1931-1945
WWI
Instability
in Europe
Rise of
Dictators
WWII


1.
2.
3.


At the end of WWI- Germany was forced to agree to
a harsh peace treaty.
Treaty was decided by the “Big Four” (victorious
countries at end of WWI).
Germany’s army was reduced (no troops west of
Rhine River)
Germany had to accept blame for starting the war
Germany forced to pay $33 Billion in war
reparations to the Allies (victorious nations).
Poland & Czecholoslavakia were given land
containing German speaking people.
Rhineland established as DMZ

Benito Mussolini
 Italy
 Fascist –
aggressive
nationalism;
nation is more
important than
individual
 AntiCommunist
 Black shirts
 Il Duce – The
leader

Vladimir Lenin
 Russia
 Bolshevik Party
 Communist
 United Soviet
Socialist
Republic (USSR)
 Died 1924
replaced by
Joseph Stalin

Adolf Hitler
Germany
Nazi Party
AntiCommunist
 Mein Kampf
– German
Unification
 Fuhrer – the
leader
 1923-Beer
Hall Putch









After release from prison, Hitler changed his tactics= focused
on getting Nazis elected to the Reichstag (German
Parliament).
When the Great Depression hit- many German people began
voting for radical parties (Nazis)
By 1932- the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag
1933- German President named Hitler Chancellor (Prime
Minister)
Hitler called for new elections= Reichstag voted to give Hitler
dictatorial powers
1934- Hitler became president= “Fuhrer”- leader





Economic trouble (Depression)
hit Japan; had to import nearly
all resources needed to produce
goods.
Japanese military officers
blamed corrupt politicians
1931- Japan invaded Manchuria
(Japanese Prime Minister was
assassinated)
The military took over the
government of Japan from that
point= Prime minister Tojo
Emperor Hirohito
Goal = territorial expansion
1.
Tradition of Isolationism
“It is our true policy to steer clear
of permanent alliances with
any portion of the foreign
world”
- Farewell Speech – GW
-
- Avoid international
commitments that would
drag US into war
2. Horrors of WWI
 Europe always
entangled in wars
3. Nye Committee
 Investigation into reason
why US entered WWI
 Blamed weapons business
 Contributed to isolationist
attitude of Americans
 Neutrality Act of 1935
▪ Illegal to sell arms to any
country at war
** all neutrality acts allow
president to decide which
countries are at war!!
Idea by FDR
Trade between nations
creates prosperity and
prevents war
 US should be at the helm
of trade & preservation of
peace
 However – most
Americans were
isolationists


1931- Japan invaded
Manchuria (territory
claimed by China)
 FDR sold weapons to
China
 Claimed that the
Neutrality Act of 1935
does not apply because
China & Japan never
declared war


1935- Hitler defied the Versailles Treaty by
announcing the construction of a new air
force & new draft.

European leaders tried to negotiate with
Hitler

Austrian Anschluss - 1938
 Unification of Austria & Germany

Sudetenland – 1937
 Hitler wanted to annex part of Czechoslovakia that contained German
speaking people
 Czechoslovakian government resisted

France promised to fight Germany if it attacked Czechoslovakia & USSR promised
aid; Britain promised to defend France





Leaders of Britain, France, Italy, & Germany met in
Munich to discuss Czechoslovakia
Europe’s leaders gave in to Hitler’s demands for
Sudetenland= told Czechoslovakia that if it wanted
to defend itself it could do so alone
Appeasement- giving in to demands
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain- “We
have achieved peace in our time”.
March 1939- Germany invaded all of Czechoslovakia

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


USSR & Germany Agreement
Agreement to not fight or
attack each other
Hitler- avoid war with Soviet
Union
Stalin protection through
encouraging war between
capitalist nations
A shock because Hitler &
Germany Anti-Communist &
Stalin hated Nazism
Freed Hitler to attack Poland
without repercussions from USSR



Oct 1939- Hitler demanded
Danzig-Part of Poland
March 31, 1939- Germany
Invaded Poland
“Blitzkrieg”-Lightning war
 German offensive using
large numbers of tanks to
rapidly surround an enemy
**France & Britain declare
war on Germany
September 3, 1939

