The US in WWII PDF

The US in WWII     worldwide depression  demagogues  political leaders get support by appeal to desires & prejudices of ordinary people  play on national hatreds  fuel by old resentments & current despair  solutions...

The US in WWII     worldwide depression  demagogues  political leaders get support by appeal to desires & prejudices of ordinary people  play on national hatreds  fuel by old resentments & current despair  solutions - territorial expansion by military conquest   fascism  form far-right, authoritarian ultra-nationalism  dictatorial power  violent suppression opposition  regimentation society & econ    Michinomiya Hirohito  Adolph Hitler  Benito Mussolini  Francisco Franco  1st 3 imperial visions (create empire)        FDR preoccupied w / domestic  no plan deal w/ conflict elsewhere  majority oppose foreign entanglements    war Asia 1st  Jap lack natural resources (oil)  seize Ch province Manchuria (1931)  reprimand by League of Nations so withdrew fr org     took Nanking- murder 300k civilians  destroy city (Dec 13, 1931)  full scale invasion China (1937)  in yr, Jap control all but China’s W interior  threat Asia & Pacific    Germany - rise of authoritarian nationalism  fuel by hardship of Dep - end 1932, unemployment 43%  resent terms Treaty Versailles  fuel rise of demagogic mass movement  National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis)  led AH - combine militaristic rhetoric w/ racist doctrine  Aryan supremacy- bio superiority blond blue-eye of N Euro  non-Whs (Jews & Comms) degenerate races    AH became chancellor (Jan 1933)  backing of major industrialists & 1/3 electorate  promise return to pre-WWI status & glory  prepare for war  renounce disarmament in Treaty Versailles  form Brown Shirts  patrol streets quickly destroy opposition parties  made self dictator      Mussolini seize power Italy (1922)  invade Ethiopia (Oct ‘35)     AH sent 35k troops re-occupy Rhineland (Mar 1936)  removed in Treaty Versailles  Mussolini & AH form Axis Powers Alliance (Oct 25, 1936)  world rotate on Rome-Berlin Axis      Anti-Comintern Pact (sign Berlin – Nov 25, 1936)  Jap & Germ agree to combat influence of Comm International (Comintern, purpose world rev)  Italy join Nov 6, 1937    Italy & Germ support fascist insurrect of Gen Francisco Franco  Franco’s Nationalist forces (back by rt-wing militias, Cath Church, Germs & Itals) battle left-wing Republicans (aid by USSR & brigades foreign volunteers) in Spanish Civil War (1936-9)  Apr 1, 1939 -Franco receive unconditional surrender & took over Sp  then, military tribunals w/ tens thousands exec & imprison  Franco outlaw unions & all religion except Cath, ban Catalan & Basque languages, estab violent secret police    Sp initially declare neutral (but ideologically sympathetic to Hirohito, Hitler & Mussolini)  no formal alliance -but when WWII broke out, Franco sent 50k volunteers fight w/ Germs agst Soviets on E front & open Sp’s ports to Germ ships & subs    Munich Agreement - Br & Fr surprise world by agree @ conference in Munich allow Germs annex Sudetenland (part of Czech on Germ border)  AH promise stop territorial advance – Sept 30, 1938  policy appeasement didn’t work!    Hitler put into op plan secure Lebensraum (living space for Germ’s growing pop)  Germ troops march into his native Austria (Mar 12, 1938), next day Anschluss (declare Austria in union w/ Germ)  then AH turn to Czech - invade & occupy on Mar 15, 1939, breaking Munich Agreement (less 6 mths after sign)     by then, world aware horror AH’s regime, especially racist doctrine  AH publish notorious Nuremberg Laws (1935) - deny civil rts Jews - campaign agst became steadily more vicious  Kristallnacht (night broken glass) - Nazi storm troopers round up Jews, beat murder untold #. Smash windows Jewish shops, hospitals, orphanages, burn synagogues Nov 9, 1938      Nazi gov expropriate Jew property, exclude Jews fr all but menial employ  pressure by AH, Hungary & Italy enact laws agst Jews   isolationism  WWI left legacy strong isolationist sentiment in US - stay clear entangling alliances in Euro  Congr pass 3 neutrality acts (1935)  maj Amers agst intervention   German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact  enemies USSR & Nazi Germ surprise world by sign pact take no mil action agst ea other for next 10 yrs (Aug 23, 1939)  contain secret agreement - Sovs & Germs agree how later divide up E Euro  formalize Axis Powers alliance in Pact Steel (May 22 1939)       AH invade Poland (Sept 1, 1939) - 1 st use Luftwaffe  Br & Fr had commit by treaty defend Poland agst unprovoked attack  Br & Fr issue joint dec of war agst Germ – Sept 3, 1939  Warsaw, Poland fell (Sept 28, 1939)       Hitler calculate US