2.  Prime Minister David Lloyd-George of Great Britain  Premier Vittorio Orlando of Italy  Premier Georges Clemenceau of France  President Woodrow Wilson of the United States  Japan is also considered one of the “Great Powers” at this time.

3.  U.S. President Woodrow Wilson called for a “peace without victory” and proposed a League of Nations that would work to prevent future wars.  The leaders of Great Britain and France were expected to impose a “harsh peace” on Germany that would punish them and prevent them from having the resources to wage war again.  Lloyd-George predicted that they would have to deal with Germany again within the next 25 years.

4. Many historians believe that the Treaty of Versailles signed at the Paris Peace Conference caused World War II. Germany:  The allies attempted to cripple the German economy: ▪ War Reparations - money owed to the Allies ▪ Iron ore and other resources from the German Rhineland given to France for 15 years ▪ German Air-force and U-boats forbidden ▪ Alsace-Lorraine given to France; most of Prussia given to Poland; other smaller regions given to Belgium, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia (reduced resources and population/army) ▪ Tariffs on German goods prevented trade  Humiliated the German people by holding Germany solely responsibility for the war. Bitter resentment followed.

5.  Eastern Europe  The Allies redrew the boundaries for Germany and the countries that had made up the Austro-Hungarian Empire. ▪ They attempted to draw the lines based on languages spoken in various regions. France, Switzerland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Netherlands, and Belgium were given parts of Germany. ▪ From Austria-Hungary, the allies created Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, and a part of Romania. ▪ From land that had been part of Russia they made Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, East Prussia, and Poland, all of which Russia had once taken over and turned into territories of the Russian Empire. ▪ Slavic countries were lumped together as Yugoslavia for their own protection (they’d have been too small to defend themselves). ▪ Italy only got a tiny portion of what had belonged to Austria- Hungary.

7.  Japan:  The Allies refused to ratify the “racial equality clause” proposed by the Japanese delegation in the Covenant of the League of Nations ▪ Japan had a secret treaty with Italy and expected to get the German colonies in the South Pacific (the Marshall Islands…) ▪ Only received half of what they asked for and withdrew ▪ Begins a period of Japanese nationalism (lack of trust in dealing with the West).

8. Japan expected to be treated as a world power, but they were once again slighted by the U.S. and Britain:  The 5 Great Powers, the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan, agreed to naval disarmament.  5:5:3 naval strength ratio – Because they had colonies to protect, the US and Great Britain were allowed warships (cruisers, battleships, and aircraft carriers) with a total tonnage (displacement) of 525,000 tons.  Japan was allowed 315,000 tons and France and Italy were allowed 175,000 tons.  Note: total displacement of a battleship was limited to 35,000 tons, aircraft carriers were 27,000 tons, etc.  Cruisers, submarines, and destroyers were not limited by numbers, but were limited by size to 10,000 tons displacement (fully loaded).  Favored the US and Great Britain over Japan, France, and Italy.

9.  European countries, especially Germany, were already struggling to rebuild their economies when the New York Stock Market crash occurred on October 29, 1929.  Europeans lost confidence in their leaders.  They turned to extreme political movements such as communism and socialism which promised to restore the economy and their national pride.  Totalitarian governments began to gain power in Germany and Italy.  Nationalism is on the rise again.

10.  In March 1919, Benito Mussolini formed a group called the fasciti and waged war in the streets against Communism. In October 1920, his group marched on Rome and took over the government. He was named Premier.  His political movement became known as fascism.  Hoping to bring back glory of Ancient Rome, he named fascism for the fasci, or bundles of rods carried before a Roman consul to symbolize his power.  He opposed Communism, put down workers’ and peasants’ strikes, and called for a return to traditional values: family, patriotism, loyalty, obedience, unity. He gained the support of conservatives (business leaders, the Church, and the army) in his country.  He became known as Il Duce (the chief). His motto was “Believe, Obey, Fight.”  1924 – He suspended the constitution and assumed dictatorial powers.  The economy improved, so the people continued to support him.

12.  Germany owed war reparations, but their economy was stifled by the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.  German banks failed, businesses closed, workers were laid off.  Many German workers joined the German Communist or National Socialist parties.

