1939-1945
 U.S. has isolationist policies since the end of WWI
–people want to keep it that way
• Neutrality Acts were passed to keep U.S. out of
future wars
• 1935: No arms or ammunition sold to belligerent
nations
• 1936: No potential war materials (oil, steel, etc) sold
to belligerent nations
• 1937: No Americans could sail on belligerent ships,
no American ships in war zones
 September 1, 1939: invasion of Poland
 Half of Poland had been part of Germany before WWI
 September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war
on Germany
 Germany’s military strategy known as blitzkrieg
(lightening war)
 Planes, tanks, infantry used to surprise the enemy
The Soviets Make Their Move
 September: Soviets capture Lithuania, Latvia,
other half of Poland, and Finland
Germany Continues to Expand
 April 1940: Captures Denmark and Norway
 May 1940: Conquers Netherlands, Belgium, and
Luxembourg
 THEN goes after France
June 22, 1940: France formally surrenders to Germany
 1940: Germany plans invasion of Britain - begins
with air attacks
 British use air force, radar, code-breaking to resist
Germany
 Battle of Britain lasts 10 months
 Most Americans want to avoid WWII
 FDR fears if Allies fall, U.S. would have to fight
• 1939: Congress passes “cash-and-carry”
• U.S. can trade with belligerent nations, but they must pay
cash for goods and must transport the goods themselves
• Allowed for sale of arms and ammunition
• Technically available to both sides, but really used by Allies
(just like WWI)
• U.S. increases defense spending
• First ever peacetime draft - Selective Training and
Service Act
 Draftees to serve for 1 year in Western Hemisphere only
• FDR breaks two-term tradition, runs for reelection
• FDR reelected with 55% of votes
• Late 1940: Britain has no more cash to buy U.S.
arms
• 1941: Lend-Lease Act - U.S. to lend or lease
supplies to any nation FDR thought was needed
to protect democracy and the safety of the U.S.
• Unused supplied would be returned or paid for
after the war
• No limits placed on supplies or loans
• Participating nations could us any U.S. ports,
but U.S. ships couldn’t transport goods
• August 1941: FDR & Churchill meet and issue
Atlantic Charter
• Charter set goals and aims for war and postwar world
• Made it clear U.S. was supporting Britain
Atlantic Charter
1. No territorial gains by any nation
2. No territorial changes without questioning the people concerned.
3. Respected the right of the people to choose their own form of
government.
4. All nations should have equal rights to trade an raw materials.
5. Nations to cooperate in economic matters and to ensure everyone a
decent standard of living
6. People everywhere should have the right to security and freedom
from want and fear.
7. Freedom of the sea should be guaranteed
8. Nations must abolish use of force and establish a system of general
security
 1940: FDR cut off sale of oil and scrap metal to Japan
 Japan plans series of attacks on U.S. and European
bases
“Day of Infamy” – December 7, 1941
 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
 Wake Island
 Philippines
 Guam (Dec. 8)
 December 8: U.S. declares war on Japan
• 5 million men volunteer for military service
• 10 million more drafted
• Army Chief of Staff calls for women’s corps in
noncombat positions
 Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
 Thousands enlist; end up getting full military
benefits
• 300,000 Mexican Americans join
armed forces
• 1 million African Americans serve;
live, work in segregated units
• 13,000 Chinese Americans and
33,000 Japanese Americans serve
• 25,000 Native Americans enlist
• Factories convert from civilian to war production
• Shipyards, defense plants expand, new ones built
• Produce ships, arms rapidly
 use prefabricated parts
 people work at record speeds
• Nearly 18 million workers in war industries;
6 million are women
• Over 2 million minorities hired; face strong
discrimination at first
 FDR executive order forbids discrimination
 Higher taxes and war bonds help pay
for the war
 War Production Board (WPB) says
which companies produce what
 allocates raw materials
 organizes collection of recyclable materials
 Rationing—fixed allotments of goods
needed by military
 Hawaii governor forced to order internment
(confinement) of Japanese
 February 1942: FDR signs Executive Order 9066
 War Dept. could “…prescribe military areas …
from which any or all persons may be excluded”
 U.S. Army forces 117,000 Japanese Americans into
prison camps
 Churchill convinces FDR that Europe is the more
important front
 Made sense since Pacific Fleet had taken such a drastic
hit
 Hitler deploys U-Boats to attack supply convoys
 Wolf packs – groups of up to 40 submarines – will
patrol North Atlantic
 FDR allows U.S. Navy to attack U-boats in self defense
 Eventually U-boat attacks will lead Senate to repeal ban
on arming merchant ships
Germans had three major cities to capture in
the USSR: Leningrad, Moscow, and
Stalingrad.
