Chapter 12, a World Leader

Lesson 4, World War II

Objectives:

□Identify the causes of World War II and the reason for the United States’ entry into the war.

□Explain how World War II affected life in the United States.

□Describe the war in Europe, Africa, and the pacific.

Dates:

1939 – World War II Begins

1941 – The United States enters World War II

1945 – World War II ends

Vocabulary:

Rationing

Internment camp

People:

Adolf Hitler

Benito Mussolini

Joseph Stalin

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Douglas MacArthur

Chester Nimitz

Harry S Truman

Places:

Pearl Harbor

Normandy

Okinawa

Hiroshima

Nagasaki

  1. Before the War
  2. In Germany, the Nazis gained power, and Adolf Hitler became dictator.
  3. In Italy, Benito Mussolini became dictator.
  4. In Japan, military leaders seized control.
  5. Worldwide Troubles
  6. After WWI, Germany did not have enough money to pay the reparations imposed on them by the Allied powers.
  7. Hitler gets elected as Germany’s Chancellor, 1933 – Nazi, National Socialists.
  8. He wanted to make Germany a powerful nation again.
  9. Mussolini took over in 1922
  10. Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union, 1922.
  11. The Soviet Union came from a Russian Revolution in 1917
  12. RUSSIA (with Tsars or Kings)
  13. Soviet Union – Stalin is dictator
  14. RUSSIA again after the Cold War (democrac)
  1. A Global Conflict
  2. Japan, Italy, and Germany began taking over neighboring countries. The United States stayed out of the conflicts until the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. This prompted US involvement in the war.
  3. 1939 – Germany invades Poland
  4. Blitzkreig – or lightning war = bombers, fighter planes, tanks, troops.
  5. German forces stormed across Europe with incredible speed.
  6. By 1941, most of Europe was controlled by Germnay.
  7. Germany bombed Britain constantly, but they held their island ground.
  8. 1940 – FDR was elected to a third term, he promised to stay out of the war.
  9. He begins military production. Companies build tanks, planes
  10. A military draft started
  11. 1941 – Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, December 7 – ‘a date which will live in infamy’
  12. 2,000 soldiers were killed. 68 civilians killed.
  13. Americans were outraged.
  14. Congress declares war on Japan.
  15. The following day, Germany declares war on the United States
  1. The AXIS powers
  2. Germany
  3. Italy
  4. Japan
  1. The ALLIES and “the BIG Three”
  2. The United States – led by FDR
  3. The United Kingdom – led by Winston Churchill
  4. The Soviet Union – led by the Joseph Stalin
  1. Americans and the War
  2. During World War II, the government took over many businesses to make war supplies. Rationing was used to limit civilian consumption. Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps.
  3. Rationing – or limiting, what civilians could buy. The government needed to make sure that goods would go to the war effort. Rationing was a new rule for civilians at home.
  4. It limited the supply of goods like butter, sugar, meat, corn, and gasoline.
  5. Many people went to work
  6. This war helped bring us out of the depression.
  7. FDR, in 1942, ordered Japanese Americans to go to camps where they were secluded from the rest of the population.
  8. This was a national disgrace.
  9. Families had to leave their homes and sell their businesses.
  10. Japanese Americans faced this with great dignity.
  1. The War in Europe and Africa.
  2. The Allies invaded North Africa in 1942 and then pushed into Italy. They invaded France on June 6, 1944, and pushed into Germany, defeating Germany with help of the Soviet Union.
  3. Fighting in Europe
  4. Dwight D. Eisenhower – led Allied invasion of Morocco and Algeria
  5. By 1943, the Allies had won North Africa.
  6. Montgomery and Patton defeated Rommel
  7. The fighting moved to Italy, and continued until June 1944.
  8. The Allies kept fighting in Italy, and planned an invasion of France.
  9. June 6, 1944, was the Normandy invasion.
  10. 2,700 ships
  11. 175,000 Allied soldiers stormed the beaches.
  12. Many men died on the beaches.
  13. The Allies pressed through France successfully and on May 2, 1945, German leaders asked to surrender.
  14. May 8, 1945 – V-E Day
  1. The War in the Pacific
  2. The Allies pushed the Japanese back across the pacific one island at a time – island-hopping.
  3. Important battles were fought at Midway Island, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
  1. Guadacanal – a six month battle – 1,600 Americans died.
  2. Douglas MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz captured island after islands and moved closer to Japan.
  3. Iwo Jima – 4,000 American soldiers died. 20,000 Japanese soldiers died.
  4. Okinawa – more than 12,000 Americans were killed. The Japanese lost more than 100,000 troops and thousands of civilians.
  5. The War Ends
  6. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki forced a Japanese surrender.
  7. Harry S Truman became president after FDR died.
  8. He made the difficult decision to use the atomic bombs against Japan.
  9. August 6, 1945 – the Enola Gay dropped the bomb on Hiroshima – killing 75,000 civilians.
  10. August 9, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki
  11. Japan finally surrenders on August 15th.