Download US Hst II -- Handout 7-1a

United States History II
“World War II”
Handout 7-1
I. The Explosion of Total War
* In the 1930s, Japan continued its __________ and expansion, taking __________, a resourcerich region of northeastern _______ and other territories in the Asia-Pacific region. The
U.S. responded to this aggression with the ________ Doctrine which stated that the U.S.
would not recognize any land that Japan took by force.
* Italy continued its aggression by seizing the tiny nation of _________ in southeastern Europe.
* In August, 1939, Hitler signed a ________________ pact with the Soviet Union (led by Josef
________). This agreement ended western hopes that Hitler and Stalin might destroy
each other, and it shocked the West because of ____________--________ hatred for each
other. Yet, the Soviet Union was in no condition for a major war, and they were also
bitter that the major Western nations had not included them in the ________ Conference.
The two nations made an agreement to split ___________ as Hitler wanted the western,
historically Germanic areas, and thus, Stalin found this deal to be appealing as it
offered gains for Russia with no real ____________.
* The German War Machine: The _________ and _________ were superior and quite efficient.
-- The German war strategy was one of "___________" ("Lightning War") as they struck
hard and fast, often winning before the enemy could mobilize or develop a defense.
The German "________" divisions of troops, tanks, and planes were mobile and
efficient, and they were much more adept at preparing for a war of movement
with new technology than France and the other Allies who were stuck in a
______________ World War I mentality.
* _______________________: Germany invaded Poland to begin World War II.
-- The Polish army was routed and conquered by ____________ Germans in 1 month.
-- Hitler did not fear the _________ so he felt free to invade, and he also figured that
based on past behavior, Britain and ________ might not get involved either.
-- Britain and France did have a _____________ pact with Poland so they declared war
on Germany. The new British Prime Minister was ______________________.
* The Soviets gained territory, including _______ in the Winter War, but it was somewhat of a
“______ victory” as they did take heavy losses due to Finnish soldiers using ___ for easier
movement in the snow.
* The Germans put the _______________ Plan into action once again as they quickly overran,
conquered, and occupied Norway, Denmark, _________, the Netherlands, and ________.
-- The ____________________ was terribly ineffective as the Germans went right by it.
-- The Germans forced the French to sign surrender papers in the same ______________
that had been used to sign the __________ ending World War I (and that had been
used to sign the French surrender at the end of the ___________________ War in
1871).
-- France was divided into two parts by the surrender terms: a) the northern two-thirds
to be occupied by the ________, and b) the southern third to be governed by a
French Nazi ______ ruler named Marshall _______ (a World War I hero and the
French commander at the Battle of ________) from the town of ______. Charles
_______________ led the Free French government from England.
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* ______ Allied troops (mostly British) were surrounded by the Nazis and backed up to the beach
at _________, France, and only with the brilliant help of the Royal Air Force, the Royal
Navy, and many merchant and personal ships) were these troops evacuated in the
"_______
_________________." Despite this heroism, France fell quickly to the Germans.
* _______ then stood alone against Germany in the summer of 1940, raising concerns in America.
Walter Lippmann, a renowned American journalist, said, "We must begin acting at once
on the basic assumption that before the snow flies again, we may stand alone and isolated,
the last great ______________ on Earth."
* The Battle of Britain (the "_______") – Hitler ordered this attack despite his generals' advice.
-- The German ____________, launching from their new bases in western Europe,
made constant raids on British cities (especially ________) in the summer and
fall of 1940. They outnumbered the British in airplanes by a ______ margin.
-- Londoners spent nights in ________ tunnels as German bombs destroyed the city.
-- Londoners were warned by sirens, and there were _________ deaths and __________
injuries on average per day.
-- The RAF (__________________) pilots became national heroes along with their small
but swift planes called "_______.” Winston Churchill honored their valor, saying
"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to _______.”
-- Much of the RAF success was owed to the development of ________ and to the British
ability to crack Germany's secret codes (with a German device called the
______ machine smuggled out of Poland). This "_______" secret would help in
many other battles as well).
-- Hitler had wanted to weaken Britain enough for an ________, but it turned out to be his
first defeat, forcing him to put invasion on hold. The ______ was mostly over by
October, 1940.
