Transcript WWII – America Gets Involved

WWII – America Gets Involved
Roosevelt Opposes Aggression
 Germany and Italy
were being
aggressive in
Europe
 Meanwhile, Japan
was being very
aggressive in
Chinese territories
 Japan attacked
cities like Shanghai
and Nanjing
Roosevelt Opposes Aggression
 FDR made a speech condemning the
Japanese and warning Americans of the
danger Japan posed to the world
 However, most Americans favored
isolationism in 1937, and FDR backed down
War Erupts In Europe
 Hitler broke the Munich Pact by invading
the rest of Czechoslovakia in spring of 1939
 France and GB finally prepared to take
action to stop Germany
War Erupts in Europe
 Hitler planned to
invade Poland, but
would have to fight the
USSR for it
 To avoid this, Hitler
signs the Nazi-Soviet
Nonaggression Pact
with Stalin
 They promised not to
attack each other and
divide Poland
between themselves
 Importance?
War Erupts in Europe
 September 1,
1939: Hitler
invades Poland
 He used
“Blitzkrieg” warfare
 Consisted of the
Luftwaffe, armor
(tanks), and waves
of soldiers coming
in behind them
War Erupts In Europe:
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Axis Powers:
Germany
Italy
Japan
 Allied Powers:
 Great Britain
 France
 (Eventually the
United States)
 (Eventually, USSR)
War Erupts In Europe
 France and GB
declared war on
Germany on
September 3, 1939
 The war quieted down,
known as the “Phony
War” or “Sitzkrieg”
 France sat behind their
Maginot Line which
was supposed to
protect them from
invasion
War Erupts In Europe
 The Maginot Line failed as the Germans
invaded through the Ardennes Forest in
Luxembourg
 France was unprepared and will fall quickly
to German forces
 The British were
pushed back to
Dunkirk
 Here they barely
escaped by carrying
out the largest
evacuation in history
 338,000 troops
escaped
 Meanwhile, France was
placed under Nazi rule
 Prime Minister (of GB) Winston
Churchill summarized GB’s
commitment to defeating the Nazi’s
"We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on
to the end. We shall fight in France, we
shall fight on the seas and oceans, we
shall fight with growing confidence and
growing strength in the air. We shall
defend our island, whatever the cost
may be. We shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing-grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets, we shall fight in the hills. We
shall never surrender!"
London Blitz
 Hitler planned to take
all of Europe by
invading GB by using
the Luftwaffe
 He would bomb British
cities until they
surrendered
 This “Battle of Britain”
destroyed cities, but
did not succeed in
defeating the British
Americans Debate Involvement
 Initially, Americans opposed
intervention
 Neutrality Act of 1939: The “cash and
carry” policy stated that any nation,
allied or axis, could buy US goods if
they paid cash and carried it on own
ships
 This allowed the US to make $ while
staying out of war
 The British controlled
the seas, so this
really only helped
them
 Isolationists
disagreed with the
act, believing it would
drag the US into war
against the Axis
Powers
 Americans eventually
came to favor
intervention though
 German bombing of civilians in
London turned Americans against the
war via media reports
 1940, the Italians, Germans, and
Japanese signed the Tripartite Pact
 Americans now felt they had to be
able to defend themselves and install
a draft
America Marches Towards War
 FDR was reelected in
1940 and increased
support for GB
 The Lend-Lease Act:
This allowed the US to
produce and lend the
British whatever they
needed to defend
themselves
 “Good Neighbor
Policy”
 This would make the
US the “arsenal of
democracy”
 In 1941,the US and GB signed the Atlantic Charter:
This provided for the ability of nations to determine
for themselves their government after the war
 This showed the deepening alliance between the US
and GB
Hitler’s Response
 Hitler responded to
this relationship by
ordering the attack
on American ships
 He used U-boat
“wolf packs” to
sink allied ships
America Enters the War
 The US issued an embargo on air and
naval supplies to the Japanese
 The Japanese needed these resources
and would kill to get them
 Prime Minister Tojo tried diplomacy,
but soon gave up
Japan Attacks!
 Dec 7, 1941 –
Japanese attack a
naval base at Pearl
Harbor in Hawaii
 This surprise
attacks aimed to
take out the US
ability to fight in
the Pacific by
destroying air and
navy
2,500 died, 8 battleships destroyed, hundreds of
aircraft unusable, but missed aircraft carriers
“The Day that will live in infamy”
Mobilizing for War!
-During the war, over
16 million
Americans would
serve
-300,000 MexicanAmericans, 25,000
Native Americans,
and 1 million
African Americans
Mobilizing for War!
 WAC – Women’s
Army Corps
 Served as nurses,
secretarial
positions, truck
drivers, etc
 150,000
volunteered
Mobilizing for war!
 WPB – War Production
Board
 Converted peace time
industry to war
industry
 Ford made tanks and
bombers
 Government basically
controlled industry to
ensure there were
sufficient war
materials
 This “production
miracle” allowed
the Allies to
produce twice as
much as the Axis
Powers
 “To American
production, without
which the war
would have been
lost” -- Stalin
Fighting in the Pacific
 Led by General
Douglas MacArthur
 In the first days,
Japan was winning
the war against the
Americans
 The US was still
recovering from
Pearl Harbor
War in the Pacific
 At Bataan
Peninsula,
American troops
taken prisoner
 Marched 55 miles
along the
peninsula, where
7,000 died
 Bataan Death
March
America Strikes Back
 US gets revenge by bombing Tokyo
 Led by Colonel Doolittle, B-25 bombers flew
into Tokyo and landed in China
Battle of Coral Sea
 Gave momentum to Americans
 US bombed Japanese ships
 Lifts morale