Download The War Ends

Chapter 10
World War II
Preparation for War
 Before and during the Great Depression in the
United States, other countries around the world
had a depression of their own.
 The social and economic problems of these
different countries brought different outcomes.
 For example, Germany, Italy, and Japan fell under
the control of dictators.
 The whole world would soon feel the effects of
these dictators' beliefs that war might be a good
solution to their nations' problems.
Preparation for War
 Benito Mussolini had controlled the Italian
government since 1922.
 He believed that a strong leader must have
full power to run the country.
 Under his dictatorship, other political parties
were forbidden.
 Mussolini created the Fascist political party.
 Fascists believed the state or union was
more important than the individual.
Preparation for War
 They rejected the idea of democracy and
personal freedom.
 The Fascists believed military power and
war were good for a nation.
 Italian Fascists used the slogan: "Believe!
Obey! Fight!"
Preparation for War
 The German people did not understand how
they lost World War I.
 They were upset with the strict conditions of
the peace settlement.
 When World War I ended, Germany
removed its king and established a
democracy.
 The new Republic of Germany tried to
govern its troubled nation.
Preparation for War
 The economy in Germany fell apart in 1923.
 Inflation made German paper money nearly
worthless.
 Inflation is a steady rise in prices of goods.
 Prices of goods doubled daily.
 Germans had to carry large bags of money
just to buy food for one day.
 Many workers lost their jobs.
Preparation for War
 The democratic government of Germany
was criticized for being weak.
 The National Socialist German Workers
party, or Nazi party, opposed the German
government.
 Adolf Hitler led the Nazis.
Preparation for War
 Hitler used his skills as a public speaker and
organizer to increase the power of the Nazi
party.
 Hitler declared that democracy was weak
and could not solve the nation's problems.
 He added that the economic crisis was not
the fault of the Germans.
 He blamed Germany's problems on others.
Preparation for War
 He told Germans that communists and Jews
were trying to destroy their government.
 He promised prosperity for all Germans.
 He preached against democracy and for
hatred of the Jews.
Preparation for War
 Adolf Hitler became the chancellor, or chief
minister of Germany, in 1933.
 This happened after his Nazi party had won
a majority of seats in Germany's Parliament.
 Within months, Hitler became a dictator.
 He gave himself the title "der Fuhrer,"
 It meant "the leader."
 Hitler and the Nazi party quickly destroyed
German democracy and individual
freedoms.
Preparation for War
 Hitler was successful in improving the German
economy.
 German unemployment dropped.
 The standard of living for most Germans rose.
 Hitler continued a campaign against German
Jews.
 He called them traitors.
 German Jews lost their citizenship and their jobs.
 Citizenship is the act of belonging to a certain
country.
Preparation for War
 A civil war broke out in Spain in 1936.
 General Francisco Franco and his forces
fought against anti-Fascists.
 The anti Fascists wanted Spain to have a
democratic government.
 The Spanish Civil War became a test for the
Fascist governments of Germany and Italy.
 Italy sent troops to fight in Spain, and
German planes bombed Spanish cities.
Preparation for War
 The communist government of the Soviet Union
supported the anti-Fascists.
 Anti-Fascist volunteers from Great Britain, France,
and the United States also fought in this war.
 The Americans who fought did so by their own
choice, not as members of the American military.
 The Spanish Civil War lasted three years.
 The Spanish Fascist forces, supported by the
governments of Italy and Germany, won in 1939.
 Franco became the leader of a new Fascist
government.
Preparation for War
 The worldwide depression also hurt Japan,
an island nation in Asia.
 Japanese industries needed imported coal,
oil, and iron.
 The depression made it difficult for nations
to trade with each other.
 Without enough raw materials, Japan found
its industries threatened.
Preparation for War
 Japan relied on imported rice to help feed its
people.
 Unable to grow enough rice on their own, many
Japanese had no food.
 Radical military leaders, similar to those in
Germany and Italy, took control of the Japanese
government.
 The army seized Manchuria, an area rich in coal
and iron, from China.
 In 1937, Japan invaded China again and captured
several important cities.
 Japan had taken its first steps to control Asia and
establish a Japanese empire.
Preparation for War
 Americans did not want to deal with the
problems in Europe.
 During the 1930s, Americans had a much
larger problem at home with the Great
Depression.
 The New Deal programs took time to plan
and put to use.
