World War II
Road to Peace:
Isolationism
No trade, because no one is buying our products
We don't care about what is happening in Europe
In the great depression
Focused on fixing the economy
New Deal
15 Million unemployed
Dust bowl
overpopulation
WWI Memories and Debts
Death, inflation, food shortages, etc.
People still owed us money
England owed a lot
Finland was the only country to pay us back
Kellogg Briand Pact (61 countries)
US included
Outlaws war AT ALL, unless it is self-defense
Issues:
Allies - if someone gets involved the allies have to join
Japan/German reactions = taking land
No one says anything about the land being taken
Hitler watches no one do anything about Japan taking land
He decides to do the same thing
First two he takes: All Saints Lorraine, and the Czarland
Appeasement -> failed
Nevil Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) tries to appease Hitler (Germany)
Meet in Munich (Munich Conference)
Chamberlain points out that Germany is taking land and asks him to stop
Hitler says there’s is just one piece of Czechoslovakia that he wants
Chamberlain allowed it to happen
Hitler proceeds to invade and take over everything
WWII begins - September 1, 1939
Germany invade poland from one side and russia from another
Britain goes to attack Germany
France gets pulled in because of German alliance
America stays neutral-ish but doesn’t join the war
Gives supplies to people we’re acquainted with
Britain and France
FDR tries to maintain control
Lend-Lease Act
You break you buy
Britain borrows military supplies, but the condition is that if they get damaged Britain has to pay us for them
Moms of America start picketing the white house
They don’t want their sons to go off to war to die
(HR 1776)
Moms of America start picketing the white house
They don’t want their sons to go off to war to die
Cash and Carry
If Britain and France want our supplies, they have to come to America, pay us cash, and take it back to their country
Done to appease the mothers who are anxious
Leaders:
FDR - American President throughout most of WWII
Dies April 1945
Replaced by Truman (The one who dropped the bombs)
Chamberlain - British Prime Minister
Tried to appease Germany
Failed
People are mad so they get rid of him and replace him with Churchill
Churchill - replaced Chamberlain (The British Bulldog)
Him and Queen Elizabeth did not get along
He bullied her into doing what he wanted
Best friends with FDR
Honorary U.S. citizen
Hitler (germany, obviously)
Took many things from America
Like the arm raise thing
Nuremberg Laws was inspired by Jim Crow Laws
We don’t know why he hated the Jews
Several theories
Tried to go to art school
Painted in the Trenches during the war
Great leadership qualities
Brainwashed an entire country in five years
Very charismatic
Won a lot of people over
He was elected into power
Stalin (the perfect dictator)(russia)
Allied with Hitler (germany) because they signed the Non-Aggression Pact
Stalin inspired the Hitler Youth
Stalin Youth was first
Ran the greatest propaganda campaign ever
He killed 30 million of his own people
Hitler killed 6 million Jews
He sent a lot of people to the Gulag (labor camps)
Married twice
First wife died
Second wife hated him so much she killed herself
Killed to get his way into office
Vladimir Lenin died to letting Stalin take over Russia
Lenin lead the Bolsheviks
Mussolini (italy)
Besties with Hitler
Whatever Hitler does, Mussolini does
Fascism - uses military to run the government
Italy switches sides at the end of the war
Hang him in the middle of the city for all to see
Emperor Hirohito and Prime Minister Tojo
Prime Minister did everything behind the scenes
Emperor was just for show
Never fought anybody like the Japanese
Booby traps
Kamikazes
Suicide bombers
Fake surrenders
All about loyalty and honor
If they became POW’s and Tojo found out, he would kill their families
Spent decades looking for soldiers who did not believe that America won
Japan Attacks America:
French Indochina’s role
Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos
Japan invades Indochina
We are allied with france, but we don’t want to get involved in the war
So we freeze Japanese assets
No money in U.S. banks
No oil
No steel
Japan freezes America’s assets
Japanese Peace Missions
They come to Washington D.C. and demand that we need to unfreeze their assets
America: “We don’t like your tone”
Japan leaves because their upset
During this we decipher their attack plans
December 7,1941 - Pearl Harbor
Was a sunday
A little before 8 A.M.
