Hello, welcome to history here at Oak National Academy.

My name is Mr. Newton, and I'll be your teacher today guiding you through the entire lesson.

Right let's get started.

We've been thinking about our big inquiry question.

Which events turned the tide in the story of the Second World War? This is the question we have used to investigate the unfolding events of the war.

The outcome of which was not certain from the outset.

Nazi Germany had dominated Europe in the first two years of the war.

However, the tide of the Second World War began to turn with the Battle of Britain, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, America joined the conflict and the D-Day landings.

Germany was eventually surrounded by the allies and surrendered unconditionally.

However difficult times lay ahead with Japan still undefeated.

An unprecedented weapon was about to bring the Second World War to an end.

By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to write a narrative account of the events which turned the tide in the story of the Second World War.

Before we begin, there are a few keywords that we need to understand.

Atomic bomb is an extremely powerful bomb that uses the explosive power resulting from splitting the atom.

Radiation is a form of energy that when it comes from a nuclear explosion can be very dangerous to health.

And D-Day is the day during the Second World War when the allies began the invasion of Europe by attacking the coast of Northern France.

It's also known as Operation Overlord.

Today's lesson is split into two parts.

We'll first look at how the Pacific War was finally brought to an end, bringing a close to the Second World War.

And then we'll summarise the events of the Second World War so that you can begin forming a narrative of which events turned the tide in the Second World War.

Right, let's begin the lesson with the defeat of Japan.

After Germany had unconditionally surrendered to the allies, people in Europe celebrated.

In the photo on the left, you can see Winston Churchill is waving to a crowd in London as they celebrated victory in Europe Day on the 8th of May, 1945.

However, Japan was yet to be defeated.

By the summer of 1945, Japan still controlled eastern China and most of Southeast Asia.

And the map on the left shows the extent that the Japanese empire reached at its height during the 1940s.

So although the war in Europe had ended the war in the Pacific raged on with thousands of casualties.

Over 100,000 allied prisoners of war were suffering starvation or were being forced to work in terrible conditions.

Emperor Hirohito had even ordered their execution if Japan was invaded.

The battle of Okinawa showed that the Japanese refused to surrender.

This battle took place between March, 1945 to September, 1945.

America had twice as many troops as Japan, and yet the battle continued for three months and resulted in the deaths of 12,000 American soldiers and the wounding of another 50,000.

Even after it became clear that the Japanese could not win the battle, only 2,000 Japanese soldiers surrendered.

The remaining 108,000 Japanese soldiers fought until the end due to the shame associated with surrender in Japanese culture at the time.

We can see evidence of America attempting to deal with Japanese recalcitrants.

This propaganda leaflet was issued after the invasion of Okinawa.

These leaflets were airdropped to Japanese troops in the hope of convincing them to surrender.

And you can see on the leaflet a photo of three smiling Japanese prisoners of war.

And it also gives reassuring instructions of how to surrender.

The leaflet states, "I cease resistance.

This leaflet guarantees humane treatment to any Japanese desiring to cease resistance.

Take him immediately to your nearest commissioned officer by direction of the Commander in Chief." So actually the original wording of this leaflet was changed from I surrender to I cease resistance.

This was the result of some American military research which suggested a different approach should be taken to overcome the Japanese cultural idea which associated surrender with shame.

This leaflet is interesting because not only does it show a military psychological operation at work, but it also shows America was aware that surrender would be an issue in the Pacific War.

Faced with an enemy that stubbornly refused to surrender and a potential death count of millions, American leaders grappled with the moral dilemma of using their new super weapon.

Known at the time as the atomic bomb.

Early in the conflict, British and American scientists had agreed to pool their resources and work together on the development of a new explosive of unbelievable destructive power.

From 1942, under the guidance of physicist J.

Robert Oppenheimer work began on the top secret Manhattan Project.

With the aim of developing the world's first nuclear bomb.

