APUSH - WWI & Homefront

WWII

- 1939 Neutrality Act was not neutral because it was only favored Britain & France although it did not explicitly say that - would satisfy American isolationist public opinion - the war was getting too serious for the US to just sit back and not get involved

US & Japan: Background

- 1931: invasion of Manchuria (Japan had already started to create an imperialistic power in the 1920s - Stimson Doctrine expressed US disapproval of their imperialism as they would not recognize Japan conquering other territories

FDR, Truman, & the Atomic Bomb

- 1939: Albert Einstein warned FDR about Germany trying to create an atomic bomb and that is was possible - 1940: Manhattan Project set up to create an atomic bomb (required finding a top secret location and the best scientist and providing them the best labs and equipment) (US was not even in the war yet) - 1942: Manhattan Project began (goal was just to built an atomic bomb before the Nazis did) - January, 1945: FDR & VP Harry Truman inaugurated (concern over FDR's poor health that he would not survive throughout the war, so the democrats wanted a stronger VP then before as a safety net if the fears came true, and they did) - April 12, 1945: death of FDR, and a few days later Truman was inaugurated as President after only being VP for 82 days (not a lot of communication between Truman and FDR before) (Truman didn't even know of the Manhattan Project until he became president which showed the secrecy of this) (He approved dropping the bomb)

Destroyer Deal

- 1940 - U.S. agreed to "lend" its older destroyers to Great Britain. (Destroyers were major warships that made up the bulk of most countries' navies.) Signaled the end of U.S. neutrality in the war. - Britain was out of money, and the FDR wanted to help, but US still didn't want loans as those economic ties had previously gotten them into WWI - US gave away old navy destroyers and got in return military bases in the Pacific/Caribbean - FDR Re-elected for 3rd term (broke the GW precedent, but the country was on edge of war and allies were very weak) (FDR was already trusted and had strong American support)

Allied Military Plan

- 4 year plan until the war ended and roughly one plan each year

Island Hopping (1942-1944)

- Allied forces gradually closed in on Japan by taking island after island - Japan had a lot of Asia and most of the Western Pacific (1942) - US Navy rebuilt in 1942 to start counter assault - once island was taken, objective was to build a base to allow airstrips to get built so that forces could move onto the next island until they got to Japan

Island Hopping (1945)

- Allies were getting closer to Japan itself as the plan had been working, but it was very difficult to invade & conquer Japan as their strength & determination increased as more death kept increasing on both sides - might make D-Day look easy if the Allies were to do a full on attack on Japan, so they looked to other options other than invading - Iwo Jima & Okinawa (1945) south of Japan were small islands, but there were catastrophic horrors and deaths w/loss of thousands of lives to conquer these small Japanese islands (got both islands because Allies wanted two bases two bases to invade Japan)

Lend Lease (early 1941)

- Britain was out of money to pay for any war supplies - FDR had to give supplies to Britain or else Britain would have to surrender to Germany (last straw of neutrality which was blatantly for Britain) - Britain had to return planes, boats, tanks after the war but the thing is they would most likely get destroyed during war so FDR was just helping them - did not get US directly in the was because they were not putting their American lives on the line (US still netural while their best friends' country was on fire so it showed the strength of isolationism) (had to take a direct attack on the US to get them involved)

Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943)

- Congress was concerned about the loss of production due to labor strikes - authorized the federal government to seize and operate industries stopped by strikes - used the power of the federal government because the country couldn't risk strikes/walkouts at the time

Interment of Japanese Americans

- Executive Order 9066 (ordered the relocation of first and second generation Japanese-Americans) (fairly recent arrivals of Japanese would have to report to a relocation camp, even birthright citizens) - "relocation camps" were mandatory and a high population of Japanese Americans were on the West Coast/California and were only allowed to bring what they could carry so it meant they would have to leave their homes, businesses, and other possessions) - NO evidence of disloyalty of Japanese-Americans (people were skeptical as to where their loyalty was by singling out their nationality all out of assumption and fear) - protecting other Americans, but not Japanese (people conspired that Japanese-American could have communicated w/Japan to start Pearl Harbor - Apology Reparations in 1988 (many of the "prisoners" already deceased) (blatant attack on civil rights just from suspicion/nationality) - Japanese-Americans were expected to work on farms, learn in schools, and had little recreation so it was not as bad as Nazi concentration camps, but the main injustice was that they were taken away by overreaction) -armed guards there for military presence made sure they were contained) (one way to escape was to volunteer for service in the war)

