Download Chapter 24 and 25 Notes

Chapter 24 & 25 – World War II
What is isolationism?
isolationism : a policy of minding your own business
Why would the United States have supported this idea in the 1930s?
Dictators rise in Europe
Mussolini – Italy (Il Duce)
Founded the fascist party – developed fascism
fascism: nation more important than the
individual; strong government; anticommunist
Stalin – Russia (USSR)
Lenin dies 1924; Stalin takes over 1926 – new Soviet
Dictator
Hitler and Nazism in Germany –
Nazi Party – nationalist, anticommunist
Mein Kampf – Hitler’s plan – includes
the idea of the master race (Aryans)
-lebenstraum- more living space
Appointed Chancellor in 1933
WWII Begins
Hitler marches into Poland (lebenstraum)
(Europe doesn’t really respond)
Hitler announces Anschluss
(joining of Germany and Austria)
Poland tries in vain to resist
Germany uses blitzkrieg –
lightning war
*large numbers of tanks followed
by devastating waves of troops
France falls
-France builds the Maginot Line
(of concrete bunkers) and awaits
attack
*Why not attack Germany? What’s happening in the US in the 1930s? In Europe?
Germans went around the Maginot Line into the Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg (*as expected)
Hitler invades France – British and French troops unprepared – no match
French authorities
surrender in the same
railway car where
Germany was forced to
sign the Treaty of
Versailles
Luftwaffe (German air force) begins
attacking English ships and all the
way into London
Battle of Britain
Holocaust
ideology (the principle)
Nazis persecuted anyone who
opposed them, plus Gypsies,
homosexuals, Slavs, and Jews
Nuremberg Laws – took
citizenship away from
German Jews and banned
doctors and lawyers from
working
Kristallnacht (Nov 9, 1938)
eruption of anti-Jewish violence – Nazis
wrecked shops, synagogues, and homes
Goering (German Interior Minister) declared
Jews would have to pay the damages
*Why didn’t Jews flee to the USA?
Final Solution
Concentration Camps (Buchenwald
and Dachau and others)
- work til you drop death camps
Extermination Camps (Treblinka and
Auschwitz and others)
- For those who could not work –
immediate elimination
America enters the War
The date that will live in infamy!
Japan attacks the US at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
(Dec 7, 1941)
US declares war on Japan
FDR Addresses the Nation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK8gYGg0dkE
Germany declares war on the US –
BUT according to the Japan-Germany
alliance agreement, Germany was only
required to come to Japan’s aid if she were
attacked
Hmmmm… then WHY??
American Industry
converts quickly to wartime production
• automobile assembly line easily
converts to tanks, weapons, helmets,
even bridge pieces and cookware!
Selective Service went into effect during
peacetime (had been drafting men since
Germany invaded Poland)
*Why are American soldiers called GIs?
From Pearl Harbor, the US continued to suffer blow after blow from the
Japanese
•
•
•
•
Pearl Harbor – December 6
Guam – December 10
Wake Island – December 23
many other smaller losses from all
Allied forces
Iwo Jima
Guam
Americans were dismayed by these losses in the Pacific – had the been
given the choice, they would have voted “Pacific First” instead of “Europe
First,” which is what the military decided
Winter-Spring 1942 – Americans were most concerned with fighting in
Corregidor and Bataan in the Philippines
• Pacific Fleet unable to provide backup
• Troops fought gallantly without
reinforcements
• Troops at Bataan are eventually forced to
surrender and prisoners of war are forced
to march 55 miles to the railroad that
would take them to their POW camp
• became known as the Bataan death
march
• prisoners received little or no food and water along the way (they were
already weakened from lack of supplies)
• stragglers were killed
• by the time they reached the railroad – 600 American and 5000 Filipinos
were killed
• Japanese General Homma was tried and executed for his inhumane
treatment of prisoners
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQWdETwFACs
Bataan 10:46
Island Hopping
Battle of Midway – June 3, 1942
• Americans held
and had a base at
Midway Island
• got secret info the
Japanese planned
to invade
• exchanged
bombing runs and
naval attacks
• Japanese grew
overconfident and
kept all their
fighters at low altitude making them easy targets for flak (anti-aircraft
fire)
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war… but Why?
*Why was Midway a turning point in the war?
• Americans won due to Japanese overconfidence and superior intelligence
gathering
• without decoded messages, Nimitz would not have known to concentrate
his forces at Midway
• if Midway had been lost, Japan could’ve threatened Hawaii from land and
American forces would have been diverted from Europe
The Homefront
As war production soared, so did the need for raw materials
Rationing
• goods like rubber (tires), gasoline, foodstuffs,
metal, clothing, and paper were rationed
• families were issued ration books, stamps or
coupons
• government propaganda promoted the use
of rationed goods
sparingly
Victory Gardens
As part of food conservation, since Americans were limited in the amount of
produced they could buy – they were encouraged to plant Victory Gardens
and to can as many fruits and veggies as they could
War Production
With men gone to war, women were
encouraged to take wartime jobs – either
replacing men in the workforce or taking
newly created war production jobs
Rosie the Riveter
Women entered the workforce in droves
after the start of
the war thanks
to government
campaigning,
patriotism, and
the promise of
their own
paycheck
At War in Europe
The Allied Players:
United States – President Franklin Roosevelt
Great Britain – Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin
Discussions between the Allies agreed that an invasion of France would be
an ideal strategy, but Britain balked – they eventually agreed that the Allies
should attack Hitler in North Africa first to establish a base to enter France
and Italy
This is successful, but timeconsuming.
