Chapter 25
World War II
Watch at home
• Japanese Point of View
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyf1PZEsYpI&f
eature=related
• Pearl Harbor Documentary 8 min.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt13c3olXkU
• Pearl Harbor 2001 Attack Cut
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1niwxQgoY
• FDR Day of Infamy. Declaration of War. Address
to Congress, December 8, 1941.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lK8gYGg0d
kE (5 minutes)
• How did it come to this?
• Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
• How did we end up in another World War?
The strangling
hand of the
Treaty of
Versailles
gripping a map of
Germany which
bears a slight
image of Adolph
Hitler.
Treaty of Versailles
• Much of Germany’s territory, all of its colonies,
some of its people were given to France,
Belgium, and Poland.
• Size of Germany’s army and navy were limited.
• Banned tanks and the air force.
• War guilt clause
• Reparation payments
German Response
•
•
•
•
Military revolts
Union strikes
Communist revolts, thousand dead
Assassination of leading politicians
Economic Distress
• 1921 War reparation demanded by the Allies- 6.6
billion pounds.
• Germans could not pay.
• French and Belgian troops seized the main
industrial region of Germany (Ruhr)
• German government called on workers to strike.
• Low-level terrorist campaign by Germans.
• French strike back brutally (house searches,
hostage-taking, shooting over 100 Germans)
Economic Distress
•
•
•
•
Production drops drastically.
Unemployment soars from 2% to 23%.
Tax revenues collapse.
Government prints more money causing
inflation.
• Prices go insanely high (By Nov. 1923, prices are
a billion (really) times higher than before
the war began in 1914.)
Hyperinflation
Month
Year
Marks needed to buy
US$1
April
1919
12
November
1921
263
October
1922
3,000
December
1922
7,000
January
1923
17,000
July
1923
353,000
November
1923
2,193,600,000,000
December
1923
4,200,000,000,000
Cost of a loaf of bread
Date
Cost in German Marks
1922
165
September 1923
1,500,000
November 1923
200,000,000,000
Effects of Hyperinflation
People had to shop with wheel barrows full of money.
Bartering became common
Restaurants did not print menus as by the time food arrived…the
price had gone up!
People burned their furniture to get some heat.
Most of the very rich were land owners and could produce food on
their own estates.
The middle class suffered severely as well. Their hard earned
savings disappeared overnight. Many middle class families had to
sell family heirlooms to survive. Many of those middle class would
later turn Hitler and the Nazi Party.
Disaster
• The German economy was on shaky foundations
because it was based on huge loans from the
United States.
• 1929 Stock market crash caused U.S. banks to
call in its short-term loans to Germany.
• They couldn’t pay, nor could they export goods
for sale so they could pay.
• Economy collapsed.
Rise of the Nazis
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2YEUhHF
MHY
Characteristics of the Nazi regime:
• Police state
• Blind nationalism
• Anti-Semitism
• Totalitarianism
The Italian Tyrant
Benito Mussolini
established fascism
as a nationalistic,
militaristic,
totalitarian
government in
1922.
Nickname: Il Duce
• Japan also wanted to
expand its territory and Japan’s Tyrant
trade partners.
• European nations had
already carved up Asia in
to “spheres of influence.”
• Japan attacked &
subjugated Manchuria in
China in 1931.
Japan’s Tyrant: Hideki Tojo
• Led a group of warlords
to take over the Japanese
government, effectively
rendering Emperor
Hirohito powerless.
• 1940 Japan joined Italy
and Germany to form the
Axis of dictator states.
Hitler’s Advance
Motivations
• Britain and France were in no mood for
confrontation or war.
• Hitler said he wanted to get back Germany’s
territory that had been broken up and “stolen”
with the Treaty of Versailles after WWI.
Appeasement:
The policy of giving in to try to
satisfy Hitler’s stated demands.
Easy Acquisitions: Rhineland
• Rhineland 1936 –
an industrial region
of Germany near
Alsace-Lorraine,
which was
supposed to be
demilitarized.
Interactive Map of Europe 1939-1945
http://www.worldology.com/Europe/w
orld_war_2_imap.htm
Defenses:
• Siegfried Line –
German fortifications
• Maginot Line –
French fortifications
Easy Acquisitions: Austria
• Anschluss – union with
Austria, German-speaking
land.
• Austrian Nazis staged a coup
and took power, “invited”
Germany military in.
Austria is the southern part in gold.
