Download The Pacific Theater

THE ROAD
FROM PEACE
TO WAR (19201941)
Chapter 17—Part
II
I.
II.
III.
INTRODUCTION
Why did the U.S. go to war?
THEME
This chapter examines the course and consequences of World War II.
THE ROAD TO WAR
A.
War in the Pacific
1.
In 1940, Japan sought to incorporate its possessions into a greater East Asia coprosperity sphere.
2.
Nature of the Conflict: U. S. wanted Japan to evacuate China vs. Japan wanted a
free hand in China
3.
The "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis [September 1940] fused the conflicts in Europe and
Asia, turning the struggle into a global war."1
4.
Fearing a two-front conflict, and hoping to postpone war with Japan, the U. S.
"engaged in a kind of diplomatic shadow boxing."2
B.
War Guilt
1.
Most of the responsibility lies at Germany's door, specifically charged to Adolf
Hitler (whose whole policy had been war-oriented)
Hitler's view of war:
a.
A peace of more than 25 years would do great harm to Germany . . . "in
eternal peace, mankind perishes"
b.
Social Darwinism—war ridded mankind of unfit species—the primal law
of life and death and gaining at the expense of others
c.
To his generation, who were products of World War I, the idea of peace
seemed stale, unpleasant. . . there was a fascination with hostility
2.
The Western Allies were also to blame to a lesser extent, especially France and
Britain
They failed to stop Hitler when the opportunity was right, e.g., the Rhineland and
Appeasement
3.
Russia—her Non-Aggression Pact with Germany made the war well-night
inevitable
The Allies



