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Chapter 17
World War II: The Road to War
Section 1
The Rise of Dictators
Dictators ruled through totalitarian rule.
Totalitarian - the government exerts total control over a nation, dominating every aspect of life, using
terror to suppress individual rights and silences all forms of opposition
Forms of totalitarian governments in Europe included Communism in Russian and Fascism in Germany
and Italy
Fascism - emphasizes the importance of the nation or an ethnic group
Historically, Communism and Fascism are fierce enemies
Stalin’s Soviet Union
When Stalin took over, after the death of Lenin, he implemented a series of five-year plans to modernize
agriculture and build new industries
Combined family farms into huge collective farms owned by the state.
When faced with resistance, Stalin forced farmers from their land
Confiscated crops and send 5 million peasants in to labor camps
Food shortages required rationing
More successful in rapid industrialization
Ignoring basic needs of his people, standard of living fell sharply
To cement his political control, Stalin conducted political purges
Purge - the process of removing enemies and undesirable individuals from power
Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy
WWI veteran, dissatisfied with how Italy was treated in the Treaty of Versailles
Formed the revolutionary Fascist Party
Used gangs of thugs called Blackshirts to terrorize anyone who opposed him
Suspended elections, outlawed other political parties, formed a dictatorship
Gives himself the title of Il Duce, “the leader”
Dreamed of a new Roman Empire
Conquered Ethiopia
Hitler’s Nazi Germany
WWI veteran, enraged by the treatment of Germany after the war
Turned the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in to the Nazi Party
Nazism - Hitler’s form of fascism based on German nationalism and racial superiority
While imprisoned, wrote Mein Kampf “My Struggle”
Outlined Nazi philosophy
His plans for Germany
Criticized Germany’s Jewish population for the country’s WWI defeat
In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler wanted to
Strengthen Germany’s military
Expand beyond its borders
Purify the “Aryan race” by remove undesirable groups
The Nazi Party, with Hitler as its leader became the largest party in the Reichstag, lower house of
Germany’s parliament
Hitler comes in second in Germany’s 1932 presidential election
Hitler is named German Chancellor, head of Germany’s government
Suspends freedom of speech and freedom of press
Uses Nazi thugs, Brownshirts, to silence opposition
In August 1934, after Von Hindenburg (German president) dies Hitler becomes Chancellor and
President
Gives himself the title of Der Fuhrer, “the Leader”
Violates the Treaty of Versailles and rearms Germany
Massive building of public buildings and constructs the autobahn, a network of highways
Like Mussolini, Hitler believed territorial expansion was necessary
March 7, 1936, the Germany army enters the Rhineland, a region in western Germany
The Treaty of Versailles banned the German military from the region
Hitler correctly believed the Allies would take no action against their aggression
In 1936 Hitler and Mussolini created an alliance, an axis between Berlin and Rome
Germany, Italy and later Japan formed the Axis Powers
In 1938 Hitler pressured Austria for a political union
Austria refused and Hitler ordered German troops into Austria
Most Austrians welcomed the German troops
Later in 1938 Hitler demanded the area of Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland, an
industrialized area with a large German population
Britain’s Prime Minister, Neville Chanberlain met twice with Hitler in an attempt to resolve
The Sudetenland issue
Chamberlain pursued a policy of appeasement
Appeasement - giving in to a competitor’s demands in order to keep the peace
Because Britain and France were unprepared for war, and hoping to satisfy Hitler’s appetite for
Territory, they agreed to sacrifice the Sudetenland hoping to satisfy
Civil War in Spain
1936 military rebellion against the newly elected Republican government
Rebels, who became known as the Nationalist were led my General Francisco Franco
Germany and Italy supplied planes, tanks, and soldiers to the Nationalists
Soviet Union sends arms and supplies to the Republicans
March 1939 took control of the capital, ending the civil war
Franco remained in power until his death in 1975
Section 2
Europe Goes to War
Neville Chamberlain returned from the Munich Conference in 1938 believing by giving Hitler the
Sudetenland he averted war
Winston Churchill, a Member of Parliament, did not believe Hitler would be satisfied
Churchill stated, “ Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor.
