World War II: 1939 1945

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World War II 1939 -1945

• Chapters 16-17

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1.) War approaches

• During the 30s, Americans watched warily but
  stayed out of European affairs as dictators in
  Germany, Italy, and Japan sought to extend their
  power.
• But, soon it would be apparent that democracy was
  threatened everywhere.

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2.)Fascism

• In Italy, Benito Mussolini came to power.
• He had been wounded in WWI and felt that his
  country had not done well in the treaty.
• In 1919, he founded the fascist party.
• Fascism is a political philosophy that values the
  nation or race above the individual. They looked
  back to a nations "glorious past".
• Mussolini became IL Duce in 1922 - "The leader".
• Once in power he suspended elections, gave state
  control of the economy, and began building up the
  army and started conquering parts of Africa.

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3.) Nazism

• Adolf Hitler, an Austrian, rose to power in
  Germany.
• Also wounded in WWI, he was angry at Germanys
  defeat and humiliation of the terms of the
  Versailles Treaty.
• He became leader of the Nazi party- National
  Socialist German workers party.
• His 1st attempt to seize control failed in 1920
  and he spent nine months in jail.
• Support for him grew as Germans were experiencing
  their own Great Depression.
• His charismatic speeches brainwashed many people.
  
• By 1933, the Nazi party was the largest in the
  country and Hitler was named Chancellor and
  became known as the Fuhrer - the leader.
• He suspended civil liberties, promoted
  anti-Semitism and preached that the Aryans were
  the "master race."
• His goal was to restore Germany to its former
  glory.
• In 1936, he signed a treaty with Italy and they
  became known as the Axis Powers.

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4.) Germany Grows

• By 1938 Hitler had annexed Austria and part of
  Czechoslovakia. Most of Europe felt that Hitler
  would stop and kept up the policy of
  "appeasement" - keep the peace by giving into
  someones demands.
• In 1939, he took the rest of Czechoslovakia and
  invaded Poland.
• The attack on Poland brought an end to peace and
  Europe declared war on Germany.

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5.) Japans Empire

• Japan wanted power but had no resources being a
  small chain of islands.
• They resented their dependence on the U.S. for
  natural resources, and poor trade due to high
  tariffs.
• To decrease dependence they needed more land.
• In 1931, Japan attacked Manchuria on the
  mainland.
• By 1937, they had taken Shanghai, Nanjing,
  Beijing, and parts of Southeast Asia.
• The League of Nations was upset and condemned
  their actions, but Japan continued.
• In 1940, they signed the Tripartite Pact -
  allying themselves with Germany and Italy.
• The three invaded Indochina in 1941 which was a
  colony owned by France.

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6.) Americas Response

• Most wanted to stay out of it.
• They wanted to continue the policy of
  isolationism - staying out of the quarrels of
  other nations.
• The government was pushed into passing a series
  of neutrality acts which withheld weapons and
  loans to warring nations and only made it
  possible to sell goods to these nations if they
  paid in cash and in full.

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7.) Churchill and Change

• From 1939 -40, Germany took control of Poland,
  Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.
  
• England was now facing the full force of the Axis
  powers.

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8.) Pearl Harbor

• Japan wanted to knock out the U.S. Pacific
  Fleet before they could begin an all-out military
  conflict.
• They attacked the Americans at Pearl Harbor,
  Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
• Nearly 2,400 people were killed and many boats
  destroyed (except carriers).
• It was a stunning blow to the Americans, but it
  meant the U.S. could hesitate no longer.
• Roosevelt called on Congress to declare war on
  Dec. 8 which they did.

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9.) European Front

• The allies were in deep trouble by the time the
  U.S. entered the war.
• Roosevelt and Churchill had decided Germany would
  be its primary target, then the Asian front.
• Germany had control of most of Europe because of
  the "Lightening strikes" - blitzkrieg.
• This was a series of sudden military attacks by
  land and air.
• Germanys bombing of European cities took its
  toll.
• By, 1942, Germany had control of most of the
  Soviet Union, and much of North Africa.

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10.) Pacific Front

• Much of the U.S. fleet had been destroyed except
  for its carriers.
• China had been taken over. India was in a
  weakened state, and Australia was expecting
  attack soon.
• Guam had been taken and the Philippines (Gen.
  Douglas Macarthur) - but he promised to return.