* Operation ________________: Germany invaded the Soviet Union on September 22, 1941.
-- Hitler feared a potential Russian-______ alliance, and he was not satisfied, wanting
more “________________” (living space) for superior Germans.
-- His goal was to smash Russia quickly before a possible ____ -- British offensive. He
thought he might even scare the U.S. out of getting involved with a quick victory
over the Soviet Union.
-- ______ Russian planes were destroyed on the ground in the first ______________.
-- Stalin employed a “_____________” policy as the Soviets retreated and burned most
everything in their path.
-- The Germans made huge advances in the north in the summer of 1941, but __________
was the key to Soviet defenses -- __________ weather and vast land expanses.
___________ (formerly and currently _____________) was surrounded but never
surrendered despite ___________ deaths in the city during the 1941-1942 winter.
-- The Soviets began referring to this conflict as the “___________________,” and the
citizens’ determination during the siege of Leningrad became a great _________
moment for the nation.
-- Unlike ___________, Hitler was not even smart enough to retreat as Germany then
turned its attention south towards the ___________ region of southern Russia
near the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea where they were seeking _____ and other
natural resources necessary for their survival.
II. The United States -- From Isolationism to Concern to War
* Even though the rise of ____________ had shocked many people in the 1930s, many Americans
remained committed to isolationism as they did not want to become involved in another
big European war. Charles ________, the first man to fly solo across the _________ was
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one of the great advocates for this perspective.
* Many Americans – including most ________ – were _______ who strongly opposed war of any
kind. Many of these individuals had served in World War I as “____________________”
who participated in the medical corps or other non-combat positions, and their exposure
to the realities of war strengthened their opposition to war of any type.
* Many Americans sensed that World War I was a failure as the only people that had profited
from it were manufacturers of weapons and __________ – businesses that became known
to many as “merchants of ______.” The world seemed more dangerous, and Americans
were wary of what another war would do as the Great War had not made the world
safer for democracy as declared by ________________________.
* FDR did not want to anger American isolationists, but he also did not want more Axis victories.
_______ veterans marched for peace in Washington, D.C. in 1935, and ________ college
students staged a one-hour strike against war, claiming that the government should
build “_____________ not battleships.”
* In response to public opinion, Congress passed the _____________ which prohibited the sale of
weapons to either side in any war, and they directed the president to warn American
citizens of the risk that they took by traveling on the ships of ___________ nations.
* The first test of these Neutrality Acts came when Italy invaded ____________, and nearly all
Americans sympathized with Ethiopia who was ________ attacked for no reason. Yet,
these laws hurt Ethiopia more as they needed more __________ weapons for defense.
* When Japan invaded China in 1937, Roosevelt refused to enforce the Neutrality Acts on the
technicality that they had not officially declared war so America began selling
munitions to ________.
* FDR then gave a 1937 speech warning that “mere isolation or ______________” was not real
protection. He argued that peaceful nations must work together for “_______________”
by isolating or “_____________” aggressor countries.
* In September, 1939, Congress debated revisions to the Neutrality Acts and decided to
allow weapons to be sold to warring nations on a “_______________” basis (immediate
payment required and transportation of the goods on _______ ships). This benefited the
Allies because of their _______ superiority which prevented German ships from reaching
American ports.
* Congress then voted to institute a draft for men between the ages of ___ and ___ to prepare for
possible war, and __________ men registered with the Selective Service, with each being
assigned a number between 1 and _____. Secretary of State Henry __________ drew the
first number (#____) followed by other officials drawing out the rest to determine the
order in which the men were to be called for duty. By the end of the war, ____ million
men had been drafted, and ___ million men and women had enlisted.
* The German invasion of Poland and subsequent events were called the “___________” because
after that initial victory, there was little action for months. Yet, the fall of _________ was
devastating and led to a significant change in American policy.
* Following the fall of France in 1940, FDR made the __________________ Deal with Churchill
to show support for Allies. FDR bypassed Congress with this “__________________” in
which he gave ____ destroyers to the British in exchange for ____-year leases on British
military bases in the West Indies.
