Chapter 10- America and World War II (1939-1945)
Lesson 1- War Clouds Gather
The Rise of Dictators

• Adolf Hitler wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle)
• Many Europeans were upset about the Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler and other leaders promised prosperity and a return to greatness
  • Came to power and became dictators (leaders who have absolute power and rule a nation by force)

 
Mussolini in Italy

• Many Italians felt they didn’t get enough in the Treaty of Versailles
• Benito Mussolini made fascism (dictatorial government that stresses the greatness of a race or nation) popular in Italy
• The Fascist Party forced the king to declare Mussolini the head of government in 1922
  • Mussolini outlawed all other political parties
  • No more civil liberties and free press
  • Mussolini built up the military
• Italy conquered Ethiopia in 1935
  • League of Nations protested
    • Italy left the League of Nations
• Italy invaded Albania in 1939

 
Germany

• Great Depression hit Germany hard
• Bitterness over the Treaty of Versailles (blamed Germany for World War I)
• Hitler led the Nazi Party
  • Nazis believed Germans were superior to all others
  • Blamed Jews for Germany’s problems (anti-Semitism)
• Hitler gained power in 1933
  • Ended democracy and set up totalitarian (seeking to control all aspects of life through dictatorial control) rule
  • Rebuilt the Germany military (violation of the Treaty of Versailles)
  • Formed an alliance with Italy in 1936

 
The Soviet Union and Japan

• Joseph Stalin came to power in the Soviet Union in the late 1920s
  • Killed his rivals
  • Millions sent to labor camps
• Hirohito- Emperor of Japan
• Japan’s military held great power
  • Believed Japan needed more land and resources
• Japan attacked Manchuria in China in 1931
  • Hideki Tojo- one of the generals who led the invasion, later became prime minister
  • Criticized by the League of Nations, but nothing done about it
• Japan formed an alliance with Germany and Italy in 1940 (the Axis)

 
The United States Tries to Stay Neutral

• Americans wanted to avoid involvement in world affairs
• Neutrality Acts passed between 1935 and 1937
  • Banned the sale of weapons and making loans to nations at war

 
Germany Pushes the Limits

• Hitler ordered troops into the Rhineland in March 1936
  • Not allowed by the Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler unified Germany and Austria
• Hitler declared Germany’s right to take the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia
  • Czechoslovakia was willing to fight
• European leaders met in Munich, Germany, in September 1938
  • Britain and France tried to avoid war by accepting Germany’s demands
    • Appeasement- the policy of giving in to the demands of others in an effort to keep peace
    • Sudetenland turned over to Germany
  • Hitler promised not to expand Germany’s territory further
  • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proclaimed “peace in our time”
• Hitler seized the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939
• Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact in August 1939
  • Allowed Hitler to invade Poland without fear of a Soviet response

 
Lesson 2- World War II Begins
War in Europe

• Franklin Roosevelt wanted to keep out of war
• Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939
  • Britain and France declared war on Germany
  • Germans called their offensive a blitzkrieg (“lightning war;” fast, sudden attack by massed forces)
  • Poland divided by Germany and the Soviet Union in late September
• Stalin forced the Baltic republics (Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia) to allow Soviet military bases
• War broke out between the Soviet Union and Finland
  • Finland surrendered in March 1940

 
The Spread of War

• British and French forces settled in at the Maginot Line (a string of steel-and-concrete bunkers along the French-German border)
• Hitler attacked Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, and Belgium in the spring of 1940
• Allied troops retreated to Dunkirk after Belgium surrendered
  • Trapped between the Germans and the coast
    • Rescued by more than 800 British ships
• Germany and Italy invaded France in June
  • Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Axis Powers
  • France surrendered in June 1940

 
Britain Battles for Survival

• Germans began bombing of Britain
• Hitler wanted to break British morale
• British Prime Minister Winston Churchill refused to surrender
• Battle of Britain went from July-October 1940
• Royal Air Force (RAF) inflicted heavy losses on the German air force and Hitler gave up his invasion plans

