World War II

1. World War II 1941-1945

2. Causes of World War II • Rise of Dictators • Anger in Germany over treatment after WWI. • The “isms” • Fascism • Communism • Nazism • Militarism

3. What was going on in the rest of the world? • Italy: Benito Mussolini founded the Fascist party. • Fascism is the belief that the nation is more important than the individual. Strong government and military; against Communism • Russia, under Vladimir Lenin became the USSR • Communist • When Lenin died Joseph Stalin became leader, wanted immediate change..killed more than 40 million people • Germany • Hitler: hated Allies • November 1923- led march on Munich and is arrested • 1933- Appointed as Prime Minister • JAPAN: • taken over by militarists, began attacking China

4. What did the US do? • NOTHING • Wanted to be ISOLATIONIST • Signed Neutrality Act of 1935 • At the same time war broke out in Spain during the Spanish Civil War - 1936 • What did Roosevelt do? • Internationalism • Arms to China

5. World War II Begins • To try to prevent another war, Britain, France, Italy, and Germany decided to give Czechoslovakia in order to appease Germany. • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: Germany would go to war against France and Britain but not the USSR • Blitzkriegin Poland: lightning war, very quick • Fall of France: France waited behind the Maginot Line, but Germany went around it by invading the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Belgium first. • Miracle at Dunkirk: Hitler mysteriously stops his advance, allows Britain time to recover.

6. Battle of Dunkirk

7. Britain maintained its bravery with Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, “we shall never surrender” • Battle of Britain: all out air war after Germans bombed London. (British pilots had radar) • The Holocaust:systematic killing of more that 6 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and people with disabilities. • Nuremburg Laws- took all civil rights of Jews • Kristallnacht: night of broken glass; Hitler’s secret police, the Gestapo went through breaking shop windows, torching homes, and arresting Jews. • Concentration Camps: worked as slave laborers • Extermination Camps: killed people in gas chambers (up to 12,000 a day)

8. Auschwitz

9. Auschwitz

10. Auschwitz

11. Auschwitz Today

12. Auschwitz

13. America at War • FDR originally supports England • Due to the need for weapons and supplies, Americans quickly banded together and created the most productive and efficient war making machine in the world, which also helped bring the US out of the Depression (Lend-Lease Act)

14. Pearl Harbor • December 7,1941 at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii • Sank or damaged 21 ships • Killed 2,403 Americans • “A Day that will live in Infamy” • The next day, Roosevelt asks Congress to go to war.

15. Pearl Harbor

17. Mobilizing for War • Converting the economy: In less than four years, the US was able to fight and win a two front war against two powerful military empires, forcing both to surrender unconditionally, how were they able to do so? • Industry: by 1942, almost all major industries and some 200,000 companies had converted to war production.

18. Tanks replaced cars as automobile factories shifted from making cars to making jeeps and tanks for the war effort. • Henry Ford assisted by creating an assembly line to produce the B-24 bomber. • Henry Kaiser built the Liberty ship which was the basic ship used to transport cargo • War Production Board: created by Roosevelt to set priorities and production goals and to control the distribution of raw materials and supplies.

19. Building an Army • Not only do you need supplies to go to war but you also need soldiers. • After France surrendered to Germany, two Congressmen introduced the Selective Service and Training Act, which re-instituted the draft • Once in the army, soldiers were given physicals, shots, supplies, and aptitude tests to see where they would be placed. • Promoted a sense of unity across the nation but African Americans were still segregated.

20. African Americans in the War • Disenfranchisement • African Americans were often denied their right to vote, but were included in the draft. • Double V Campaign • Push for victory against Hitler’s racism abroad and against racism at home • In combat • 99th Pursuit Squadron- Tuskegee Airmen • Many awards • As a result of valor in WWII, Truman decided to fully integrate the military in 1948.

21. Tuskegee Airmen

22. Women in the War • Women were not allowed in combat, so women took over clerical and administrative positions. • Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) led by Oveta Culp Hobby, was created in May 1942, but women were not happy that they were not part of the regular army so in 1943, the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was created. • In addition to serving in these organizations, 64,000 women served as nurses in the army and navy.

23. The Early Battles • Fall of the Philippines • Japan attacked American airfields and outnumbered American forces. The American commander Douglas MacArthur tried to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula, but the lack of supplies badly weakened the soldiers and they were ordered to evacuate, but before they could they were forced to surrender, 78,000 prisoners of war were marched to POW camps, with thousands dying, this was called the Bataan Death March • Doolittle Raid • Led by Col. James Doolittle, this was the first time bombs had actually fallen in Japan.

24. Doolittle Raid

25. Change in Japanese Strategy • After the Doolittle Raid, Japanese leaders were convinced to change their strategy • The Commander of the Japanese fleet wanted to attack the island of Midway, since it was the last American base in the North Pacific, thinking it would lure the American fleet into battle so they could defeat them. • Battle of the Coral Sea • In May 1942, carriers from both sides launched an attack. Both sides had major losses but American supply lines to Australia stayed open. • Battle of Midway • Nimitz realized that he has an opportunity to ambush the Japanese fleet, since they had cracked the code and knew when the Japanese were going to attack. • June 4, 1942, 38 Japanese planes were shot down, and 4 carriers were destroyed. This was the turning point in the Pacific theatre.