Sept. 1940- Japan, Italy, &
Germany form a formal
alliance=* Axis Powers

Maginot Line
 Defensive fortifications
built by the French on
the German border

Miracle of Dunkirk
 On the English Channel
 Evacuation Route of

338,000 men
June 22, 1940, France
surrenders
GERMAN TROOPS ENTER PARIS
19




Winston Churchill
 British prime minister
 Peace not an option
Luftwaffe
 German air force
The Battle of Britain
 1939 – 1941
 Battles between Luftwaffe &
British Royal Air Force (RAF)
 British RAF successfully
prevented a German ground
invasion of Britain.
Radar
 New technology to detect
Luftwaffe before bombings

Neutrality Act of 1937-
arms embargo to nations at
war
 Allow warring nations to pay
cash for non-military supplies
& carry it home on their own
ships.
1937- FDR’ s Quarantine Speech

“When an epidemic of physical
disease starts to spread, the
community approves and joins in a
quarantine of the patients in order to
protect the health of the community
against the spread of the disease”.

Neutrality Act of 1939
 Warring nations could buy
weapons from the US on cash &
carry basis
 “Cash & Carry” for war materials
*Destroyers for Bases Deal (1940)



Spring 1940- FDR allowed the transfer of old US destroyers
to Britain in exchange for right to build US bases in British
controlled Newfoundland, Bermuda, & Caribbean islands.
July 1940- most Americans favored some aid to Allies
America First Committee- isolationist group (Charles
Lindberg- member)

Committee to Defend America – increase US aid but stay
out of the war

Fight for Freedom Committee- end US neutrality take
strong action against Germany
3RD TERM
PRESIDENT
FRANKLIN
DELANO
ROOSEVELT
24


FDR speech to Congress
Lists 4 freedoms the US & Britain stand for
 Freedom of Speech
 Freedom of Worship
 Freedom from Want
 Freedom from Fear


* Lend Lease Act (Dec. 1940)
Britain was out of money
 US would be able to lend or lease arms to any country
considered vital to the defense of the US
 * June 1941- Germany invaded USSR= U.S.S.R. joined the
Allies

Hemispheric Defense Zone
 Roosevelt declare the entire western half of the Atlantic a part
of the Western Hemisphere & therefore neutral

The Atlantic Charter (Aug. 1941)
 Agreement between Roosevelt & Churchill allowing for postwar world democracy with non-aggression, free trade,
economic advancement and freedom of the seas

US embargoes Japan (1937)
 To discourage attacks on British possessions






Roosevelt began sending aid to China
Japan threatened British colonies in Pacific
Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets
Roosevelt sends General MacArthur to build up
US forces in the Pacific
Arms Race while negotiating
**December 7, 1941 – Japan attacks Pearl Harbor

December 8, 1941 – Roosevelt asks Congress to declare
war

December 11 – Germany & Italy declare war on US
29
Chapter 20 Section 3

Hebrew word for
Holocaust= “Shoah”

Nazis Killed nearly 6 million
European Jews killed

Other groups targeted:
disabled, Gypsies,
homosexuals, Slavic people

Hitler did not invent
prejudice towards Jews-he
played upon prejudices that
had existed in Europe for
centuries.

1935- *Nuremberg Laws- took
German citizenship away from Jewish
Germans.

Other laws- forbade Jews from certain
professions or public office

Jewish people had to adopt Jewish
sounding names

Passports were marked with a red J.

1936- half of Germany’s Jews were
jobless

1938- banned from practicing law or
medicine

Nov. 7,1938- a young Jewish
refugee shot & killed a
German diplomat in Paris.

Nov. 9, 1938- Hitler ordered
staged attacks on Jews &
Jewish businesses &
synagogues (Kristallnacht)
90 Jews dead, hundreds
injured, 7500 businesses
destroyed, 180 synagogues
burned
Kristallnacht- “night of
broken glass”


1933—1939- 350,000 Jews escaped Nazi controlled areas
Albert Einstein came to the US
Otto Frank (resettled in Amsterdam ) (Anne Frank)
Factors that limited Jewish escape:
1.
Nazis forbade Jews to take more than $4 out of Germany
2.
US law did not allow immigrants in who might need
government assistance
3.
High US unemployment
4.
Anti-Semitic attitudes




The St. Louis Incident- May 1939 SS St. Louis holding 930
Jewish refugees were prevented from docking in Cuba & the
US= TURNED BACK TO Europe & passengers most likely
died in the Holocaust.

