1 / 29

The USA in WW II

The USA in WW II. Pr i or to the American invovlment. American isolitionism and non-interventionism Lend-Lease Act (1941) A total of $50.1bln (equivalent to $759 bln at 2008 prices) worth of supplies shipped to the UK, Soviet Union, France and China. Roots of the Pacific Theater conflict.

duy
Download Presentation

The USA in WW II

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The USA in WW II

  2. Prior to the American invovlment • American isolitionism and non-interventionism • Lend-Lease Act (1941) • A total of $50.1bln (equivalent to $759 bln at 2008 prices) worth of supplies shipped to the UK, Soviet Union, France and China

  3. Roots of the Pacific Theater conflict • Japan • modernisation / westernisation of Japan • Japanese expansionism • imperial policy • militarism • Invasion of Manchuria (1931) • Second Sino-Japanese War(1937) • Invasion of French Indochina (1940) • USA • American expansionism? • racial background: • Chincese Exclusion Act of 1882 • Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 • Immigration Act of 1917 (the Asiatic Barred Zone Act) • Immigration Act of 1924 • Japanese natural resources crisis • oil resources – none • Japan relies on importation of oil from the USA • USA put enforces embargo on exportation of oil to Japan • Japanese navy faces dramatic shrtage of oil (6 months wotrh supplies – hance Japan faces being defenceless) • Japanese dillemma: negotiate or execute a preventive attack

  4. Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) • four battleships sunk, four more damaged • 7 other ships sunk or destroyed • 188 aircraft destroyed • 2400 American lives lost • isolitionism ends • after Pearl Harbor the Japanese march through Southeast Asia and Cetnral Pacific:Thailand, Malaysia, Burma Singapore, the Philippines, Rabaul (Papua New Guinea) Dutch East India (Indonesia)

  5. USS West Virgninia burns

  6. USS Arizona explodes

  7. Japanese American Internment • approx. 120.000 Japanese Americans placed in "War Relocation Camps" • exclusion from the military • yet: approx. 20.000 Japanese Maricans served in the Army, many having signed loyalty oaths • 442nd Regimental Combat Team – most decorated unit of its size during the European campaign

  8. Midway • between 4 and 7 June 1942 • largest use of aircraft carriers to date • a decisive battle of the Pacific Theater • momentum changes – the Japanese forces stopped • Island hopping follows

  9. Island hopping • Guadalcanal • Iwo Jima • Okinawa

  10. Kamikaze attacks • approx. 3800 kamikaze pilots killed • sank between 34 – 57 ships, including 3 escort carriers and 14 destroyers • damaged around 400 other ships • killed nearly 5.000 sailors, wounded another 5.000

  11. Bobming of Tokyo and raids on other home islands cities • General Curtis LeMay • Robert McNamara • series of "night fire-raids" • most deadly: 9–10 March 1945 (25% of the city destroyed, approx. 100.000 perished in the resulting fires) • over 50% of Tokyo destroyed by the end of the war • between 220.000 – 500.000 killed in result of strategic bombings

  12. Hiroshima and Nagasaki • Manhattan Project • Potsdam ultimatum • bombing of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) • "Litle Boy" kills approx. 140.000, mostly civilians • bombing of Nagasaki (August 9, 1945) • "Fat Man" kills approx. 80.000, mostly civilians • August 15, 1945 – Japan announces surrender (V-J Day) • September 2, 1945 – Surrender signed

  13. A-Bomb controversies • Did the bombings help end the war sooner? • prevent invasion of Japan? • massive losses anticipated • save lives? • 100.000 POWs, Japanese civilians, American soldiers • yet: were they war-crimes? • were they militarily unnecessary? • were they acts of state-terror? • atomic logic – new strategic questions • why was terror chosen over intimidation? • why was Nagasaki attacked? • waht would happen should American intelligence concerning the Japanese nuclear program fail? • started a nuclear era • intimidated the Soviets • secured the position of the USA as the superpower • worst American publicity move to date

