World War II, 1941–1945

The Treaty formally ended WWI;

but left many countries feeling as if things were not settled

January 1919 peace conference met in ParisThe Big Four = Gr Br, Fr., Italy, US

It included

(1) German military cut down

(2) 15 yr. lease of the mineral rich region (Alsace-Lorranine) given to the French

(3) Allies were to be paid $33 billion

(4) created the League of Nations

(President Wilson’s contribution)

(5) created new countries out of Austria-Hungary

June 28, 1919 it was signed but US did not; why?

US wanted to be isolated again so did not like the League

As a result the League would be weak and not able to stop problems

The Treaty caused many problems in Germany

-resented the Allies for punishing them

-created a severe depression

-no jobs, homes destroyed from the war; people were desperate for help

Totalitarianism- form of government in which one single person or party controls every aspect of life

(1) Germany & Adolf Hitler

-became involved in the Nationalist Socialists German Worker's Party (Nazis Party)

-became chancellor in 1933 and then fuherer after President Paul von Hindenberg’s death

-believed that the German people belonged to a superior Aryan race destined to rule the world

--established the Gestapo or secret police; Hitler Youth; used scare tactics to keep people in line

blamed all of Germany's troubles on the Jew

-anti-Semitism- hatred of the Jews

-(1) passed the Nuremberg Laws- deprived the Jews of citizenship; (2) made them register with the government; (3) wear yellow Star of David on their clothing; and (4) later he put them in concentration camps

-first step toward war by sending German troops into the Rhineland in 1936

- In 1938 he invaded Austria and later the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia)

(2) Italy

-had almost the same problems as Germany (poor economy)

-Benito Mussolini took over intent to make Italy like it had been in the ancient times

-Fascism- political party that believed the nation and the race was more important than the individual person

-frightened people into following him

-he did improve some things

-Italy invaded Ethiopia October 1935-1936

Rome-Berlin Axis established- alliance between Italy and Germany in 1936

(3) Japan- not nearly as bad a Germany and Italy

-military group came to power and wanted control in Asia-created militarianism-Japan wanted to overseas lands:

(a) more resources(b) more land for it’s growing population(c) military prestige

-the first area they attacked was Manchuria (northern China), which alarmed America due to economic trade

-next they attacked Shanghai and Nanjing, killing 10,000’s of people

-1936- they joined Germany and Italy in the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain used appeasement hoping to stop another war

-Munich Pact 1938- Britain, France, Italy, and Germany agreed that Hitler would not take any other lands in Europe so that he could keep the ones he already had

Hitler feeling as if he had no real opposition, he took the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939

He then turned his attention to Poland, causing the Soviets to get worried.

Nazis-Soviet Pact Aug. 23, 1939

-USSR agreed to let Germany invade and take Poland

-Germany agreed not to invade USSR

-September 1, 1939- he invaded Poland

-Great Britain and France agreed to help Poland and declared war on Germany September 3, 1939

Most Americans did not want to get involved in another war

-isolationism

-interventionism

U.S. passed the Neutrality Act of 1935, which prohibited the shipment of arms to countries at war

The Selective Training and Service Act (1940) - first peacetime draft

-applied to men 21 to 35

Election of 1940- FDR re-elected for the 3rd time

June 22, 1940 France fell

September 1940 until May 1941- constant bombing of Britain (Battle of Britain) {the blitz}

Spring 1941- U.S. passed the Lend-Lease Act-

-we would lend / lease military supplies to any allied nation fighting an aggressor nation

-once the war was over, they would give it back to the US

While all of this was going on in the Atlantic, relations with Japan was getting worse

-Japan controlled areas from Pacific to French Indochina

-Japan believed if they could stop the U.S. naval fleet in the Pacific, they could defeat the entire U.S.

-most Americans believed that an attack would come in the Philippines

December 7, 1941- Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a naval base in Honolulu, Hawaii.

From orders given by Admiral Nagumo the attack, the

-first wave of a two-wave attack, would begin at 7:55 am

this first wave consisted

-183 fighters and torpedo bombers which struck at the fleet in Pearl Harbor and the airfields in Hickam, Kaneohe, and Ewa.

