Download essential question

What do you already know about WWII?
Background:
Germany took
over surrounding
areas in the
1930s, violating
the Treaty of
Versailles, until
Great Britain and
France’s
appeasement
finally ended after
Germany took
over Poland.
What are some examples of countries and
world leaders that you recall from
brainstorming or otherwise?
essential question:
Who were the people and places of
WWII?
Skim through pages
640-50 to complete the
charts on the Axis
Powers and the Allied
Powers.
When skimming, look for:
1- titles and subtitles
2- pictures and captions
3- charts and graphs
4- bold, italicized, or underlined terms
5- the first sentence of each paragraph if
you have time
The Allied Powers
Winston Churchill,
Great Britain’s Prime
Minister during WWII,
holding up two
fingers indicating “V”
for victory
Charles de Gaulle led
what was left of
France (Vichy France)
after the Nazi invasion
The Communist
Soviet Union’s
Joseph Stalin was
the only totalitarian
leader among the
major Allied Powers
The Axis Powers
Nazi Germany’s
leader, Adolf Hitler;
translated: “God is
with us”
Fascist Italy’s Benito
Mussolini,
nicknamed “Il Duce”
(translated as “The
Leader”)
Japanese Emperor
Hirohito, who had
ruled during
Japan’s militarism
and expansion
ROLL-A-WORD RULES:
Take your turn rolling the dice. See below for which
country you rolled. No peeking!

You get one point for correctly identifying whether
it is an Axis or Allied Power in 1941.

You get another point if you can also name its
leader in 1941.