Great Britain
Soviet Union
United States
The Axis Powers



Germany
Italy
Japan
The three totalitarian nations that signed the Anti-Comintern Pact formed
the so-called Berlin-Rome-Tokyo “Axis”
C.
FDR—the security and peace of 90% of the world is being jeopardized by the
remaining 10%.
Why the U.S. finally entered the war
27I
1
Garraty, American Nation, p. 765.
Nash and Jeffrey, American People, p. 859.
2
1
The bombing of
Pearl Harbor by the
Japanese galvanized
pro-war sentiment
in the U.S.
B.
The Major Players and Places
28B & C
1.
Douglas MacArthur—commander of American forces in the Pacific theater
MacArthur
2.
3.
4.
Eisenhower
Rommel
Dwight D. Eisenhower—commander of the Allied forces in Europe
Erwin Rommel—a.k.a., the “Desert Fox”; led the German Afrika Korps in North
Africa, particularly Tunisia; know for his bold and clever strikes against the Allies;
he finally left Africa in March 1943 giving the allies their 1 st breakthrough
Areas of the world in which most of the fighting occurred
a. Europe
28B
b. The Pacific 28C
The European Theater
The Pacific Theater
5.
C.
Military Operations
a.
The strategy of Operation Torch
28B
1.
Invasion of North Africa followed by. . .
2.
Advances in the Mediterranean area
b.
Why the Allied victory in North Africa was significant
28B
1.
It opened the Mediterranean Sea to Allied shipping
2.
It made invasion of southern Europe possible
c. Other victories helping the Allied cause
28C
1.
Coral Sea
2.
Midway
3.
Guadalcanal
The War at Home 28A
2
“With incredible swiftness, the nation mobilized its military and industrial strength. . . . The nation’s factories
were sending a vast stream of war supplies to more than twenty countries.” 3
The Players
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Office of War Mobilization--cleared bottlenecks that slowed the functioning of
various federal agencies
28A-1
Office of Price Administration--set price ceilings on most items
War Manpower Commission--determined which industries needed employees
the most
28A-1
National War Labor Board--helped settle labor disputes quickly and encouraged
the growth of unions by supporting the Wagner Act
28A-1
Philip Randolph
Randolph was head of
the Brotherhood of
Sleeping Car Porters;
threatened to lead a
march on Washington,
D. C. in protest of
prejudice of AfricanAmerican workers
6.
Executive Order 8802--banned discrimination in all government agencies, in
job training programs, and in all companies doing business with the federal
government
27H-4
CHANGES IN WARTIME AMERICA
28A
Examples of how industry converted to wartime production
1.
Shirt factories produced mosquito netting
2.
Auto factories manufactured tanks, trucks, personnel
carriers, and aircraft
Reasons for U. S. economic growth during the war
1.
Workers’ wages increased
2.
Unemployment dropped as a result of wartime production
How Americans supported the war effort
1.
Growing “victory gardens”
2.
Waged “scrap” rubber and “scrap” iron drives
3.
Used ration coupons
4.
Women joined civilian work force in record numbers
Economic gains made by women and minorities during the war years
1.
Women
a.
Piloted airplanes
b.
Repaired airplanes and vehicles
c.
Drove trucks
d.
Operated radios
e.
Did clerical work and technical work of various
types
f.
Found employment in war industries
3
America, p. 818.
3
“Rosie the Riveter” became
the national symbol for the
women who entered the
work force in huge
numbers. These female
laborers replaced the
thousands of young men
who enlisted or were
drafted during the war
years. These women often
assumed traditionally male
occupations.
RQ26
Many Americans expressed
their patriotism through the
purchase of war bonds
(upper left). Promotional
campaigns like the one
advertised in the period
postcard above proved quite
successful in helping the
generate funding to pay for
the war effort. Meanwhile,
the unemployment of the
Depression years drastically
diminished (right).
Economic gains made by women and minorities during the war years
2.
Blacks 26A
a.
Employment opportunities increased
b.
Enjoyed increased social acceptance
c.
Made economic gains in both the North and
South
Why people during war years were more willing to tolerate government
decisions and denial of citizens’ rights
28A-3
Japanese Concentration Camps
Americans tolerated violations of civil rights
because they believed that national security
was at stake. The most flagrant instance of
this departure from national history was the
forcible relocation of Japanese immigrants
from the West Coast to states in the interior.
Many naturalized U.S. citizens of Japanese
descent found their lives ruined as they lost
homes, careers, and the accumulated capital
of decades. Only in recent years has the U.S.
government moved to rectify the injustices
imposed on this minority group during the
war years.
D.
Geography of the War
1.
Sicily
2.
Anzio
3.
Stalingrad
4.
5.
6.
7.
English Channel
Normandy
New Guinea
Philippine Islands
4
German military leadership enjoyed conspicuous success in the early war
years. Herman Goering’s Luftwaffe, along with the Panzer units of the
Wehrmacht rolled over virtually all opposition. The latter war years
proved more challenging for Germany. When Hitler failed to bomb
Britain into submission in 1940 (the celebrated “Battle of Britain”), he
made the same fatal error that Napoleon Bonaparte had made a century
and a quarter earlier: invade Russia. Disregarding his earlier alliance with
Joseph Stalin, Hitler sent his army east in search of lebensraum—living
space—that the German people could enjoy over future generations of the
anticipated “Thousand Year Reich.” If the German divisions were
successful in their early intrusions onto Russian soil, they met with the
same fate as Napoleon’s Grand Armée. The rapid German advanced
bogged down. At the bloody Battle for Stalingrad, the Germans foundered.
Thereafter, the Soviet Red Army began driving German divisions back
toward Berlin where, in the spring of 1945, they occupied the German
capital and bought an end to the war.
E.
The Players, Plays, and Terms
1.
Joseph Stalin
28B
Premier of the
Soviet Union;
wanted massive
supplies, territorial
concessions in
Eastern Europe and
a 2nd front in
western Europe.
2.
3.
Operation Overlord--code name for Allied invasion of Western Europe
D-Day--6:30 a.m., June 6th, 1944 (largest amphibious invasion in history)
5
Supreme command of
the Allied armies went
