Brianna Emrich

The Second World War

FDRs Foreign Policy
Recognition of the Soviet Union

1933 Granted diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union

US Desired foreign trade

Philippine Independence
Tydings McDuffie Act (1934) Promised the Philippines complete
independence within a decade
The Good Neighbor Policy

US would be the neighbor who respects himself and the rights of others.
Became the label for his Latin American Policy

Totalitarian Aggression
Totalitarian:

Centralized control by an autocratic authority

The political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute
state authority

Japanese in China
1931 seized Manchuria
1937 attacked China
o Rape of Nanking
Dec 12, 1937 : US gun boat Panay sank by Japanese bombs on Yangtze
River
o 3 dead, 3 injured
Italians in Africa

1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia

Dreamed of another Italian empire
Leader Benito Mussolini Il Duce
o Abolished democracy
o All on the promise of jobs and glory

German Expansion
Germany Building an enormous new army, making weapons at a frightening
speed, and menacing neighbors

March 1936 Militarization of Rhineland

March 1938 Seized Austria

Sept 1938 Munich Pact An attempt to appease Hitler: Dismember Czech
and give a piece to Germany (Sudetenland)
March 1939 Hitler seized the rest of Czech; appeasement was a failure
Sept 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland WWII begins
Sept 3, 1939 GB and France declare war on Germany

Rise of Isolationism in the United States

Most govt officials and citizens in the 1920s were isolationists

Felt US should avoid alliances and agreements with other nations
NUC Committee Investigated US entry into WWII
o Findings:
International bankers drew US into war
Munitions Indus Pressed for American entry into war
o Isolation dominated US foreign policy in 1930s

Neutralization Legislation
Neutrality Act, 1935 Authorized the President to bar arms sales to warring
nations.
1936 Extended neutrality legislation Put limits on sales of arms to
belligerents
Cash and Carry a country had to pay cash for goods before they left our
shores
The country at war had to carry the goods on its own ships
Destroyer Base Deal

FDR Traded 50 old destroyers for the use of 8 British Naval bases
Legally tried to help the Allies secure supplies

Lend- Lease

US would lend or lease whatever war supplies we could make

Supplies sent to any nation President considered vital to defense of the US

Atlantic Charter

FDR & Churchill met wanted a better future for the world
US & GB - were seeking No territorial gain
o Real reason for meeting Churchill wanted American Troops to join.
FDRs answer is No

Effects of the war on 1940 Election

Republican Nominee Wendell L Willkie

Opposed the New Deal
Democratic nominee FDR
Both wanted to aid GB

FDR Won
First Person elected President for 3rd term

The Battlefield is everywhere

New Warfare: Blitzkrieg - lightening war new strategy

Depended heavily on air power; struck like lightening from the sky
Used the fastest new vehicles
Airplanes, tanks, trucks, motorcycles
Struck quickly at the heart of enemy territory, overwhelming them
1940 In England Winston Churchill became Prime Minister

US Prepares for war

FDR warned the US to rearm

Wanted billions of dollars to create a two ocean Navy
Also, size of the air force greatly increased.

Battle of the Atlantic

German Submarine wolf packs sunk tons of allied supplies

Main years: 1942 1943
Subs had to be beaten, and soon
Radar and sonar were invented; both could destroy subs

Japanese American Relations

1931 1940 Japanese military aggression was militarily unopposed by the
US
1940 Japan became a partner of Germany and Italy
Japan attacked and expanded through China July 1941
US Response: Embargo on all trade with Japan
US and Japan met; striking Point: China
Japan wanted US to cut off aid to Chinese
US Demanded Jap withdraws from China
Japan had a choice: Give up dreams of an empire or go to war, they chose
war.
America at War
Attack on Pearl Harbor

Sunday, Dec 7, 1941 : Japan attacked the air field and naval seat of Pearl
Harbor
Surprise Attack 180 Am warplanes destroyed (120 Crippled), 18 naval
vessels were sunk or heavily damaged
More than 70 civilians and 2403 servicemen were killed
1177 crew men of the USS Arizona died in the attack
Next Day FDR Japans Day of Infamy plunged the US into war.

War on the Homefront

Selective Service

Draft was started in 1940

By Pearl Harbor 1.6 Million in army
Millions more volunteered as a result of the attack

Internment of Japanese Americans

March 1942 close to 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up and

confined to camps
Were placed in camps because of the threat of possible acts of espionage and
sabotage

Wartime Agencies

1940 Industry : Just emerging from Depression

1942 American Production Equal to Ger., Italy, & Japan combined
1944 Production was double of Ger., Ita, & Jap combined
During WWII, the Govt regulated industry and controlled the economy to
achieve maximum production and efficiency
Full employment Isolation occurred

Roles of Women and minorities

Women

1945 258,000 women were serving in the armed forces.

18 million were part of the American Wo Force
Women were needed as workers
Took a wide variety of jobs in industry
Ex. Shipyards, airplane factories, ammunitions factories, railyards, truck
drivers, etc.