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11.) Turnaround - 1942

• Germany had extended itself into Russia, too far
  in fact.
• The soldiers were not getting adequate supplies,
  and had a hard time dealing with the cold
  winters.
• The allies began to use radar and sonar more
  effectively to destroy German U-boats.
• Allies went on the offense in Africa. They were
  attacking the "Soft underbelly" of the enemy
  while Russia still wanted to concentrate on
  European fronts.
• Churchill did not want to do this until it looked
  like Germany was weakening.
• From North Africa they went up through Sicily and
  then Italy.

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12.) Operation Torch

• The North African campaign began in Nov. of 1942
  and was led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower
  facing off against Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
• By May, the Axis powers had to surrender that
  region.
• Sicily was next in July of 43. With that
  success, the allies rushed the Italian mainland
  and pushed to Rome where Mussolini was forced to
  surrender in September.
• It was a difficult campaign against the Germans
  who contested every mile of territory.

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13.) Midway

• Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto wanted to
  attack the U.S. Navy at Midway Island in the
  Pacific to destroy their aircraft carriers so
  they could easily gain control of New Guinea and
  Australia.
• The U.S. knew the plan though because they had
  been able to break the Japanese military codes.
• On June 4, 1942, Japan attacked and it did not
  look well for the Americans at first despite the
  early warning. The fighter planes had become
  lost, but at 1025 A.M. They arrived and bombed
  and destroyed 3 of 4 Japanese carriers. The 4th
  was destroyed while trying to escape.
• This was the last Japanese offensive of the war.

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14.) Guadalcanal

• The U.S. was now on the offensive in the Solomon
  Islands which if successful would rid the
  Japanese threat on Australia.
• The fighting lasted months, but it was secured by
  Feb. of 1943.
• Now the U.S. could push towards Japan by island
  hopping.
• Two major battles that occurred along the way
  were on the Islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

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15.) Victory in Europe

• The allies were now ready to take on Germany
  itself by crossing the English Channel.
• First they began with a series of air raids
  attacking military, industrial, and
  transportation facilities.
• Operation Overlord was aimed at driving out the
  Third Reich from France.
• The allies planned the largest amphibious
  invasion in U.S. history off the coast of
  Normandy.
• The Germans had expected the raid to occur in
  Calais.
• General Dwight Eisenhower landed more than a
  million men and 100,000 tons of supplies before
  the Germans were even aware of what was
  happening.
• By the end of August, the Allies pushed to Paris
  and liberated France and Belgium.
• The Germans tried to push the allies back out in
  Belgium in what was known as the Battle of the
  Bulge, but the allies pushed through the German
  lines and the way into Germany was now clear in
  the West.
• Joseph Stalin was ready to fight from the East.

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16.) The Holocaust

• The rumors proved true in the last years of the
  war.
• As soldiers made their way into German occupied
  countries, they discovered Hitlers "final
  solution" - the effort to eliminate all Jews.
• They found extermination camps in Auschwitz,
  Maidanek, and Treblinka in Poland and Buchenwald
  and Dachua in Germ any.
• Over 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis in
  the holocaust - "total destruction by fire."
• Another 5 million Slavs, Gypsies, communists,
  Jewish sympathizers, homosexuals, and the
  physically and mentally disabled were killed as
  well.
• The Nazis were practicing genocide - the
  destruction of an entire race in what they deemed
  was ethnic cleansing.
• Nazi doctors performed cruel experiments on their
  victims as an excuse to torture them.
• They were told to remove their clothes and report
  to the bath houses which were actually lethal gas
  chambers. Their bodies were searched for hidden
  jewelry and gold teeth and then incinerated in
  large ovens.

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17.) The End of the War in Europe

• The big three - Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill
  met again early in 1945 to split Germany into
  zones to maintain the peace and to reorganize
  Poland.
• They also wanted to make decisions about how to
  end the fighting in the Pacific.
• Hitler had committed suicide on April 30, 1945 in
  a bunker in Berlin. The Third Reich had fallen
  and now "total surrender" went into effect, but
  Japan had yet to give in.
• The decision was made to drop tons of explosives
  on major Japanese cities when the big three met
  again (Harry S Truman this time because Roosevelt
  had died.)
• They told Japan to issue a proclamation of
  surrender or face "prompt and utter destruction."
  