* The _____ presidential election was contested with the Battle of Britain as the main backdrop,
and U.S. journalist _____________________ kept Americans riveted with his daily radio
reports from London.
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-- The Republicans fought ___________ over their nomination as they were divided
between Ohio Senator Robert ______ (more isolationist) and Thomas ______ of
New York (more internationalist). After _____ ballots with no majority at the
convention, the delegates compromised on _________________ of Indiana who
was an internationalist and who had already gained fame for opposing the _____
and for promoting much aid to ______________.
-- Even FDR’s closest advisors did not know if he was going to seek the ___________
nomination for a third term at their convention in __________, but he decided to
do so as he felt that he was needed with the critical international situation. He
easily won re-nomination.
-- Wilkie tried to emphasize the _______-term issue and the failures of the _________ to
jumpstart the economy while Roosevelt ran on his record. Late in the campaign,
he accused FDR of planning to involve the U.S. in the war, and FDR famously
responded, “Your boys are not going to be sent into any __________________.”
-- FDR easily won a third term with _____ electoral votes to Wilkie’s _____.
* FDR interpreted his easy victory as a ___________ for his platform – specifically his policies
of aiding Great Britain. The British were running low on _______, and FDR proposed
lending them the weapons and goods that they needed in the struggle against Hitler.
In one of his most famous ______________, he said that the U.S. “must become the great
_____________________________.”
* In January, 1941, FDR called for support for those who were fighting in defense of the
“Four Freedoms” (freedom of ________ and religion, freedom from _____ and _____).
* Several days later, he asked Congress to pass the ______________ Act which would give the
president the authority to sell or to lend war supplies to any nation whose defense was
essential to America’s __________. This bill aroused fierce opposition, but with public
support around _____% for the measure, Congress passed the act in March as the U.S.
became more officially involved.
* FDR and Churchill met aboard the destroyer _________ off the coast of ______________ and
signed the ________________ in August, 1941. In this inspiring document, they outlined
their goals for the war and more importantly their goals for the ________ world (especially
Europe), and they outlined a commitment to make the world safe for ______________.
* The Undeclared War:
-- FDR authorized the U.S. naval yards to repair damaged ________ ships, and he
transferred _____ Coast Guard cutters to the British navy.
-- The Americans began patrolling areas near Greenland and later __________ in
an attempt to track ___________ and to radio their location to the British.
-- A German U-Boat fired upon the destroyer ______ in September 1941, and then
in October, the Germans sunk the American destroyer ________________,
killing over _____ sailors.
-- In response to these attacks, Congress authorized the arming of merchant
ships as all restrictions on American ____________ were removed.
* After all of these preparations with Europe, the war for the U.S. unexpectedly began in the
_________ Ocean. The U.S. had tried to force Japan (led by ______) to abandon their
expansion by refusing to sell them fuel, steel, and other vital materials. The Japanese
had two choices: a) retreat from _________ and admit defeat or b) attack further into
southeast ________ to take more territory (they feared this would bring war).
* The U.S. military had broken Japan’s diplomatic _____, and they knew that an attack was likely
somewhere in late November or early ______________.
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* On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed _________________ (a major U.S. naval base in
Hawaii) where the entire U.S. Pacific fleet was based. The U.S. was very surprised,
thinking a Japanese attack might come in the ___________, but the U.S. military did not
believe they were capable of reaching Hawaii with such a massive assault. Admiral
Husband ______ and General Walter ______ mainly took precautions against ________ at
Pearl Harbor and were actually set to play a round of _______ that Sunday morning.
-- The Japanese fleet that had left _____ several weeks before had sent no _____ signals to
be traced.
-- Some ___________ theorists believe that America really had more advanced warning of
a specific attack location, including an encounter with a Japanese ______ near
Hawaii in the days before the attack. These people argue that Roosevelt and/or the
military intentionally ignored the warnings, knowing that an attack by Japan would
push American ___________________ firmly towards war.
-- The Japanese sank ___ battleships, blew up _____ American planes (lined up in a
row), and killed over ______ sailors and marines in the early morning raid. The
biggest loss was the sinking of the _______________ which sank and trapped over
_____ sailors inside. The U.S. mounted so little resistance that the sailors could see
the ________ of the Japanese pilots in their planes.