13.  He wanted to be an artist but enlisted in WWI and was decorated for bravery (said he enjoyed war).  Became führer (leader) of the National Socialist Party and was arrested.  Wrote Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”) in prison. ▪ It gave a detailed plan for creating a European empire. ▪ Said history is the story of race conflict and war is the eternal state of humanity. ▪ Called “Aryan” Germans the master race. ▪ Insisted Germans would have won WWI if they hadn’t been “stabbed in the back.” ▪ Called for a new phase of German history in which a strong dictatorship would save Germany from its economic troubles, end the problem of race degeneration, and regain its former lands and glory.

14.  1932 - The Depression had caused political unrest in Germany, and the Nazis Party (short for National Socialists) was able to gain 38% of the national vote to become the largest party (second largest was the Communist Party).  January 1933 – President von Hindenburg asked Hitler to become Chancellor and form a government.  March 1933 – Hitler blamed Communists for a mysterious fire at Reichstag, the parliament building, and used it as an excuse to suppress civil liberties once protected by their constitution:  Ended free speech, free press, right to assembly, right to privacy, unlawful search and seizure, and property rights. ▪ Storm Troopers (SA) and Special Security Forces (SS) became new federal police agents

16. June 30, 1934 – The Night of the Long Knives: Hitler sent his Storm Troopers and the SS to round up all his opponents and imprison or kill them. August 1934 – Hitler proclaimed himself Führer and Imperial Chancellor (Reichskanzler) of the new regime he called the Third Reich. (1 st was Holy Roman Empire; 2 nd was German Empire) Propaganda – a vast propaganda machine led by Joseph Goebbels instituted strict censorship and organized mass rallies in cities to encourage Führer worship.  It became mandatory to enroll children in the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls programs where they were indoctrinated in Nazi ideology.

17.  Stated that Jews and Communists are degenerates.  Stated that democracy is weak and only a dictatorship could return Germany to its former glory.  Called for extreme nationalism and the expulsion of non-Aryans. Hitler Gained Popularity and Power:  Promised a wealthy middle class while nationalizing industry.  Promised to give workers a share of profits.  Promised to give Aryans jobs held by Jews.  Promised easy mortgages for peasants.  Promised to increase Germany’s borders (giving Germans “living room”).  Promised to restore national honor.

19.  Germany had been humiliated by the treaty of Versailles  The war and the Great Depression had ruined their economy  Germany had a long tradition of :  Anti-semitism ▪ Jews had been blamed for the Black Plague, suppression of the peasant class (by bankers), various wars, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Depression, etc.)  Militarism  Authoritarianism

20.  Originally built to house those who opposed Hitler and as a deterrent to those who might rise up to oppose him.  Soon he was arresting Jews, gypsies, democrats, academics, clergy, communists, and anyone else who didn’t fit his idea of the Aryan German or agree with Nazi ideology  The Gestapo was formed to identify enemies of the state.

21.  April 1, 1933 – Boycott of Jewish businesses  April 7, 1933 – Jews formerly excluded from government jobs  Anti-Semitic Laws  The Right Citizen Law – Jews couldn’t marry non- Jews.  Jews had to live in ghettos and wear a star of David on their chests - sewn on their clothing (to make them easier to identify)

23.  Kristallnacht – November 1938 (named for the broken glass that littered the streets the next morning)  Homes were ransacked  Shops were looted  191 synagogues were burned  100+ Jews were killed  300,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps “for their protection.”  There were only 600,000 in the whole country at the time.  Large numbers of Jewish people fled the country  Strict immigration quotas in the US and Britain made it difficult to find a safe place to which they might immigrate.  Many Jewish families resorted to searching the phone books in major US cities for people with their last name and asking them to sponsor their families so that they would be allowed to enter the US. Only 21,000 refugees managed to move here.

25.  The Nazis briefly considered exiling Jewish people to Poland and even Madagascar.  They decided the simplest thing to do was to exterminate them along with any remaining Bolsheviks.  After Germany invaded Russia in June 1941, they rounded up Jews and Bolsheviks in Russia, forced them to dig mass graves, lined them up along the edges of the graves and shot them.  August 1941 – 35,000 Russian Jewish women and children were shot in a single day.

