The United States Goes to War

THE BIG THREE• US Alliance with Great

Britain and the Soviet Union• Ideological differences• Common Enemy – Hitler• Stalin asked others to attack

from France and open a second front to split the Nazi forces

• Eastern Front took a heavy toll on the Soviet population

• Allies attacked through Northern Africa

General George Marshall

• FDR’s Army Joint Chief of Staff

• Orchestrated the “War in Europe!”

• Later will win the Nobel Peace Prize for his “Marshall Plan.”

North Africa

• General George S. Patton – Allies

• General Erwin Rommell “Desert Fox” – Axis (Nazi)

D-Day• General Dwight D. Eisenhower -

leading officer• Largest amphibious attack in

history• June 6, 1944• Operation Overlord• D-Day = Designated Day• 2 million troops involved (largest

invasion force ever assembled)• First waves experienced high

casualty rates• Eventually liberated Paris and

Belgium

Battle of the Bulge

• December 1944• Nazi troops squeezed b/w

Soviets and Allies• Hitler launched a surprise

offensive in a weakened part of the line

• Created a “bulge” in the front line

• Hitler was defeated again• One more nail in the

coffin

Allied Victory in Europe

• After “Bulge,” Allies closed in on Berlin• Allies met at Yalta to discuss terms of German

surrender• Berlin ended up under Soviet control. (Uh, oh)• Hitler committed suicide at the end of April in 1945• VE DAY = Victory in Europe!• Discovery of the “death” camps

US Strategy in the Pacific

• Pearl Harbor launched the Pacific side of the war

• American stronghold in the Philippines was lost

• MacArthur was made to leave some of his men, “I shall return.”

• Bataan Death March of those individuals left behind, thousands died on the long walk.

Island Hopping Campaign• US made its way from island to island to stop the

Japanese control• Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led several

raids on Tokyo (known as Doolittle Raids)

Turning Point in the Pacific

• Had to gain control of the skies and waters of the Pacific• The Battle of Coral Sea was the 1st major battle for

US in the Pacific

• Battle of Midway in June of 1942 was THE turning point

• Faced many Kamikazes

KAMIKAZES

• Japanese suicide squadrons

• Aircrafts were loaded with explosives

• Flew directly into US naval vessels killing themselves in an effort to stop the American advance

• Altogether, they sank about 40 ships

Battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa

• US Island hopping Dangers other than battle included:

• 1. Monsoons• 2. Malaria• 3. Heat• 4. Earthquakes• 5. Jungle Conditions

• Iwo Jima – US 6,800 killed and 23,000 wounded

Okinawa

• Costliest engagement with 50,000 casualties

• This victory, however, gave the US strong positions to launch air strikes

Manhattan Project

• Key Players:– Albert Einstein– Enrico Fermi– J. Robert Oppenheimer

• FDR died in April 1945, Harry Truman took over the Presidency. Only being in office for three months he had to make the decision to use the atomic weapon

Hiroshima/Nagasaki

Little Boy and Fat Man

A-Bomb

• On August 6, 1945 US dropped the first A-bomb on Hiroshima

• Japan still does not surrender

• On August 9th, 1945 US dropped the second A-bomb on Nagasaki

• On August 14, 1945 Japan surrenders unconditionally; VJ Day

Devastation Innocents

Nagasaki

Effects of the War

• Holocaust• Nuremberg Trials• Japanese War Criminals• Unbelievable death and destruction• US Home front :

– Japanese Interment Camps – Wartime Economy boost – Women (“Rosie the Riveter,” and Minorities join the market

economy, only to be booted out AGAIN after the war.– Women’s Baseball (A League of their Own!)

Country Number Killed

USSR 13,600,000

Germany 3,300,000

China 1,324,516

Japan 1,140,429

British Empire 357,116

Romania 350,000

Poland 320,000

Yugoslavia 305,000

United States 292,131

Italy 279,800

TOTAL 21,268,992

THE WAR IS OVER!

Let the BABY BOOM begin Let the BABY BOOM begin