the camp with sufficient food or with fuel to cook what was available. The Japanese supplied the forces with several rice ‘kongs’ (large kettles) and some mouldy rice.’
Flies, Lice, Fleas, Parasites and Bedbugs:
In addition to the crowded and uncomfortable sleeping conditions, the POW’s also had to contend with the millions of bugs:
“The flies swarm through every man’s recollections. One veteran had the smothering nauseating sensation of almost breathing flies. They settled on every forkful of food before it could reach the mouth. Men spent their days swatting flies. At night, when flies swarmed in the millions on the rafters of the roofs of the huts, parties would climb up, squash black thick layers of them and scrape the mess into buckets, but all efforts made not the slightest difference.”
The bedbugs were especially hated:
“The men were unable to sleep because the bedbugs would bite all night, and in the morning one would look like a person with measles.”
The camp was infected when the prisoners arrived and the complete lack of facilities necessary for personal hygiene and primitive sleeping arrangements resulted in a situation that many POW’s found most distressing. All attempts to eliminate the vermin were completely unsuccessful:
Questions:
- Name two prisoner of war camps for Canadian allies by Japanese soldiers. North Point Camp and Sham Shui Po Prison Camp
- What were the living conditions like at Sham Shui Po? “We were piled up one on top of the other, four or five stacks high. That was no fun. And we had bed bugs, lice, and fleas, lots of fleas but especially bedbugs. And ants, many ants that bite. And body was you know really bit, bitten all over. Scratchy, it was awful.”
- Describe the living arrangements or sleeping quarters of the POW’s. The camp was infected when the prisoners arrived and the complete lack of facilities necessary for personal hygiene and primitive sleeping arrangements resulted in a situation that many POW’s found most distressing.
Approximately 9,000 Canadian soldiers, airmen, naval sailors and merchant seamen were captured by the enemy and held as prisoners of war (POWs) during the Second World War. Imagine how difficult life as a POW must have been.
Canadians in Buchenwald Concentration Camp
One group of Canadian prisoners of war had a very different experience than most. These were the 26 Canadian airmen who, along with 142 other British, American, Australian and New Zealand airmen, spent several months in Buchenwald Concentration Camp in eastern Germany in the summer and fall of 1944.
Of the many horrors that would emerge from the Second World War, few could match the cruel concentration camps established by Nazi Germany. Buchenwald was built in 1937 to imprison opponents of the Nazi regime and others seen as undesirable by the Nazis. This included groups such as Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and the intellectually challenged. With the onset of the war, it was also used to imprison people from other countries. More than 250,000 people were held captive in the camp between 1937 and 1945, with more than 50,000 of them losing their lives there.
The Allied airmen who were sent to Buchenwald had been shot down over occupied Europe and had made contact with the French Resistance in an effort to escape from the Germans. They had been issued false papers and were dressed as civilians to help in their escape. A traitorous member of the Resistance betrayed them. They were rounded up and arrested as spies rather than as military POWs, which meant their rights were not protected under the Geneva Convention. They were questioned, beaten and subjected to other forms of cruelty. In the summer of 1944, as the Allies advanced on the Germans occupying France, the Allied prisoners (and many other political prisoners) were jammed into overcrowded boxcars and sent to Buchenwald. It was a harrowing five-day train trip to the camp, during which they received very little food or water.
One Canadian Veteran who had been held in Buchenwald recalls the airmen's arrival at the camp: "As we got close to the camp and saw what was inside the camp, a terrible, terrible fear and horror entered our hearts. We thought, what is this? Where are we going? Why are we here? And as you got closer to the camp and started to enter the camp and saw these human skeletons walking around—old men, young men, boys, just skin and bone, we thought, what are we getting into?" – From The Lucky Ones: Allied Airmen and Buchenwald (National Film Board, 1994, directed by Michael Allder).
During their first three weeks at Buchenwald, the Allied prisoners were totally shaven and forced to sleep outside, without any shoes or shelter. Eventually they were moved into a very overcrowded hut where they were forced to sleep on wooden shelves. They were so tightly packed that in order for one person to turn over in the bunk, the other four people in the same bunk had to turn over at the same time. While in Buchenwald, they experienced inhuman conditions, including starvation, disease and the constant threatening presence of cruel guards. The prisoner's food included a little bowl of soup made from grass or cabbage leaves, and an inch of bread and three little potatoes. One pilot lost more than 29.5 kg during his six weeks there. The men witnessed horrific beatings, hangings and torture. Buchenwald was also a "death camp," used by the Nazis to systematically murder those they wanted eliminated. The Allied airmen imprisoned there would often see the piles of corpses stacked up, awaiting the crematorium. It would be October 1944 before the Allied POWs would finally be transferred to a regular German POW camp for downed airmen. That is where they stayed until the end of the war.
Sacrifice
The experiences of the Canadian POWs during the Second World War were difficult and, sometimes deadly—especially for those captured by the Japanese. More than 9,000 Canadians spent time in enemy POW camps and hundreds lost their lives while in captivity. Many of the POWs who were liberated were left with physical and emotional traumas that would last a lifetime. The Canadian POWs from the Defence of Hong Kong suffered a particularly heavy toll, as more than 260 did not survive the harsh conditions of the Japanese prison camps. The Allied POWs held in Buchenwald were also greatly affected by their experiences in the camp. Several fell ill, two died—but all were left with the lasting emotional impact of their harsh experiences.
The leaders of World War 2
Who were the leaders, the bosses, the villains?
