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Unit 8
Prosperity, Depression, and War
Chapter 27: World War II
I. War Clouds Gather
A. Depression Diplomacy -In the 1930s, Americans had too many economic worries to
care much about events overseas.
1. As threats of war in Europe and Asia grew, a strong isolationist mood gripped
the country.
a) Neutrality Acts (1935)- laws banned arms sales or loans to countries at
war and they warned Americans not to travel on ships of countries at war.
2. The United States tried to improve relations with Latin American nations. In
1930, President Hoover rejected the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.
a) The United States no longer claimed the right to intervene in the affairs
of Latin American nations.
3. When Franklin Roosevelt took office, he announced a Good Neighbor Policy.
a) He withdrew American troops from Nicaragua and from Haiti.
b) He also withdrew the Platt Amendment, which had limited the
independence of Cuba.
B. Fascists in Italy
1. In Europe, the danger of war was growing. By the 1930s, dictators had won
power in both Italy and Germany.
a) A dictator is a ruler who has complete power over a country.
b) These dictators exploited economic troubles and feelings of extreme
nationalism to win support.
2. In 1922, Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy. Mussolini played on Italian anger
about the Versailles Treaty ending World War I.
a) It did not grant Italy all the territory it wanted.
b) Mussolini also used economic unrest and fears of a communist revolution
to win support for his Fascist Party.
3. Once in power, Mussolini outlawed all political parties except his own.
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a) He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government.
b) In schools, children recited the motto "Mussolini is always right."
4. Invading Ethiopia. In the 1930s, Mussolini used foreign conquest to distract
Italy from the economic depression at home.
a) Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935.
b) Ethiopia called on the League of Nations for help. The great powers,
Britain and France, were concentrating on their own economic problems, and
grim memories of World War I made them unwilling to risk another war.
Without help, Ethiopia fell to the invaders.
C. Rise of Nazi Germany
1. Like Mussolini in Italy, Adolf Hitler took advantage of German anger about the
Versailles Treaty. Germans bitterly resented the treaty, which blamed their
country for World War I.
a) Hitler organized a political party -the National Socialist German Workers'
Party, or Nazis to help him win power.
b) Hitler was a powerful speaker and skillful leader.
c) When the depression struck, many Germans turned to Hitler as a strong
leader with answers to their problems.
2. Hitler and the Nazis preached a message of racial and religious hatred.
a) Hitler claimed that Germans belonged to a superior "Aryan" race.
b) He blamed Jews for Germany's troubles. Germany had not lost the war,
he said. Rather, Jews and other traitors had "stabbed Germany in the back"
in 1918. The argument was false, but in troubled times, people clung to it.
3. In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or head, of the German government. Within
two years, he ended democratic government.
a) Totalitarian state- a single party controls the government and every
aspect of the lives of the people. Citizens must obey the government without
question. Criticism of the government is not permitted.
b) The government controlled the press, schools, and religion.
c) Jews were deprived of their citizenship, forbidden to use public facilities,
and driven out of almost every type of work.
4. As Nazi power grew, attacks on Jews increased. The government rounded up
thousands of Jews and sent them to concentration, or prison, camps.
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5. Under Hitler, Germany built up its armed forces, in violation of the Versailles
Treaty.
a) Hitler also claimed that Germany had the right to expand to the east.
b) The League of Nations condemned Hitler's actions. Hitler ignored the
League and moved ahead with his plans.
D. A Dictator in the Soviet Union
1. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin took Hitler's boast seriously.
a) To strengthen the Soviet economy, Stalin launched a series of five-Year
plans. His goal was to modernize Soviet industry and farming.
2. Like Hitler, Stalin used all the weapons of the totalitarian state.
a) 1930s - the government ordered peasants to hand over their land and
farm animals and to join collective farms or government-run farms.
b) When farmers resisted, millions were executed or sent to labor camps.
3. Despite Stalin's harsh rule, the Soviet economy expanded.
a) Steel and oil production rose. These materials, Stalin knew, would be
needed to fight any German aggression.
b) Aggression is any warlike act by one country against another without just
cause,
E. Military Rulers in Japan
1. In the early 1930s, military leaders took power in Japan. Japan's economy
suffered severely in the Great Depression.
a) Japan lacked many important resources, such as coal and oil.
b) The new leaders believed that Japan, like Britain and France, had the
right to win an overseas empire. They set out to expand into Asia.
2. Attack on Manchuria. In 1931, Japanese forces seized Manchuria in
northeastern China.
a) The Japanese wanted Manchuria because it is rich in coal and iron.
b) Japan set up a state there, which they called Manchukuo.
c) China called on the League of Nations for help. The League condemned
Japanese aggression but did little else for the Chinese.
d) The United States refused to recognize Manchukuo. However, it took no
other action against Japan.
e) 1933- Japan left the League of Nations.
