SSUSH19: The student will

identify the origins, major

developments, & the

1930s in Europe & Asia

New dictators came to power:

Adolf Hitler (Germany)

Benito Mussolini (Italy)

Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)

Francisco Franco (Spain)

Hideki Tojo / Emperor Hirohito (Japan)

Neutrality Acts

In an effort to keep the U.S.

out of future wars, beginning
in 1935, Congress passed a
series of Neutrality Acts
Law outlawed (made illegal)
the sale or loan of weapons
to nations at war (included
civil wars)
However, this did not stop
the govt from making
weapons in the factories

WWII Begins

September 1, 1939 Hitler

(Germany) invades Poland
using the military strategy,
blitzkrieg (lightning war)
September 3, 1939
Britain & France declare
war on Germany
By the end of September,
Poland was completely
taken over & surrendered
to Germany

African American
Discrimination
As a result
of re-armament, the
nation began to emerge from
the Great Depression in 1940

African American workers,

despite receiving training in
govt approved programs, were
denied access to defense jobs
Many employers refused to hire
African Americans for complex
jobs (mechanics & aircraft
construction)

Randolphs March on
January 1941Randolph
began the
Washington
March on Washington movement

Movement trying to force the Roosevelt

administration to re-think the discrimination
issue against African Americans

July 1941march was supposed to take

place in Washington

However, as the march date approached,

the media began reporting that 100,000
people would march on Washington

Roosevelt feared a race riot might occur

Lend-Lease Act

March 1941Congress passed the

Lend-Lease Actand amended the
Neutrality Acts so the U.S. could lend
military equipment & supplies to any
nation the president said was vital to
the defense of the U.S.but they had to
send their own ships to U.S. ports to get
the supplies
Roosevelt approved $1 billion in LendLease aid to Great Britain in October
1941

Japan-U.S. Relations
Before
1941
1890sJapan
began expansion

throughout Asia (taking over weaker

Asian countriesChina & Korea)

Japanese aggression angered the U.S. b/c

U.S. policy said that all nations should be
able to trade freely in China & other
nations should respect it
1931Japan invaded Manchuria (north
China) & went to war w/ China in 1937

Neutrality Acts prevented the U.S. from

giving aid to the Chinese

So, the U.S. placed an embargo (official

ban on trade) on airplane parts & aviation
fuel

**This made Japan mad since they traded

with us

Also, the U.S. re-positioned the Pacific

fleet from San Diego, CA to Pearl Harbor,
HI
July 1941U.S. placed a total financial
embargo (ban) on Japan

Japanese felt that U.S. actions were directly

threatening Japan & began to plan to take

Attack on Pearl Harbor

Dec. 7, 1941 (Sunday morning)

Japanese navy & air force launched a
surprise attack on the U.S. Navy based
at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Causalities:

Over 2,400 Americans killed

1,178 more were wounded

19 ships were damaged

Over 300 aircraft were destroyed

Dec. 8, 1941Pres. Roosevelt asked

Japanese-American
Many Internment
Americans believed
that the
Camps

disaster at Pearl Harbor would lead to

other attacks along the California coast
by Japanese-Americans already living in
the U.S.

West coast was designated a security

zone & all potential enemies were to be
removed from the region
Eventually 110,000 Japanese-Americans
were removed from California, Oregon,
& Washington

Alliance Systems

Axis Powers

Germany

Italy

Soviet Union (then switched to Allies)

Japan

Allied Powers

Great Britain

France (until Germany invaded & took over)

U.S. (entered in Dec. 1941 after attack by

Japan)

Battle of Midway: June 46 months after7,

the1942
Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor

Japanese tried to trap & sink Americas

aircraft carriers near Midway Island (an
American refueling station for ships &
planes in the Pacific)
U.S. destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft
carriers while losing only 1 American
carrier
In the end, Americans beat the
Japanese!

D-Day: June 6, 1944

D-Day was the code name for the first

day of Operation Overlordthe Allied
invasion of Nazi-occupied France
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhowerleader of
the Allied invasion
Still the largest seaborne invasion in
history w/ over 156,000 men crossing
the English Channel in 6,939 vessels
When the Allies landed at Normandy,
the German troops occupying the

Fall of Berlin: April-May

Battle of Berlin was
one of the final
1945

battles of the European part of the war

2 Soviet army groups attacked Berlin

(capital of Germany) from the east &
south, while a 3rd attacked German
forces north of Berlin
The Soviets lost 81,116 men taking the
city of Berlinwhile the Germans lost
458,080 trying to defend it!!
It was one of the bloodiest battles in
history

U.S. Homefront

With the U.S. fully engaged in WWII, the

nation went on a total war effort
Mobilization the act of assembling &
making both troop & supplies ready for
war
Roosevelt administration created the
War Production Board to coordinate
the production of war supplies

They regulated the production & allocation

of materials & fuel

Began by ending the production of non-

Rationing

Food rationing began in 1942

Sugar, meat, butter, canned veggies &
fruit all required rationing stamps
(coupons)
Allotments were based on family size
Victory gardens familycreated/owned gardens so they could
grow their own food
Rationing of gasoline, sugar, & tires led
to some black marketeering

Role of Women during

WWII
Women served many
different
roles during the war

Some women served in the

military

216,000 women volunteered for

service in the various branches

In order to meet the demand for

labor, the U.S. govt began a
campaign to lure women into
the workforce
Govt created a fictional ideal

The Manhattan Project

The Manhattan Project was a code name

for a secret research & development
program whose goal was to build an
atomic weapon during WWII
European scientistsAlbert Einstein
(who had fled Nazi Germany)feared
that German physicists were developing
an atomic weapon for Hitler
Scientists urged Pres. Roosevelt & Prime
Minister Winston Churchill to create a
similar program

President Roosevelt Dies

April 12, 1945 Pres.

Roosevelt died in Warms
Springs, Ga

He was posing for a portrait

when he had a stroke & died

Roosevelt died less than a

month before V-E Day

Vice President Harry S.

Truman now became the 33rd
president & now had the
responsibility of ending the

Atomic Bombs

Ultimately, these testing & production

facilities led to the creation of the first
working atomic weapons

1st exploded near Los Alamos, NM

Successful test led to the creation of 2

working bombs
Before dropping the atomic bombs, the
U.S. tried to get the Japanese govt to
surrenderhowever they refused
So, Pres. Truman faced the difficult
decisionshould the Allies use the bomb