to Dwight Eisenhower.
At right, he encourages
an American G.I. about
to participate in the
June 6, 1944
Normandy invasion.
The Allied invasion
force successfully
stormed the
Normandy beaches
and set in motion a
train of military
events that would lead
to the liberation of
France and the
ultimate surrender of
Hitler’s Third Reich.
4.
Chester Nimitz
Admiral
Nimitz was
the U.S.
naval
commander
in the
Pacific.
5.
6.
F.
G.
H.
I.
Amphibious landing--landing made by sea
Leap-frogging--taking only the strategic Japanese-held islands and bypassing
other more strongly fortified ones
Why did Mussolini fail?
The Allied invasion of Sicily and then Italy
What Stalin wanted from the West
1.
Massive supplies
3.
Second front in W. Europe
2.
Territorial concessions in Eastern Europe
What was necessary for success on June 6, 1944
1.
Huge reserve of supplies
2.
Secrecy
3.
Clear weather
Allied Diplomacy and American Politics
1.
Big Three
28D-2
1.
2.
3.
2.
Winston Churchill,
U.K.
Franklin Roosevelt,
U.S.A
Joseph Stalin,
U.S.S.R.
Chiang Kai-Shek--leader of Nationalist China
6
Chiang Kai-Shek (left) was the leader of
Nationalist China and the Kuomintang.
Mao Tse-tung (right) led the Chinese
communists. In spite of U.S. support for
Chiang, Mao would win the postwar
struggle for the hearts and minds of the
Chinese people. Chiang headed a
separate government in Taiwan off the
coast of mainland China.
3.
United Nations--an international peace-keeping organization
28$
In the summer
of 1945,
representatives
from around the
world gathered
in San
Francisco,
California to lay
the foundation
for the United
Nations. The
hope was that
this lineal
descendant of
the League of
Nations would
have greater
success that its
predecessor.
d.
Harry S. Truman (below left)--Democratic Vice-president under FDR
The election of 1944 brought FDR back to the White
House. Winning an unprecedented fourth straight
presidential election, Americans were reluctant to
change administrations with the war so near an end.
Sadly, FDR would live only a
few months into his 4th term
leaving the presidency to the
unlikely person of Truman.
e.
J.
K.
Thomas E. Dewey (above right)--Republican governor of New York and
presidential candidate in 1944 against FDR.
Why FDR re-elected in 1944
1.
Personal popularity
2.
People did not want a change in leadership in midst of the war
Promises among the Allies
1.
US and UK promised to open a Western front
7
L.
2.
USSR promised to open a campaign in the coming spring
3.
USSR promised to enter war in Pacific
Yalta postwar settlement plan
28D-2
At Yalta, FDR
consented to many of
Stalin’s demands.
These concessions
were in large part
because Roosevelt
believed he would
need Russian
assistance in bringing
the war in the Pacific
to a speedy
conclusion.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Acceptance of many of Stalin’s demands
Eastern Europe occupied by Germany to have free elections
Germany to have 4 zones of occupation
Conference on UN to meet April 1945
“While neither a sellout or a betrayal, as some critics have charged, Yalta was
a significant diplomatic victory of the Soviets—one that reflected Russia’s
major contribution to a victory in Europe.”4
M.
Victory in Europe and Asia
28D
Key Names and Terms
1.
Holocaust
Nazi extermination of 6 million
European Jews
The Germans applied the same
Teutonic efficiency that had made
Germany a military and industrial
powerhouse to the brutal pursuit of
genocide. The Holocaust would inspire
an unprecedented postwar
immigration from Europe to Palestine
by Jews who resolved to form an
Israeli nation-state.
2.
Manhattan Project--research project to develop the atomic bomb
28C
Numerous individuals
contributed to the
development of America’s
atomic weapons program,
including J. Robert
Oppenheimer (left) and
naturalized U.S. citizen
Albert Einstein (right) who
immigrated from Germany
before the organized
persecution of Jews began in
that country.
4
America, p. 843.
8
Dr. Einstein, who had developed the celebrated theory of relativity (E=mc 2) in the early 20th Century, wrote president Roosevelt a two page
letter on August 2, 1939, advising him that nuclear research might have practical application in the construction of an atomic bomb.
3.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki--site of first two atomic bombings
28C
The Manhattan
Project produced the
atomic bomb carried
by the “Enola Gay”
(above), a B-29 that
dropped the weapon
that reduced the city
of Hiroshima to the
rubble pictured both
right and left.
4.
Kamikaze
Kamikazes were
Japanese suicide pilots
who dove into U.S.
ships in a plane loaded
with explosives. This
represented at last
ditch effort by Japan
to stave off the
irresistible tide of the
U.S. offensive against
its Asian adversary.
N.
Allies Strategy that defeated Germany in Europe
28B
Move slowly to defeat the Germans as completely as possible
O.
The “Final Solution” to the Jewish Question
Hitler’s program to exterminate the Jews in Europe
P.
The importance of the atomic bomb to the war effort
28C
It ended the war against Japan quickly and without great loss of Allied lives.
9
Images of World War II
The Iwo Jima Memorial above--it
commemorates one of many U.S. military
victories in its “island-hopping” campaign
on the advance toward the Japanese
archipelago.
IV.
Signing the Instruments of Surrender
Above right, the Germans sign the paperwork; above and below,
General Douglas MacArthur supervises the unconditional
surrender of the Japanese.
Conclusion
“World War II had a greater impact than the Depression on the future of American life. . . . The
nation underwent sweeping social and economic changes at home. . . .When victory came in 1945, the
United States was by far the most powerful nation in the world. But instead of the enduring peace
that might have permitted a return to a less active foreign policy, the onset of the Cold War with the
Soviet Union brought on a new era of tension and conflict. This time the United States could not
retreat from responsibility. World War II was a coming of age for American foreign policy.” 5
5
America, pp. 818, 834.
10



The U.S.
reached its
military
potential
It had a
monopoly on
the atomic
bomb
It had no
choice but to
be involved
in world
affairs



The war brought
industrial
recovery and
unparalleled
prosperity
Completely
unregulated free
enterprise was a
thing of the past
Big government
with huge deficits
became the norm
11