Download World War II

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Mobilization: draft, raised defense spending by
$8 billion
Selective Training and Service Act: 1940, first
peacetime draft, ages 21-36
Rationing: Each household received a book of
coupons to buy scarce items, could only by a
set amount
War-time conservation: carpool, ride bikes,
held nationwide drives to recycle items used in
war production
Role of women: worked in factories, Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps, which filled noncombat
positions that would have otherwise been filled
by men
What does that mean, “When You
Ride Alone, You Ride With Hitler!”
During WWII, Americans were urged
to conserve gasoline (and most
other consumer goods) in support
of the War Effort. To ride alone was
wasteful, and therefore it aided the
enemy.
Rosie the
Riveter
Rationing tickets
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December 7, 1941 – Japanese aircraft
attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in
the Hawaiian Islands
Hoped to destroy the US fleet in the Pacific &
cause the US to accept Japanese control of
the Pacific
BUT… it unified American opinion about being
involved in the war
US joined European nations and China to
defeat Japan
Believing American involvement in the Pacific
would make them ineffective in the European
theater, Hitler declared war on the United
States December 11, 1941
Battle of Midway: (1942) naval battle in
which the US won against the Japanese,
a turning point in WWII
 D-Day: (June 6, 1944) first day of Allied
invasion of Nazi-occupied France,
largest seaborne invasion in history, US
and Allied troops surprised Germans at
Normandy, beginning of victory for Allies
in Europe
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Storming the
beach at
Normandy.
Map of
Europe;
Normandy
in red
Battle of Iwo Jima: (November, 1944February, 1945) US fought Japan and
won, bloodiest battle of the war
 Battle of Okinawa: (April-June, 1945)
Japanese vowed to fight to the death,
kamikaze attacks, Japanese eventually
surrendered, the Allies had a clear path
to Japan
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March 1945- American troops marched
toward Berlin from the west and Soviet
forces pushed in from the East
 As the Soviet Army surrounded Berlin,
Hitler refused to flee the city
 April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits suicide in
an underground bunker
 May 8, 1945 – Germany’s remaining
troops surrender
 VE Day- Victory in Europe
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Hiroshima: (August 6, 1945) first atomic
bomb (“Little Boy”) dropped on Hiroshima,
Japan, killing 160,000 by radiation, sickness,
fire, and force of explosion, 90% of buildings
damaged or destroyed
 Nagasaki: (August 9, 1945) second atomic
bomb (“Fat Man”) dropped on Nagasaki,
Japan, killing 70,000
 Japanese surrender: (August 15, 1945) V-J
Day, Japanese accepted US terms of
surrender, official surrender signed Sept. 2
aboard the USS Missouri
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Dropping was decided by President
Harry Truman after Germany
surrendered
 Truman feared that defeating the
Japanese might be more difficult
 “You should do your weeping at Pearl
Harbor.”
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Abomb
aftermath
“Little Boy” dropped
on Hiroshima
Mushroom
cloud
Child
orphaned
by atomic
bomb