27.  Nazis soldiers who had been ordered to shoot women and children began showing signs of trauma.  Himmler ordered the development of mobile extermination vans.  Troops traveled around Poland and Serbia rounding up Jews and other enemies of the Third Reich and gassing them with carbon monoxide.  Later, gassing chambers and cyanide “showers” became common.  5000 Jews per day were sent to concentration camps. Young children and the elderly were exterminated. Anyone old enough to work was worked to death.  6 million Jews were killed = 2/5 of Jews in the world

31.  Hitler admired Mussolini, especially after Il Duce invaded Ethiopia in 1935.  They worked together to help another fascist, Generalissimo Franco, in the Spanish Civil War in 1936.  Afterward, they formed an official alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis and Italy withdrew from the League of Nations.  Later, Japan joined the “Axis Powers” to form the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.

33.  March 1936 – Hitler took back the Rhineland. Britain and France allowed it because they believed that was all Hitler wanted - appeasement  March 12, 1938 - Hitler annexed Austria (called the Anschluss)  Factions in the Austrian government favored annexation and worked against the Austrian chancellor in parliament. He called for a vote on retaining autonomy, but due to pressure from the Austrian fascists, they voted for annexation. Hitler sent troops to enforce the vote.  September 29-30, 1938 - Munich Conference  In another effort to appease Hitler, Great Britain, France, and Italy (under Mussolini) met without Czechoslovakia to sign the Munich agreement which gave Sudetenland, the western part of Czechoslovakia, back to Germany. March 1939 – Germany takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

34.  British Prime Minister Chamberlain returned from Munich with a written promise from Hitler not to continue his aggressive behavior.  He was hailed as a hero.

35.  Why did Great Britain and France continually give in to Hitler?  Europeans still felt the losses from WWI.  Passivism had become common.  They didn’t think they could afford another war and were afraid there would be a tax revolt if they started raising money to fund the military.  They believed the US would refuse to loan them the money to rearm due to our return to isolationist policies.  Britain didn’t think they could fight Germany, Japan, and Italy alone.  Many considered Hitler a thug, but thought Communism was the greater danger.  Only Churchill seemed to realize at first that Hitler was a threat. Politicians called him an alarmist and a kook. ~Appeasement bought France and Britain time to for rearmament.

36.  August 23, 1939 – Nazi-Soviet Non- Aggression Pact  ( aka or Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact)  Russia and Germany become allies.  September 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland with help from Russia.  Using a tactic called blitzkrieg (“lightning war”) and backed up by Russia, Germany takes Poland in just three weeks.

37. Blitzkrieg was a fast- moving, all-out assault using extensive bombing to destroy the enemy's air capacity, railroads, communication lines, and munitions dumps, and a massive land invasion with overwhelming numbers of troops, tanks, and artillery.

39.  September 3, 1939 – Great Britain and France declare war on Germany.  Great Britain responds with bombing raids over Germany three days later, but they’re too late to prevent genocide in Poland.

40.  As soon as the German forces had plowed their way through, infantry moved in, annihilating all enemies of his Nazi ideology, whether racial, religious, or political; setting up concentration camps for slave laborers, and killing civilians.  The Polish army was 1 million strong, but they were under-equipped and their weapons and methods were outdated.  Poland fell in less than three weeks.

41.  Americans wanted to remain neutral:  They had returned to isolationist policies following the war.  Americans were still struggling with the Depression.  Many believed conspiracy theories stating that arms dealers and Wall Street had encouraged WWI.  Neutrality Acts passed between 1933 and 1935  forbade the sale of weapons to warring nations  stated that Americans traveling on ships belonging to warring nations did so at their own risk. Ludlow Amendment (not passed) – would have required a national vote to go to war rather than a vote in Congress

42.  President Roosevelt told Congress that the Neutrality Acts of 1933 and 1935 gave passive aid to aggressors by not helping to supply those who were being attacked.  Congress eventually agreed and passed the Neutrality Act of 1939:  repealed previous neutrality acts and:  Allowed arms sales on a cash-and-carry basis  Made private arms sales a federal crime  Prevented American citizens from traveling in war zones

43.  April 9, 1940 – Germany invaded Denmark and Norway  May 10, 1940 – Germany invaded Belgium and Holland then continued on to France.  British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned (due to his appeasement of Hitler) and Winston Churchill was appointed Prime Minister by King George VI.

44.  France had sustained large numbers of casualties during WWI, and the country had experienced low birthrates during the years between WWI and WWII, so there were too few draft-aged men to form a large army.  Their answer was the Maginot Line on the French-German border and the Alpine Line on the French – Italian border.