You get a third point if you can also name the type
of government in that country in 1941.
1= Germany
4= Great Britain
2= Italy
5= Vichy France
3= Japan
6= USSR (Soviet Union)
consider:
What is a
good
reason for
America to
get involved
in a foreign
war?
essential
question:
Why did
the U.S.
enter WWII
on the side
of the
Allies?
• isolationists argue
against
interventionists
• U.S. will gradually
move from isolation
to joining the Allied
Powers in WWII
isolationism:
staying out of
foreign affairs
• “Quarantine
Speech”—FDR
says that Nazi
Germany is a
disease that
should be
contained
• Neutrality Acts
(1935-7): to
keep the U.S.
neutral, these
acts outlawed
arms sales or
loans to
nations at war
• “cash-and-carry” provision (1939): warring
nations could buy arms if they paid cash
and carried in their own ships
• Lend-Lease Act (March 1941): okay to lend
or lease arms and supplies to “any country
whose defense was vital to the U.S.”
• as in WWI, German u-boats attack
American ships that trade with the Allies
• Atlantic Charter
(August 1941):
U.S. and Britain
agree on
purpose of war;
would serve as
basis for United
Nations after the
war
Follow-up question (pick one of the steps
above and explain your answer):
When do you think the U.S. was involved in
WWII? Why?
Be sure to consider what each step towards
U.S. involvement in WWII involved.
isolationism, “Quarantine
Speech,” Neutrality Acts  cashand-carry provision  LendLease Act  Atlantic Charter 
attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
(also see pages 658-659 in the textbook)
video clip
The U.S.
intervenes on
the side of the
Allies by
declaring war
on Japan
Franklin Roosevelt asking Congress
to declare war on Japan
Refer to your worksheet…
WWII was a race to produce more,
faster
consider:
If you are President Roosevelt, what kinds of
things do you need to do to mobilize for war?
Consider what you need and how you might
acquire them.
essential question:
How did the United States
mobilize for World War II?
20th century warfare has
become incredibly
expensive, involving
increasingly
sophisticated technology.
• Selective
Service System
organizes
volunteers and
drafts recruits to
fight
What about women?
• women get
permanent status
in the military in
noncombat roles
(i.e. WACs)
What about minorities?
• blacks segregated, given
menial tasks (exception:
Tuskegee Airmen)
Doris "Dorie" Miller (October 12, 1919 –
November 24, 1943) was a cook in the
United States Navy noted for his bravery
during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was
the first African American to be awarded the
Navy Cross, the third highest honor
awarded by the US Navy at the time.
What about other
minorities?
• other minorities mostly segregated also
(exception: Navajo “code-talkers”).
What about
industry?
• War Production
Board helped
transition
peacetime industry
to wartime and…
What else did the War
Production Board do?
organized rationing
materials that could
be used for the war
How might your life be different if you
had to ration items such as gasoline
and clothing?
• Your family (your group) has to plan a days
meal during WWII. Include breakfast, lunch,
and dinner.
• Using the “Food Prices and Rationing Points”
as a guide, you may spend no more than $2
and use no more than 48 ration points.
What could you do to make it
easier to deal with rationing?
• public gets involved
with scrap drives
and victory gardens
If men are off fighting,
who will work in the
factories?
• women prove their
ability in
nontraditional roles
by working in the
factories, though
they faced
discrimination
What convinced women to take
these new roles?
• “Rosie the Riveter” image encouraged
women’s participation
How does the
government pay for war?
• war bonds sold to pay for war
Wartime propaganda was used by the
government to convince everyone to
do their part.
Create your own wartime propaganda
poster for WWII. Use one of the following
topics:
 recruiting (men or women)
 factory production
 rationing
 women workers
link to music
 war bonds
from WWII
Why might a Japanese American soldier fight
for the U.S. against Japan when his parents are
forced to move to guarded camps?
Camp Amache in
southest Colorado
is shown between
1942 and 1945
where 7,000
JapaneseAmericans spent
three years in the
internment camp
during World War II.
This U.S. soldier of Japanese descent
and American citizenship waits at a
train station in Florin, California. He,
along with nine other servicemen, was
granted a furlough from their service to
return to the U.S. to assist with their
families' relocation and internment.
April 10, 1942
essential question:
Why did the U.S. government
resort to Japanese internment?
How was this a violation of civil
liberties?
preexisting anti-Asian feelings in America
+ attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese
= fear of Japanese being spies
Japanese Internment Camps
Describe Japanese internment.
What violations of our basic rights as
Americans, our civil liberties, do you see?
“Kenji” by
Fort Minor
essential question:
How did the Allies begin to win Europe
after the U.S. entered the war?
The War in Europe
• The Supreme Commander of U.S. forces in
Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• Stalin grew upset waiting for FDR and
Churchill to open a second front in Europe
to divert German forces from the Soviet
Union.
WWII in Europe
Remembering what you saw in the video, skim through
pages 670-675, 686-691, and 696-701 to complete the bottom
portion of the sheet.
Check your blanks on the war in Europe:
1. Battle of Stalingrad
2. North Africa
3. (make sure your answer mentions FDR
and Churchill; unconditional surrender)
4. Italy
5. D-Day…Europe
6. Battle of the Bulge
7. Holocaust
8. FDR…Truman
9. V-E Day
Check your blanks on the war in Europe:
1. Battle of Stalingrad
2. North Africa
3. (make sure your answer mentions FDR
and Churchill; unconditional surrender)
4. Italy
5. D-Day…Europe
6. Battle of the Bulge
7. Holocaust
8. FDR…Truman
9. V-E Day
essential question:
How does the propaganda showing
D-Day compare to the reality of D-Day?
Use the Venn diagram to compare the D-Day scene of Saving
Private Ryan to an actual newsreel about D-Day.
D-Day as shown in
Saving Private Ryan
unique
elements
in Saving
Private
Ryan
Omaha Beach – Saving Private Ryan
D-Day as shown in a
1944 newsreel
things
seen in
both
1944 newsreel reporting D-Day invasion
unique
elements
in 1945
newsreel
Notice how the geography of the Pacific is
different from the geography of Europe. What
differences might there be in the fighting here?
Connect the islands
(dots and others)
from the two starting
points to reach
Japan. This is a
military operation,
so you probably do
not want to
approach in a
predictable manner.
essential question:
How did the United States win
the war in the Pacific?
• General MacArthur, the top general in the
Pacific, used island-hopping, the taking of
one island at a time towards Japan.
• This begins after the U.S. finally stops the
Japanese advance at the Battle of Midway.
• McArthur makes a point to take back the
Philippines, where we see an increasingly
desperate Japan resort to kamikaze
attacks.
• The battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa are
won by the U.S. despite huge losses on
both sides; these are the final step before
invading Japan.
• Instead of
invading, the
U.S. uses its
secretly
developed (by
the Manhattan
Project) atomic
bomb on
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki to
defeat the
Japanese.
The Fat Man mushroom cloud resulting from the
nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rises 18 km
(11 mi, 60,000 ft) into the air.
• V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day) celebrates
the end of the war
1. Before you use your book, see how many
of the locations you can identify on the
map. If you get them all, see if you can
draw the arrows correctly also.
2. Then, use the map on page 692 to identify
locations and draw the arrows that show
how U.S. troops advanced in the Pacific.
3. Finally, consider these locations and
movements when completing the Venn
diagram about how the fighting in the
Pacific was different from fighting in
Europe.
consider:
How many civilians would you be
willing to kill to end the war?
essential question:
Why did we drop the atomic
bomb on Japan? Why did
some disagree? Should we
consider using it again?
Read the arguments for and against
dropping the atomic bomb on Japan and
answer the questions below:
Do you agree with the decision to use the atomic bomb on
Japan? Which arguments do you think were most
important in making your decision?
Which of these arguments could also be used to support
using an atomic bomb on Afghanistan today?
Which of these arguments could also be used to support
not using an atomic bomb on Afghanistan today?
Ultimately, should the U.S. have bombed (or now bomb)
Afghanistan with an atomic bomb? Explain.