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World War II
1939-1945
The Beginning

Before World War II desperate and hungry
people in Europe were handing over their
lives and liberties to ruthless dictators.
1.) Italy
1923 – Benito Mussolini and his fascists
marched on Rome.
 Took control of the government, abolished
democracy, destroyed the liberties of the
Italian people.
 Based on the promise of jobs and glory.

2.) Japan
Japan attacked Manchuria (northeastern
China)
 2 reasons:

– 1.) ease overcrowding
– 2.) open new markets for its growing industry
 Coal, Oil, Iron
By 1940, Japan controlled almost all
of Eastern China.
U.S. places embargo on oil and steel
in China
3.) Germany
1933 Adolf Hitler becomes German
Chancellor.
 The Nazi Party is in control

The Rise of Adolf Hitler:
Facts:
Was not German (Austrian)
 High School drop out
 Wanted to become an artist

– Failed the admission examination for the art
academy in Vienna twice.
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Lived on charity and sold postcards to
make money for food. ( German
landscapes)
World War I joined German army
After the war he began to organize the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party
Joined German Workers Party in 1920 (30
years old)
 Hitler changed the name in 1920 to
include National Socialist German Workers
Party, in short Nazi.
 Joined the party with 54 members

– Hitler was member 555 (Members started at
500 to make it look bigger)

By end of 1920, 3,000 members.
Nazi Party

National Socialistic German Workers’ Party
 Nationalsozialistische Deutsche
Arbeiterpartei
Purpose:
1.) Lead Germany to World Power
 2.) Exterminate the Jews

– Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat
in World War I.

“At one time the Spartans were capable of such a
wise measure, but not our present, mendaciously
sentimental, bourgeois patriotic nonsense. The rule of
six thousand Spartans over three hundred and fifty
thousand Helots was only thinkable in consequence of
the high racial value of the Spartans. But this was the
result of a systematic race preservation; thus Sparta
must be regarded as the first Völkisch State. The
exposure of the sick, weak, deformed children, in
short, their destruction, was more decent and in truth
a thousand times more humane than the wretched
insanity of our day which preserves the most
pathological subject, and indeed at any price, and yet
takes the life of a hundred thousand healthy children
in consequence of birth control or through abortions,
in order subsequently to breed a race of degenerates
burdened with illnesses.„—Adolf Hitler,
Mein Kampf
My Struggle or My Battle
 800 pg book written in prison
 Germans were the “master” race
Described 2 creations by the Jews that made
cowards out of the Germans

– 1.) Democracy
 Equality
– 2.) Christianity
 Love

Outlined his plan for world domination.
Rebuilding
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
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 Action
1936 Germany takes
the Rhineland
1938 Germany
annexed Austria
1938 Germany
demands the
Sudentenland
(Western Czech)

 Reaction
No response

No response

Munich Conference
1938
Munich Conference
1938
 Hitler met with leaders from France and
Britain
 France and Britain agreed to give
Germany the Sudetenland.
 Hitler promises to end German expansion.
 Giving aggressive nations what they
wanted in order to avoid war is known as

appeasement.
“Peace for our time”
Soviet poster of 1930-s by Kukryniksy showing
Western powers giving Hitler Czechoslovakia on a
dish. Inscription in the flag:"On towards the East!"
Benito Mussolini of Fascist Italy (left) and
Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany.
American Neutrality



1937, a poll showed that 70 percent of
Americans thought the U.S. should not
have entered World War I.
1930’s books argued the U.S. was dragged
into World War I by greedy bankers, arms
dealers. (Merchants of Death)
After World War I the U.S. adopted a policy of
Isolationism. (The United States should avoid
alliances and agreements with other nations.)
Neutrality Acts

Anti war feeling was so strong Girl Scouts
changed color of uniform from khaki to
green to appear less militaristic.
To prevent U.S. involvement in another war –
U.S. signs Neutrality Acts.
 Neutrality Acts of 1935,1936 and 1937

– 1.) banned transportation or sale of arms to nations
at war.
– 2.) banned loans to nations at war.
The War Begins
September 1, 1939 – Germany invades
Poland.
 2 days later France and Great Britain
declare war on Germany.
 By the end of 1940, Britain was running
out of money

Signals U.S. is preparing for War
1.) Summer 1940 – 1st peacetime draft in
U.S. History.
 2.) Roosevelt was elected for 3rd time.
 3.) March 1941 Congress passes the lendlease act.

Lend-Lease Act
The U.S. would lend or lease Great Britain
any supplies in needed to defeat
Germany.
 The supplies would be returned or
replaced after the war.
 $51 Billion in aid
 45 countries

Pearl Harbor
1940 – Japan joins Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy
 The U.S. refused to abandon China and
demanded Japan withdraw.

Aerial view of Pearl Harbor, Ford Island in center.
The Arizona memorial is the small white speck on
the far right side close to Ford Island.
Satellite View of Pearl Harbor
Battleship Row
The Attack
Just before 8:00 a.m. on Sunday
December 7, 1941.
 1st wave of Japanese planes numbered
191.
 2nd wave numbered 170
 Greatest disaster in American Military
History

The Aftermath
150 warplanes destroyed
 94 ships, 8 battleships, 3 cruisers and 3
destroyers were put out of action.
 70+ civilians and 2300 servicemen die.
 Next day, Roosevelt asks congress to
declare war on Japan.
 Three days later Germany and Italy
declare war on U.S.

A Japanese photo taken during the aerial torpedo attack
on "Battleship Row" on the far side of Ford Island. A
torpedo has just struck USS West Virginia (center).
A captured Japanese photo shows
Battleship Row under attack.
Hickam Field burns in the distance
Fighter Combat Units (Mitsubishi A6M Zeros) preparing
to take off from aircraft carrier Shokaku for Pearl Harbor
USS Pennsylvania, behind the wreckage of
the USS Downes and USS Cassin.
Japans response

Admiral Yamamotto stated, “ I fear all we
have done is to awaken a sleeping giant
and filled him with a terrible resolve.”
The USS Shaw explodes during the
Japanese air raid.
The USS Arizona sinking during the attack on Pearl
Harbor, 7 December 1941.
The Arizona is both a tomb and a
memorial.
The "tears of the Arizona" (visible
oil slick in foreground, 2005)
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers his
"Day of Infamy" speech to Congress on
December 8, 1941.
C:\Documents and Settings\greenet\My Documents\My Music\infamyspeech.wav
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Propaganda poster
issued by the United
States Office of War
Information, 1942.
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Poster
commemorating
the attack, 1942
Controversy

The difference between Fascism and
Communism.
– Fascist allow private business ownership,
while Communist states did not allow private
ownership.
Economic Effects of World War II

1.) Rationing
– Regulating consumer use
Let’s Beat The Pans Off The Nazis
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2.) War Production Board
– Agency shifted American automobile industry
to make tanks, trucks, and aircraft.
– Regulated spending and production, helped to
reduce the potential for economic catastrophe
after the close of World War II

3.) Women in labor force
– Percentage of women
in labor force rose
– 30% in 1940 to 38%
in 1945
– “Rosie the Riveter”
was a popular song.
– 1/3 of women had
children under 14
– “latch key kids”

4.) Paying for the war
– Taxes paid for 40% of the costs
 1. Income tax introduced – taxes were
automatically deducted from workers’ pay check
 2. Loans – including war bonds by the public

5.) Deficit Spending
– Government attempts to stimulate economic
recovery by spending more than it collects in
revenues.