Transcript 101 Facts You Need to Know About VA SOL Test

51. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal was an
attempt by the federal government to solve the economic
problems of the Depression.
52. The Social Security Act provided financial assistance for
the elderly, the handicapped, and for dependent children in
need. The program is still in effect today.
53. The New Deal created jobs programs to employ citizens in
government jobs: The Works Progress Administration, the Public
Works Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and
National Youth Administration just to name a few.
54. The Dust Bowl ruined crops on the Great Plains near
Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Kansas.
55. World War II was caused by a many factors:
 Worldwide economic depression caused poverty and desperation.
 Germany owed billions of dollars to other European nations over World
War I, and hyperinflation worsened the economic depression there.
 Fascist dictators had risen to power with militarily aggressive plans to
conquer territories:
Germany – Adolf Hitler
Italy – Benito Mussolini
Japan – Hideki Tojo
The Axis Powers
56. The Allied Powers in World War II:
 Democratic Nations – with the exception of the communist Soviet Union.
 France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and many other nations were occupied
during the war.
 England fought against Germany from 1939 to 1945. Winston Churchill
was the Prime Minister of England.
 The Soviet Union fought against Germany after they were invaded by the
Soviets in 1940. Joseph Stalin was the leader of the nation.
 The United States declared war on the Germans in late 1941. Franklin
Delano Roosevelt was the President from 1941 (the attack of Pearl Harbor,
Dec. 7, 1941 – April of 1945.) Harry Truman was President of the United
States at the end of World War II and chose to use atomic weapons on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.
57. At the start of World War II, the United States followed
an isolationist foreign policy.
 Neutrality Acts were passed in the
United States to show commitment to
the policy of isolationism. Groups like
the America First Committee fought
against US involvement in Europe.
 Economic aid eventually began with the
Cash and Carry policy and later the Lend
Lease Act. Americans prepared for war
with the Selective Service Act as well.
 Winston Churchill and Franklin
Roosevelt agreed to end dictatorship and
fascism in Europe with the Atlantic
Charter before the United States even
entered the war.
58. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in a surprise attack
on December 7, 1941. The United States immediately declared war
on Japan. Germany declared war on the United States.
59. German aggression had caused World War II to begin in
Europe long before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
 Germany had taken over the Rhineland, the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia,
the remainder of Czechoslovakia, and Austria before the invasion of Poland
on Sept. 1, 1939.
 The Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression pact with Germany before
the war, and invade the Baltics and Poland, as well.
 Eventually, Germany would invade most of the nations in Europe, including
Denmark, Belgium, Holland, France, and even the Soviet Union – they
betrayed their own agreement.
 German planes bombed Great Britain to rubble in the Battle of Britain in
1940.
 Nevertheless, the United States would not become involved in World War
II until the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
60. The turning point in World War II on the Eastern Front was the Battle
of Stalingrad, fought in the Soviet Union in 1942 - Soviet oil reserves there
made it an important strategic victory for the USSR..
61. The D-Day invasion was planned out by Dwight David
Eisenhower, and was the turning point in World War II on
the Western Front of Europe. D-Day was June 6, 1944.
62. The turning point in World War II in the Pacific,
against the Japanese, was the Battle of Midway.
63. World War II ended when the United States dropped
two atomic bombs on Japanese cities: Hiroshima on August
6, 1945 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945.
 V-E day in Europe had been on May 8, 1945, when Soviet soldiers captured
Berlin and American and British soldiers took the Western portion of the
city.
 The nuclear weapons used on Japan in August of 1945 were authorized by
President Harry S Truman, who had taken over the Presidency when FDR
passed away in April of 1945.
 The Japanese formally surrendered to the United States on September 2, 1945
on board the USS Missouri, at anchor in Tokyo Harbor.
64. During the Holocaust, Nazi Germany imprisoned and
systematically murdered over six million Jewish people and close to
thirteen million people overall in death camps. The anti-Semitism
which existed throughout Europe made Nazi sympathizers and war
criminals of those who cooperated in Hitler’s “Final Solution.”
Dozens were put to death for crimes against humanity during the
Nuremburg trials after World War II.
65. The Great Depression came to an end during World War II
thanks to all of the factory jobs which opened up in the United States.
Both women and minority groups were sought after to work in the
war munitions plants during World War II.
Rosie the Riveter
African-Americans
66. Americans on the Homefront rationed food and
resources to support the war effort during World War II
(and had done so in World War I, as well!)
67. Japanese Americans were forced to give up their
property and possessions and required to live in relocation
camps during World War II.
68. The United States feared that the Soviet Union would
attempt to control all of Europe following World War II, and
put the Marshall Plan into place to help to rebuild nations
committed to democracy and capitalism.
69. Germany was divided following World War II into democratic
and capitalist West Germany and communist East Germany.
Similarly, the city of Berlin was divided into West Berlin and East
Berlin.
70. The United Nations was created following World War II
in order to preserve peace in the future. The UN Charter
was signed in San Francisco following the war; the United
Nations is located in New York City.
71. After World War II, soldiers came home to a prosperous
nations thanks to the GI Bill, the boom in housing
construction, and the conversion of the economy from war
production to the production of consumer goods.
 The GI Bill of Rights provided free college education to soldiers and low
interest loans for houses, among other things.
 The housing construction business was extremely prosperous – in fact,
homes were mass produced in “Levittowns” – which used assembly line
methods to construct high-quality, low-cost houses.
 The war time economy was rapidly transformed, and factories which had
once made war supplies quickly began to make consumer goods.
72. The Baby Boom resulted in an huge increase in population
following World War II – and stimulated the economy as families
sought to purchase goods for their children!
73. By executive order, President Harry S Truman
desegregated the Armed Forces of the United States in 1948.
74. The Cold War was a war of ideas and philosophies –
without direct violent conflict - between the United States
and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, much of the
world was divided into two camps.
During the Cold War, the United States was devoted to
democracy, individual rights, and capitalism.
The Soviet Union was committed to communism and a
“dictatorship of the proletariat.”
The Soviet Union controlled the nations of Eastern Europe with
an iron fist; the United States attempted to stop the spread of
communism in Europe by a policy of containment.
75. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was
created in 1949 as a collective security alliance against threats
from the Soviet Union.