They will have War.”
Churchill was proved correct
Churchill replaced Chamberlain as PM in May 1940.
In March 1939, six months after getting the Sudetenland, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia
Kept the western half and dividing the rest among his allies.
The following month, Italy invaded and occupied Albania.
With no shots fired, peace in Central Europe rapidly broke down.
After the invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain and France abandoned their policy of appeasement.
Britain and France began to prepare for war.
Britain and France pledged to come to the aid of Poland if Germany invaded.
Hitler did not believe them.
Remembering the two front war that Germany had during WWI, Hitler and Stalin signed a ten-year
Nonaggression Pact.
This pact eliminated Germany’s fear of invasion from the east.
A secret of the pact divided the independent states of Eastern Europe between Germany and Russia
September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland.
September 3, 1939, Britain and France declare war on Germany
Britain, France and Poland had more soldiers and infantry divisions than Germany but Germany had superior
Firepower - more weapons
Germany had a new military tactic, the blitzkrieg
Blitzkrieg - “lightning war” - a fast, concentrated air and land attach that took the enemy’s army
By surprise
Using blitzkrieg, the German army overran Poland in less than a month
Poland was divided between Germany and Russia
After several months of no military conflict, Germany began its conquest of Europe
April 9, 1940 attack on Denmark and Norway
May 10,1940 attach on the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
Mid-May invasion of northern France, the French government abandoned Paris June 10th,
On June 22nd France surrendered to Hitler
The German army’s rapid advance split the French and British army to the north and south
340.000 troops were evacuated in a makeshift fleet across the English Channel
In the unoccupied south of France, the government of General Petain adopted a policy of collaboration
Collaboration - close cooperation with Germany
In London, the government-in-exile under General De Gaulle backed the Resistance movement
Resistance - groups of French citizens whose activities ranged from distributing anti-German
Leaflets to sabotaging German operations in France
Hitler’s army seemed on the brink defeating the Allies
Allies - Great Britain, France, and Poland who were joined by the US and the Soviet Union
In the summer of 1940, Great Britain was stood alone, across the English Channel, in northern France
Germany was planning its attack
In August 1940 the Battle of Britain began and lasted well into September
England’s large and well-equipped Navy controlled the Channel
Germany had to attack from the air
Germany’s Luftwaffe (airforce) began by bombing ports, airfields, and radar installations
Later they attacked aircraft factories and oil storage tanks
Rules of Air Warfare prohibited attacks on civilians
In late August a few Luftwaffe planes strayed off course and dropped bombs on London
In a possible retaliation, the British airforce (RAF) bombed Berlin
In September Hitler ordered massive bombing raids on London
These bombs included firebombs that burned hot enough to set building on fire
The Blitz of London continued on and off until May 1941
By the end of the Blitz, 20,000 Londoners were killed
Section 3
Japan Builds an Empire
During WWI, Japan joined the Allies
Japan became a member of the League of Nations
Japan signed the Kelogg-Briand Pact
In the 1920s Japan’s economy suffered from a series of recessions and as with the rest of the world economic
Conditions grew worse because of the Great Depression
As with other nations, Japan’s government was seen as weak
Radical Nationalism groups formed in opposition to the Japanese government
Japan is located on a string of islands
In the 1900s Japan experienced a population explosion
Japan was in need of more land to feed its growing population
Japan was in need of more raw materials and markets to power its economy
Japan saw Manchuria, north of Korea on the mainland of China as the solution to its problems
In September 1931, Japanese army stationed in Manchuria said Chinese soldiers attempted
To blowup a railroad line
By February 1932, Japan had seized all of Manchuria
Manchurian Incident - name given to the attack and military seizer of Manchuria by Japan
Japan announced Manchuria was now a independent state under Japanese protection
Japan installed a head of state with Japanese advisors to run the government
Puppet state - a supposedly independent country under the control of a powerful
Neighbor
Japan’s actions were condemned by the US and Britain as having broken the Kelogg-Briand Pact
The League of Nations ordered Japan out of occupied Manchuria