Allied War Strategy (1942-1945) (Aftermath of Pearl Harbor)

- FDR invited Churchill to the While House for 2 weeks after Pearl Harbor to plan war - "Germany First" was the plan even though emotionally, most Americans would choose Japan (FDR & Churchill thought Germany would be a better strategy because:) - depleted US Navy from Pearl Harbor (not ready to right mostly in naval full-scaled war w/Japan) (factories would have to rebuild) (army in much better shape and better suited for war in Germany - Britain barely hanging on against Germany and its economy was crushed and Germany was crushing them) (this could save Britain and keep them in the war) - Nazi War domination? was the bigger threat than Japan who wanted the Asian/Pacific area unlike Hitler for world threat - Nazi atomic bomb? (weapon that had never been seen before but there was a fear that it could be very dangerous in Hitler's hands) (feeling Germany had to be defeated ASAP before they got too dangerous (FDR got this knowledge and reasoning for Albert Einstein who had escaped Germany to confirm the atomic bomb research was not a rumor but a real concern) - meant that priority of forces put into Europe, but enough troops to defend from Japan but be offensive against Germany

Yalta Conference (1945)

- Germany had been squeezed and defeated in the Western Front by Britain and US and the Eastern Front by Soviet Union - 2nd and final meeting of the Big 3 (FDR, Churchill, Stalin) - started military planning for the defeat of Germany - agreed to form the United Nations - US & Soviet Union became adversaries over the Eastern Europe issues as to how the territory between Russia & Germany (ex: Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc.) would remain - these lands were in the middle of the Eastern Front battlegrounds that had been obliterated by the horrific war - question as to whether these territories would be claimed by the Soviet Union as Soviet puppets of communism or be self-determining people as democracy - started the tension between the US and Soviet Union that would make them bitter enemies after the war as they had only teamed up to fight a common enemy of Hitler - the final assault on Germany (April 1945) - death of FDR (April 12, 1945) - late April: Final Assault on Berlin (Hitler suicide)

VE Day (Victory in Europe) (May 8, 1945)

- Germany surrendered unconditionally - had a lot of US excitement, but the war wasn't over because Japan wasn't defeated yet and were still a major threat

Invasion of French Indochina (Vietnam) (1941)

- Japan already had Korea, Manchuria, and most of China - looked like they were going to take over China - US made it clear they condemned this action (US froze Japanese Assets (any Japanese money invested in the US) - not a declaration of war or attack, but it was an economic overreaction

FDR Infamy Speech (December 8, 1941(

- Japan basically attacked what they could in the Pacific (Pearl Harbor was that Japan put the most effort in that day) - the closing made it sure that FDR wanted war and that the US would prevail (had to display strength & leadership to raise country morale) (wanted to defeat the opponent so badly they would never try again) (unifying the country was so critical because our allies were defeated and US had to fight two separate military powers) - this fired up the American people to war and isolationism ended (WWII was a war in which all Americans were involved) - seemed angry as Japanese ambassadors were negotiating w/peace w/US as they were decisively planning an attack on them (distrust and surprising) (US navy had to be rebuilt because this Pacific war required a naval fleet and it had been destroyed in the attack) - gave speech to both Houses (hours later Congress overwhelming voted to declare war on Japan (December 8, 1941) (Senate unanimous, House one vote against by a pacifist) - overwhelming national feeling that Americans had to go to war - Germany/Italy declared war on US (December 10, 1941) - US declared war on Germany/Italy (December 11, 1941) (officially at war w/entre Axis, and there were question as to how they would deal with this monumental task of epic proportion w/o much help from other countries

Invasion of China (1937)

- Japan was strong from vast resources - US assistance of China (humanitarian aid) which veered off neutrality (Japan did not like this)

October, 1941 - Negotiations Begin

- Japanese ambassadors met w/US officials (immediately made demands to undo all the economic bans they had done on Japan) (demanding that they trade w/US and stop helping China and have no more American naval expansion in the Pacific; since TR, US had been getting Hawaii, Guam, Philippines and getting closer to Japan - US did counter-demands because they would not let these countries bully other countries (demanded the aggression of Japan to stop in Manchuria, Japan, and China) (wanted to sign a non-aggression pact w/US) - not a lot of progress in negotiation until December as both sides had extreme opposing demands

