World War II (1939 – 1945)

Historical Context: After WWI

  • Much of Europe was in ruins, especially Germany.
  • Germans faced problems, including war reparations.
  • The Great Depression of the 1930s affected Europe.
  • Countries sought solutions, leading to powerful leaders in Germany (Hitler) and Italy (Mussolini).
  • Other countries did little to stop them to avoid another war.
  • No response when Hitler annexed Austria.
  • France and Britain protested when he tried to annex Czechoslovakia, leading to the Munich Conference.
    • Appeasement: They let Hitler take the area if he stopped aggression.
    • Hitler ignored the pledge and invaded Poland in 1939, starting WWII.
  • Japan grew as an imperialistic power in Asia.
    • Growing disregard for western nations, especially the US, due to discrimination.
    • In 1937, Japan annexed part of China.
    • Sought to take over more of Southeast Asia for natural resources.
    • By 1940, the US stopped selling goods to Japan because of its aggression.
    • Shortage of oil and other goods caused Japan to join Germany & Italy and declare war on its enemies.
  • Short-term cause of World War II:
    • Germany invaded Poland.
  • Why Japan allied with Germany:
    • Upset that the US stopped supplying oil.
    • Germany was the enemy of the Allies, so Japan joined the Axis powers.

America Gets into the War

  • During the first two years of WWII, the US maintained neutrality but provided war supplies to the Allied Powers.
  • This boosted American businesses, improved employment, and helped end the Great Depression.
  • The US began to build its military again.
  • In 1940, the US stopped selling goods to Japan due to aggression in Asia.
  • Japan's attack on the United States resulted in the U.S. entry into WWII. Complete the section of the graphic organizer on WWI

Lend-Lease & America

  • President at the start of WWII: FDR
  • Lend-Lease Plan: The US would lend or rent war supplies to the Allied Powers.
  • Some Americans opposed involvement due to potential problems and being dragged into another war.
  • The Soviet Union joined the Allied Powers because Germany disregarded their alliance and invaded Russia.
  • FDR ordered the Navy to protect lend-lease shipments and attack German subs.

Graphic Organizer:

World War One

  • Immediate Cause of the War: Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
  • American Position at the Start of the War: Neutral
  • What event(s) got the Americans into the war?: Sinking of the Lusitania Zimmerman Telegram

World War Two

  • Immediate Cause of the War: Invasion of Poland by Germany
  • American Position at the Start of the War: Neutral
  • What event(s) got the Americans into the war?: Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Path to Infamy

  • US response to Japanese aggression: They were seizing land in Asia.
  • Japan needed US oil to defend herself from enemies and to wage war.
  • US demands on Japan: To leave the Axis powers and withdraw from China and Indochina.
  • December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii:
    • A surprise attack by over 300 Japanese planes bombed and torpedoed the naval base.
    • 200 aircraft were destroyed and 20 ships sunk and damaged.
    • 2400 Americans were dead, 1100 wounded, and the entire Pacific Fleet was crippled.
    • President gave a famous speech: “December 7, 1941, a day which will live in infamy.”
  • Damages at Pearl Harbor were greater than in the entire first world war.
  • Germany and Italy supported Japan by declaring war on the United States.
  • The attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941) is an important date:
    • It was the largest attack (at that time) on US soil; it brought the US into WWII.

Japanese Internment

  • Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066.
  • Executive Order 9066 permitted the military to avoid the constitutional rights of American citizens in the name of national defense.
  • The order allowed the military to forcibly move 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast to internment camps in the western United States.
  • Most were US citizens or legal permanent resident aliens.
  • Japanese Americans were confined for up to 4 years without due process in remote camps with barbed wire and armed guards.
  • They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs; family members were sometimes separated.
  • President Roosevelt called the 10 facilities "concentration camps."
  • Some Japanese Americans died in the camps due to inadequate medical care and emotional stresses.
  • Some were killed by military guards for allegedly resisting orders.
  • Executive Order 9066 was justified as a "military necessity" to protect against spying.
  • It was later documented that "our government had in its possession proof that not one Japanese American, citizen or not, had engaged in espionage, not one had committed any act of sabotage."

Questions and Graphic Organizer:

  • Why Japanese-Americans were forced to live in internment camps: They might be spies or support the Axis powers.
  • Why German-Americans weren’t forced to do the same thing: Germany didn’t directly attack the US, racism, etc.
  • What happened to the property that Japanese-Americans had when they went to the camps? It was sold, often for less than it was worth.
  • How were Japanese-Americans treated in their towns when war broke out? Many lost friends who discriminated against them.
  • What were the living conditions like in the camps? Muddy and crowded. They could not leave. The housing was often cement buildings that were not comfortable.
  • How were Japanese-Americans treated in the army? Not well – they still faced discrimination and could not have the upper-level jobs in the military.
  • What was it like for Japanese-Americans after they left the internment camps? Sometimes they had nothing to go back to and had lost many friends.

America on the Home Front

  • Like World War I, America was neutral when World War II began.
  • This changed on December 7, 1941, with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
  • After this attack on and declaration of war, America had to quickly mobilize to fight.
  • Like World War I, sacrifices had to be made at home to help the soldiers going overseas to fight.

Americans on the Home Front during World War II:

  • Selective Service Act (1941): Put a draft in effect to get more men to fight.
  • Victory Gardens: Americans grew their own vegetables to supplement their rations.
  • Rosie the Riveter: Encouraged women to take over factory jobs.
  • Rationing: Limited the amount of certain goods. People could only buy these with a ration stamp.
  • Other Actions: Save gas, buy war bonds, recycle scraps of metal, rubber and plastic, be careful of spies!

