Download Krista Henson September 3, 2008 2 nd Block History

Krista Henson
September 3, 2008
2nd Block
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World War II
A global military conflict which involved a majority of the world’s nations, including
all of the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and
the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel,
making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of “total war", the major
participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at
the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military
resources. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed,
making it the deadliest conflict in human history.
The starting date of the war is generally held to be September 1939 with the
German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by the
United Kingdom, France and the British Dominions. However, as a result of other
events, many belligerents entered the war before or after this date, during a period
which spanned from 1937 to 1941. Amongst these main events are the Marco Polo
Bridge Incident, the start of Operation Bar Barossa and the attack on Pearl Harbor
and British and Netherlands colonies in South East Asia.
The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading
superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45
years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such
conflict. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization
movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe itself began moving toward
interrogation.
Causes of World War ll
• Failure of the Treaty of Versailles
• Appeasement, Isolationism, and the
Failure of the League of Nations
• Fascism, Nationalism, Totalitarianism, and
Collectivist Ideology
• Expansionism
• Economic Depression and Instability
• Entangling Alliances
Munich Conference
• In 1938 Russia, Germany, Britain,
France, and Italy met in Munich
to decide what action, if any, to
take concerning Germany’s
aggression in Czechoslovakia.
This conference came to be
known as the Munich
Conference. While there, the
allies decided to enact a policy of
appeasement, wherein they
would allow Germany to erase
the boundaries of the Versailles
Treaty without taking military
action. However, it was also
agreed that the sovereignty of
Poland would be protected, and
thus a line was drawn that
Germany would not be allowed to
cross without risking full scale
war.
Invasion of Poland
When Hitler invaded Poland, he was confident that Britain and France would
continue their policy of appeasement and broker a peace deal. Bradley Lightbody
considers his gross miscalculation and how it led Europe to stumble into war.
The decision of Adolf Hitler to invade Poland was a gamble. The Wehrmacht (the
German Army) was not yet at full strength and the German economy was still locked
into peacetime production. As such, the invasion alarmed Hitler's generals and
raised opposition to his command - and leaks of his war plans to Britain and France.
'The decision ... to invade Poland was a gamble. '
Hitler's generals urged caution and asked for more time to complete the defences of
the 'West Wall', in order to stem any British and French counter-offensive in the west
while the bulk of the Wehrmacht was engaged in the east. Their leader dismissed
their concerns, however, and demanded instead their total loyalty.
Hitler was confident that the invasion of Poland would result in a short, victorious war
for two important reasons. First, he was convinced that the deployment of the world's
first armoured corps would swiftly defeat the Polish armed forces in a blitzkrieg
offensive. Secondly, he judged the British and French prime-ministers, Neville
Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, to be weak, indecisive leaders who would opt
for a peace settlement rather than war.
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On 7 December 1941,the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. On 8
December 1941, America, China and Britain declared war on Japan. Thus the
Pacific War had begun.
However the Japanese started their expansionists policy as early as October
1941.Starting first in Southern Indochina m they moved down like a swarm of killer
bees to Patani (in Southern Thailand) , and soon progressed down to the Malay
Peninsula from Kota Bahru to Kuala Lumpur and finally to Johor Bahru. By 31st
January 1942,the whole of Malaya had fallen into the Japanese clutch.
Singapore was then regarded as an "impregnable fortress". But as the Japanese
progressed in their march to victory in Malaya. The possibility of an attack on
Singapore became real. The battle-ships "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" arrived
on 2 December 1941.
Indian, Australian and more British troops arrived to strengthen the defence of
Singapore. As for any seward invasion, the naval defence included heavy 15-inch
guns and a naval base at the south of the island.
Yet the Japanese bombing of Singapore during the pre-dawn hours of 8 December
1941 took the people and the British by surprise. Two days later, the 2 British
battleships were sunk off Kuantan and the Japanese forces charged across the
Causeway. Yet all this while the British had expected attacks on ,and had
increased defence of the south. The situation looked hopeless for the British in
Singapore, and the Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, Commander of the Royal
Army surrendered on 15 February 1942. Black Sunday, the first day of the
Chinese New Year. Yet unknown to the British, the Japanese were numerically
fewer than the British and would not be able to be involved in the drawn-out affair.
Attack on Pearl Harbor
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Eighteen months earlier, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt had
transferred the United States Fleet
to Pearl Harbor as a presumed
deterrent to Japanese aggression.
The Japanese military, deeply
engaged in the seemingly endless
war it had started against China in
mid-1937, badly needed oil and
other raw materials. Commercial
access to these was gradually
curtailed as the conquests
continued. In July 1941 the
Western powers effectively halted
trade with Japan. From then on,
as the desperate Japanese
schemed to seize the oil and
mineral-rich East Indies and
Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was
virtually inevitable
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The 7 December 1941 Japanese
raid on Pearl Harbor was one of
the great defining moments in
history. A single carefully-planned
and well-executed stroke removed
the United States Navy's
battleship force as a possible
threat to the Japanese Empire's
southward expansion. America,
unprepared and now considerably
weakened, was abruptly brought
into the Second World War as a
full combatant.
