QUARTERLY REVIEWUS HISTORY II - HONORS

By Mrs. Minnicks

World War II (1939-1945)

• Causes for World War II

UNDERLYING:• Treaty of Versailles• Nationalism• Worldwide Depression• Dictatorships• The policy of appeasement

• American Isolationism

DIRECT:• Germany invading Poland on September 1st, 1939

•Hitler and Nazi Germany• Rise to power result of weakness of previous government (1933- became Chancellor)

• Charismatic speaker, preached German nationalism, denounced Versailles Treaty

• Blamed Jews, communists for Germany’s problems

• Promised return of German pride

•Benito Mussolini in Italy

Fascist leader who took control of Italy in 1922

Wanted to create another Roman EmpireInvaded Ethiopia in 1935Along with Hitler supported Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (combat experience)

•Japanese Expansion

Sought total control of Pacific (resources)

1931- military occupation of Manchuria

1936- Japan signs Pact with Germany, Italy

Nanking Massacre- December 1937

October 1941: General Tojo became Prime Minister of Japan and wanted war with the US.

•American Neutrality - Isolationism

Domestic: U.S. in midst of Great Depression, public intent on remaining neutral

Economic, military reasons for neutralityTried to prevent mistakes that led to WWI involvement

1935: First Neutrality Act (no sale of arms to belligerent nations)

1937: Arm sales only on “cash and carry” basis

FDR warns of impending problems

•American Involvement GrowsNeutrality Acts of the mid to late 1930’s made it impossible for the US to give loans to nations at war or to allow any combatant to buy on credit.

FDR had to find other ways to help out the British and the French in their fight against Fascism.

March 1941: Lend-lease began. This made it possible to lend or lease supplies to any country whose interests were vital.

•The Atlantic CharterAugust 1941: FDR and Winston Churchill met secretly on a ship off the coast of Newfoundland to agree on war goals, since both foresaw US joining the Allies, soon.

They agreed to ensure national sovereignty for all nations and drew up the outline for the United Nations. This was the Atlantic Charter.

•Appeasement1938- Hitler invades Austria, Sudetenland on Czech border

Munich Conference (1938): Chamberlain and Daladier allow Hitler to do this (appeasement)

Chamberlain: “Peace in our time”

British rearmament

•War Erupts!!!•March 1939- Hitler breaks Munich agreement, invades rest of Czechoslovakia

•August 1939- Hitler signs nonaggression pact with rival USSR, turns attention west

•September 1, 1939- “blitzkrieg” invasion of Poland; Britain and France declare war on Germany

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

The Tripartite Pact

Japan wanted to extend influence in Far East

July 1940: U.S. embargo of raw materials to Japan

1941: Lend-Lease aid to ChinaAnticipating attack in the PhilippinesDecember 7, 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

United States and Japan

•America Enters WarPearl Harbor attack devastates nationFDR: “A date which will live in infamy”December 8, 1941- FDR receives war declaration from Congress against Japan

Germany, Italy declare war on United States

Japanese American InternmentExecutive Order 9066

• After Pearl Harbor, military officials began to investigate the Japanese American community for signs of spying or other illegal activity.

• It was recommended that all people of Japanese background be removed from the West Coast.

• Order 9066 established military zones and could force people to leave these zones.

• Japanese Americans in California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona were forced into internment camps.

• Many lost their homes and businesses.

Japanese American Loyalty• While interned, Japanese

Americans were forced to answer questions about their loyalty to the United States.

• German and Italian Americans also faced restrictions.

• Many young people from the camps joined the armed forces to prove their loyalty.

• Not all Japanese Americans accepted their internment peacefully.

• Some mounted legal challenges such as Korematsu v. United States.

Sacrifice and Struggle for Americans at Home

• Americans bought millions of dollars worth of war bonds.

• Over half of the population did their civic duty and bought war bonds.

ConservingFood

and otherGoods

• Americans planted victory gardens.

• The United States began rationing food items such as coffee, butter, sugar, and meat.

• Metal, glass, rubber, and gasoline were scarce goods.