3. In 1937, Japan began an all-out war against China.
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a) Japanese planes bombed Beijing, Shanghai, and other Chinese cities.
b) On land, Japanese troops defeated Chinese armies and occupied northern
and central China.
4. The Japanese advance into China alarmed American leaders.
a) It undermined the Open Door Policy.
b) It threatened the Philippines, which the United States controlled.
c) Isolationist feeling kept the United States from taking a strong stand.
F. War in Europe
1. In the meantime, Hitler also pressed ahead with plans for conquest. In 1936, he
moved troops into the Rhineland, near the border of France and Belgium.
a) His action violated the terms of the Versailles Treaty.
b) France and Britain protested, but they took no action.
c) In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria, again violating the 1919 treaty.
2. Aggression in Czechoslovakia. Later that year, Hitler claimed the Sudetenland,
the western part of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France had signed treaties to
protect Czechoslovakia.
a) 1938- At the Munich Conference Hitler assured the European leaders
that he wanted no more territory.
b) Britain and France gave in to German claims in the Sudetenland. They
hoped that the agreement would preserve peace in Europe.
c) This practice of giving in to aggression in order to avoid further conflict
is known as appeasement.
d) Hitler's troops gobbled up the rest of Czechoslovakia the following year.
3. Stalin and Hitler become allies. Britain and France realized that they must act
to stop further Nazi aggression. Britain tried to form an alliance with the Soviet
Union. Stalin had long opposed Hitler, but he thought Britain and France lacked the
will to fight.
a) August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact - Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack
each other. Secretly, the two, nations agreed to divide up Poland and other
parts of Eastern Europe.
b) The agreement left Hitler free to attack Poland without fear of having to
fight the Soviet Union at the same time. At dawn on September 1, 1939,
German armies marched into Poland.
c) Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany
"It's come at last," sighed President Roosevelt. "God help us all."
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II.
The Axis Powers Advance
A. A Global Battleground
1. Germany’s invasion of Poland triggered World War II.
a) Axis Powers –Germany, Italy, Japan, and six other nations.
b) Allied powers – Britain, France, the Soviet Union, China, and 45 other
countries before the war was over.
c) Armies fought in cities and villages around the world and on the great
oceans.
B. Nazis Overrun Europe
1. September 1939 – German forces launched a swift, massive attack against
Poland (from the west) using planes and tanks.
a) Blitzkrieg – lightning war.
2. At the same time the Soviet Union seized Eastern Poland.
Stalin also invaded Finland, and later annexed Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
a) Stalin wanted to strengthen Soviet defenses.
b) He suspected Hitler would eventually attack in spite of the Nazi – Soviet
Pact.
3. France Surrenders – In April 1940 Hitler’s army marched north and west. They
smashed through Denmark and Norway. May – Overran Holland and Belgium and
pushed into France.
a) Italy attacked France from the south.
b) Britain sent troops to help France.
c) They were quickly overrun and forced to retreat to Dunkirk.
d) The British sent every available merchant ship, fishing boat, and pleasure
craft across the Channel to rescue the trapped soldiers. 338,000
soldiers were carried to safety.
e) German armies marched into Paris. France surrendered on June 22, 1940.
4. Britain stood alone. Winston Churchill, warned people to prepare for what lay
ahead. “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.”
a) German planes pounded London and other British cities during the Battle
of Britain.
b) British fighter pilots used radar, a new invention, to detect the approach
of enemy planes. They gunned down nearly 2,000 German planes.
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c) After months of bombing, Hitler gave up his planned invasion of Britain
by late 1940.
C. American Neutrality
1. After Hitler invaded Poland, FDR announced that the United States would
remain neutral.
a) Cash and Carry plan – the United States could sell arms to the allies.
The allies had to pay cash for the goods and carry them away.
b) By 1940, German submarines were sinking many British ships along with
tons of supplies.
c) Churchill asked the U.S. for ships.
d) FDR gave him 50 old American destroyers. Britain gave the U.S. 99-year
leases on military bases in Newfoundland and the Caribbean.
2. Preparing for war.
a) Congress approved greater spending for the army and navy.
b) 1940 – the first peacetime draft in American history.
D. A Third Term for FDR
1.The threat of war convinced FDR to run for a third term in 1940.
a) FDR easily won over Wendell Willkie.