Women’s participation in
industry
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In 1970, 43.3 percent of women age 16 or
older in the United States were part of the
labor force. The rate grew continually for
about three decades before reaching what
appears to be a peak labor force participation
rate for women of 60.0 percent in 1999. Since
1999, the rate has held between 59 and 60
percent, coming in at 59.3 percent in 2005. It
is unclear whether the decades-long increase
in women's labor force participation rate has
ended.
Those decades did help to close the gap
between the labor force participation of men
and women. In 1970, men in the United
States had a labor force participation rate of
79.7 percent. Over thirty-plus years, that rate
drifted slowly down to 73.3 percent in 2005.
Labor force participation rates by gender in
Oregon are quite similar to national rates. In
Oregon in 2005, an estimated 59.0 percent of
women were in the labor force, compared
with 73.3 percent of men.
Rationing
• Rationing is the
controlled distribution
of resources and scarce
goods or services.
Rationing controls the
size of the ration, one's
allotted portion of the
resources being
distributed on a
particular day or at a
particular time.
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War Bonds are government-issued savings
bonds which are used to finance a war or a
military action. In the United States, the last
official war bond was the Series E Bond issued
during the Second World War. War bonds
generate capital for the federal government and
they make civilians feel involved in their national
militaries; exhortations to buy war bonds are
often accompanied with appeals to patriotism
and conscience.
A bond is a special type of security. Bonds are
issued by an agency which wants to generate
capital, and the people who purchase them are
essentially loaning money to the issuing agency.
In return for the loan, the bond earns a set
interest rate, and the purchaser can redeem the
bond for its face value at a later date.
Government issued bonds such as war bonds
very safe, stable investments.
In World War One, Americans could buy “Liberty
Bonds,” while other nations issued an
assortment of bonds and savings stamps to
finance their war efforts. The language used in
the promotion of war bonds is often quite florid,
drawing the purchaser into the transaction tend
to have a yield which is below market value, but
the bonds are considered with an appeal to his
or her patriotism. War bonds are available in a
wide range of denominations to make them
affordable to all, ranging from small stamps
which school children could purchase to bonds
in very large denominations for wealthier
individuals.
War
Bonds
Japanese internment camps
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The "war to end all wars", or as it is better known as
World War I ended with the signing of the Treaty of
Versailles in 1919. This Treaty was signed by the
Allied Nations of Britain, France, Italy and Russia.
However, the United States did not sign the treaty.
The US felt that the price that Germany had to pay,
approximately $33 billion dollars plus the loss of
their prime food growing land was too high.
But there was also something attached to the Treaty
that the American Senate did not wish to approve.
This was the League of Nations. Though, the
League was United States President Wilson's
dream, the US never joined the League of Nations.
But, the League was ratified by other countries in
the hope that the world would come together and
create a council that could promote international
cooperation and achieve peace and security.
The United States felt that the League did not have
enough support and power to fulfill its mission.
Perhaps they were right, as the US found itself
being pulled into another World War in 1941. The
story begins with Adolph Hitler, ruling Germany as a
dictator, declaring war on Poland. Distressed and
outraged by Germany's attack, England and France
declare war on Germany.
The US tried to stay out of the war. However, they
did support their European Allies in their struggle
against Hitler by selling, lending and leasing war
supplies.
But, on December 7, 1941, the US was forced into
war by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The
next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on
the radio to tell the nation about the attack. His
speech began "December 7, 1941, a date which will
live in infamy", and basically convinced the United
States to join the war. Within an hour of the speech,
Congress had declared war on Japan.
Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the
Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped
the American people regain faith in themselves.
He brought hope as he promised prompt,
vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural
Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear
itself."
Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a
national historic site--he attended Harvard
University and Columbia Law School. On St.
Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor
Roosevelt.
Following the example of his fifth cousin,
President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly
admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public
service through politics, but as a Democrat. He
won election to the New York Senate in 1910.
President Wilson appointed him Assistant
Secretary of the Navy, and he was the
Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.
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Joseph Stalin, was born in Gori, Georgia on 21st
December, 1879. He was his mother's fourth child to
be born in less than four years. The first three died
and as Joseph was prone to bad health, his mother
feared on several occasions that he would also die.
Understandably, given this background, Joseph's
mother was very protective towards him as a child.
Joseph's father was a bookmaker and his mother
took in washing. As a child, Joseph experienced the
poverty that most peasants had to endure in Russia
at the end of the 19th century. At the age of seven he
contacted smallpox. He survived but his face
remained scarred for the rest of his life and other
children cruelly called him "pocky".
Joseph's mother was deeply religious and in 1888
she managed to obtain him a place at the local
church school. Despite his health problems, he made
good progress at school and eventually won a free
scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary. While
studying at the seminary he joined a secret
organization called Messame Dassy. Members were
supporters of Georgian independence from Russia.
Some were also socialist revolutionaries and it was
through the people he met in this organization that
Stalin first came into contact with the ideas of Karl
Marx.
Joseph
Stalin