The Home Front&

The Aftermath of the War

USSR• Leningrad – under siege for 900 days

• Battle of Machines – entire factories were moved to the interior and produced war munitions.

• Soviet women worked in industries, mines, railroads, some served in the military as snipers and aircrew.

U.S.• American economy mobilization for war

• Turmoil

– Housing & schools shortage

– Racial tensions & race riots

– Segregation in U.S. military

• Japanese Americans– 110,000 moved to internment

camps

Germany• To maintain morale Hitler refused to cut

consumer goods production or to increase the production of armaments

• 1942 order massive increase in armaments, Albert Speer was put in charge (too late)

• 1944 Schools, theaters, and cafes were closed

• Women were encouraged to enter the work force, few did

Japan• Wartime Japan was

highly mobilized• Young Japanese men

were encouraged to volunteer in suicide mission against the U.S. (kamikaze)

• Female employment increased in farming and the textile industry– Chinese and Korean labors

were brought in to meet the labor shortage

Kamikaze attack on the LST534

Bombing of Cities• Most thought that bombing civilian populations

would be an effective way to force governments to make peace.

• Battle of Britain – proved this theory wrong!• British began bombing German cities

– Destruction of Dresden

• Incendiary bomb create firestorms• 500,000 civilians die in bombing – survivors

were not more determined to fight to the death• Bombing did not slow down production of war

goods

Bombing of Cities cont.

• The bombing of civilians reached a new level with the first atomic bomb.

U.S. B-29 Superfortress

Peace & a New War

• WWII was followed by a period of political tensions known as the Cold War

• Tehran Conference

• Yalta Conference

• Potsdam Conference

• Nuremberg Trials– Dachau Trials –

Prosecutor Colonel Denson (Bham, AL)

– Alleged former Nazi deported to Austria from U.S.

Nuremberg Trials

• West thought Soviets were pushing Communism world-wide

• Soviets viewed the West especially America pushed global capitalism

• March 1946 “Iron curtain” divided EU into two hostile camps