Stalingrad is the only one left.
Stalin wants his allies to open a second
European front immediately!
September: Germans get into Stalingrad; they take 9/10ths of
the city
Bloodiest battle in human history
• Soviets encircle the Germans at Stalingrad; the
Germans are cut off and slowly destroyed
• Germans lose 700,000, Russians lose 1.2 million
June 25: Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander,
arrives in the U.K. The British wanted an English
commander of all forces, but the US said:
“We are providing more troops, we are in charge.”
November 8, 1942: Operation Torch: US
forces arrive to fight the Germans in
North Africa; US troops do not do well at
first!
May 1943: Afrika Korps, led by Erwin
Rommel, surrenders in May 1943
July 1943 - Allied Forces
invade Sicily (Italian
island)
Troops meet some
opposition, but by
September 8th Italy
surrenders!
Hitler moves Nazi
troops to occupy
Northern Italy (above
Rome)
 June 6, 1944 - “Operation Overlord” Allied invasion
of France
 Largest amphibious (water) invasion in history
 Over 160,000 troops landed on beaches
 195,700 Allied naval and merchant navy personnel in over
5,000 ships used
 Eisenhower directed Allied invasion during D-Day
 General Omar Bradley helps create gap in enemy
defense line
 Has a tank named after him!
 General George Patton leads Third Army to capture
Paris by August
 Also has a tank named after him!
 FDR Re-elected to a 4th term with Harry S. Truman as
his V.P.
 U.S. and British forces advance
on Germany from west and
Soviets advance from east
 Battle of the Bulge: German
counterattack (Dec 1944)
 Germans gain early success but
forced to retreat
 Suffer irreplaceable losses of
men and machinery
In the West
Feb 1945:
The 'Big Three' (Stalin, Roosevelt,
Churchill) meet in Yalta, USSR to
decide who gets what when WWII is
over
Known as the Yalta Conference
April 12, 1945 :
FDR dies. Harry
S. Truman
becomes 33rd
President.
In the East
April 16th, 1945: Battle of
Berlin Begins
There is utter
devastation as
Soviets gain more
control
Hitler marries his longtime
Mistress Eva Braun on April
29th, 1945
The next day, they
commit joint suicide in
Hitler’s Bunker
 General Douglas MacArthur leads Allied forces in the
Philippines
 March 1942: US and Filipino troops are trapped on
Batann Peninsula
 MacArthur ordered by FDR to retreat
 Famously promises to return
 April 1942: Lt. Col. James Doolittle leads an air raid
on Tokyo
 “Doolittle Raid” does little damage, but shows that Japan
is vulnerable
May 1942: U.S. & Australian soldiers
stop Japanese drive to Australia
First time since Pearl Harbor Japanese
invasion was turned back
•
•
•
•
June 4-7, 1942: Japan attempts to destroy what’s
left of U.S. Pacific fleet
Allies aided by having broken Japanese military
code
Japan loses 4 carriers and many aircraft
Considered turning point in the Pacific
Allied Offensive
 October 1944: Allies converge on Leyte Island in
Philippines
 MacArthur returns!
 MacArthur plans to “island-hop” past strongholds,
attack weaker bases instead
Japanese Defense Plan
 Kamikaze attacks –pilots crash bomb-laden planes
into U.S. ships
 Battle of Leyte Gulf is a disaster for Japan
 Imperial Navy severely damaged; plays minor role after this
Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima critical as base from which
planes can reach Japan.
Battle tactics however reach new
extreme levels of violence.
23,000 US troops die taking island; of
20,700 Japanese, 200 survive.
The Battle for Okinawa
• April 1945: U.S. Marines invade Okinawa (last
major island before Japan)
• 76,00o U.S. troops, 100,000 Japanese soldiers
and 150,000 Japanese civilians die
• Allies fear invasion of Japan may mean 1.7
million Allied casualties
• Cooperative project between U.S., Great
Britain, and Canada
• Project led by J. Robert Oppenheimer
• Cost about $26 billion in today’s money
• Built two different types of atomic bombs
 Invasion of Japan will cost many lives
 Alternative  atomic bomb
 The Manhattan Project: secret program to develop the
atomic bomb
 August 6, 1945: atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
 75,000 die instantly
 August 8: USSR declared war on Japan
 August 9: Second/last atomic bomb ever used in war
dropped on Nagasaki
 70,000 people die instantly
September 2, 1945: Japan surrenders