Melanie Jennings

U.S. History

1^st Period

4/26/11

 

The Second World War

Chapter 29

(1939- 1945)

 

Main Ideas: Chapter Review

 

In 1941, Roosevelt gave a fireside chat to the American people declaring his belief that the United States should become “the great arsenal of democracy.” Then, on January 6, 1941, when Britain’s country fell into bankruptcy, Roosevelt declared his first State of the Union and proposed a different means that Britain could obtain military equipment and supplies. He called this the lend-lease program. Britain, however, wasn’t the only country to benefit from lend-lease. Hitler ignored the peace treaty with the Soviet Union on June 22 and sent soldiers across the Soviet-German border. The Soviets fought grimly and adapted the scorched-earth policy. Then, in November the Soviets received a billion dollars in lend-lease credits.

There were many events that led the Japanese to attack at Pearl Harbor. When the German’s attacked the Soviet Union it encouraged Japan to act. They needed oil and the most convenient source of oil was in the Dutch East Indies. Then, in July 1941, Japan forced the French government in Vichy to hand over their military bases in southern Indochina. When this happened, Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the United States. Japan immediately retaliated and froze America’s assets. A month later the Japanese wanted the United States to unfreeze their assets, supply them with oil, and stop sending China lend-lease aid. Instead of giving in, the United States demanded Japan to withdraw from China and Southeast Asia. These were the main events that led to the attack at Pearl Harbor. 

The United States increased its number of soldiers in the armed forces by using the Selective Service System. This system provided 16.5 million men from the ages of sixteen to thirty-eight. However, the majority of the draftees were under the age of thirty. Once these men were drafted, they were sent to nation’s colleges for training where military leaders were faced with the difficult task of turning them into basic soldiers in three months. The specialized training units received three to six months of training. 

The government increased and supervised war production by setting up the War Production Board. They decided which firms would receive raw materials, told certain companies to convert from peacetime to wartime production, limited the amount of gasoline people could buy, and organized nationwide drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, and fats. However, the WPB was controlled by the Office of War Mobilization, which was set up to oversee the nation’s industrial production.

There were two major military goals set by the Allied leaders in the early war. The first priority was to defeat Hitler and let the all-out war against Japan wait. The reasons for this relied on the possibility that Germany might be able to crush the Soviet Union and cut Britain off from America in the process, which is something they felt Japan could never do.

One of the major turning points was the battle at Stalingrad in the spring of 1942. The scorched-earth policy prevented Hitler from living off of the land. Hitler decided to try a different approach and conquered a city, only to be surrounded in December. This was a major turning point in the war against the eastern front. Another turning point was when the allied forces invaded Italy from October 1943 to May 1944. Then, in 1945, the allies crossed the Rhine River, which was the last obstacle between them and Germany. The allies pushed the Germans back thousands of miles.

The allies were using a tactic called leapfrog. They would mount attacks on selected islands, while Australia and New Zealand would bomb the Japanese garrisons that had been bypassed.

When President Roosevelt suffered a severe stroke and died hours later, Truman was placed as president. Harry Truman, inexperienced and uneasy, took over office. After the capture of the Philippines under Roosevelt, Truman only had two major battles left. When the A-bomb was created it ended the war with Japan.

The Big Three reached three decisions about what to do with Germany after the war. They agreed that German and Japanese leaders would be tried as criminals the deeds they had committed. They also decided to set up the United Nations later in the year. The United States favored the Polish government-in-exile that had been in London since 1939, while the Soviet Union favored the Communist regime. The promise that the Soviets broke was that after the war he had promised that there would be “free and unfettered elections” in Poland and other Eastern European countries, but he never kept the promise.

When the United States occupied Japan for six years, MacArthur brought in many aspects of democracy. He included freedom of the press, no secret police, woman suffrage, and recognition of labor’s right to form unions. He also brought about extensive land reforms that freed farmers from paying rent to absentee landlords. However, the occupation ended with the signing of a peace treaty between the United Nations and Japan on September 1951.

 

Main Ideas: Section Review

 Section 1 Review 

The cash-and-carry system was no longer in use and Britain was almost bankrupt. The advantages American allies received from the lend-lease program were receiving needed items. The lend-lease, proposed by Roosevelt, meant that the President could lend or lease arms and other goods to “any country whose defense was vital to the United States.”

