World War II:

An Overview

Sleeping Giant is Awakened

• Isolationism – 1920s to the 1930s

• 1939 – War breaks out in Europe (Poland invaded by Germany)

• Lend-Lease Act (1940) • Dec. 7, 1941 – Pearl Harbor is

attacked • Within a few days, the US is at

war with both Japan and Germany

• War on two fronts

Pacific Theater

European Theater

Impact of the War (the US)

• Transforms the American economy • Gov’t sets production goals for

factories • Focus on the war effort • Manufacturing of planes, tanks,

ships, weapons, etc. • Strict rationing of goods • More opportunities for minority

groups and women • Tax increases and sale of liberty

bonds • Propaganda campaign

Japanese Incarceration • 110,000 Japanese were interned during WWII

• Any Japanese American with 1/8th heritage could be interned and/or was under suspicion

• http://www.densho.org/looking-like-the-enemy/

• Despite this many Japanese Americans enlist in the military to prove their loyalty

• 442nd Regiment (all Japanese Americans) becomes the most decorated unit in the history of the US

Fighting in Europe

• Mainly a land war

• Most of the continent is controlled by Nazi Germany

• North Africa also controlled by Nazi Germany

• D-Day Invasion – June 6, 1944

• Crucial to the success of the allies

• By Sept, 1944 – France, Belgium, and Luxembourg are liberated

East Meets West

VE Day • Victory in Europe Day –

May 8, 1945

• People in Europe celebrate

• Mass destruction in most major cities throughout Europe

• Nearly 25 million military casualties

• Roughly 40 – 50 million civilian casualties

Potsdam Conference – Summer 1945

The Holocaust • Genocide – systematic killing of

an ethnic group • 6 million European Jews were

killed by the Nazi’s • They were used as a

“scapegoat” by Hitler • Discovered by Allied forces • After the war, Nazi military and

political leaders brought up on war crimes

• The Nuremberg Trials • “Crimes against humanity” • Zionism – 1948 Israel created

Division of Germany

Europe Post-WWII

Fighting in the Pacific • Navy & Marines • Island Hopping • Brutal combat • Japanese soldiers philosophy =

“fight to the death” • Huge casualties • Big influence on Pres. Truman’s

decision to drop the atomic bomb

• Two bombs dropped • VJ Day = Sept. 2, 1945 • Establish a new democratic

gov’t

United Nations

• UN created to resolve international conflicts

• Hope to keep peace around the globe

• Provides a forum for international discussion

• Limited success