world war two.ppt

Text A The Icy Defender Text organization Part one Paras 1-2 Introduction—Both Napoleon’s and Hitler’s military campaigns failed because of the severity of the Russian winter. Part two Paras 3-11 Napoleon’s military campaign against Russia Part three Paras 12-20 Hitler’s military campaign against the Soviet Union Part four Paras 21 Conclusion—The elements of nature must be reckoned with in any military campaign. Pre-reading activities Cultural Notes Background Information Throughout the history of mankind, there have been many conquerors. Chengis Khan spent his entire life conquering neighboring peoples and expanding the Mongolian Empire. Many Roman Emperors did the same for the Rome empire—so much so that at one time they ruled modern-day Great Britain. Both the Mongolian and Roman Empires had their rise and fall in the distant past. Yet if we want to examine conquerors, there is no need to go back that far. This text will focus on Napoleon and Hitler. Pre-reading activities 2. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) Emperor of the French, who consolidated and institutionalized many reforms of the French Revolution. One of the greatest military commanders of all time, he conquered the larger part of Europe. During 1802-1815 Napoleon tried to gain control of the whole of Europe. He had great success against all his enemies except Britain, whose navy under Nelson defeated the French navy at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Pre-reading activities 3. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) German political and military leader and one of the 20th century’s most powerful dictators. He converted Germany into a fully militarized society and launched World War 2 in 1939.He hoped to conquer the world, and for a time dominated most of Europe and much of North Africa. He instituted sterilization and euthanasia measures to enforce his idea of racial purity. Pre-reading activities 4. Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) General secretary of the Communist Party of the U