World War II (1939-1945)

McFarland

I. Causes of WWII:

1) Treaty of Versailles (1919) – ended WWI – forced Germany to take the blame starting WWI and to give up territory– the Germans resented it and wanted revenge

I. Causes of WWII:

2) Rise of Dictators:

a. Benito Mussolini (Italy):-founded the Fascist Party in Italy after WWI -fascism (the state is more important than the ind.)-called himself Il Duce (“the leader”)-relied on fascist thugs, called blackshirts, to terrorize those who opposed him-given control of Italy in 1922-conquered Ethiopia in 1935

I. Causes of WWII:

b. Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union):-rose to power after Lenin’s death in the 1920s-wanted to take care of his country first, not get involved in world affairs-U.S. recognized the Soviet gov’t in 1933 because…

1) for trade to fight the Depression2) location to Japan

I. Causes of WWII:

c. Japanese Military Leaders:

-rose to power during the Depression

-wanted to take control of all of Asia

-invaded Manchuria (northern Chinese province) in 1931 for resources

-U.S. didn’t like it and eventually cut off trade with Japan (made them mad!)

I. Causes of WWII:

d. Adolf Hitler (Germany):-born in Austria – April 20, 1889-unhappy childhood – beaten by his father-loved his mother – she died from breast cancer – her doctor was Jewish-moved to Vienna, Austria to become an artist but failed – Vienna was a very Anti-Semitic (hatred of Jews) city

I. Causes of WWII:

-left Vienna in May 1913 to escape military service and moved to Munich, Bavaria (German province)

-was arrested by Austrian gov’t for fleeing – failed his military physical – found “unfit…too weak…and unable to bear arms”

I. Causes of WWII:

-joined the Bavarian Army when WWI started – served as a “runner” (delivered messages)

-was an excellent soldier – earned 2 Iron Crosses for bravery

-wounded twice during the war – was in the hospital when the war ended (temporarily blinded by mustard gas)

I. Causes of WWII:

-recruited by military intelligence unit to keep tabs on the German Workers Party, who hated Jews, Treaty of Versailles, Weimar Republic, and communists-eventually joined the party and became its leader – party later named Nazi Party-led a revolt against the democratic gov’t in 1923 – it failed and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison (served only 9 months)

I. Causes of WWII:

-wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”) while in prison – blamed Germany’s loss in WWI on Jews and communists

-believed Germans belonged to a superior “Aryan” race that was destined to rule the world

-helped build up the Nazi Party during the Great Depression

I. Causes of WWII:

-Nazis promised food, jobs, and a strong military

-the swastika became the symbol of the Nazi Party

-named Chancellor (2nd in command) by Pres. Hindenberg in Jan. 1933

-became the sole leader, the “fuhrer”, in 1934 after Hindenberg’s death

I. Causes of WWII:

-SA Brownshirts – military group that supported Hitler during his rise to power – led by Ernst Rohm-after Hitler became the fuhrer, a new elite group was picked from the best of the SA – they were called the SS:

-led by Heinrich Himmler -followed the army during invasions, going after Jews, communists, gypsies, or those listed as “subhumans”

I. Causes of WWII:

-Rohm was arrested for being disloyal to Hitler – he was executed along with 200 other SA in 1934 – called the “Night of the Long Knives”

-students were encouraged to join the Hitler Youth – helped round up “un-German” books to be burned

I. Causes of WWII:

-Nuremberg Laws of 1935 – took away citizenship from German Jews, forced Jews to register with the gov’t, and to wear yellow stars of David on their clothing

I. Causes of WWII:

3) Appeasement – policy of giving someone something they want just to please them

-Hitler’s original goal was to unite all German speaking people

-invaded the Rhineland (area bordering France) in 1936

-annexed (took control of) Austria w/o opposition in 1938

I. Causes of WWII:

-annexed the Sudetenland (part of Czech.) because many spoke German in 1938 – however, Czech. was closely tied to England

-Munich Conference (Sept. 1938) – England and France agreed to let Hitler keep his new territory if he promised not to invade anymore countries (i.e. they appeased him)

I. Causes of WWII:

4) Spanish Civil War (1936-1939):