 
Germany Turns on Stalin

• Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941
  • Stalin ordered a scorched-earth policy- Soviets burned cities, destroyed crops, and blew up dams that provided electricity
    • Made it harder for the Germans to supply their troops and keep advancing

 
The United States and the War

• Isolationists created the America First Committee
• Roosevelt wanted to stay neutral, but got ready for war
  • Increased the size of the navy
  • Neutrality Act of 1939 allowed the US sell weapons to other countries on a “cash and carry” basis
  • Roosevelt gave the British 50 destroyers for in exchange for leases on eight British military bases
  • Selective Training and Service Act created the peacetime draft in US history (men between 21 and 35)

 
The 1940 Election

• Roosevelt decided to run for a third term
  • Broke precedent set by George Washington
• Republicans nominated Wendell L. Willkie
  • Agreed with Roosevelt on many issues
• Roosevelt won

 
The United States’ Involvement Grows

• Lend-Lease Act passed in March 1941
  • Allowed the US to sell, lend, or lease arms to Britain
  • Opposed by isolationists
• Roosevelt had the navy protect British ships close to American shores
  • Germans began firing on American ships
    • Roosevelt ordered Americans to shoot German and Italian ships on sight

 
The Atlantic Charter

• Roosevelt and Churchill drew up the Atlantic Charter in August 1941
  • Set goals for after the Nazis were defeated
    • Disarmament- giving up military weapons
    • Creation of a permanent system for preserving peace

 
The Japanese Threat

• Japanese seized the French colony of Indochina in 1940
  • Planned to take the Dutch East Indies, British Malaya, and the Philippines

 
The United States Responds

• Roosevelt froze Japanese funds in American banks
  • Also stopped the sale of gasoline and other resources to Japan
• Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoye resigned in October 1941
  • Didn’t believe Japan could defeat the US in a war
  • Hideki Tojo became the new prime minister
• US and Japan opened negotiations on November 20 in Washington
• Tojo’s government planned an attack on the US

 
Attack on Pearl Harbor

• Japanese bombed US military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941
  • Destroyed many ships and planes
  • More than 2,300 Americans killed
• Roosevelt asked Congress for a declaration of war (“a date which will live in infamy”)
• Germany and Italy declared war on the US on December 11

 
Lesson 3- On the Home Front
The United States Prepares

• Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor united Americans

 
Building the Military

• More than 15 million Americans joined the armed forces
  • Called GIs
    • Basic training for eight weeks- learned to handle weapons, read maps, set up tents, dig trenches, etc.
  • Women for the first time
    • WACs (Women’s Army Corps), WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service in the Navy), WASPs (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots)
    • Didn’t fight in combat- most worked in offices or as nurses

 
A Changing Economy

• New agencies created to speed up preparations for the war
  • National War Labor Board- settled labor disputes
  • War Production Board- change of industries to war production
• 2.5 million women worked in shipyards, aircraft factories, and other manufacturing plants

 
Funding the War

• US spent $320 billion on the war
• Revenue Act of 1942
  • Raised corporate taxes
  • Required most Americans to pay income taxes
    • Pay withheld from workers’ paychecks
• Government borrowed money- war bonds

 
The United States at War

• Americans at home provided shelter, training, equipment, transportation, and medical care for soldiers

 
Making Sacrifices for Victory

• Shortages of products needed for the war
  • Rationed (made scarce items available to people on a limited basis) by the government
    • Government-issued ration stamps allowed people to buy limited gas, tires, shoes, sugar, coffee, meat, etc.
• Families separated by war

 
Helping in Many Ways

• “Victory gardens”
• Children collected scrap metal for use in industry
• Civil defense- protective measures taken by civilians in case of attack
  • Volunteer spotters watched for enemy aircraft
  • Blackouts at night for coastal cities
• Office of War Information promoted patriotism to unite Americans behind the war effort

 
Women at Work

• Rosie the Riveter- encouraged women to take factory jobs

 
African Americans

• One million African Americans in the armed forces
  • Only segregated units at first
  • Combat assignments starting in 1944
  • Tuskegee Airmen- destroyed more than 250 enemy planes
  • Benjamin Davis, Jr.- first African American general in the US Air Force
• Philip Randolph demanded that the government outlaw job discrimination in American defense industries
  • Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee

 
Native Americans

• Thousands worked in defense industries or served in the armed forces
• Ira Hayes- hero in the battle for Iwo Jima
• Navajo “code talkers” used a code to send messages that the Japanese couldn’t break

 
Latinos

• Hundreds of thousands of Latinos in the military
• Mercedes Cubría- first Hispanic woman officer in the Women’s Army Corps
• Horacio Rivero- first Hispanic four-star admiral since David Farragut to serve in the US Navy
• Farm and railroad workers recruited from Mexico (bracero program)
• Faced discrimination- not welcomed in some cities

 
Japanese Americans

• Served in the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team

 
US Internment Camps

• US leaders worried about what Japanese Americans would do if Japan invaded the US
• Roosevelt ordered the relocation of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps (camps where Japanese Americans were kept during World War II)
  • Crowded and uncomfortable camps
  • Two-thirds were US citizens
  • Most stayed for three years
  • Lost homes and businesses
  • Upheld by the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States (1944)
  • Government apologized in 1988 and paid $20,000 to survivors

 
Lesson 4- The European Theater of War
Focusing on the Nazi Threat

• Allies decided to concentrate on defeating Hitler first
• Axis armies occupied most of Europe and much of North Africa
  • Threat to the Soviet Union

 
Setting a Strategy

• Stalin wanted to attack Hitler’s forces in Europe
  • Churchill and Roosevelt decided to attack North Africa

 
Allied Success in North Africa

• Erwin Rommel (“Desert Fox”) led Axis forces in North Africa
  • British defeated Rommel at El Alamein in November 1942
    • Kept the Germans from taking the Suez Canal
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower led US and British forces into Algeria and Morocco in November 1942
  • Moved east while British forces from Egypt moved west
  • Drove the Germans out of North Africa in May 1943

 
The Allies Attack Italy

• Allies took the island of Sicily and landed on Italy’s mainland in September 1943
  • Directed by Eisenhower
  • US General George Patton and British General Bernard Montgomery led the troops
• Italians forced Mussolini from power
  • Italy’s new government surrendered
    • Germans continued to fight in Italy
• Allies took Rome (Italy’s capital) in June 1944
• Air attacks on Germany
  • Allies bombed factories and cities
  • Thousands killed

 
The Allies Take Control in Europe

• Soviets fought Germany on Soviet soil

 
The Soviets Defend the Eastern Front

• Germans advanced on Leningrad
  • Military center and symbol of the Soviet state
  • Citizens joined Red Army troops in defending the city
• German siege (military blockade) of Leningrad lasted nearly 900 days
  • Hundreds of thousands of people died
  • Siege broken in early 1944
• Germans tried and failed to capture Moscow in 1941
• Germans attacked Stalingrad in the 1942
  • Germans took the city, but surrendered in February 1943 after the Soviets cut off their supply lines
• German defeat at Stalingrad was a turning point
  • German forces were in retreat

 
D-Day

• Soviets pushed toward Germany from the east
• Eisenhower prepared for Operation Overlord (invasion of occupied Europe)
• D-Day- June 6, 1944
  • Allies landed on the coast of Normandy
    • “Utah,” “Omaha,” “Gold,” “Sword,” and “Juno” beaches
  • Faced land mines and fierce fire from the Germans
  • More than 9,000 Allied troops killed or wounded on the first day
  • One million Allied troops in France within a few weeks
• Allies liberated Paris on August 25

 
Victory in Europe

• Soviet forces pushed from the east, US and British forces from the west
• Battle of the Bulge
  • Germans drove into a bulge in Allied line, but were pushed back after several weeks
• Soviets were just outside Berlin in February 1945
  • Hitler committed suicide on April 30
• Germany signed an unconditional surrender on May 7
  • Allies declared May 8 V-E Day (“Victory in Europe”)
• Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945
  • Harry S Truman became president

 
The Holocaust

• Nazi leaders developed “the final solution”
  • Genocide- attempt to kill an entire population, such as an ethnic group
• About two-thirds of Europe’s Jews (6 million) killed in Holocaust (the mass slaughter of Jews by the Nazis during World War II
  • Millions of Slavs, Roma (Gypsies), communists, homosexuals, and disabled people killed also

