James A.

Henretta David Brody

America: A Concise History

Fourth Edition
CHAPTER 25 The World at War 19391945

Copyright 2010 by Bedford/St. Martins

Introduction
The Second World War was the largest single event in human history, fought across six of the worlds seven continents and all of its oceans. It killed fifty million human beings, left hundreds of millions of others wounded in mind or body and materially devastated much of the heartland of civilization John Keegan, military historian.
(p.731)

Introduction
The conflict began in 1939 with a blitzkrieg (lightening war) of German tanks on the plains of Poland. It ended in 1945 when American planes dropped two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Soldiers and civilians danced in the streets around Times Square in New York in August 1945.
(p.731)

The Kiss
Soldiers and civilians danced in the streets around Times Square in New York in August 1945.

(p.731)

Battle of Stalingrad

The Final Solution

The Road to War

The Rise of Fascism Isolationists Versus Interventionists Retreat from Isolationism The Attack on Pearl Harbor

The Road to War

The Great depression disrupted economic life around the world and the collapse of traditional institutions. An antidemocratic movement known as fascism developed in Italy in the 1920s and spread to Japan, Germany and Spain. These nations instituted authoritarian militaristic governments led by dictators: Hitler, Mussolini, Franco and after 1940, Hideki Tojo in Japan.
(p.732)

The Rise of Fascism

League of Nations was weak. 1931, Japanese troops occupied Manchuria. 1937, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China. Italian Fascism: A dictatorship of the state over many classes cooperating. 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia. 1933, Hitler became chancellor of Germany. His goal was European domination.
(p.732)

Hitlers goal of world domination

Hitlers dream of world domination included
the overturn of the terms of the Versailles treaty. the removal of inferior races from Europe. the annexation of large portions of Eastern Europe.

Hitler began to rearm Germany in violation of the Versailles treaty. 1936, he sent troops into the Rhineland.
(p.733)

Isolationists Versus Interventionists

Roosevelt focused on consolidating American influence in the Americas. Cordell Hull implemented a Good Neighbor Policy, the U.S. renounced the use of military force in Latin A. 1934, Congress repealed the Platt Amendment in Cuba. However, the U.S. kept the naval base in Guantanamo. Americans and Congress resisted political entanglements. Disillusion.

(p.733)

Congress seeks neutrality

In 1934, Senator Gerald Nye (ND) investigated munitions profits WWI and concuded that the merchants of death had maneuvered the nation into WWI. In the 1930s, congressional involvement in U.S. foreign policy sought to prevent a repeat of U.S. involvement in World War I. Some Americans felt that the country must resist fascism in Europe.
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Isolationists Versus Interventionists

The American Communist Party peaked at around 100,000 members in the U.S. between 1935 and 38. The major aim of communist paper was the Daily Worker. The communists were supported by AfroAmericans, blue collar workers and many intellectuals.
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The Popular Front

The Soviet Union felt threatened by German and Japanese aggression. The Soviets instructed communist leaders in Europe and the United States to seek alliances in a Popular Front against fascist regimes. The Popular Front strategy was highlighted in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Russia joined France and Britain in supporting the Spanish Republic while Germany and Italy supported Francos military rebellioin.
(p.734)

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Republicans depended heavily on foreign volunteers such as the 3,200-strong American Abraham Lincoln brigade. American intellectuals strongly supported the Spanish Republicans but came increasingly uncomfortable with the rigidity of the their communist associates in the Popular Front. Hitler was encouraged by the perception of passivity of the allies of the Spa Republicans. Sudentenland 1938.

(p.734)

The Spanish Civil War

August 1939, Hitler shocked the world by signing an Nonaggression agreement with Stalin. Stalins tie to Hitler damaged the international prestige of the communist party. Sept. 1, 1939 Hitler launched an invasion of Poland. Two days later Britain and France announced in the U.S. war against Germany 2 days later.
(p.734)

Retreat from Isolationism

The majority of Americans (84%) supported Britain and France rather than Germany. But most Americans did not want to be drawn into another war. Charles Liimbergh and Senator Gerald Nye formed the America First Committee to keep the nation out of the war. Despite their efforts, in 1940, the United States moved closer to war.
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Retreat from Isolationism