Minorities

About 1 million African American served in WWII

African-Am served in segregated units in the early stages of WWII
Many African Am migrated to industrial areas (cities) for jobs
Over 500,000 Latino-Am served & were not segregated

Conservation and Rationing

Rationing was used to assure availability of scarce items to all citizens

Individuals received coupons for a share of the rationed items
The US & allies needed everything the US could produce

American Strategy
Get Hitler First

o If Germany won in Europe, US would face aggressor nations alone

Second Front
o Russia wanted a land in Europe
o Wanted Allies to invade lands held by Axis Powers
o Instead, July 1942, allies decided to invade North Africa
Invasion of North Africa
o Germany Led by desert fox General Erwin Rommel
o British Led by General Bernard Montgomery
o Montgomerys army broke through Rommels Africa Korps: Nov 4,
1942
o US and British force struck from west and north Nov 8, 1942
Invasion of Italy
o July 10, 1943 250,000 US and British troops land on Sicilian coastline
o Germans escaped to the Italian Mainland
o Italians sick of war; Mussolini Forces to resign
o Allied Troops tied up thousands of German troops; weakened them
elsewhere
Control of the Air
o British US forces heavily bombed Germany, but used different
strategies
o British Saturation Bombing Bombed whole areas
o US Pinpoint bombing attacked in day light; could focus bombs on
crucial factories
Attack on the European Continent

D-Day
o US and GBs invasion of France
o Objective; 2nd Front in Europe
o Directed by American General Dwight D Eisenhower, Supreme
Commander of Allied Forces in Western Europe
o June 6, 1944 D-Day Invasion began
Conditions needed: low tide, half moon, good weather, morning
invasion
o D-Day code name: Operation Overlord
Atlantic Wall
o Allies- achieved a tactical surprise; landings were a success
o Secured beachhead one of the greatest tallied achievements of the
war
o Generals Montgomery (Britain) and Eisenhower lead allied forces
through Europe towards Germany

Reconquest of France
By the end of July, 1944 the allies controlled 1500 Sq. Miles of France
Paris Liberated on Aug 25, 1944
By Mid-Sept all of France had been cleared of Germans
Destruction in Cain France -July 1944

FDR elected to 4th Term

WWII taking its toll on FDRs Health
Battle of Germany

Dec 16, 1944 Battle of the Bulge Germany final bid to break the Allies
Germans penetrated 60 miles creating a bulge in the allied lines
Foul weather aided the Germans
Patton and Montgomery stopped he advancing Germans
By the end of Jan the Bulge was pinched off
German Losses 120,000 of their best remaining men
It was also the single most costly American Battle of the war

Yalta Conference

President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta to discuss the Nazi
surrender
Stalin tough and clear bargainer
Most of Stalins promises were lies
Western Democracies needed Stalins armies

Death of FDR
Worn down by wartime burdens
Died April 12, 1945
Collapse of Germany

March 1945 allies were closing in US and GB from west, Russia from east
Churchill Shake hands with the Russians as far east as possible.
Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker
May 8, 1945, - Germany surrendered, celebrated as V-E Day

The War in the Pacific

Extent of Japanese Conquests:

Controlled a 4,500 mile area of the Pacific

Allied policy in Pacific Active Defense

Island Hopping

General MacArthur & Admiral Nimitz Commander of the Allied Forces in the
Pacific
The Allies invaded strategic islands, and by passed others.
May 3-8, 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea result: Draw
First Naval Battle where the opposing ships never saw one another
June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway US victory
Japans first great naval defeat; big turning point
Aug 7, 1942 Battle for Guadalcanal US Victory
o Our troops first exposure to land battle with the Japanese

o The fighting was severe and brutal the Japanese would not surrender
October20, 1944 Re-conquest of the Philippines begins.
o Led by MacArthur, The US crushes the Japanese and knocks their navy
out of the war
o Feb Mar 1945 Iwo Jima (650 Miles from Tokyo) US Victory _
Operation Detachment
o Goal secure airfield
o Heavy losses: 6821 US Deaths
o Flag raised: Mt Suribachi
Mar 9-10 Tokyo Firebombing Operation Meetinghouse
Targeted Industrial sites, but was a very populated area
Utilized 334B-29 super fortress airplanes
100,000 died in the attack, 1 million homeless
April June 1945 Okinawa US Victory
Brutal fighting Japan, considered it a home island
12,513 Americans died

The Atomic Bomb

Developed after Germans and Italians surrendered; Manhattan Project

The Little Boy and the Fat Man
Potsdam Declaration (Ultimatum)
o Allies warned the Japanese: the alternative to surrender is prompt
and utter destruction
August 6, 1945 Atomic Bomb is dropped on Hiroshima
o The Little Boy
August 9, 1945 the Atomic Bomb is dropped on Nagasaki
o The Fat Man
V-J Day August 14, 1945