Japan resigned its membership to the league
Japan used its military position in Manchuria to plan its further expansion in Asia
In 1940, announced a Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere to be led by Japan
The sphere was from Manchuria in the north to the Dutch East Indies in the south
Supposed to liberation Asia from European colonization
In truth the area was need by Japan for its raw materials of oil and rubber
September 1940 Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy - forming the Axis
April 1941 Japan and the Soviet Union signed a neutrality pact
Section 4
From Isolationism to War
American isolationism increased in the early 1930s
FDR was focused more on domestic issues (New Deal) than world issues
In 1935 Congress began to block US involvement in international affairs by passing a series of
Neutrality Acts
1935 - banned the US from providing weapons to nations at war
1936 - banned loans to nations at war
1937 - cash and carry - permitted trade with nations at war in only nonmilitary goods
payment in cash only
nations had to provide their own transport of goods
1939 US isolationism views softened with the aggression of the Axis powers and Japan
1940 with the fall of France, Americans believed in “all aid short of war” be given to Britain
This aid lead to the creation of the American First Committee
American First Committee - group of isolationist who wanted to block further aid to Britain
November 1940, FDR elected to 3rd term
Britain tells US they are no longer able to pay cash for supplies from the US
Lend-Lease Act passed March 1941
Lend-Lease Act - authorized the President to aid any nation whose defense he believed
was vital to American security
While focused on the war in Europe the US was also concerned with the actions of Japan
September 1940 US stopped the sale of scrap iron and steel to Japan
1940 US cracked Japan’s top-secret code
1941 US decoded an intercepted diplomatic messages
US was aware of Japan’s navy was on the move
US expected an attack but did not know where
Japanese warplanes attached Pearl Harbor Navel Shipyard in the morning hours of Sunday, December 7, 1941
In less than two hours 1400 Americans were dead, 200 warplanes damaged or destroyed,
18 warships heavily damaged or sunk including 8 of the fleets 9 battleships
December 8th, FDR signed a declaration of war against Japan
December 11th, Germany and Italy declare war on US
US History
Chapter 18
World War II: Americans at War
Section 1
Mobilization
The armed forces needed to be strengthened
Congress authorized the first peacetime draft in 1940
Selective Training and Service Act All males 21 to 36 registered for military service
Men were drafted for service from this group
In 1940 defense spending went from $2 billion to $10 billion by September
FDR’s speech on his vision of what the troops would be fighting for
“Four Freedoms”
Freedom of speech and expression
Freedom of every person to worship God in his own way
Freedom from want
Freedom from fear
More than 16 million Americans served in the war
Called themselves GIs - Government Issue
25,000 Native Americans served
“code talkers”
a group of Navajos developed a secret code
based on their language
enemy could not break the code
secure communication link
500,000 African Americans served
first in supporting roles
by late 1942 given opportunity to fight
fought in separate units
Tuskegee Airmen became the first African American flying unit
350,000 women serviced
not in combat positions
became clerks, typists, airfield control tower operators, mechanics, photographers, drivers,
ferried planes, towed practice targets for antiaircraft gunners
War Production
War Production Board (WPB) set up in 1942
Directed the conversion of peacetime industries to wartime production
Set priorities and allocated raw materials
Armed forces awarded contracts for war production
Office of War Mobilization - established in 1943
Served as a superagency in the centralization of resources
Henry Kaiser introduced mass production techniques in shipbuilding
Cut production time from 200 days to 40 days
Liberty ships - large, sturdy merchant ships to transport supplies and troops
In 1944, American production levels were double of the Axis nations combined
Ended the massive unemployment of the 1930s
Average wages in manufacturing rose by more than 50 percent between 1940 and 1945
Union membership rose, by the end of the war in 1945, membership was 14.8 million
Financing the War
Federal spending increased from $8.9 billion in 1939 to $95.2 billion in 1945
National debt rose from $43 billion in 1940 to $259 billion in 1945
Higher taxes paid for 41% of the cost of war
Treasury Department sold $186 billion in “war bonds”
Federal government borrowed the rest of the money to pay for the war
Home Front
30 million people moved