Sept. 1939, Germany conquered Poland. April 9, 1940, Germany overran Denmark, Norway. Next fell the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. June 22, France surrendered. Great Britain stood alone against Hitlers plans for domination of Europe. Time magazine: Americans thousand step path to war.
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Retreat from Isolationism

The presidential campaigns of Roosevelt and Willkie in 1940 both emphasized aiding the Allies but not getting American forces involved. Jan. 1941, Roosevelt convinced Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act. June 1941, Hitler abandoned his nonaggression pact with Stalin. The unofficial entrance of the U.S. into the war.
(p.736)

The Atlantic Charter

August 1941, Roosevelt met in person with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and their joint press release became known as the Atlantic Charter and provided the ideological foundation of the Western cause. The Charter supported free trade, national selfdetermination, and collective security. By Sept. 1941, Nazi U-boats and the American navy were attacking one another in the Atlantic.
(p.736)

Attack on Peal Harbor

1930s, Japanese aggression in China had gradually closed the open-door policy that had allowed European and American trade and investment. 1937, after Japans invasion, Roosevelt denounced the Japanese violence. The U.S. refused to intervene when Japanese sacked the city of Nanking and massacred 300,000 Chinese and raped thousands of women.
(p.736)

Attack on Peal Harbor

The imperial ambitions of Japanese military officers expanded. 1940, General Hideki Tojo became the War Minister. Tojo concluded a formal alliance with Germany and Italy. With the support of Emperor Hirohito, the goal was to form a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, run by Japan from Indonesia to Korea. July 1941, Japan occupied Indochina. Oct. 1941, Tojo became Prime Minister.
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Attack on Peal Harbor

Dec. 7, 1941, The Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor galvanized the American public into a determination to fight. FDR, Pearl Harbor Address Day of Infamy Similar to the effect of September 11, 2001. The Senate voted unamimously for war. The House voted 388 to 1 for war. The lone vote was Jeanette Rankin of Montana who also opposed WW1.
(p.737)

Organizing for Victory

Financing the War Mobilizing the American Fighting Force Workers and the War Effort Politics in Wartime

WINSTON CHURCHILL, FINEST HOUR http://youtu.be/G4BVzYGeF0M

Organizing for Victory

The task of fighting a global war brought a dramatic increase in the power of the federal government. Civilian manufacturing had to be changed over to military production. Cooperation between business executives and political leaders was necessary. Many historians refer to the changes in this period as the beginning of the Imperial Presidency.

(p.737)

Financing the War

Dec. 1941, The War Powers Act was passed, greatly expanding the power of the President and the government. Defense mobilization ended the Great Depression. The government paid for military expenditures by raising taxes and borrowing money. The Revenue Act of 1942 expanded the number of taxpayers from 4 million to 42.6 million!
(p.738)

Financing the War

The number of civilians employed by the government increased fourfold. The Roosevelt admin relied less on New Deal reformers and more on business executives. In some instances the government offered costplus contracts guaranteeing profit. The Kaiser shipyards in Richmond, CA applied Henry Fords methods of mass production to building ships. The Kaiser shipyards pioneered corporate welfare programs for workers.

(p.738)

Financing the War

The Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program founded in 1942, provided subsidized, prepaid health care for workers and families. It continues to today. American industry produced 86,000 tanks; 296,000 aircraft; fifteen million rifles and machine guns; 64,000 landing craft; and 6,500 cargo ships and naval vessels.
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Financing the War

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Mobilizing the U.S. Fighting Force

During WWII, the armed forces of the U.S. enlisted more than 15 million men and women. The draft board registered 31 million men between 18 and 44 but half of them failed to meet the physical standards. The military continued to segregate the approximately 700,000 African-Americas in the armed forces. Native and Mexican Americans were not segregated.
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Mobilizing the U.S. Fighting Force

Approximately 350,000 women enlisted in the armed services. 140,000 were army WACS (Womens Army Corp) 100,000 served as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). 1000 WASPs (Womens Airforce Service Pilots) ferried plans and supplies in noncombat areas.
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Workers and the war effort

As millions of working age citizens joined the military, the nation faced a critical labor shortage. Defense created 7 million new jobs. At the beginning of the war women made up 24% of the work forceby the end, women were 36% of the workers. The shortage also created employment opportunities for blacks.
(p.740)

Workers and the war effort

During the war, workers and unions extended the gains made during the New Deal. 1945: almost 15 million workers belonged to a union, up for 9 million in 1939. The government established the National War Labor Board (NWLB) composed of representatives of labor, management and the public. The NWLB established wages, hours and working conditions.

