World War II

American History II

Adolph Hitler & Nazi GermanyAdolph Hitler & Nazis given emergency dictatorial powers in March 1933Used resentment of treaty & Jews as scapegoats

Nuremburg Laws (1935) excluded Jews from citizenship & banned intermarriageKristallnacht (Nov. 9-10, 1938) began organized violence

Began secretly rebuilding military in 1935Reoccupied Rhineland in 1936 Aftermath of Kristallnacht

SS Blood Flag Ritual

Axis Aggression & AppeasementNov. 1937: Italy joined Germany & Japan’s Anti-Comintern PactMarch 1938: Germany annexed Austria (Anschluss)Sept. 1938: British & French accepted German annexation of Sudetenland at Munich ConferenceAug. 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 revolu-tionized 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:

Americans couldn’t travel on belligerent shipsBelligerents could only purchase non-military goods, on “cash and carry” basis

Copyright 1997 Prentice-Hall

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 Deal traded 50 “old” destroyers for 8 military bases Selective Service Act – 1st peacetime draft

March 1941 – Lend-Lease Act allowed Britain (and later USSR) to “borrow” $50 billion worth of suppliesU.S. got into undeclared naval war in Atlantic

escorted 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 securityDisarmamentSelf-determinationEconomic cooperationFreedom of the seas

The Four Freedoms:Freedom of SpeechFreedom of WorshipFreedom From WantFreedom From Fear Norman Rockwell,

“Freedom of Worship”

Churchill & Roosevelt, Aug. 1941

Pearl Harbor – Dec. 7, 1941

Copyright 2000, Bedford/St. Martins

U.S.-Japanese ConflictJapanese had long resented U.S. immigration policy & coveted PhilippinesU.S. condemned Japanese invasion of China in 1937After Japan signed Tripartite Pact (Sept. 1940) & joined Axis, U.S. embargoed aviation fuel & scrap metalU.S. froze all Japanese assets in U.S., July 1941MAGIC 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:19 ships sunk or disabled160 aircraft destroyed2,403 killed & 1,178 wounded

U.S. aircraft carriers spared because out at sea on exercises

USS Shaw

USS Arizona

Aerial Photo of Pearl Harbor

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 (Sept. 1942 - Jan. 1943)= turning point in Europe

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 = V-E Day

Race War in the Pacific

The Bataan Death March

The War in the PacificTurning point = Battles of Coral Sea (May 1942) & Midway (June 1942)Naval & air superiority allows “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 & production

Chairman = Donald NelsonCost-plus-fixed-fee contracts

Big business benefitted the mostReceived 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

WWII Propaganda Posters

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