Preparation for War
 There was another reason Americans
ignored problems in Europe.
 The memory of World War I was still fresh in
their minds.
 Americans wanted to stay out of another
foreign war.
 Many people felt that the United States was
protected by possible attacks because of the
Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Preparation for War
 Congress passed neutrality laws in 1935
and 1937.
 These laws prevented the sale of arms or
lending money to countries at war.
 Throughout the 1930s, Americans watched
Germany, Italy, and Japan increase in
military strength.
Preparation for War
 President Roosevelt was not so certain that
the United States should ignore what was
going on in Europe.
 Beginning in 1937, he tried to keep the
country aware of the problems there.
 For that reason, some people criticized
Roosevelt.
 They thought he wanted to start a war.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 During the years of the Spanish Civil War,
Hitler moved aggressively to expand his
power in Europe.
 His goal was to bring the German-speaking
people of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and
Poland under German rule.
 Twice before in history, the German people
had built a reich, or empire, in Europe.
 Hitler wanted to create a Third Reich.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 Hitler took the first step in creating a
German empire in March 1938.
 German troops marched into Austria and
declared it part of the German Third Reich.
 Although this action went against the Treaty
of Versailles, the League of Nations did
nothing to stop it.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 Hitler's next move was to bring three million
Germans living in the Sudetenland into the
Third Reich.
 The Sudetenland was an area of
Czechoslovakia.
 Hitler threatened to use force.
 To avoid war, Neville Chamberlain, the
prime minister of Great Britain, suggested
that the major powers of Europe meet.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 Chamberlain, Mussolini, Hitler, and Edouard
Daladier of France met in Munich, Germany, in
September 1938.
 Czechoslovakia was not represented.
 Hitler believed that the threat of war would frighten
the leaders of Great Britain and France.
 He thought that they would give in to his demands.
Chamberlain and Daladier did just that.
 Both leaders agreed to give Germany the
Sudetenland.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 They felt a policy of appeasement was best.
 Appeasement is doing something to keep
peace.
 Hitler agreed to make no more advances for
territory.
 When Chamberlain returned to Britain, he
said that the meeting in Munich had
produced "peace with honor ... peace in our
time”
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 On the night of November9, 1938, Nazis set fire to
Jewish places of worship called synagogues.
 They also broke into Jewish homes, terrorized
Jewish people, and destroyed Jewish businesses.
 This night of terror is called "Kristallnacht," or the
Night of Broken Glass."
 Many Jews were killed or arrested.
 This was only the beginning of the terror the Jews
faced.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 In 1939, Germany set up death camps for
the Jews as a part of Hitler's "final solution."
 The Nazis planned to murder every Jew
whom they could find.
 Jews were sent by train to the death camps.
 Men, women, and children were killed with
gas or gunfire in these camps.
 Many bodies were burned in large ovens.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 When it became widely known in 1945 that this
Holocaust had occurred, the world was shocked.
 The government of Nazi Germany had killed
nearly six million innocent European Jews.
 In the eyes of the Germans, the Jews were inferior
simply because of their ethnic heritage.
 For many years after the end of World War II, Nazi
war criminals were hunted and brought to justice.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end
of World War I, had given Poland a strip of
land called the Polish Corridor.
 On this piece of land, Poland gained access
to the Baltic Sea.
 The Germans never liked this arrangement.
 The Polish Corridor isolated East Prussia
and the German city of Danzig from the rest
of Germany.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 In March of 1939, Hitler demanded that
Poland give back the city of Danzig in order
for Germany to build a railroad through the
Polish Corridor.
 Poland refused.
 Great Britain and France supported Poland.
 Both countries said they would go to war to
defend Poland.
 Great Britain and France expected help from
the Soviet Union in a fight against Germany.
Steps Toward a Second World
War
 However, Germany and the Soviet Union had
signed a treaty of friendship in August of 1939.
 The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, agreed not to
interfere if Germany attacked Poland.
 In return, Germany would give the Soviet Union
the eastern half of Poland.
 Having gained the alliance of the Soviet Union,
Hitler felt confident that he could successfully
seize the Polish land.
World War II Begins
 German soldiers moved rapidly into Poland
by trucks on September 1, 1939.
 They were supported with tanks and
bombing attacks by the German air force.
 This new method of warfare was called
blitzkrieg, or "lightning war."