-The second strike consisted of 167 aircraft, which again struck

at the same targets

Pearl Harbor, (Oahu) Hawaii

December 7, 1941 - A Day of Infamy

THESE PHOTOS ARE FROM A SAILOR WHO WAS ON THE USS QUAPAW ATF-11O

When it was over, the US lost

-8 American battleships

-400 planes

-10 other ships

-2,403 KIA, 1,178  WIA

December 8,1941- U.S. declared war on Japan and in doing so, declared war on Germany and Italy

The Home Front:The US at War

In order to get the American people behind the war effort***government created the OCD (Office of Civilian Defense)-

enlist the help of all Americans in some capacity-air raid monitors: supposed to watch the skies for a possible aerial

assault (enforced mandatory “black outs” in coastal cities-victory gardens- personal gardens grown to allow the farmers to

produce more for the military-People collected and recycled

-newspapers, old tires, bottles, anything that could be used for weapons-women donated their nylon stockings

-in order to control prices, started rationing (way of distributing limited goods fairly) by using ration coupons(limited how much flour, sugar, gasoline a family could have)It also prevented people from spending too much of their money

-it created 17 million new jobs-factories went from producing domestic products to war products-WWII officially ended the Great Depression

Women became very important to the war effort

-between 1940-1945 6 million women went to work ("Rosie the Riveter")

-350,000 were in the military (WAC, WAVES)

Not everything was calm

-summer of 1943 – wartime migration led to increased violence

-Detroit was the worst where African Americans often clashed with whites over jobs

-Los Angeles also saw violence in June, 1943

-”Zoot Suit” riot was between Mexican Americans and whites

(zoot suit = long jackets & baggy pants)

The Internment of Japanese Americans After Pearl Harbor, the U.S. wanted to tighten its national security

people became bitter towards the Japanese-Americans

Executive Order 9066

- to designate military areas

-areas to hold enemy aliens due to the threat of spying and sabotage

March 1942- in Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana,

-put them in the internment camps with no attempt to determine the loyal from the disloyal

-forced them to sell their property and could take with them only what they could carry (lost over $500 million)

-moved them to areas very isolated and fenced in (in some cases, used barbed wire)

-small rooms (usu. whole families in one room)

-They did not complain

-some even volunteered to serve in the U.S. military

-Korematsu v. the United States – the process was constitutional; based not on race but “military urgency”

- 1945 the camps finally closed

-1988- President Reagan signed an act repaying all of the Japanese-Americans interned in the camps $20,000 tax free over a 10 year period

Part Seven:

The World at War

Sicily, July 1943

El Alamein, Oct. 1942

Stalingrad, 1942-43

1944

Tebessa

WORLD WAR II BATTLES-The war was actually fought on 3 different fronts- Europe, North Africa, and

Asia and Pacific Islands

-By wars end, 49 nations were involved

--European Front--

-After the Battle of Britain, when it became apparent that Br. would not surrender,

Hitler turned his attention to the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941

-using a tactic called “blitzkrieg” – lightening war- using speed and power to get deep into enemy territory

-breaking the treaty he had with them

-he was able to push the Russians almost to Moscow

-Stalingrad- Russia turned the tide of the war with Germany

*ended any real plan Hitler had of dominating Europe

-the bitter Russian winter stopped them

-Stalin knew he could not defeat Hitler alone so he asked the Allies for help

-he got none because the Allies did not want to launch a campaign from there until Germany was surely weakened

-made him very bitter

-Stalin never forgave the Allies for their abandonment

-despite this, the Soviets entered the war on the side of the Allies

US INVOLVMENT (1942)

When the US entered the war, we believed we should “beat Hitler first” and considered Europe a priority over Japan

We first centered on Northern Africa as a way to get into Europe

-Northern Africa provided easy access to the Mediterranean Sea and then Europe

-November 1942- began fighting in Morocco and Algeria and then Tunisia forcing the Axis soldiers to surrender in May 1943 (Battle of El Alamein)

Next, focus on Italy-August 1, 1943 invaded Italy by going into Sicily and afterwards

pushing toward Rome-September 9, 1943 Italy gave up and withdrew from the war(2 years later, Mussolini was killed)-October 1, 1943 Italy actually declares war on Germany

With Germany weakened, the Allies now planned a huge invasion- Operation Overlord (the invasion of Normandy)-under the leadership of General Dwight Eisenhower

D-Day- June 6, 1944 at 2:00 am

-5,000 warships and 120,000 men arrived on shore a 60 mile stretch of beach

-Germans knew an attack was coming but expected it at Calais

-were successful and able to take Normandy at the cost of 2,245 dead and 1670 wounded

-Germans retreated from France and Paris was set free August 25, 1944

Russians attacking = east while Allies attacking = west;

were trying to get to the German headquarters in Berlin

The Germans launched a bitter attack in December 1944, (the Battle of the Bulge) because they attempted to break through the weakest area of the Allies but could not.

After a month, the battle was over as Allies marched across the Rhine River and the Soviets pushed from the east.

