1. Chapter 10 World War II

2. Preparation for War  Before and during the Great Depression in the United States, other countries around the world had a depression of their own.  The social and economic problems of these different countries brought different outcomes.  For example, Germany, Italy, and Japan fell under the control of dictators.  The whole world would soon feel the effects of these dictators' beliefs that war might be a good solution to their nations' problems.

3. Preparation for War  Benito Mussolini had controlled the Italian government since 1922.  He believed that a strong leader must have full power to run the country.  Under his dictatorship, other political parties were forbidden.  Mussolini created the Fascist political party.  Fascists believed the state or union was more important than the individual.

4. Preparation for War  They rejected the idea of democracy and personal freedom.  The Fascists believed military power and war were good for a nation.  Italian Fascists used the slogan: "Believe! Obey! Fight!"

5. Preparation for War  The German people did not understand how they lost World War I.  They were upset with the strict conditions of the peace settlement.  When World War I ended, Germany removed its king and established a democracy.  The new Republic of Germany tried to govern its troubled nation.

6. Preparation for War  The economy in Germany fell apart in 1923.  Inflation made German paper money nearly worthless.  Inflation is a steady rise in prices of goods.  Prices of goods doubled daily.  Germans had to carry large bags of money just to buy food for one day.  Many workers lost their jobs.

7. Preparation for War  The democratic government of Germany was criticized for being weak.  The National Socialist German Workers party, or Nazi party, opposed the German government.  Adolf Hitler led the Nazis.

8. Preparation for War  Hitler used his skills as a public speaker and organizer to increase the power of the Nazi party.  Hitler declared that democracy was weak and could not solve the nation's problems.  He added that the economic crisis was not the fault of the Germans.  He blamed Germany's problems on others.

9. Preparation for War  He told Germans that communists and Jews were trying to destroy their government.  He promised prosperity for all Germans.  He preached against democracy and for hatred of the Jews.

10. Preparation for War  Adolf Hitler became the chancellor, or chief minister of Germany, in 1933.  This happened after his Nazi party had won a majority of seats in Germany's Parliament.  Within months, Hitler became a dictator.  He gave himself the title "der Fuhrer,"  It meant "the leader."  Hitler and the Nazi party quickly destroyed German democracy and individual freedoms.

11. Preparation for War  Hitler was successful in improving the German economy.  German unemployment dropped.  The standard of living for most Germans rose.  Hitler continued a campaign against German Jews.  He called them traitors.  German Jews lost their citizenship and their jobs.  Citizenship is the act of belonging to a certain country.

12. Preparation for War  A civil war broke out in Spain in 1936.  General Francisco Franco and his forces fought against anti-Fascists.  The anti ­Fascists wanted Spain to have a democratic government.  The Spanish Civil War became a test for the Fascist governments of Germany and Italy.  Italy sent troops to fight in Spain, and German planes bombed Spanish cities.

13. Preparation for War  The communist government of the Soviet Union supported the anti-Fascists.  Anti-Fascist volunteers from Great Britain, France, and the United States also fought in this war.  The Americans who fought did so by their own choice, not as members of the American military.  The Spanish Civil War lasted three years.  The Spanish Fascist forces, supported by the governments of Italy and Germany, won in 1939.  Franco became the leader of a new Fascist government.

14. Preparation for War  The worldwide depression also hurt Japan, an island nation in Asia.  Japanese industries needed imported coal, oil, and iron.  The depression made it difficult for nations to trade with each other.  Without enough raw materials, Japan found its industries threatened.

15. Preparation for War  Japan relied on imported rice to help feed its people.  Unable to grow enough rice on their own, many Japanese had no food.  Radical military leaders, similar to those in Germany and Italy, took control of the Japanese government.  The army seized Manchuria, an area rich in coal and iron, from China.  In 1937, Japan invaded China again and captured several important cities.  Japan had taken its first steps to control Asia and establish a Japanese empire.

16. Preparation for War  Americans did not want to deal with the problems in Europe.  During the 1930s, Americans had a much larger problem at home with the Great Depression.  The New Deal programs took time to plan and put to use.

17. Preparation for War  There was another reason Americans ignored problems in Europe.  The memory of World War I was still fresh in their minds.  Americans wanted to stay out of another foreign war.  Many people felt that the United States was protected by possible attacks because of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

18. Preparation for War  Congress passed neutrality laws in 1935 and 1937.  These laws prevented the sale of arms or lending money to countries at war.  Throughout the 1930s, Americans watched Germany, Italy, and Japan increase in military strength.

19. Preparation for War  President Roosevelt was not so certain that the United States should ignore what was going on in Europe.  Beginning in 1937, he tried to keep the country aware of the problems there.  For that reason, some people criticized Roosevelt.  They thought he wanted to start a war.

20. Steps Toward a Second World War  During the years of the Spanish Civil War, Hitler moved aggressively to expand his power in Europe.  His goal was to bring the German-speaking people of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland under German rule.  Twice before in history, the German people had built a reich, or empire, in Europe.  Hitler wanted to create a Third Reich.

21. Steps Toward a Second World War  Hitler took the first step in creating a German empire in March 1938.  German troops marched into Austria and declared it part of the German Third Reich.  Although this action went against the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations did nothing to stop it.

22. Steps Toward a Second World War  Hitler's next move was to bring three million Germans living in the Sudetenland into the Third Reich.  The Sudetenland was an area of Czechoslovakia.  Hitler threatened to use force.  To avoid war, Neville Chamberlain, the prime minister of Great Britain, suggested that the major powers of Europe meet.

23. Steps Toward a Second World War  Chamberlain, Mussolini, Hitler, and Edouard Daladier of France met in Munich, Germany, in September 1938.  Czechoslovakia was not represented.  Hitler believed that the threat of war would frighten the leaders of Great Britain and France.  He thought that they would give in to his demands. Chamberlain and Daladier did just that.  Both leaders agreed to give Germany the Sudetenland.

24. Steps Toward a Second World War  They felt a policy of appeasement was best.  Appeasement is doing something to keep peace.  Hitler agreed to make no more advances for territory.  When Chamberlain returned to Britain, he said that the meeting in Munich had produced "peace with honor... peace in our time”

25. Steps Toward a Second World War  On the night of November9, 1938, Nazis set fire to Jewish places of worship called synagogues.  They also broke into Jewish homes, terrorized Jewish people, and destroyed Jewish businesses.  This night of terror is called "Kristallnacht," or the Night of Broken Glass."  Many Jews were killed or arrested.  This was only the beginning of the terror the Jews faced.

26. Steps Toward a Second World War  In 1939, Germany set up death camps for the Jews as a part of Hitler's "final solution."  The Nazis planned to murder every Jew whom they could find.  Jews were sent by train to the death camps.  Men, women, and children were killed with gas or gunfire in these camps.  Many bodies were burned in large ovens.

27. Steps Toward a Second World War  When it became widely known in 1945 that this Holocaust had occurred, the world was shocked.  The government of Nazi Germany had killed nearly six million innocent European Jews.  In the eyes of the Germans, the Jews were inferior simply because of their ethnic heritage.  For many years after the end of World War II, Nazi war criminals were hunted and brought to justice.

28. Steps Toward a Second World War  The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of World War I, had given Poland a strip of land called the Polish Corridor.  On this piece of land, Poland gained access to the Baltic Sea.  The Germans never liked this arrangement.  The Polish Corridor isolated East Prussia and the German city of Danzig from the rest of Germany.

29. Steps Toward a Second World War  In March of 1939, Hitler demanded that Poland give back the city of Danzig in order for Germany to build a railroad through the Polish Corridor.  Poland refused.  Great Britain and France supported Poland.  Both countries said they would go to war to defend Poland.  Great Britain and France expected help from the Soviet Union in a fight against Germany.

30. Steps Toward a Second World War  However, Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a treaty of friendship in August of 1939.  The Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, agreed not to interfere if Germany attacked Poland.  In return, Germany would give the Soviet Union the eastern half of Poland.  Having gained the alliance of the Soviet Union, Hitler felt confident that he could successfully seize the Polish land.