45.  They were concrete bunkers or “super trenches” 5 – 6 miles deep and dug several miles into the hillsides between Switzerland and the Ardenne Forest.  Both could house several thousand troops and included machine gun posts, comfortable barracks, public meeting places, hospitals, movie theaters, and an underground railway.

46.  The Alpine Line (along with the Alps) stopped Mussolini, but Hitler just went around the Maginot line, attacking through Belgium.  In a less than two months, France was defeated.  On the 22 nd, he forced the French Premier Henri- Philippe Pétain to sign the Treaty of Compiègne in the same railway car on the same spot that Germany had sign the WWI Armistice.

47.  Germany occupied 3/5 of France including the port cities, giving him access to the English Channel, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean.  Petain went on the radio to urge French citizens to cooperate with the Germans to preserve what was left of France and avoid the slaughter that took place in Poland.  He became Chief of State and Hitler’s puppet leader at the new capital set up in Vichy, France.

48.  Petain refused to turn over the French Navy to the Germans. They were to wait in North Africa. If necessary they were to sail to Martinique and Guantanamo to escape German forces. As a last resort, they were to blow up their own ships.  July 3, 1940 - The British, afraid that the French fleet would end up in German hands, sailed to Algiers and blew up all the French ships in North African ports.  Later, in Nov. 1942, Hitler planned to end the Vichy government and take over full control of France. A French rear admiral ordered the scuttling of the remaining French fleet at Toulon.

49.  August 1940 – 1300 German bombers and 1000 fighter planes began destroying airfields, munitions factories, and radar stations across England.  Brits lost 338 planes and were losing 10% of their pilots/week.  Churchill ordered the bombing of Berlin.

50.  Hitler had promised he wouldn’t bomb Allied cities.  A German general had boasted that if Berlin was bombed, they could call him Meyer.  Churchill wanted to discredit the German government and to draw fire away from airstrips and munitions factories, and he knew that if they bombed Berlin, Hitler would bombed London.  He said, “London can take it.”

51.  More than a thousand German planes bombed British cities and airstrips during nighttime air raids.  Londoners took shelter in tube stations and bomb shelters.  500,000 homes were destroyed, and 43,000 civilians died.

52.  In the State of the Union address on January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt (in his 3 rd term) attempted to change the nation’s isolationist attitude and prepare them for the possibility of getting involved in a war in Europe again.  He stated that there are 4 basic freedoms that people everywhere in the world should enjoy:  1. Freedom of Speech  2. Freedom of Worship  3. Freedom from Want  4. Freedom from Fear The speech coincided with the introduction in Congress of the Lend-Lease Bill.

53.  Theodore Roosevelt 1901 – 1909  William Howard Taft1909 – 1913  Woodrow Wilson1913 – 1921 (WWI)  Warren G. Harding1921 – 1923 (“Normalcy”) (died in office)  Calvin Coolidge1923 – 1929  Herbert Hoover1929 – 1933 (Great Depression began)  Franklin D. Roosevelt1933 – 1945 (3 terms/died in office)  Harry Truman1945 – 1953 (VP)  Dwight D. Eisenhower1953 – 1961 (5 star general) (supreme commander of allied forces in Europe during WWII)

54.  March 1941 – The Lend-Lease Act authorized the US to lend money, arms, ships, or other supplies to countries whose survival was vital the US defense.  Roosevelt believed we should become an “arsenal of democracy” where needed in Europe and around the world.  October 1941 – USS Reuben James was sunk while escorting a British convoy.

55.  Mussolini wanted to take part in the land grab, so he invaded British holdings in northern Africa.  British soldiers based in Egypt turned back the Italians.  Hitler turned his attention away from Britain to southern Europe and North Africa., sending two units of soldiers he called the Africka Korps to keep Mussolini from being defeated.  Hitler called off Operation Sea Lion (against Britain) and began planning an attack on the Soviets.  The North Africa Campaign saved Britain and gave the British a few weeks to prepare for the next European battle.

56.  Hitler wanted Russia’s vast resources, especially its oil reserves, and he hated Communists.  He broke his non-aggression agreement with Stalin, sending 3 million German troops to Kiev, Moscow, and Leningrad.  The Soviets were surprised by the attack. Their fighter planes were lined up wing to wing at airbases and an easy target.

58.  Hitler was obsessed with capturing the city named for Stalin.  August 1942 - He sent the 6 th army, backed up by the Luftwaffe to take Stalingrad.  Much of the city was destroyed in the initial attack along with over a 1 million civilians. The Russian army seemed close to defeat, resorting to guerilla warfare until winter set in.