The Atlantic Charter was drafted because it was the secret meeting place for Roosevelt and Churchill. The Atlantic Charter was endorsed by fifteen countries and later became the basis for the United Nations.

Japan was encouraged by the German’s attack on the Soviet Union. However, Japan needed a lot of oil for its war machine, which was pressing. The Dutch East Indies was the most convenient oil source, but it risked war with the United States and Britain. With Germany fighting the Soviet Union- Japan’s old enemy- the gamble seemed worth it.

 

Roosevelt referred to the United States navy because it had suffered more damage then it had ever received throughout all of World War I. Not only did it refer to the navy, but also the planes, civilians, and soldiers that were lost during the time.

The Scorched-earth policy destroyed everything, even the Dnieper Dam, which was a droelectric project used to advance the Germans. It was effective because the Soviet Union was unaffected by death and fought bravely for their country. Men would tie bombs to their waists and throw themselves at German tanks.  

Section 2 Review

            During World War II the United States armed forces enlisted all single males between the ages of sixteen and thirty-eight. The armed forces changed during WWII when they permitted women to volunteer and African Americans to enter the military. Many of the women were separated into noncombat units and served as radio operators, nurses, accountants, etc. Another culture group segregated into the armed forces was Japanese Americans, or Nisei’s.  

            The war wiped out the depression’s unemployment rate and the work force ncreased from 46.5 million to 53 million. Not only did the war increase  production of labor industries and increase the employment rate, but the labor unions, such as the AFL and CIO, pledged to limit the number of strikes that occurred during the war. Another thing that affected the labor force was when women joined the war plant industry and replaced men. However, they received less pay and had little job security. The industrial work force also limited discrimination and included African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans to take part in the war effort.

            The reason why the majority of the plants that produced war-related goods were built by the federal government was because a lot of the companies didn’t want to be branded as merchants of death. Others were afraid that they would be caught with more production capacity then they could use once the war was over. So, the federal government built the plants needed for production and then leased them out to private firms.

            Congress set up the Office of Price Administration to keep inflation down. It was given the power to fix rents and set minimum process on goods. It also set up a system of for rationing. However, people were only supposed to buy goods such as meat, shoes, butter, sugar, coffee, and other items if they had stamps from ration books. Many people cheated by buying off of the black market.

The Office of Scientific Research and Development was set up by Roosevelt in 1941 to organize a cash program to help fund the development of the atomic bomb, which was to be completed as soon as possible, because Albert Einstein wrote to FDR explaining that the Germans may develop the atomic bomb first. Therefore, it became a race based on who could develop the bomb first.

I don’t think that the United States was justified to detain 120,000 Japanese civilians because of a “national security threat.” The Nisei fought in the 442^nd Regiment, a well decorated American combat unit, which was especially impressive. However, some 120,000 Japanese American’s, were rounded up and put into internment caps which were located in desert regions. They were forced to remain in the camps, guarded by soldiers and surrounded by barbed wire, until the very end of the war. Out of the Japanese descendants, all but the men who served in the war were taken to the internment camps. So, no, I don’t feel that the United States was in the right. If the Japanese descendants were unwilling to fight for their new country then they wouldn’t have put in the effort to provide security for it. Not to mention; everyone suffered in their own way during the war.

 

Section 3 Review

 

The first decision was giving priority to defeat Hitler. The reason for this was that they felt the Germans might crush the Soviet Union and cut off Britain from America. The other reason was to join forces with the allies and take Japan once the Germans had been defeated. The second important decision was to accept only the unconditional surrender of the enemy. Many people felt that this decision was a mistake, because, in their opinion, it caused the Japan and Germany to fight longer.

While the North Atlantic battle went on, American convoys sailed along the “polar bear route,” which went from Iceland along the north cape of Norway to the Soviet port of Murmansk. This was the only way that large amounts of American supplies could reach the Soviet Union. However, there was danger along the “polar bear route.” German planes and submarines sank many of the convoys, but they continued sailing, bringing the Soviet Union badly needed supplies, which was used to good advantage.