The GIF video on the lead shows the first detonation of a nuclear or atom bomb on the 16th of July, 1945.

This test was conducted in a desert in the US State of New Mexico.

It had the explosive power of thousands of tonnes of TNT.

After the explosion, radioactive dust called fallout spread throughout the atmosphere.

This dust contaminated the area for miles around.

This radiation damages living matter on a molecular level and is very dangerous to health and can cause fatal radiation sickness and cancers.

And we can see a photo here of the physicist J.

Robert Oppenheimer, who was the Director of the Manhattan Project.

After witnessing the unprecedented power of the first nuclear explosion, Oppenheimer recalled the words of the God Vishnu in the Hindu scriptures.

Those words were, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Aware of the terrible death toll of using the atomic bomb on the city, but convinced that it was the only way to force a Japanese surrender.

President Truman gave the order for the super weapon to be used.

On the 6th of August, 1945, the atomic bomb was dropped on a Japanese city of Hiroshima.

And the photo on the left was taken by an American B-29 aircraft on that day, and we can see the huge mushroom cloud caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The atom bomb sent out a searing bright light, followed by a shockwave that incinerated everything within a four mile radius.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

What was the name of America's new super weapon? Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was A, atomic bomb.

The atomic bomb destroyed two thirds of the city of Hiroshima.

The photo on the left shows the aftermath of the bomb, and you can see that it's flattened most of the city.

It killed more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians in an instance.

and injured a further 100,000, many of whom later died from radiation poisoning.

Despite this, the Japanese emperor and his generals still refused to surrender.

And so on the 9th of August, another atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki.

25,000 people were instantly killed and in the weeks that followed, more people died from radiation poisoning.

As a result of the bombings, Emperor Hirohito ordered the Japanese surrender on the 14th of August, meaning that the Second World War was finally brought to an end.

The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only time that nuclear weapons have been used in conflict.

The fear of their subsequent use and the destruction which would be caused has in many ways defined global politics since the Second World War.

Two months after the atom bomb was dropped, George Orwell ominously wrote his belief where he predicted that two or three monstrous super states would dominate the world as they possess these new super weapons which can kill millions in seconds.

Orwell predicted that the atomic bomb was likely to put an end to large scale wars, however, this would be at the cost of placing the world into a permanent state of peace that is no peace.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which Japanese cities did America drop the atomic bomb on? Select two correct answers, A, Hiroshima, B, Nagasaki, C, Okinawa.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was A, Hiroshima and B, Nagasaki.

Okay, let's move on to task A.

What I want you to do here is discuss why dropping the atomic bomb was a moral dilemma for America.

Your discussion should include reasons for and against dropping the bomb.

So we really need to understand both sides of the arguments here if we're to have a full understanding of what took place.

Pause the video, have a discussion, and then come right back.

Okay, great.

Welcome back.

So hopefully you had some really interesting discussions and you've engaged with the moral dilemma that America was confronted with.

So you might have said that the reasons for dropping the bomb included, that the atomic bomb might force Japan to surrender.

So far, Japan had shown it would fight till the end because of the shame associated with surrender.

And you might have said that if the war continued, America predicted a potential death count of millions and the bomb could end the war and avoid more casualties and prisoners of war.

However, if we have a look at the other side of the argument, the reasons against dropping the bomb, the atomic bomb was a super weapon and it's had unprecedented power and no one knew the consequences of introducing this new technology to the world.

Furthermore, it killed thousands of innocent people, both from the initial blast and radiation poisoning months later.

Okay, let's move on to the second part of the lesson.

Now that we understand how the Second World War ended, let's summarise the events of the war so we can get a big picture understanding of what took place.

And this will help us answer our inquiry question, which events turned the tide in the Second World War? So let's start on the 1st of September, 1939.

Germany invaded and occupied Poland.

Two days later when Hitler refused to reverse his decision.

Britain declared war.

