Civil War Review Sheet & Civil War Essay Due TODAYCivil War Quiz TODAY!!!!

4/24 & 4/27

The Second World War & the America 1929 – 1939 ~ Questions 15 & 16!!!!

• Why did the United States become involved in the Second World War?◦ Intro/Background Info:

• - Circumstances preceding the war suggested the US would not be involved in another international war for some time: ◦ Isolationism (1930s): after WWI, the US feared becoming involved in other

countries’ affairs (remember, the US never joined the League of Nations) • Key post-war peace treaties: the Washington Conference (1921-1922), the Kellogg-Briand

Pact (1928)

Isolation & Involvement Domestically, the Neutrality Acts were passed by Roosevelt to pursue isolationism

◦ • The first act (1935) banned the sale of arms to either belligerent in a war◦ • The second act banned loans to belligerents

• Isolation is also reflected in the policy of protectionism – high tariffs throughout the 1920s

◦ Great Depression (1929 to around 1940-1): financially, the country was still recovering (and much of the federal budget was invested in New Deal programs) and was not prepared to pay for a war

• - Nevertheless, the US entered the World War II on December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor)

Reversal of Neutrality Acts• a. Roosevelt, although he supported the Neutrality Acts, was concerned about

events developing overseas by the late 1930s (rise of fascism, totalitarianism, etc.). Key events:

◦ i. 1922: Establishment of USSR. Stalin ruler after 1924.

◦ ii. 1922: Mussolini takes power in Italy

◦ iii. 1931: Militarist Japan invades Manchuria (China)

◦ iv. 1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany

◦ v. 1936-39: Spanish Civil War. Franco becomes dictator

• b. In light of these events, Roosevelt felt the US had a responsibility to protect peace and freedom: “The peace, freedom, and security of 90 percent of the population of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10 percent who are threatening a breakdown of all international order and law.” (1937).

◦ i. Began a military buildup and increase in the military budget as a precaution.

Cash & Carry• Two days after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Roosevelt assured Americans that he was

committed to keeping the US neutral

• b. Nevertheless, Roosevelt revised the Neutrality Act of 1935 (no sale of arms to belligerents), asking Congress to pass a Neutrality Act of 1939 which would permit warring nations to buy US arms as long as they paid cash and transported the weapons in their own ships. ◦ i. Isolationists were infuriated by this proposition

◦ ii. After 6 weeks of debate, the Act was passed

• c. In 1940, the Tripartite Pact (mutual defense treaty) was signed between Japan, Germany, and Italy ◦ i. Roosevelt recognized that, should war break out, the US would be forced to fight on two fronts

(Atlantic and Pacific oceans)

◦ ii. He saw Britain as the last defense between America and the Axis Powers

◦ iii. To avoid a direct threat to the US, he sent Britain 500,000 rifles and 80,000 machine guns by June 1940 and in September traded 50 old US destroyers for leases on British military bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland – an act which Winston Churchill called “decidedly unneutral”

Lend Lease • Shortly after reelection to his third term, Roosevelt began addressing the

public about how Hitler could not be stopped through negotiation, and argued that the US had turn itself into “the great arsenal of democracy”

• b. Because Britain had no money left to spend on US arms by late 1940, Roosevelt devised the lend-lease policy ◦ i. Under the policy, the president would lend or lease arms or supplies to “any

country whose defense was vital to that of the United States”

◦ ii. Compared it to lending your garden hose to your neighbor whose house is on fire

• c. Most Americans favored the Lend-Lease Act, and it was passed by Congress in March 1941 ◦ i. Britain and the USSR, which had by this point broken with Germany, received

Lend-Lease aid

. The Last Straw: Direct Attacks on the US and Final Preparations for War

• From its aid to the Allies by 1941, it was pretty clear whose side the US was on

• b. Hitler, in an effort to keep lend-lease aid from reaching Britain, ordered U-boat attacks on ships in the North Atlantic

◦ i. At night, groups of up to 40 submarines (“wolf packs”) patrolled the north Atlantic Ocean