-“dress rehearsal” for WWII

-Spanish fascists led by Francisco Franco were trying to overthrow the democratic gov’t in Spain

I. Causes of WWII:

-Hitler and Mussolini sent in supplies and troops to help Franco – experimented with new weapons and tactics

-U.S., England sent in supplies and volunteer troops to help the existing gov’t

-Franco won

II. War Begins:

Hitler broke the Munich Agreement by invading Czech. In 1938

England and France drew the line at Poland –asked Stalin to help them – Stalin shocked the world by signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact in Aug. 1939 (promised not to attack each other)

II. War Begins:

Germany, now without the threat of a 2 front war, invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939 --England and France declared war on Germany and WWII began

-Germany defeated Poland in less than a month by using their blitzkrieg (“lightning warfare”) tactic

II. War Begins:

Germany then moved West and took Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands

-later moved into France and took Paris on June 17, 1940

-England was now fighting alone

II. War Begins:

Hitler then attacked England in the Battle of Britain (Aug. 1940-Apr. 1941)-strictly air warfare-Hitler sent thousands of Luftwaffe (German Air Force) bombers to England-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “…we shall never surrender”-England developed radar which helped them turn away the Germans – they also asked the U.S. to help

II. War Begins:

June 1941, Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union – major mistake – forced Germany to fight a 2 front war

In the meantime…Japan joined Germany and Italy to form the Axis Powers

III. The American Response:

U.S. remained neutral at first because of the problems at home (Depression)

U.S. passed a series of neutrality acts (laws) that said we would withhold weapons and loans from all nations at war

“cash and carry” policy – required all non-military goods to be paid for in cash and transported by the buyer

III. The American Response:

FDR believed the U.S. would eventually get involved and tried to ease the restrictions

After the war began, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 which allowed England and France to buy weapons on a cash and carry basis

Sept. 1940 – FDR traded 50 used Destroyers (naval ships) to England for the right to build military bases on British territory in the Caribbean Sea

III. The American Response:

Sept. 1940 – Congress passed the Selective Service Act which was the first peacetime draft in U.S. history

-ages 21 to 36 registered

-must serve at least 1 yr. in the military if drafted

III. The American Response:

March 1941 – Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act:

-allowed FDR to aid any nation whose defense was vital to national security

-began to send war material to England

-ended Am. neutrality

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

U.S. stopped selling iron, steel, and oil (war materials) to Japan after they took French territory in Asia

-made the Japanese mad – planned an attack Pearl Harbor – Am.’s largest naval base – in

Hawaii – Japan chose to attack it – 4,000 miles from Japan

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

6 Japanese aircraft carriers and 20 other ships moved towards Hawaii, carrying 400 bomber and torpedo planes

U.S. had broken the Japanese codes and knew an attack was coming but didn’t know exactly where (thought it would be in the Philippines)

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

Date and time of attack: Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 – 7:55 a.m.

Planes picked up on radar, but ignored (thought they were Am. planes)

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

U.S. Losses: in less than 2 hours

-2,300 killed – 2,000 injured

-18 warships sunk or destroyed – including all 8 battleships (ex: U.S.S. Arizona)

-3 aircraft carriers were not there (2 at sea, 1 in CA for repairs) – destroying them was Japan’s main goal

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

Japan lost 29 planes FDR said, Dec. 7, 1941 will be “a date which

will live in infamy” Congress declare war on Japan: Dec. 8,

1941 Germany and Italy declared war on U.S.:

Dec. 11, 1941

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

Feb. 1942: FDR ordered the army to intern (imprisonment) all Japanese-Am.’s because he thought they were a threat to national security

-100,000 were interned

-1988: Congress apologized and paid all who were interned $20,000

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941) – secret meeting between Churchill and FDR-discussed how to win the war and what would happen after the war-United Nations (U.N.) discussed

15 million Americans served during the war – Am. soldiers were nicknamed “G.I.s” after the “government issue” stamp that appeared on all military supplies

IV. U.S. Relations with Japan:

300,000 Mexican-Am.’s and 25,000 Native-Am.’s served – 300 Navajo Indians served as radio operators and they developed a code based on their language that could not be broken

