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Transcript
The Approach of World War II By the 1930s, a growing majority of Americans believed that U.S. entry into the First World War had been a mistake, and there was a growing conviction that the U.S. should steer clear of the military confrontations that were developing around the world. This increasing sense of "isolationism" inspired Congress to pass a series of laws between 1935-37 – known as the Neutrality Acts – designed to prevent the U.S. from making the same "mistakes" it had made in 1917. According to the Neutrality Acts: 1. When a state of war existed between two countries (technically known as "belligerents"), Americans could not sell arms to either side. 2. This ban was later extended to include loans to belligerents. 3. The acts implemented a Cash and Carry Plan: Belligerents buying nonmilitary goods had to pay cash for them and take them away in their own ships. 4. Americans were prohibited from traveling on the ships of belligerent nations. The feeling was that these acts would keep the U.S. from being dragged into another major war. Step by step over the next few years, however, the U.S. retreated from neutrality. Europe Adolf Hitler took power in Germany in January 1933. Almost immediately he began steps to escape the strict provisions of the Treaty of Versailles in order to rebuild Germany as a military power. France and Great Britain waffled uncertainly as Germany pulled out of the League of Nations (1933), began to rearm (1934), reoccupied the Rhineland (1936), forced a union with Austria (1938), swallowed up Czechoslovakia (1938-39), and shocked the world by signing a nonaggression pact with the country that was supposedly Nazi Germany’s arch enemy, the Soviet Union (1939). With the Soviet Union neutralized, Hitler felt free to focus on Poland, demanding the return of territory that Germany had lost as a result of the First World War. Poland refused, with the support of Great Britain and France. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II – by far the bloodiest and most destructive war in human history – had begun. The U.S. was bound by the provisions of the Neutrality Acts, but FDR did not pretend to be disinterested, stating that "Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his conscience." A majority of Americans by now agreed with him, and in November Congress revised the Neutrality Acts to allow the sale of weapons to belligerents. In the new Cash and Carry Policy the purchasers would still have to come to the U.S. to purchase weapons and then transport them back on their own ships. Even so, a majority of Americans remained opposed to active involvement in the war, even if it appeared that the Allies (Fr. and GB) would be defeated. For months things were quiet in Western Europe, but in April 1940 Germany began to move with terrifying speed. Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, and finally France all fell within seven weeks, leaving Britain alone to face a Nazi Germany that now controlled a great chunk of the continent. FDR did all he could to help Britain. In Sept. 1940 he approved the transfer of 50 old but useful U.S. destroyers to GB to help the British defend themselves against a potential German invasion. In November of 1940, FDR was elected to an unprecedented third term as president. Shortly thereafter he promised to increase aid to Great Britain and to make the U.S. the Arsenal of Democracy. The U.S. would use its enormous industrial capacity to produce the weapons that the Allies needed to fight the war. This would actually be the United States' greatest contribution to Allied victory -- by the end of 1943 the U.S. was producing more weapons than were all of the rest of the countries at war -- Allied and Axis -- combined. In Jan. 1941, as the British scraped the bottom of their treasury, FDR proposed – and Congress approved – the Lend-Lease Plan, which provided that if GB didn’t have the cash for goods, it could in effect lease them, returning or replacing them at the end of the war. The "cash" half of Cash and Carry was thus discontinued. In July 1941, FDR announced that the U.S. would take over the defense of Iceland for the remainder of the war, and would protect British convoys to that point. In August 1941, FDR and Churchill met at sea on a British destroyer. There they drew up the Atlantic Charter, which listed "certain common principles" that would insure "a better future for the world." In other words, the Charter was a statement of the principles for which the two men claimed that the war was being fought. Among the major principles listed in the Atlantic Charter were: 1. No territorial aggrandizement (Great Britain and the U.S. were not interested in gaining additional territory as a result of the war). 2. Self-government for all peoples. 3. Free access for all nations to trade and raw materials. 4. The abandonment of war as an instrument of international relations. In Nov. 1941, after American ships had been sunk or damaged, Congress authorized U.S. merchant ships to sail well-armed and to carry Lend-Lease supplies all the way to Britain. The "carry" half of the Cash and Carry policy was now ended as well. Thus, by the end of November 1941, the U.S. was all but officially at war with Germany in the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, in June 1941, Germany had launched a massive, surprise invasion of the Soviet Union – in spite of the 1939 nonaggression pact – and by November the U.S. was providing lend-lease supplies to the Soviets as well. Germany was now at war with Britain to its west and the Soviet Union to its east, with the U.S. on the verge of entering the war. Asia The major conflict in Asia involved Japan’s determination to conquer China in pursuit of an empire of its own to match those of the European powers. The United States was determined for a variety of reasons that Japan should not dominate China. This was the issue that eventually brought the U.S. and Japan to war. Japan first invaded Manchuria, a Chinese province, in 1931, and by July of 1937 Japan had overrun northern China, despite protests by the U.S. and the League of Nations (from which Japan, like Germany, simply withdrew). FDR was uncertain how best to deal with Japan. On the one hand, the U.S. was supplying arms to China, but on the other hand the U.S. continued to sell large quantities of scrap metal, steel, copper, oil, lead, and machinery to Japan. FDR could have stopped the sales, but feared that this would simply encourage Japan to conquer more territory to replace lost resources. As a deterrent to the Japanese, in May 1940 FDR did order the transfer of the U.S. Pacific Fleet from San Diego to a new base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Over the course of 1940-41, relations between the U.S. and Japan worsened, as Japan continued its war against China and Southeast Asia. Trade between the countries was eventually paralyzed, though negotiations between the two countries in pursuit of a peaceful resolution of their disagreements continued. In December of 1940, U.S. Naval Intelligence had broken the Japanese diplomatic code. It was clear from intercepted diplomatic messages that the Japanese government was determined to conquer China. At the same time, the U.S. had no intention of abandoning China. By Nov. 3, unbeknownst to the U.S., Japan had decided to attack the naval base at Pearl Harbor if the U.S. didn’t allow Japan to have its way. At the same time, Japan chose to continue talks with the U.S. government. From intercepted diplomatic messages, the U.S. government knew that if a satisfactory agreement was not reached by Nov. 29, "something" was going to happen. But just what that would be was unknown. Talks between the U.S. and Japan went nowhere, and in late November a Japanese carrier force secretly set out toward Hawaii. Washington knew of Japanese troop movements, but thought that they were aimed elsewhere, not at U.S. territory. On Dec. 6, FDR sent a personal appeal for peace to Japanese Emperor Hirohito. But early the next morning, Dec. 7, 1941 – in FDR’s words, "a date that will live in infamy" – Japan made its move, as Japanese airplanes swarmed down upon Pearl Harbor. American forces were taken completely by surprise, and most U.S. planes were destroyed on the ground. Nineteen U.S. ships were sunk or disabled. 2,355 American servicemen (and 68 civilians) were killed, along with 1,178 servicemen wounded. The next day a shocked Congress approved FDR’s call for war. On Dec. 11, Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S., and Congress responded immediately with U.S. declarations of war on those countries. The U.S. was now officially among the Allies as it officially entered this horrible and momentous war.