31. World War II Begins  German soldiers moved rapidly into Poland by trucks on September 1, 1939.  They were supported with tanks and bombing attacks by the German air force.  This new method of warfare was called blitzkrieg, or "lightning war."  This simple act of German aggression was the beginning of World War II.

32. World War II Begins  Troops ofthe Soviet Union also attacked Poland.  Great Britain and France, attempting to aid Poland, declared war on Germany.  While restating his vow to remain neutral, President Roosevelt did not approve of the attack on Poland.  He asked Congress to reverse its neutrality order so that the United States could sell weapons to France and Great Britain.  After a long debate, the arms were made available.

33. World War II Begins  A few weeks after the attack by the Soviet Union, Poland surrendered.  Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them.  Through the winter of 1939 and 1940, there was little activity.  Some people began to speak of a "phony war."  The world watched and waited, however, for Hitler's next move, remembering the Nazi phrase, "Today Germany, tomorrow the world!"

34. World War II Begins  Suddenly, in April of 1940, Germany attacked and defeated Denmark and Norway.  The next month, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fell to the German army.  Germany then attacked France.  German soldiers broke through the French defensive line.

35. World War II Begins  More than 300,000 British, Belgian, and French soldiers were trapped between the attacking Germans and the sea.  These allied troops retreated to Dunkirk, a seaport located in the north of France on the English Channel.  Great Britain made a daring attempt to rescue these allied troops.  Hundreds of ships set sail from Great Britain for Dunkirk.  Most of the troops were safely rescued and were in Great Britain on June 4, 1940.  Six days later, Italy sided with Germany and declared war.  France surrendered and requested an armistice. Hitler agreed.

36. World War II Begins  Great Britain was left alone to fight the Nazi war machine.  If Great Britain was defeated, the United States would be without an ally in Europe.  Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke to the British people on June 4, 1940.  He told them, "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches... we shall fight in the fields and in the streets... we shall never surrender."

37. World War II Begins  The British waited for a German invasion of their country.  The German air force began around-the-clock bombing raids on Great Britain's air force bases in August of 1940.  The Royal Air Force (RAF) fought back. The RAF used a new radar system that located incoming planes.  Many German bombers were destroyed.  The Germans had to change their invasion plans.

38. World War II Begins  Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June of 1941.  He ignored their friendship treaty.  This decision was a major mistake for Hitler.  Great Britain, Canada, Australia, the Soviet Union, and other nations joined together to fight Germany.  These countries became known as the Allies.  They realized that Hitler was attempting to gain control over all of Europe.

39. World War II Begins  Most Americans still did not want the United States to enter the war.  However, unlike World War I, Americans did not try to stay neutral.  They became concerned about America's safety.  President Roosevelt told the American people that Great Britain needed help.

40. World War II Begins  Great Britain needed more weapons but did not have enough money to pay for the supplies.  America had to be "the arsenal of democracy."  Roosevelt proposed that the United States lend Great Britain military supplies.  Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act in March of 1941.  This policy was designed to keep America out of war in Europe.

41. World War II Begins  Under the Lend-Lease Act, the United States government would provide weapons to any country considered important to American security.  These nations could buy, lease, exchange, or borrow equipment, arms, and supplies from the United States.  During World War II, the United States provided $50 billion in lend-lease aid to the Allies.

42. World War II Begins  The United States began to prepare for the chance of war.  Congress approved millions of dollars to strengthen the armed forces.  The Selective Service Act was passed in September of 1940.  This was the first peacetime law that drafted men into the armed forces.  The last draft had been during World War I.

43. War in Asia  Men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty- five were selected by a lottery to serve one year in the military.  The lottery was a drawing of names.  The United States made a trade with Great Britain and loaned it fifty small warships called destroyers.  In return, Great Britain leased naval and air bases to the United States in the Western Hemisphere.  These bases allowed the United States to better defend itself and to keep watch over the Panama Canal.

44. War in Asia  The Japanese government announced that it intended to rule all of Asia, including China.  That type of control went against America's Open Door Policy.  The United States had established the policy so that all nations would be allowed free trade with China.  America protested Japan's actions. However, Japan continued its plan to create an empire.  Japan joined Germany and Italy in an alliance.  These three countries became known as the Axis Powers.

45. War in Asia  Japan invaded the French colony of Indochina in June of 1941.  Indochina was just south of China.  The United States, became concerned that Japan gaining too much land.  America decided to stop selling oil and steel to Japan.  Japan desperately needed oil to continue with its plan.  The United States also offered a lend-lease program to China.

46. War in Asia  When Japan invaded Indochina, Roosevelt said Japan could not use money or investments it had in the United States.  This is called freezing assets.  Japan did the same thing to the United States. Trade between the two counties stopped.  Premier of Japan Fumimaro Konoye and United States Secretary of State Cordell Hull began to negotiate.

47. War in Asia  Japanese wanted to be allowed to use their assets in the United States.  They also wanted to be supplied with oil.  The United States wanted Japan to withdraw from China and Southeast Asia.  The negotiations failed.  Hideki Tojo replaced Konoye as premier.

48. War in Asia  Early on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, 353 Japanese airplanes took off from six aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean.  Their destination was the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 220 miles away. Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor  Their mission was to destroy the American naval fleet anchored there.  The Japanese thought they would be better able to conquer land in Asia if these American ships were destroyed.

49. War in Asia  Japan bombed ships in the harbor and planes on the ground.  The surprise attack occurred at 7:55 A.M.  Two hours later, the United States Pacific Fleet had lost many battleships, destroyers, and planes.  The attack killed more than 2,000 Americans.  Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941, was a "date that will live in infamy."  Four days later, Germany and Italy, Japan's allies, declared war on the United States.

50. War in Asia  Japan followed up its attack on Pearl Harbor by invading the Philippine Islands and other areas in the Pacific.  American and Filipino troops fought the Japanese.  However, they lacked planes, tanks, and ammunition.  Japan gained another victory. It now controlled the Philippine Islands.

51. The Home Front  The United States was not prepared to fight a war in both Europe and Asia.  However, Germany and Japan underestimated the ability of the United States to produce war supplies.  The nation had a good amount of workers and factories left idle by the Great Depression.  For example, the American auto industry had little difficulty changing its plants to make tanks and planes.

52. The Home Front  General Motors was able to make more war supplies than the combined output of Germany and Japan.  The war united the American people. It gave them a common purpose.  Patriotic posters reminded Americans of their duty to "do their bit” for the war effort.  American civilians aided the war effort in many different ways.

53. The Home Front  Millions of volunteers helped increase the supply of fresh vegetables.  Parks and flower gardens were turned into "victory gardens.  Victory gardens produced more than one-third of the nation's vegetables by 1943.  This allowed farmers to use most of their land to grow food for the armed forces.  Raw materials were needed for American industry.  We became a nation of collectors.  Volunteers collected tons of grease for use in making ammunition.  Even worn nylon stockings were collected to make gun powder bags for the navy.

54. The Home Front  Many goods were in short supply during the war. The government started to ration materials.  Ration books contained stamps used to purchase gasoline, sugar, meat, and other products. Ration books Ration books  A buyer had to pay the price for the product and a certain amount of ration stamps.  Shortages even changed the style of clothes.  Men's pants were made without cuffs and women's dresses were shortened because extra cloth was needed for military uniforms.

55. The Home Front  Women joined the armed forces in great numbers. joined  They served in Europe and Asia in every role except combat.  Millions of women replaced men in the workforce. workforce  Women learned to build planes and tanks as the men left for war.  Women now had the opportunity to prove that they were as capable as any man.

56. The Home Front  The United States feared that Japan would invade its west coast.  Some citizens thought people of Japanese ancestry living in America would aid the Japanese.  President Roosevelt ordered the army to move about 110,000 of these people to detention camps. detention camps.detention camps.  Many Japanese Americans lost their homes and businesses. Fear, the pressure of war, and prejudice caused the nation to set aside its democratic principles.  Japanese­American soldiers fought bravely in Europe while their government detained their parents and relatives.

57. The War Ends  Despite the desire for revenge against Japan for Pearl Harbor, the United States decided that Hitler's Germany must be defeated first.  The United States had strong ties to countries already defeated by Germany.  Also, Germany seemed to be a greater threat to the Western Hemisphere than Japan did.