• Americans held scrap drives to collect waste materials that might be used in the war effort.

Investing in

Victory

• Families dealt with the absence of loved ones by displaying a flag with a blue star.

• Americans read news accounts of the war with great interest (Ernie Pyle – newspaper journalist).

Paying thePersonal

Price

The most famous piece of propaganda from World War II is of “Rosie the Riveter” Rosie the Riveter was this strong lady on advertisements who talked women into helping out in the war effort.A riveter is a bolt that is used in construction, it holds things togetherRosie the Riveter became a symbol for female strength and determination!Women made all sorts of things for the war:weapons, tanks, airplanes, boats, canned foods, clothing, medical supplies and much more!Military Services: Women were in all of the branches of the military, including the Navy WAVES, the Army WACs and WASPs, Army nurses, the Coast Guard SPARS, and the Marine Corps Women's Reserve.

Women in the War

Minority-Americans in WWII• July 26, 1948, President Truman signs Executive Order 9981 . It integrates US military thus abolishing racial discrimination in the armed forces.

• AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Racism was still a powerful force in American society. Early in the war, the marines and army air corps refused to take African American soldiers. Patton’s “Black Panther” Battalion at Battle of the Bulge & Tuskegee Airmen

• MEXICAN –AMERICANS: Nearly 500,000 Hispanic Americans served in the American military during World War II. ZOOT SUIT RIOTS: Tensions between Mexican Americans and navy servicemen led to the Zoot Suit Riots, which resulted in the attacks on hundreds of pachucos. The Los Angeles police did little to stop the servicemen and, instead, arrested Mexican Americans and hauled them off to jail.

• JEWISH – AMERICANS: Serving in the armed forces transformed the lives of many Jewish American GIs. Pleas by Jewish Americans to change immigration laws to allow refugees into the United States were ignored. Jewish American GIs often felt the sting of prejudice in the military.

• JAPANESE – AMERICANS: Japanese American men fought in the 442nd Division, which won more medals than any other unit of its size in American history.

Hitler in Power• Began campaign

against Jews soon after becoming chancellor

• Established a series of anti-Semitic laws (NUMERBERG LAWS) intended to drive Jews from Germany

• Laws stripped Jews of their citizenship and took away most civil and economic rights.

• Laws defined who was a Jew.

Attacks on Jews• Many Germans

supported Hitler’s anti-Semitic ideas.

• Discrimination and violent attacks against Jews continued.

• Anti-Jewish riots broke out in an attack called Kristallnacht.

• Jews were sent to concentration camps, killed, and fined for the attack.

Nazi Anti-Semitism

Fleeing Germany • Over 100,000

managed to leave Germany after Kristallnacht.

• Others found it difficult to leave the country as Nazi laws had left many without money or property.

• Many countries were unwilling to take in poor immigrants.

• The United States limited the number of Germans immigrants.

Camps• Prisons for Jews,

prisoners-of-war, and enemies of the Nazi regime

• Inmates received little food and were forced to labor.

• The combination of overwork and starvation was intended to kill.

• Punishment for minor offenses was swift, sure, and deadly.

Ghettos• Walls or fences kept

the Jews inside and those trying to leave were shot.

• Food was scarce; starvation was rampant.

• Diseases spread rapidly.

• The worst ghetto was in Warsaw, Poland.

• Some Jews in the Warsaw ghetto—the Jewish Fighting Organization—fought back.

Concentration Camps, Ghettos, and the Final Solution

The Final Solution • Genocide – the killing

of an entire people• Involved building 6

new extermination camps for Jews

• Inmates were exposed to poison gas in specially built chambers.

• 3 million Jews died in extermination camps.

• 3 million Jews and 5 million others were killed by the Nazi using other means.