Liberate France (1944)

- Nazi had occupied this since 1940 - massive Allied Invasion from Britain (took everything the Allies had to invade all the Nazi defenses) - D-Day was a historic attack on Nazi-occupied France (Normandy) as it was the greatest invasion in world history that had the most troops, vehicles, and battling ever) - turning point of the war which made the momentum turn towards the Allies - Soviet & Allies in Italy helped draw Nazi attention away from France which allowed US, Britain, and Canada to put all they had into turning war

Defense

- Office of War Information thought that at some point the US would get attacked (Japan never came back, but nobody knew that and people were always concerned if the Axis would attack the US soil) (big concern as to letting the Axis know US info, so they would not tell families of soldiers where they were or how they were doing until after the fact - Office of Civilian Defense (the military was all around the world except in the US) (trained civilians to be first-responders (first aid, firefighting, organizing bomb shelters, road/bridge repair) - "blackout drills" conducted to protect against air attacks as citizen had to turn off the lights at light so that planes could not see cities from the air and this required a lot of cooperation

Military Manpower

- Peacetime draft began in 1940 when the US was not yet and war & isolationism was strong (Pearl Harbor intensified it) - Post Pearl Harbor (men 18-45 eligible) (large percentage of men (millions of soldiers) - 10 million draftees - 5 million volunteers (showed the effect of Pearl Harbor) (however not enough for a world war, so draft had to be intensified) - 15 million total = over 11% of total US population (showed the urgency of the war and the great response) - 250,000 women volunteered/non-combat (nurses, medics, repairing vehicles, filling out factory jobs, cooking, office work) (WAC'S: Women's Army Corps) (WAVES: Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) (Navy) (not required, but it showed how much women were willing to help the country) - 1 million African-Americans (segregated units, mostly legal in the South, and prejudice in the North) (Why serve when the country doesn't treat them equally even in the military) (referred to this as "Double V" to win the war and equality for democracy and race) (people doubted them for less ability and patriotism, they may have had even more motivation to win the war for freedom and equal rights) - Tuskegee Airmen became one of the most successful groups of airmen in war history

WWII Homefront

- Pearl Harbor instantly got all Americans motivated to win the war (not much convincing needed to join even though the country was recently in isolationism) - FDR quoted from the Gettysburg Address that "we resolve that these soldiers have not died in vain" so that they could avenge Pearl Harbor

Germany invades Soviet Union (June 1941)

- Soviet Union was another militarized dictatorship throughout the 1930s, similar to Nazi Germany & Mussolini Italy (Stalin & Hitler signed a peace-act in 1939 as maniacal dictators, however the two sides hated each other as they had fought horrible barbaric warfare in the WWI Eastern Front War - Hitler violated the pact by invading Russia - some historians believe that this was Hitler's first critical error as he was too hungry to conquer Europe (Germany was fighting Britain and almost had them beat, so it alleviated pressure away from Western Europe (gave Britain time to recoup) - forced the Soviet Union onto the Allied Powers as it was unexpected because they were a dictatorship and the US did not like Stalin as he was a cruel dictator (united because they were a common enemy of Hitler) - the Soviet involvement might not have allowed US to win if it weren't for Hitler creating a two-front war against Britain, US, and Russia

Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

- US broke Japanese radio codes for some sort of attack - military experts theorized that Japan might possibly be progressing south of China or the Philippines (US territory) or Guam (US territory) - nobody thought it was realistic for Japan to attack as far as Hawaii - Sunday morning (Americans least prepared) (most people were sleeping in late because of late Saturday night activities) (some troops went to religious services) (some had a nice breakfast and lounged around) - sneak attack on US naval base (planned for weeks despite negotiating simultaneously w/US) (ultimate deception) - 2403 killed, numerous ships damaged/destroyed/sunken (Pearl Harbor was a significant Pacific naval base that was surprising that Japan would be that bold to attack the crown base - FDR addressed Congress on December 8 for a Declaration of War even though Congress declares war -top 5 all-time American speech