They thought the planes on the radar were doing drills
All of our battleships are cooked except for six
The U.S.S. Arizona sank
Lost 2,400 americans
Lost almost every plane in the harbor
About 60 civilians injured
Switch in American Opinion Poll
78% of americans did not want to join the war before the attack
We had a neutral outview/relationship with Japan
After the attack 96% of americans believed we should go to war to help out
Roosevelt said it was an “Unprovoked attack”
War would fix the economy
December 8 = declare war on japan
Japanese Internment:
Began February 1942
Executive Order 9066
Moved them into internment camps within 2 months
10 camps across the U.S.
Round-Up
Moving all the Japanese Americans to internment camps
Included Italian-AM and German-AM
Living Conditions (role of photographers)
Not finished being constructed
Some people lived in empty horse stalls
25 people in a room for 10 (overcrowded)
Photographers showed many people the realities of the round-up and camp life
Hired by the government
Some didn’t tell the story the government wanted
Those pictures got impounded
Dorothea Lange had more pictures impounded
Massive psychological damage
Some were only allowed 48 hours to decide what they could bring
Some people (“no no’s”) were sent to a specific camp for either (or both) not swearing allegiance to the U.S. or not “volunteering” to serve in the military
A lot of the Japanese are released in 1946
Given 1 ticket to go anywhere in the U.S.
Most went to their homes
Vandalised or destroyed
Did not want to live in their destroyed homes
Couldn’t move because no money
Korematsu vs. U.S.
Most famous supre
Japanese American citizen (born in California)
The same day as Pearl Harbor he went to go register to serve his country (america)
They laughed and said no
He fought this up to the Supreme Court
Got justice in 1980’s
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
When the U.S. apologized for how they treated the Japanese
And IF they were STILL ALIVE they got $20k in reparations
No grandkids could claim the reparations for their families
Financial Burdens:
330 billion dollars
Two fastest ways to make money
Taxes
Bonds
Bonds got their full value after 7 years
Paid half of their value to get them
Bring back many WWI practices
Victory gardens
Women working in factories
Biggest difference between WWI and WWII is rationing
People eating less
Ridesharing
Rations were dependent on number of people in your family
Items that were rationed
Sugar
Meat
Eggs
Coffee
Tires
Gas
Pantyhose
Nylon from the pantyhose was used for parachutes
Rations go from 1944-1946
Mein kampf = my struggle
Rosie the riveter
Mascot
Riveter was a machine that pushed steel bolts into steel to build planes etc.
Painted by Norman Rockwell
Painting was changed by the U.S. government
Rosie the Riveter was based of Naomi Parker Phraisely
Women who worked in the factories were called “rosies”
Unemployment drops to 1.9%
California is desperate for workers
Start the Bracero Program
The U.S. goes into Mexico and recruits them to work the farms in california
Offers them their citizenship and some money for working
Holocaust: (only write new things)
Hitler comes to power in 1930 by popular vote
Can’t immediately kill the jews
Steals how we said the pledge (raised arm) and the Jim Crow Laws
Applied the Jim Crow Laws to the jews
Called them the Nuremberg Laws
Boycotting Jewish owned shops
People ignored the boycotts
Starts the brainwashing of the country with the kids
Starts breaking down how jewish the kids are with a family tree
Just a drop of Jewish blood = fully Jewish
Reading books to kids to tell them “How to spot a jew”
The Rotten Mushroom
Adults:
Professional workers were fired
College students were kicked out
Drivers licenses were revoked
Olympics:
Jesse Owens won many gold medals against Hitler’s peak Aryan race
Kristallnacht = Night of Broken Glass
Turning point in germany
November 1938
Two nights where the nazi’s were told to riot, destroy synagogues and houses, beat jews but you could not touch a German
After 5 years, Hitler successfully brainwashed a whole country to dislike the Jews
Undesirables - people with any “imperfect” features
Hitler starts eugenics
180 calories to survive
That's all the people in concentration camps got
Commission Number 3: organize the sterilization of these offspring (black and german mixed kids) to keep the purity of the Aryan race intact
The two deadliest camps - Auschwitz and Treblinka
Joseph Mangle = the worst person to do experiment
Did experiments on twins and triplets
Called the “Angel of Death”
Battles:
Battle of the Coral Sea:
May 1942
Just America vs. Japan, NO ONE ELSE
Very first battle against Japan after Pearl Harbor
Happened in the ocean, No fighting on land
Planes trying to blow up battleships
Japan blows up and sinks the USS Lexington
Japan also hit the USS Yorktown, but didn’t sink it
American Loss
Huge hit to our moral
Battle of Midway:
June 1942
Just America and Japan
Takes place in the ocean
Fatal Five Minutes
American planes looking for Japanese battleships
Not finding anything
We finally find their ships, and absolutely blow them up
Japanese General said to switch the plane torpedoes with bombs
When we fire everything gets blown up
American victory
The Japanese admiral ties himself to the ship and goes down with it after they lose
Guadalcanal:
Very first land battle
Jungle terrain
Hot, humid
Were not prepared for their environment
What snakes are poisonous
How to get rid of crocodiles
Etc.
