Transcript D - Barrington 220

Section 4: The Home Front
Section 5: The Legacy of the War
As with the other wars we’ve seen, WWII
needed the help of a lot of people “at
home”

Factories produced
war goods
(no 1942-45 American cars)

People took over
soldiers jobs
(like “Rosie the Riveter”)

People rationed and
made sacrifices.
After Pearl Harbor a lot of Americans were
mad at anyone with Japanese ancestry


Their loyalty to the
United States was
constantly questioned.
It was decided they
couldn’t be trusted and
had to beheld and
watched in what became
known as the Japanese
Internment.
More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forced to
give up their homes and most of what they owned…




And move to guarded
camps.
Two thirds of these
Japanese Americans were
actually born in the U.S.
Most remained very
patriotic.
Some even volunteered
for the armies and were
among the most
decorated soldiers in
WWII.
(recognized for doing brave and heroic things)
WWII resulted in 73,000,000 deaths








418,500 Americans
23,000,000 Russians
20,000,000 Chinese
7 Million Germans
5.6 million Poles
……………..
Many of these were
civilians.
There were many
refugees after the war
WWII also cost a lot of money




$1,600,000,000,000
U.S.: $288,000,000,000.
After the war, many other
countries were having
money problems (it had
been the depression –
their cities needed
rebuilding – people were
without homes and
jobs…).
The United States did
help out – even Japan
and Germany
(The Marshall Plan)
There were some separate “visions” for
Europe and the world after WWII

One was “The
Atlantic Charter” on
an extra page in your
packets.

Another took place at
The Yalta Conference
(on an extra page in
your packets)
The U.S. government also tried to help out our
own soldiers by passing “the G.I. Bill”


This gave veterans
economic help.
It also gave many of
them a chance to get
an education (paid for
college).
And the Allies took care of the German officers responsible
for the Holocaust – at: the Nuremberg Trials




After the war, some of those responsible for crimes
committed during the Holocaust were brought to trial.
Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that
took place in 1945 and 1946. Judges from the Allied
powers -- Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the
United States -- presided over the hearings of twenty-two
major Nazi criminals.
Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most of
the defendants admitted to the crimes of which they were
accused, although most claimed that they were simply
following the orders of a higher authority. Those
individuals directly involved in the killing received the
most severe sentences.
Other people who played key roles in the Holocaust,
including high-level government officials, and business
executives who used concentration camp inmates as
forced laborers, received short prison sentences or no
penalty at all.
The allies also pushed a new world
peacekeeping group (The United Nations)
Even though the war was over, there
were still some tensions in the world.


Many countries began
demanding
independence
The United States and
it’s democratic friends
were real concerned
about the spread of
communism – by the
Soviet Union.