Easy Acquisitions: Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the purple area.
• Hitler declared his intentions
to “annex” Sudetenland.
• Many Germans had fled to
Sudetenland from the Nazis.
• Meeting of England
(Chamberlain), France
(Daladier), & Hitler in Munich,
Germany to discuss the
problem.
• To keep the peace,
Chamberlain and Daladier
agreed to “give” Hitler the
Sudetenland (Sept. 1938).
• “Munich” became an adjective
for appeasement and
defeatism.
Easy Acquisitions: Czechoslovakia
• In March 1939, Hitler
moved to seize the rest of
Czechoslovakia.
• The British and French
then signed security
agreements with
Romania and Poland,
hoping that would deter
Hitler from advancing.
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Russia was a powerful
neighbor to the east of
Germany.
• Hitler and Stalin agreed not to
fight each other.
• In fact, Hitler told Stalin he
could take the Baltic countries,
Finland, and a little piece of
Poland and Hitler would take
the rest of Poland.
1939 Boundary Lines
War Begins!
Blitzkrieg!
• On September 1, 1939, fifty-six
German divisions roll across
the Polish border.
• 600 Luftwaffe bombed civilian
& military targets.
• 48 hours later, 100,000 Polish
casualties
• On September 3, 1939, British
Prime Minister N.
Chamberlain declares war on
Nazi Germany. France
followed.
Denmark
• Spring 1940, Hitler attacked and occupied
Denmark in a few brief hours.
• A panzer is a German tank or a division of
tanks. (armor)
Norway
• On the same day, the Germans assaulted Norway
so it could have naval bases and access to
Sweden for its iron resources.
• The Norwegians bravely resisted but were sold
out by a traitor, a government official, Vidkun
Quisling assisted German agents and was
appointed governor by the Germans afterwards.
His name became synonymous for traitor.
Fall of France
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/anim
ations/wwtwo_map_fall_france/index_embed.s
html
Fall of France
• May 10, 1940 Germany moved into the countries
on its western border: Tiny Luxembourg (2
days), Holland (5 days), Belgium (18 days), and
France.
• Panzer units outmaneuvered the French and
British forces.
• The Luftwaffe destroyed French fortifications so
the tanks rolled into France smoothly.
Fall of France
• The French people fled their cities.
• German Stuka dive-bombers filled the air and
attacked repeatedly.
• Germany’s new weapons and blitzkrieg tactics
were fresh and successful, a far cry from the
trench warfare of WWI.
• France’s war technology was out-moded.
• France was no match for Germany’s tanks and
planes.
Fall of France - Dunkirk
• The French and British troops were almost
surrounded and were pushed back to Dunkirk
with their backs to the English Channel.
• As they were about to be wiped out by the
Luftwaffe, fog rolled in, concealing them.
• By the time the fog had lifted every available
British and French vessel, from fishing boats to
private yachts, had evacuated 330,000 men.
Evacuation at Dunkirk
• Paris is abandoned to the Nazis.
• Ironically, the surrender of France was signed in
the same railroad car in which Germany had
signed the armistice in 1918.
Winston Churchill-Britain’s Prime
Minister
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsKDGM5K
TBY
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_Pm
Ktc&feature=related (1:20)
Battle of Britain
• Hitler planned to bomb Britain into submission
because he knew an invasion would not work
until it was substantially weakened.
• The British had radar and knew when the
German planes were coming so they were able to
shoot many of them down; hence daytime
bombing was not efficient for the Germans.
• The Germans lost 3 times as many planes as the
British.
Battle of Britain
• The Germans resorted to night bombing
Britain’s with fire bombs.
Narnia intro: Night bombing
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ0fGS01P
dg
Barbarossa – Attack on Russia
• Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet
Union to his east.
• June 22, 1941
• The “Barbarossa” operation targeted 3 key
Russian cities: Leningrad, Moscow, &
Stalingrad.
• Russia bore the brunt of the Germans’
relentlessly brutal warfare.
German troops in Russia 1941
• In just two years, the Nazi blitzkrieg had
virtually conquered Europe, with Britain badly
damaged.
• Sink the Bismarck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KecIdlEAKh
U
Forces that Kept U.S. on the Sidelines.
• 1. A tradition of isolationism.
• 2. Resentment over war debt (from WWI).
• 3. Americans were focused on economic
recovery from the Great Depression.
Nervous Neutrality
• Neutrality Act of 1937 – cut off military supplies
to belligerent nations.
