Unit 9: US involvement in WWII

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (USA)

• He worked closely with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers.

• supervised the mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe first strategy.

Harry Truman (USA)

• made the choice to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

• president after FDR

Dwight D. Eisenhower (USA)

• planned and supervised two of the most consequential military campaigns of World War II:

  • Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign in 1942–1943 and the invasion of Normandy in 1944.

• supreme allied commander in the european theater

George S. Patton (USA)

• led corps and armies from North Africa, to Sicily, to the continent of Europe

Douglas MacArthur (USA)

• Commander of the Allied Forces Southwest Pacific

• commanded a broad offensive against the Japanese that would move north from Australia, through New Guinea, and eventually to the Philippines.

Chester Nimitz (USA)

• U.S. Navy had broken Japanese codes → knew what the Japanese were going to do

• Allowed for him to strategize accordingly

• american naval commander

Winston Churchill (GB)

• led Britain to victory in the Second World War

• shaped Allied strategy in the war

Joseph Stalin (USSR)

• The head of the Soviet Communist Party 

• The Communist party purged all suspected traitors or opponents during The Great Terror

• allied powers

Adolf Hitler (Germany)

• Leader of the NSDAP (Nazi Party)

• Called for Lebensraum

• Called for the creation of a “master race” of Aryan Germans 

• main goal —> dominate Europe and eliminate inferior people

Benito Mussolini

• Part of the Fascist Party 

• Upset that Italy didn’t get anything from the treaty

• although a part of the Allies, did not get what it wanted at the end of WWI 

• axis power

• main goal —> create the italian empire stretching from east adriatic (Africa)

Emperor Hirohito (Japan)

• remained spiritual leader and figurehead 

• presided over the invasion of China, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and eventually, the Japanese surrender to the Allies

Hideki Tojo (Japan)

• Japan fought alongside the allies

  • BUT were not treated as equals during the peace negotiations 

• Japanese military gained control of Japan’s government 

  • became military dictator

• oversaw the attack on pearl harbor

• main goal —> japanese control of western pacific and asia

Manchuria/Manchuko

• region of china that japan invaded

• begins Japanese expansion into mainland asia that continues throguhout the 1930’s

Pearl Harbor

• surprise military strike by the Japanese

• the morning of December 7, 1941

• The surprise attack by some 350 Japanese aircraft sunk or badly damaged eighteen US naval vessels, including eight battleships, destroyed or damaged 300 US aircraft, and killed 2,403 men.

• caused the US to join the war

• needed natural resources

Kamikaze

• “Divine Wind” 

• Suicide Bombers

Corregidor/Bataan Death March

• remained one of the last Allied strongholds in the Philippines after the Japanese victory at Bataan

  • Constant aerial bombardment attacks by the Japanese ate away at the American and Filipino defenders.

• 3 months after the battle, 60,000-80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war were forced march through the Philippines.

Battle of Britain

• July - Oct 1940

• Germany bombed Britain for 3 months to try and weaken the island’s defenses

• German Luftwaffe vs. British Royal Air Force (RAF)

• Raf WON! → Prevented Germany’s land invasion of the British Isles

Battle of Coral Sea

• May 1942

• The Japanese seemed unstoppable until this battle

• US Forces prevented Japanese invasion of the island → warned that the tides during the war might change

Battle of Midway (June 1942)

• Utilized knowledge of Japanese plans 

• Americans sunk 4 Japanese aircraft carriers & 

  • Japanese only sunk 1 American aircraft carrier

• Turning point in the war → Japanese now on the defensive 

Guadalcanal (Nov 1942)

• Americans defeated Japanese in the Solomon Islands

  • Continued the American victory streak 

  • Gave the U.S. a strategic base to launch further attacks

Iwo Jima and Okinawa

• American Victory 

• Strategic landing point for pilots/ships going across the Pacific

• Gruesome fighting

• Strategic landing point → even closer to the Japanese home island

• Kamikaze fighters utilized

• High death tolls on both sides

“Island Hopping”

• American strategy in the Pacific

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• first atomic bomb is dropped —> Aug. 6, 1945

• second bomb is dropped —> Aug. 9, 1945

• japan surrenders and WWII is officially over

“Defeat Hitler First”/Europe First

• focus on finishing the war in Europe first before trying to end war in asia

Stalingrad (17 July 1942 – 2 February 1943)

• Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad

• It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies.