59.  The German army was unprepared for the cold. Tanks and other vehicles froze and airplanes were grounded. Supplies couldn’t reach the German soldiers. The remaining Germans were killed, died of disease or starvation, or surrendered. Stalin pushed them back.  This was the bloodiest battle of the war with more than 2 million combined casualties. It greatly reduced the size of the German army which never regained its earlier strength, making them easier to defeat.

60.  The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 – (aka, The Burke-Wadsworth Act) was the first peacetime draft  Allowed for conscientious objection  Ages 21 – 35 (at first) – choose by lottery and served for 12 months.  August 1941 – Roosevelt and Churchill met on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland and agreed on  Peace between the two nations  Working toward an end to Nazi tyranny in Germany (Roosevelt secretly promises that if the US gets involved in the war, we will defeat Germany first.)  Hope for the future

61.  Japan had been considered a top 5 world power for decades, but they wanted more – more power, more revenue, more land, more resources. (Their population nearly doubled between 1872 and 1925.)  They invaded China in 1931 and 1937 and were continuing operations there.

62.  The US and 18 other nations met in Brussels to discuss ending the conflict between Japan and China – Japan didn’t participate.  The US was sympathetic to China, but was still trading with Japan (90% of their metal and 60% of their oil came from the US).

63.  June 1940 – The US moves the naval fleet’s Pacific base from California to Hawaii because Japan seems to be preparing to take islands in the South Pacific  July 1940 - the US declared an embargo on fuel and steel exports to Japan  Sept. 1940 - Tripartite Pact – Japan announced an alliance with Germany and Italy.

64.  Sept. 1940 – Japan persuaded the Vichy government to give them Indo-China.  July 1941 – Japan moved deeper into Indo-China and the US, the UK, and the Netherlands froze Japanese assets in banks making it impossible to buy oil.  The Japanese needed to buy oil in order to continue their plan to dominate the Pacific islands and China. The Japanese High Command began capturing Dutch and British possessions in Burma, Malaya, and the East Indies where there were large supplies of oil and rubber.

65.  While Europe was busy with Hitler, the only obstacle to Japan’s plans was the US Pacific Fleet now stationed in Hawaii.  November 1941 – Japanese diplomats came to Washington for negotiations, but the talks failed--- Japan is aware that the US has an aging fleet and hasn’t had time to build new ships. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was already plotting a strike against the United States.

66.  December 7, 1941 – The Japanese attack the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  In a speech to Congress the following day, President Roosevelt calls it “a date which will live in infamy.”

67.  The Japanese sank 8 battleships and 13 other vessels, destroyed 200 warplanes, and wounded 1,200 service men and women and killed 2,400 including 1,177 on the battleship Arizona.  Admiral Yamamoto is believed to have said, “I fear we have only awakened a sleeping giant.”

69.  Dec. 11, 1941 - Germany declared war on the United States.  That suited Roosevelt because he’d secretly promised Churchill that we would take out Germany first if we were forced to enter the war.  January 1, 1942 – Twenty-six countries (including the US, UK, and USSR) signed the Declaration by United Nations agreeing to fight the Axis Powers together.  We couldn’t ignore Japanese aggression, so we were forced to fight the war on two fronts, thousands of miles apart.

70.  On the same day that the Japanese navy attacked Pearl Harbor, their army attacked Burma, Malaya, Borneo, and Hong Kong.  Soon, they’d conquered those European colonies along with New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Dutch East Indies.  The British and Chinese began fighting guerilla wars in Burma and Occupied China.

71.  The Office of War Mobilization - Formed May 27, 1943 by executive order #9347 and headed by former senator James Byrnes, it coordinated all the government offices involved in preparing for war.  16 million men and women served in the armed forces during the war. Many volunteered for the USO or the Red Cross.  The government imposed rationing of cars, gasoline, fuel oil, tires, farm equipment, shoes, nylon, tobacco, coffee, sugar, meat, butter, and other, and food items.  Victory gardens became popular again.  Factories were refitted to make tanks, aircraft, and weapons, shipyards were expanded, and new factories opened.  The government began a program of deficit spending, that is, spending more money than it was receiving from taxes.  Children collected scrap metal and bought war stamps while adults bought war bonds and paid higher taxes.