The Second World War had begun.

However, in less than two years, the German army had swept through Europe.

And the map on the left shows us those early events very clearly, we can see Germany in the dark green and the lighter green are the German occupations with the brownish colour representing German allies.

The German military had achieved multiple victories deploying a tactic which became known as Blitzkrieg.

While lightning war, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg had all surrendered to the Nazis by 1940.

By the 26th of May, 1940, British and French troops had retreated to Dunkirk.

The photo on the left shows British soldiers trapped on the beaches at Dunkirk.

For a time it looked as if Britain's best soldiers might fall into enemy hands as prisoners of war.

However the Royal Navy and a fleet of little ships launched on evacuation to rescue the root and core of the British army and the other allied troops there.

More than 300,000 British and French soldiers were rescued in just over a week.

In June, 1940, Italy's leader Mussolini entered the war as an ally of Germany.

And on the 25th of June, France officially surrendered to Germany.

Britain and its empire therefore stood alone against Nazi aggression.

In Britain's darkest hour, Churchill steeled the British people for a grim fight.

For the House of Commons he declared that Britain would fight for years if necessary and that the British people would defend their island whatever the cost.

"We shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end.

We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the sea and oceans.

We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air.

Which shall defend our island whatever the cost may be.

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Why in late 1940 did it look like Germany would be victorious? Select two correct answers.

A, Britain stood alone against Germany, B, Germany had taken Stalingrad, C, the German army had dominated most of Europe, D, the German air force had beaten Britain.

Pause the video, have a think and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew it was A, Britain stood alone against Germany, and C, the German army had dominated most of Europe.

So with most of Europe dominated, the Germans began preparations for an invasion and occupation of Britain.

In July, 1940, the Battle of Britain began.

This battle took place in the skies above Britain throughout the summer of that year.

However, by September, 1940, the RAF had claimed victory at the Battle of Britain Britain's factories had churned out Spitfire and Hurricane fighter planes and the RAF was aided by the recent invention of radar.

The photo on the left shows RAF pilots in front of a Hurricane fighter plane.

These fighter planes were incredibly effective in the Battle of Britain and the radar system was unknown to Germany and this all contributed to Britain's victory.

Without air supremacy, Hitler would not be able to launch an invasion of Britain.

The Battle of Britain was over.

However, on the 27th of September, 1940, Japan joined the Axis Powers.

Angry that he had been unable to defeat the RAF, Hitler ordered what became known as the Blitz.

German bomber planes targeted civilian homes and buildings throughout major British cities.

The photo on the left shows children sitting on the rubble outside their home.

Each time German bombs fell on an ordinary home.

More people were incensed about the German's barbarous tactics.

Some historians believed that the bombing campaigns stiffened British morale and increased support for the war.

Unable to invade Britain, Hitler turned east.

In June, 1941, Hitler launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa.

Have a look at the map.

The maroon colour shows the areas of Soviet Union and the grey colour shows the areas of Nazi Germany.

Operation Barbarossa involved a Nazi army group in the north marching on the Baltic states with its final target locked in for Leningrad, modern day St.

Petersburg.

There would also be an army group in the centre, which would march across Soviet territory towards Moscow, the capital of Russia.

And then there was an army group in the south which would attack Ukraine and Kyiv and later move on to Stalingrad.

The aim was to secure strategic territory and take out key industrial centres.

By July, 1941, rather than risk street battles, the Nazi army surrounded Leningrad in what became one of the most devastating sieges in history.

Okay, so at this point in time it's interesting to look at one of Churchill's speeches.

Here he makes a speech and actually talks about the turning points he had believed had happened by 1941.

So Churchill explains, "In the first of these intense turning points a year ago, France fell under the German hammer and we Britain had to fix the storm alone.

The second was when the Air force beat the Hun the German Raiders out of the daylight air raid, and thus warded off the Nazi invasion of our islands.