Operation Overlord

• the overall plan for the invasion and the subsequent Battle of Normandy

Blitzkrieg

• Lightning war 

  • Quick and effective coordination of all parts of the military 

  • This is how Germany was able to conquer Europe so quickly

Fall of western Europe

• Germany invaded France through Belgium and the Netherlands 

• Nazi armies easily defeated the Allies → France surrendered → 

• Germany set up a new “French” government and occupied the north 

• German troops overran Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France in six weeks starting in May 1940.

• France signed an armistice in late June 1940, leaving Great Britain as the only country fighting Nazi Germany.

Normandy landings/D-Day (June 6, 1944)

• allied forces launched the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare

• marked the start of a long and costly campaign to liberate north-west Europe from Nazi occupation.

Battle of the Bulge

• the German army launched a counteroffensive that was intended to cut through the Allied forces in a manner that would turn the tide of the war in Hitler's favor

• the american troops attacked the sides of the shrinking bulge until they had restored the front and set the stage for the final drive to victory.

• hitler wasn’t abe to launch an offensive in the west

Saturation/strategic bombing

• approach to aerial bombardment designed to destroy a country’s ability to wage war by demoralizing civilians and targeting features of an enemy’s infrastructure

  • such as factories, railways, and refineries—that are essential for the production and supply of war materials.

War in North Africa

• Essential in securing the Suez Canal which was Britain's lifeline to its Empire, and in securing oil available in North Africa as well as Middle-East.

• It would also open up a front through Souther Italy onto Germany.

Tuskegee Airmen

• 1578 combat missions

  • Highly successful bomber missions

  • Awarded more than 850 medals

Nisei regiments

• (Japanese Americans)

• earned a high number of decorations while fighting predominantly in Europe 

• Fought discrimination at home

Navajo code

• code that the native americans created so that their enemies couldn’t break

Women’s Army Corps (WAC)

• enable women to serve in noncombat positions.

6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion

• consisted of all African-American women

• Their mission was to clear several years of backlogged mail in the European Theater of Operations.

Japanese Internment

• Executive Order 9066 (1942): forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to "relocation centers" further inland – resulting in the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Double Victory

• victory over fascism abroad and victory over racism at home

Mobilization

• brought the end of the Great Depression

  • Draft 

  •  New job opportunities to provide military goods / services

  • Fewer commercial goods → consumer savings

• Office of War and Mobilization

  • Set production priorities, controlled raw materials

    • US economy met all of the wars’ needs

  • New factories were built 

  • New rubber industry was created

  • Production was 2x that of combined Axis nations!!!

Cash and carry

• Allowed belligerent nations to buy goods and arms in the U.S. if they paid cash and carried their own merch on their own ships

Lend-Lease Act

• allow the United States to lend or lease war supplies to any nation deemed "vital to the defense of the United States.

Neutrality acts of 1935-1937

• embargo on arms - Made it illegal for Americans to sell or transport arms or other war materials to any nations at war (belligerent nations) 

• This was supported by isolationists

“Arsenal of Democracy”

• exceeding all production expectations and spearheading the Allied drive to victory.

War bonds

• a bond bought to fund the war effort redeemable for interest after a certain period of time

Rationing

• government - controlled limits on the amount of certain goods

Manhattan Project

• was an unprecedented, top-secret World War II government program in which the United States rushed to develop and deploy the world's first atomic weapons before Nazi Germany