Japan joins the Axis (1940)

- US knew they were bad news - Germany, Italy, Japan allied w/Hitler in control of most of Europe (things were looking very bad for democracy) - US embargo vs. Japan (this was further than panning arms trades) (Japan did not like this and felt they were hostile to single them out

Invade Germany (1945)

- US/Britain West, Soviets from East - Soviets had the upper-hand in the East and this two-front war crammed Germany and they were too weak to hold up - Germany collapsed in 1945 and surrendered (however Japan was still having a massive war)

Greer Incident

- first German U-boat incident as the Greer fought a Nazi U-boat - FDR told Americans that German were attacking them in the fireside chat - Fall 1941: US Navy in combat/ German Navy (Quasi-war w/Naval warfare) (would probably have escalated to war even if Pearl Harbor didn't happen) - still common American feeling of isolationism

role of women & African Americans

- hands work in the factories that they replaced because white men went to war - another mass migration of Southern African Americans from agricultural jobs to factory jobs (stayed after) (Great Migration) - huge influence of the migration to North-Eastern cities (had been happening since 1915, but intensified the most during WWII partly also for better in less-racist areas

Revenue

- income tax increased (natural for government to do this as war is expensive) (money to factories to convert to war factory and pay workers) - war bonds (great method for the federal government to borrow money from the American people and then get it back w/interest most likely 10 years later) (same concept as WWI, but larger in scale) (government suggested people use extra money for war bonds because US was in a national emergency) - deficit spending/debt created just like the New Deal so that when the crisis was over, the economy could grow - US government spend over $300 billion which was astronomical compared to the New Deal (10x more approximately) (money used for weapons, supplies, food, US military) (government spending ended the Great Depression)

Invade Italy (1943)

- knock Italy out of the war because they were the weakest of the Axis (alleviated some pressure on Britain also) -massive barbaric warfare between the Nazis and Soviets on the Eastern Front, some of the worst mankind had ever seen which again helped alleviate pressure on Britain by having to force Germany to spread its forces out (most of it in Russia)

Rationing

- military priority for important goods (food) (homefront had to sacrifice a little but but substantial amount for soldiers) (sugar, coffee, meat, cheese, cigarettes as they were all big parts of American society and good for the soldiers if they were addicted to them so that they could be in the best mindset) -ration books/stamps (Office of Price Administration) (issued to all American households to give to store to get rations) (pay money and stamps for ration (way of life) (policy was respected which showed the unity of the country towards war effort - gasoline had to be rationed but because the rubber supply was in shortage as the country with the supply of this natural resource was captured (this was the age of the automobile as every family probably had at least one and everybody was driving) (stickers given to ration gas to how far you could drive and more vital jobs such as doctors were given more gas) (in the 1940s, tires would wear out every few months or weeks so they had to be conserved) - meat points rationed meats in that different cuts of meat would have different points (made American families have to plan out their meals ahead of time) (could get extra meat points in exchange for the fat so that it could be used to produce explosives) (everything was getting put to the war effort_ - metal rubber, aluminum, tin, copper, coal, nylon/silk started to get recycled like never before to produce more as nothing should go to waste - people already trained to ration food/goods during the Great Depression in order to survive, so this was not new - victory gardens (US farmers had a monumental task in this war to feed the homefront, soldiers, and allies, so the government encouraged people to grow their own food so that farm food could just go to the war effort)

Office of Price Administration

- monitored economic aspect of the war - managed workers' wages to give them a decent life to motivate them to work

Hitler publicly demands the surrender of Britain

- new PM replaced Neville Chamberlain who was Winston Churchill (decided immediately that he would not back down from Hitler) (rallied the British people to never ever surrender to Nazi Germany) (Hitler would have to fight to get Britain against all the force of Britain) (showed that Churchill was defiant to imperialism/dictatorships) - Battle of Britain began in 1940 - Britain bombarded by Luftwaffe (Germans had to attack Britain by air by dropping bombs because a full-fledged invasion was not possible as Germans did not have enough man-power)

But What About Japan?