“Don’t change horses mid-stream”
E. Arsenal of Democracy
1. By late 1940, Britain was running out of cash to buy arms.
a) March 1941 – Lend-Lease Act – allowed sales or loans of war materials to
“any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of
the United States.”
b) The U.S. sent airplanes, tanks, guns, and ammunition to Britain.
2. In June 1941, Hitler launched a surprise invasion of the Soviet Union.
a) The German armies pushed deep into Russia.
b) FDR extended Lend-Lease aid to the Soviet Union.
3. In August 1941, FDR and Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter. It set up goals
for the post war world.
a) They agreed to seek no territorial gain from the war.
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b) People had the right to choose under which form of government they will
live.
c) Called for a permanent system of general security, such as an
organization like the League of Nations.
F. Japan Expands in Asia
1. After Germany seized France in 1940, Japan prepared to seize their colonies in
Southeast Asia.
a) September 1940 – the Japanese signed an alliance with Italy and
Germany.
b) U.S. refused to sell oil and scrap metal to Japan.
2. Japanese and American officials held talks in November 1941. Japan asked the
U.S. to lift the embargo on oil and scrap metal. The U.S. called on Japan to
withdraw its armies from China and Southeast Asia.
a) Neither side would compromise.
G. Disaster at Pearl Harbor
1. At 7:55 A.M. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, Japanese planes swept over Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii.
a) In less than two hours, Japanese bombs sank or seriously damaged 19
American ships, destroyed almost 200 American planes, and killed 2,400
people.
“A date which will live in infamy”
2. A stunned nation sat by radios listening to the news from Pearl Harbor. The day
after the bombing, FDR asked congress to declare war on Japan.
a) Three days later Germany and Italy declared war on Japan.
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III. The Home Front
A. Mobilizing for Victory
1. After Pearl Harbor, millions of men and women volunteered to serve in the
armed forces. Many others found work in key war industries.
a) 10 million were drafted.
b) Another 6 million men and women were enlisted.
c) Women pilots logged 60 million air miles carrying bombers from base to
base, towing targets, and teaching men to fly.
2. Organizing the economy - Government controlled the economy.
a) Set prices.
b) Negotiated with labor unions
c) Rationed scarce goods.
d) The War Production Board – helped factories shift from producing
consumer goods to making war goods. Ex. Auto makers made tanks and
trucks instead of automobiles.
3. The wartime demand for goods quickly ended the Great Depression.
a) Unemployment fell.
b) Minority workers found jobs.
c) Wages rose.
d) Prices of farm goods doubled.
4. During the war, Americans performed a miracle of production.
a) 1942 – FDR set goals of 60,000 planes and 8 million tons of shipping –
Americans topped those goals.
b) Consumers suffered some shortages.
B. New Roles for Women
1. During WW II, women responded to the urgent need for labor.
a) More than 6 million women entered the workforce.
c) Many worked in offices.
d) Millions more worked in factories around the clock.
e) Women won better pay and working conditions.
f) Instead of wearing skirts, many wore trousers and overalls.
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C. African Americans Seek Social Change.
1. The war helped end some of the worst discrimination against African
Americans.
a) 1941 – A. Philip Randolph, head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car
Porters –called for a protest march on Washington.
b) Government worried such a march would feed Hitler’s propaganda
machine.
c) FDR met with Randolph – FDR ordered employers doing business with the
government to end discrimination in hiring.
d) The employment of skilled Black workers doubled during the war.
2. FDR refused however, to end racial segregation in the military.
a) Nearly one million African Americans were enlisted or drafted.
b) Served in all black units.
c) Black Eagles – destroyed or damaged about 400 enemy aircraft. Many
others served heroically as well.
D. Other Ethnic Groups
1. More than one –in three able bodied Native American men were in uniform.
a) Navajo –used their own language as a code for sending vital messages.
2. Hispanics – Thousands of Puerto Ricans and Mexican Americans served.
a) Often fought in segregated units.
E. Relocation of Japanese Americans
1. The war brought suffering to many Japanese Americans.
a) Most lived on the West Coast or in Hawaii.
b) Successful farmers and business people.
c) Had faced prejudice for many years.
2. After Pearl Harbor, many people on the West Coast questioned the loyalty of
Japanese Americans.
a) They might act like spies and help Japan invade the United States.
b) No evidence existed.
c) FDR agreed to move Japanese Americans to inland camps set up by the
Wartime Relocation Agency (WRA).
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d) About 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced to sell their homes and
businesses at a loss.
3. In WRA camps, Japanese Americans lived in barracks, behind barbed wire. Most
were American citizens.
a) 1944 - The Supreme Court ruled they were a necessary wartime
measure.