▫ Roosevelt wanted to change this because it had
not hurt Hitler since Germany had already
rearmed.
▫ However, it did hurt the Allies because they
couldn’t get the supplies they desperately needed.
• Neutrality Act of 1939
Actual captured U-505 in the
Museum of Science & Industry
Chicago, Illinois
•Can purchase weaponry on a
CASH BASIS.
•Must carry the weapons in
their OWN SHIPS.
•Called “Cash and Carry”
•U.S. ships and passengers
could not enter ports of nations
at war.
•This act actually helped the
Germans because they could
conduct unrestricted
submarine warfare without
much fear of ticking off the
Americans and drawing them
into the war.
Reluctance
•
•
•
•
Americans sympathized with the Allies,
But focused on America First (committees)
Roosevelt recognized the need for preparedness.
First peacetime draft in U.S. history (Sept. 1940)
America First Committee
Meeting in Chicago,
April 23, 1941.
Charles Lindbergh,
featured speaker
•Americans vacillated
between
▫preparedness and
▫pacificism.
Gallup Polls 1938-1940
• Page 801 Out of Many.
• What do these polls tell us about American
public opinion about entering the war?
1940 Election
• FDR ran for a third term.
• During his campaign he promised, “I have said
this before, but I shall say it again and again and
again: Your boys are not going to be sent into
any foreign wars.”
• Republican Opponent: Wendell Willkie, former
Democrat.
• Democrat Slogan: “Don’t switch horses in the
middle of the stream.”
Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Speech
• http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/powers_of_p
ersuasion/audio/pres_roosevelts_address.wav
Norman Rockwell
The U.S. Constitution Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting
an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of
grievances.
• The U.S. would have to fight the
enemies of free people alone if
England were destroyed.
• The four freedoms were one way
Roosevelt led Americans into giving
more support to the Allies.
• Congress voted all-out aid to the
Allies.
Lend-Lease Act
• U.S. supplied any Allied nation with war
materiel.
Deployment of U.S. Forces
•Iceland and Greenland to
protect North Atlantic
shipping lanes.
Atlantic Charter – Roosevelt &
Churchill
• Common Principles
▫ Self Determination
▫ Freedom of the Seas
▫ Economic
Cooperation
• Expressed the
Goals of anti-Axis
nations
• Expressed
America’s moral
commitment to the
Allied cause
The Atlantic Charter
Was American
neutrality
compromised?
Hitler thought so.
• May 1941: German sub attacks and sinks
American merchant vessel near Brazil.
• September 1941: U.S. destroyer Greer is fired
upon by a German submarine.
• October 1941: U.S. destroyer Kearny is
torpedoed, killing 11 sailors.
• October 1941: U.S. destroyer Reuben James is
sunk in the Atlantic, with 100 sailors lost.
Reuben James torpedoed, October 1941
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrZjJsIA1EI
▫ Woody Guthrie’s “Sinking of the Reuben James”
The Flying Tigers (in China)
• Spring 1941 (Period of Neutrality)
• U.S. asked for “volunteer” pilots to fly 100 P-40
“Tomahawk” fighter planes the U.S. has sent to
French General Chennault who was advising
Chiang Kai-shek on air power.
• They were ill-equipped and seriously outnumbered, but they downed 286 Japanese
aircraft during 7 months of operation.
• Officially known as American Volunteer Group
(AVG)
Flying Tigers (AVG)
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I36cglDOtJ
g
• Flying Tiger Newsreels
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BXlvyZVTM&feature=related
• Flying Tiger Dogfight Re-enactment
• Japanese pov
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyf1PZEsYpI&f
eature=related
• Pearl Harbor Documentary 8 min.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt13c3olXkU
• Pearl Harbor 2001 Attack Cut
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1niwxQgoY
Pearl Harbor
•December 7, 1941
•“A day that will live
in infamy” –
President FDR
•The United States
formally enters
WWII.
USS Shaw exploding
World War II
•
•
•
•
•
U.S. declares war on Japan.
Britain declares war on Japan.
China declares war on the Axis powers.
Germany & Italy declare war on the U.S.
U.S. declares war on Germany and Italy.
•Major effect of Pearl
Harbor attack: virtually
no domestic opposition
to U.S. involvement in
the war remains.
America Responds
• In March 1942, the Allies were in retreat
everywhere.
• Europe had been under Nazi occupation for two
years.
• The Germans and Japanese were riding high on
their successes.