72.  More than 310,000 women worked in the U.S. aircraft industry in 1943, representing 65 percent of the industry's total workforce (compared to just 1 percent in the pre- war years).  The munitions industry also heavily recruited women workers, as represented by the U.S. government's "Rosie the Riveter" propaganda campaign.

73.  It became an independent agency under the Emergency Price Control Act, January 30, 1942.  Had the power to place ceilings on all prices except agricultural commodities  Rationed scarce supplies of other items, including tires, automobiles, shoes, nylon, sugar, gasoline, fuel oil, coffee, meats and processed foods.

78.  The African American community in the United States resolved on a Double V Campaign: Victory over fascism abroad, and victory over discrimination at home.  Large numbers of African- Americans migrated from poor Southern farming communities to munitions centers.  Black newspapers created the Double V Campaign to build morale and prevent violent protests.

79.  The Tuskegee Airmen is the popular name for were the first African- American military aviators in the United States armed forces.  They made up the 332 nd Fighter Group and the 477 th Bombardment Group which won a distinguished unit award for escorting bombers to Berlin and shooting down 3 German fighters in one day.

80.  CORE was founded in Chicago in 1942 and evolved out of the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation.  The organization sought to apply the principles of nonviolence as a tactic against segregation.  The group's inspiration was Krishnalal Jethalal Shridharani's 1939 book War Without Violence which outlined Gandhi's step-by- step procedures for organizing people and mounting a nonviolent campaign.

81. Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history.

82.  The relocation and internment by the US government in 1942 of about 110,000 Japanese born people and Japanese Americans who lived mainly along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

83.  Fred Korematsu sued the US for sending him and other Japanese- Americans to internment camps.  In a landmark case, the Supreme Court upheld Executive Order 9066 on the basis that the need to prevent wartime espionage outweighed Mr. Korematsu’s need for civil rights.

84.  The Chinese Exclusion Act stated that Chinese immigrants who were skilled or unskilled in mining could not enter the US. (to prevent gold prospecting by immigrants and to prevent lowering of wage levels.  It was repealed in 1943 when China joined the Allies in WWII.  Although it was repealed, only 105 Chinese nationals were allowed to enter the US per year.

85.  Zoot Suits were oversized coats and pants made of wool. Since wool was rationed during the war, the suits were outlawed by the War Production Board.  American servicemen, dealing with being drafted to serve in the military and having their families live under strict rationing, took offense at young Latino men in the Los Angeles area who continued to wear the suits.  A number of violent incidents occurred involving men in zoot suits, turning public opinion against Pachucos; two involved sailors.  200 sailors went to a Latino neighborhood and began beating the first zoot suit-clad people they saw (12 and 13 year old boys).  Crowds fought back and more sailors got involved, returning for several days.

86.  American forces launched attacks on islands held by Japan.  June 1942 - Yamamoto sent a strike force of 185 ships to take Midway Island, the new base for US aircraft carriers and a strategic area from which to launch attacks on Australia and Hawaii.  The US had broken Japanese codes and caught them before they could get fighter planes in the air.  In minutes, the Japanese lost 4 aircraft carriers and many of their best planes and pilots.  Many considered this battle payback for Pearl Harbor.

87.  Aug. 1942 – Feb. 1943 – The Solomon Islands  Summer 1944 – New Guinea, Guam, and Saipan  June 1944 – The Marianas Turkey Shoot destroyed what was left of Japanese aviation.  Oct. 1944 – The Battle of Leyte Gulf – the larges naval battle in history. When it ended, the US had finished off the Japanese navy.

88.  As soon as the war began, the British blockaded German ports.  German U-Boats once again blew up British ships and prevented supplies from reaching England and the British troops in France.  The United States began helping the British with convoys that resupplied their soldiers as well as the Soviet army.  After the US entered the war, the Germans sent U- Boats to the US East Coast and found our country unprepared for war – no blackouts, so merchant ships were silhouetted against the city lights in harbors.  In March 1943, at the height of the war, the Germans sank a record 742 allied ships in 1 month.

89.  The Allies developed new strategies and new technology to combat U-Boats:  Better radar  Better sonar  Better depth charges  Longer-range aircraft  Code-breaking technology  Convoys with hunter-killer task forces  Liberty Ships – American shipyards could turn out 1/day, making them faster than U-boats could destroy them.