  14. Battle of the Atlantic • Lend-lease program • Convoys • Submarine warfare • U-boots • wolf-pack tactics • Surface battleship / raiders battle • sinking of Bismarck • How was the Battle of the Atlantic won? • closing of the mid-Atlantic gap" • new escorts tactics – new classes of ships – destroyer escorts, etc. • new technologies: sonar, radar • breaking of the Enigma

  15. Enigma • German cryptographic machine used for secret military communications – deciphering of Enigma communications most crucial for the Battle of the Atlantic • first deciphered by the Polish Biuro Szyfrów (Marian Rejewski) • the Poles decide to disclose details of their work to Allies mid 1939 • Allied effort at breaking of the Enigma centered in Bletchley Park • Alan Turing • WW II cryptographic breakthroughs lead to the construction of automated logical machines and to building first computers

  16. Enigma – construction and operation • keyboard • plugboard • entry wheel • rotors • rotor – rings - indicators • reflector • PRINCIPLE: • each time a key is pressed- electric current goes from the key, through the plug board, through the rotors, is reflected, goes back through the rotors (through a different path!), through the plug board, and to the light board) • each time a key is pressed – rotor advances one position • after the right rotore advances 26 positions the next one advances one position • a symbol is never encrypted as itself • number of possible configurations: approx. 10114 that is:

  17. Enigma - security • 10114 = 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 of possible configurations

  18. Enigma – operation TO ENCRYPT A MESSAGE • place rotors in the order described in the codebook and using the ring settings required by the codebook (different for ever day of year, the same for all units in a given force) • connect the ports in the plug board in the order described in the codebook • follow the "indicator procedure" • set the rotors to the initial positions required by the codebook (e.g. A R G) • type in your own setting sequence twice ( e.g. E I N ) • set the rotors to YOUR settings • type in plain text – cipher text will show on the light board TO DECRYPT THE MESSAGE • place rotors in the order described in the codebook and using the ring settings required by the codebook • connect the ports in the plug board in the order described in the codebook • set the rotors to the initial positions required by the codebook (A R G) • type in 6 first symbols of the cipher text – you know have the settings for the rotors chosen by the cipher text Enigma operator • set the rotors to the positions (E I N) deciphered from the cipher text • type in the cipher text – plaintext will show on the light board

  19. Breaking of the Enigma • wiring of the rotors • initial settings • "cillies" • cribs • "gardening" • bombes • by 1945 Allies could read all German Enigma communications withind a day or two • Breaking of Lorenz (Fish) • Collossus • Breaking of PURPLE (Magic) – American effort to read Japanese diplomatic codes

  20. European Theater 1942 - 1944 • Europe First • Stalin presses for the second European front – Churchill convinces Roosevelt Africa is the gate to Southern Europe • Operation Torch and North Africa Campaign • Invasion of Sicily • Gen. George Patton • Invasion of Italy • Strategic bombing of Germany SS Robert Rowan explodes hit by a German bomber

  21. Operation Overlord - D-Day (June 6, 1944 – Invasion of Normandy) • Second front in Europe • "Europe first" • D-Day • 5000 ships involved • over 175.000 troops landing – amphibian and airborne • 2500 American lives lost • Omaha beach

  22. European Theater 1944-1945 • Operation Cobra – from Normandy across France • liberation of Paris, August 25, 1944 • Operation Market Garden • Battle of the Bulge • Race to Berlin • May 2, 1945 – Germans surrender Belin to the Soviets • May 8, 1945 – V-E Day – German surrender signed

  23. Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam Conferences

  24. Aftermath of the W II

  25. The Holocaust • more than a third of the Jewish global population perished – estimated nearly 6.000.000 people

  26. Aftermath of the W II • 50.000.000 – 70.000.000 people dead • Europe in ruins • Garmany occupied and later divided • Japan humiliated and occupied • revisions of borders • population relocations – repatriations and expulsions • decolonisation • emergence of the UN • emergence of two superpowers – a bipolar world • Soviet Bloc • technological advancements

  27. Aftermath of the W II – American Perspective • 420.000 deaths (out of 11.260.000 military personnel) • nuclear superpower • Marshall plan • period of wealth and economic stability followed • role of women • G. I. Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act )

More Related