• The Allies needed a morale booster.
The Doolittle Raid
April 18, 1942
• Under command of airracing hero Lt. Col.
James “Jimmy” Doolittle,
the Americans strike back
at the Japanese.
• Sixteen B-25 Mitchell
aircraft tightly loaded
aboard the new U.S. Navy
carrier Hornet, set out for
a bomb strike on the
Japanese capital, Tokyo.
• The planes had been modified to save
fuel.
• The tail sections were removed, and
the tail guns replaced with broom
sticks which made the bombers
defenseless in their vulnerable tail
sections.
• Unfortunately, they were spotted by
Japanese picket ships just hours from
launch time.
• They had to scramble and launch earlier
than planned.
• With a longer-than-expected flight, the
pilots knew they might not have enough
fuel to make it to a landing strip in China.
(The carriers turned back to Pearl.)
• The bombing of Tokyo proved to be easy.
• The city was undergoing air raid drills and
assumed the bombers were part of the
drill.
• The bombs hit factories, military targets,
and one hit the imperial palace.
• Short of fuel, all the planes either crashlanded or their crews bailed out short of
their Chinese landing sites.
Results of the Doolittle Raid
• The Doolittle Raid was a
morale booster for the
Americans and their Allies.
• It was the first time the Army
Air Force & the U.S. Navy
teamed up in a combat
operation.
• The raid forced the Japanese
to send forces to defend their
home island
• But it was more than 2 years
later before American bombers
would return to Japan.
Fall of the Philippines
The Japanese push American
and Philippine forces into the
Bataan Peninsula.
Fall of the Philippines
• President Roosevelt orders General Douglas
MacArthur to leave the Philippines to avoid
capture.
• MacArthur reluctantly complies promising, “I
shall return.”
• In April the American forces surrender and
become Japanese prisoners of war (POWs).
Bataan Death March
• 70,000 Filipinos & Americans
surrendered, the largest
American army to surrender in
history.
• Some refused to surrender and
fled to the jungle to join with
Filipinos to form a guerrilla
resistance that may have
numbered as many as
180,000.
• Forced 60 mile march from
Bataan to Ft. O’Donnell
• Between 5000 and 11000 died
on the way.
• Interviewer: Did you witness cruelty on the death
march?
• Alfred X. Burgos: Oh, yes. For example, if you
should not want to walk anymore -- let's say you
were tired -- well, I've seen them shoot walking
prisoners of war -- actually be shot. Or if you tried to
get food which was thrown by the civilians to the
walking military, the Filipino military, that not only
endangered you, but the one who was giving the
food or throwing the food to you...Well, those that
they could catch, they'd just shoot them there.... If
you could not keep up with the group in the Death
March, rather than slow the Death March, they'd get
rid of you by shooting you.... Oh, they bayoneted
people, they shot people, and if they think that you
were delaying the Death March, you're dead.
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/sfeature/bataan_capture.html
Fall of the Philippines
Corregidor is
the last island
fortress in the
Philippines to
fall to the
Japanese, May
6, 1942.
The Philippines
now belong to
the Japanese.
Battle of Midway
Battle of Midway
• In the first carrier battle of the war, the Battle of
the Coral Sea, the U.S. stops the Japanese
advance on Australia in May.
• Admiral Yamamoto planned another surprise
attack: this time for Midway.
• He believed that if the Japanese could take
Midway, they would have the Pacific in an
“impenetrable fortress.”
Battle of Midway
• In May, the Navy intercepted Japanese
communications confirming Japanese fleet
movement toward Midway.
• U.S. Admiral Nimitz prepared countermeasures,
with an estimated date for the attack of June 4.
• U.S. B-17s launched from Midway attacked the
Japanese fleet on June 3, but inflicted little
damage.
Outcome of the Battle of Midway
• The U.S. Navy inflicted a smashing defeat on the
Japanese Navy.
• The Japanese lost the four large carriers that had
attacked Pearl Harbor, while the Americans only
lost one carrier.
• More importantly, the Japanese lost over one
hundred trained pilots, who could not be replaced.
• The Japanese offensive in the Pacific was derailed.
• The balance of sea power in the Pacific shifted from
the Japan to an equity between America and Japan.
• Soon after the Battle of Midway the U.S. and their
allies would take the offensive in the Pacific.
• Source for Midway info:
• http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq81-1.htm
Production
• U.S. production capability would be a crucial
factor in bringing victory over the Axis.
