CHAPTER 34: The Origins of World War II

Could WWII been prevented?

Europe After World War I• World War I caused the deaths of millions and the destruction of

numerous cities and farms. The European economy was in ruins.• The Treaty of Versailles left many European nations unhappy.

– France thought the treaty was too easy on Germany.– Italy had been on the winning side of the war but was ignored

during the peace talks. They had hoped to gain territory.• Germany was most affected by the Treaty of Versailles.

– Germany gave up control of some of its land, including some important industrial areas and signed the hated “war guilt clause”

– German was forced to pay reparations to other countries, which led to a period of severe inflation.

• The Weimar Republic (the German government after World War I) was not a strong government.– It faced opposition from the Communists and others.– The German military was greatly reduced in size and power.

Dictators and Militarists Rise to Power• European struggles and

dissatisfaction during the postwar years had a major effect on European politics.

• Leaders emerged who promised a return to greatness– They reflected the people’s

bitterness and anger.

• This was very appealing to unhappy Europeans and many were willing to give up basic freedoms in return for future glory.

HEAD FOR THE GATE FOR FREEDOM! FORWARD! OUT OF THE SWAMP! A

STRONG HAND AT THE HELM!

Josef Stalin in the U.S.S.R.• U.S.S.R. = Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics (there are 15 of them)• The Communists (led by Lenin)

overthrew Czar Nicholas II in 1917• Stalin comes to power in 1924 and

establishes a totalitarian dictatorship• Two interrelated economic goals– Increase agricultural production and modernize industry– 5 Year Plans forced farmers on to collective farms– Resistance to his plans = prison camps or death

• To strengthen control, his secret police rounded up and killed millions (The Great Purge)

• Those who remained would be loyal to him and the Communist Party

Mussolini Establishes a Fascist Dictatorship in Italy

• Fascism based on… – extreme nationalism– opposition to communism and democracy– military values and the use of violence

• In 1922, Mussolini and his “Black Shirts” take control and hope to revive the glory of ancient Rome

• Il Duce (the Leader) bans labor unions, opposing political parties and censors the press

Hitler Leads the Rise of Nazism in Germany

• A form of fascism• Belief that the Aryan race was superior

to all others and sought to “purify” Germany

• Mein Kampf (My Struggle)– Book written while in prison for trying to

overthrow the government in Bavaria– Aryan race was locked in a struggle with other inferior races– Germans needed lebensraum or living space by conquering

territory and expanding the German empire• Der Fuhrer becomes president and chancellor of Germany in

1933 and establishes the Third Reich– Laws are passed targeting Jews and other “undesirables”– Begins rebuilding Germany’s military

Francisco Franco Comes to Power In Spain

• The Spanish Civil War(1936-39) was a revolt against the Spanish government (known as Republicans)

• The Nationalists (rebels) received aid from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.

• The Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union, as well as from the International Brigades, a great number of volunteers who came from other European countries and the United States.

• The rebel victory began a dictatorship which lasted until Franco's death in 1975

Guernica by Pablo Picasso In 1937, German planes, aiding Franco in the Spanish Civil War, bombed

and destroyed Guernica. The indiscriminate killing of women and children aroused world opinion. The bombing of Guernica became a

symbol of fascist brutality.

The Military Takes Control of the Government in Japan

• Pre World War I, Japan industrializes with the help of a strong military to gain natural resources

• After WWI, Japan is a member of the League of Nations and signs the Kellogg-Briand Pact (what did that do, remember?)