The third turning point was when the president of America devoting 2 billion pounds to help us defend our liberties and their own.

The fourth is now upon us.

At four o'clock this morning, Hitler attacked and invaded Russia." So it's very interesting to hear Churchill's own views on what the turning points of the war had been up until the Nazi invasion of Russia in 1941.

If we have a look at this table, it might give us a clue as to why Churchill believed this was a turning point.

The table shows the change of the size in the conflict by the end of 1941, and we can see that before 1941 Britain and its empire are alone.

And we can see in the Axis column Britain are up against Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Soviet Union.

However, once Germany invaded Russia, the Soviet Union joined Britain's side in the war in the Allied column.

Therefore, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union changed the direction of the Second World War.

A much more even, but brutal fight would now ensue.

So by late 1941, the Germans had closed in on Moscow.

With German tank stationed just 10 miles away.

It seemed as if Moscow would fall.

However, on the 5th of December, 1941, German troops were forced to retreat from Moscow due to Russian resistance and freezing winter temperatures.

Which regularly dropped to minus 30 Centigrade.

German soldiers began to die of exposure.

And in the photo on the left, it shows frozen German soldiers during Operation Barbarossa where they were totally unprepared for the Russian winter.

Even the oil in their armoured vehicles began to freeze.

As a result, they were forced to retreat from Moscow, and this represented the first major defeat suffered by the Nazi army and tied them into a prolonged war on the Eastern front.

In London, Winston Churchill watched events on the Eastern Front and was convinced the tide had turned for the allies.

He called the events of Moscow, a colossal defeat for the Nazi army and predicted that the Russians would drive them back to Germany.

A view that was bolstered by the American entry into the war because on the 7th of December, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour.

Inflicting the worst naval disaster in US history.

This shocked the world because it was an unprovoked air attack on America who had essentially stayed out the conflict, isolating themselves away from the war.

But Japan had now sunk four US battleships and destroyed more than 180 aircraft.

The photo on the left shows the damage to the USS West Virginia.

So America ended its policy of isolationism and redirected its mighty economy towards fighting Japan and her ally Germany.

And again, if we have a look at the table here, we can see how the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour changed the direction of the Second World War.

On the one hand were Germany, Japan, and Italy known as the Axis Powers.

And on the other hand, we now have Britain, the Soviet Union, and America known as the Allies.

America had a mighty economy and used their industrial power, their power of production to tip the balance of the war in favour of the allies.

What this meant was that they had the money, the factories, the people to pour huge resources into the war.

They would soon be sending vast amounts of armaments, weapons, troops, tanks, and munitions.

American factories were producing the same number of aircraft that had been destroyed at Pearl Harbour every two days.

So months later, by May, 1942, the Japanese had occupied vast territory in southeast Asia.

The map on the left shows the territory of the Japanese empire.

The Japanese had occupied the Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, modern day Myanmar, Singapore, the Western Pacific Islands, and most of the Dutch East Indies, modern day Indonesia.

So as the Pacific War raged on throughout 1942, Hitler ordered an advanced further south into the Soviet Union, German soldiers needed to capture the strategically important city of Stalingrad.

Fighting in Stalingrad was amongst the most intense of the entire conflict.

For five months, Soviet defenders fought street by street to push back the Nazi invaders.

Stalingrad was largely reduced to rubble in the process.

Photo on the left shows the centre of Stalingrad after liberation, aerial photos would show that large parts of the city had been flattened.

However, by February, 1943, the Soviets achieved victory and German soldiers were forced to retreat.

Stalingrad represented the largest defeat of the Nazi army.

The Soviet Red Army would spend the next two years pushing Nazi troops back to Germany.

And it's important to note here that fighting on the Eastern front as a whole was particularly fierce.

Four outta five German soldiers killed in the Second World War were killed on the Eastern Front.

Okay, let's return back to the Pacific War.

