wwii(us) students
TRANSCRIPT
Adolph Hitler & Nazi GermanyAdolph Hitler & Nazis given emergency dictatorial powers in March 1933Used resentment of treaty & Jews as scapegoats
Nuremburg Laws (1935)
Kristallnacht
Began secretly rebuilding military in 1935Reoccupied Rhineland in 1936 Aftermath of Kristallnacht
SS Blood Flag Ritual
Axis Aggression & AppeasementMarch 1938:
Sept. 1938: British & French accepted German annexation of Sudetenland at Munich Conference (appeasement)Aug. 1939: Germany & USSR agreed to divide eastern Europe in Ribbentrop-Molotov PactSept. 1, 1939: Germany invaded PolandSept. 3, 1939: Britain & France declared war on Germany
© 2000 Wadsworth / Thomson Learning
Benito Mussolini & Adolph Hitler
The European Theater, 1939-41Blitzkrieg revolutionized warfare
PlanesTanks
April 1940: Germany conquered Denmark & NorwayMay 1940: Germany overran Low CountriesJune 1940: France surrendered to Germany
American IsolationismNye Committee (1934-37) investigated whether the U.S. had been duped into entering World War I1937 Gallup Poll showed 2/3 of Americans thought U.S. involvement in WWI had been a mistake1937 Neutrality Act:
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The Arsenal of DemocracyNov. 1939 – Neutrality Act amended to allow arms sales to belligerentsJuly 1940 – Republicans Henry Stimson & Frank Knox brought into cabinet as War & Navy SecretariesSept. 1940 –
Destroyer-Base DealSelective Service Act –
March 1941 – Lend-Lease Act
U.S. got into undeclared naval war in Atlanticescorted British convoys – several shooting incidents in fallMarines took over Greenland & Iceland to secure route
Declaring War Aims
Aug. 1941 – FDR & Churchill meet & issue Atlantic Charter:
Collective securityDisarmament
Norman Rockwell,“Freedom of Worship”
Churchill & Roosevelt, Aug. 1941
U.S.-Japanese ConflictJapanese had long resented U.S. immigration policy & coveted Philippines
After Japan signed Tripartite Pact (Sept. 1940) & joined Axis, U.S. embargoed aviation fuel & scrap metal
MAGIC intercepts revealed attack was coming, but not where it would come
Hideki Tojo,JapanesePrime Minister 1941-44
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese fleet crossed Pacific in radio silence
60 ships6 carriers with 360 planes
U.S. lost:
U.S. aircraft carriers spared because out at sea on exercises
USS Shaw
USS Arizona
The War in EuropeStalin wanted second front immediatelyBritish preferred to attack “soft underbelly” (N. Africa & Italy)Russians deserve most of the credit for winning the war in EuropeBattle of Stalingrad
The War in EuropeNov. 1942: U.S. & British land at CasablancaJuly 1943: U.S. & British invade Sicily, then ItalyJune 1944: Normandy invasion (Operation Overlord)May 7, 1945 =
The War in the PacificTurning point =
U.S. Strategy: “island-hopping”Victory at Leyte Gulf (Oct. 1944) began reconquest of PhilippinesBloodbaths at Iwo Jima (Feb.-March 1945) & Okinawa (April-June 1945), coupled with kamikaze attacks, made invasion of Japan unappealing
U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug. 6) & Nagasaki (Aug. 9)
Aug. 14/15, 1945 = V-J Day
The Pacific Theater
Marines Raising the Flag on Mt.Suribachi, Iwo Jima, Feb. 1945
Gen. Macarthur Returns to the Philippines
WWII Deaths
USSR = 25 millionChina = 15 millionPoland = 6 millionGermany = 4 millionJapan = 2 millionYugoslavia 1.5 – 2 millionUSA = 400,000
U.S. Military Cemetery, Normandy
The Home FrontWar Production Board oversaw plant conversion & productionBig business benefitted the most
Received 2/3 of gov’t contractsCorporate profits doubled, 1939-43
Union membership rose from 8.5 million to 14.75 million, 1940-45
Wages rose 135%, 140-456 million women entered workforce
• 2.5 million in industry• 75% married
Internment of Japanese Americans300,000 aliens (1/2 Japanese) rounded up in week after Pearl HarborFDR issued Executive Order 9066 Feb. 19, 1942
120,000 (2/3 U.S. citizens)West coast, but not HawaiiWar Relocation Authority ran internment campsUpheld by Supreme Court in Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
Nisei 442nd Regiment one of the most highly decorated units in WW II