-- Luckily several ________________ were out of port on maneuvers and were not sunk.
-- The Japanese were __________ (just like Germany) and figured war with the U.S. was
_____________; thus, they wanted to destroy U.S. Pacific strength and try to win
a quick victory. The Japanese knew they must win quickly because they
could not defeat the U.S. in a lengthy war because of the ________ in population
and industrial capacity.
-- FDR called this a "date which will live in ________.” The U.S. declared war on Japan
on ______________, 1941. The vote was unanimous in Congress except for the
lone representative from Montana – _____________________ – who said that a
declaration of war should never be unanimous in a _____________ society.
* As part of their Axis pact with Japan, Germany and ____ declared war on the U.S., and America
returned the favor and did the same in a matter of days.
III. The Course of the War (1941-1945)
* Early Axis victories – The Allies experienced a series of quick, crushing _________ through
early 1942.
-- The Western powers were unprepared – especially compared to the _______.
-- The Japanese attacked the ____________ 10 hours after Pearl Harbor, and they won
many easy victories. At its height, their empire was _______ mi (N to S) and
_______ mi (E to W).
-- General Douglas _____________ of the U.S. in the Pacific was defeated soundly by
the Japanese in the Philippines, and his captured forces were forced to make the
"___________" on Bataan and Corregidor. Upon leaving, he said "I shall ______!"
-- The Germans were deep into the ________, seeking ports and cutting off supply lines.
-- The Nazis also controlled most all of _______________ Europe.
* The Turning Point (1942)
-- Battle of the ____________ was technically a "draw" as for the first time, the U.S. navy
held its own against the Japanese. The American navy was led by Admiral
___________________________.
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-- The Battle of _______ established U.S. naval supremacy in the Pacific with a smashing
victory on June 3, 1942. American planes – with a combination of luck, strategy,
and trickery – were able to sink ____ Japanese aircraft carriers in ____ minutes and
mortally wound another. U.S. bombers also destroyed _____ planes – all refueling
on deck. From this point forward, the Japanese lost their ________ superiority.
-- The Allies turned to a new strategy of "________________," taking key strategic islands
in a patterned path that would lead them straight to Japan.
-- At the Battle of ______________, the Russians won a grueling, house-to-house battle
and stopped the German advance in what many historians consider to be the most
___________ battle fought in World War II. They then gradually forced them to
retreat, chasing them slowly back to Germany over the next few years. Hitler
refused to allow his troops to surrender even when they were trapped within the
city as only _______ of the original ________ Germans survived until they had to
surrender and be marched to Russian prisoner of war camps. This eastern front
was by far the biggest and had the highest ____________ totals.
-- Operation Torch: the Allied invasion of __________________
-- Stalin kept demanding that Britain and US open a _______ front to take some
pressure off of Russia as he wanted to force Hitler into a ____-front war.
-- The Western Allies decided that they were not yet ready to invade Europe
so they put Operation _____________ (a _________ invasion) on hold.
-- Instead, they invaded German-held North Africa from ___________ (on the
west coast of Africa). General ______________ commanded this force of
over 100,000 U.S. soldiers.
-- The Americans took Morocco and _______ easily, and they then fought the
Germans for the first time in the war in early 1943 at _______________
in Tunisia, a battle which resulted in a standoff.
-- British troops in Egypt were led by General Bernard _____________, and they
finally stopped the eastward German advance across North Africa at the
Battle of _________ (a huge, vicious tank battle against one of Germany's
best generals Erwin ________, the "Desert Fox,” and his _____________).
Using "Ultra" to help decode German messages, Montgomery struck,
killing ________ while destroying _____ tanks and _____ artillery pieces.
-- The Allies (British in the east, U.S. in the west) then squeezed and defeated
the Germans in North Africa, capturing ___________ Axis troops.
-- the Battle of the Atlantic:
-- German ___________ once again dominated at sea, sinking countless Allied
ships and even appearing off the Atlantic coast of the U.S. in groups
known as “__________________.”
