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US History
1939-1945
US involvement 1941-1945
1939
Sept.1 Germany
invades
Poland
(official
start to the
war)
1941
1945
Sept. 3 -
Dec. 7 –
May -
Sept. -
Britain &
France
declare
war on
Germany
Japan bombs
Pearl Harbor;
US enters the
War
Germans
Surrender
Atomic
Bombing
of
Hiroshima
&
Nagasaki,
Japanese
Surrender
3
Allies
(major powers)
Axis
(major powers)
Great Britain
Germany
Soviet Union
Italy
United States
Japan
France
(note: France
surrendered to Germany
in 1940 (after 6 weeks of
fighting)
4
Adolf Hitler
Nazi Germany
Benito Mussolini
Italy
5
Hideki Tojo
Japanese Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
British Prime Minister
6
Joseph Stalin
Russian Leader
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
US President
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1. Treaty of Versailles
A. Germany lost land to
surrounding nations
B. War Reparations
1) Allies collect $ to pay
back war debts to U.S.
2) Germany must pay
$57 trillion (modern
equivalent)
3) Bankrupted the
German economy &
embarrassed Germans
Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson
during negotiations for the Treaty
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2. World-wide Depression
A. The Depression made
Germany’s debt even worse
B. Desperate people turn to
desperate leaders
1) Hitler seemed to provide
solutions to Germany’s
problems
1923 - Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks
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2. World-wide Depression
2) Hitler provided
scapegoats for Germany’s
problems (foreigners, Jews,
communists, Roma
(Gypsies), mentally ill,
homosexuals)
3) Kristallnacht vandalism & destruction of
Jewish property &
synagogues
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3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes
A. In a Totalitarian country, individual rights are not
viewed as important as the needs of the nation
Communist
Dictatorship
(USSR)
Fascist
Dictatorship
(Germany, Italy)
Totalitarianism
Military
Dictatorship
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(Japan)
Fascism: military
government with
based on racism &
nationalism with
strong support from
the business
community
4. Isolationism of Major Powers
A. Why was the U.S. Isolationist?
1. Great Depression (problems at home)
2. Perceptions of WWI
a. WWI did not seem to solve much
b. People began to think that we’d
got into WWI for the wrong reasons
(greedy American businessmen!)
thanks to the Nye Committee
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4. Isolationism of Major Powers
3. Opposition to war (Pacifism)
a. Washington Conference Limits on size of country's navies
b. Kellogg-Briand pact condemned war as a way to
solving conflicts
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4. Isolationism of Major Powers
B. This led to policies of “Appeasement”
1. Appeasement: give dictators what they want and
hope that they won’t want anything else
2. Begins with Japanese invasion of Manchuria,
Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and continues with
Hitler . . .
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Return of German Speaking Lands - “Lebensraum”
Austria – Peacefully
Annexed in 1938
German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939
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Return of German Speaking Lands - “Lebensraum”
Sudentenland - (now
part of Czech
Republic)
Munich Conference
– Great Britain &
France give to Hitler
in return for peace
Hitler then invades
the rest of
Czechoslovakia
German Troops Parade in Streets of Czechoslovakian Town, ca. 1939
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Return of German Speaking Lands
Nonaggression Pact
Russia stays out of the
war in return for 1/2
of Poland Germany
invades Poland
Great Britain &
France finally
declare war on
Germany
Hitler's triumphal entry into Danzig, Poland 1939
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Blitzkrieg “Lightning War”
In the next year, Hitler
invades:
Denmark
Norway
The Netherlands,
France
Hitler in Paris
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 Law
passed by Congress in 1941
providing that any country whose
security was vital to U.S. interests could
receive arms and equipment from the
United States.
 Joint
statement issued by Roosevelt and
Churchill stating American and British
postwar aims of international economic
and political cooperation.
 U.S. naval
base in Hawaii that was
attacked by the Japanese bringing the
U.S. into World War II.
 The
United States and its allies achieved
victory over the Axis powers through a
combination of factors, including allied
political and military cooperation,
industrial production, technological and
scientific advances, and popular
commitment to advancing democratic
ideals.
 Top-secret
program of the U.S.
government to develop an atomic bomb.
 Allied
invasion of Europe led by General
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
 Over a million troops (the largest
invasion force in history) stormed the
beaches at Normandy and began the
process of re-taking France.
 The turning point of World War II.
 Meeting
between Franklin Roosevelt,
Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin to
discuss the final defeat of the Axis
powers and the problems of postwar
occupation.
 Stalin agreed to free elections in Eastern
Europe after the war.
 Stalin also agreed to assist the U.S. in its
war against Japan.
 Japanese
cities hit with atomic bombs
dropped by the U.S., ending World War II.
The mass mobilization of American society to supply
troops for the war effort and a workforce on the
home front ended the Great Depression and
provided opportunities for women and minorities to
improve their socioeconomic positions.
 Despite U.S. contributions to the victory over fascism
and new opportunities for women and minorities
during the war, other wartime experiences, such as
the internment of Japanese Americans, challenges to
civil liberties, debates over race and segregation,
and the decision to drop the atomic bomb raised
questions about American values.

 An
iconic image of a woman dressed in
overalls who became the symbol for the
publicity campaign that was launched by
the government to draw women into
traditional male jobs.
 African
American leader who organized
a march on Washington in 1941 to
pressure FDR to issue an executive order
banning discrimination in defense
industries.
 (FDR the set up the Fair Employment
Practices Commission to halt
discrimination in war production and
government.)
 Civil
Rights Organization created in
World War II that committed itself to
using nonviolent techniques to end racial
segregation.
 Under
Executive Order #9066, FDR
authorized the removal of “enemy aliens”
from military areas.
 Over 110,00 Japanese Americans living
in the western U.S. were moved to
internment camps, although those living
in Hawaii were not put into camps.
 Several
thousand off-duty Mexican
American soldiers and sailors, joined by
hundreds of local white civilians,
rampaged through downtown Los
Angeles streets, assaulting Hispanics,
blacks, and Filipinos
 The
dominant American role in the Allied
victory and postwar peace settlements,
combined with the war-ravaged
condition of Asia and Europe, allowed the
United States to emerge from the war as
the most powerful nation on earth.
 The
development of Sound Navigation
and Ranging (Sonar) played a critical
role in anti-submarine warfare against
the Germans
 African
American educator who was an
advocate of equality opportunity for
African Americans.