The Second World War (WWII)

FDRs Foreign Policy

Recognition of the Soviet Union

1933 - Granted diplomatic recognition the Soviet Union

U.S. - Desired foreign trade
Philippine Independence

Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934)

Promised the Philippines complete independence within a decade
The Good Neighbor Policy

U.S. - Would be the neighbor who respects himself and the rights of others
Became the label for his Latin America 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 (Northern China)

1937 - Attack China
Rape of Nanking
December 12, 1937
U.S. gunboat Panay - sunk by Japanese on Yangtze River
- 3 dead, 43 injured
Italians in Africa

 1935 - Italy invaded Ethiopia

Dreamed of another Italian empire
Leader - Benito Mussolini II Duce
Abolished democracy, destroyed liberty
- All on the promise of jobs and glory
German Expansion

Germany
Building enormous new army, making weapons at frightening speed, and menacing
neighbors

March 1936 - Militarization of Rhineland

March 1938 - Seized Austria
Sept. 1928 - 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 - Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
Rise of Isolationism in the United States

Most govt. officials and citizens in the 1920s were isolationists

Felt U.S. should avoid alliances and agreements with other nations
Nye committee - Investigated U.S. entry into WWI
Findings

- International bankers drew U.S. into WWI

- Munitions industry - Pressed for American entry into war
Isolation dominated U.S. foreign policy in 1930s
Neutral Legislation

Neutrality Act, 1935

Authorized the President to bar arms sales to warring nations
1936 - Extended neutrality legislation - put limits on sale 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 allies secure supplies
Lend-Lease

U.S. would lend or lease whatever war supplies we could make

Supplies sent to any nation President considered vital to defense of the U.S.

Atlantic Charter

FDR and Churchill met - -Wanted a better future for the world
U.S. and Great Britain - Were seeking no territorial gain
Real reason for the 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 Great Britain
FDR won
First person elected President for the third term
The Battlefield is Everywhere

New Warfare: Blitzkrieg

Lightning Warfare - Hitlers new strategy
Depended heavily on air power
Used the fastest new vehicles
Airplanes, tanks, trucks, motorcycles
Struck quickly at the heart of enemy territory, overwhelming them

1940 - In England - Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister

U.S. Prepared for War

FDR warned the U.S. to rearm

Wanted billions of dollars to create a two-ocean navy
Also, size of the airfare greatly increased
Battle of the Atlantic

German submarine wolf pack 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
Jap. military aggression was militarily unopposed by the U.S.
1940 - Japan became a partner of Germany and Italy
Japan attacked and expanded through China - July 1941
U.S. response
Embargo on all trade with Japan
U.S. and Japan met; Sticking Point: China
Japan - Wanted U.S. to cut off aid with Chinese
Japan - Demanded Jap. withdraw from China
Japan had a choice:
Give up dream of an empire or go to war
- They chose WAR

POST QUIZ 2/9

America At War - Attack on Pearl Harbor

Sunday Dec. 7, 1941

Japan attacked the airfield and naval base at Pearl Harbor
Surprise attack - 180 american warplanes destroyed (120 crippled), 18 naval vessels were
sunk or heavily damaged

More than 70 civilian and 2403 servicemen were killed

 1177 crewmen of the USS Arizona died in the attack

Next day - FDR - Japans Day of Infamy plunged the U.S. into war
War on the Home Front
Selective Service

Draft was started in 1940

By Pearl Harbor - 1.6 million in army
Millions more volunteered as a result of the attack
Interment of Japanese Americans

March 1942
Close to 120,000 Jap. 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: emerging from depression

1942 - American production: Equal to Ger., It., and Jap. combined
1944 - Production was double of Ger., It., Jap. combined
During WWII, the govt. regulated industry and controlled the econ. to achieve maximum
production and efficiency

Full employment - Inflation occurred

Role of Women and Minorities
Women

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

18 million were part of the American workforce
Women needed as workers

 Took a wide variety of jobs in industry

Shipyards, airplane factories, rail yards, truck drivers, etc.
Minorities

About 1 million African-Americans server in WWII

African-Am. Server in segregated units in the early stages of WWII
Many African-Am. migrated to industrial areas (cities) for jobs
Over 500,000 Latino-Americans served and 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 and allies needed everything the US could produce
American Strategy
Get Hitler First

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

Second Front

Russians wanted a second front in Europe

Wanted to invade lands held by Axis Powers
Instead, July 1942
Allies decided to invade North Africa
Invasion of North Africa

Germany
Led by Desert Fox General Erwin Rommel
British
Led by Gen. Bernard Montgomery

 Montgomerys army broke through Rommels Africa Korps: Nov. 4 1942

US and British Force struck from west to north - Nov. 8 1942
Invasion of Italy

July 10, 1943 - 250,000 US and British troops land on Sicilian coastlines
Germans
Escaped to the Italian mainland
Italians
Sick of war; Mussolini - forced to resign
Allied troops - Tied up with thousands of German troops; weakened them elsewhere
Control of the Air

British and US forces heavily bombed Germany, but used different strategies
British - Saturation Bombing - Bombed whole areas
US - Pinpoint Bombing - Attacked in daylight; could focus bombs on crucial factories
Attack on the European Continent
D-Day

US and Great Britains invasion of France

Objective: 2nd Front in Europe
Directed by American Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in
Western Europe

June 6, 1944 - D-Day invasion began

Conditions Needed: low tide, half moon, good weather, morning invasion

D-Day Code Name: Operation Overload

Allies - Achieved a tactical surprise; landings were a success
Secured beachhead - One of the greatest Allied achievements of the war

 Generals Montgomery (Britain) and Eisenhower Allied forces through Europe towards
Germany
Re-conquest of France

By the end of July, 1944 the Allies controlled 1500 Sq. mi. of France
Paris - Liberated on Aug. 25, 1944
By mid-Sept. all of France had been cleared of Germans

FDR

Elected 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 the advancing Germans
By the end of Jan. the Bulge was pinched off
German losses - 120,000 of their best remaining men
Also the most costly battle of the war for Americans
Yalta Conference

Pres. Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta to discuss the Nazi surrender
Stalin - Tough and clever bargainer
Most of Stalins promises were lies
Western democracies - Needed Stalins armies

Death of FDR

Worn down by wartime burdens, health continued to decline

Died April 12, 1945 while resting in Warm Springs, Georgia
The nation grieved
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 west as possible.
The War in the Pacific
Extent of Japanese Conquests:

Controlled a 4500 mile are of the Pacific

Allied policy in the Pacific - Active defense

Island Hopping

General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz - Commanders of Allied Forces in the Pacific
The Allies invaded strategic islands, and bypassed 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; a big turning point
Aug. 7, 1942 - Battle for Guadalcanal - US Victory
Our troops first exposure to land battle with the Japanese

 The fighting was fierce and brutal - the Japanese would not surrender
October 20, 1944 - Re-conquest of the Philippians begin
Led by MacArthur, the US crushes the Japanese and knocks their navy out of the war
Feb. - March. 1945 - Iwo Jima (650 miles from Tokyo) - US Victory - Operation Detachment
Goal - Secure Airfield
Heavy losses: 6821 US deaths
Flag raised: Mt. Suribachi
March 9-10 - Tokyo Firebombing - Operation Meetinghouse
Targeted Industrial sites, but was very populated area
Utilized 334 B-29 Superfortress 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

Potsdam Declaration (Ultimatum)
Allies warned the Japanese:
- The alternative to surrender is prompt and utter destruction.
August 6, 1945 - A bomb is dropped on Hiroshima
August 9, 1945 - Bomb dropped on Nagasaki
V-J Day - August 14, 1945