◦ ii. These wolf packs were successful in sinking as many as 350,000 tons of supplies in a single month

◦ iii. In June 1941, Roosevelt granted the US naval warships permission to attack the U-boats in self-defense

• c. In August 1941, Roosevelt met secretly with British PM Winston Churchill on the USS Augusta to settle a joint declaration of war aims called the Atlantic Charter

◦ i. Both the US and Britain pledged collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, and freedom of the seas

◦ ii. Roosevelt confided in Churchill that he could not ask Congress to declare war, but that he would do everything to provoke an incident which would allow the US to enter the war on the side of the Allies

• . By autumn 1941, German U-boats were actively attacking US ships: ◦ i. September 4: attack on USS Greer

◦ ii. Mid-September: the Pink Star (merchant ship) is sunk

◦ iii. Mid-October: USS Kearney is sunk, with 11 US casualties

◦ iv. Days later: USS Reuben James is destroyed, with 100+ US casualties • 1. Roosevelt declared: “America has been attacked. The shooting has started. And history has recorded who

fired the first shot.”• 2. Congress repealed the ban on arming merchant ships – the undeclared naval war with Germany had begun

• e. Official war against the Axis began only with the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941 – “a date which will live in infamy”) ◦ i. Over 2000 US dead, 1000+ injured, nearly the entire US Pacific fleet destroyed along with 300

aircraft

◦ ii. Congress quickly approved Roosevelt’s declaration of war on Japan

◦ iii. Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the US

◦ iv. Pearl Harbor was the final straw – many former isolationists expressed full support for the US war effort. Ex.: Senator Burton Wheeler: “The only thing to do now is to lick the hell out of them.”

Conclusion • Although public sentiment in the US strongly favored isolation from the war in

Europe, Roosevelt saw where the war was headed and felt obligated to protect democracy

• Who knows what might have happened, but it seems likely that Nazi Germany and the Axis would have eventually attacked the US as Japan did in 1941

• One good outcome of the US entering WWII: ultimately, it achieved the goal of definitively ending the Great Depression as the economy mobilized for the war effort

Emergence Of The Americas In Global Affairs: United States’ expansionist foreign policies: political, economic, social, and ideological reasonsQuestion 9 & 10

• -POLITICAL:

• • Americans had a desire for military strength (after seeing other nations establishing a global military presence• American leaders advised that the United States build up its own military strength• Constant fear of communism. (Red scare)

• -ECONOMIC:

• • Americans had a thirst for new markets/goods• United States, needed raw materials and new markets for its agricultural and manufactured goods because of advances in technology and Imperialists viewed foreign trade as the solution.• Example: Hawaii and their sugar plantations; Alaska – rich in timber, minerals, and oil• Oil reserves in Middle East are discovered to be a source of wealth—Britain had a head start. I.e. America wanted a piece of the pie.• Tariffs to protect American companies which led to foreign tariffs and contributed to the Great -Depression

• -SOCIAL:

• • Americans had always sought to expand the size of their nation• European nations had been establishing colonies for centuries

-IDEOLOGICAL• Imperialism

• Social Darwinism

• Roosevelt Corollary

• Big Stick Policy

• Dollar Diplomacy

• Foreign Conflict

Political Developments In The Americas After World War 2 ~ Question 17 & 18

• CUBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Cold War and the Americas 1945 – 1981….19 & 20 • CUBA AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Eisenhower and Dulles

• Brinksmanship

• New Look

◦“Analyze the impact of the Cold War on the foreign policy of either Canada or one country of Latin America from 1945 – 1965.”

Paper III Exam…. “The Americas”• Where are these questions????

◦ Civil War – 5 & 6…….Causes & Reconstruction

◦ Great Depression - 13 &14….Causes & Effects / Responses

◦ Civil Rights - 21 & 22….Peace vs. Violent / Radical

◦ Global Affairs – 9 & 10

◦ Political Developments in the Americas after WWII – 17 & 18

◦ The Cold War and the Americas 1945 - 1981 – 19 & 20

◦ Paper III Essay……Go through exam and choose 3 Essay you would write 5 minutes!!!! GO

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