• Worldwide depression renews militarism• Extreme nationalism and a need for raw materials

(like oil) put Japan on the path toward war• Prime Minister Hideki Tojo continued to develop the

military

Military Aggression is Met with a Weak Response in Asia

• FDR announces the “Good Neighbor Policy” to win back support from Latin America– The U.S. would “respect the rights of others”– FDR hoped other nations would, too (they did not)

• Japan takes control of Manchuria in northern China– The League ordered Japan to leave (they did not)– Soon Japan occupied all of China’s major cities and

withdrew from the weak League of Nations• FDR speaks out against the “epidemic of world

lawlessness” in his Quarantine Speech hoping to get Japan to stop expanding (they did not)

Military Aggression is Met with a Weak Response in Europe

• Hitler begins rebuilding the German military against the orders of the Treaty of Versailles

• Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland against the orders of the Treaty of Versailles

• Hitler annexes Austria (the anschluss)• Hitler wants to take the Sudetenland which was

taken from Germany after WWI– In the Munich Pact, British Prime Minister Neville

Chamberlain appeases Hitler and gives it to him• Hitler then takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

“Peace in our time” (Neville Chamberlain) never came to be

Meanwhile…• Mussolini was expanding into

Ethiopia– The League of Nations

imposed weak economic sanctions to get Italy to leave (they did not)

• In May, the Rome-Berlin Axis is formed by Hitler and Mussolini in a treaty of friendship– Both help Franco in Spain

• In the U.S. it’s all about neutrality– “no arms, ammunition or

weapons of war” to nations in conflict

– No one wanted to repeat WWI

Hitler Plunges Europe into War

• Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister in Great Britain– Along with France, no more German

territorial demands would be tolerated• August, 1939: Hitler signs a Non-Aggression Pact

with Stalin– Neither would attack the other– Divide Poland

• September, 1939: Hitler invades Poland– Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics– Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

Hitler turns his attention to the West• France mobilizes along the Maginot Line and

in the Low Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)

• British forces cross the English Channel to help• The “phony war” begins then ends in April 1940

with German surprise attacks in northern and western Europe

• 338,000 British troops have to evacuate at Dunkirk

• June 1940 Paris falls to the Nazis while Italy declares war on Great Britain and France, too (they form the Axis Powers)– A French “puppet government” is formed in Vichy

Britain Stands Alone• The Blitz– Began with the bombing of London

for 57 consecutive nights– By the end of May 1941, over 43,000

civilians, half of them in London, had been killed by bombing and more than a million houses were destroyed or damaged in London alone

• The R.A.F saved the day• By the Spring of 1941, Hitler

realizes he cannot knock out Great Britain

Americans Move Away from Isolationism• Japan joins Germany and Italy in an alliance of

mutual support– The Tripartite Pact signed in September 1940– Now who would have to fight a two front war?

• Selective Service and Training Act (1940)– 1st peacetime draft in American history

• Lend-Lease to Great Britain (lend, not sell, arms)• Atlantic Charter (FDR and Churchill)– Promise not to use war to expand territory– Reaffirm a belief in self-government

• Merchant ships arm themselves and sail to Britain

“Yesterday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy…” - F.D.R.

• Japan had tried to establisha “new order in East Asia”

• The U.S. responded with aidto Japan’s enemies, blockingexports (oil), freezing Japanese assets in U.S. banks

• At Pearl Harbor, 300 Japanese bombers and fighter planes sank or damaged 18 American ships and 300 aircraft

• 2400 Americans killed, 1200 wounded

CHAPTER 35: The Impact of World War II on

AmericansWhat kinds of opportunities and hardships did the war

create for Americans at home and abroad?

Organizing the American Economy for War• The War Production Board– The goal: make America the “arsenal of democracy”

with conversions of industry• Automakers would now make airplanes and tanks• Other workers would retrain workers for wartime tasks

• G.D.P. (gross domestic product) rises rapidly• The National War Labor Board mediates

disputes between union leaders and business owners

• Government spending rises to new levels– Taxes account for 45% (“withholding” is introduced)– War bonds help in financing the war

• Price controls are needed (Office of Price Administration)– People were back to work earning money– Goods were scarce because of the war effort– Too much money chasing too few goods = inflation