 
Persecution of Germany’s Jews

• Nuremberg laws (1935)- removed citizenship from Jewish Germans and banned marriage between Jews and other Germans
• Jews not allowed to vote, hold public office, and employ non-Jewish Germans
• Jews banned from owning businesses and practicing law or medicine
• November 9, 1938- Nazis burned Jewish places of worship, destroyed Jewish shops, and killed many Jews
  • About 30,000 Jewish men sent to concentration camps (large prison camps used to hold people for political reasons)

 
The Persecution Spreads

• Jews forced to wear yellow stars on their clothing
• Mass killing of Jews began when Germany invaded the Soviet Union
• Thousands of Jews sent by railroad to concentration camps
  • Shaved heads, tattooed camp numbers on arms
  • Very little food

 
The Final Solution

• Nazis agreed on the “final solution” in January 1942
  • Death camps (such as Auschwitz) built
    • People died in poison gas chambers and of starvation
    • Experiments by Nazi doctors
    • Healthy prisoners used for slave labor
    • Bodies burned in giant furnaces
  • Allies knew about the death camps as early as 1942

 
In Remembrance

• US Holocaust Memorial Museum built near the National Mall in Washington, DC
• National World War II Memorial opened in 2004

 
Lesson 5- The War in the Pacific
The Pacific Front

• Japanese attacked American airfields in the Philippines, Wake, and Guam on December 7, 1941
  • Invaded Thailand and Malaya, captured Guam, Wake Island, and Hong Kong
  • Invaded the Philippines and took Manila
    • General Douglas MacArthur led a retreat to the Bataan Peninsula and the island of Corregidor

 
The Japanese Take the Philippines

• Allied troops defending Bataan surrendered on April 9, 1942
  • Japanese forced prisoners to march more than 60 miles to a prison camp
    • About 22,000 people died on the Bataan Death March
• MacArthur left for Australia, but promised to return to the Philippines

 
The Island Hopping Strategy

• Americans bombed Tokyo
  • Lifted American spirits
• US won the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942
• Battle of Midway (June 1942)- four Japanese aircraft carriers and hundreds of airplanes destroyed; major loss for Japan
• MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz used a strategy called island hopping (attacking and capturing certain key islands and then using these islands as bases from which to attack others)
  • Moved closer to the Philippines and Japan
  • Americans won control of Guadalcanal after fighting from August 1942 to February 1943
  • Americans captured Guam in June 1944
    • Gave US bombers a base from which they could reach Japan
  • Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines (June 1944)- most of the Japanese fleet destroyed

 
On Toward Japan

• Americans seized Iwo Jima in March 1945 and Okinawa in June 1945
  • Thousands of Americans killed and wounded
• Americans bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities
• Japanese used kamikazes (suicide pilots who crashed their planes into enemy ships)

 
The Atomic Bomb Ends the War

• Japan refused to surrender
• Albert Einstein warned Roosevelt that the Nazis might try to build an atomic bomb
• Manhattan Project created in the US to build an atomic bomb
  • Atomic bomb tested in the New Mexico desert in July 1945

 
Deciding to Use the A-Bomb

• Truman’s advisers warned that casualties would be high if the US invaded Japan
  • Truman wanted to save American lives
• Potsdam Declaration- Allies warned Japan that it faced “prompt and utter destruction” if they didn’t surrender

 
Japan Surrenders

• Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
• Second bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9
• Hiroshima- 80,000-120,000 killed; Nagasaki- 35,000-74,000 killed
  • Thousands more suffered burns and illness from radiation
• Hirohito ordered the government to surrender after the bombings
• August 15, 1945- V-J Day (“Victory over Japan”)
• Formal surrender signed on September 2
• Nazi and Japanese leaders put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Nuremberg and Tokyo

 
The Costs of the War

• More than 60 million people killed
  • More than half were civilians (bombing, starvation, disease, torture, murder)
  • 418,500 Americans killed
  • Soviet Union had the most deaths (about 24 million)