Transcript WORLD WAR 2

THE WORLD WAR 2
ERA
A B B R E V I AT E D U N I T 7
U S H I S T O RY
BACKGROUND
• TOTALITARIAN DICTATORS
– Josef Stalin, USSR
– Benito Mussolinia, Italy
– Adolf Hitler, Germany
– Hideki Tojo, Japan
• Able to Rise to Power in
1920’s and 1920’s
– Economic Crises in Europe
• Europeans want drastic change
and need help from government
– Isolationist Policies of U.S.
RESPONSE TO DICTATORS
• European countries are not in a
position to fight dictators
– Economic depression in Europe
– Tense nations fear the dictators
– U.S. remains isolated
Neville Chamberlain, Prime
Minister of Britain championed
appeasement as the best way to
avoid war. Under appeasement,
Hitler was allowed to take the
Ruhr Valley (coal), Rhineland,
Czechslovakia, and Austria
without firing a single shot!
• European countries want to
avoid yet another war
– Appeasement – policy of allowing
dictators like Hitler to have small
things they want to avoid going
to war
U.S. WANTS TO REMAIN NEUTRAL, AGAIN
• Congress passes the Neutrality
Act of 1935
– Forbids selling any goods to
countries at war
• Quarantine Speech
– FDR speech
– Take economic actions against
aggressive nations
– Targets Japan, who sees the
speech as a near declaration of
war
– US stops selling Japan OIL!
– Japan begins to make war plans
FDR VOWS TO ASSIST ALLIES
• FDR creativity to get around
Neutrality Acts
– “Cash and Carry” – countries
pay in gold and transport
– “Destroyers for Bases” – US will
give ships for bases on British
land
– “Lend-Lease Act” – agree to
let countries BORROW or RENT
military goods and supplies.
NEUTRALITY ENDS, US ENTERS WW2
• Japanese bomb Pearl
Harbor, HI, Dec. 7, 1941
– Japanese hope to destroy
American ability to wage war
in the Pacific.
– Congress declares war on all
Axis Powers the next day
(Japan, Germany, Italy)
– Isolationism instantly
evaporates as millions of
Americans volunteer for war
U.S. MOBILIZATION FOR WAR
• U.S. makes preparations for war
– Rationing: government controls
supplies of food and other goods –
gas, sugar, grain, eggs, bacon, etc.
– FDR urges factories to convert into war
production
– Price Fixing: government sets prices for
goods and they cannot change
– Wage Fixing: salaries of people are set
so companies can’t reduce pay of
workers during war.
– War Bonds: Americans encouraged to
buy bonds to loan government money
U.S. MOBILIZATION FOR WAR
• Changes in Workplace
– Non-traditional jobs for women
• “Rosie the Riveter” – image of the tough,
strong, adaptable woman
– African American opportunities increase
• Need for labor combines with A-A’s
willingness to prove themselves
– Mexican-Americans
• Replace labor and work in fields in
California and Southwest
• Changes in Military
– Women full time in military
• Non-Combat jobs – nurses, receptionists
– African-Americans contribute to war
effort but in segregated units
• Tuskegee Airmen
NEGATIVES OF U.S. MOBILIZATION
• American Citizens with
Japanese heritage become
targets after Pearl Harbor
• Japanese Internment Camps
– Japanese citizens in U.S. have jobs
and property stripped from them
– Sent to 17 camps in U.S. deserts to
protect Western states
• Korematsu v. U.S.
– Supreme Court says government
can suspend civil rights during a
time of war/crisis.
A WAR ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF WORLD
• Pacific Theater (Dec, 1941-Aug 1945)
– Early fighting dominated by Japanese
– Battle of Midway
• US destroys 4 Japanese carriers attempting to
attack Pearl Harbor again
• Limits ability of Japanese to attack for the rest of
war = TURNING POINT
– “Island Hopping”
• US strategy to take islands to get close enough to
bomb or invade Japan
• Iwo Jima and Okinawa
– Bombing of Japan
• Debate over use of nuclear bomb
– President Truman’s decision – FDR dies in April 1945
– Japanese lives (bomb) v. American lives (invasion)
• Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed (August 1945)
• Japan surrenders
A WAR ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF WORLD
• European Theater (Sept, 1939-Jun1945)
– Nazi & Axis occupation of France and Europe
– Soviets fight alone on Eastern Front
• Battle of Stalingrad – TURNING POINT (access to oil)
• Nazi access to oil limited with loss at Stalingrad
– D-Day/ Invasion of Normandy
• Allied forces led by U.S. and Britain attack Nazioccupied France
• Eventually force a German retreat
– Battle of the Bulge
• Allies repel the last German advance
• Germany soon surrenders
ENDING WORLD WAR 2
• The Big Three meet several times near
end of war to discuss post-war world.
– Roosevelt (United States)
– Churchill (United Kingdom – Britain)
– Stalin (Soviet Union - Russia)
• Soviets & U.S. do not trust each other
• The Big Three changes by end of war
– Roosevelt dies, replaced by Truman
– Churchill voted out, replaced by Atlee
– Stalin left as only original member and
he takes advantage to force Soviet
ideas
POST-WW2 GLOBAL ISSUES
• The Holocaust – the Jewish Genocide
– Nazi Germany’s “Final Solution” to exterminate
Jews in Europe.
– Anti-Semitism – hatred of the Jews
– Both U.S. and Soviets discover huge German
concentration camps – Auschwitz in Poland
• The Nuremberg Trials
– Captured Nazi officers put on trial for war crimes &
crimes against humanity
– Several are executed, some jailed
• Creation of Israel, 1948
– Global support for a Jewish homeland
– Lays foundation for conflicts in the Middle East
THE U.S. AFTER WORLD WAR 2
• U.S. quickly begins to return to normal
– No real damage to U.S. resources & industry
– Mobilization for WW2 pulls U.S. out of
Depression
– Prosperity comes to a large U.S. middle
class
– Smaller gap between rich and poor
• Baby Boomers
– Drastic increase in birth rate, 1946-1965
– War time stress turns to need for normal
family life
BABY BOOMERS
THE G.I. BILL
• Government wants to ensure no
recession after war by providing
help to returning soldiers.
• Congress passes G.I. Bill
– Provides money to veterans and
military to attend college
– Help give useful skill and help
economy
– Low-interest home loans
SUBURBANIZATION EXPLODES
• Interstate Highway Act
– President Eisenhower uses federal money
to increase transportation efficiency
• “Suburbs” grow exponentially
– Perceived safety versus living in the city
• “White Flight”
– New home sales skyrocket
• Prosperity for middle class demands
• Veterans using GI Bill
• Levittown – mass numbers of similar homes
– Shopping Malls & Grocery Stores
– Fast Food Restuarants
CONSUMERISM
• New Prosperity
– Middle class can afford what they
want – more cars, vacations,
televisions, pools, etc.
– 1950’s Culture
• Rock and Roll
• Car Culture
• Television
• Women’s Roles
– Traditional Role of Women as
Homemaker Celebrated
– Feminist Movement
• Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
• Women want more out of life than being
a wife and homemaker