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World War II

World War II. World War II. After Pearl Harbor, American military leaders focused on halting the Japanese advance and mobilizing the whole nation for war. America’s Early Battles. American Forces halted the Japanese advances in two decisive naval battles. Coral Sea (May 1942)

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World War II

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  1. World War II

  2. World War II • After Pearl Harbor, American military leaders focused on halting the Japanese advance and mobilizing the whole nation for war.

  3. America’s Early Battles • American Forces halted the Japanese advances in two decisive naval battles. • Coral Sea (May 1942) • Midway (June 1942)

  4. Importance of Midway • The Japanese defeat at Midway was the turning point in the Pacific.

  5. Mobilization at Home • The war effort required all of America’s huge productive capacity and full employment of the workforce. • Government expenditures soared. • U.S. budget increases • 1940 $9 million • 1944 $100 million • Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous government budgets combined (150 years) • GNP 1939 91 billion 1945 166 million

  6. Restoration of Prosperity • World War II ended the Great Depression. • Factories run at full capacity • Ford Motor Company – one bomber plane per hour • People save money (rationing) • Army bases in South provide economic boom (most bases in South b/c of climate) • The national debt grew to $260 billion (6 times its size on Dec. 7, 1941)

  7. Mobilization at Home • Government involvement in the economy • War Production Board (WPB) (1942) • Directed the conversion of private industries to war production. • Growth of centralized big business • Income tax (1942) for all not just rich (5%) Government begins withholding from paychecks • War bonds

  8. Mobilization at Home • Conservation of resources • Prices frozen • Rationing – gasoline, etc. • The public collected scrap metal, etc. • Grew their own food in “victory gardens”

  9. Social Effectsof the War • Expanded participation of blacks • About 1 million blacks enter the armed forces but still serve in segregated units. • Kept in service positions – cooks, janitors, etc. • Pilots (Tuskegee airmen in Alabama) and combat soldiers were exception rather than norm. • Discrimination in defense work forbidden but hard to enforce.

  10. Social Effects of the War • Hispanics in Labor Force • The bracero program brought some 200,000 Mexican farm workers into the western United States • American Indians • Were integrated within regular units • “Code Talkers” used to “encode” and decipher messages in Indian languages so as to prevent enemy discovery. • Internment of Japanese Americans

  11. A Grand Alliance The Big Three • Great Britain (Winston Churchill) • The U.S. (FDR) • The Soviet Union (Joseph Stalin) Strategies for War • Defeat Germany first

  12. Invasion of the Soviet Union • Hitler’s pivotal mistake. • On June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa • 4 million soldiers along 2,000 mile front • German army quickly advanced, but at a terrifying cost. • For the next three years, 90 percent of German deaths occurred on the eastern front.

  13. Turning Points of the War:Eastern Front • Stalingrad • From August 1942 until February 1943 German and Soviet armies fought one of the bloodiest engagements in history. • Each side suffered more casualties than the Americans did during the entire war. • The Soviets defeated the German army at Stalingrad and then again at the battle of Kursk. • The Germans began a long retreat to Berlin.

  14. Turning Points of the War: Western Front • Operation Torch (1943) • Allied victory in North Africa and invasion of Italy. • D-Day: Operation Overlord • The Allied needed to establish a second front. • General Dwight Eisenhower launched an invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944. • An invasion fleet of some 4,000 ships and 150,000 men (57,000 U.S.) • Invasion successful. • 5,000 killed and wounded Allied troops. • It allowed them to gain a foothold on the continent from which they could push Germany back.

  15. Victory in Europe • April, • Mussolini is captured and killed • Hitler commits suicide • Berlin falls to Soviets on May • Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7 (V-E Day)

  16. A Grinding War against Japan • In 1945, the U.S. began targeting people in order to coerce Japan to surrender • 66 major Japanese cities bombed • 500,000 civilians killed • Iwo Jima (February, 1945) • Okinawa (April, 1945)

  17. Turning Points of the War: The Pacific • August 6, 1945 – Enola Gay drops bomb on Hiroshima • 140,000 dead; tens of thousands injured; radiation sickness; 80% of buildings destroyed • August 9, 1945 – Nagasaki • 70,000 dead; 60,000 injured • Emperor Hirohito surrenders on Aug. 14, 1945. (V-J Day) • Formal surrender signed on September 2 onboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay

  18. Significant Events 1931 Japan invades Manchuria 1935 First Neutrality Act  1939 World War II begins in Europe  1940 Roosevelt wins third term  1941 Congress adopts Lend-Lease Act Roosevelt & Churchill sign Atlantic Charter Pearl harbor attacked  1942 WPB and WLB created Battles of Guadalcanal and Midway fought American and British troops invade North Africa  1944 D-Day invasion of France Island hopping campaign reaches Guam  1945 Atom bombs dropped on Japan

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