(p.741)

Workers and the war effort

The policies of labor unions during the war resulted in public hostility to some labor leaders. 1943, John L. Lewis led half a million United Mine Workers out on strike. Lewis tactics won concessions but alienated many Americans and made him an unpopular public figure. The Smith-Connally Labor Act of 1943.
(p.741)

Workers and the war effort

Some black workers pointed to parallels between anti-Semitism in Germany and racial discrimination in the U.S. 1941, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 prohibiting discrimination because of race, creed, color or national origin. The League of United Latin American Citizens was the hispanic counterpart to the NAACP.
(p.741)

African Americans and the war effort

The NAACP grew ninefold to 450,000 members by 1945. James Farmer of Chicago founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). These efforts laid the groundwork for the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.

(p.743)

Politics in wartime
There were few attempts to promote progressive social reform during WWII. Roosevelt ended several New Deal work programs due to full employment. 1944, in the State of the Union address, FDR called for a second bill of rights which would guarantee Americans access to education, jobs, food and clothing and decent housing and medical care.
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Politics in wartime
The President sought to reinvigorate the New Deal political coalition in the elections of 1944. Party leaders, concerned about FDRs health, dropped Henry Wallace from the ticket and replaced him with Harry S. Truman of Missouri. The Republicans nominated Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York.
(p.744)

Politics in wartime
Dewey was known for his approval of the use of torture in interrogations against the Mafia. He supported the general principles of welfare state liberalism, and internationalism in foreign affairs. The majority of voters preferred continuity, giving Roosevelt 53.5 percent of the vote. The Democratic coalition stood triumphant, the era of Republican dominance (18961932) was over.
(p.744)

Life on the Home Front

For the Duration Migration and Social Conflict Civil Rights During Wartime

Life on the Home Front

The United States escaped the physical destruction that ravaged Europe and East Asia, but the war changed the life of its citizens. Americans welcomed wartime prosperity. However, many Americans suffered the grief of war-time casualties. Citizens also grumbled about annoying regulations and rationing but accepted it as a necessity.

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Popular Culture: movies

Popular culture such as movies reinforced connections between the home front and the war effort.
Guadalcanal Diary (1943) Anthony Quinn Thirty Seconds over Tokyo (1945) S. Tracy. Casablanca (1943) Humphrey Bogart. Since You Went Away (1943) Claudette Colbert

Ave. weekly movie attendance soared to over 100 million.

(p.745)

Wartime prosperity
20 million backyard victory gardens produced 40% of the nations vegetables. The war time brought prosperity.
Defense spending ended the depression, Unemployment had vanished. Per capita income doubled.

The only major inconvenience was the shortage of consumer goods. There was a scarcity of rubber due to Japanese conquests of Malaysia.
(p.745)

Migration and Social Conflict

15 million Americans changed residences during the war years, half of them moving to another state. California bore the brunt of defense production for the Pacific War. The state welcomed nearly three million new residents. Over one million African Americans migrated from the South to OH, MI, IL, CA, and PA
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Migration and Social Conflict

This continued the Great Migration of earlier in the century. As migrant blacks and whites competed for jobs and housing, racial conflict broke out in 47 cities during 1943. The worst violence was in Detroit in June 1943 which left 34 people dead and hundreds injured. Racial conflict took place in the West as well. Zoot suits, in Los Angeles among Hispanic pachuco (youth) gangs.
(p.747)

Civil Rights During Wartime

These outbreaks of social violence were severe but limited. Unlike WWI, which evoked harassment of German Americans, the mood on the home front was generally calm. Racial and ethnic tension in the United States during the war complicated an otherwise calm mood.

(p.748)

Civil Rights During Wartime

The internment of Japanese aliens and Japanese American citizens was a glaring exception of this record of tolerance. As residents began to fear attacks, spies and sabatoge, Californias long record of racial animosity toward Asian immigrants came into play. There were only about 112,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast.
(p.748)

Civil Rights During Wartime

The policy of Japanese internment was influenced by:
the political weakness of the small Japanese communities. fears of the West Coasts vulnerability to Japanese attack. local anti-Japanese sentiment expressed in newspapers and by politicians.