Jan 20, 1942- Nazi leaders met at
*Wannsee Conference to determine
solution to the ‘Jewish question”.

Made plans to round up Jews in Nazi
controlled Europe & send them to
detention centers.
Two types of centers:

Concentration Camps (Work camps)Buchenwald
largest work camp- 200,000 prisoners

Extermination Camps (Auschwitz)

Est. 1.3 million killed there
Chapter 21 Sec. 1
Chapter 21 section 1
 Executive Order 8802
 No discrimination in the defense
Workplaces or government positions

**Double V Campaign
 African Americans should join the military in order to
achieve a double victory – over Hitler’s racism &
racism at home

Tuskegee Airmen
 African American fighter pilots
 Played an important role in Italy campaign
Office of Price Administration (OPA)- regulated the lives if US
civilians; froze wages, rents, and rationed meat, sugar, gas,
rubber.

Blue Points/ Red Points- rationing program run by OPA;
coupons allowed US families to buy quantities of rationed
goods.

Victory gardens- grown by civilians to conserve food items.
Paying for the war
1.
Bonds- government promoted buying of war bonds (series
EE Bonds)
2.
US raised income taxes
** US industries did booming business= the war ended the
Depression in US
1944- Unemployment practically gone





Cost Plus Contracts- used to encourage businesses to make
war material; Gov’t promised cost of production plus % profit.
War Production Board
 Set priorities & production goals to control distribution of
supplies
Fair Employment Commission
 Created to enforce Executive Order 8802
*Bracero Program
 200,000 Mexicans to work in the US on farms & maintaining
railroads for the war effort
 Became basis of migrant workers in US
**Sunbelt – Southern cities began to lead manufacturing
The Great Migration
 African Americans continued to move into cities to fulfill jobs
By Summer of 1942- almost all major industries had
converted to war production
 US auto industry played an important role (1/3 of all
war materials produced)
 Built rifles, planes, jeeps, tanks etc.
 Henry Ford- built B-24 Liberator (Detroit)
 Henry Kaiser (Liberty Ships)- welded instead of
riveted= strength.
** US industrial output ALONE by 1944 was twice
that of the AXIS POWERS.


1940- Selective Service & Training Act – 1st peacetime draft
in US History.
Life in the Military
 Recruits go through 8 week basic training
 Military was segregated
 African-American units led by white officers
 Early on-blacks assigned to non-combat duties
* US troops had little war experience- suffered fewer casualties
than any other country

Women’s Army Corp
 Nation’s first women
officers

*Rosie the Riveter
 Symbolized working
women during the war
 Women working in place of
boys serving overseas
 Became national icon in
changing views of women
in the workplace

Detroit Race Riots
 Violence that left 25 African Americans & 9 whites
dead

Zoot Suit Riots
 Racism against Mexican Americans

Japanese American Relocation
 Americans suspicious of Japanese
 Pressured FDR to place all Japanese decent into
internment camps
JAPANESE INTERNMENT CAMPS
THE DOTS REPRESENT THE
LOCATION OF THE CAMPS
45

**Korematsu v US
 Argued over internment camps
& civil liberties
 Ruled constitutional because of
military urgency

442nd Regimental Combat
Team
 All Japanese-American
battalion most decorated in
WWII

Japanese American Citizens
League
 Aided Japanese Americans who
had lost property during the
relocation
The Navajo Code Talkers
helped maintain security by
transmitting orders in a
Navajo code that the
Japanese were unable to
break in the Pacific
47
Two major battle fronts during the war:
1. Pacific
2. Europe
 *Admiral Nimitz
 In charge of the Pacific Navy Fleet for US
 General Douglas MacArthur
 In charge of American forces in the Philippines
 Decided to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula/ ordered to leave &
escape to Australia ( “ I shall return” )
 *Bataan Death March
 78,000 American soldiers & Filipino soldiers captured
 Captured & forced to march to prison camps 65 miles away
 Thousands die

“They’d halt us in front of
these big artesian wells. . . So
we could see the water and
they wouldn’t let us have any.
Anyone who would break for
water would be shot or
bayoneted. Then they were
left there. Finally, it got so bad
further along the road that you
never got away from the
stench of death. There were
bodies laying all along the
road in various degrees of
decomposition – swollen,
burst open, maggots crawling
by the thousands.”
Luzon
50

Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle
 Command of the 1st bombing mission
to Tokyo

B-25 Bombers
 Able to make it all the way to Tokyo if
they took off from aircraft carriers
Many bombers did not make it to
China on the fuel they had
 71 of 80 crew members survived
*** Was an instant morale booster
for the US

 Forced JAPAN to realize they had to
destroy US fleet in Pacific
Japanese Goal
1.
Capture New Guinea & invade Australia to cut US Pacific
supply lines
2.
Attack Midway Island, lure US navy in, kill it
Battle of the Coral Sea (May 7-8, 1942)

Japanese sank USS Lexington & damaged the
Yorktown

US attacks forced Japan to call off invasion of
New Guinea & Australia
*Significance- US supply lines in Pacific stay open

THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR WITH JAPAN
June 4-7, 1942

*Midway Island

 Decoded that Japanese were to attack
 The last American held island in the Pacific
 An ambush was created
 US air force destroyed the majority of the Japanese fleet of
ships (4 large carriers)
 **Ended the Japanese offensive attacks in the Pacific
U.S. CARRIER DIVE BOMBERS PREPARE TO STRIKE JAPANESE
CARRIERS AT MIDWAY
54



*Strategy in the Pacific
developed by Admiral
Chester Nimitz
By pass Japanese Pacific
strongholds, take weaker
islands—then isolate island
strongholds with Arial
bombardment & attacks
Advancing closer to Japan

Mariana Islands
 B-29 Super fortresses
used once this island was
captured
 Bombings on Japan
occurred from these
islands
Midway
Marianas
56
Chapter 21.2b



Invasion of North Africa : Morocco & Algeria
 “Operation Torch”- planned by Gen. Dwight Eisenhower
 North African countries controlled by German empire
 Invaded by Americans first
General George Patton
 Leader of American forces
 Seized Casablanca – May 1943 (Allies took control of North
Africa
Casablanca Conference Roosevelt & Churchill agree to increase bombing of Germany & invade Sicily
NORTH AFRICA, SICILY AND ITALY
58
Warfare against German
Submarines in the Atlantic
in US waters

By August 1942- 360 US
cargo ships had been sunk

US government had to
ration gas & fuel oil (1st long
distance pipeline built)
US Strategy:
1. Convoy system- cargo ships
travel in groups escorted by
navy warships.
2. US airplanes & ships used
radar, sonar to attack subs
3. Allied planes bombed
German sub factories


*TURNING POINT OF THE WAR IN
EUROPE
 Spring 1942
 Hitler attacked USSR –for oil
resources & cut Soviet supply lines.
 Stalin orders troops to fight without
retreat
 Germans become trapped
 **Put the Germans on the defensive
rather than the offensive because of
the amount of troops they lost
 Total casualties = between 1 & 2
million
 Stalin –urged the Allies to open a
new front against Germany in
Europe
July 1943
 Planned by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
 Amphibian invasion by British & US forces
 Germans retreat from Sicily to Italy Aug. 1943
 Mussolini arrested—then rescued by German forces
 Allies invaded Italy & broke German lines at Anzio & Casino
(after 5 months of bloody fighting).
 300,000 casualties
 ** Allied victories (Sicily & Italy)







Stalin, Churchill & FDR
* The Tehran Conference
Agreed allies would
LIBERATE France while
USSR attacked Germany
Agreed to break up
Germany after the war so it
would never threaten
peace again
Stalin promised aid to US
in defeating Japan
Agreed to create an
international organization
to keep peace after the war





*Code name for the planned
invasion of France (Overlord)
General Dwight D.
Eisenhower planned it.
Allies made Germans think
invasion of France would
occur at Calais- not actual
place.
7,000 ships crossed the
English Chanel
*D-Day
 Date for invasion of
Normandy, France
 *June 6, 1944

Utah Beach
 First beach successfully
captured

Omaha Beach
 Heavy German fire
 2500 Americans were killed
or wounded on this beach
alone
Invasion was an overall
success
 *Significance- Allies
liberated France August
1944

PHOTO TAKEN AS AMERICAN SOLDIERS ADVANCE ONTO FRENCH
BEACH UNDER GERMAN FIRE.
66
U.S. TROOPS MARCH IN A VICTORY PARADE AFTER THE LIBERATION OF PARIS
IN LATE AUGUST 1944
67

