Transcript World War II

World War II
1939-1945
Rise of Dictatorships &
Militarism
• The economic depression that followed
WWI gave rise to dictators
• Adolf Hitler & the Nazis (Fascists) in 1933
violated the Treaty of Versailles, rebuilt
Germany and expanded into Austria &
Czechoslovakia
• Benito Mussolini in Italy
Militarism
• Militarists in Japan led by General Tojo
conquered Manchuria and invaded China
• Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy joined
together to form the Axis Powers
America’s Attempt at Neutrality
• Neutrality Acts prohibited Americans from
selling arms to warring nations or traveling
on their ships
• 1937—Roosevelt gave a speech declaring
that war was similar to a contagious disease
and calling for a “quarantine” of aggressive
nations to keep America from getting
involved.
• Just in case, Congress increased spending
on the army and navy
Early World War II
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1939—Germany took Poland
1940—France fell
Germany wanted to invade Great Britain
Germany led continuous air raids on English cities
hoping to weaken them, but it failed
• Germany focused on the Soviet Union
• August 1941—FDR & Churchill met in the
Atlantic to outline aims for a post-war world,
called the Atlantic Charter, setting 8 democratic
principles—including gradual disarmament
Nazis conquer France
Nazi Luftwaffe dropped bombs on English cities
Churchill surveying the
damage of the London
raids
Citizens sought safety in
the subway
FDR & Winston Churchill sign the Atlantic Charter
US close to War
• 1941 FDR sends armed merchant ships to
carry supplies to Britain
• 1937 When Japan attacked China, US cut
off all trade with Japan and froze their
assets in the US
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
Day that will Live in Infamy
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December 7, 1941
Japan believed a surprise attack would catch
American unprepared and eliminate them as a
naval power in the Pacific
Japanese airplanes attack a majority of the US
fleet at Pearl Harbor
The next day, US declares war on Japan
4 days later, Germany & Italy declares war on the
US
Pearl Harbor
USS Arizona
USS California
Explosion of USS Shaw
USS West Virginia & USS Tennessee
The Home Front
• The Draft—Men 18-45; women could enlist; 1
million African-Americans served; 1:10
Americans served
• Females & Minorities—filled the gap in available
jobs; 50% of women were employed during the
war
• War-Time Production—managed economy;
controlled use of raw materials; factory conversion
to wartime production
• Rationing—rubber, gasoline, oil, sugar, butter and
meat
Internment of Japanese Americans
• The attack on Pearl Harbor created fear
among Americans, especially on the West
Coast.
• Japanese Americans were forced to relocate
to internment camps.
• The camps were primitive and crowded.
• The Supreme Court upheld these relocations
in Korematsu v. US
Japanese American
announce patriotism
War against Germany
• Instead of fighting on 2 fronts, FDR focused
on Germany first
• 1942—defeated the Axis in North Africa
• 1943-4—headed into Italy
• June 6, 1944—Invasion of Normandy
• Quickly freed Paris and worked toward
Berlin, while Russia came from the other
direction
Russians make it to
Berlin 1st
Nazis surrender
May 1945
The War against Japan
• Japan made significant gains, while US
rebuilt and focused on Germany
• 1943—tide turned when we defeated the
Japanese navy in the Battle of Midway
• US goes on the offensive and begins their
strategy of “island hopping”
US dive bombers
At the Battle of Midway
USS Yorktown at the
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway memorial to the dead
Truman’s decision to
drop the Atomic Bomb
• FDR died before the end of the
war
• Harry Truman, FDR’s successor,
feared an invasion might cost a million US
soldiers
• Truman decides to drop the bomb instead
• August 6—bomb dropped on Hiroshima
• August 9—bomb dropped on Nagasaki
over 100,000 died with each bomb
Kamikaze
Showed the length Japan would
go to protect Japan
Damage due to
kamikaze
Fat Man
&
Little Boy
Hiroshima
Nagasaki
The Holocaust
• Nazis killed 6 million European Jews and
other undesirables
• Systematically rounded up and sent by train
to extermination camps like Aushwitz
• Liberation revealed dead and half-starved
survivors
• Nazi “crimes against humanity” were held
at Nuremberg
Jews wearing the Star of David
mandated by the Nuremberg
Laws
Jews were identified by #s carved
into their skin
Auschwitz