-- The Allies gradually began to win this "battle" and seize control of Atlantic
shipping lanes. They used ________ and ________ (on ships called
__________________) to counter the German U-Boat threat.
-- Once order was restored and Allied ships could sail freely from America
to Europe or Africa, the outcome of the war was not really in doubt.
It became a question of "when" the Allies would win rather than "_____."
* The _________ Conference was held in Morocco in January, 1943. Only FDR and Churchill
attended because ______ was afraid to fly. FDR and Churchill made 2 critical decisions at
this meeting: a) fight until all of the Axis powers agreed to ________________________,
and b) commit to a full scale invasion of _______ across the Mediterranean Sea from
Tunisia to open a second front against the Axis, though that invasion would not be
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terribly effective in tying up many Axis _______________.
* The _______ Conference was held in _____ in November and December, 1943. All of the Big
Three attended, and Stalin was quite unhappy because the invasion of Italy was not
occupying many Axis resources as he called it a “_________.” He demanded that the
Allies invade Europe in another location to open a more significant second front. The
Big Three avoided all discussions of the ______________ world.
* The Homefront:
-- The U.S. was much more prepared to fight World War II than it had been to fight the
Great War as FDR had already established councils and boards to control the
production and distribution of __________, weapons and war supplies, and other
essential and non-essential goods. FDR appointed South Carolinian James F.
___________ to be in charge of the U.S. War ________________ effort.
-- _________ of food, fuel, metal, rubber, and other resources became the norm. Though
gas was plentiful, it was also rationed to try to save rubber from excess _____ use.
-- Many manufacturers shifted their plants from the production of consumer goods to
_________ – from orange juice squeezers to bullet molds or from automobiles to
_____. The number of airplanes produced increased from under ______ in 1939 to
___________ in 1944.
-- Industry boomed as America emerged out of the Great Depression for good, and
_________________ ceased to be a national problem for the first time since _____.
-- About ___ million women were employed during the war, and songs and characters like
“_______________” celebrated these opportunities for advancement and equality.
-- All countries used various types of ______________ via radio, newspapers, magazines,
schools, and even some early television to ensure support for the war. Another
key tool in the U.S. was “______________” – newsreels of footage from the war
that were often shown in theaters before movies.
-- The U.S. organized a _____________________ Board in 1942 to regulate wages and to
prevent labor disputes.
-- ___________ experienced a boom as their incomes doubled on average during the war,
allowing them to pay off their ________, improve their property, and save money.
-- Congress also adopted the “____________ system” of payroll deductions for collecting
_______ taxes as employers withheld a percentage of the workers’ pay and sent
the money straight to the treasury. It made paying taxes less painful, made tax
______ much more difficult, and most importantly provided the government with a
steady __________ stream.
-- Congress passed the Serviceman’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (aka the “__________ of
Rights”) which made low-cost loans available to veterans who wished to buy a
_________, start a new business, or attend _________ after the war.
-- In many European cities, bombing _________ were a way of life.
-- German ____________ were visible off the coast of the U.S.
-- In the U.S., many major league __________ players and other professional athletes
fulfilled their patriotic duty and volunteered to serve in the war, leading to first
pro women's baseball league (portrayed in "___________________________").
-- In a negative chapter of U.S. History, the U.S. government and many citizens feared that
Asian Americans might be Japanese spies or _________________. Over 112,000
Japanese Americans were placed in ______________ camps out west – to prevent
them from aiding Japan and/or interfering with the war effort and to keep them
“safe” from white Americans who were quite suspicious and _____. Yet, there was
no evidence that these people were less loyal than other Americans, and Congress
passed an act in _____ to help those interned recover part of their losses. Other
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court cases in the 1950s gave further ____________ to some of these families.
-- African Americans in WW II:
-- Over __________ black men were drafted or enlisted in the army, and WW II
did mark an improvement as more African Americans became air force
pilots and earned _________________________.
-- As in World War I, black Americans benefited from the ______ shortage with
increased employment opportunities.
-- Yet, many African Americans felt a great sense of ___________ in risking their
lives for a nation that treated them like ___________-class citizens.
-- _____________________ was a major African American leader who sought to
organize a march on Washington to protest the treatment of blacks, but
FDR feared that such a march would be too _______ during wartime. He
persuaded Randolph to cancel the march by issuing an executive order
prohibiting racial discrimination in __________ plants, a rule that was
enforced by the _________________________________ Commission.