First one on one battle with japan
We find out they have traps
Spike holes
Spikes
Bridges
Learned a lot
Largest one: fake surrenders
Wave white flag to surrender but then when we got close they would blow themselves up trying to take the US out
Far from America, close to mainland Japan
Takes a long time get supplies
American victory
Starts “island hopping” or “leapfrogging”
America starts taking over islands getting closer to Japan
Iwo Jima:
very small island
no civilians lived on this island
very high sulfur content (smelled like rotten eggs)
Before we land, we bomb it because we didn’t have to worry about injuring anyone
but we did not know that the Japanese had a very intricate tunnel system underground
After we clear the island, the japanese emerge from underground and start shooting at us
we use a lot of flame-throwers
Mount Suribachi: from the top of the mountain you can see the WHOLE island
this is where that one American Flag picture is (you know the one)
the picture with the soldiers lifting the flag over the pile of dead bodies, and rubble, on top of Mt. Suribachi
Photographer = Joe Rosenthal
this is the second flag lifted at Iwo Jima
a congressman wanted the first one flown, so the picture was from the second flag raising, which became an iconic symbol of victory and resilience during the war.
21,000 Japanese soldiers at the start
Only 200 survived (most took their own lives)
Bataan Death March:
Largest surrender in American history
Bataan was in the Philippines
America owns the Philippines so we were stationed there
Japan invades the Philippines
Japan takes over
We had 36,000 troops surrender
about 70,000 prisoners
Japan is ordered to just kill them
they thin out the crowd
line up the men and have them empty their pockets
if you had anything belonging to the Japanese in your pockets you got shot
Then they woke you up at 4:00 in the morning and you had to stand at attention for hours
if your elbow drops you got shot
if you shift your weight you got shot
then the march begins
had to march with your arms raised at 90 degrees
if your arms dropped, you got shot
if your tried to escape, you got decapitated and your head was put on a spike
no food, no water, exhaustion
if someone was injured and being carried, and they couldn’t be carried anymore
they got lied down on the side of the road
later on they run over by a car to kill them
final destination = Camp O’Donnell
either a labor camp or put on a “hell ship” (just a japanese ship on which they have full reign to do with you what you please)
When we go to rescue people we can only rescue 511 soldiers
Okinawa:
had a ton of civilians
we had to worry about not just soldiers doing fake surrenders but women and children as
they were surrendering and then blowing themselves up in our camps
Flood-like rain
couldn’t use tanks
couldn’t get our dead soldiers behind
“no man left behind” catchphrase was abandoned
Biggest issue with PTSD
while we are here we find out that FDR passed away
they also find out that Hitler has died
Longest battle against the japanese
when we win the Japanese general does a ceremonial suicide
this is when we realize the next place to fight is mainland japan
as they prepare to go to mainland japan to fight they are informed that they dropped the atomic bomb
many of them still go to mainland japan to make sure
after the bombs, Japan has an unconditional surrender
Dropping the Bombs:
just after the battle of Okinawa
we were supposed to go to Tokyo
instead we dropped the bombs so there was no reason for them to go into mainland
Should we have dropped both of them?
were we morally and ethically justified in doing it?
long debate
There were a total of 10 cities to choose from
Little Boy: first bomb (August 6, 1945)
9,000 pounds
Uranium-235: the fissile material used in the bomb, which played a crucial role in its devastating power.
