World War Two

Isolationism 1920s to 1930s went from active world policy back to isolationism because to the imminence of the Depression and fear of the danger of war 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany and withdrew from the League of Nations, reoccupied the Rhineland, and denounced the Treaty of Versailles 1922 Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy; 1935 he invaded Ethiopia under emperor Haile Selassie, but the League of Nations failed to act to stop him Mid- and late-1930s militarists gained power in Japan, withdrew from the League of Nations and began invading China 1937 Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a pact finalizing the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo axis, threatening the balance of power and undermining the Treaty of Versailles Americans increasingly wanted peace and noninvolvement Novel All Quiet on the Western Front reminded people of the brutality of WWI Walter Millis in his 1935 book America's Road to War claimed that the British had tricked the US into entering WWI Pacifism overtook college students The Nye Committee under Senator Gerald Nye discovered that banks and munitions manufacturers made large profits from WWI 1935-37 neutrality acts banned the sale of munitions to warring nations, American citizens from traveling on foreign ships, and loans, and required that trade other than munitions be done on a cash-and-carry basis; wanted to avoid war by banning the things that had led to previous wars FDR maintained a public image of pacifism and isolationism, though in his quarantine speech called for efforts to preserve peace to end the epidemic of world lawlessness 1938 Hitler seized Austria and demanded the Sudetenland, so the British, French, and Germans met and made the Munich agreement, which Roosevelt tacitly approved, but Hitler violated the agreement with the seizing of Czechoslovakia 1939 Roosevelt tried to pass further neutrality legislation, but almost no politicians believed war to be likely in Europe September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland and began WWII; Roosevelt proclaimed America neutral The Nazi-Soviet Pact between Germany and Russia promised nonaggression between them and gave Russia part of Poland Unlike in WWI, Americans openly picked a side to support, that of the Allies November 1939 Congress passed a revised neutrality policy in which warring countries would be allowed to buy supplies from the US with cash and transport on their own ships Spring of 1940, the Germans won stunningly and rapidly seized Denmark and Norway, used the blitzkrieg in the western front, drove Allied lines back, and captured France; Americans realized that if Hitler captured Britain, he could use their navy to invade the US

The Lure of Pacifism and Neutrality

War in Europe

The Road to War From Neutrality to Undeclared War

 So Roosevelt gave supplies to England in exchange for building rights for military bases on British possessions, violating neutrality and inciting outcry, ex. the America First Committee that wanted isolation and believed America strong enough to defend itself The Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies (the White Committee) under newspaper editor William Allen White called for aid to England and argued that events in Europe profoundly affected the US The American people came to support interventionism because of Hitler's bombing of Britian September 1940 Congress approved of Roosevelt's peacetime draft, the first in US history In the election of 1940, Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term against Democratic candidate Wendell Willkie who also supported aid to England March 1941 despite opposition Congress authorized Roosevelt's lend-lease program to let warring countries borrow supplies from the US Roosevelt send out US ships to protect British shipping, and the German U-boats were ordered to not attack US ships, but accidents occurred, ex. October 1941 sinking of the Reuben James, so Roosevelt launched an undeclared war on German U-boats and had Congress allow American ships to carry goods to England By Septermber 1941, 80% of Americans wanted to stay out of WWII Showdown in the Pacific Japan had been unable to conquer Chiang Kai-shek's China, but were able to conquer territories of German-conquered France and the Netherlands and incorporate them into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, so July 1940 Roosevelt enacted economic sanctions against Japan restricting the amount of fuel and metal, on which the Japanese depended, the US could export to them; did not seem to affect Japan much September 1940 Japan, Germany, and Italy signed the defensive Tripartite Pact Japan wanted a hand in China and the end of US sanctions, while the US wanted complete Japanese withdrawal from China July 1941 Japan invaded southern Indochina, so the US froze Japanese assets in the US and completely halted trade with Japan (the only other way Japan could get oil was by seizing the Dutch East Indies), so Japan under General Hideki Tojo maintained a facade of diplomacy but December 7, 1941 bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, so the US declared war on Japan When and right after America joined the war, the situation was bleak; Germany controlled most of Europe (including part of Russia despite the Nazi-Soviet ) and part of North Africa, and Japan was dominating the Pacific Unlike the Axis powers, the Allies were willing to work together closely to defeat the enemy A Combined Chiefs of Staff was in charge of the US and British militaries Countries that signed the Declaration of the United Nations pledged to cooperate and fight until the Axis powers were defeated But China was displeased with the defeat of Germany and not Japan being the priority, Roosevelt ignored the exiled Free French government for the Vichy regime, and Russia had trouble getting along because of unpaid debts to the US, ideological differences, and