military families
military production workers
shortages and rationing limited the amount of goods people could buy
1941, Office of Price Administration established
controlled inflation by limiting prices and rents
oversaw rationing
goal of rationing was a fair distribution of scarce items
assigned point value to goods i.e. sugar, butter, coffee, meat, clothing
issued ration books, coupons with value to purchase rationed items
Americans spend money on books, magazines, music
60 percent of the population went to the movies
Public support was established through the use of posters and ads that stirred patriotic feelings
Victory gardens - used to add to the home food supply
By 1943 victory gardens produced about one third of the country’s fresh produce
Section 2
Remaking Europe
In August 1941, FDR and Churchill met secretly to discuss the war’s aims and to agree to a set of principles
Atlantic Charter - a joint declaration of these principles
The US entered the war in December 1941
The German blitzkrieg extended Nazi control across most of Europe
German U-boats sailed from France to attack allied merchant ships as they crossed the Atlantic
Allied ships formed convoys led by American and British warships
Germany countered with groups of up to 20 U-boats called wolf packs
Allied convoys developed better defensive strategies and the U-boat success rate fell
The North Africa Campaign
British army success in battling Italian troops in Egyptian and Libyan deserts
February 1941, Hitler sent General Rommel with a division to reinforce the Italians
The “Desert Fox” succeeded in pushing deep into British-controlled Egypt
November 1942 the British under General Montgomery forced the German’s to retreat west
Days later Allied troops landed in Morocco and Algeria
May 1943 the Allied army had the Axis forces trapped
240,000 Germans and Italians surrendered
January 1943 Churchill and Roosevelt met at the Casablanca Conference to map out strategies for the
rest of the war
They decided to concentrate on Europe, then turn their attention to the Pacific
Invasion of Italy
July 1943 the US Seventh Army, under the command of General Patton, invaded Sicily with British
forces
Italians lost faith in Mussolini and an official Fascist council voted to remove him from office
King Victor Emmanuel III had him arrested
Germans freed Mussolini and evacuated him to northern Italy
September 1943, Allied troops threatened to overrun the south and take Rome
Italy’s new government surrendered
October 1943 Italy declares war on Germany
The German’s setup a puppet state in northern Italy with Mussolini as the leader
April 1945 the Germans in northern Italy surrendered
April 1945 Mussolini was killed as he tried to flee across the Italian border
War in the Soviet Union
In Mein Kampf, Hitler had called for the conquest of the Soviet Union
By 1941 Hitler had taken control of oilfields in Romania, he planned on seizing farmland in the Ukraine
June 22, 1941 3.6 million German and Axis troops poured across the length of the Soviet border
The German blitzkrieg and Luftwaffe drove deep into Soviet territory
Soviet citizens, who had suffered under Stalin, welcomed the Germans as liberators
Welcome was short lived as German troops introduced forced labor and executions
The Soviet Army began to retreat destroying everything that might be useful to the enemy
By autumn 1941, German troops threatened Moscow and nearly surrounded Leningrad
Stalin asked Great Britain to attack on Western Europe; Churchill felt an attack was too risky
At the Casablanca Conference, Churchill persuaded Roosevelt to invade Italy
The cold Russian winter stopped the German advance
Spring 1942 Germany set their sights on the oilfields in the southeast
The Red Army made its stand at Stalingrad
September 1942 Germans began a campaign of firebombing and shelling that lasted 2 months
Soviet fighters engaged German fighters in house-to-house combat but lost most of the city
In mid-November Soviet forces took advantage of the harsh winter weather to launch an assault
Hitler had ruled out a retreat and the Red Army surrounded the ruined city
The Germans had few supplies and no way to escape
January 1943, the Red Army launched a final assault
January 31, 1943, more than 90,000 Germans surrendered
In the Battle of Stalingrad Germany lost an estimated 330,000 troops; Soviet losses are estimated
as high as 1,100,000
The Battle of Stalingrad proved to be the turning point if the war in Eastern Europe
Allied Air War
RAF had gained experience during the Battle of Britain
They had fought off German attacks and carried out long-range bombings of Germany
RAF abandoned attempts to pinpoint targets
Developed a technique called carpet bombing
Carpet bombing - planes scattered large numbers of bombs over a wide area
German cities suffered heavy damage