1 million African-Am.’s served and fought in segregated units

275,000 women served – most as clerks and nurses

V. Axis v. Allies:

Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan – 6 other countries

Allied Powers (Allies): U.S., England, Soviet Union – 47 other countries

The Allies were forced to fight “2 wars” or on 2 fronts:1) Europe / North Africa2) Pacific

V. Axis v. Allies:

Allies adopted a “Europe First” policy:

-would defeat Germany and Italy first because they were the biggest threat

-U.S. dealt with Japan basically on their own

V. Axis v. Allies:

Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945):-Germany used u-boats to sink supply ships going to England and France-merchant ships formed convoys and Am. warships escorted them-Germans used wolfpacks, groups of 20-30 subs, to attack the convoys-sonar was used to locate u-boats and depth charges were used to destroy them

V. Axis v. Allies:

North Africa Campaign:-fighting began in 1940 between the British, Germans, and Italians-German Army (Afrika Korps) was led by Gen. Irwin Rommel, the “desert fox”-turning point: Battle of El Alamein in Egypt (Nov. 1942) in which England, led by Gen. Bernard Montgomery, drove the Germans west towards Tunisia

V. Axis v. Allies:

-in Operation Torch Am. and British troops, led by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, landed in west Africa and marched towards Tunisia

-Rommel and the Germans were trapped

-240,000 Axis troops surrendered (Rommel escaped)

V. Axis v. Allies:

Invasion of Italy:-Am. troops, led by Gen. George Patton, attacked Sicily (July-Aug. 1943)-when the island fell, Mussolini was overthrown and killed-after winning the Battle of Anzio in Italy (May 1944), the Allies captured Rome and drove towards northern Italy

V. Axis v. Allies:

-U.S. lost 190,000 and the German lost 500,000 in the battle for Italy

-Italy was now out of the war

V. Axis v. Allies:

War in the Soviet Union:-Germans attacked with 3.6 million troops in June 1941-Soviets used a “scorched earth” policy, destroying everything the Germans could use while retreating-Stalin asked for an attack in western Europe to take the pressure off-this is when the Allies chose to attack Italy instead

V. Axis v. Allies:

-Battle of Stalingrad –turning point in the East – Soviets attacked during the winter of 1942 and 1943 – Germans lost 300,000 – Soviets lost 500,000 troops and civilians – forced German to surrender in the East

V. Axis v. Allies:

Invasion of Western Europe:

-Allies began to plan for an invasion of German occupied France from England by crossing the English Channel

V. Axis v. Allies:

-would be led by Gen. Eisenhower

-given the code name of “Operation Overlord”

-D-Day – Allies landed at Normandy, France at 6:30 a.m. on June 6, 1945

V. Axis v. Allies:

-Germans had expected the invasion to take place at Calais in northern France (much closer to England)

-150,000 men - 5,300 ships – 12,000 planes -1,500 tanks used on the beaches

-U.S. captured Omaha and Utah beaches

V. Axis v. Allies:

-British and Canadian troops captured Sword,

Gold, and Juno beaches

-Allies eventually broke through and liberated

(freed) Paris in Aug. 1944 and then moved

towards Germany

V. Axis v. Allies:

Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 1944):

-the last German offensive

-largest battle ever fought by the U.S.

-involved 600,000 G.I.s (80,000 casualties)

-Germans lost 100,000

-Gen. Patton helped stop the German attack

-Allied victory

V. Axis v. Allies:

March 1945:-Allied bombers continued to bomb German cities-Soviets pushed into Germany from the East and attacked Berlin-Soviets met the Am. troops at the Elbe River on Apr. 25, 1945-Hitler committed suicide - Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day)

V. Axis v. Allies:

Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)

-FDR, Churchill, Stalin met to plan for the post-war world

-Germany would be divided into 4 zones (U.S., France, England, U.S.S.R.)

-Berlin, which lied in the Soviet zone, would also be divided into 4 zones

V. Axis v. Allies:

-Stalin promised to allow elections in the eastern European nations he liberated (he didn’t) – caused major problems later

VI. War in the Pacific:

Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japan attacked the Philippines (controlled by U.S. since 1898)-Gen. Douglas MacArthur withdrew his troops to the Bataan Peninsula on Manila Bay-FDR ordered Mac to escape to Australia-Mac promised, “I Shall Return.”