And just before the Battle of Stalingrad had begun, there had been a turning point.

In June, 1942, the US Navy stopped Japanese expansion at the Battle of Midway.

In the photo, it shows the USS Yorktown during the Battle of Midway, and this was shortly after she was hit by three Japanese bombs on the same day, we can see dense smoke in the distance.

And this is from the fires caused by a bomb that has punctured the ship.

The aircraft carrier would eventually sink and 140 men were killed.

Nonetheless, the battle of Midway was a decisive naval and air battle, which is widely considered a turning point in the Pacific War.

However, that's very easy for anyone to say now, with the benefit of hindsight, at the time these soldiers were in the depths of war and no one really knew what would happen next.

The Japanese fought until the end and refused to surrender.

It would take years of bitter fighting with the soldiers slashing through dense jungles and trudging through swamps to take back the Pacific one island at a time.

In the meantime, the allies now look to open another front to hasten the end of the Second World War.

Churchill, Roosevelt and their generals have spent two years making plans for Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of France On the 6th of June, 1944, D-Day occurred.

British American and Canadian troops took part in the largest amphibious invasion in history.

The target was the beaches of Normandy as shown on the map.

This was a huge feat of organisation involving spies and deception and underground French resistance, paratrooper missions behind enemy lines, naval and air bombardment, all with the aim of getting allied troops onto the heavily defended French coast.

The stakes were high.

If they failed, it would take years to launch another operation of this scale.

If they succeeded, they had a foothold to begin forcing the German army back and liberate Europe.

Once on the beaches the fighting was fierce and it continued through the day.

But by nightfall, all five beaches in Normandy had been captured by the allies.

Germany was now fighting on two fronts.

On the 16th of December, 1944, Germany attempted a counter attack at the Battle of the Bulge, but were eventually beaten back.

The allies pressed remorselessly into German territory.

The map on the left shows the situation that Hitler now faced in 1945.

The white areas were controlled by the Nazi forces.

The pink areas were controlled by the allies, and the red areas showed the recent allied advances.

This highlights how the D-Day landings were a major turning point in the war as Nazi Germany was now fighting on two fronts.

At the same time, you remember Soviet troops were pressing through the countries of Eastern Europe, which had been under Nazi occupation.

In April, 1945.

Soviet forces surrounded Berlin.

On the 28th of April, Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and executed.

And on the 30th of April, determined to avoid the same fate as Mussolini, Hitler shot himself in the head.

His body was set on fire to prevent it falling into enemy hands.

Just days later on the 8th of May, Germany surrendered unconditionally.

And the photo on the left shows Soviets taking the Reichstag, this is the German parliament and they're raising the Soviet flag to show their victory.

This brought the European side of the Second World War to an end.

However, Japan was still undefeated.

Faced with an enemy that refused to surrender.

In August, 1945, American leaders decided to drop two atomic bombs on Japan.

And finally, on the 14th of August, 1945, Japan surrendered.

So the Second World War was finally brought to an end.

Okay, let's have a check for understanding.

Which events are turning points of the Second World War? Select three correct answers.

A, America declared war on Japan and Germany.

B, Mussolini was captured by Italian partisans and executed.

C, the D-Day landing resulted in Germany fighting on two fronts.

D, the German army suffered their first of defeat on the Eastern Front.

Pause the video, have a think then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done if you knew the correct answers were A, C, and D.

Okay, great.

Let's move on to task B.

What I want you to do here is complete the table by describing the significance of each event as a turning point in the war.

And you can see in the left hand column, I've given you six dates.

And on those six dates in the middle column you can see the events that took place.

So I want you to describe the importance, the significance of those events as turning points in the Second World War.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back.

So your answer may include the following.

So for the first event, July, 1940, that was the Battle of Britain.

And the significance of the Battle of Britain as a turning point was that at the time Britain stood alone against Nazi dominated Europe.

And Britain's victory here meant that RAF inflict the first defeat on Germany.

