Military Challenges to the US

Session 8

Table of ContentsI. America before WWII

II. Americans in WWII

III. Atomic Attack and Its Consequences

IV. Effect of WWII on the US

V. Conclusion

I. America before WWII 1. Negative impact of WWI on Americans

2. Treaty of Versailles: a unfair treaty between Germany and the Allied countries. to disarm Germany, make substantial territorial concessions and pay heavy reparations (then $31.4 billion=US $442 billion of 2012). Allied countries like France, Japan took advantage of the victory to seek their own interest, which planted seeds of WWII.

3. The League of Nations was rejected by the Senate

I. America before WWII The American isolationist mentality: no more war

1. Walter Millis’ Road to War: America, 1914-1917

2. H.C. Engelbrecht and F.C. Hanighen’ Merchants of Death (international arms traffic)

3. The Nye Committee Hearings: the U.S. entry into World War I had been orchestrated by bankers and arms dealers for profit reasons

4. A Gallup poll in 1937: 70 % of Americans regarded America’s entrance of WWI was wrong

5. American Students Union’s peace movement from 1935-1938

6. Neutrality Acts in 1935, 36, 37 and 39

Presentation

America’s isolationism before WW II (6 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooq-8cTNo9Q

II. Americans in WWIIJapanese Imperialist Expansion

Commodore Matthew C. Perry opened Japan in 1854Meiji Restoration/Reform from 1868

Enrich the country, strengthen the militaryThe Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95The Russo-Japanese War in 1905Invasion of China in 1931FDR’s embargo and sanction against

Japanese invasion of China and east Asian countries.

ContinuePearl Harbor Attack in Dec. 7th 1941US West Virginia, Tennessee and Arizona,

along with the battleships Shaw, California, Oklahoma and Nevada sank.

188 aircraft were destroyed and 155 aircraft damaged

“Pearl Harbor was a "woefully small military return for the political risk of attacking an enormous, Intensely moralistic nation like the United States.”- Paul Johnson

The Pearl Harbor Attack

Harbor attack (7)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqbAzj8SVIA&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e6h9h7ky0E&feature=related

Roosevelt’s address after the pearl harbor attack (9 minutes)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voVPMNGSfBc

“The U.S. embarked on a mobilization of human, physical, and financial resources that was without precedent in history.” - Paul Johnson

More than 15 million people were trained and equipped for armed forces by the end of the war. More than 300,000 American soldiers died in the war.

A world manufacturer of armaments:

300,000 aircrafts

86,000 tanks

372,000 artillery pieces

2.6 million machine guns

86,000 warships

Preparations to Invade Japan

The surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May 1945

Operation Olympic: Invade Kyushu, to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island by the U.S. Sixth Army

Operation Coronet, the capture of the Kantō Plain, near Tokyo, by US First, Eighth and Tenth Armies.

Continue

In all, there were 2.3 million Japanese Army troops prepared to defend the Japanese home islands, another 4 million Army and Navy employees, and a civilian militia of 28 million men and women

ContinueIt was estimated that the invading Allies would suffer between 1.7 and 4 million casualties in such a scenario, of whom between 400,000 and 800,000 would be dead, while Japanese casualties would have been around 5 to 10 million

Atomic Bomb Little Boy was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by the Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August.

The acute effects killed 90,000–166,000 people In Hiroshima and 60,000–80,000 in Nagasaki.

On 15 August, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, signing the Instrument of Surrender on 2 September, officially ending World War II.

Continue• Two objectives

(1) obtaining the greatest psychological effect against Japan and

(2) making the initial use sufficiently spectacular for the importance of the weapon to be internationally recognized when publicity on it is released.

• The US was more powerful yet more

insure than ever before because of

nuclear weapons.

Movie

Nuclear attack of Japan in 1945

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXKLGRB4Hhg&feature=related

Discussion

Is it necessary or immoral/illegal to make use of atomic bomb during the war?

What are its consequences?

Effect of WW II on the USThe isolationist posture of the majority of American citizens and leaders, were erased in a single day after the Pearl Harbor attack.

A major effect o World War II in the United States was to concentrate within the national government a great dealof power and influence -influence that would continue to be wielded long after the War ended.

The GNP grew from $88.6bn in 1939 to $135bn in 1944, an 8.8% annual increase.

The eradication of unemployment as war production finally conquered the Depression - by the end of 1944, unemployment shrank to 1.2% of the civilian labor force

Continue

The Lend-Lease Act allowed the US sell, exchange, lease or lend to its allies military equipment worth US 50bn (equivalent to $700bn at 2007 prices). Britain made the final payment of its Lend-Lease loan of $83.83m on the last day of 2006.

Both the Lend-Lease Act & the Marshall Plan made the US the best-in-class manufacturer in the world.

Continue• Creating job opportunities for hundreds of

thousands of women, most of whom had formerly been prohibited from work in the manufacturing sector by social conventions.

• The GI Bill would send thousands of Americans to colleges and universities who would otherwise not have attended; is not only created a new class of professional, highly educated workers, but it also fostered social and economic mobility as well

Continue

Many products were also transformed into civilian use as well:

jet engines, rocket propulsion, gas-turbine engines, synthetic rubber, plastics, and electronics (especially television and radar) .Medical breakthroughs included penicillin, synthetic quinine, and sulfa drugs.

Continue

The War justified a new and dominant role for the United States as a major world power in terms of its military might, political and diplomatic influence, and economic dominance.

The American CenturyThe term was coined by Time publisher

Henry Luce to describe what he thought the role of the United States would be and should be during the 20th century. Henry Luce, the son of a missionary, in a February 17, 1941 Life magazine urged the United States to forsake isolationism for a missionary's role to spread democracy. He called upon the U.S. to enter World War II to defend democratic values.

Continue“It is in this spirit that all of us are called,

each to his own measure of capacity, and each in the widest horizon of his vision, to create the first great American Century.”

Americans are ready "to exert upon the world the full impact of our influence, for such purposes as we see fit and by such means as we see fit."

ConclusionNot only the US, but also the world was in a critical crisis when the Fascist countries like Germany, Japan and Italy jointed together as the Tripartite Pact and launched their imperialist expansion. America’s entrance of WWII, with its determination, man power, enormous industrial capacity and advanced technology, turned this critical crisis into an opportunity. This war ended the Great Depression. Moreover, this war made the US the leader of the West and created a century of America.

Questions?

Xie XieZai Jian