The D-Day Invasion

  • Germany took firm control of Europe starting with their invasion of Poland in 1939.
  • By 1942, Germany had control of most of Europe, reaching from the border of Spain in the West to the steps of Moscow, Russia to the East.
  • With the entrance of America in the war in 1941, the Allies now had a strong ally to help them beat back the German foe.
  • They devised a daring plan to invade the European mainland across the English Channel from Great Britain into German-occupied France.
  • This daring invasion became known as the D-Day Invasion and took place on June 6th, 1944.

Fighting the War in Europe:

  • Aerial bombing: They attacked transportation routes, military facilities, and factories.
  • Allied ships crossed the English Channel to get to Normandy on June 6th.
  • Specific countries landed soldiers on the different beaches at Normandy, France: US, Britain, and Canada
  • German weaponry: Artillery, machine guns, mines
  • Lives lost in WWII: 51 million
  • There were so many more civilian lives than military lives lost because of Blitzkrieg, Holocaust
  • Deaths in WWII compared to WWI: 41 million more
  • Memories of first landing on the beaches during D-Day: Artillery shells bursting, people dying
  • Obstacles faced during D-Day: Large pebbles to slow down the tanks, mines, high hills to climb
  • Awfulness of it all: It is horrible what humans do to each other.

Map End of War:

  • Neutral countries during WWII: Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Ireland, Turkey
  • Allied advance ends in Berlin.

Fighting in the Pacific

  • After Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces moved to take over more of Asia.
  • They took control of Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as the Netherlands East Indies.
  • To position themselves against a U.S. attack, the Japanese took Guam and Wake Island.
  • The Japanese also captured the Philippines.
  • Soon afterward, the Japanese forced more than 70,000 U.S. and Filipino prisoners to walk 65 miles to an internment camp. This became known as the Bataan Death March, because so many prisoners died during the walk.
  • To stop Japanese expansion, the United States attacked the Japanese navy.
    • In the Battle of the Coral Sea, U.S. planes sank one Japanese ship and damaged another.
    • In the summer of 1942, U.S. and Japanese forces clashed in the Battle of Midway. U.S. planes sank four Japanese ships. The United States successfully stopped the Japanese capture of Midway Island.
  • The Allies also took control of Guadalcanal.
  • The Allies developed a strategy of island-hopping—taking only important Japanese islands in the Pacific.
  • The Allies hoped to get close enough to the mainland to stage an air strike on Japan.
  • Meanwhile, General Douglas MacArthur planned to take back the Philippines.
  • The Japanese navy gathered to block the invasion in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. The Japanese lost the battle decisively.
  • In the Battle of Okinawa, the Japanese tried to stop Allied naval forces with the tactic of kamikaze. Kamikaze pilots flew their planes filled with explosives straight at Allied ships off Okinawa.
  • The Allies won the battle and looked to take Japan.

Questions:

  • Who won the Battle of Midway? United States
  • Island hopping: Taking important islands in the Pacific in order to get close enough to stage an airstrike on Japan.
  • Purple lines on the map represent: Allied advance.

Video: Newsreels during World War II

  • Newsreels were shown at the beginning of movies and showed the progress that America had made during the war.
  • It was propaganda, meant to show how well the Allied forces were doing.
  • This Newsreel focuses on the capture of the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Ocean in 1943.
  • This island was part of the Navy’s island-hopping strategy that was so effective during the Pacific campaign.
Questions:
  • The Japanese had an air base on the island of Tarawa
  • Before Marines landed, the US Navy started firing on the island
  • After the Americans captured the island: Smashed barbed wire, many dead, destroyed batteries
  • Koreans were forced to work for the Japanese on the island.

The Atomic Bomb

  • By the summer of 1945, WWII appeared to be nearing its end.
  • Germany had surrendered, and US ships and airplanes had blockaded Japan.
  • In May, American troops captured Okinawa, just a few hundred miles from Japan.
  • The Soviet Union was expected to declare war on Japan soon.
  • The US and its allies demanded the Japanese government’s “unconditional surrender.”
  • The Japanese government had not surrendered.
  • Plans were made to invade Japan in the fall.
  • In July, President Truman was informed that scientists involved in the Manhattan Project had invented a new bomb, capable of destroying an entire city.
  • This bomb would eventually be dropped on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to Japanese surrender and the end of the war.
  • Before its use, those in government debated whether or not it was the best decision to use the Atomic Bomb.

Viewpoints:

  • Drop the Bomb
    • American soldiers died during the war: 250,000
    • Example of Japan’s willingness to fight to the last man: Kamikaze pilots would load planes with bombs and crash them into American ships.
  • Choose Another Way
    • Japanese died when the US firebombed Tokyo: 80,000
    • Only major country not to declare war on Japan: Soviet Union
    • The author thinks that country could get Japan to surrender: The Japanese will know the Soviets won’t join them if they have already joined the Allies. They will think they won’t be able to win without the Soviets.

Reasons For and Against Dropping the Atomic Bomb on Japan:

FOR
  • If we invaded, at least 250,000 more Americans will die.
  • If we try a blockade, it will take too long.
  • This will show our strength.
  • This will prevent future wars.
AGAINST
  • It would kill civilians.
  • It will not convince Japan to surrender.
  • It might not cost that many American lives to invade Japan.
  • Show we are weak. This will show our strength.