WORLD WAR II

Chapters 16-17

1931-1945

World War II: Prelude to Pearl Harbor, 1931-1941

Main Idea: As dictatorships rose in Asia and Europe, the U.S. tried

to remain isolated. Official isolationism ended when the

Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor

RISE OF FASCISM IN EUROPE AND ASIA

• 1925 – Mussolini became dictator in Italy• 1931 – Japan invaded Manchuria (China)• 1934 – Hitler seized power in Germany• 1935 – Italy invaded Ethiopia• 1936 – Rome-Berlin “Axis” formed• 1937 – Japan launched full invasion of

China (Peking)• 1938 – Germany invaded Austria; Anschluss (union) proclaimed

WORLD WAR II BEGINS IN EUROPE

• 1938 – Munich Conference; Germany occupied the Sudetenland

• 1939 – Germany seized Czechoslovakia

• 1939 – Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact

• Sept 1, 1939 – Germany invaded Poland

• 1939 – France and Great Britain declare war on Germany

The U.S. and Japan

• Japan seized Southern Indochina (including Vietnam) in 1941

• FDR froze all Japanese assets in the U.S. and placed an embargo on Japan

• U.S. demanded that Japan remove all forces from China and Indochina

• Japan approved an attack on the U.S. on December 1

The Attack on Pearl Harbor

• U.S. believed Japan would attack in Malaysia or the Philippines

• Surprise attack on Pearl Harbor came on Sunday, December 7, 1941

• 2,323 servicemen killed, 1,100 wounded

• 150 aircraft, 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers sunk or damaged

• 3 aircraft carriers not in port

Battleship Row at Pearl Harbor

The USS Arizona burned for two days.

FDR signs the declaration of war against Japan.

World War II: Allied Strategies

• Main Idea: The Allies postponed an invasion of western Europe until Italy was secured. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Allies used the strategy of “island hopping” to get closer to the main Japanese islands.

EUROPEAN STRATEGY

• 3 days after the U.S. declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

• The Allied strategy was get Hitler first, then Japan

• The Allies defeated Germany in North Africa (Operation Torch) by 1943

• Italy surrendered in June 1944

Defeat of Germany

• The Soviets moved into Eastern Europe in March 1944

• Allies invaded Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944 (Operation Overlord)

• Paris was liberated by August• In December the Germans drove the Allies back

in Belgium in the Battle of the Bulge• American and Soviet forces met in Germany in

April, 1945; Germany surrendered on May 7

Battle of the Bulge

Eisenhower giving instructions to paratroopers on D-Day

Troops landing on Omaha beach on D-Day

Strategy in the Pacific

• Battle of Midway: Admiral Nimitz defeated a superior Japanese fleet and stopped the Japanese advance in the Pacific (June 1942). 4 Japanese aircraft carriers were sunk

• Island Hopping: major Japanese islands were bypassed and air bases were established on smaller islands (started in1943)

The USS Yorktown under attack at Midway

The beginning of the end for Japan

• Leyte Gulf (Oct. 1944): Most of Japan’s naval fleet defeated. Japan begins to use kamikaze attacks.

• Iwo Jima (Feb. 1945): Heavily fortified; enabled the U.S. to bomb Tokyo

• Okinawa (April-June 1945): 50,000 American casualties; Japan’s remaining defenses destroyed.

Marines carry the flag under fire at Iwo Jima

Kamikaze Attack

Kamikaze Attack

Navajo Code Talkers played a vital role at Iwo Jima

SPECIAL FIGHTING FORCES

Main Idea: Despite discrimination, ethnic groups contributed significantly to the Allied victory in WWII.

Tuskegee Airmen: African-American Squadron won two distinguished unit citations for fighting the Germans

442nd Regimental Combat Team: Japanese-American unit that served in Italy and N. Africa, became the most decorated

unit in U.S. history

FDR’s Foreign Policy and Wartime Conferences

Main Idea: The U.S., Great Britain and Russia planned wartime and

post-war strategies at several conferences from 1941 to 1945.