Bombing intensified after the US entered the war
Typical raids consisted of hundreds of B-17 Flying Fortresses escorted by fighters
Bombed aircraft factories, railway lines, ball-bearing plants, bridges, and cities
Aim was to destroy Germany’s ability to fight
Spring 1943, bombing campaigns were increased again in preparation for an eventual allied invasion
By 1944 there was coordinated bombings - American planes by day; RAF by night
Invasion of Western Europe
Stalin was not the only leader calling for an invasion of Western Europe
US General Marshall voiced the same opinion
Late 1943 the British finally agreed
Code named Operation Overlord would launch from Britain
General Eisenhower was named the supreme commander
Massive military buildup in southern England
Polish, Dutch, Belgian, and French troops joined the American, British, and Canadians already
in place
Germany strengthened their defenses on the coast of France
Added machine-gun nest, barbed wire fences, land and water mines, and underwater
obstructions
Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, the Allies left the coast of Britain D-Day
4,600 invasion craft and warships
1,000 RAF bombers pounded German defenses
23,000 British and American soldiers parachuted behind enemy lines
At dawn the invasion began
1,000 American planes continued the bombing
150,000 Allied troops came ashore along 60 miles of the Normandy coast
Hitler hesitated fearing an Allied deception
The Allies experienced heavy casualties on D-Day
By late July Allied forces in France numbered 2 million
Air power helped the Allies establish a beachhead on Normandy and held off German reinforcements
August 1944 Patton used blitzkreig to open a hole in the German line and burst out of Normandy
After breaking the German defenses, Patton swept across northern France
In Paris, an uprising started by the French Resistance freed the city from German control
August 25, 1944, a French division of the US First Army officially liberated Paris
On the same day de Gaulle arrived and prepared to take charge of the government
British and Canadian forces freed Brussels and Antwerp in Belgium
Mid-September, Allied forces attacked Germans occupying the Netherlands at the same time
American soldiers crossed the western border of Germany
Battle of the Bulge
Allied attack on the Netherlands faltered at the Rhine River
German attack smashed into the US First Army, pushing it back, forming a bulge in the
Allied line
The First and Third armies, under the overall direction of General Bradley, knocked the Germans
Back and restarted the Allied drive into Germany
Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle in Western Europe during WW II
600,000 GIs - 80,000 killed, wounded, or captured
German losses 100,000
Most Nazi leaders recognized the war was lost
The War in Europe Ends
March 1945, Allied bombers continued to strike German cities
Bradley crossed the Rhine River and moved toward Berlin from the West
Soviet troops pushed into Germany from the East
German and Soviet fighting from 1941 to 1945 dwarfed the fighting in France
More than 9 million soldiers were fighting on the eastern front
Estimates are that 11 million Soviet and 3 million German soldiers died
This accounted for more than two thirds of the soldiers killed in all of WW II
Estimates are that Soviet civilian and military deaths numbered 11 million
Soviet leaders considered the capture of Berlin a matter of honor
April 1945 Soviet troops fought their way into Berlin
As in Stalingrad fighting was house to house
On April 25, 1945 the Red Army connected with American troops pushing east at the Elbe River
Germany Surrenders
April 30, 1945 Hitler committed suicide in his underground bunker in Berlin
May 8, 1945 the remaining German troops surrendered
American GIs and US citizens celebrated the end of fighting in Europe
V-E Day Victory in Europe
Yalta Conference
February 1945, before the fall of Berlin, Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met at Yalta
In the Soviet Union - planned the shape of postwar world
Built on their meeting in Tehran at the end of 1943
Agreed to split Germany into four zones, each under the control of one of the major
Allies - US, Great Britain, Soviet Union, and France
Agreed to split Berlin in a similar way
Stalin promised to allow elections in the nations of Eastern Europe that his army had liberated
Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan within 3 months of Germany’s surrender
Stalin did not fulfill his promises
Roosevelt and Churchill were criticized for not doing enough to prevent Soviet domination
of Eastern Europe
The issue of Eastern Europe would be at the heart of the conflict that later arose between the Soviet
Union and the Western Allies
Section 3
The Holocaust
Jews in Europe faced persecution for centuries.
