Transcript 25 WWII - Buschistory

www.buschistory.net
Topic 21 – World War II
Four Thoughts of World War II
An Introduction
The European/Atlantic Theater
Domestic Polices and Implications
Primary focus of the early war years
Wartime Economy ends Depression
Nazis – Hitler- The Holocaust
Draft – Rosie the Riveter
D Day
Expanded Government
Rationing – Espionage – Red Scare
The Pacific/Asian Theater
International Relations
Pearl Harbor
Which Ally to help first?
Japanese Imperialism
Stalin – Churchill rift
Island Hopping Strategy
Post War Plans – impending Cold War
The Atomic Bombs
China and the Philippines?
WAR BREAKS OUT
CAUSES:
Failure of the League of Nations
Aggressive empire building
Appeasement
U.S. Isolationism
Adolf Hitler
•Renounced the Versailles Treaty: rebuilt Germany’s
armed forces
•Lebensraum through territorial expansion
•Sent troops to occupy the Rhineland
•Annexed Austria to Germany in 1938
•Threatened for Czechoslovakia but France and Britain
gave the Sudetenland – Munich 9/30/1938
•Less than 6 months later, seized the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
•Kristallnacht
+
Japan
•Seized Manchuria in 1931
•Withdrew from the League of Nations
Benito Mussolini
•Sent troops to Ethiopia, claimed
the African kingdom as a colony
Germany made a pact with its sworn foe, the Soviet
Union, and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
Britain and France declare war on Germany
While Germany was using the technique of Blitzkrieg (lightning war) to take
Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, what was happening in
the U.S.?
Isolationism
Roosevelt
•World War I had left strong
isolationist sentiment.
•American First
Committee: formed to
oppose U.S. intervention
•Invoked the Neutrality Act of 1939 to
sell arms to Britain, France and China
•Lend-Lease Act: made Britain the
first beneficiary of massive aid.
•Met with Britain prime minister,
Winston Churchill to declare their
mutual desire to end Nazi tyranny.
Pearl Harbor
•When Japan occupied Indochina in July 1941, the U.S.
responded by cutting off trade with Japan.
•The angered Japanese launched a surprise attack on December
7, 1941 on Pearl Harbor, destroying nearly 200 American planes
and killing more than 2,400 Americans with nearly 1,200
wounded.
On December 8th, Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war against
Japan. The same day, the United States recognized the existence of a state of
war with Germany and Italy, and World War II began for the Americans.
Propaganda
Mobilizing for War
•War Powers Act
•Supply Priorities and Allocation Board
(SPAB)
•Office of Price Administration (OPA)
•National War Labor Board (NWLB)
•War Manpower Commission (WMC)
•Office of War Mobilization (OWM)
“Dr. New Deal” became “Dr. Win the
War.”
The Roosevelt administration directed its
resources toward planes, ships, guns and food
required for victory
•Office of War
Information (OWI):
sold the idea of war to
the American people
through radio & film.
•Fueled selling of war
bonds
•The Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI)
was used to monitor
espionage
•The Office Of
Strategic Services
(OSS)
Economic Conversion
•The war lifted the U.S. out of the Great Depression and created the biggest economic boom
•Resulted from government spending & foreign orders for military supplies
•War Production Board: made to “exercise the general responsibility” for the economy.
•½ of nearly everything produced was war material
•GNP rose from $88.6 billion in 1939 to $198.7 billion in 5 years
•Regions were transformed, especially the West
•Farm income had doubled by 1945 but many American farmers could not keep up with the
rising international demand for milk, fruits, potatoes and sugar
•Livestock production went up and so did mechanized production of crops (chemical
fertilizers and pesticides)
Workers
•Bracero program: Mexicans got short-term employment
•Indians were working in agriculture or industry
•African Americans: worker #’s grew from 2,900,000 to 3,800,000
Women:
•Labor force grew by over 50%
•Advertisers used gender stereotypes for
wartime jobs with posters
•Women mined coal, repaired aircraft engines,
cut and welded sheet metal & operated forklifts
and drill presses.
•Increase in hourly wage for assembly line $1.15
•Strikes:
The economic gains were unevenly distributed,
causing a turbulent period in American labor
history.
•United Auto Workers (UAW) became one of the
most powerful labor organizations in the world.
•John L. Lewis led a walkout of half a million coal
miners in 1943. Roosevelt ordered the mines to
be seized and the first federal antistrike bill was
passed.
THE HOMEFRONT
Family Life
•A lot of marriages and divorces
•Housing shortages small and
rents were high
•“Share Your Home” campaign:
encouraged opening homes to
friends, relatives or strangers
•Day care centers popped up
•Juvenile delinquency rose
•Public health improved greatly
Japanese American Internment
•Roosevelt signed Executive Order
9066: suspended the civil rights of
Japanese Americans & authorized the
exclusion of 110,000 men women and
children.
