Self Check 5.5 - History from 1877

What role did Native Americans (mostly Navajo) play in the war? Native Americans served in the navy as code talkers. Americans had begun to worry that the Japanese were breaking their codes, so the marines employed the Navajo language speakers to encode tactical messages for transmission between the various Allied strategic positions. The Japanese never broke these codes.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concept: • Important role Native Americans played in cryptography during the war They helped get codes transmitted in their language so that they could not be understood by the Japanese.

What were the costs of the war? The costs of World War II are incalculable. Up to sixty million people lost their lives in the war, a death toll that is the highest of any war in history. The property damage to cities around Europe and Asia substantially altered the landscape of many countries. World War II also introduced the advent of a weapon that still haunts our society today: the nuclear bomb. Besides all of this, World War II revealed to us the cruel inhumanity of which men are capable.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concept: • Physical and psychological damage caused by World War II

What were the fates of Hitler and Roosevelt? Hitler committed suicide on May 7, 1945, after German forces were defeated, and Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage a mere month before the end of the war.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concept: • The fates of Hitler and Roosevelt Hitler committed suicide and Roosevelt died from a cerebral hemorrhage a month before the war was over.

What was the state of the Allied powers when the United States entered the war? At the time the United States entered the war, both Germany and Japan had acquired significant territories and were continuing to acquire more. Germany already controlled France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway and was in the process of attacking the Soviet Union. Japan had acquired Singapore, Hong Kong, Guam, and the Wake Islands. Shortly after America entered the war and found defending the Pacific to be impractical, Japan also acquired Malaya, the East Indies, and Burma. The Allied powers were in dire need of U.S. aid.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concept: • The state of the war when the United States entered the war The Allied powers were struggling and very weak when the United States entered the war.

Why did the United States drop the atomic bomb on Japan? To express it superficially, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan because Japan refused to surrender, and a land invasion of Japan was impractical and would have cost a substantial number of American lives.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concept: • Why the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan In order to end the war.

What events turned the tide of the war for the Allied nations? Several events turned the tide of the war. In June 1942, U.S. success in the Battle of Midway stymied Japanese progression in the Pacific. In North Africa, British forces pushed the German army under Erwin Rommel's command from Egypt into Tunisia, where American troops helped destroy the forces. Soon after, Allied troops retook Rome from German occupation. Hitler's decision to have his troops take Stalingrad in the dead of winter proved a fatal mistake, as the cold and the growing Russian army forced German armies to retreat. Starting in 1944, the Allies began to win astonishing victories. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces retook France (D day). German forces later capitulated on V-E day, ending the war in Europe.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concepts: • Events of World War II • Which events led to the Allied victory

What were the Nazi death camps? The Nazis constructed death camps as facilities to both detain and eliminate (murder) Jews and many other minorities during World War II. After the war, the Allies discovered these camps and found that six million Jews had been murdered within their walls. The presence of these camps caused German leaders to be tried as war criminals at the Nuremberg trials.

How did you do? Review the text if you do not understand the following concepts: • Nazi death camps and their use • Holocaust • Nuremberg trials