-- Many white Americans resented FDR’s _____________, and a number of racial
riots and conflicts occurred during the war in New York City, ________,
and other major cities.
-- When the war ended, these demands for fair treatment increased as WW II
helped to lay the strong foundations for the __________ movement which
would play out in the 1950s and 1960s.
-- Hispanic Americans shared similar experiences during World War II as _________ of
them served in the armed forces. As with African Americans, these experiences
led to a greater determination to push for more rights, equality, and opportunities
when the war ended. Many Hispanic women went to work – especially in the
West and ____________, and the U.S. and Mexico signed a treaty that allowed
______ (Mexican farm workers) to enter the U.S. temporarily to work on farms.
* The Push to Victory – In the end, the Allies simply had too many _________ and wonderful
organization.
-- The fight for Italy:
-- Churchill mistakenly called Italy the “soft _________ of Europe,” and though
the initial invasion was easy, the fight to conquer Italy was a long and
bloody process.
-- Once the Allies invaded ______ successfully, _________ was forced to resign
and placed under house arrest so Hitler marched troops into Italy to fight
the Allied invasion. Specifically, ________ sent commandos to rescue
Mussolini and place him back in "power." This campaign would be
slow due to Italian mountains and geography as Italy would not be finally
freed until early _______ (2 years later).
-- Two key American journalists in this campaign were __________ (who spent
months on the front with American troops) and ____________________
(the U.S. army’s first woman correspondent).
-- Pacific Theater:
-- The American navy under Admiral Nimitz would continue its ______________
campaign while General MacArthur sought to retake the _____________.
-- Admiral Nimitz and the navy faced incredibly difficult Japanese resistance on
____________, an island which took ___ months to take as the Japanese
soldiers would fight to the death. ________ Japanese died in this battle.
-- Nimitz faced a similar problem on the island of ______ as only ___ of the _____
Japanese defenders were taken prisoner while all of the rest died fighting.
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-- MacArthur "returned" to the _________ as he vowed to do after defeating the
remainder of the Japanese navy in late 1944 at the Battle of ___________.
-- The U.S. then faced fierce Japanese resistance on __________ and __________,
both small volcanic islands which were key points for the U.S. to be able to
launch air strikes against the Japanese mainland. The Japanese refusal to
surrender again led to astounding _____________ totals.
-- America suffered over _______ casualties on Okinawa alone while the Japanese
suffered over __________ casualties in the same battle.
-- Iwo Jima is the site of the famous picture and statue of the _______ hoisting the
American flag over Mount _______________.
-- ________________: Operation Overlord (D-Day) -- crossing the ______________
-- The Allies knew they needed to strike at mainland Europe to open a major
second _______ and to push quickly towards Germany. There was also a
growing fear that the _____ Army might overrun the continent and spread
__________________ to all nations.
-- Led by General _____________________ of the U.S. as the “Supreme Allied
Commander,” this Allied attack was the largest ___________ invasion in
history (______ ships). The invasion was originally scheduled for _______
but was postponed one day due to poor weather.
-- The Allies used many ____________ tactics so that Hitler would not know
when or where an attack might be launched. Using fake ______ and jeeps
(balloons), citizens dressed as ____________, and radio messages that they
knew the Germans could decode and read, the Allies convinced many
German officials that the attack would come at _______, the French town
which marked the closest attack route across the English Channel.
-- Instead, the Allies struck much further west down the coast at a region
called ___________. Specifically, the Allies landed 176,000 soldiers at
five beaches codenamed ______ (American), ______ (American), _____
(British), ______ (British), and _____ (Canadian). Naval guns and planes
bombarded German defenses along the coast, but poor ________ led many
of these strikes to miss their targets, making the landings more deadly
for Allied soldiers.
-- The French _____________ had also been working for months to weaken Nazi
defenses and to sabotage German communications and _____________.
-- In the early morning hours, thousands of Allied _____________ were dropped
into Normandy in an effort to cut German communications and to
prevent Nazi _______________ of the beach defenses, but poor weather
hampered many of these operations as well.