In the mid-1800s, a new form of anti-Jewish prejudice arose based on racial theories
Germanic peoples called “Aryans” were thought to be superior to Middle Eastern peoples call Semites
Anti-Semitism - term used to describe discrimination or hostility, often violent, directed at Jews
Following the suffering of WWI and the Great Depression many looked to someone to blame
When Hitler became Germany’s leader in 1933, he made anti-Semitism the official policy of the nation
Holocaust - Nazi Germany’s systematic murder of European Jews
About two thirds of Europe Jews lost their lives
5 to 6 million other people would also die in Nazi captivity
Nazi Policies
Germany’s Jews were excluded from political, social, and economic life
April 1, 1933 there was a one-day boycott of Jewish owned businesses
In 1935 , Nuremberg laws stripped Jews of the German citizenship, and outlawed marriages between
Jews and non-Jews
Jews were characterized as enemies of Germany
1938 Jews had to surrender their own businesses to Aryans, Jewish doctors and lawyers could not
serve non-Jews, Jewish children were expelled from public schools
Hitler’s Police
The Gestapo, secret state police, was formed to identify and pursue enemies of the Nazi regime
Became a part of the SS (Schutzstaffel) in 1939
SS duties included guarding the concentration camps
Concentration camps - places where political prisoners are confined, usually under
harsh conditions, centers of forced labor
Political prisoners included Jews, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Gypsies, homeless
Kristallnacht - “Night of the Broken Glass” night of November 9, 1938, Nazi thugs throughout Germany and
Austria looted and destroyed Jewish stores, houses, and synagogues
Nazi’s arrested thousands of Jews that night and shipped them off to concentration camps
Germany’s remaining Jews sought any way possible to leave the country
From 1933 through 1937, about 130,000 Jews fled Germany
At first went to other European countries
As the refugee numbers grew, Jews sought protection from US, Latin America, Palestine
Few countries welcomed Jewish refugees
From Murder to Genocide
As Germany overran Europe more and more Jews came under their control
At first, Nazi’s established ghettos, self-contained areas where Jews were forced to live
Warsaw ghetto - 400,000 Jews from the Polish capital were walled off with little food, poor hygiene
Thousands died every month
This wasn’t fast enough for the Nazi’s they had to find a different way
Einsatzgruppen - mobile killing squad originally used in the Soviet Union and occupied territories to
kill Communist leaders and Jews
In Babi Yar, outside Kiev, the Nazis killed more than 33,000 Jews in 2 days
Wannsee Conference - Nazis agreed to a new approach
The “final solution to the Jewish question”
The plan lead to the construction of death camps in Poland to carry out the genocide of the Jews
Death camps - existed primarily for mass murder
Genocide - deliberate destruction of an entire ethnic or cultural group
Jews were crowded in cattle cars and transported to the death camps
At Auschwitz, the main Nazi death camp, 12,000 people could be gassed and cremated a day
Estimates are that 1.5 million people, 90 percent Jews, were killed there
Fighting Back
Jews fought back by joining underground resistance groups
August 1943, rioting Jews damaged the Treblinka death camp and it had to be closed
April 1943, the approximately 50,000 remaining Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto rose up against final
deportation
For 27 days they held out against the Nazis
As early as November 1942, the US government knew about the death camps
Nothing was done
January 1944, over State Department objections Roosevelt created the War Refugee Board (WRB)
Which tried to help people threatened by the Nazis
Helped to fund Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg rescue thousands of Hungarian Jews
In late 1944, as Allied armies advanced, the Nazis abandoned camps outside Germany and forced Jews
To march ahead of the German army
In November 1945 an International Military Tribunal conducted the Nuremberg Trials