*Hitler’s last gasp

Dec. 1944 Hitler’s last attack on American lines
 Took Americans off guard creating a bulge in the line
 US troops captured key Town of Bastogne
 General Patton made it up with his troops from Italy
 Allies pushed in to Germany from the west
 April 1945- Soviet troops outside of Berlin
 April 30- Hitler committed suicide in a bunker
 *V-E DAY – May 7, 1945
 US troops advanced through Germany- found concentration
camps.
THE GERMANS LAUNCHED A SURPRISE ATTACK THROUGH THE
ARDENNES FOREST THAT CAUGHT THE U.S. ARMY
UNPREPARED. THE FIGHTING LASTED FROM DECEMBER 16TH TO
FEBRUARY 9TH 1945.
70
THE END
APPROACHES FOR
NAZI GERMANY
AND HITLER AS
THE U.S., BRITAIN
AND CANADA
ATTACK FROM THE
WEST WHILE THE
RUSSIANS
MASSIVELY
ATTACK FROM THE
EAST
71
May 7, 1945
Germany surrenders
unconditionally
 ‘Victory in Europe’
 Warning there is still
Japan to defeat



US had been bombing
Japan from the Marianas
islands—still too far away.

Island of interest because
of its refueling point &
PROXIMITY to Japan
Rocky terrain with caves
where Japanese military
hid





February 16, 1945
60,000 Marines try to take
the island
6,800 Marines killed
Successful




While airfields were being prepared on Iwo
Jima, US Gen. Curtis LaMay was still
attacking Japan from the Marianas islands
New strategy- use of napalm (jellied gasoline)
bombs to help them hit targets more
successfully.
March 9,1945- Fires from the bombs killed
80,000 people
250,000 buildings destroyed







US military planned for a
possible invasion of Japan
US needed an island still
closer to Japan for supplies.
Island very close to Japan
68,000 Americans died
Kamikaze suicide planes
killed many naval men
Japanese began to talk of
surrender but on condition
the emperor stays in power
US wanted unconditional
surrender
IWO JIMA
OKINAWA
MAP SHOWING INVASIONS OF IWO JIMA AND OKINAWA
76
American program to
build an Atomic Bomb
 Robert J. Oppenheimer

 Led the team at a secret
lab in Los Alamos, New
Mexico

July 16, 1945 – 1st test
detonation of a bomb at
Alamogordo, New
Mexico




Opposed
Admiral Leahy –
Joint Chiefs of
Staff
It will kill
civilians
Believed in
conventional
bombs &
economic
sanctions to
force a
surrender
Warning
Henry Stimson
– Secretary of
War
 Warn Japan &
allow them to
keep emperor if
surrender
occurs





Support
James Byrnes –
Secretary of
State
Drop the bomb
without any
warning to
shock Japan
into surrender

Truman
 Believed it would save
American lives

Enola Gay
 B-29 bomber that dropped
the first bomb


Hiroshima-
“Little Boy”-bomb code
name
 Important industrial city
 August 6, 1945

Nagasaki
 Second bomb- “Fat Man”
 August 9, 1945

V-J Day
 Japan surrenders
 August 15, 1945
THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB
WAS DROPPED ON THE
CITY OF HIROSHIMA
AUGUST 6TH, 1945, 70,000 KILLED AND
EVEN MORE WOUNDED
80
AUGUST 9TH, 40,000 KILLED
A second atomic bomb was dropped
on Nagasaki and the Japanese
surrendered
81


*United Nations
 39 nations meet & sign
the charter at
Dumbarton Oaks Estate
in Washington D.C. in
1944
International Military
Tribunal
 *Nuremburg Trials –
German leaders tried for
war crimes – lasted until
1949
 12 sentenced to death
 Japanese War Crimes
Trials – emperor was not
tried

1.

1.

April 1945- 50 nations gathered in San Francisco
to officially organize the UN
General Assembly- body given power to vote on
resolutions, choose non-permanent members of
Security Council, vote on a budget.
Each nation in the world has one vote
Security Council- responsible for international
peace & security, investigate international
problems, take action to keep peace, use of force.
Permanent members – Britain, US, France, China,
& Soviet Union