Freedom From Fear Freedom From Want

FDR’s FOUR FREEDOMS shaped his foreign policy

Freedom of Speech Freedom of Worship

The Atlantic Charter Meeting• In Aug 1941 FDR and Churchill met secretly to

plan for the post-war world and created an 8-point document that became the foundation for the United Nations

In January, 1943FDR and Churchillrendezvoused inCasablanca todevelop a strategyto satisfy Stalinwho wascomplaining thatthe Allies weredelaying theopening of a 2nd

front in Europe. Itwas the first time aU.S. presidentever left thecountry during awar.

THE CASABLANCA CONFERENCE

Casablanca Conference, Jan. 1943

• FDR and Churchill met in French Morocco (Stalin declined invitation)

• Planned for the invasion of Sicily and Italy (Operation Torch had begun in the summer of 1942)

• Decided to invade France in 1944

• Demanded "unconditional surrender“ from Axis powers

At Casablanca Churchill insisted that FDR go to Marrakech and watch the sun set over the Atlas Mountains. Churchill made a painting of the scene and presented it to FDR.

Teheran Conference, Dec. 1943

• The Big Three (FDR, Stalin, Churchill)

• Coordinated the Soviet offensive with the Allied invasion of France

• Stalin committed to enter the war against Japan

Yalta Conference, Feb. 1945• The Big 3 discussed

plans for post-war Europe– Germany would be

divided into occupation zones (beginning of the Cold War)

• Soviets agreed to enter the war against Japan 3 months after Germany surrendered and to hold free elections in Poland

Potsdam Conference, July 1945

• Truman (US), Stalin (USSR), Atlee (GB)• Germany would be demilitarized• Korea would be divided• Nazi criminals would be tried at Nuremburg• Told Japan to surrender unconditionally or be

destroyed• Truman learned of the successful testing of the

atom bomb (kept it secret from Stalin)

Constitutional Issues and the Home Front

Main Ideas:1. The civil rights of Japanese-Americans

were violated during the war.2. The war influenced the development of the

civil rights movement.3. The War began a trend towards big

government and more intervention in personal lives.

4. New weapons and scientific developments helped the Allies win the war.

Japanese-American Internment

• Executive Order #9066: FDR ordered Japanese-Americans living in CA, OR, AZ and WA to relocate to isolated camps– 110,000 sent to 10 camps

• Korematsu v. U.S.: 1944, Supreme Court upheld internment

• In 1988 the government apologized and paid reparations to survivors.

Relocation order for the City and County of San Francisco

Location of camps

Demographic Changes• Women = 35% of work force

but earned only 60% of what men earned– Worked in untraditional jobs

(“Rosie the Riveter”)– Lost their jobs after the war

ended• 43 cities outside the South

doubled their African-American population– Racial tension became a

national issue• Defense industries in the

West led to population shifts to the “sunbelt”

Pictures from Detroit riots, 1943

Worst riots of the decade; FDR sent federal troops; 9 whites, 25 blacks killed.

Demographic Changes• “Sunbelt” population

doubled because of electronics and aerospace industries– CA became the most

populous state

• Cities lost population to the suburbs– “White Flight”– Levittown

• Baby Boom– Birthrate peaked in

1957; declining ever since

Civil Rights During the War

• Phillip Randolph (“Father of the Civil Rights Movement”) cancelled a protest march on Washington at FDR’s request in 1941– FDR established the FEPC (Fair Employment

Practices Commission)– James Farmer established Congress of Racial

Equality (CORE), 1942

• Truman ended segregation of the armed forces in 1948

• In 1949 a federal law prohibited discrimination in civil service jobs

Phillip Randolph at the Lincoln Memorial

Growth of Government

• FDR increased the power of the president by establishing new agencies

• WPB (War Production Board) regulated the use of raw materials

• OPA (Office of Price Administration) froze consumer prices and set up a system of rationing– Helped control inflation– Controversial because it limited what people

could buy

Posters from the OPA helped build support for rationing

Major Scientific Developments

• Office of Scientific Research and Development coordinated development of new weapons– jet fighters, bombers, rocket guns, radar, sonar,

proximity fuse

• U.S. Army developed the atomic bomb (Manhattan Project)

• Penicillin and Sulfa drugs helped save lives

End of the War

• Truman decided to use the atomic bomb because he believed it would end the war quicker and save American lives– Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• The Marshall Plan provided economic aid to European countries to help them rebuild