Congress issues a public apology in 1988 and awarded $20,000 to each of the 80,000 surviving Japanese-Americans.
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Fighting and Winning the War Wartime Aims and Tensions The War in Europe The War in the Pacific Planning the Postwar World

Fighting and Winning the War

WWII was, literally, a war for control of the world. Had the Axis won, Germany would have dominated all of Europe and much of Africa. Japan would have controlled most of East Asia. The United States went to war to prevent this outcome. The U.S. extended aid to Britain in 1939, economic warfare against Germany and Japan in 1940-41, and military war in 1942-45.
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Wartime Aims and Tensions

Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union were the key actors in the Allied coalition. China, France and others played lesser roles. The Big Three set military strategy and diplomatic policy. The Atlantic Charter, of August 1941, set out the Anglo-American vision of the postwar international order.
(p.749)

Wartime Aims and Tensions

The first major disagreement among the Allies related to military strategy and timing. Germany advanced to the outskirts of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad before being halted by the Soviet army in 1942. Stalin pleaded for the Allies to quickly open a second front against Germany in France but U.S. war production was not ready. The long delay angered Stalin and made him suspicious.
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The War in Europe

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Allies suffered one defeat after another.
Germany pushed deep into Soviet territory. Germans began an offensive in North Africa aimed at capturing the Suez Canal. German submarines relentlessly attacked American convoys carrying oil and supplies to Britain and the Soviet Union.
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The War in Europe

Over the winter of 1942-1943, the tide began to turn in favor of the allies. In the Battle of Stalingrad, Soviet forces decisively halted the German advance, killing or capturing 330,000 German soldiers. The Battle of Stalingrad was the key turning point of the war. Enemy at the Gates Jude Law, Ed Harris (2001)
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The War in Europe

The Allied command followed Churchills strategy of attacking the Axis through its soft underbelly: Sicily and the Italian peninsula. The Italian king ousted Benito Mussolinis Fascist regime in July 1943. German troops took command of Italy and resisted the Allied invasion. American and British troops took Rome only in June 1944. Churchills southern strategy proved a timeconsuming and costly mistake.
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D-Day
June 6, 1944, D-Day The long-awaited invasion of France. The largest armada ever assembled crossed the English Channel under the command of Dwight Eisenhower. After terrible casualties, more than 1.5 million soldiers and thousands of tons of military supplies and equipment flowed into France. August, Allied troops liberated Paris. Sept. Germans were driven out of most of France and Belgium. (p.751)

The Battle of the Bulge

December 1944,The Germans mounted a final counter offensive in Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge before being pushed back across the Rhine River into Germany. April 30, 1945, Russian troops massed outside Berlin and Hitler committed suicide. May 8, Germany formally surrendered. As Allied troops advanced into Poland and Germany in the Spring of 1945, they became aware of Hitlers final solution of the Jewish question.

(p.751)

The War in Europe

Nazi persecution of the German Jews was widely known in the United States. Nevertheless, the U.S. refused to relax its strict immigration policy to take them in. This was exclusionist policy was due to widespread anti-semitism in the State Department. Taking a narrow view of national interest, only 21,000 Jewish refugees were allowed enter the U.S. during the war. (p.752)

 The Living Dead

When Allied troops advanced into Germany in the spring of 1945, they came face to face with what had long been rumored: concentration camps, Adolf Hitler's "final solution of the Jewish question." In this picture from Wobbelin concentration camp, which had been liberated by the 82nd Airborne Division of the 9th U.S. Army, emaciated inmates are being taken to a hospital. In the days before the camp was liberated, 1,000 of the 5,000 prisoners had been allowed to starve to death. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The War in the Pacific

Winning the war against Japan was even more difficult than defeating Germany. By May 1942, they had forced the surrender of American forces in the Philippines and, in the Bataan death march had allowed the deaths of 10,000 American prisoners of war. Two crucial victories: The Battle of Coral Sea. The Battle of Midway inflicted serious damage on the Japanese fleet.