Dropped on Hiroshima
the plane was called the “Enola Gay”
Enola Gay: was the mother of the pilot (Paul Tibbets)
The plane was absolutely massive
The Bomb cloud went 8 miles up
The bomb immediately decimated everything in a 1 mile radius
if you’re within that distance you’re cooked
Fat Man: (August 9, 1945)
Second crew dropped the bomb on Nagasaki
Plane was called the Boxcar
7,000 pounds
Plutonium
No one knew that the second bomb was coming until after it happened
Largest long lasting issue was radiation
Hiroshima alone had 85,000 survivors although they were horribly injured
skin falling off
lost eyes
many other injuries
People in hiroshima were made to move away so that normal people didn’t get “contaminated”
most people were 12-18 when the bomb dropped
After August 9 America goes back in with doctors, medical supplies, food, water, etc.
also scientist doing tests on radiation
Japan agrees to an unconditional surrender after the bombs
they get no say in the conditions
happens on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay
Hirohito surrendered to General McArther, marking a significant moment in history that ultimately led to the end of World War II in the Pacific.
Very strange that Hirohito is doing the surrender
after this America goes into Japan and:
write their constituition
set up their government
rebuild their society
European Theatre:
Battle of Normandy (D-Day; The Great Crusade)
June 6, 1944
FDR and Churchill come up with the invasion idea at the Tehran council
Normandy is a French Beach (but France was taken by Germany and was basically gone atp)
trying to save france
France was grateful for British and American efforts
American Commander over the invasion: Eisenhower
British Commander: Montgomery
The operation was crucial for establishing a foothold in continental Europe and liberating occupied territories.
there were steel traps up and down the beach, so we couldn’t fit tanks
there were land mines on the beach
Germany has the high ground with MASSIVE machine guns aimed at the beach
Number 1 goal is to get as many german soldiers away from the beach as possible so we can go up the manhills and take the beach
then they’ll go in and take the cities back from Germany
Things we tried:
hired an actor to look like Eisenhower and went to North Africa and put on a fake camp
this led thousands of Germans to North Africa thinking Eisenhower was there
Morning of the Attack (about 3:30-4:00), we sent parachuters behind enemy lines with the goal to shut down and supply roads
we got fake dummies and strapped fireworks on them and threw them out the plane so that the germans would shoot the dummies instead
we were successful
About 6 AM, the boats start landing at Normandy
used flat bottom boats to navigate the shallow waters, allowing troops to disembark quickly and efficiently under enemy fire.
the machine guns were a major issue
for some companies, 96% didn’t make it on the beach
the 2 worst landings hit were Utah and Omaha and those were American
5 landings across America, Britain, and Canada
The high casualty rates were a stark reminder of the challenges faced during the invasion, prompting a reevaluation of tactics and equipment used in future operations.
getting mowed down by bullets
so many casualties the ocean turned red from blood
some boats told them to jump off the sides and swim
some sank immediately, because of their backpacks
by mid-afternoon (about 9 hours of fighting) we finally get up the beach and take the machine guns
by the end of the week, we push some of the germans out
by the end of the month, we take Paris
Battle of the Bulge
The largest battle that America participated in
started off as a surprise attack from Hitler
no one is expecting an attack from Hitler in the winter
Hitler is losing it
doesn’t tell his commanders until a week before
didn’t tell the soldiers until the night before
Axis powers had the upper hand
captured many Americans and killed them
Germans infiltrated the American side aiming to kill Eisenhower
we catch them
Last major battle against Germany
after this Hitler dies
German unconditional surrender
Conferences:
Casablanca Conference:
Churchill and FDR
We will take nothing but an unconditional surrender from Germany
Yalta Conference:
Churchill, FDR, and Stalin (these people are called the Big Three)
This conference discussed how they were going to reorganize Europe after WW2
Potsdam Conference:
Churchill, Stalin, Truman
FDR is dead atp, so Truman is pres.
Truman and Churchill know about the atomic bomb
Stalin does not
Stalin is talking about how he doesn’t want to invade japan
Truman says they have an atomic bomb without saying they have an atomic bomb
doesn’t tell Russia because then they’ll want one
Russia finds out after the drop, and builds their own
Then the U.S. drops the Hydrogen Bomb
End of WW2:
Lasting Impacts;
3% of the world’s population died
90 million people
Food shortages
high inflation
less people died from disease because penicillin was invented
America is basically untouched
this is where we become a world superpower
we establish the United Nations
opened up the Atomic age
A lot of women and children have psychological damage
a lot of widows were made
lots of kids in europe watching everything had ptsd
Dr. Seuss made a name for himself in political cartoons
pre-Cat in the Hat