PEACE TALKS-Yalta Peace Talks (Feb.1945) between FDR, Churchill, Stalin-Stalin agreed to fight Japan after Germany was defeated in

exchange for territories in Asia-agreed to allow soviet influence in eastern Europe (Poland,

Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary)Hitler fearing defeat decided he would not surrender nor be captured, so he committed suicide and ordered his body to be burned.The Commanding German officer surrendered May 8, 1945 (V E Day )

FDR died of a brain hemorrhage on April 12, 1945-he had just been inaugurated for a 4th termHOLOCAUST

After the Allies freed Germany, they found the concentration camps rumored to exist

-1st camp was Dachau started in 1933 but after the war started there were some in Austria, Poland, France

-Auschwitz, Belzec, Sobidor, Treblinka-at first they were just labor camps to reeducate the

people considered to unworthy (Jews)

-later he also imprisoned homosexuals, Jehovah Witnesses, gypsies, and communists

-Hitler's ultimate goal became known as the "Final Solution"- kill each and everyone of the Jews on the face of the earth

-he had originally planned to kill 11 million Jews

-was only able to kill 6 million Jews and 5 to 10 million non-Jews

Conditions at the camps-the prisoners were stripped of all belongings-some were used in medical experiments-many were tortured just for fun-prisoners often dug their own graves-at first they would just shoot them, but that used too many bullets

and took too long so started using carbon monoxide-they were tricked into going into gas chambers (one chamber

could hold 3,000 people at once)-too many bodies piled up to be buried, so they began cremating

them

-one such oven could dispose of 2,000 bodies in 12 hours

-used body fat as fuel

Nuremberg Trials- to establish an overall record of what happened

-tried only those actually responsible

-many said they were just following orders

-22 Nazis leaders were tried

-12 sentenced to die, 3 given life sentences, 4 guilty of lesser crimes, and 3 were acquitted

Japan Takes the Philippines

War in the Pacific Dec 8, 1941 – Japan attacks US

air bases in the Philippines

US and Filipino forces fight bravely Gen. Douglas McArthur evacuated Apr 9, 1942 90 – 100,000 US and

Filipinos forced to surrender on Luzon

Japan controls islands by May 6, 1942

Corregidor

Bataan Peninsula

The Bataan Death March

The Bataan Death March75,000 POW’s forced 82 miles for 5-6 days to Camp O’Donnell

11,000 Filipino and US POW’s perishedNo H2O, food, torture murder!Later sent off the islands to work camps

Murder under the sun!

A US POW being beheaded on Bataan! Atrocities were all to common by sadistic Japanese officers and soldiers.

The Battle of Coral Sea- a victory for Allies; it stopped the Japanese advancement on Australia (May 1942)

June 4-6, 1942 – The Battle of Midway –Adm. Chester Nimitz sunk 4 carriers

Japan abandoned plans for attacking Fiji, Samoa, and Midway. Midway was turning point of Pacific War.

-used "island hopping"- attacking without a set pattern moving from one island to the next (weapon was surprise) eventually getting to the island of Japan itself

took Guadalcanal – 1st American offensive was in the Soloman Islands –August 1942-1st leg of a strategy to get to Japan by the Southwest Pacific and Central Pacific

-used both navy, army, and marines Next, retook Philippines, early 1945-Battle of Leyte Gulf – kamikazes used for the 1st timeAllies were even able to attack Tokyo itself from March 9-10, 1945 killing 83,000 people-Battle of Iwo Jima- one of the bloodiest

battles of the war -fought for 25 days until the Allies were able to win (March 1945)-Kentuckian Franklin Sousely was among the soldiers there (from Fleming

County) (helped to raise the flag on top of Mt. Suribachi)

-2 weeks after Iwo Jima, US attacked Okinawa (only 350 miles from Japan); here the Japanese lost over 100,000 men but still kept on fightingTruman realized that Japan would not surrender easily and plans an invasion for late 1945 Early in the 1930's Albert Einstein’s = energy of the atom

-work then began on creating a weapon itJ. Robert Oppenheimer was in charge of the "Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb

-July 16, 1945- U.S. successfully tested it in Alamogordo, New Mexico

Truman now had a decision to make: whether to use the new weapon or not against Japan

-estimates said that a land war in Japan = cost more than 1 million American lives

-he warned Japan to stop hostilities or face "prompt and utter destruction"

-Japan did not reply

August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay B-29 bomber bombed Hiroshima (dropping “Little Boy”)

-2/3 of it were destroyed instantly

-100,000 people killed instantly (due to the heat)

-100,000 wounded

Still not enough to convince Japan to stop

August 9, 1945 a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki = 40,000 died

Japan then decided it was time to surrender on August 14,1945; VJ Day = Sept.2, 1945COST OF THE WAR

-55 million civilians and soldiers killed (20 million of those were Soviets)

-over 290,000 Americans died-total cost = over $1 trillion -6 million Jews killed-Europe and Japan in rubble; millions left homeless-USSR now in a position to dominate Eastern Europe*US & USSR = most powerful in the world