• Rationing was necessary– Gasoline, tires, sugar, food– Americans received coupon books to limit

consumption

University of North Carolina website• War funding comes from taxes and borrowing

(bonds) just like WWI

American G.I.’s (government issue) Go To War• 1,500,000 troops by Pearl Harbor– Eager volunteers joined the draftees to fight– Immigrants wanted to show they were truly Americans

• 8 weeks of intense training then combat– Fear, loneliness, homesickness, boredom once

deployed– Physical, emotional and mental wounds surface during

and after– An appreciation for American ideals after viewing the

abuses of the European dictators, pride and loyalty, too

The Internment of Japanese-Americans• Were they loyal? Sabotage? Did their spies cause Pearl Harbor?• “Enemy Aliens” (Germans, Italians, Japanese immigrants) had to

register with the government and carry identification

• The Japanese-Americans didnot have political power and were potentially more easily recognized

• Executive Order 9066 (February 1942) goes into effect and even native born Japanese-Americans are sent to internment camps inland

• Korematsu v. U.S.– Fred Korematsu as a

native born citizen whodisobeyed the law andappealed it all the way to the Supreme Court

– The Court upheld the decision on the grounds that a group’s civil rights can be set aside in time of war

• 100,000 were forced to relocate into guarded “barracks”

• 442nd Regimental Combat team was an all-Japanese unit

Women and World War II(“Rosie the Riveter”)

• New opportunities because of the demand for workers

• Still faced hostility in male-dominated businesses

• Were expected to completetheir “domestic” duties

• WAC (Women’s Army Corps)• WAVES (Women Accepted

for Volunteer Emergency Service – Navy)

African-Americans and WWII• The Double V Campaign: Victory for

democracy at home and abroad• Black G.I.’s were segregated and were

not permitted in combat (at first)• Tuskegee Airmen

• there were many people who thought that black men lacked intelligence, skill, courage and patriotism.• Bomber escorts and direct combat• The only fighter group to never

lose a bomber to enemy planes

African-Americans and WWII• At the same time Executive Order 9066 inters

Japanese-Americans, Executive Order 8802 outlaws discrimination against African-Americans in the defense industry

• A.Philip Randolph had threatened a march on Washington if black civil rights were not protected

• The Great Migration continued to northern industrial cities– Blacks may have escaped the South but not racism– The National Urban League fought for equal

opportunities in housing and employment– The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) confronted

discrimination with nonviolent resistance

Jewish Americans and WWII• Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany began in 1933

as soon as Hitler rose to power– Kristallnacht (“night of broken glass”) occurred in 1938

when mobs burned Jewish synagogues and businesses• 90 Jews were killed and 30,000 were sent to concentration

camps

• The 1924 National Origins Act restricted immigration into the U.S. (remember the nativism and lack of tolerance during the 1920’s?)

• Anti-Semitism (anti-Jewish sentiment) led to a lack of support for European Jews

• The War Refugee Board was created in 1944 to finally help Jewish refugees

Mexican Americans and WWII• Discrimination had barred many Mexicans from better

jobs in the United States• During the war, laborers were needed– The bracero program allowed short term work contracts to

be filled by Mexicans in the farms and on the railroads• June 1943: Zoot suit riots– Zoot suits were associated with

Mexican teenagers (pachucos) and gangs who roamed barrios (neighborhoods) in Los Angeles

– Mobs of sailors and marines sought out Mexicans and others wearing a zoot suit and beat them

– Another example of racial prejudice and intolerance

CHAPTER 36: Fighting World War II

What military strategies did the United States and its

allies pursue to defeat the Axis Powers in World War II?