Of 24 Nazi defendants, 12 received the death sentence
The Nazi argument was the were only “following orders”
Section 4
The War in the Pacific
Just hours after bombing Pearl Harbor, Japanese warplanes bombed Clark Field, the main American air base
In the Philippines
December 8, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American bases on Wake Island
December 10, 1941, Japanese forces attacked American bases on Guam
The Japanese Advance, 1941-1942
The Japanese hoped the US would withdraw from the Pacific
The Japanese continued their attacks
Overran the British strongholds of Hong Kong and Singapore
Seized the Dutch East Indies and Malaya
Invaded Burma
Then turned their sights of the Philippines
Philippines Fall
April 1942, most of the Bataan defenders surrendered
May 1942, 11,000 Americans and Filipinos surrendered on Corregidor
With the fall of Bataan and Corregidor the Japanese captured about 76,000 American and Filipino
prisoners of war
Bataan Death March - The forced 60 mile march to a Japanese army base
At least 10,000 prisoners died on the march
An additional 15,000 prisoners died at prison camps
The brutality of the treatment of the POWs defied the Geneva Convention that stated
that POWs “shall at all times be humanely treated and protected, particularly against acts
of violence”
China joined the Allies on December 9, 1941
The US had already sent military advisors and Lend-Lease arms
They were unable to defend the Burma Road, an important link between the Allied troops and China
The War at Sea
April 1942, a group of American B-25 bombers took off from the aircraft carrier Hornet
This secret mission dropped bombs on Tokyo and other cities
While little damage was done, this counterattack boosted Allied moral and shocked Japan’s
Leadership
May 1942, the American Navy fought desperately to keep the Japanese Navy from reaching Australia
Battle of the Coral Sea - while fought to a draw, it change naval battle strategies
The battle was carried out exclusively from the air, the ships were not within sight of each other
From now on, aircraft and aircraft carriers would play the central role in naval battles
Allied Victories Turn the Tide
Summer of 1942, two critical battles took place
Battle of Midway
Japanese bombers attacked the island of Midway
American planes on Midway tried to defend against the Japanese carrier based bombers
American carriers were able to bomb the Japanese carriers as they refueled and rearmed
their bombers
The Americans were able to sink the four Japanese carriers
Japanese lost 250 planes as most of their skilled naval pilots
Battle of Guadalcanal
The victory at Midway allowed the Allies to take the offensive in the Pacific
First goal was to capture Guadalcanal where the Japanese were building an airfield
August 1942, more than 11,000 marines landed on the island
This battle provided the marines with their first taste of jungle warfare
The battle lasted until February 1943, when the remaining Japanese forces slipped of the island
Struggle for the Islands
Island-hopping - military strategy of selectively attacking specific enemy help island and bypassing
others; able to move faster, the bypassed islands were cut off from needed supplies
At first the American plan was to bypass the Philippines; General MacArthur persuaded Roosevelt
to reverse this decision
Battle of Leyte Gulf
greatest naval battle in world history, three day sea battle
first use of kamikazes
kamikazes - suicide planes, pilots loaded their aircraft with bombs and then deliberately
crashed them into enemy ships to inflict maximum damage
Iwo Jima and Okinawa
The fighting grew deadlier as American troops moved closed to Japan
Battle of Iwo Jima
Began in mid-February 1945, and lasted 72 days
American casualties are estimated at 25.000
Famous photograph by Joe Rosenthal of six marines hoisting American flag on Iwo Jima
Battle of Okinawa
April to June 1945, the island was a little more than 350 miles from Japan
Allied troops 180,000 and 1,300 warships
Second only to the invasion of Normandy
Japanese Banzai charges - attacks in which the soldiers tried to kill as many of the enemy
as possible until the themselves were killed
