World War II Chapter 16

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)  U.S. stopped a fleet convoying Japanese troops to New Guinea  Japanese designs on Australia ended  Midway (June 1942)  Japanese Admiral Yamamoto hoped to capture Midway Island as a base to attack Pearl Harbor again  U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz caught the Japanese by surprise and sank 3 of the 4 aircraft carriers

Importance of Midway  The Japanese defeat at Midway was the turning point in the Pacific.  Japanese advances stopped.  U.S. assumes initiative.  Japanese have shortage of able pilots.  Censorship and Propaganda  News of the defeat was kept from the Japanese public.

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

Restoration of Prosperity  World War II ended the Great Depression. H Factories run at full capacity  Ford Motor Company – one bomber plane per hour H People save money (rationing) H 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)

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

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

Social Effects of the War  Development of the West  Lured by defense-related jobs at high wages  Nearly 8 million people moved into the states West of the Mississippi River between 1940 and (Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, L.A.)  Communities with few African Americans witnessed an influx of blacks.  Example: Seattle’s black population jumped from 4,000 to 40,000

Social Effects of the War  Changing Roles for Women  6 million women entered the civilian workforce (1/3 rd )  200,000 women joined the armed forces  Married women and middle age women enter workforce for first time.  Attitudes toward sex roles change, at least temporarily  “Rosie the Riveter”

Social Effects of the War H 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.

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

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

Gloomy Prospects H By the end of 1942, the Allies faced defeat.  The chain of spectacular victories disguised fatal weaknesses within the Axis alliance:  Japan and Germany fought separate wars, each on two fronts. They never coordinated strategies.  The early defeats also obscured the Allies’ strengths:  The manpower of the Soviet Union  The productive capacity of the U. S.

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.

Turning Points of the War: Eastern Front H 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. H The Germans began a long retreat to Berlin.

Turning Points of the War: Western Front  Operation Torch (1943)  Allied victory in North Africa and invasion of Italy. H D-Day: Operation Overlord  The Allied needed to establish a second front.  General Dwight Eisenhower launched an invasion of Normandy on June 6,  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.

Race to Berlin H D-Day was the turning point of the western front. Stalingrad was the turning point of the eastern front. H The British, U.S., and Free French armies began to press into western Germany as the Soviets invaded eastern Germany.  Both sides raced to Berlin.

Victory in Europe H April, 1945  Mussolini is captured and killed  Hitler commits suicide H Berlin falls to Soviets on May 2,  Germany surrendered unconditionally on May 7 (8), (V-E Day)

The Holocaust  11 million died in German death camps  3.5 million Russians  6 million Jews  (2/3 of European Jews)  Hitler’s “Final Solution”  Systematic genocide

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)  American marines invaded this island, which was needed to provide fighter escort for bombings over Japan  Okinawa (April, 1945)  U.S. invaded this island, which would provide a staging area for the invasion of the Japanese islands.

Atom Diplomacy  FDR had funded the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb  Dr. Robert Oppenheimer successfully tested in the summer of  FDR had died on April 12, 1945, and the decision was left to Harry Truman.  An amphibious invasion could cost over 350,000 Allied casualties.

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

Cost of War  Germany - 3 million combat deaths (3/4ths on the eastern front)  Japan – over 1.5 combat deaths; 900,000 civilians  Soviet Union - 13 million combat deaths  U.S. – 300,000 combat deaths, over 100,000 other deaths  When you include all combat and civilian deaths, World War II becomes the most destructive war in history with estimates as high as 60 million, including 25 million Russians.

 1931 Japan invades Manchuria Significant Events  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