Turning the Tide Against the Axis

Wartime Partnerships

the fact that it bore the worst of battle in the beginning of the war At the Casablanca conference, Churchill and Wilson declared that the allies would fight until the Axis powers were completely defeated (unconditional surrender) Halting the German The US wanted to invade across the English Channel, but Britain wanted air and naval attacks on the perimeter of the continent to weaken Germany first Blitz So November 1942 American and British troops began the North African campaign: At El Alamein, the British forced Rommel to retreat from Egypt to Tunisia At Kasserine Pass, the US under Eisenhower were badly defeated, but May 1943 British General Patton came and drove the German forces from Africa In the battle of Stalingrad in Russia, Hitler made his last European offensive and lost to the Red Army Summer 1943 the Allies invaded Sicily and Italy to get a foothold in Europe; Italy dropped out of the war, but the Allied forces were delayed by Axis reinforcements and mountainous terrain These Mediterranean operations delayed the opening of the second from to spring 1944 Russia was looking forward to receiving post-war domination of eastern Europe in return for its large sacrifice in the war Checking Japan in the Pacific The US's strategy was island-hopping, not invasion Douglas MacArthur led the southern prong of the campaign, and Chester Nimitz the northern May 1942 battle of the Coral Sea was the first all-carrier and all-aircraft war; the US succeeded in preventing Japan from invading Australia June 1942 at Midway was the first defeat of the modern Japanese navy and left the US in control of the Central Pacific August 1942 the US began their first offensive in the Solomon Islands, and six months later had driven Japan from key island Guadalcanal By early 1943, Japan was on the defensive The US was looking forward to post-war domination of the Pacific in return for almost singlehandedly stopping Japan Industry hummed with war production, ex. Henry Ford's Willow Run plane factory and Henry J. Kaiser's West Coast shipyards; America won in part because it could build ships faster than the U-boats could sink them 1942 Roosevelt appointed Donald Nelson head of a War Production Board (WPB), but the army and navy overpowered him, and allowed businesses rapid depreciation and huge tax credits for new plants and cost-plus contracts for crucial goods Because of shortages of critical materials, esp. rubber, an allocation system was set up according to military priorities and gasoline rationing was enacted The Office of Price Administration clashed with the WPB by curbing inflation by rationing scarce goods, so Roosevelt appointed James Byrnes to head an Office of Economic Stabilization to settle disputes between agencies Roosevelt wanted tax increases to pay for the war, but Congress refused, so the war would be half financed by loans and half by increased taxes Affluence was growing; high taxes on the wealthy kept them from profiting too much, laborer's wages and overtime pay were greater, and farmers' incomes quadrupled; ensured post-war prosperity

