Transcript Outbreak of War

Outbreak of War
 September 1, 1939 – German forces
invade Poland
 Attack coined “blitzkrieg”
 France and Great Britain declared war
 US would remain neutral
 However Roosevelt urged Congress to drop
Neutrality Acts’ arms
embargo
 Agreed, but only sold arms
on a cash and carry basis
Near Disaster at Dunkirk
 Fighting slowed down during winter
 Hitler launched an invasion of Norway and
Denmark
 Next they went to Netherlands and
Belgium
 Met resistance from French
and British
 Hitler’s army defeated Allies
at Dunkirk
 Allied army escaped by
crossing the English Channel
Battle of Britain
 June 1940 Italy invaded France
 Declared war on Great Britain
 FDR announced the US would extend
aid to the democracies
 June 22, 1940 – France Surrendered
 Germany moved focus on
Great Britain
 Winston Churchill emerged
as Prime Minister
 Pledged victory
America Abandons Neutrality
 Churchill asked US for a loan
 50 US destroyers
 FDR knew isolationists in Congress would
block
 Signed an executive order transferring ships
 In return for use of bases in Newfoundland and the
Caribbean
 1940 America First Committee was formed
 Large anti-war group
 Supported maintenance of the neutrality acts
 Great Britain was under constant attack
 Managed to fight off Germans
 Hitler abandoned his invasion plans
America Realizes Its Peril
 Fall of France and threat to Britain
made Atlantic seem narrow
 Congress began to heed Roosevelt’s
warnings
 Roosevelt’s Leadership Endorsed
 1940 Election
 Roosevelt felt he could not abandon
presidency
 Roosevelt won because voters did not
want a change in leadership
Aid to a Desperate Britain
 FDR wanted to abandon cash and carry
 Start lend-lease policy
 Britain would borrow or replace after the war
 Battle for the Atlantic
 Difficult to get supplies across in time to help
 Hitler ordered subs to starve Britain
 German U-boats were sinking US ships
 Congress allowed merchant ships to be armed
 Germany Turns on a Former Ally
 June 1941 Germany attacked Soviet Union
 US offered lend-lease aid to USSR as well
Aggression in the Pacific
 Japan was moving against European
colonies in SE Asia
 Region contained resources Japan
needed to extend industry
 Japan saw US as only threat left
 Embargo
 Sept. 1940 – Japan allied with Axis
 US cut off exports to Japan
 Offered to help them find raw materials
Appeal for Peace
 October 18, 1941 – Japanese Prime Minister
Konoye resigned
 Konoye was willing to work with the US
 General Hideki Tojo took over
 Favored war to eliminate US and British influence
 US tried to get Japan to honor 9-Power Treaty
 Met in Washington D.C. in November
 Negotiations deadlocked
 November 26, 1941
 Japanese fleet was put to sea to attack at Pearl
Harbor