Transcript Chapter 24 - Arthur Charity

Chapter 24, Henretta
WORLD WAR TWO
Important strands in Chapter 24
1. Abroad: Great Depression + Versailles = Fascism
The combination of economic disaster and international
ambitions frustrated by the Treaty of Versailles led many
nations of Europe and Asia to flirt with fascism, authoritarian
government based on nationalism, racial superiority and tight
collaboration of business and political leaders. A few nations
actually became fascist: Italy, Spain, Germany and Japan.
2. At Home: American Isolationism
Meanwhile most Americans, following a tradition going back
to George Washington’s Farewell Address, are deeply
suspicious of getting involved in a European or Asian conflict.
They prefer to remain neutral and keep up a cautious trading
relationship with other countries.
• Exception: The Popular Front and U.S. Communist Party
Important strands in Chapter 24
3. Abroad: Brinksmanship with the League of Nations
Mussolini, Hitler and Japan’s leadership try to see how far they
can arm themselves and invade their neighbors before the
industrialized democracies will respond.
• 1931: Japan invades Manchuria
• 1936: Italy captures Ethiopia
Germany invades the Rhineland
• 1937: Japan invades the rest of China
• 1938: Germany annexes Austria
Germany takes Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia)
• 1940-41: Japan invades Indochina
Important strands in Chapter 24
4. At Home: Roosevelt quietly prepares for war
Roosevelt, convinced that the rise of fascism in Europe and
Asia poses a serious threat to the United States, tries to aid
Great Britain and put pressure on Germany and Japan without
losing support at home.
• 1936: Allies permitted to buy arms from U.S. on a “cashand-carry” basis
• 1940: National Defense Advisory Commission
Gives Britain U.S. destroyers in return for bases
First peacetime draft in U.S. history
Some economic sanctions on Japan
• 1941: Lend-Lease Act
Embargo on all trade with Japan (including oil)
Atlantic Charter
Secret battles with German U-Boats
Dec. 7, 1941
Important strands in Chapter 24
5. At Home: Gov’t + Business = Mass Production
Using huge tax breaks, antitrust exemptions, “cost-plus”
contracts and other incentives as leverage, the U.S.
government forges an unprecedented partnership with major
corporations to produce the materiel needed for war. Big
business grows richer, more concentrated and more
dependent on government contracts.
6. At Home: Wartime jobs produce a new society
Millions move to new cities to take wartime jobs. Women fill
the jobs of men who’ve gone to war. Cities run on a 24-hour
schedule. People from small towns rub up against other ethnic
groups for the first time; resulting in riots, internments and
also friendships. People have more money than ever before –
but because of rationing, less to spend it on.
Important strands in Chapter 24
7. Europe: Stalin stops Hitler
The fascist countries continues to expand until Hitler makes
the mistake of breaking his non-aggression pact with Stalin
and invading Russia. In 1942-43, at enormous cost, the Soviets
stop Germany’s
winning streak at
Stalingrad. After
Britain and the
United States land
on the Normandy
beaches in June
1944, the Allies
press in on
Germany from both
sides.
Important strands in Chapter 24
7. Europe: Stalin stops Hitler
Important strands in Chapter 24
8. Asia: Island-hopping to victory
The Pearl Harbor attack of Dec. 1941 failed to damage U.S.
aircraft carriers; Roosevelt used these to halt the Japanese
advance at Coral Sea and Midway in 1942. After that, U.S. and
Allied forces moved
from island to island,
setting up bases
closer to the Japanese
mainland until, in
August 1945, they
were prepared either
to invade Japan – or
to drop atomic bombs.
Important strands in Chapter 24
7. Asia: Island-hopping to victory
Important strands in Chapter 24
9. Legacies of World War Two
Just as the treaty ending the First World War set up the forces
that would lead to the second one, the wrap-up of the Second
World War set up international conditions that would
dominate the decades to come.
• Hiroshima: nuclear arms race, Cuban Missile Crisis,
“mutual assured destruction,” nonproliferation
• Stalin’s suspicion of Churchill and FDR: Cold War
• Liberation of Europe: NATO and Warsaw Pact boundaries,
containment policy
• Wartime alliances: creation of United Nations, its
ineffectiveness
• Restoration of colonial powers: wars for independence
• Gov’t-business partnership: the “military-industrialcongressional complex”