-- The worst violence by far occurred at ________ Beach where the Nazi guns
encircled the Americans in a horseshoe from high ________ and where
sand bars far out in the water led to many soldiers _____________.
-- Yet, despite the high casualties, the Allies persisted and gradually took
control of the beaches as waves of men and ________ continued to arrive.
-- After five days, the Allies held a strip of land ____ miles long. The soldiers
gradually expanded outward from their bases on the beach, and they
made huge gains when they captured the ports of _____________ and
____________ so that many more troops and supplies could arrive easily.
-- After several weeks of intense fighting in Normandy, the Americans under
the charismatic General George ______ broke through German lines at a
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town called __________ as they moved quickly towards ________.
-- The Allies allowed ___________________ and his French troops to actually
march into the city of Paris on August 24, 1944 as its "________" while
the Allies continued to drive towards _______ (much faster than in Italy).
-- During this drive towards Germany, Roosevelt won another easy victory ___--__
over Republican Thomas ______ in the 1944 presidential election. He was
in very poor health, but he was determined to bring the war to an end and
to work for a new global organization to replace the _________________.
The Democrats selected little-known and inexperienced ______________
of Missouri as his VP.
-- The Germans launched one last desperate, _________________ to try to break
through Allied lines in Belgium in 1944 and to seize the port of ________
to split the Allied force in two. The Allies were quite surprised and initially
overwhelmed by ______ Nazi troops, and the Germans advanced to drive a
wedge (or “______”) ____ miles deep into Allied lines, but the Americans
stopped the advance at ________ and then gradually pushed the Germans
back at this “____________________” and marched on towards Berlin.
-- The Allies launched heavy bombing raids on German cities to force the
population into submission (_________ strategy) and to destroy key
industries (_____________ factories, ____ refineries, etc. (American view).
The British approach involved mainly ______ raids and was much safer for
their pilots while the American strategy required daytime attacks that
resulted in much higher ___________ figures for U.S. bomber crews.
-- Led by ____________________ (a war hero), a group of nearly _____ Germans plotted
to assassinate Hitler. Stauffenberg planted the bomb in a briefcase, left the
room, saw the explosion, and called Berlin to signal the ____________ to begin.
Yet, Hitler was protected by some luck and a large wooden table as the plotters
were __________. Compared to several other attempts on Hitler’s life, this effort
was by far the closest to success.
* The End of the War (1945)
-- The _____ Conference (a vacation spot in the _______) was held in February, 1945 as
the Big Three met to deal with reality and discuss the end of the war. They
agreed that: a) Germany would be divided into ____ temporary military zones to
be occupied by US, British, ________, and _______ troops, b) Russia would gain
________ territory while the nation of Poland would be shifted west to take some
____________ lands, c) Eastern European nations that would be temporarily
occupied by the Soviet Union would have ____________ elections to decide
their future government, d) They outlined the structure of the ______________,
and e) U.S. feared a tough war ahead with _________ so FDR convinced the
Russians to join the Pacific War within _____ months after Victory in Europe
(V-E Day) in exchange for gaining her old territory in the __________ that had
earlier been lost. FDR was criticized (perhaps unfairly) for "____________" and
being weak with the Soviet Union as Americans felt like he "gave in" too much.
-- The Soviets had been chasing the Germans back to __________ from the east at an
even faster rate than the Americans. The U.S. and Red Army troops finally met at
the ________ River in eastern Germany.
-- The Soviet troops then marched into ________ in April followed by U.S. troops days
later.
-- FDR died in April, 1945 while visiting Warm Springs, ______, leading his VP Harry S
___________ to become President.
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-- _______________ was assassinated on April 28.
-- Hitler committed suicide with his long-time girlfriend/recent wife ______________ on
April 30 in his headquarters bunker in Berlin. They left orders for their bodies
to be _________, but the bodies were not burned completely when the ________
found them. Hitler’s skull and other remains have been the source of much
controversy in the decades since his death.
-- V-E (Victory in Europe) Day was _____________ as the war in Europe was officially
over.
