VII. World War Two

1. Politically, the main enemy of the United States during World

War Two was communism.• False• Communism had been seen as a threat ever since

Karl Marx’s principles had been put into effect during the days of the Russian Revolution.

• However, because the U.S. and the Soviet Union shared a common enemy, they fought as allies in World War Two.

• Instead, the enemy during World War Two was fascism. Fascism was the political system employed by Benito Mussolini in Italy, the military government of Japan and Nazi dictatorship established by Adolf Hitler in Germany. It was characterized by

– A popular, totalitarian dictatorship– Heavy use of propaganda and the brutal tactics of a

police state– A hatred of communism– Heavy emphasis on nationalism to the point where it

become racist.

Hitler’s ideas can be labeled as “race” and “space”.He felt that the German master race needed to expand

eastward to have more Liebestraum, more living space. • From Mein Kampf:

– With satanic joy in his face, the black-haired Jewish youth lurks in wait for the unsuspecting girl whom he defiles with his blood, thus stealing her from her people. With every means he tries to destroy the racial foundations of the people he has set out to subjugate. Just as he himself systematically ruins women and girls, he does not shrink back from pulling down the blood barriers for others, even on a large scale. It was and it is Jews who bring the Negroes into the Rhineland, always with the same secret thought and clear aim of ruining the hated white race by the necessarily resulting bastardization, throwing it down from its cultural and political height, and himself rising to be its master.

– For a racially pure people which is conscious of its blood can never be enslaved by the Jew. In this world he will forever be master over bastards and bastards alone.

2. Overall, the United States played virtually no

role in trying to prevent the start of World War Two.

• True• Ever since its refusal to ratify the

Versailles Treaty in 1919, the United States had withdrawn into its traditional policy of Isolationism.

• Japan took the first steps toward war in 1931 by invading Manchuria and later China.

• Italy followed suit by invading Ethiopia in 1935. In both cases, without the membership of the United States, the League of Nations was ineffective in stopping these acts of aggression.

3. The United States entered the war as a result of Germany’s

invasion of Poland.• False• Hitler “democratically” took

power in 1933 and immediately began to prepare for war.

• He took aggressive steps in open violation of the Versailles Treaty. This included the military occupation of the Rhineland, annexing Austria and taking all of Czechoslovakia after being “appeased” by the Munich Conference of 1938.

• When Hitler then went on to invade Poland on September 1, 1939, England and France declared war on Germany. The Unites States remained neutral.

World War Two Time Line

1933 - Adolf Hitler is elected Chancellor of Germany. He abolishes democracy and becomes a dictator. Japan and Germany leave the League of Nations

1935 - The German military enters the neutral Saar region, Hitler resumes conscription to the German military.

1936 - The German military enters the demilitarized Rhine region. The German-Italian "Axis" is formed.

1937 - Japan, which already occupies Manchuria, invades central China

1938 - Hitler annexes Austria and western Czechoslovakia.

Japanese Aggression in Asia

World War Two Time Line - 1939

• Mar 1939 - Czechoslovakia surrenders to imminent German invasionAug 1939 - Germany and Russia sign non-aggression pact, secretly agreeing to invade Poland and share it.

• Sep 1 - Germany invades Poland, World War 2 begins. Hitler unleashes “blitzkrieg”, and new kind of war.Sep 3 - Britain and France declare war on Germany.Sep 8 - The US remains neutral but President Roosevelt declares "limited national emergency".Oct 6 - The last remaining Polish forces surrender

Europe on the eve of World War Two

World War Two Time Line - 1940

• Apr 8 - Germany invades Denmark and Norway. End of Phony War.May 10 - Germany invades France, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg. Winston Churchill becomes Britain's prime minister.May 20 - German forces reach the British Channel.May 27 - Evacuation of British and French forces to Britain at Dunkirk begins.Jun 4 - The evacuation at Dunkirk ends. 338,000 troops were rescued. Churchill declares that Britain will never surrender.Jun 9- Norway surrendersJun 10 - Italy declares war on the collapsing France and on Britain.Jun 14 - German troops march into ParisJun 22 - France surrendersJul 10 - The Battle of Britain air campaign begins.Jul 18 - Churchill declares this is Britain's finest hour.Aug 8 - The Luftwaffe begins to bomb British early warning radarsSep 3 - Hitler changes the Luftwaffe's objective from destroying the Royal Air Force to bombing London. This allows the R.A.F to recover and win the battle of Britain.Sep 13 - Italy invades British-held Egypt from Libya, the North African campaign begins.Sep 27 - Japan joins The AxisOct 12 - Hitler cancels the invasion of Britain.Dec 9 - British forces in Egypt counter attack the Italians and advance along the Libyan coast