(Almost) March on Washington 1941
• Summer 1941, production is high, demand for labor
• A. Philip Randolph organized workers in the
Pullman company.
• Planned a March on Washington demanding
integration of the military and non-discrimination of
workers in government contracts.
• Did not integrate the military but FDR agreed that
government contractors could not discriminate
against blacks.
Tuskegee Airmen
• http://www.tuskegeeairmennationalmuseum.or
g/
Women needed, too!
• http://www.slideshare.net/matt/women-at-warwwii
War Powers Act 1941
• President given broad powers over the economy.
• Established the War Production Board (WPB)
▫ Halted building construction
▫ Halted production of consumer goods
▫ Ordered massive industrial conversion from
civilian to military production
Conserving & Rationing
• Office of Price Administration
▫ Food
▫ Gasoline
▫ Rubber
Ration cards
Victory Gardens
Recycling
Women at Work
• The men went to war.
• The women went to work.
Every family had a personal interest.
Blue Star Banner
Gold Star Banner
Japanese Internment Camps
Japanese Internment Camps
Debt & Taxes
• Paying for the war = Long term
effects
• War bill = $300,000,000,000+
• President Roosevelt – raise taxes
• Congress – borrow
• New way to tax – payroll deductions
Bombing of Germany
• http://video.pbs.org/video/1405744809/
Primary Source:
• Government Film: Memphis Belle
• B-17 Flying Fortress
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/
features/bonus-video/bombing-memphis-belle/
• Appx. 10 minutes
Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO)
• Douglas MacArthur, Army-moving from New
Guinea
• Admiral Chester Nimitz, Navy- moving across
Central Pacific
• Converge to reclaim the Philippines and move
on to assault Japan.
Admiral Chester Nimitz
General Douglas MacArthur
•
•
•
•
•
Guadalcanal
Marianas
Philippines – MacArthur returns as promised.
Iwo Jima
Okinawa – Bloodiest single campaign in the
Pacific
• Meeting of the Big Three in February 1945 at
USSR’s Black Sea resort, Yalta.
• Laid plans for post-war Europe.
Roosevelt’s Two Misconceptions
• 1. If the U.S. joined an
international organization for
peace, then the world would be
secure.
• 2. He thought he could trust
Stalin.
▫ Democratic elections in
liberated European nations
▫ USSR was destroying
democracy in Eastern Europe
▫ Stalin had agreed to join the
effort against Japan when
Germany was beaten.
• Roosevelt dies 8
weeks later on
April 12, 1945.
• Vice President
Harry S Truman
becomes president.
• April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits suicide by
cyanide.
• May 7-8, 1945- Nazis surrender on both fronts
Potsdam
• July 1945
• The new big three meet at
Potsdam to plan the
conclusion of the war in the
Pacific.
• Stalin, Truman, Clement
Attlee – Churchill was ousted
as PM in Britain.
• New kids on the block were
naïve.
• Stalin had puppet communist governments in
the areas he had taken from Germany.
• Truman was left telling Stalin to remember his
promises.
• Stalin: “Whoever occupies a territory imposes
his own social system…”
• Agreed on demanding Japan’s unconditional
surrender.
The Bomb
• While at Potsdam, Truman received word that
the Manhattan Project had been a success.
• The United States now held the most powerful
weapon ever invented.
• Truman gave the Japanese an ultimatum:
Surrender or face destruction.
• August 6, 1945:
Col. Paul Tibbets
dropped the first
bomb on
Hiroshima.
• Enola Gay
• “Little Boy”
i
• http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=763
659n
Hiroshima
V-J Day
• The Japanese government did not respond. The
cabinet met and had to have a unanimous
decision. Most were in favor, but 3 were
opposed to unconditional surrender.
• August 9, 1945, the second bomb was dropped
on Nagasaki.
• The Emperor, stepping out of his role as above
politics, asked the government to surrender.
• The Japanese surrendered on September 2.
Postwar Occupation
• MacArthur was in charge.
• Goals of the occupation:
▫ Prevent Japanese from aggression
▫ Reform Japan into a democracy
Postwar Occupation
•
•
•
•
Six-year occupation
Warmongers removed from power
Suffrage granted to women
Government power increase in economic and
social policy
• Democratic constitution
Ravages of War by the Numbers:
•
•
•
•
50 million dead
Many more millions maimed
292,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen dead
Tens of thousands of U.S. civilians died in the
effort to supply the war effort.