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World War II
Georgia Studies
Start of the War
World War II resulted from two regional conflicts
between Europe and East Asia.
During the 1930’s, Germany and Japan wanted to
expand their borders, but in order to expand, they
had to conquer other countries.
With each country they invaded and occupied, the
area of conflict expanded.
Each country either defended their own
borders or acted in defense of an ally
Eventually, the two sides of the war were the
Allied Powers (Britain, France, the Soviet Union
and the United States) and the Axis Powers
(Germany, Italy and Japan)
World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945
Germany’s Third Reich
Adolf Hitler created the National
Socialist German Workers’ Party (the
Nazi Party) and brought it to power
in 1933
In 1936, Germany formed
alliances with Japan and Italy (each
country wanted more resources)
In 1938, Germany took over Austria to create what
Hitler called “Greater Germany”
Next, Germany took over Czechoslovakia.
Hitler then wanted Poland to become the next part
of the German empire (the Third Reich)
At this point, Great Britain and France declared
they would defend Poland’s independence
France nor Great Britain could move their troops
fast enough to Poland in order to stop Germany's
invasion
The British informed Germany that if it didn’t
stop it’s attack on Poland, that it would declare
war
Germany disregarded Great Britain’s warning,
and the British declared war.
In less than a year, Germany had conquered
almost all of Europe
Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and
France were all defeated.
The German armies overrunning country after
country was known as a blitzkrieg, a German
word meaning “lightning war”
The Germans used fast-moving tanks and other
motorized equipment that made it easy for them
to complete their blitzkrieg attack on the
European continent
The Holocaust
At first, Hitler began to discriminate against
German Jews, and Jewish businesses were
boycotted and Jews were fired. Jewish children
were forbidden to go to schools.
The Holocaust was Nazi Germany’s systematic
killing of Jews, Gypsies, communists, intellectuals
and political dissenters.
Kristallnacht
Known as “Night of Broken Glass”
On the evening of November 9, 1938, anti-Jewish
rioters began looting, burning, and destroying Jewish
synagogues, businesses and homes
Nazi police arrested more than 30,000 Jewish men and
sent them to concentration camps (Nazi prison
camps)
Hitler’s ultimate goal was to eliminate all Jewish and
minority groups in Germany
At the same time of the tragedies in Europe, Jewish
communities in the U.S faced discrimination in their
own homes.
The U.S. was not engaged in the war, but local
communities organized support efforts,
Atlanta’s Jewish social service agencies raised money to
combat discrimination abroad. (Which was successful)
The Holocaust ended in 1945, when the allied powers
won the war and freed the people held captive in the
concentration camps.
Japan Builds an Empire in the East
Japan invaded China in 1937, for the second time
during the decade.
Japan’s plan was to capture as much of China as it
could, and control Southeast Asia’s resources.
When Germany defeated France, Japan was
successful in gaining control of the French colonies in
SE Asia.
The U.S. opposed Japan’s aggression. (It threatened
to cut off Japan’s oil supplies)
U.S. Involvement
The U.S. followed a policy of isolationism in which it
kept itself politically and militarily apart from the rest
of the world (*Great Depression*)
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was concerned with
the effect with the fighting in Asia and Europe could
have on the U.S. if it continued to grow
In 1940, he announced that the U.S. would sell
weapons to its allies – Great Britain and France
As the war grew, the U.S.’s European allies found it
hard to pay for the weapons they needed. In 1941,
Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, which gave
Roosevelt the right to send weapons to allies who
were fighting a common enemy, but couldn’t pay
Diplomacy between the U.S. and Japan was failing,
and Japan attacked the U.S. Pearl Harbor naval base
in Hawaii, on December 7, 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor led to the U.S entrance
into WW II.
The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on two
Japanese cities in August 1945.
The Soviets declared war against Japan during the
same month.
These events motivated Japan to the end of the war,
and Japan surrendered and the Allies won the war.
Georgia During the War
Before World War II, GA was mostly a rural state. Most
people worked on farms and were having a hard time
recovering from the Great Depression.
GA played a significant role in the war effort, and three
men in particular helped shape GA’s experience during the
war……. (see next slides.)
Carl Vinson
Was a congressman who helped to build the
U.S. navy in the years leading up to WW II.
From 1934 until 1941, Vinson wrote many bills
that expanded the U.S. Navy. This expansion
enabled the U.S. to-Ship supplies to Allies during the Lend-Lease Act
-Overcome the attack of Pearl Harbor
-Send troops to battle
Richard B. Russell, Jr.
Senator who served on the Senate Naval Affairs Committee. He worked to bring
wartime opportunities to GA. He also helped to bring over a dozen military bases
to GA, including the largest infantry in the United States.
Senator Russell traveled to both the Pacific region and Europe during the war,
and became an expert in military strategy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
By the beginning of WW II, Roosevelt had a close relationship with Georgia. The Bell Aircraft plant in
Marietta was built in honor of his close relationship with the state. The plant produced military planes
and created jobs for over 28,000 Georgians. Once the war ended, plant employees used their skills to
find other jobs instead of farming.
Roosevelt died in Warm Springs while he
was still president in 1945.