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18.) Technology

• New technology made WWII unlike any other war.
• There had been major advances in sonar, radar,
  aircraft, and of course bombs.

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19.) The Manhattan Project

• In 1939, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to
  Roosevelt stating he was experimenting with
  splitting the atom. He said that the amount of
  energy this would release would cause an
  extremely destructive force and the Germans were
  experimenting with it as well.
• Fearing the Germans would get this new technology
  first Roosevelt funded his research on splitting
  the uranium atom at a cost of 2 billion dollars
  120,000 people and 37 sites in the U.S. and
  Canada.
• It took three years.
• The scientists created a new element - plutonium
  and tested it on July 16, 1945 in the desert at
  Alamogordo, New Mexico. The first detonated
  atomic bomb left a huge crater in the earths
  surface and shattered windows 125 miles away.

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• Gadget July 16, 1945 Alamogordo
• Little Boy August 6, 1945 Hiroshima
• Fat Man August 9, 1945 Nagasaki
• Bomb No. 4 unused
• Average cost per atomic device/bomb
• 5 billion

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20.) Dropping the Bomb

• Once it was ready, the Americans had to decide
  if, when, and where they would use it.
• The pacific battle was still going on. They
  could have continued fighting, but that would
  have meant more allied casualties and the war
  would drag on.
• The U.S. also felt that dropping the bomb would
  be a show of power to anyone (Russians) who might
  want to take on the U.S. later.
• The allies agreed unanimously to use it.
• On Aug. 6, 1945, a sole American plane dropped
  "Little Boy", a uranium bomb, on the Japanese
  city of Hiroshima.
• 70,000 died within a few hours, and 70,000 others
  were seriously injured and critical.
• Three days later, "Fat Man", a plutonium bomb,
  was dropped on the city of Nagasaki killing
  40,000 people, and injuring an equal number.
• It was a terrifying experience for those who saw
  the blast and survived.
• A ball of blindingly intense light was followed
  by total darkness. Screams of pain could be
  heard across the city. A black cloud of dust
  shot up into the sky turning day into night and
  formed a mushroom cloud over the city.
• The bombs ignited fires all over the cities as
  buildings and wires crumbled to the ground.
  People suffered excruciating burns and died
  within a few days.
• The hot radioactive winds burned peoples clothes
  right off their bodies. Some people had the
  designs of their kimonos scorched into their
  flesh.
• For many years people continued to die of
  radiation poisoning.
• Children who saw the blasts from schoolyards were
  horribly disfigured, blinded, and became social
  outcasts.
• On September 2, 1945, the still shocked and dazed
  Japanese unconditionally surrendered. The war
  was over.

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• Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer Prize winning photograph
  stands as one of the greatest images of World War
  II. In this photograph, Rosenthal captured the
  great American flag raising at Iwo Jima in 1945.

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21.) The Soldiers' Experience

• 15 million Americans went overseas and just
  struggled to stay alive.
• American soldiers, known as GIs, and the Marines
  experienced the really horrible conditions.
• Filth, spoiled and rotten food, the cold, the
  heat, sleeping on the ground without blankets,
  terror, and constant fear, sniper fire, mortar
  fire, machine gun fire, friends dying beside
  them, and constant air raids.

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22.) Women in the Armed Forces

• They served in all areas except combat.
• Over 300,000 women served as typists, clerks,
  control tower operators, radio operators,
  parachute riggers, mechanics, pilots, and in the
  gunneries.

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23.) African Americans

• Their participation as soldiers really helped to
  win the war although they were still not allowed
  to join the air force, marines, and could only
  work in the kitchens in the navy.
• The Red Cross also separated the blood donated
  into black and white categories.
• The All-African American 92nd Infantry Division,
  known as the "Buffaloes", fought in the bloody
  Italian campaigns of 1943-44.
• The 333rd Field Artillery Battalion served with
  General Patton and helped to liberate France.
• The infantry allowed them to serve side-by-side
  in combat in mixed units.
• In 1945, the Marines allowed the first blacks to
  enlist and the navy as well.