When the time comes to invade
France – Germans are expecting
the Allies to come from the
south, but instead…
D-Day: June 6, 1944
Allied landings on the Normandy coast of German-occupied France was wone
of the most climactic days of World War II
• Allied forces planned this day since at least 1943
• Codename: Operation Overlord
• Allies landed 160,000 US, British,
and Canadian forces to establish
beachheads in Normandy
• Invasion was commanded by
Gen. Dwight (Ike) Eisenhower
• Under his command were three
British Service Chiefs including
General Bernard Montgomery
• Field Marshall Erwin Rommel
controlled the German forces
that opposed the D-Day
landings
Naval Armada
• The D-Day plan began with the night-time passage across the English
Channel of a naval armada laden with Allied troops to anchor opposite
the five invasion beaches
• Sword, Juno, and Gold – in the east – to be landed by British and
Canadian forces
• Utah and Omaha – on the western side – to be landed by US troops
• shortly before , three Allied Airborne divisions would land to secure the
flanks
• after heavy aerial and naval bombardments, assault forces would land
on these beaches
Bad Weather
• D-Day was originally slated for June 5, 1944 – but bad weather forced
Eisenhower to postpone
• weather was no better on June 6, but the rough seas enabled Allies to
further surprise the Germans who would have never expected an attack
in those conditions
In the early hours of June 6, Airborne forces began landing inland from the
beaches
• local German units predicted they were the lead-in for an invasion, but
higher commanders believed they were simply a diversion for a battle at
a different location
Beach Assaults
• between 6:30 and 7:45am, Allied amphibious assaults began on the
designated beaches
• US Forces began their attack on Omaha beach at 6:30am, but before this
time, things had gone awry…
• fire support had been less effective than planned
• heavily laden infantry waded through neck-deep water under
devastating German fire
• the landing at Omaha was the most difficult and devastating –
American forces held a small 1-mile line just above the cliff-edge after
6 hours of fierce fighting – and more than 2,000 casualties in that
time
The beachhead assault was ultimately a success, establishing a second
front for the Germans – a crucial step in the Allied march to victory.
Band of Brothers Reading
Forward from Normandy
July-August 1944 – Allied forces broke a stalemate that had emerged in
Normandy just after D-Day which forced the Germans out of the region
Paris is liberated in August 1944.
Sneaky Germans
In that time, Hitler decided the only way to keep the Allies from pushing
into Germany was to attack full force.
• Secretly moved all his eastern forces to the border – under complete
radio silence – and attacked the Allies on December 16, 1944
• Allies taken completely by surprise
• Americans were outnumbered and driven back (15 miles in the first
two days), creating a
bulge in the Western
Line – eventually 65
miles deep and 45
miles wide
• Except for the city of
Bastogne (Belgium),
which the Americans
bravely held
Thus, the Battle of the Bulge
Bastogne
• As soon as the Germans attacked the line, the 101st Airborne Division
rushed to Bastogne as reinforcements – guess who?? Easy Company –
led by Major Dick Winters
• December 21 – Bastogne is surrounded
• supplies and ammunition were scarce, weather prevented airlifts
• December 22 – Germans demanded surrender to which American
General McAuliffe replied only “Nuts.”
• December 23 supplies are dropped
into Bastogne
• December 24 –
Patton’s 3rd Army
broke German lines
and reached the town
• It took until January
to restore the
western line to where
it was before the
Germans attacked
Iwo Jima
8 square miles of volcanic rubble less than 800 miles from Japanese islands
– currently being used as a Japanese airbase
Feb 19, 1945 – American Marines landed on Iwo Jima confronting 20,000
Japanese soldiers dug in to an extensive series of tunnels, caves, and
pillboxes
• hardest fight the Marines had in the Pacific
• continuous heavy bombardment
Mt. Suribachi, extinct volcano that
made up much of the island had to be
won
Americans take Mt. Suribachi on Feb
23, where a marine patrol raises the
flag – in a famous photograph –
which is now the Marine Corps
memorial at Arlington National
Cemetery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6KDyKPX
FGQ
3:42
Flags of our Fathers Reading
Okinawa – the next island of attack
By now, Americans had realized just how fiercely the Japanese intended to
fight and were very concerned about a main island invasion
Solution?
Atomic Warfare
• the US, having won strategic
ground and naval battles all over
the Pacific now had the ability to
strike Japan with bombing runs
• since the Japanese had fought
with no regard for civilian life –
US forces had little trouble
planning bombing raids on
Japanese cities
Allied forces attack Japanese cities – causing firestorm damage
Demanded “Unconditional Surrender” from the Japanese
• this was problematic, because the Japanese were not willing to give up
their Emperor – they might have negotiated for peace, but not
unconditionally
• By spring of 1945,
Americans had succeeded
in developing the atomic
bomb and using it to destroy
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan