Unit 9 Chapter 12

America in World War II

Skeleton Notes

United States in Isolationism 1920 -1941

  • Washington Navel Conference –
  • Kellog-Briand Peace Pact (1928) -
  • PreGood Neighbor Policy

The Origin/Causes of World War II

  • Rise of Dictatorships
  • Joseph Stalin – Russian Revolution –
  • Adolf Hitler – German Nationalism Socialists
  • Eugenics
  • Fascism
  • Nazis
  • Benito Mussolini – Italian Dictator
  • Failure of League of Nations
  • Without United States & Russia struggled
  • No enforcement or backing
  • Germany Militarism
  • Italy Attacking Ethiopia
  • Japan invading Manchuria
  • Munich Appeasement Conference
  • Sudetenland – many Germans lived in Czechoslovakia
  • Britian & France appeased Germans takeover of Sudetenland
  • Giving into a potential enemy to promote peace
  • Britain and France were seen as weak in Germany’s eyes
  • Germany invades Poland-Start of World War II
  • Joint Secret Alliance with Russia
  • Blitzkrieg

America Preparing forWar

  • Neutrality Acts (1935-1937) –
  • Cash & Carry
  • Quarantine Speech (1937)
  • Japan v. China
  • Flying Tigers
  • Preparations for War
  • Lend-Lease Act
  • Atlantic Charter with Winston Churchill

America Enters the War

  • Tensions with Japan
  • Embargo on Japan – cut supplies
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Dec 7th, 1941
  • USS Arizona

Americans on the Home Front

  • War Bonds
  • 350 Billion
  • United States shift from creditor to debtor nation
  • Industrialization
  • Rationing
  • Official end of Great Depression
  • Victory Gardens
  • Office of War
  • Propaganda of World War II
  • Office of War Information (OWI)
  • Voice of America
  • Women & African Americans
  • Women’s Army Corps
  • Rosie the Riveter
  • Minorities during World War II
  • Battle on two fronts: enemy oversees and prejudices at home
  • Tuskegee Airman
  • Native American
  • Executive Order 9066
  • Japanese Internment
  • Korematsu v. United States
  • Conditions in these Internment Camps

The War in Europe

  • The Americans War Strategy
  • Germany First than Asia
  • Hitler’s Biggest Mistake
  • Africa and Italy – Southern Front
  • Britain and the United States coming from the South
  • General George Patton
  • Allies invade France and Germany in Europe – Western Front
  • D-Day – First Invasion of Europe by Americans
  • Normandy
  • Dwight Eisenhower – European Commander
  • Omar Bradley
  • Battle of the Bulge
  • German Offensive
  • Germany will be surrounded on all Fronts
  • Africa & Italy –Southern Front
  • British, France and U.S. on Western Front
  • Russia from Eastern Front
  • Vernon Baker – African American Soldier-Medal of Honor

The Holocaust

  • Genocide of the Jews
  • Final Solution
  • Concentration Camps
  • Extermination Camps
  • Liberation of Camps by the United States

The War in Asia

  • Japan had its way early in World War II
  • Bataan Death March (1942)
  • Philippines 60 mile march
  • The War turns on Japan
  • Navajo Code Talkers
  • Messages that helped the United States
  • Battle of Midway – Strategy “Island Hopping”
  • Turning point of War in Asia
  • Admiral Chester Nimitz – Commander Asian Forces
  • Destroyed 4 Japanese Air Craft Carriers
  • Noteworthy Famous Battles
  • Battle of Guadalcanal
  • Iwo Jima
  • Okinawa
  • Douglas MacArthur – General of the Pacific and Island Hopping
  • George C. Marshall – Chief of Staff “organizer of victory”

The Atomic Bomb Decision

  • Albert Einstein & German Scientist Oppenheimer
  • Manhattan Project
  • Death of FDR = Decision by Harry S. Truman
  • Invade Japan or Drop the Atomic Bomb
  • Hiroshima & Nagasaki
  • High Profile Cities for War Production

Legacy of World War II

  • V-E DAY
  • V-J Day
  • Statistics
  • US Soldiers Killed = 292,000
  • US Troops wounded = 692,000
  • Over 100 million military personnel fought in WWII – largest in history
  • Deaths worldwide =70 Million
  • Atomic Bomb Casualties = 230,000
  • Majority of causalities in Atomic Bomb were civilians – deadliest conflict in history
  • Nuremberg Trails (1945-1946)
  • Liberation on Death, Concentration, Extermination Camps
  • Nuremberg Trials demonstrated that individuals are responsible for their actions, even in times of war
  • Denazification and German Post War
  • 4 Zones
  • Yalta & Potsdam Conferences
  • Occupation of Japan
  • Demilitarized
  • Led by General Douglas MacArthur