26. Battle of Midway

27. US in Europe & Africa • The Struggle for North Africa • Roosevelt decided to invade Morocco and Algeria to give the army some experience and they would also be able to help the British in Egypt which was important because of the Suez Canal. Under the command of Dwight Eisenhower and George Patton, on May 13, 1943 the Germans in North Africa surrendered. • The Battle of the Atlantic • By August 1942, German submarines has sunk 360 American ships • So ships began traveling in convoys (in groups with navy warships as escorts. • Battle of Stalingrad- Soviet soldiers forced the Germans to fight house to house, exhausting the Germans, which led to this battle being the turning point in the European theatre.

29. Life on the Homefront • Women and Minorities gain ground • War finally ended the Great Depression, creating 19 million jobs, because men were in the military, women and minorities were hired to do the same jobs • “Rosie the Riveter” • Executive order made it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race. • Bracero program- guest workers from Mexico that helped in the Southwest.

30. A Nation on the Move • There was a problem finding homes for all of the new workers, so many people ended up living in tents or trailers. More than 2 million people lived in government housing during the war. • When the war began, “The Great Migration” of African Americans to the North resumed. • Riots began in Detroit, killing 34. • The Zoot Suit Riots: caused by racism against the new Mexican laborers. • Japanese American Relocation: everyone of Japanese ancestry was moved to 10 internment camps. Not all moved quietly, but in the case of Korematsu v. the United States the Supreme Court ruled that it was acceptable to move them since it was based on military urgency and not on race.

32. Daily Life in Wartime America • Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration (OPA) to regulate prices and wages to protect against inflation • Blue Points, Red Points- food was rationed to make sure enough was left for military use. Every month, families would pick up ration books. (Blue was for processed foods and red was for meat and oil) • Victory Gardens- Americans planted gardens for vegetables and fruit so that farmers could produce for the soldiers. • Paying for the war: raised taxes and sold bonds.

33. Pushing the Axis Back • The first invasion by Allied troops in North Africa had proven that and attack by sea was possible. • Strategic bombing on Germany • Invasion of Sicily (Italy surrenders Sicily on Sept.8, 1943) • Operation Overlord: Germany believed that the Allies would land in France at Pas-de-Calais. The Allies encouraged that idea by putting decoys there. The real target though was Normandy. • June 6, 1944: D-Day, Allied troops stormed the beaches and by the end of the day had succeeded in driving the Germans back.

34. D-Day

35. Island Hopping in the Pacific • Many of the islands in the Pacific were very small and difficult to manuever. • Look at the map on p. 636 • Forces under Gen. MacArthur began to move their way back to the Philippines beginning with Guadalcanal. Eventually the Philippines were invaded with 160,000 troops • Japanese responded with kamikaze attacks, in which pilots would crash their planes into Allied ships to try to destroy them.

37. The War Ends • Battle of the Bulge: German troops raced to ambush American soldiers demanding their surrender. They refused and 3 days later, Gen. Patton sent troops to attack the Germans. Although it lasted for 3 weeks, the US won and left the Germans with little protection. • V-E Day: the Soviets and American forces decided to attack Germany from two sides. The Soviets attacked from the east and the Americans from the west. • Deep inside his bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler knew the end was near, so he committed suicide. Before that he appointed Grand Admiral Doenitz to be his successor. Doenitz tried to surrender to the US and Britain but they refused until the surrender was complete.

38. Eva Braun had always known that when the time came she would willingly die with her Fuehrer. Midafternoon on April 30, they both entered Hitler's living room. According to those who entered the room an hour later, Hitler and Eva were found sitting on this couch. Hitler was slumped over, and blood spilled over the arm of the couch. Eva was sitting at the other end. Hitler had killed himself by biting down on a cyanide capsule while pulling the trigger of a gun aimed at his head. Eva only used the cyanide capsule. Her pistol still lay on the table before her.Here, American soldiers take a close look at the couch. Bloodstains are visible on the arm.

39. Japan is defeated • Roosevelt did not live to see the surrender of Germany, he died on April 12, 1945 (V-E Day is May 8) and left Harry Truman as President • Iwo Jima • American military planners decided to invade Iwo Jima halfway between the Mariana Islands and Japan. On Feb. 16, 1945; 60, 000 Marines landed crawling inch by inch to take it over due to the difficult landscape. • “Uncommon valor was an common virtue” • Use of Napalm • Jellied gasoline that would explode on contact, caused many deaths, and destruction of property. • Okinawa • 350 miles from Japan, American troops kept fighting until they took it over, now they could launch attacks from much closer.

40. Manhattan Project • American project headed by General Leslie Groves organized a team of engineers and scientists to build the first atomic bomb at a secret lab in New Mexico • Led by Robert Oppenheimer, the team detonated the first bomb in Alamogordo, NM • Decision to drop the bomb even before it was built, began to debate how to use it. • The A-Bomb • On August 6, 1945, a B-29 Bomber called the Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb code named “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, somewhere between 80,000 and 120,000 Japanese died instantly. • Later that day, the US dropped another bomb code named “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki, killing more than 50,000 people. • On Aug.15, 1945, the Japanese surrendered (V-J Day)

45. Building a New World • Creating the United Nations • Pres. Roosevelt had believed that creating a new international political organization could prevent another world war • In 1944, 39 countries met to create the new organization that would be called the United Nations, and would be able to settle international disputes and propose settlements. • Putting the enemy on trial • There was a military tribunal created by the US, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union in order to punish German and Japanese leaders in the Nuremberg Trials.