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World War II: Some General
Information
The Good War
America helped defeat fascism
A Japanese victory in the Pacific
would have been bad
Rosie the Riveter
Ken Burns, John Wayne
Ending the Holocaust
But World War II was more than that
50 million people killed
More civilians than soldiers
The most brutal war in history
The wholesale bombing of cities
Policies of extermination
Inhumane treatment of POWs
Racism run amuck
Rape, and plunder uncontrolled
murder was commonplace
World War II--The Good War, A Race War or Lots of
Different Wars?
United States
The Reluctant Belligerent
Isolationism
Germany not America’s enemy
Pearl Harbor changed everything
The War against Japan was a war of vengeance
A War Without Mercy--historian John Dower
The war challenged America
It radically changed America
World War II was a series of separate wars
Germany vs. Europe & North Africa
Germany vs. The Soviet Union
Soviet Union vs. Finland
The US vs. Germany
The US vs. Japan
Japan vs. China
Japan vs. Britain in SE Asia
Australia vs Japan
The war against the Jews and other
undesirables
World War II began with a pledge
not bomb civilians
In the last year area fire bombing of
Dresden and Tokyo
And the war ended with the atomic
bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
Total war meant total destruction
Total Losses in Thousands
Civili Tot
al
an
8,0
2,500 5,500
00
6,5
4,500 2,000
00
5,7
1,781 4,000
81
5,0
123 4,877
00
2,3
350
2,000
50
1,7
300 1,400
00
350 600
250
100 500
400
200 500
300
350 450
100
294 430
136
60 350
290
294 340
46
104 374
270
- 300
300
198 210
12
16 100
84
75 88
13
- 42
42
Milita
ry
Ukraine
Germany
Russia *
Poland
Japan
Yugoslavia
France
Italy
Romania
Greece
Hung ary
Great Britain
Czech
Austria
USA
Holland
Finland
Belgium
Canada
% of population
19.1
9.1
(?) 2.9
19.6
3.4
10.6
1.5
1.1
3.7
6.2
4.6
0.7
3.0
5.6
0.2
2.4
2.7
1.1
0.4
The real war will never get in the history books
“Never give the enemy a chance; the days when we could practice
the rules of sportsmanship are over. . . .Every soldier must be a
potential gangster. . . .Remember you are out to kill.”
(British Handbook of Irregular War)
“I distrust people who speak of the atomic bombing . . . as an
atrocity. . . .At that time (1945) virtually everyone was delighted
that we dropped the bombs . . .because the “Japs” deserved it
for the terrible things they had done to our boys at Pearl Harbor,
Baton, Guadalcanal, and all the way across the Pacific.”
Paul Fussell, Wartime, p. 285.
For total war you must dehumanize the enemy
Americans detested the Japanese:
They were jackals, monkey-men, japs, nips, or
japes
Admiral William Halsey
“We are drowning and burning them all over the Pacific,
and it is just as much pleasure to burn them as to drown
them.”
An American soldier in the Pacific told John Hersey:
“I wish we were fighting the Germans. They are human
beings. But the Japs are like animals . . .
American believed that the Japanese could:
see in the dark
kill for the pleasure of killing
were totally at home in trees--hence monkeys
always wore glasses
Americans asked to describe the Japanese
Treacherous 73%
Warlike
46%
Sly
62%
Germans
Treacherous 43%
Russians
Treacherous 10%
A 1944 public opinion poll
13% of Americans wanted the
Japanese exterminated as a
nation
A 1945 public opinion poll
22% expressed regret that more
atomic bombs were not dropped
on the Japanese
A Watershed event in American History
Journalist Marquis Childs recalled: “Nothing
will ever be the same again.”
He was right--nothing was ever the same again
The people were more prosperous after the war
The government was more powerful
The United States was a world leader
The modern military with world-wide reach emerged
The war spelled the end of segregation and sex
Discrimination
Technology and corporations were king
The GI Bill sent millions to college for the first time
What Should Students Know About WWII?
Large numbers can not name the Allies
Confused about when the war was fought
Most can’t name the President
Fewer still can name key Generals
Almost no one can remember key battles
Pearl Harbor a mystery
Many believe US & Germany fought against
the Soviet Union
Most do know about the Holocaust
They do identify Hitler correctly
What do students know?
When was WWII fought?
one of 36 1939-1945
What caused US to join WWII?
16 of 36 said Pearl Harbor
Who was President of the US during WWII
1 said FDR--others ranged from George
Washington to George Bush
When you think of WWII what do you think of?
violence 22; Iraq 2; generals riding horses
• Let’s assume that most students today-some 6 decades after the war ended-have problems understanding the scope
of WWII
• It is mixed up with World War I, Korea,
Vietnam and even Iraq
• So how do you get students to grasp
the essentials of the war?
What do Americans know about WWII?
Where did US troops land for the D-Day
Invasion in June, 1944?
What country did US fight against
in D-Day invasion?
So they should know
FDR was President
1939-1945
US, Great Britain, China Allies
Germany, Japan and Italy Enemy
Battles
In Europe
Moscow, Stalingrad & Leningrad
D-Day Invasion
Battle of the Bulge
Berlin
In Asia
Pearl Harbor--Dec. 7, 1941
Doolittle raid on Tokyo
Iwo Jima
Atomic bombs--Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
What were the causes of the war?
German conquest
Western Imperialism
Racism
Japanese expansionism
Italian dreams of empire
Weakness of the European
democracies--Britain and France
Isolation of the US from the world stage
The size and scope of World War II
It was fought on a world stage
From Moscow to Paris
From Sicily to Berlin
Greece, Crete, Yugoslavia
In North Africa, Egypt, Libya, Algeria
The Pacific Islands
Indo-China, China, Burma, Vietnam
The Philippine Islands