Tell me about the following WW2 leaders listed below; their service, spouses, children, where they lived, etc.: Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman, Hirohito, and George S. Patton.
Führer 2 August 1934 – 30 April 1945
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (Germany - 20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was a German politician who was the leader of the Nazi Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and Führer ("Leader") of Nazi Germany from 1934 to 1945. As dictator of the German Reich, he initiated World War II in Europe with the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and was central to the Holocaust.
Hitler was born in Austria, then part of Austria-Hungary, and raised near Linz. He moved to Germany in 1913 and was decorated during his service in the German Army in World War I. He joined the German Workers' Party (DAP), the precursor of the NSDAP, in 1919 and became leader of the NSDAP in 1921. In 1923 he attempted a coup in Munich to seize power. The failed coup resulted in Hitler's imprisonment, during which he dictated the first volume of his autobiography and political manifesto Mein Kampf ("My Struggle"). After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, anti-semitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. Hitler frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as being part of a Jewish conspiracy.
Churchill, December 1941
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
26 October 1951 – 6 April 1955
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955.
Joseph Stalin
Иосиф Сталин (Russian)
იოსებ სტალინი (Georgian)
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (/ˈstɑːlɪn/; 18 December 1878 – 5 March 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state.
A Georgian by birth, Stalin was one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 in order to manage the Bolshevik Revolution, alongside Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Sokolnikov, and Bubnov. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the party's Central Committee in 1922. Power was consolidated under him following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin by the suppression of Lenin's criticisms (in the postscript of his testament) and the expansion of the functions of his role, along with the elimination of any opposition. He remained General Secretary until the post was abolished in 1952, concurrently serving as the Premier of the Soviet Union from 1941 until 1953.
Benito Mussolini
27th Prime Minister of Italy
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (Italian pronunciation: [beˈniːto mussoˈliːni];[1] 29 July 1883 – 28 April 1945) was an Italian politician, journalist, and leader of the National Fascist Party (Partito Nazionale Fascista; PNF), ruling the country as Prime Minister from 1922 to 1943. He ruled constitutionally until 1925, when he dropped all pretense of democracy and set up a legal dictatorship. Known as Il Duce (The Leader), Mussolini was the founder of Italian Fascism.
In 1912 Mussolini was the leading member of the National Directorate of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). Prior to 1914, he was a keen supporter of the Socialist International, starting the series of meetings in Switzerland that organised the communist revolutions and insurrections that swept through Europe from 1917. Mussolini was expelled from the PSI for withdrawing his support for the party's stance on neutrality in World War I. He served in the Royal Italian Army during the war until he was wounded and discharged in 1917. Mussolini denounced the PSI, his views now centering on nationalism instead of socialism, and later founded the fascist movement. Following the March on Rome in October 1922 he became the youngest Prime Minister in Italian history until the appointment of Matteo Renzi in February 2014. After removing all political opposition through his secret police and outlawing labor strikes, Mussolini and his followers consolidated their power through a series of laws that transformed the nation into a one-party dictatorship. Within five years he had established dictatorial authority by both legal and extraordinary means, aspiring to create a totalitarian state. Mussolini remained in power until he was deposed by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1943. A few months later, he became the leader of the Italian Social Republic, a German client regime in northern Italy; he held this post until his death in 1945.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
General of the Army
34th President of the United States
January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American politician and Army general who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first Supreme Commander of NATO.
William Lyon Mackenzie King, prime minister of Canada 1921–26, 1926–30 and 1935–48 (born 17 December 1874 in Berlin [Kitchener], ON; died 22 July 1950 in Kingsmere, QC [near Ottawa, ON]).
Leader of the Liberal Party 1919-48, and prime minister for almost 22 of those years, King was the dominant political figure in an era of major changes. As Canada’s longest-serving prime minister, King steered Canada through industrialization, much of the Great Depression, and the Second World War. By the time he left office, Canada had achieved greater independence from Britain and a stronger international voice, and had implemented policies such as unemployment insurance in response to industrialization, economic distress, and changing social realities.
Questions
1. What does this video teach us about the Canadian people from 1939 to 1945?
2. What does this video teach us about the Canadian people from 1939 to 1945?
Final Presentation on World War II
You should pick a battle in which Canadian participation was key in the Second World War. Choose a battle, a country, a leader, and find the information for your presentation.
Here are some important elements of your project:
The name of the battle
The number of allied and enemy troops
The strategies
Facts concerning the Winners and Losers
An individual story of a soldier
Equipment used and lost
Deaths, wounded, and disappeared
The location of the battle
The duration of the battle
The difficulties during the battle (the Hitler youth, POW`s, the people)
The enemy
The difficulties overcame by the civilians
The losses on both sides
The weather during the battles
Greg
Hong Kong
Guadalcanal
Sydney
Sicily
The Battle of Ortona and Monte Cassino
Cole and Vincent
D-Day
The battle of Caen
Brianna
The battle of the Atlantic
The battle of Verrieres Ridge
Natalie
Dieppe
Trent
Moscow
Tyler
The battle of Anzio
Opération véritable
The battle of Okinawa
Lily
The CanadianWoman of WW2
Quintin
The « D-Day Dodgers »
Camila
Germany
Gavin
Canada
Tyrell
Great Britain
Jolie
France
Chris L.
United States
Taylor
Japan
Alex
Italy
Evaluation
Criteria
Evaluation by the Teacher
Evaluation by the Student
Precision /20
Length /20
Quality /20
Validity /20
Visual /20
/100 /100
Total /100