As we go on to the next event in June, 1941, we have Operation Barbarossa.

And this was significant as the turning point in the Second World War because after the Soviets are invaded, they now join the Allies.

Then later operation Barbarossa doesn't go to plan for the Nazi army and they have to retreat from Moscow.

And this represented the first defeat of the Nazi army.

And Churchill identified this as a turning point himself, and he believed the tide had turned.

Moving on to December, 1941, the attack of Pearl Harbour resulted in America ending its policy of isolationism and joining the war on the side of the allies.

It had vast resources which it could pour into the war efforts assisting greatly in the D-Day landings.

And it also halted Japanese expansion in the Pacific War.

And the next event was from 1942 to 1943, the Battle of Stalingrad.

And this was major defeat suffered by the Nazi army.

There were huge casualties on both sides, and it resulted in the Nazi army withdrawing from Eastern Europe.

This marking the beginning of the Nazi army being pushed back by the Red Army back into Germany.

Let's move to June, 1944, D-Day.

This was significant because the allies had a foothold to begin liberating Western Europe, resulting in Germany now facing a war on two fronts.

And within a year, Germany was surrounded and surrendered.

And the final event there was August, 1945, the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

And this was significant because it will force Japan to surrender, and the Second World War was finally brought to an end.

Okay, let's move on to the second part of task B.

What I want you to do here is write a narrative account of the events which turned the tide in the story of the Second World War.

To help you to write that, I want you to include as many other following as you can.

I want you to describe the events in chronological order.

Making links between the events and explain how each turning point led to the end of the war.

Remember to use all the knowledge that we've gained in today's lesson.

That's why it's been helpful to summarise those events.

And you can also now use the table from the first part of Task B to help you write your answer.

Pause the video, have a go at the task, and then come right back.

Okay, welcome back and well done for having a go at that task, hopefully you found your table very helpful.

So there's many ways you could have written your narrative, but compare your narrative with my example answer here.

By the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany were winning the Second World War, France had surrendered, and for a year Britain faced a Nazi storm alone.

However, the tide would soon turn against Germany.

In September, 1940, the RAF inflicted the first defeat at the Battle of Britain and warded off the Nazi invasion of Britain.

This forced Hitler that to look east and invade the Soviet Union.

This was subsequently significant for two reasons.

The Soviets joined the Allies and the Germans failed to take Moscow.

Churchill believed the tide had turned, predicting that the Russians would drive the Nazis back to Germany.

Churchill's view was bolstered when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, bringing America and its vast resources into the war.

During 1942 to '43, some of the fiercest fighting took place at Stalingrad.

Both Germany and the Soviets lost a million soldiers each.

However, Stalingrad was the largest defeat suffered by the Nazi army and represented the beginning of German retreat from Eastern Europe.

In June, 1944, the Allies looked to open another front to hasten the wars end.

The success of the D-Day landings gave the Allies a vital foothold to begin liberating Western Europe.

Within a year, Germany was surrounded.

The Soviets from the east and the rest of the Allies from the West Germany surrendered, but Japan refused.

In August, 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which forced Japan to surrender and finally brought the Second World War to an end.

Okay, great.

Let's summarise today's lesson.

The last days of the Second World War.

By the summer of 1940, Nazi Germany were winning the war, and Britain faced a Nazi storm alone.

However, the tide would soon turn against Germany with the Battle of Britain and Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union and America's entrance.

By 1944, the Soviets pushed the Nazis out of Eastern Europe, the D-Day landings liberated Western Europe and Germany surrendered.

In August, 1945, America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing Japan to surrender.

Well done on a brilliant lesson, and hopefully you can see how the events of the Second World War had a huge impact on the 20th century and beyond.

This period of history is often referred to today.

So it's really important to have a deep understanding of this topic.

But of course, there are also many other important historical inquiries to delve into.

So I'll see you in the next inquiry.