Download Important Factoids

Important Factoids
When did WWII begin? Where? Who was involved?
What is a blitzkrieg?
What was the “Phony War?”
How did Hitler beat the French?
What was the “Miracle of Dunkirk?”
What mistake did Hitler make in the Battle of Britain?
What was the US doing while the world was at war?
Moving Cautiously Toward War
Sept. 1939-Pres. Roosevelt
persuaded Congress to pass a
“cash & carry” change to the
Neutrality Act of 1935
Warring nations could now buy US
arms if they paid cash & carried
them in their own ships
Roosevelt argued the arms sales
would help Britain & France
defeat Hitler & keep the US out
of the war
During 6 wks. of debate,
isolationists attacked Roosevelt
for his actions, but Congress
passed the Neutrality Act of
1939
The Axis Threat
The “cash & carry”
program began to look
like too little, too late
June, 1940-France had
fallen, & Britain was
under siege from Nazi
bombers
Roosevelt scrambled to
provide Britain with “all
aid short of war”
That same month, he sent
Britain 500,000 rifles &
80,000 machine guns
The Axis Gains a Member
Sept. 1940-Roosevelt traded
50 old destroyers to the
British for leases on
military bases in the
Caribbean &
Newfoundland, Canada
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill recalled this
move with affection- “a
decidedly un-neutral act”
Later that month, Americans
were jolted by the news
that Germany, Italy, &
Japan had signed a mutual
defense treaty
The 3 nations became known
as the Axis powers
A Japanese diplomat congratulates Adolph Hitler for
becoming Japan’s ally, while Luftwaffe chief Hermann
Goering (right) admires the gift of a wagon of flowers.
The Purpose of the Tripartite Pact
Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (in military
uniform, center) liftss a toast to their new allies,
Germany and Italy.
By agreeing to help each
other if attacked,
Germany, Italy, & Japan
were trying to keep the
US out of the war
If the US were to declare
war on any of the Axis
powers, it would face
its worse military
nightmare
That would be a 2-ocean
war, with fighting in
both the Atlantic and
the Pacific
Building US Defenses
Roosevelt asked Congress for
more money for national
defense
Despite years of isolationism,
Nazi victories in Europe
scared Congress into
boosting military spending
They passed the nation’s first
peacetime draft-the
Selective Service Act
16-million men between 21-35
were registered-Roosevelt
himself drew the first draft
numbers
1-million were to be drafted for
1 year, but could only serve
in the Western Hemisphere
Roosevelt Runs for a Third Term
1940-Roosevelt broke the 2-term
tradition set by George Washington
by running for re-election
Isolationists were disappointed when
his GOP opponent Wendell Willkie
supported Roosevelt’s policy of
aiding Britain
Both Willkie & Roosevelt promised to
keep the US out of the war
Because there was no difference
between the candidates, people
voted for the man they knew
Roosevelt won a 3rd term with 55% of
the vote
“The Great Arsenal of Democracy”
Roosevelt now felt more
comfortable taking sides in
the war
He told a radio audience that it
would be impossible to
negotiate a peace with
Hitler
If Britain fell, the Axis powers
would be left unchallenged
to conquer the world
At that point, he said the US
would be living at the point
of a gun
To prevent this, he proposed
turning the US into “the
great arsenal of democracy”
The Lend-Lease Plan
Late 1940-Britain had no more
cash to buy weapons
Roosevelt suggested a lend-lease
policy, in which the US would
lease arms to Britain & any
country whose defense was
vital to the US
He compared his plan to lending a
garden hose to a neighbor
whose house was on fire
The sensible thing to do was to
prevent the fire from
spreading to your own
property
Despite opposition from
isolationists, the Lend-Lease
Act passed Congress in March,
1941
Supporting Stalin
June, 1941-Hitler halted plans
to invade Britain, & instead
launched a massive
invasion of the Soviet
Union
The attack came despite the
Soviet-German nonaggression treaty the 2
nations had signed 8 days
before the war began in
1939
“The enemy of my enemy is my
friend”-Roosevelt said as he
began sending lend-lease
supplies to the USSR
Winston Churchill approved-”If
Hitler invaded hell, Britain
would be prepared to work
with the devil himself”
German Wolf Packs
To get supplies to Britain
& the USSR, supplies
had to safely cross
the North Atlantic
Ocean
Hitler deployed hundreds
of German
submarines--Uboats—to attack
supply ships
During 1941, U-boats in
groups of up to 40Wolf Packs-sank as
much as 350,000 tons
of shipments a month
June, 1941-Roosevelt
gave the US Navy
permission to attack
German U-boats in
self-defense
FDR’s Plans for War
While the war raged on
around the globe, many
Americans still remained
committed to keeping the
US out of the war
Aug. 1941-Roosevelt’s
proposal to extend the
terms of draftees passed
the US House by only 1
vote
With the army provided for,
Roosevelt began planning
for a war he was certain
would come
What Do We Want to Do If War Comes?
