Transcript The US at War - Cloudfront.net

The US at War
Chap 13: Section 3
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A date which will live in infamy
Pearl Harbor
– Worst defeat in US history
– Caught US offguard
– Within 3 hours US navy in Pearl Harbor was
destroyed
– 2400 Americans killed
– Mobilized the US public
– Next day FDR asks Congress for Dec of war
– Germany & Italy declared war a few days later
– US now had to prepare for a two-front war
Mobilizing At Home
Selective Service Act increased the draft from
1.8 m in 1941 to more than 15 m by the end of
the war.
216,000 women also participated
1 m AA enlisted in what was then a segregated
army.
Eisenhower asked for AA volunteers for combat
in integrated units.
Convinced him that integrated units were more
successful than segregated
Other Minorities Enlist
350,000 Hispanics enlisted
Suffered ethnic discrimination as well
Hispanics were the most decorated of
ethnic minorities
The Japanese-American 442nd Regiment
was the most decorated
Japanese-American soldiers were very
loyal despite the internment camps at
home
The European Front
FDR & Churchill decided overall strategy
for the war
Decided that defeating Germany would be
their 1st objective
At the Casablanca Conference in
Morocco 1943 they decided that they
would only accept an unconditional
surrender.
Meanwhile the US would fight a defensive
war against Japan while Allies coordinated
joint offensive efforts against Germany
Invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarosa shocked the Soviets
Nazis used blitzkrieg tactics on vast scale
Severe winter & Soviet troops saved Moscow
Leningrad was under siege for 900 days & ½ m
people starved.
Nazis turned South to capture oil fields
Then to Stalingrad where Germ offense was
eventually halted in 1943
More Soviets died at Stalingrad than the total #
of US casualties
Stalin would not forget Allied refusal to relieve
pressure on the Eastern front
Allied Offensives
El Alamein – this Brit victory marked a
turning point in the war
Used bases in Africa to launch attack on
Sicily then Italy. (Anzio Beach)
Mussolini’s gov fell from power in 1943
Italy announced its unconditional
surrender on June 4, 1944.
D-Day – Operation Overlord
On June 6, 1944 Eisenhower directed the
largest combined sea-land-air invasion in history
known as Operation Overlord or the Normandy
invasion or D-Day
175,000 Allied soldiers came ashore on France
US workers provided the equipment necessary
for the transport and munitions necessary for
this invasion.
New sonar technology also helped track down
D – Day June 6, 1944
Sonar Technology
.Used soundwaves to track U-boats.
Naval convoys were safer now
Allowed allies to track down U-boats which
relieved Allies from attacks from the air,
sea and below the sea
Battle of the Bulge
In last ditch effort Hitler to stop Allied
invasion of Germany Hitler launched
counteroffensive against the Allies.
Nazis drove a bulge into the Allied
defenses
Germans were pushed back and as Allies
marched Eastward they were confronted
with Nazi horrors
The Holocaust
Anti-semitism
Nuremburg Laws 1935
Kristallnacht 1938
War breaks out & Jews are rounded up
Ghettoization
Transports to death camps
Final Solution
Critics argue that FDR did not do enough
Failed to bomb tracks leading to death camps
US immigration policy refused to admit Jews
seekig to escape Germany
V-D (Victory in Europe May 8, 1945
War was over
Soviets and Americans brought Germany
to its knees.
Hitler committed suicide
Unconditional surrender
US & USSR are now the new
superpowers
Now is time to concentrate on the Pacific
theatre of war
The Pacific Front
Battle of Midway
Guadalcanal
Iwo Jima
Jungle warfare
Philippines
Atomic Bomb
Truman justifies its use in order to bring
the war to a speedy end.
Idea was to save lives
Two bombs were dropped at Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
Immediately vapored everything within 4
sq. miles
Controversy surrounding its use. Was it
racist?
Impact of the War
Tragic lost of life – 55 m worldwide
Devastation of Europe
Emergence of 2 new superpowers
Ideology creates Cold War which will
influence international relations for the
next 50 years
Eastern Europe comes under Soviet
control
Iron Curtain descends over Europe
The End