The Home Front

 A Nation on the Move

Young men left to fight overseas, and workers and their families moved to live near centers of defense production Rural areas lost population while coastal areas gained So was a shortage of housing Both the marriage and divorce rates increased and the baby boom began So had a shortage of teachers and publicly funded day-care centers Female employment rose greatly, esp. in traditionally male industries, and more working women were married and middle-aged; challenged the concept that a womans proper place was the home Effects on blacks: In the military, usually did menial work and were kept from leveling up 1941 because of pressure from black labor leader A. Philip Randolph, Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC) to ban racial discrimination in war industries; was successful in the public sector, but not the private Employment rate rose because of a nationwide shortage of labor Moved from rural South to urban centers in the North and West to find work in industry Shortages of facilities for blacks and whites caused race riots, ex. June 1943 in Detroit and later in Harlem Effects on Mexican-Americans: In the military, were not as segregated as blacks, ex. served in the Eighty-eighth Division (the Blue Devils) Left the rural West and Southwest for jobs in the cities 1943 in the zoot-suit riots in Los Angeles, white sailors attacked Mexican-American youths Returning veterans formed the American G.I. Forum to press for equal rights in the future February 1942 Roosevelt ordered the army to move all Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to concentration camps in the interior: Most were Nisei, or native-born Americans The Supreme Court upheld the relocation Could get out of the camps by pledging their loyalty and finding a job away from the West Coast or joining the military, ex. the all-Nisei 442nd Combat Team March 1946 last camp closed Roosevelt used the war to strengthen his leadership and maintain Democratic control In the congressional elections of 1942, Republicans had almost gained a majority in Congress For the election of 1944, Roosevelt replaced liberal vice president Henry Wallace for moderate Harry Truman; was supported by organized labor Sidney Hillman led the Political Action Committee (PAC) that went door-to-door registering voters The Republicans nominated Thomas E. Dewey; attacked Roosevelts failing health and had a bipartisan foreign policy Roosevelt won the election and received a fourth term, but by his smallest margin yet By 1943, the Axis was on the defensive in both Europe and the Pacific June 1944 on D-Day the Allies opened the second front by going across the English channel and capturing Normandy beach July 1944 General Omar Bradley destroyed the Axis army at Saint-Lo, allowing the Allies

Win-the-War Politics

Victory

to advance August 1944 the Allies liberated Paris December 1944 the German army counterattacked at the Ardennes Forest but were defeated at the Battle of the Bulge The Russian and Allied armies closed in on Berlin from both sides April and May 1945 Hitler committed suicide and Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of all German forces

War Aims and Wartime Diplomacy

Russia wanted post-war domination of Eastern Europe because of they had contributed the most to the war America wanted to try again at collective security because believed that their failure to join the League of Nations caused WWII;1943 in Moscow Russia agreed to join a future league of nations Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) conferences: Late 1943 in Teheran Stalin agreed to join a future league of nations and promised to help fight Japan once Germany was defeated February 1945 in Yalta Stalin insisted on post-war domination of eastern Europe (though Roosevelts Declaration of Liberated Europe weakly called for free elections) and promised to help fight Japan three months after Germany surrenders in return for concessions in Asia April 1945 President Roosevelt died and was replaced by Harry Truman The defeat of Germany was the only strong bond between the US and Russia; once it was defeated, they began to drift apart 1944 Nimitz secured bases in the Gilbert, Caroline, and Marshall islands October 1944 under MacArthur in Leyte Gulf the US navy ended further Japanese naval Options for ending the war: The US military wanted to do a full-out invasion of Japan, resulting in extremely high causalities Diplomats wanted a negotiated peace instead of unconditional surrender (at Potsdam, Churchill and Truman warned Japan of destruction unless it surrendered) The Manhattan Project developed the first atomic bombs Truman decided to drop the bombs, on recommendation from Secretary of War Henry Stimson, because would be less deadly than invasion So early August 1945 bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Early August 1945 Russia joined the war against Japan Mid-August 1945 the Japanese ministers surrendered unconditionally, and September 1945 Japan signed a formal capitulation agreement The use of the bombs guaranteed a postwar arms race with the Soviet Union The US would become an interventionist world power Prosperity, industrial recovery, government intervention in the economy, and huge deficits Baby Boom

Triumph and Tragedy in the Pacific

The Legacy of War