•War Relocation Authority in isolated
districts of Utah, Colorado, Idaho,
Arizona, Wyoming and California.
•Japanese American Citizens League
•Korematsu v. U.S. (1944)
African Americans and
Mexicans
•Double V campaign: African
Americans wanted their own
rights as citizens
•Zoot suit Riots
Popular Culture
•Songs featured war themes
•Music bridged growing racial divisions
•Movies with combat & also anti-fascist themes.
•World of comics had wartime spirit
•Fashion had civilian clothing to resemble
military attire
THE ARMED FORCES
•October 16, 1940: National Registration Day
•All men between ages 21& 36 were obligated to register for the military
•1/3 of the men examined were rejected
•Officers corps were highly professional, politically conservative and personally
autocratic
Women
•Before WWII, served as nurses and clerical workers
•The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
becomes Women’s Army Corps (WAC)
•Bills established the women’s division of the navy, Air
force and Marine corps
•Women were discriminated and were closely
monitored
•Also racial segregation
Segregation & New
Horizons
•African Americans
•Japanese Americans
•Homosexuals found more
room than in civilian life
•Soldiers looked back on the
war and said it was the
greatest experience they
would ever know
Overseas
•Americans had a mixed record
overseas
•In some places they were
disliked (Britain, France)
•Treated like heroes in Belgium
and Southern Holland
There were approximately
120,000 Americans who
became prisoners of war
THE WORLD AT WAR
The Allies remained on the defensive for the first year of the war while Hitler
was holding power over the European Continent
Weapons and Tactics
The Allies had advantages:
•WWII was a war of offensive
•Vast natural resources
maneuvers with surprise attacks
•Skilled workforce to accelerate production of
•Weapons: tanks and airplanes
weapons and ammunitions
•Artillery and explosives were also
•Antifascists all over Europe and Asia
important
•Capacity of Soviet Union to endure immense
•Hitler used these tactics to his
losses.
advantage
TURNING POINTS
Battle of Stalingrad: Hitler decided to go back on its pact with the Soviet Union and
invaded it in 1941. The Russian troops and freezing winter caused the German invaders
to surrender in 1943. The Red Army drove the Germans out of the Soviet Union,
becoming a turning point in the war.
El Alamein (1942): The Germans had victories in North Africa but British forces in Egypt
stopped the advance. With the help of American forces coming from the west, the Allies
trapped Germany in 1943 and they surrendered.
Invasion of Italy (1943): The victory in North Africa allowed British and Americans to land in
Italy in 1943. Hitler was forced to send troops to Italy, weakening his forces in Western Europe
“D- Day” (June 6,1944): Allies invaded France, landing on the beaches of Normandy. They
broke through German defenses to advance toward Paris and freed France from German
control. The Allies moved from France into Germany. Germany surrendered on May 8th
The War in Asia and the Pacific
After the victory in Europe, the Allies moved from the defensive in Asia to all the
Allied power being concentrated on Japan.
•A counteroffensive campaign across the Central Pacific and along the Solomon
Islands-New Guinea axis steadily pushed the Japanese back
•October 1944, General MacArthur led a force to gain back the Philippines
•The island of Okinawa was captured, but was the largest operation mounted by
Americans in the Pacific war. Japanese had the kamikaze tactic
•By the summer of 1945, The Japanese had its navy and air force virtually
destroyed and its cities were at the mercy of American aircraft. They were also cut
off from sources of supply of much-needed raw materials
THE HOLOCAUST
•Not until the last stages of the war did
Americans learn about Hitler’s actions
•The U.S. government released little
information on what was the Holocaust
•Roosevelt said that the liberation of the
European Jews was dependent on a quick and
total Allied victory
•6 Million Jews, 250,000 Gypsies and 60,000
homosexuals lost their lives.
The Yalta Conference
•February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at a Soviet resort called Yalta
•The “Big Three” decided at the end of the war they would divide Germany
temporarily
•There would be “spheres of influences”
•The Soviet Union retained the Baltic states and part of Poland as a buffer to
protect against future German aggression
•Britain would reclaim its empire in Asia
•The United States hoped to hold several Pacific islands in order to monitor any
military resurgence in Japan.
•Stalin also pledged to enter the war against Japan and approved plans for a
future world organization.
President Roosevelt died the
next month and Harry S.
Truman became his successor.
THE ATOMIC BOMB
•Potsdam Conference: July 17- August 2, 1945- Allied leaders agreed to demand
Japan’s unconditional surrender & to try Nazi leaders as war criminals.
•Truman learned of an atomic bomb test in New Mexico at this conference
•After warning Japan to surrender immediately or face “complete and utter
destruction”, on August 3, 1945,
•August 6th, the bomber Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Approximately
80,000 people died and by 1950 the death toll was 200,000 from radiation poisoning
or burns
•The second bomb destroyed Nagasaki, killing about 40,000
•On August 14th, Japan surrendered.