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24.) Other Minority Groups

• Mexican Americans - made up a quarter of all
  combat troops, 17 earned the Congressional Medal
  of Honor.
• Native Americans - although they were denied the
  right to vote in 3 states, 25,000 were drafted to
  serve in all branches of the army.
• Japanese Americans - many in the states forced to
  live in internment camps. Others joined the war
  effort. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team became
  the most decorated unit in the war for their
  efforts in Italy in taking almost 10,000
  casualties.

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25.) End of Depression

• Millions of workers streamed back into the
  factories to produce airplanes, tanks, and guns.
  The paycheck was very welcome.
• Consumers now had money to buy appliances and
  luxury items, so even more factories opened to
  meet these needs.

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26.) Everyone Chips In at Home

• Roosevelt had to convince business owners not to
  produce luxury goods, but to continue or convert
  to war goods if the war was to be won. Henry
  Ford built a factory to make bombs on assembly
  lines that employed 42,000 people.
• The government established the cost-plus system -
  the government paid all production costs of goods
  produced for war, plus allowed the company to
  declare part of it as profit.
• "A dollar year men" were executives who
  volunteered to work for government agencies.
• Coca-Cola gave discounts to soldiers charging 5
  cents a bottle no matter where they were.
• Most unions agreed to refrain from striking and
  employers from practicing lockouts during the
  war. This helped but there were still some wild
  cat strikes not endorsed by the unions.
• The government was willing to spend whatever it
  took to help causing the GNP to double. Thus,
  they raised taxes, launched bond drives and
  borrowed money to meet the costs.
• By 1945, Americans had produced 100,000 tanks and
  armored cars, 300,000 airplanes, 15 million guns.
  And 41 billion rounds of ammunition.

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27.) Daily Life on the Home front

• The mood on the home front was one of cooperation
  and optimism.
• Most supported the war effort and were willing to
  help in any way they could including living with
  shortages and rationing things like zippers
  (metal needed in guns), rubber for toys and
  ladies undergarments needed for uniforms.
• To save cloth, factories made clothes without
  pockets, suits without vests, and no cuffs on
  pants. Skirts became shorter and narrower and
  womens bathing suits became two pieces exposing
  the midriff.
• Foods were limited such as sugar, meat and
  coffee.
• People were making good wages and had money to
  burn. They spent it on books, records and going
  to the movies.
• The all-American sport of baseball replaced men
  with women as the men had gone off to the war.

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28.) Women and the War

• During the war, women of all ages went to work,
  but were strongly encouraged to leave their jobs
  once the war was over and the men returned.
• The worked primarily in the manufacturing
  industry.
• They still faced discrimination in the work force
  especially African American women receiving less
  pay for the same work.

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29.) The Struggle for Justice at Home

• The war really helped to stimulate the movement
  for equal right for African Americans.
• The Jim Crow Laws were still in effect, however,
  especially in the south.
• The Double V campaign was launched by African
  Americans at home, V for victory against the axis
  powers, and V for victory in the struggle for
  equality at home
• They also fought for equality using sit-ins which
  paved the way for the civil rights era later.
• Mexican Americans and Native Americans who had
  also battled discrimination were able to enter
  the work force in greater numbers during the war.
  
• In fact Mexican's were recruited to work as farm
  laborers - braceros - but continued to endure
  horrible working conditions, and lower wages
  which led to a terrible riot in 1943 in Los
  Angeles.
• The Zoot Suit Riots was one such riot where
  sailors in L.A. and residents of Mexican descent
  clashed. The name zoot suit came from a popular
  style of clothing -baggy pants and long jacket-
  Mexican Americans wore. The sailors roamed the
  streets looking for people in such clothing and
  attacked and humiliated them.

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30.) The Japanese

• They were perhaps treated the worst. Many
  Japanese Americans were rounded up and forced to
  live in internment camps during the war as they
  were not trusted after Pearl Harbor.
• Executive Order 9066 signed by Roosevelt in
  February of 1942 removed all Japanese Americans
  from the west Coast, and they were not released
  until 1945.
• Many found no homes to return to as they had been
  seized. This injustice was not recognized until
  Ronald Reagan awarded each surviving internee a
  tax-free payment of 20,000.