nearly 50,000 American casualties - most in any battle in the Pacific
The Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project - top secret group organized to develop the deadly Atom bomb before the Germans
August 1949 Albert Einstein had written to Roosevelt about the German plan to build the bomb
July 16, 1945, field test of a-bomb in the desert of New Mexico
Blew a huge crater in the ground and blew out windows 125 miles away
Once the bomb was ready, the decision of whether to use against Japan had to be made
The decision to drop the bomb
Alternate possibilities
Massive of invasion of Japan; expected millions of American casualties
Naval blockade to starve Japan; continue conventional bombings
Demonstrate the bomb for the Japanese
The Interim Committee who studied them recommended none of the alternatives
The final decision was Trumans and he never regretted it
August 6, 1945, the American bomber, Enola Gay, dropped the first a-bomb of Hiroshima
August 9, 1945, a second a-bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
August 14, 1945, the government of Japan accepted the American terms for surrender
Section 5
The Social Impart of the War
African Americans
While industries needed workers, one out of five potential African Americans remained unemployed
June 25, 1941, Roosevelt signed an executive order opening jobs and training programs in defense
Plants to all Americans
Created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)
As a result, African Americans shared in some of the wartime prosperity
During the 40s, 2 million African Americans migrated from the South
Segregation continued in the north
Military strictly segregated white and African American troops
Roosevelt declined to disrupt the war effort to promote social equality
African Americans worked for change on their own
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) - established in Chicago in 1942
Believed in using nonviolent techniques to end racism
Their efforts paved the was for the civil rights movement of the 1950s
Mexican Americans
Faced discrimination
Bracero Program
Shortages in farm labor led the US to seek help from Mexico
1942 agreement provided transportation, food, shelter, and medical care for thousands
braceros - Mexican farm laborers brought to the US
barrios - Spanish-speaking neighborhoods
Native Americans
25,000 serviced in the armed forces
23,000 worked in war industries
Many had lived only on reservations
Many did not return to the reservation after the war
This cultural transition led to a sense of loss of their roots
Japanese Americans
Suffered official discrimination during the war
Japanese population represented about 0.1 of the entire population; 127,000
Hostility grew after the attack on Pearl Harbor
February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed an executive order removing all “aliens” from the West Coast
War Relocation Authority moved everyone of Japanese ancestry, 110,000 people
Internment camps were located in desolate areas, surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled
Lived in wooden barracks equipped with cots, blankets, and light bulbs
Shared bathrooms and dining facilities
Uncomfortably like concentration camps
In a court case heard by the US Supreme Court the relocation policy was seen as not racial
In 1988, Congress passed a law awarding each surviving Japanese American a$20,000 payment
Until 1943 Japanese Americans were not accepted into the military
Eventually, 17,000 fought in the armed services
Most were Nisei - citizens born in the US to Japanese immigrant parents
Working Women
Like WW I, WW II brought women into different parts of the workforce
The number of women in the workforce rose from 14.6 million in 1941 to 19.4 million in 1944
Women benefited from the work by earning money to pay of depression debt and to feel a part of the
war effort
Women continued not to be paid the same wages as men doing the same job
In 1942 the National War Labor Board said women should receive the same pay - employers ignored
The government assumed women would leave employment after the war to open the jobs to returning men