4. Still, thousands of Japanese Americans served in the armed forces.
a) Most were put into segregated units and sent to fight in Europe.
b) They won many honors for bravery.
c) The 442nd Nisei Regimental Combat Team became the most highly
decorated military unit in U.S. history. (Korematsu v. The United States)
5. Years later, Americans began to realize the injustice that had been done to
Japanese Americans.
a) Lawmakers admitted they could not right the wrong that had been done.
b) They did formally apologize.
c) Also approved a $20,000 payment to every survivor of the camps.
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IV. The Allies Turn the Tide
A. Bleak Days for the Allies
1. By mid-1942 both Japan and Germany had overtaken much of the world.
a) Germany had control of much of North Africa and almost all of Europe and it
looked like the Soviet Union would collapse at any moment.
b) Japan had conquered the Philippines, Guam, Singapore and many other areas.
Yet the war began to turn in the Allies favor that very same year.
2. Allied leaders met and came up with a plan.
a) Defeat Germany and Italy first then combine forces to defeat Japan.
B. The Tide Turns
1. By mid 1942, the Allies had suffered through the worst days of the war.
a) In June of 1942, Americans sank four Japanese carriers at the Battle of
Midway and stopped a Japanese invasion of the vital island.
b) In October of 1942, British forces turn back General Rommel, the Desert Fox,
and begin to win in North Africa with the help of newly landed American troops.
c) Allied troops landed in Italy in 1943, and the Italians overthrew Mussolini.
However, Italy was still occupied by German troops and the Allies still had to fight
hard to win the battle.
d) At Soviet city of Stalingrad the Soviet Army surrounded and defeated some of
Germany’s best troops.
2. Years of planning went into Operation Overlord, the code name for the invasion of
Europe.
a) General Dwight D. Eisenhower commanded the Allied forces in Europe.
b) Three million troops took part in the largest invasion ever to take place.
c) The Allies suffered approximately 600,000 casualties
3. On June 6, 1944, D-Day, the invasion of Normandy began. Allied troops flooded
ashore and began the liberation of Europe from the Germans.
a) On August 25, 1944, the Allies entered Paris. After 4 years Nazi rule was over.
b) By September the Allies were moving toward Germany.
4. In 1944, FDR won a fourth term in office, but the ailing leader died of a stroke on
April 12, 1945. Harry Truman became President and would have to finish the war.
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5. On December 16, 1944, German forces launched a fierce counter attack.
a) The Battle of the Bulge, which pushed the Allies back, slowed the Allies but did
not stop them.
b) On April 30, 1945 Hitler, faced with loosing the war, committed suicide in his
bunker under the devastated city of Berlin.
c) On May 7, 1945 Germany surrendered and the next day the Allies celebrated VE Day or Victory in Europe.
V. The End of the War
A. Island Hopping in the Pacific - The United States had two main goals in the Pacific:
regain the Philippines and invade Japan.
1. The US Marines and the US Army in the Pacific used a strategy of island hopping to
gain airbases to attack the home islands of Japan.
a) island hopping – capturing some Japanese help Islands and going around others.
b) Battles like Tarawa, Manila, Okinawa, Iwo Jima, etc became famous for the
bloody no surrender tactics of both sides.
2. The Japanese refused to surrender and even resorted to Kamikaze attacks on U.S.
ships.
a) Kamikaze pilots loaded old planes with bombs and deliberately crashed into
Allied ships.
3. Potsdam Declaration - The U.S. demanded unconditional surrender and the Japanese
refused. Truman decided to use the success of the Manhattan Project to end the war.
a) On August 6, 1945 the Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” the world’s first atomic
bomb on Hiroshima and three days later the city of Nagasaki reached a
temperature of 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit when “Fat Man” fell.
b) V-J Day - The Second World War ended on August 14, 1945.
B. The Aftermath and the World it Created
1. The human death toll reached estimates of 35 to 40 million dead and the bombing of
cities left millions more homeless and starving.
2. Americans learned the full extent of the Bataan Death March, which killed over
10,000 American POW’s and fueled hatred of the Japanese.
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3. The full horror of the Holocaust was revealed to the world and the leaders of Germany
were put on trial at Nuremberg for crimes against humanity.
a) Six million Jews and six million other “unwanted” members of other races and
groups were systematically murdered by the Germans in concentration and death
camps.
b) As a result of the Nuremburg Trials, 12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death.
c) Thousands of other Nazi were found guilty of war crimes and imprisoned.
d) The Allies also tried and executed Japanese leaders accused of war crimes.
4. The United States took its place as a world power and took a leading role in the new
international organization the United Nations.
5. The United States and the Soviet Union began a period of mistrust and competition
known as the Cold War which would last into the 1990s.
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