would stay out  began crush offensive agst W Euro Apr 1940 – occupy Luxembourg (May 10), Netherlands (May 14), Belgium (end May)  Nazis use blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics –fast- moving columns of tanks support by air (speed & surprise)  Germs sent 338k Eng troops retreat across Eng Channel fr Dunkirk, Fr & occupy Dunkirk (June 4)       W Euro abandon by main defenders (Eng) - Germs swept thru rest Fr (join by Itals) – Paris fell June 14, 1940  Fr sign armistice w/ Nazis (June 22, 1940)  Germ annex N half Fr, other ½ in hands puppet Fr rulers Vichy Gov - coop w/ Germs short of war w/ Eng (anti- Semitic & anti-Comm)  AH turn to Eng (1940)      Nazis embark sustain bombing campaign agst Br  raids kill 43k civis, 8 mths, black-outs    US determine stay out war  Neutrality Act (1939) permit US sale arms to Br, Fr & Ch  US institute 1st peacetime draft in hist – Sept 1940  1.4 m in training camps 1941  Lend Lease Act – US pres could sell, exchange (w/o compensation) lease arms to any country whose defense vital to US security – pass Congr Mar 1941    Lend-Lease brought 1 step closer war b/c/o $  isolationist Sen Robt Taft (R) oppose –Lend- Lease bill “give pres power to carry on a kind of undeclared war all over the world, in which Amer would do everything except actually put soldiers in front-line trenches where fighting is”    after conquer Balkans, AH void Germ-Sov Nonaggression Pact, turned on Stalin - resume quest take rest of Euro – relief to Br as he turn E  promised rich agr land Ukraine to Germ farmers – Euro’s bread basket  Nazis invade USSR – Operation Barbarossa (June 22, 1941) - largest invasion force in hist, complete surprise  by mid-July, Germs 200 m fr Moscow       FDR froze Jap assets in US & cut off oil supply  Dec 7, 1941 - Jap carriers launch attack on Pacific fleet @ Pearl Harbor - caught US forces off guard  w/in 2 hrs, Jap pilots destroy 200 planes & damage fleet - 2,400 Amers kill, 1200 wound  same day - Jap struck US bases Philip, Guam & Wake Island         Tripartite Pact - Jap formally join Germ & Italy as Axis Powers (then Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria) Sept 27, 1940  Jap occupied N of Fr Indochina July 1941 (under Vichy Fr) – object cut rail & supply lines to Ch  Jap already control maj Ch ports – Indochina resources – rice, rubber, tin, zinc (war materials)     FDR to Congr “Yesterday, Dec 7, 1941 a date which will live in infamy…the USA was suddenly & deliberately attacked by the naval & air forces of Empire of Japan…”  1 dissenting vote, Congr approve pres’s request dec of war -Dec 8, 1941  Jap (& allies Germ & Italy) declare war on US – Dec 11, 1941   women enter war  support Congr creating Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC May 1942) later Women’s Army Corps (WAC)  later, other bills estab women’s division Navy (WAVES), AF (WASP) & MC reserves (smaller #s) – 350 k women served    considered civil service employees w/o mil status  paid less (50%)  mil policy prohib women fr supervising males even in offices      burst prosperity brought by wartime production  women work positions previously closed – aviation ind greatest increase female workers (65% in 1943 compare to 1% pre-war)     1st yrs of declared war, Allies on defensive  Hitler held Euro continent & pound Eng w/ aerial bombardments while driving into USSR & across N Afr  Jap had attack Pearl Harbor & main US base Philips & demolish 1/2 AF command by Douglas MacArthur (commander US Army forces in Far E)     Mac retreat to Bataan Peninsula (province of Philip) - Jap practically seized Pacific  fled Australia promising “I shall return”  Philip fell to Jap - May 1942   advantages Allies  nat’l resources, skilled workforce w/ reserves to accelerate prod of weapons & ammo  determination of anti-fascists across Euro & Asia  capacity of USSR endure immense losses   tactics  weapons, tactics radically diff fr WWI (immobile armies, trenches, bursts machine gun fire)  war offensive maneuvers punctuated by surprise attacks, chief weapons- tanks & planes so combine mobility & concentrated firepower – artillery & explosives imp  maj improvements in communication (2- way radio transmission could stay in contact w/ leaders)      Br Royal AF fought Luftwaffe to standstill @ Battle of Britain (July – Oct 1940)  AH couldn’t invade Eng (summ & fall 1940) – saved Eng fr ground occup & proved air power alone could be used to win maj battle  AH diverted troops to support Mussolini’s weak army in N Afr & Greece    AH turn to USSR (summ 1941) hoping invade & conquer before US enter war  part of Op Barbarossa Nazis surround Leningrad extended siege (began Sept 1941)    early on, AH overran Red Army kill / capture 3 m, maj never return & deliberately cause 1000s die fr exposure / starvation  Germ offensive @ Battle Moscow (began Oct 2, 1941) to capture capital vital to AH, want cut heart out Russia -initial Nazi success but…  didn’t count on Sov civi resistance – rallied, cut Germ supply lines & sent all resources to troops concentrate just outside Moscow – Nazis stalled    Soviet winter counteroffensive caught freezing Nazis off guard, push back – force Germs into war attrition  Sov victory, meant failure Op Barbarossa, turning pt fortunes of Nazis (Jan 7, 1942)   Battle of Stalingrad  siege - Aug 1942 – Feb ‘43  AH want occupy city for propaganda purposes ( Stalin’s name) & ind center for prod ammo, shipping & oil  AH declare all male residents kill & women deport  Stalin order all Russians able hold rifle defend city – any surrender subject to trial by mil tribunal & possible exec (by own gov)    Soviets form defensive ring around city (late Nov 1942 trap 300k Germ & Axis troops – slowly starve  Sov gens knew Germs fighting in conditions not accustomed to. AH refuse surrender  Sov troops retook city & capture 100k Germs - Feb 1943  battle saved USSR & initiate defeat of Axis in E   Leningrad  Red Army (Soviet) finally drove off Germs in 1944, siege lasted 900 days – 1 m civis dead   Allied invasion of Euro  summ 1943 -Allies began advance on S Italy, storm & conquer island Sicily  Italy surrender to Allies - Sept 8, 1943  in Euro - armed uprisings agst Nazis spread Warsaw’s Jew ghetto repeatedly rose up agst tormentors in winter & spg 1944    Allies prepare early 1944 for Operation Overlord – campaign cross Eng Channel & re- take Euro  D-Day - Allied invasion under Sup Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces Dwight D Eisenhower -175k + troops & 20k vehicles to shore Normandy (unimaginable in previous war)    bad weather Channel (June 4) - 9:45 pm on June 5, Ike told staff to go!  fr Allied HQ in Eng, Ike compose statement deliver next day as letter in hands ea soldier, sailor, airman in Op Overlord  eyes of world upon them, opponents would fight savagely, exhort be brave, show devotion to duty, accept nothing less than victory. Wish luck & sought blessing of God on great & noble undertaking  along w/ statement, Ike scribble note accept all blame if mission fail (in pocket)      began June 6, 1944 -waves Allied landing met machine gun & mortar fire, tides fill w/ corpses. 2,500 (US) die, many before fire shot  June 8- Ike able report harrowing, deadly but successful landing  next 6 wks - 1 m more Allies came ashore & broke out fr Normandy     Free France’s Gen Chas de Gaulle (head Fr resist) & Allies arrive Paris (Aug 23, 1944)  Germs sign surrender - Aug 26, de Gaulle became pres of re-establ’d Fr Republic (after 4 yrs Nazi occup)  occupied Euro nations fell swiftly to Allies   war in Pacific  long string Jap victories  US Pacific Fleet won Battle Midway (June 1942) – turning pt for Allies  US victory @ Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) Aug 1942 – Feb ’43  “island hopping” strategy effective   MacArthur does return!  Leyte, Philip Oct 1944  only 1/3 of men left behind Mar 1942 survive to see return. “I am a little late…but we finally came”    Battle of Bulge (Dec 16, 1944– Jan 25, ‘45)  final desperate effort – AH direct last of reserves – 250k men @ Allies in Belgian forest Ardennes - took Allies by surprise, drove them back 50 m  crucial Germ shortage of fuel & hard-fighting Amer troops in frozen forests – made it a draw    Geo Patton turned 3rd Army 90 degrees in N Fr (fr Lorraine to relieve besieged Bastogne) thwarted counteroffensive - costliest action by US Army - 100k casualties     intensive aerial bomb of Germ Feb 1945, then Allied invasion  AH suicide Apr 30, 1945 (Berlin bunker)  formal Germ surrender - May 8, 1945 (Soviets had already occupied much of Germ)   Potsdam Conference (Aug 1945, Potsdam, Germ)  Harry Truman (FDR died Apr) Eng’s PM Winston Churchill & Sov Jos Stalin met discuss war w/ Jap & peace w/ Germ  Germ divide 4 occupation zones control by USSR, Br, US & Fr  they acquiesced to Stalin on future of E Euro b/c Allies need Sov coop in war agst Jap      heavy casualties @ Iwo Jima (Feb 1945) & Okinawa (Apr – June 1945) Jap  fear of costlier land invasion of Jap led Truman authorize use new A-bomb Hiroshima & Nagasaki (Aug 6 & 9)  Aug 15, 1945 - Jap accept terms of Potsdam Conf  Mac accept surrender Jap USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay - Sept 2, 1945     legacy  deadliest internat’l conflict - 60 – 80 m (including 6 m Jews)  mills more injure, lost homes & prop  spread of comm fr USSR into E Euro & its eventual triumph in Ch  global shift of power fr Euro to 2 rival superpowers – US & USSR – soon face off in Cold War