VI. War in the Pacific:

-76,000 became POWs

-Japanese marched them 60 miles to a railroad

-10,000 died during the 6-12 day march

-many were executed when they couldn’t keep up (Batann Death March – May 1942)

VI. War in the Pacific:

Battle of the Coral Sea (May 1942):

-NE of Australia

-naval combat carried out entirely by aircraft

-battle was a draw, but Japan was prevented from invading Australia

VI. War in the Pacific:

Battle of Midway (June 1942):

-island NW of Hawaii

-Adm. Yamamoto vs. Adm. Chester Nimitz

-fought entirely form the air

-U.S. destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers and 250 planes

-turning point in the Pacific

VI. War in the Pacific:

Battle of Guadalcanal (Aug. 1942):

-1st major Allied offensive

-on the Solomon Islands

-jungle warfare

-forced Japan from the islands by Feb. 1943

VI. War in the Pacific:

U.S. started using island-hopping – strategy of selectively attacking or by-passing specific enemy held islands – began after Guadalcanal

Philippines Campaign (Oct. 1944):

-160,000 Am. troops invaded the Philippine island of Leyte

-the Battle of Leyte Gulf was the largest naval battle in U.S. history

VI. War in the Pacific:

-280 warships fought-Japanese first used kamikazes, or suicide planes – kamikaze means “divine wind”-Gen. MacArthur said, “People of the Philippines, I have returned”-80,000 Japanese killed – only 1,000 surrendered-island were finally secured in June 1945

VI. War in the Pacific:

Battle of Okinawa (Oct. 1944):-only 350 miles from Japan-Japan defended at all cost -2,000 kamikaze attacks-110,000 Japanese casualties – 50,000 Am. casualties-Japan surrendered island in June 1945-Am. soldiers began to prepare for an invasion of Japan

VII. The End of the War:

Manhattan Project

-as early as 1938 the U.S. gov’t believed that Germany was close to developing a new weapon by splitting an atom

-Albert Einstein, a Jew who fled Germany, wrote FDR a letter saying Germany was close to building the weapon and the U.S. should start researching

VII. The End of the War:

-scientists in Chicago found out a way to make the bomb in 1942-hidden laboratories were set up in Oak Ridge, TN and Los Alamos, NM-July 16, 1945: the first test was held at Trinity Site outside of Los Alamos-explosion equaled 20,000 tons of TNT-supervisor was J. Robert Oppenheimer (“the father of the atomic bomb”)

VII. The End of the War:

-Oppenheimer said after the explosion, “I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

As soon as Pres. Harry Truman (FDR had died) found out about the test, he demanded the Japanese to surrender or face “utter devastation”

VII. The End of the War:

Truman had 2 choices:

1) use the bombs

2) invade Japan Arguments in favor of using the bomb:

1) end the war faster

2) save Am. lives

3) intimidate the Soviet Union

VII. The End of the War:

Arguments against using the bomb:

1) kills thousands of innocent people

2) war would be over soon anyway

VII. The End of the War:

Truman justified using the atomic bombs because he said it would save lives in the long run (invasion of Japan was the alternative)

Aug. 6, 1945 – at 8:16 a.m. the Enola Gay dropped the first bomb on the city of Hiroshima – a 4 square mile area was completely incinerated – more than 70,000 died instantly – 30,000 more died within a week – those that survived suffered serious effects from the radiation

VII. The End of the War:

-temperature: 100 million degrees at the core - 5,400 degrees at the surface

-co-pilot said, “My God, what have we done” Aug. 9, 1945 – the 2nd bomb was dropped on

the city of Nagasaki – city was totally destroyed – twice as powerful as the 1st bomb – more than 60,000 eventually died

VII. The End of the War:

Emperor Hirohito announced on Aug. 14 that Japan would surrender 

Japan officially surrendered on Sept. 2, 1945 (V-J Day) on the U.S.S. Missouri