Download US Involvement in World War 2

America At War
U.S. In World War II
■Essential Question:
–What role did the U.S. play in
winning the wars in Europe & the
Pacific?
When the
U.S. entered WW2
in late
1941,
Japan
dominated
Germany
controlled
victory
seemed
remote
the western half of
almost all of Europe
the Pacific Ocean
Germany pressed
into Russia
Axis armies
controlled
Northern Africa
& threatened
But…over
the next 2 years, the U.S. & the Allies
the
Suez
Canal
began
to win
the wars in Europe & the Pacific
Europe 1941-1943
England wanted
to attack Italy
from Northern
Africa in 1942
The
USSR
“freed”
Poland,
The U.S.Hungary,
wanted Romania
to attack across In 1942,
troops
To U.S.-Anglo
win the European
In 1943, the Sovietbegan
armycampaign,
wonItalian
at Stalingrad;
Nazi-controlled
the
2campaign
different
Germany
was never &
again
on was
the
offensive
France
by 1943
Stalin
ANGRY
plans
were
proposed
The Allies began to win the Battle of the Atlantic in
1941 with Lend-Lease aid, but took control in 1943
with America’s entry into the war
Europe 1944-1945
U.S. & British
troops landed at
5 strategic points,
pushed through
France drove
towards Germany
The long-awaited 2nd
front came on June 6,
1944 with D-Day
Allied
ingenuity
helped
win
the
war:
Hedgerows
in
Normandy
U.S. soldiers were trained to problem-solve
rather than wait for orders
Yalta Conference in February 1945
■TheTo“Big
3” met
Yalta to &
recognize
theat
independence
discuss post-war
given
sovereignty
of nationsEurope
in Eastern
Europe
the eminent defeat of Germany:
–Stalin refused to give up
Eastern Europe but he did
agree to “self-determination”
–Stalin agreed to send Soviet
troops to the Pacific after the
German surrender if the USSR
could keep Manchuria
Soon after the Yalta Conference in Feb 1945,
FDR died…and Harry Truman became president
In late April 1945, the Allies broke through
the Eastern & Western Fronts forcing both
Italy & Germany to surrender
“Island-hopping”
allowed
the Allies
to win
The Doolittle Raid
on Tokyo
on April
strategic 18,
islands
investing
precious
1942without
was a morale
boost
time, resources, & American lives
U.S. victory at Midway in 1942
gave the Allies naval supremacy
The Japanese refused to play by according
to the Geneva Convention “rules” of war
The German surrender in May 1945, allowed
World
War
II
in
the
Pacific
the U.S. to turn its full attention towards Japan
Victories at Saipan in 1944 & Iwo Jima &
Okinawa in 1945 allowed for bombings on Japan
The Decision to Drop the A-Bomb
■With no definitive end it sight, how
would the Allies defeat Japan?
–The U.S. military favored a fullscale invasion of Tokyo by 1946
–The Japanese refused to
surrender & were arming
civilians for an Allied invasion
–At the Potsdam Conference in
July 1945, Truman gave the
order to use the atomic bomb
Enrico Fermi at the
University of Chicago
Triumph & Tragedy in the Pacific
■In August 1945, the USA forced
Japan to surrender by dropping 2
atomic bombs
■Effect of the atomic bomb:
–Saved hundreds of thousands
of American (& Japanese) lives
–Revenge for Pearl Harbor
–Showed the USSR that the USA
had the ultimate weapon (began
the Cold War nuclear arms race)
Nagasaki
Hiroshima
Its Finally Over!
WW2 Timeline
(Allies, Axis, USSR)
Results of War
■ 60 million killed
■ European empires
ended
■ GI Bill of Rights
– Provided education
costs for veterans
■ Nuremberg
– Trial to punish
■ Independence
Nazis for Holocaust
movements begin
and crimes against
Humanity
– Establish precedent
■ America becomes
that leaders and
world economic,
military people are
military and political
responsible for
superpower
wartime actions