 This simple act of German aggression was
the beginning of World War II.
World War II Begins
 Troops ofthe Soviet Union also attacked Poland.
 Great Britain and France, attempting to aid
Poland, declared war on Germany.
 While restating his vow to remain neutral,
President Roosevelt did not approve of the attack
on Poland.
 He asked Congress to reverse its neutrality order
so that the United States could sell weapons to
France and Great Britain.
 After a long debate, the arms were made
available.
World War II Begins
 A few weeks after the attack by the Soviet Union,
Poland surrendered.
 Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland
between them.
 Through the winter of 1939 and 1940, there was
little activity.
 Some people began to speak of a "phony war."
 The world watched and waited, however, for
Hitler's next move, remembering the Nazi phrase,
"Today Germany, tomorrow the world!"
World War II Begins
 Suddenly, in April of 1940, Germany
attacked and defeated Denmark and
Norway.
 The next month, Belgium, Luxembourg, and
the Netherlands fell to the German army.
 Germany then attacked France.
 German soldiers broke through the French
defensive line.
World War II Begins
 More than 300,000 British, Belgian, and French soldiers
were trapped between the attacking Germans and the sea.
 These allied troops retreated to Dunkirk, a seaport located
in the north of France on the English Channel.
 Great Britain made a daring attempt to rescue these allied
troops.
 Hundreds of ships set sail from Great Britain for Dunkirk.
 Most of the troops were safely rescued and were in Great
Britain on June 4, 1940.
 Six days later, Italy sided with Germany and declared war.
 France surrendered and requested an armistice. Hitler
agreed.
World War II Begins
 Great Britain was left alone to fight the Nazi war
machine.
 If Great Britain was defeated, the United States
would be without an ally in Europe.
 Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke to the
British people on June 4, 1940.
 He told them, "We shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the
beaches ... we shall fight in the fields and in the
streets . .. we shall never surrender."
World War II Begins
 The British waited for a German invasion of their
country.
 The German air force began around-the-clock
bombing raids on Great Britain's air force bases in
August of 1940.
 The Royal Air Force (RAF) fought back. The RAF
used a new radar system that located incoming
planes.
 Many German bombers were destroyed.
 The Germans had to change their invasion plans.
World War II Begins




Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June of 1941.
He ignored their friendship treaty.
This decision was a major mistake for Hitler.
Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the Soviet Union,
and other nations joined together to fight
Germany.
 These countries became known as the Allies.
 They realized that Hitler was attempting to gain
control over all of Europe.
World War II Begins
 Most Americans still did not want the United
States to enter the war.
 However, unlike World War I, Americans did
not try to stay neutral.
 They became concerned about America's
safety.
 President Roosevelt told the American
people that Great Britain needed help.
World War II Begins
 Great Britain needed more weapons but did not
have enough money to pay for the supplies.
 America had to be "the arsenal of democracy."
 Roosevelt proposed that the United States lend
Great Britain military supplies.
 Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March of
1941.
 This policy was designed to keep America out of
war in Europe.
World War II Begins
 Under the Lend-Lease Act, the United States
government would provide weapons to any
country considered important to American
security.
 These nations could buy, lease, exchange, or
borrow equipment, arms, and supplies from the
United States.
 During World War II, the United States provided
$50 billion in lend-lease aid to the Allies.
World War II Begins
 The United States began to prepare for the
chance of war.
 Congress approved millions of dollars to
strengthen the armed forces.
 The Selective Service Act was passed in
September of 1940.
 This was the first peacetime law that drafted
men into the armed forces.
 The last draft had been during World War I.
War in Asia
 Men between the ages of twenty-one and thirtyfive were selected by a lottery to serve one year in
the military.
 The lottery was a drawing of names.
 The United States made a trade with Great Britain
and loaned it fifty small warships called
destroyers.
 In return, Great Britain leased naval and air bases
to the United States in the Western Hemisphere.
 These bases allowed the United States to better
defend itself and to keep watch over the Panama
Canal.
War in Asia
 The Japanese government announced that it
intended to rule all of Asia, including China.
 That type of control went against America's Open
Door Policy.
 The United States had established the policy so
that all nations would be allowed free trade with
China.
 America protested Japan's actions. However,
Japan continued its plan to create an empire .
 Japan joined Germany and Italy in an alliance.
 These three countries became known as the Axis
Powers.