While Congress voted on the
draft, Roosevelt slipped
away from Washington to
meet with British Prime
Minister Churchill
They met aboard a US
battleship off the Canadian
coast to sign the Atlantic
Charter
Both countries would work for
collective security,
disarmament, selfdetermination, economic
cooperation, & freedom of
the seas
The Atlantic Charter Meeting
Roosevelt told Churchill he
couldn’t ask Congress to
declare war on Germany
However, he promised to do
everything he could to provoke
an incident that might lead to a
German attack on the US
The Atlantic Charger became the
basis of a new document called
“A Declaration of the United
Nations
The agreement was signed by 26
nations, who became known
as the “Allies”
Shoot on Sight
Sept. 4, 1941-A German sub fired on the US destroyer Greer
Roosevelt ordered navy commanders to attack German subs
on sight
Two weeks later, the Pink Star, a US merchant ship, was sunk
off Greenland
Moving Toward War With Hitler
Mid-October—A U-boat
torpedoed the US
destroyer Kearney-11
lives were lost
A few days later, German
subs sank the US
destroyer Reuben
James-100 sailors died
As the death toll mounted,
Congress lifted the ban
against arming merchant
ships
A formal declaration of war
against Germany
seemed inevitable
Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific
Since 1931, Japan had controlled
Manchuria, a mineral-rich
province of northern China
July, 1937-Gen. Hideki Tojo
invaded China itself
French, Dutch, & British colonies
lay unprotected in Southeast
Asia
With the British busy fighting
Hitler, & France already under
his control, Japan leaped at
the chance to unite East Asia
under its control
Only the US stood in its way
Japan Takes Over French Indochina
As the French were no longer
in control of their colonies
in Indochina, the Japanese
began pushing south
The US protested against this
aggression by cutting off all
trade with Japan
Japan could not function
without supplies of oil &
scrap iron from the US
Japanese military leaders
warned that unless the oil
embargo ended, Japan
would have to invade the
oil-rich Dutch East Indies
That would mean war with the
United States
Peace Talks-Or War Prep?
Gen. Tojo soon became prime
minister of Japan
He promised emperor Hirohito
his government would try to
negotiate with the US
Nov. 1941-Japan sent peace
commissioners to the US,
while preparing an attack on
the US
Roosevelt sent out a warning in
late November to military
commanders in Hawaii,
Guam, & the Philippines
After talks dragging on for a
month, Roosevelt received a
coded message instructing
Japan’s peace envoy to reject
all American peace proposals
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Dec. 7, 1941-At 7:53 on
that Sunday morning,
Japanese planes
men on US naval
vessels in Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii saw
strange planes
swooping down
The Japanese had
stealthily crept their
aircraft carriers to
within striking range
of Hawaii
353 Japanese warplanes
bombed, strafed, &
torpedoed US ships &
planes, killing 2400
First Japanese bombs fall on battleship row at Pearl
Americans
http://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=10Nsnoyfn5o
Harbor just before 8 AM Dec. 7, 1941. The explosion in
the center is a torpedo strike on the USS Oklahoma.
Pearl Harbor’s Cost
For 90 minutes, Japanese
planes were barely
disturbed by US antiaircraft weapons
Four US battleships, 3
cruisers, 3 destroyers, &
347 US planes were put
out of action
The American Pacific fleet
was largely destroyed,
with the exception of its
aircraft carriers &
supporting vessels, which
were at sea
The survival of the US
depended upon those 3
aircraft carriers
Reaction to Pearl Harbor
Americans were hopping
mad-the Pearl Harbor
attack occurred while
the peace talks were
still technically going
on
The average American
wanted to join up &
fight now--”WE’RE
GONNA KICK YOUR
____”
Pres. Roosevelt
addressed Congress
on Monday, Dec. 8, to
ask for a declaration
of war
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=aRlMASdJdEU
Americans rush to recruiting stations for the army,
navy, & marines immediately after Pearl Harbor.
Isolationism Was Dead
The Senate voted
95-1 for war
On Dec. 11, the US
also declared war
on Germany &
Japan
Isolationist Sen.
Burton K.
Wheeler now
proclaimed, “The
only thing now to
do is to lick the
hell out of them”