The Situation in Europe in December 1941

• Europe or the Pacific, first? (“Europe First”)• Germany had attacked the USSR and was pushing

toward Moscow and the oil-rich Caucacus Region • Hitler needed oil and needed to keep oil out of

Allied hands– Irwin Rommel (“The Desert Fox” of the Afrika Korps)

would help him control N. Africa• Military rule by the Nazis was harsh in Europe

The Situation in Europe in December 1941• The “final solution” to the “Jewish question” was

underway– Jews were crowded into ghettos (small sections of

cities) that could be guarded• Starvation and disease killed thousands

– Others were sent to concentration camps and executed with poison gas

The War in Europe• Where to attack first?– In North Africa and move into Italy?– In France and stage forces in Great Britain?– In the USSR and help our new ally, the Soviets?

• November 1942 the US invades northern Africa– Led by Generals Bradley and Patton, Axis resistance

collapses by May 1943• Italy surrenders in September but Germans there

fight fiercely to keep the US out• The USSR fights alone and turns the tide at Stalingrad– 200,000 Germans and 1 million Soviets die– Geography, climate and population doom the Nazis

The War in Europe• Meanwhile the American pilots rely on precision

bombing of Axis targets while the British pilots rely on saturation bombing

• The decision was made NOT to bomb Auschwitz (the largest concentration camp) or others– They were afraid of killing Jews being held

• June 6, 1944: D-Day– The Allies invade Normandy, France and begin the push

east into Germany• Meanwhile the Soviets push west and liberate the

camps where the true horrors of the holocaust are discovered.– Genocide = the systematic killing of a racial, political or

cultural group

The War in Europe Comes to an End• The Battle of the Bulge (December 1944) – Hitler makes one last

counteroffensive in Belgium where the line bends but does not break

• April, 1945– With the Soviets near Berlin, Hitler commits suicide– FDR dies and Harry Truman becomes president

• May 8, 1945: VE Day (Victory in Europe)

The War in the Pacific• Pearl Harbor destroyed the Pacific fleet and that allowed

Japan to further consolidate power in the Pacific• In March 1942, MacArthur and Filipino fighters left the

Philippines after defeat by the Japanese (“I shall return!”)– 7000 American prisoners die on the 63 mile “Bataan Death

March” at the hands of the Japanese• Japan controlled all of the Chinese coast but in the Battle

of the Coral Sea the American navy led by Admiral Chester Nimitz defeated the Japanese navy (May 1942) and the Japanese did not expand into Australia

• Meanwhile, James Doolittle and the American Air Force were bombing Tokyo

The War in the Pacific• The “Europe First” strategy hurt American commanders

in the Pacific• The policy of island-hopping (leapfrogging) is adopted– One by one, the American navy and marines would liberate

Japanese-held islands moving us closer to mainland Japan– Sometimes an island could be skipped, isolating it from

others leading to eventual surrender when supplies ran out• At the Battle of Midway (June 1942) the Japanese went

on the offensive to eliminate the American navy and failed– The Japanese never fully recovered and moved to a

defensive stand for the rest of the war

The War in the Pacific• MacArthur does return to the Philippines in

October 1944• Iwo Jima and Okinawa would

bring the U.S. even closer toJapan for invasion– Nearly all of Japan’s 22,000 soldiers die defending Iwo

Jima and 6800 Americans die in taking the island– At Okinawa, bloody combat

claimed the lives of 12,000Americans and 100,000 Japanese

• Kamikaze pilots become a newconcern

The Manhattan Project• German American scientist Albert Einstein made FDR aware of

the destructive power of nuclear bombs• By the summer of 1945,

the top secret “Manhattan Project” produced an atomic weapon

• Does the U.S. use it or not?– Perhaps 500,000 Americans

die if Japan is invaded– Many Japanese civilians

would die in the aftermath• The Japanese would not

accept unconditional surrender and they showed their determination to fight at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and with kamikaze pilots

• August 6, 1945– The Enola Gay drops the first atomic bomb on

Hiroshima– 80,000 people die

• August 9, 1945– A second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki– 40,000 people die

• It is estimated a total of 250,000 died as a result of the blast or by burns, radiation poisoning or cancer

• August 14, 1945: V-J Day