- original plan by US military was a full out invasion of Japan (expected to be on November, 1945) - would be deadlier and bigger than D-Day as Japan was ready to fight until the last man which brought up the major concern of for a probably/potential huge death toll - Iwo Jima/Okinawa had cost tens of thousands of American lives just to win those little islands - by 1945, the US had lost about 300,000 lives from WW2 (smaller number than other countries as some were in the millions, but it is still a freakish number of people) - military estimate in the best-case scenario (unlikely) of this still predicted to have over 500,000 Americans deaths and there would most likely be more (there appeared to be no other choice but then the launch this full on assault, so the military started planning for this November Invasion) - in July 1945, another option surfaced w/o risk of American death (The Atomic Bomb had been in development throughout the war w/o guarantee of successful development)

Atlantic Charter

- pledge signed by US president FDR and British prime minister Winston Churchill not to acquire new territory as a result of WWII and to work for peace after the war - statement of common principle between the US and Britain whom both wanted to preserve democracy and the right of self-determination of the individual - would ally together and explained the war the Allies were fighting for (free speech, free election, and no impression of human rights) - went back to it after WWII because it was the groundwork for international peace body - revised the League of Nations that provided to work towards an international body that would later be called the United Nations (great friendship between US and Britain)

Arsenal of Democracy

- referred to America's Ability to supply its European allies with war supplies prior to the U.S. entry into WWII and during - US would manufacture and supply weapons to the whole Alliance to win the war to maintain democracy - millions of Americans producing the weapons in factories - massive weapons production for all Allies - War Production Board (like WWI) (organized the whole arms production process) (organized the conversion of factories to war-production factories by changing machinery & structure of them as the federal government provided all the money and organization) - manufacture of non-essential discontinued (all under government, not free-market (national emergency) (high quantity and high demand) - good transition from enlarged economic influence of the federal government because they were behind the New Deal

Seize North Africa (1942)

- set up a base of operation in Tunisia so they could invade Europe (Nazis controlled most of Europe and other places were warzones) - drew Axis South away from Britain which alleviated the pressure against them) (Allies would organize & congregate to attack Southern Europe)

US begins conscription

- thank-goodness moment because it would make it so that time wouldn't be wasted when the time came for war - over a year before Pearl Harbor - needed to help Great Britain in the 1 on 1 against Germany (might not have a chance to get out of war) (Britain was starting to run out of cash by late 1940s as they were buying as many vehicles/munitions to fight the Nazis)

1940

-Germany Nazi Army turn West to Western Europe (invasion of Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway) (all non-militarized, peaceful, democratic party states) (not much of a fight for Nazis as these imperialists spent years building up military might) - after, they started to go after bigger countries like France - invasion of France/Fall of France (France crushed easily despite being one of the strongest militaries throughout history; exposed France's weakness & Nazi strength) (French collapsed by Middle of 1940s) - totalitarianism had control of almost all country w/Germany & Italy swallowing them all and Spain didn't help as it was also fascist) (almost nothing left of democratic countries) (violent annexation because the prisoners of war would be sent to concentration camps) - Hitler had most control of Europe, and Americans were still insisting that this was not their war (displayed the societal strength of isolationism) - Britain, the strongest democratic country, was the last strength in the fascist opposition (Hitler conquering Britain would mean he would have conquered Europe)

Atlantic Conference (August 1941)

-Winston Churchill secretly met with Roosevelt on a US warship off the coast of Newfoundland - first of a series of history-making conferences between the two statesmen for the discussion of common problems, including the menace Japan - two highly respected egos for their country that had been talking w/each other since FDR got reelected - Churchill was begging FDR to join the war directly as they were struggling against Germany (FDR made a secret promise to wage war which showed their great friendship and FDR's willingness to oppose public American opinion to help democracy) - a lot of Lend-Lease aid was getting destroyed by Germans (US began a convoy of ships to Europe to protect British ships as they carried goods) (inevitable that US ships would get attacked but FDR was ready for war)

Why did Truman decide to drop the atomic bomb?

1. Military predictions of Americans deaths in a bigger than D-Day invasion would risk losing more than half a million American lives 2. Bushido/Kamikaze Mentality for the Japanese (they would never surrender as the Japanese soldiers had sworn to fight to the death which showed the country's refusal to surrender) 3. Casablanca Agreement (FDR & Churchill met earlier in the war to decide that the Axis Powers must surrender unconditionally on no terms so the atomic bomb with its destruction and death might get them to to that)