90.  June 1942 – The Eastern Offensive – the Germans take control of Soviet oil fields and coal mines.  November 1942 – Hitler became obsessed with conquering Stalingrad. Although it held little strategic importance, he ordered the 6 th army to hold the city. Soviet soldiers wouldn’t give up, and the Germans were forced to do house-by-house and building-by-building searches.  Winter set in, and the Germans weren’t supplied with cold- weather uniforms. Hitler promised an airlift of food and supplies, but what did arrive was inadequate.  January 1943 - Germany’s 6 th Army, frozen and starving, surrendered. 200,000 of Hitler’s best troops were captured or killed, ending Hitler’s hopes of taking Russia.

91.  Bombing cities: wreaking psychological havoc and discrediting German leaders  Bombing Hitler’s Oil Fields in Bulgaria and Romania  British bombed at night while Americans, with B- 17 Flying Fortresses, made day-time raids as well.  By 1944, the US had developed long-range fighters with wing tanks: P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts

92.  Preparations:  Massive numbers of American, British, and Canadian troops based in England  The Allies chose a section of Normandy that was the dividing line between the German 7 th and 15 th armies to take advantage of confusion about jurisdiction.  Misinformation – To convince Hitler that the invasion would take place at Pas de Calais, not Normandy, the allies: ▪ Planted fake messages on corpses ▪ Sent fake radio broadcasts ▪ Stationed a dummy army across the Channel from Calais ▪ Worked- even after D-Day began, the Germans continued to hold Pas de Calais.

94.  “Operation Overlord” overseen by Supreme commander General Dwight Eisenhower.  Paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines the night before to cut communications.  June 6, 1944 - 160,000 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel in 5,000 ships and took German outposts along a 50 mile stretch of coastline.  Americans took Utah Beach and the most difficult landing site, Omaha Beach, but managed to scale the cliffs there and take over the German fortifications there. Of the 50,000 Americans that landed at Omaha Beach, 5,000 were killed, most in the first few hours.

95.  Operation Overlord began with D-Day and continued until the Allies reached the Seine and, along with General Charles de Gaulle, liberated Paris on August 25, 1944.  The Allies were moving so fast across France that they were outrunning their supply lines.  Ports were still in German hands  Rail lines and roads had been destroyed

96.  Dec. 16, 1944 – Jan. 25, 1945 - aka. “The Ardennes Offensive”  The largest and bloodiest battle fought by American forces in WWII  Hitler, attempted to exploit a “bulge” in the Allied line and poor visibility due to snow and fog.  He also believed the American capitalists would make inferior soldiers, so he attacked an area manned mainly by new American troops and seasoned American soldiers sent to the Ardennes Forest area to recuperate.  German soldiers who spoke English with no accent and wore American and British uniforms and dog tags taken from corpses infiltrated the Allies’ camps and spread false rumors, destroyed supplies, sabotaged vehicles, destroyed bridges, etc.

97.  The Germans wanted to take the newly reopened port at Antwerp Belgium but were low on fuel and depended on capturing American fuel supplies. Without them, they would only be able to travel 1/3 of the way to Antwerp.  The American troops fought harder than expected, and both sides gained and lost ground.  In the end, the American and British combined forces pushed the Germans back into Germany.

98.  Kamikaze = “Divine Wind”  With the Japanese navy defeated, the only way they could destroy American ships was by sending young pilots in ancient planes on suicide missions, crashing their planes into our ships.

99.  February 19 – March 26, 1945  It was the bloodiest battle in the Pacific. Americans captured the Japanese island for use as a base from which to launch attacks on the Japanese mainland.  The Japanese had fortified the volcanic hills on the island with underground bunkers and tunnels.  It was the first Allied invasion of the Japanese homeland, and the Japanese soldiers fought to the death.  The battle was immortalized by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the soldiers raising the US flag on top of Mount Suribachi.

100.  The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of.  It lasted from early April until mid-June 1945.  After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and, like Iwo Jima, planned to use the island as a base for air operations when they invaded the Japanese mainland.  Fighting was intense, and included large numbers of kamikazes.  100,000 Japanese soldiers and civilians were either killed, captured, or committed suicide.  Many Okinawans testified that the Japanese army told them the Americans were barbarians and that they should kill themselves to avoid a worse fate.  12,500 Americans died, and 53,000 were injured.