World War Two Time Line - 1941

Feb 12 - Hitler sends Rommel and the Afrika Korps to help the Italians in North AfricaMar 3 - Rommel attacks the British forces in North Africa.Jun 22 - Germany invades Russia. Hitler orders "maximum cruelty" against civilians, which results in fanatic Russian resistance.Jul 3 - Stalin orders the "scorched earth" strategy.Jul 21 - The Luftwaffe bombs MoscowJul 24 - Japan invades French Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)Jul 31 - Hermann Goering orders the SS to prepare "the final solution", the plan to murder the millions of European Jews.Sep 15 - The long German siege of Leningrad begins.Oct 15 - Rains stop German advance to Moscow due to deep mud which stops both tanks and infantry.Dec 6 - At temperatures of -34C (-29F) and below, a major Russian counter attack near Moscow begins. Moscow is saved, and the Germans are pushed back.Dec 7 - The Japanese Navy attacks Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, and the US joins the war.

4. Overall, the war created many economic opportunities,

especially for women and other minorities.

• True• Entry into World War Two

provided an immediate end to the Great Depression and provided full employment for everyone who wanted to work.

• Millions of women either entered the military in support roles or went to work for the defense industries.

• By the end of the war in 1945, the Unites States’ gross domestic product was greater than the rest of the world combined.

5. During the war, the most powerful nations that fought

against the United States were Germany, Italy and the Soviet

Union.• False• Knowing that war with the United

States was inevitable, Japan decided on a sneak attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The idea was to knock out the US Pacific fleet.

• When the United States finally entered the war at the end of 1941, the only Allies left were– England, which took advantage of

its status as an island to effectively resist a Nazi invasion.

– The Soviet Union, which had been invaded the previous summer.

• The primary Axis nations were Italy, Germany and Japan.

6. When the United States first entered the war, it was decided that the first priority would be to defeat

Japan in the Pacific.• False• The first priority for the United

States was insuring the survival of its British and Soviet allies. This meant employing a “Europe - First” approach while stopping the Japanese advance in the Pacific.

• Since it would take time to recruit, train and equip large numbers of troops, the decision was made to fight first in North Africa rather than making a direct assault on Fortress Europe.

• It was also decided by President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the Allies would fight until the Axis nations agreed to an unconditional surrender.

7. At its height during the war, Nazi Germany controlled most of the European continent.

• True• As America entered the war at

the start of 1942, the Nazis controlled Europe from the English Channel in the west to the outskirts of Moscow In the east.

• In addition, they had also put into effect the “Final Solution.” This meant that Jews and other “undesirables” from most of Europe were deported to death camps in Poland.

• The Soviets were desperate for the Americans and British to open up a second front in the west. That would not happen for a couple of years.

Europe in 1941

8. The turning points of World War Two all occurred within a year after the

United States entered the war.• True• A turning point is that moment

when one side goes from winning to losing.

• In 1942, there were three turning points, each located in a different part of the planet.

• They were– El Alamein, where the Allies drove Italy

and the Nazis out of North Africa.– Midway and Guadalcanal where the

Japanese advance in the Pacific was stopped.

– Stalingrad, the bloodiest battle of all time. Here, the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union was turned around.

The Human Cost…• World War II Fatalities

• Country Military Civilian Total• Soviet Union 8,668,000 16,900,000

25,568,000• China 1,324,000 10,000,000

11,324,000• Germany 3,250,000 3,810,000 7,060,000• Poland 850,000 6,000,000 6,850,000• Japan 1,506,000 300,000 1,806,000• France 340,000 470,000 810,000• Italy 330,000 80,000 410,000• Great Britain 326,000 62,000 388,000• USA 295,000 295,000• Total circa 61 Million

9. Germany’s final defeat came after it was successfully invaded from both the east and the west.

• True• After taking North Africa, the

Americans and the British captured Sicily and then invaded Italy. The Italians soon surrendered, but the Nazis were not driven out of Italy until 1945.

• Meanwhile, the Soviet red army drove the Nazis across eastern Europe all the way to Berlin.

• On June 6, 1944, the Americans and British staged an amphibious invasion on the beaches of northern France in Normandy. This D-Day invasion was the largest of its kind that had ever occurred. It took another 11 months before the Germans surrendered (V-E day).

Europe, 1945…

10. The capture of Okinawa and Iwo Jima finally convinced the Japanese to surrender in

the summer of 1945.• False

• The Japanese had consistently shown their determination to fight to the last man. As a result, the Americans employed a strategy called island-hopping where they only took strategic islands leading closer and closer to Japan.

Many of these islands, like Okinawa and Iwo Jima, came at a great cost.

• Therefore, after years of secret research in an endeavor called the Manhattan Project, President Truman (who took over after Roosevelt died of a stroke in April) decided to end the war by dropping two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

• The bloodiest war in history was finally over and the world was forever changed.