-- The __________ Conference (at a Royal Residence near Berlin, Germany) was held
in July-August, 1945. _______ had succeeded FDR, and Clement ________ had
succeeded Winston Churchill as the British Prime Minister. The European war
was over, and as a new player on the international stage, Truman did not want
to be pushed around or accused of “selling out” (especially after the ________
Conference). The three leaders agreed to the final ________________ zones.
-- The Atomic Bomb:
-- Albert ________ developed the atomic theory, and he worked with physicist
Leo _______ to write a letter to FDR in the late 1930s, warning him to
develop a program to design an atomic bomb before the __________.
-- Enrico _______, an Italian immigrant, then achieved the first self-sustained
______________ in a secret lab in a squash court under a football field
at the _____________________.
-- The U.S. was the first nation to complete work on an Atomic Bomb (the
_________ were very close). The A-Bomb effort was a top secret
program known as the _______________ (led by Robert __________).
The program involved thousands of employees at various sites – most
notably ______________, TN and ________________, NM.
-- The first successful test took place on July 16, 1945 at ___________ in NM.
-- Truman received word of the successful test at the _________ Conference.
-- The U.S. had suffered terrible losses (especially at _________ and _______),
and many Japanese fighters had become suicide pilots (known as
________). Thus, the U.S. military feared that up to _________ Americans
might be killed in a full-scale invasion of Japan.
-- Truman decided to drop the Atomic Bomb for several possible reasons:
a) publicly he claimed that it would help to save American ______, b) to
end the war quickly to prevent the ___________ from marching into East
Asia as agreed at _____, and c) to intimidate the Soviets and to scare them
out of expanding their influence further into ___________.
-- On _______, 1945, the _____________ (named for the mother of the pilot Paul
______) dropped the first atomic bomb (nicknamed __________) to be used
in war on _________. 80,000 of 343,000 residents died from the explosion.
-- The Japanese still did not surrender, leading Truman to have a second
A-Bomb (called __________) on __________ on ________, killing 40,000.
-- The U.S. was actually out of _________ by that point. If Japan had not then
surrendered, no one is sure what Truman might have done as it would
have taken an estimated ____ months to build another one.
-- The Japanese did surrender, leading to _____ Day on __________, 1945. The
formal surrender then took place aboard the __________________ on
__________________, 1945.
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IV. Final Thoughts on World War II
* In 1939, the world was dominated by _________, and the war began there. Yet, in 1945, the
war ended in the _______ as this beginning and ending represent a shift in world power.
* World War II was a war of new technology:
-- _____________ revolutionized naval warfare as you might not even "see" the enemy.
-- Better _______ led to much faster, more mobile armies.
-- Air power improved greatly, especially with bombing raids. These airplane developments made ___________ worse than ever as all segments of a society (esp.
___________) were targets for enemy fighters. Many of the "heavy bombing"
campaigns on Axis cities – like ________, Germany and ______, Japan – killed
more people than either atomic explosion
-- ________ (air), ______ (water), and wireless radio all allowed for improved tracking.
-- The earliest ____________ were tested and developed – first by the Germans.
-- The _______ bomb ended the war but was not yet able to be mounted as a _______ on
a missile. Thus, atomic weapons were a part of the U.S. ____________ for the
first several years.
* The war was about racial and ______ hatred (especially in the ______ and on the _______ front)
and ideology (Fascism, Communism, ______________). Many ______ died in captivity
from harsh, brutal treatment (___ million Germans and __ million Russians in each other's
camps alone; ___% of Allied P.O.W.'s died in ____________ camps). It was the most
"____________ conflict" since the Thirty Years War (fought over _______ in the 1600's).
* The _____ powers generally displayed strategic and technical superiority, but the Allies avoided
losing the first few years, allowed their ___________ capacity to reach full strength, and
then simply crushed the Axis with sheer force of industrial power and troop numbers.
* The casualty numbers were tremendous in World War II, with the Russians losing over
__________ people alone. In total, over ___ million civilians were killed by the fighting,
____ times the number of soldiers killed. The U.S. did take many more losses than in
World War I with approximately __________ soldiers killed.
Sources:
Garraty, John A. The Story of America. New York City: Henry Holt and Company, 1994.
Lapsansky-Werner, Emma J., et al. United States History. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, 2008.
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