War in Asia
 Japan invaded the French colony of Indochina in
June of 1941.
 Indochina was just south of China.
 The United States, became concerned that Japan
gaining too much land.
 America decided to stop selling oil and steel to
Japan.
 Japan desperately needed oil to continue with its
plan.
 The United States also offered a lend-lease
program to China.
War in Asia
 When Japan invaded Indochina, Roosevelt said
Japan could not use money or investments it had
in the United States.
 This is called freezing assets.
 Japan did the same thing to the United States.
Trade between the two counties stopped.
 Premier of Japan Fumimaro Konoye and United
States Secretary of State Cordell Hull began to
negotiate.
War in Asia
 Japanese wanted to be allowed to use their
assets in the United States.
 They also wanted to be supplied with oil.
 The United States wanted Japan to
withdraw from China and Southeast Asia.
 The negotiations failed.
 Hideki Tojo replaced Konoye as premier.
War in Asia
 Early on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, 353
Japanese airplanes took off from six aircraft
carriers in the Pacific Ocean.
 Their destination was the American naval base at
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 220 miles away.
 Their mission was to destroy the American naval
fleet anchored there.
 The Japanese thought they would be better able
to conquer land in Asia if these American ships
were destroyed.
War in Asia
 Japan bombed ships in the harbor and planes on
the ground.
 The surprise attack occurred at 7:55 A.M.
 Two hours later, the United States Pacific Fleet
had lost many battleships, destroyers, and planes.
 The attack killed more than 2,000 Americans.
 Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941, was a
"date that will live in infamy."
 Four days later, Germany and Italy, Japan's allies,
declared war on the United States.
War in Asia
 Japan followed up its attack on Pearl Harbor
by invading the Philippine Islands and other
areas in the Pacific.
 American and Filipino troops fought the
Japanese.
 However, they lacked planes, tanks, and
ammunition.
 Japan gained another victory. It now
controlled the Philippine Islands.
The Home Front
 The United States was not prepared to fight a war
in both Europe and Asia.
 However, Germany and Japan underestimated the
ability of the United States to produce war
supplies.
 The nation had a good amount of workers and
factories left idle by the Great Depression.
 For example, the American auto industry had little
difficulty changing its plants to make tanks and
planes.
The Home Front
 General Motors was able to make more war
supplies than the combined output of
Germany and Japan.
 The war united the American people. It gave
them a common purpose.
 Patriotic posters reminded Americans of
their duty to "do their bit” for the war effort.
 American civilians aided the war effort in
many different ways.
The Home Front
 Millions of volunteers helped increase the supply of fresh
vegetables.
 Parks and flower gardens were turned into "victory
gardens.
 Victory gardens produced more than one-third of the
nation's vegetables by 1943.
 This allowed farmers to use most of their land to grow food
for the armed forces.
 Raw materials were needed for American industry.
 We became a nation of collectors.
 Volunteers collected tons of grease for use in making
ammunition.
 Even worn nylon stockings were collected to make gun
powder bags for the navy.
The Home Front
 Many goods were in short supply during the war.
The government started to ration materials.
 Ration books contained stamps used to purchase
gasoline, sugar, meat, and other products.
 A buyer had to pay the price for the product and a
certain amount of ration stamps.
 Shortages even changed the style of clothes.
 Men's pants were made without cuffs and
women's dresses were shortened because extra
cloth was needed for military uniforms.
The Home Front
 Women joined the armed forces in great
numbers.
 They served in Europe and Asia in every
role except combat.
 Millions of women replaced men in the
workforce.
 Women learned to build planes and tanks as
the men left for war.
 Women now had the opportunity to prove
that they were as capable as any man.
The Home Front
 The United States feared that Japan would invade
its west coast.
 Some citizens thought people of Japanese
ancestry living in America would aid the Japanese.
 President Roosevelt ordered the army to move
about 110,000 of these people to detention
camps.
 Many Japanese Americans lost their homes and
businesses. Fear, the pressure of war, and
prejudice caused the nation to set aside its
democratic principles.
 JapaneseAmerican soldiers fought bravely in
Europe while their government detained their
parents and relatives.
The War Ends
 Despite the desire for revenge against
Japan for Pearl Harbor, the United States
decided that Hitler's Germany must be
defeated first.
 The United States had strong ties to
countries already defeated by Germany.
