World War II: Causes and Start

• Study Notes: World War II

Depression Leads to War

• The Great Depression of the 1930s impacted the US and European countries.
• Dictators rose to power in many European countries.
• Military leaders in Germany, Italy, and Japan initiated wars of expansion.
• Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito were key figures.
• The Axis Powers were formed.

World War II Begins

• In 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
• England and France declared war on Germany, initiating WWII.
• Axis Powers quickly conquered neighboring countries in Europe and Southeast Asia.
• The Allied nations at war with the Axis Powers included England, China, France, and the Soviet Union.
• The U.S. was officially neutral but provided military equipment to the Allies through the "Lend-Lease Act".
• There was significant debate in the U.S. about joining the war with most against it, maintaining neutrality for 2 years.

U.S. Enters WWII

• America's neutrality ended on December 7, 1941, when Japanese planes bombed the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
• President Roosevelt requested Congress to declare war against Japan the following day.

Texans Respond

• Doris Miller, an African American sailor from Waco, received the Navy Cross for firing at Japanese airplanes during the Pearl Harbor attack.
• General Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) from Denison commanded Allied forces in Europe.
• Admiral Chester Nimitz of Fredericksburg commanded the Allied forces in the Pacific.
• Audie Murphy of Kingston received more medals than any other American and became a successful movie actor.
• The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was organized by Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby.
• Women's Air Service Pilots (WASPs) trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater and ferried aircraft.
• Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES) was an exclusive women's group for the U.S. Naval Reserve.

The Army Trains in Texas

• Texas's favorable climate, location between two coasts, and wide-open spaces made it ideal for military bases.
• More than 100 bases were built.
• Soldiers, sailors, and airmen came from everywhere to train.

Texas Prisoner of War Camps

• Thousands of captured German, Italian, and Japanese soldiers captured in battle were housed in more than 20 camps.
• Prisoners performed agricultural tasks.
• Some Japanese and German Americans were held in internment camps “for their own safety".

Industrial Production in Texas

• World War II depended heavily on tanks, ships, airplanes, gasoline, explosives, and other supplies.
• Texas had ample natural gas, water, timber, and sulfur, supplying 80% of the needed oil.
• From 1942-1944, Texas industries boomed, resulting in increased population growth.

An Allied Victory

• V-E Day was on May 9, 1945, "Victory in Europe".
• Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945.
• Nazi forces realized they were stretched too thin and surrendered.
• Allied forces entering Germany discovered the horrors of concentration camps where millions were killed in what would become known as the Holocaust.
• V-J Day was on August 15, 1945.
• On August 6, 1945, a U.S. B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, instantly killing around 80,000 people.
• Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, causing over 40,000 deaths.
• Roughly 100,000 more died from radiation poisoning.

Demobilization

• Airplane and ship plants either closed or started producing consumer goods.
• Women who worked in factories were generally fired so that returning servicemen could have their jobs.
• Farming had become mechanized and required fewer workers; most tenant farmers never returned to work on farms.

New Attitudes of Minorities

• Many African Americans and Mexican Americans realized the unfairness of fighting and dying for democracy and freedom when many of their civil rights were denied at home.
• Mexican American veterans joined LULAC, and others formed the American GI Forum of Texas, founded by Hector P. Garza in 1948.

Texans Return to Civilian Life

• After the war, servicemen returned to old jobs or went to college.
• In 1944, Congress passed the GI Bill of Rights to help veterans, including tuition for college, which made the US economy grew and prospered.
• There was an increase in marriages, resulting in the "baby boom" era.

Foreign Affairs

• Some U.S. troops stayed in Germany and Japan as armies of occupation.
• New threats emerged when the Soviet Union set up Communist dictatorships in several Eastern European nations.
• The U.S. was committed to stopping the spread of Communism and became involved in the Cold War.