101.  February 1945 – “The Big Three” - Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met at Yalta in the Crimea (modern-day Ukraine) to plan post-war disposition of regions.  The Soviets got Eastern Europe  Many thought it was unfair, but the Soviets had sacrificed 20 million citizens, and the army had already occupied most of Eastern Europe since the fall of 1944. It was obvious they weren’t going to give it back without a fight. The Tehran Conference in 1943 was the first meeting of the “Big Three.” in which they agreed to work together to defeat Hitler.

102.  As the Allies advanced, they liberated POW and Concentration Camps  April 30, 1945 - As the Red Army (having taken Poland) entered Berlin before the Allies arrived.  Hitler and members of his inner circle committed suicide in a bunker under the Reich Chancery. He shot himself, and his wife Eva took cyanide. As he’d ordered, their bodies were doused with oil and set on fire. Soviet troops found the remains.  Some say the Soviets cremated them.  In 2009, DNA tests were performed a skull the Soviets believed to be Hitler’s. It was found to be that of a young woman.

103.  The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs during World War II. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada.  It began in August 1939, after President Roosevelt received a letter signed by Leo Szilárd and Albert Einstein (known as the “Szilárd-Einstein Letter”) that warned that the Germans were working on a new kind of weapon and urged him to accelerate Enrico Fermi’s work on nuclear chain reactions.

104.  Roosevelt turned the project over to the Army which recruited top scientists in the US, UK, and Canada including J. Robert Oppenheimer and Niels Bohr.  The project operated under tight security, but Soviet spies still managed to infiltrate it. Many Manhattan Project personnel served in Europe, sometimes behind enemy lines, where they gathered nuclear materials and detained German scientists.

105.  August 6, 1945 – The Enola Gay, a B-29 bomber, dropped the atomic bomb known as “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, Japan.  August 9, 1945 – Bockscar, another B-29 dropped the 2 nd bomb, known as “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, Japan.

106.  The first bomb destroyed 4.7 miles of the city of Hiroshima, killing 80,000 people instantly and injuring 70,000. Over the next 5 months, the death toll rose to 120,000.  The 2 nd bomb was larger but was dropped in an industrial valley which prevented it from affecting a larger area. 35,000 were killed instantly and 60,000 injured. By the end of the year, the approximately 80,000 had died.  In both cases, more deaths occurred over the ensuing years due to birth defects, leukemia, and other forms of cancer.

107.  President Truman argued that using atomic bombs was necessary.  Japan showed no sign of surrender and had rejected the agreement reached at the Potsdam Conference.  The Japanese Army had received orders to kill all POWs.  The US Army estimated that the combined death toll of US troops and Japanese civilians caused by an invasion of Japan would be between 800,000 and 1 million.  Some believe the US did it to intimidate the Soviet Union.

108.  V-E Day = Victory in Europe – May 8, 1945  V-J Day = Victory over Japan September 2, 1945 (or August 15 th )

109.  August 14, 1941 - an agreement between the US and Great Britain that established Roosevelt and Churchill’s vision for a post- WWII world.  It became the first step toward forming the United Nations.  Though the US was not involved in the war at the time, it sent a message to Hitler that the US would stand behind Britain.

110.  In the Nuremberg Trials, high-level Nazi political, military, and economic leaders were prosecuted for crimes against humanity in the city of Nuremberg, Germany.  It was made up of British, American, French, and Soviet judges and their alternates.  They indicted 24 war criminals and 6 organizations including the highest surviving SS leaders and generals.

111.  July 17 – August 2, 1945 – aka Berlin Conference of the Three Heads of Government of the USSR, USA, and UK.  Attending: Truman (Roosevelt had died in April); Churchill and his successor, Attlee; and Stalin  Although they reiterated many of the goals stated at Yalta, the atmosphere of this conference was less amiable. Churchill and Truman believed Stalin’s communist regime posed a threat to Western Europe.  Potsdam Declaration (similar to Yalta Declaration) stated the Allied goals:  “to destroy German militarism and Nazism and to ensure that Germany will never again be able to disturb the peace of the world”; to “bring all war criminals to just and swift punishment”; and to “exact reparation in kind for the destruction wrought by the Germans.”  Germany would be divided into 4 zones each administered by one of the 4 great powers: US, USSR, UK, and France  Warned Japan that “the alternative to surrender is prompt and utter destruction”.

112.  $1 Trillion  17 million Germans mobilized  16 million Americans mobilized  36 million civilians killed  61 million total fatalities