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The War in the Pacific

The American military offensive in the Pacific was led by General Douglas MacAurthur and Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Following the Battle of Midway, American forces began a slow advance toward Japan. On October 1944, the reconquest of the Philippines began with the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a massive naval encounter in which the Japanese lost almost the entire fleet.
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Oct. 1944 Leyte Gulf

History Channel Battle 360 E9 Battle of Leyte Gulf Part 1/6

Victory At Sea - The Battle For Leyte Gulf - Episode 19 (26 mins)

Planning the Postwar World

As the allies moved toward victory, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Feb. 1945 at Yalta, a resort on the Black Sea. Roosevelt was focused on maintaining Allied unity, which he saw as key to postwar peace. Churchill and Roosevelt disagreed over Independence for India. Mahatma Gandhi led the movement for Indian independence.
(p.757)

Planning the Postwar World

A more serious disagreement was with the Soviet Union over central and eastern Europe. Stalin demanded pro-Soviet governments for Poland and neighboring countries. Roosevelt pressed for a promise of free elections. The 3 leaders agreed to divide Germany into 4 zones of occupation and to partition Berlin.
(p.757)

Planning the Postwar World

The Big Three also agreed to establish an international body to replace the discredited League of Nations. The United Nations would have a Security Council composed of major allied powers:
United States Soviet Union Britain France China

Plus six other nations elected on a rotating basis.

(p.757)

Planning the Postwar World

Roosevelt returned to the U.S. visibly exhausted by his 14,000 mile trip. April 12, 1945, Roosevelt died in Georgia. VP Harry S. Truman assumed the presidency. Truman only learned about the Manhattan Project when he became president. Roosevelt had launched the project secretly in 1942 after being warned that the Germans were also working on developing an Atomic Bomb
(p.757)

The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project cost $2 billon (about $24 billion in todays money) employed 120,000 people. It was kept hidden from Congress, the American people and from VP Truman. The first bomb was tested in Los Alamos, New Mexico on July 16, 1945. Bhagavad Gita, I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.
(p.757)

The bomb dropped

President Truman did not hesitate to order the Atomic bomb to be used in Japan. Hiroshima on August 6 (100,000 deaths) Nagasaki on August 9 (60,000 deaths). Administration officials believed that Japans military leaders would never surrender unless their country was utterly devastated, costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of American soldiers.
WORLD WAR 2 THE WAR IS OVER 1945 3 min.

(p.758)

Summary
The rise of fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan led to military expansionism in Europe, Africa and China. Initially the American public favored noninvolvement. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the nation into war. War mobilization greatly expanded the federal government.
(p.758)

Summary
It also boosted geographical and social mobility. Women, rural whites and blacks took up work in new defense plants. Government rules assisted the labor movement and the African American campaign for civil rights. Religious and racial animosity caused the exclusion of German Jewish refugees and the internment of 120,00 Japanese Americans.

(p.758)

Summary
Germany and Japan almost won the war in 1942 The allies took the offensive in 1943. The Soviets advanced in Europe and the U.S. navy advanced in the Pacific. The U.S. emerged from the war with an undamaged homeland, sole possesion of the atomic bomb and a series of unresolved disputes with the Soviet Union.
(p.758)

Chapter 25 The World at War 19391945

Map 25.1 World War II in Europe, 19411943 (p. 751) Map 25.2 World War II in Europe, 19441945 (p. 752) Map 25.3 World War II in the Pacific, 19411945 (p. 755) Fighting for Freedom at Home and Abroad, 1941 (p. 743) Zoot Suit Youth in Los Angeles (p. 747) The Big Three at Yalta (p. 756)

BBC "War of The Century": 1 of 20 BBC "War of The Century": 2 of 20 (Spring 1941) BBC "War of The Century": 3 of 20 BBC "War of The Century": 3 of 20 BBC "War of The Century" 7 of 20 (Battle of Moscow - 1942) BBC "War of The Century" 8 of 20 German occupation Ukraine. BBC "War of The Century" 9 of 20 Brutal video of executions by the partisans. BBC "War of The Century" 10 of 20 Brutal reprisals against refugees. BBC "War of The Century" 12 of 20 West bank Volga STALINGRAD BOMBARDMENT AUGUST 1942 BBC "War of The Century" 13 of 20 STALINGRAD continued