Transcript The Home Front & The Aftermath of the War

The Home Front
&
The Aftermath
of the War
USSR
• Leningrad – under siege for 900 days
• Battle of Machines – entire factories were
moved to the interior and produced war
munitions.
• Soviet women worked in industries, mines,
railroads, some served in the military as
snipers and aircrew.
U.S.
• American economy mobilization for war
• Turmoil
– Housing & schools shortage
– Racial tensions & race riots
– Segregation in U.S. military
• Japanese Americans
– 110,000 moved to internment
camps
Germany
• To maintain morale Hitler refused to cut
consumer goods production or to increase
the production of armaments
• 1942 order massive increase in armaments,
Albert Speer was put in charge (too late)
• 1944 Schools, theaters, and cafes were
closed
• Women were encouraged to enter the work
force, few did
Japan
• Wartime Japan was
highly mobilized
• Young Japanese men
were encouraged to
volunteer in suicide
mission against the U.S.
(kamikaze)
• Female employment
increased in farming and
the textile industry
– Chinese and Korean labors
were brought in to meet the
labor shortage
Kamikaze attack on the LST534
Bombing of Cities
• Most thought that bombing civilian populations
would be an effective way to force governments
to make peace.
• Battle of Britain – proved this theory wrong!
• British began bombing German cities
– Destruction of Dresden
• Incendiary bomb create firestorms
• 500,000 civilians die in bombing – survivors
were not more determined to fight to the death
• Bombing did not slow down production of war
goods
Bombing of Cities
cont.
• The bombing of civilians reached a new
level with the first atomic bomb.
U.S. B-29 Superfortress
Peace & a New War
• WWII was followed by a period of political
tensions known as the Cold War
• Tehran Conference
• Yalta Conference
• Potsdam Conference
• Nuremberg Trials
– Dachau Trials –
Prosecutor Colonel
Denson (Bham, AL)
– Alleged former Nazi
deported to Austria
from U.S.
Nuremberg Trials
• West thought Soviets were pushing
Communism world-wide
• Soviets viewed the West especially
America pushed global capitalism
• March 1946 “Iron curtain” divided EU into
two hostile camps