The Battle of the Bulge was significant for the allied forces because

In April the Soviets entered the outskirts of Berlin. They had pushed the Germans back for more than a thousand miles. Many German soldiers, civilian men and women, and children tried reaching the western armies to avoid being captured by the Russians. Hitler on the other hand, did not flee. Instead, he decided to go out in flames and on April 30he shot himself while his wife took poison. Then, under his instructions, both of their bodies were taken out to the garden and burned. Two days later the Soviets took over Berlin.

In the spring of 1942, the German’s stalled between Leningrad and Moscow. The Soviets scorched-earth policy prevented the German Nazi’s from living off of the land, so Hitler decided to try something else. With his war machines running low on oil he decided to fling his troops at the city of Stalingrad in the summer of 1942, making his way towards the oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. For three months the German troops conquered the city house by house and street by street. Then, in November, the Soviets finally launched an attack, moving in one army from the north and another from the south. Then, in December, the Germany was surrounded and began the turning point of the war on the eastern front. From that point on the Soviets were able to move steadily west.

 

Section 4 Review

 

After Pear Harbor, the Japanese made advances in all directions. They overran Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, Thailand, and the Dutch East Indies. In the Bataan peninsula, General Douglas Mac-Arthur held off the Japanese army of 200,000 men for four months, then another month on the fortress islands. Soon, their effort became hopeless. They retreated to Australia. As a result, the white people of Southeast Asia were destroyed forever. Even after the Japanese left, the people living in the area were never again willing to live under the rule of white people.

In early May, American and Australian fleets intercepted a Japanese fleet in the Coral Sea. There was no ship-to-ship combat because all of the fighting was preformed by carrier-based planes. America and Australia lost more then the enemy, but they halted Japan’s attempt to invade Australia. Then, one month later, the Japanese suffered an even bigger defeat at the battle of Midway. The Japanese, although heading for Hawaii, were forced to turn back to their base and no longer held unchallenged control over the Pacific.

The significance of the victory at Guadalcanal was that the United States, after the Japanese withdrew from Guadalcanal in 1943, gained a valuable base that they could launch the offensive. All of this happened because, even though American troops that had established a beachhead on a shortage of supplies, the Japanese engaged the American’s in a battle against their ships and planes. In the end the Japanese withdrew and the American’s struggle prevailed.

On August 6 a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay was loaded with a 9,000 pound atomic bomb. Its mission was to drop the bomb on the city of Hiroshima, which was an important Japanese military base. There were about 71,000 deaths and 68,000 injuries, not to mention that the bomb leveled nearly half of the city. On August 14 Emperor Hirohito made the decision to surrender unconditionally, despite the opposition from a few of his military leaders.

 

Section 5 Review

 

The Yalta Conference took place on the black Sea on February 1945. The European war was finally drawing to a close and the Soviet armies were deep in central Europe. At the Yalta Conference, Britain and the United States favored the Polish government-in-exile, which had been in London since 1939. However, they felt that the Soviet Union was in danger of being attacked since there weren’t any oceans or mountains to prevent an invasion. So, Britain and the United States agreed to support the Polish Communist government as long as it included a few representatives from the government-in-exile which stationed in London.

The Big Three, which included the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, reached some important decisions about what was to be done with Germany after the war at the Yalta Conference. The leaders agreed that German and Japanese leaders were to be tried as criminals for the atrocities they had committed. They also decided to begin setting up the United Nations later that year.

The charter was signed in June 1945 that established the United Nations. The United Nations has a large deliberative body and a small executive body. The charter provided a General Assembly which involved all member nations. However, the power was placed in the hands of the Security Council and voting relied on majority rule. In 1919 and 1920 the United States debated whether to join the League of Nations or not. They decided against it and in 1942 the Senate approved the country’s membership into the United Nations over a six day period.

The United States occupation of Japan lasted for six years under the command of MacArthur. He brought in many aspects of democracy and included freedom of the press, no secret police, woman suffrage, and recognition of labor’s right to for unions. He also included extensive land reforms that freed the farmers from having to pay rent to absentee landlords. Not only that, but MacArthur broke large business organizations that had controlled about 80 percent of Japan’s economy. Then, in September 1951, the occupation ended when the United Nations and Japan signed a peace treaty.