 Also, Germany seemed to be a greater
threat to the Western Hemisphere than
Japan did.
The War Ends
 The only way to defeat Germany was
through an Allied invasion of Europe.
 The Allies planned to hit Germany from the
south through Italy and invade France from
Britain.
 At the same time, the Soviet Union could
move against the Germans from the east.
The War Ends
 American, Canadian, and British troops
invaded Italy in September of 1943.
 They captured the island of Sicily first.
 As Mussolini lost the island, the Italian
people, tired of war, captured and executed
him.
 The new, rebel Italian government soon
surrendered to the Allied powers.
The War Ends
 Determined to protect Germany's southern
boundary, Hitler advanced toward Italy.
 The Allies finally captured the city of Rome
on June 4, 1944.
 At this time, however, the Germans
occupied most of northern Italy.
The War Ends
 The Nazis, who had known for some time that the
United States was planning an invasion, prepared
the coast of France.
 The beaches became death traps.
 The Nazis laid exploding mines in the water.
 They strung barbed wire all along the sandy shore.
 General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the
Allied armies, landed his troops on the beaches of
Normandy, France, on June 6,1944.
 This was known as D-Day.
 It was a very tough battle.
 However, by night, the Allies occupied about
eighty miles of the French coast.
 They could begin to move toward Germany.
The War Ends
 By December of 1944, the Allies were confident
that Germany's forces were trapped.
 But then, suddenly, the Germans counterattacked.
 The German army pushed through the Allied line.
 On a map of Europe, a large bulge represented
Hitler's take over of Allied territory.
 Led by General George Patton, the Allies
counterattacked.
 The Germans were pushed back.
 The confrontation became known as the Battle of
the Bulge.
 It was the last offensive by the German army.
The War Ends
 President Roosevelt was re-elected for a fourth
term in 1944.
 The strain of the war had taken its toll on him.
 He was able to cope with his polio, but the
President had suffered from a number of other
physical problems.
 There was hope that the war against Germany
would end early in 1945.
 Allied leaders met in February of 1945 in Yalta, a
small town on the Black Sea in the Soviet Union.
 Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on a plan
to follow when Germany surrendered.
 The plan became known as the Yalta Agreement.
The War Ends
 The plan had several points. First, the
Soviet Union agreed to enter the war
against Japan.
 Second, Germany would be divided into four
zones, each controlled by one of the Allies.
 Third, the Soviet Union would hold
democratic elections in eastern European
countries under its control.
The War Ends
 Fourth, a world organization called the
United Nations would be created.
 The Yalta Agreement seemed reasonable at
the time.
 However, after the war ended, parts of the
agreement caused political problems
between the United States and the Soviet
Union.
The War Ends
 President Franklin Roosevelt died suddenly
in April of 1945.
 The nation was in shock. Vice President
Harry S. Truman became President.
 On April 25, 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself
in a bunker in Berlin.
 A bunker is an underground shelter.
Germany surrendered.
 The war in Europe was over.
The War Ends
 The United States began to control the advance of
the Japanese military.
 The Allies were led by American Army General
Douglas MacArthur and Navy Admiral Chester
Nimitz.
 Japan lost Guadalcanal, the Philippines, Iwo lima,
and Okinawa. Despite the losses, the Japanese
refused to surrender.
 The Allies began to plan an invasion of Japan.
The War Ends
 President Truman learned that the United States
had developed a new weapon called the atomic
bomb, or A-bomb.
 This bomb could end the war, but it would cause
enormous loss of Japanese lives.
 Truman was advised that over a million American
soldiers' lives would be lost if Japan was invaded
on land.
 Such an invasion would also kill countless
Japanese people .
The War Ends
 In an effort to avoid using the atomic bomb, the
President gave one last warning to Japan.
 Japan, however, refused to surrender.
 Truman decided that he must approve the use of
the atomic bomb on Japan.
 On August 6, 1945, from a plane named Enola
Gay, the atomic bomb was dropped on the city of
Hiroshima.
 The weapon destroyed that major Japanese city
and instantly killed or wounded 130,000 people.
The War Ends
 Three days later, a second atomic bomb
was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing
or wounding 75,000 people.
 On August 14,1945, Japan asked for a
cease-fire-they wanted to end the fighting.
 General MacArthur accepted the formal
surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945.
World War II, the worst war in history, was
finally over.