The ParticipantsAllied PowersEngland

Soviet Union (after German attack on June 22, 1941)

France

United States

Axis PowersItaly

Germany

Japan

The Liberation of Europe• FDR: Liberate Europe first and pursue an “active defense” in the Pacific

• Battle of Atlantic: Hitler’s “Wolf Packs” vs. Allied Navies

• Clear Germany from North Africa

• Late 1942: Only Tunisia was controlled by Axis Powers

Allied Advances in Europe (1943-1944)

January, 1943: Allies agree to fight until they win “unconditional surrender”

February 1943: SU takes back Stalingrad and moves westward

Same time, Allied victory in Tunisia secures Africa

Allied Advancements Cont…

July 10, 1943: The invasion of Italy.

Fighting continues from July 1943 to June 1944 (70,000 Allied troops killed)

Separate peace was signed with new Italian government in September, 1943

Unconditional Surrender in Europe (1944-1945)

Britain and U.S. air raid strategic sights in Germany (Flying Fortresses)

June 6, 1944: D-Day and the Allied invasion of Normandy [“Operation Overlord”]

Battle at Normandy lasted from June 6-July 24

August 25, 1944: France liberated

D-Day (June 6, 1944)D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Germany’s Last Gasp Effort

• Hitler was caught between Allied troops coming from the West and Stalin’s forces coming from the East.

• December 1944: Battle of the Bulge

• April 25, 1945: Russia and Allied Forces meet at the Elbe River

• May 8, 1945: Germany surrenders (V-E DAY)

YALTA CONFERENCE (February 1945)

• Allied leaders Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin—the so-called Big Three—met in the resort town of Yalta in the Soviet Union to discuss the end of the war and the peace that was to follow.

• Plans for German surrender: A key goal was to determine what to do with Germany. The leaders agreed to divide the country into four sectors. The Americans, Soviets, British, and French would each occupy one of these sectors. Berlin was also divided into four sectors.

• Stalin agrees to hold free elections (Poland and other Eastern European countries now occupied by the Soviets) and help with Japan

Allied Military Strategy in the Pacific (1941-1945)By 1942, Japan had controlled almost the entire area of the Pacific

Allies were able to hold on to Hawaii and Samoa

“Active defense” campaign:-Battle of the Coral Sea (May,1942)-Battle of Midway (June, 1942)-Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug. 1942-Feb. 1943)

Allied Counter-Offensive:“Island-Hopping”

Allied Counter-Offensive:“Island-Hopping”

From February 1943 on, the US forces began to selectively attack enemy-held islands in the Pacific.The Japanese fiercely defended their positions and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

The Pacific Theatre Cont…

• The Allies took control of several islands in the Pacific under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur-Iwo Jima (1945)-Okinawa (1945)

• The recapture of the Philippines was the highlight (Oct. 1944-March 1945)

• Japanese kamikazes were suicide pilots who crashed their planes which were heavily loaded with bombs into allied ships.

• During the war, the US experienced about 4,900 kamikaze attacks which destroyed 57 American ships and damaged about 650 others.

The Atomic BombHarry S Truman became president when Roosevelt died. He had to decide whether the United States should use the Manhattan Project’s atomic bomb.

After consulting with his advisors, Truman decided to drop the bomb on a Japanese city. There would be no warning.

On August 6, 1945, the Enola Gay dropped its atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima.

Despite the horror caused by the bomb, the Japanese did not surrender.

On August 9, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Even this did not bring an end to the war.

Finally, on August 14/15 (both days are celebrated) – known from then on as V-J Day—the Japanese emperor Hirohito announced the end of the war.

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer

United Nations

• Representatives from 50 countries met to form a new organization, the United Nations.

• The UN was meant to encourage cooperation among nations and to prevent wars.

Potsdam Conference

• Allied leaders met in the German city of Potsdam to discuss the spread of communism and Soviet influence in the postwar world.

• Truman hoped to get Stalin to live up to his promises from Yalta.

• Stalin did not do this.

Challenges after the WarRebuilding

• MacArthur led efforts to help Japan rebuild its government and economy.

• Seven Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

• Rebuilding Europe caused tensions between the U.S and the Soviet Union.

The Nuremberg War Trials:

Crimes Against Humanity

The Nuremberg War Trials:

Crimes Against Humanity

Early Computer Technology

Came Out of WW II

Early Computer Technology

Came Out of WW II

Mark I, 1944

Colossus, 1941