58. The War Ends  The only way to defeat Germany was through an Allied invasion of Europe.  The Allies planned to hit Germany from the south through Italy and invade France from Britain.  At the same time, the Soviet Union could move against the Germans from the east.

59. The War Ends  American, Canadian, and British troops invaded Italy in September of 1943.  They captured the island of Sicily first.  As Mussolini lost the island, the Italian people, tired of war, captured and executed him.  The new, rebel Italian government soon surrendered to the Allied powers.

60. The War Ends  Determined to protect Germany's southern boundary, Hitler advanced toward Italy.  The Allies finally captured the city of Rome on June 4, 1944.  At this time, however, the Germans occupied most of northern Italy.

61. The War Ends  The Nazis, who had known for some time that the United States was planning an invasion, prepared the coast of France.  The beaches became death traps.  The Nazis laid exploding mines in the water.  They strung barbed wire all along the sandy shore.  General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied armies, landed his troops on the beaches of Normandy, France, on June 6,1944.  This was known as D-Day. D-Day.  It was a very tough battle.  However, by night, the Allies occupied about eighty miles of the French coast.  They could begin to move toward Germany.

62. The War Ends  By December of 1944, the Allies were confident that Germany's forces were trapped.  But then, suddenly, the Germans counterattacked.  The German army pushed through the Allied line.  On a map of Europe, a large bulge represented Hitler's take over of Allied territory.  Led by General George Patton, the Allies counterattacked.  The Germans were pushed back.  The confrontation became known as the Battle of the Bulge. Battle of the Bulge.Battle of the Bulge.  It was the last offensive by the German army.

63. The War Ends  President Roosevelt was re-elected for a fourth term in 1944.  The strain of the war had taken its toll on him.  He was able to cope with his polio, but the President had suffered from a number of other physical problems.  There was hope that the war against Germany would end early in 1945.  Allied leaders met in February of 1945 in Yalta, a small town on the Black Sea in the Soviet Union.  Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed on a plan to follow when Germany surrendered.  The plan became known as the Yalta Agreement. Yalta Agreement.Yalta Agreement.

64. The War Ends  The plan had several points. First, the Soviet Union agreed to enter the war against Japan.  Second, Germany would be divided into four zones, each controlled by one of the Allies.  Third, the Soviet Union would hold democratic elections in eastern European countries under its control.

65. The War Ends  Fourth, a world organization called the United Nations would be created.  The Yalta Agreement seemed reasonable at the time.  However, after the war ended, parts of the agreement caused political problems between the United States and the Soviet Union.

66. The War Ends  President Franklin Roosevelt died suddenly in April of 1945.  The nation was in shock. Vice President Harry S. Truman became President.  On April 25, 1945, Adolf Hitler killed himself in a bunker in Berlin.  A bunker is an underground shelter. Germany surrendered.  The war in Europe was over.

67. The War Ends  The United States began to control the advance of the Japanese military.  The Allies were led by American Army General Douglas MacArthur and Navy Admiral Chester Nimitz.  Japan lost Guadalcanal, the Philippines, Iwo lima, and Okinawa. Despite the losses, the Japanese refused to surrender.  The Allies began to plan an invasion of Japan.

68. The War Ends  President Truman learned that the United States had developed a new weapon called the atomic bomb, or A-bomb. A-bomb  This bomb could end the war, but it would cause enormous loss of Japanese lives.  Truman was advised that over a million American soldiers' lives would be lost if Japan was invaded on land.  Such an invasion would also kill countless Japanese people.

69. The War Ends  In an effort to avoid using the atomic bomb, the President gave one last warning to Japan.  Japan, however, refused to surrender.  Truman decided that he must approve the use of the atomic bomb on Japan.  On August 6, 1945, from a plane named Enola Gay, the atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima.  The weapon destroyed that major Japanese city and instantly killed or wounded 130,000 people.

70. The War Ends  Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing or wounding 75,000 people.  On August 14,1945, Japan asked for a cease-fire-they wanted to end the fighting.  General MacArthur accepted the formal surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945. World War II, the worst war in history, was finally over.