World War II (1932-1945)
PEOPLE
Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party during World War II. Hitler was a wounded and decorated World War I soldier and almost went mad. After joining the Nazi party, Hitler gained control of it. Through his book, Mein Kampf, he stated the problems Germany was facing. Hitler was also anti-Semitic, meaning he was prejudice against Jewish people. Hitler's plan was to dominate the world.
Hideki Tojo was the Japanese prime minister in 1941 and was known as "The Razor". He mainly focused on military expansion but, still wanted to keep the United States neutral. The U.S. wanted Japan to stop their expansion but, Japan wanted to expand; they still tried to come to an agreement without success. When Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State, refused to give Tojo his supplies for expansion, he decided to attack the Untied States.
EVENTS
On December 7, 1941, Tojo ordered the attack on Pearl Harbor under the command of Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. Pearl Harbor was the site of the United States Navy's min Pacific base. The forces included 6 aircraft carriers, 360 airplanes, battleships and cruisers, and a multiple of submarines. The result of the attack killed 2,500 people, damaged 8 battleships, destroyed 3 destroyers and light cruisers, and damaged 160 aircrafts. The USS Oklahoma, USS Arizona, and USS Utah were unrepairable, but they U.S. planned their revenge on Japan during the repair of Pearl Harbor.
On June 6, 1944, D-Day occurred on Ohama Beach. More than 11,000 planes cleared the way by attempting to destroy German communication and transportation. At 6:30 A.M., the first troops arrived and started to storm the beaches. The Germans were expecting the attack because they had trenches dug out, varieties of guns, and mines throughout the beaches. At the end of the day, the Allies had little control of France. After a month, more than a million of Allied troops landed on Normandy.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
British planes dropped large amounts of bombs on German cities during the night so there was less of a chance of being shot down. Saturation bombing was the goal of the British: to inflict maximum damage. By day, American bombers aimed for Germany's political and industrial centers. The goal of the Americans was strategic bombing: to destroy Germany's capacity to make war. Bombing was used throughout World War II by the Americans, British, Germans, and Japanese.
During the attack on Ohama Beach, the Germans used techniques that helped them fight back against the Americans. First, the Germans dug trenches throughout the beaches to take shelter from during the attack. Germans also heavily mined the beaches to limit the number of soldiers fighting. Small concrete pillbox structures were built so that heavy artillery could be fired without hesitation. Finally, a wide variety of deadly guns were used throughout the attack by both Americans and Germans. Although the Germans used techniques to help them in the attack, the Americans beat the Germans.
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
During the war, newspapers gave war updates. The American news correspondent Edward R. Murrow broadcaster live from London when the Luftwaffe bombed the city. Radios helped give updates to American families. When Pearl Harbor was attacked and the U.S. decided to join the war, stories were posted on the front pages of newspapers.
Rosie the River was the image of a determined woman with her hair tucked under a handkerchief. She appeared on countless magazines and posters throughout World War II. Rosie won nationwide publicity. She wasn't based off of one women but a song. She gave motivation to women who wanted to make a difference in the world.
LIFESTYLE/LEISURE/SPORTS
World War II for Jewish people, gypsies, and disabled was an eventful era. Hitler was anti-Semitic: discrimination toward Jewish people. He blamed Jews for the struggles Germany was in during World War II, so he decided to round up all Jews, gypsies, and the disabled and place them in concentration camps. Concentration camps were camps used by the Nazis to imprison undesirable members of society. Death camps were another source of eliminating Jews during World War II. An estimate of about 6 million Jews and other parties were murdered in the concentration and death camps. The event was known as the Holocaust.
In the beginning of the 1930's, the idea of dictatorships and totalitarianism came into the mind of citizens around the world. Totalitarianism was a theory of government in which a single party or leader controls the economic, social, and cultural lives of it's people. Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union), Benito Mussolini (Italy), and Adolf Hitler(Germany) were the major dictators during the World War II era. Totalitarianism was much larger than a simple dictatorship.
POLITICS
Throughout the early 1930's, Adolf Hitler took advantage of the lack of commitment of France, Britain, and the United States. Throughout Hitler's rein, he conquered western Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Germany. Hitler also had intentions of taking control of the Sudetenland. To keep peace, British prime minister Neville Chamberlain and French premier Edouard Daladier signed the Munich Pact, the signing over of the Sudetenland without war. The Pact was referred to as "the peace for our time", but nearly prevented war for 11 months.
During the war, alliances formed among the nations. The Axis Powers included Germany, Italy, Japan, and several other nations. The Allies included the Britain, France, and eventually the Soviet Union, United States, and China. The alliances gave each nation more power and supplies when it came to fighting in a war.
ECONOMY
Once war began in Europe, Roosevelt didn't want to get dragged into war, but still wanted to aid Europe. Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939 which had a cash-and-carry provision. The provision allowed nations to buy goods and arms from the U.S. if they paid cash and carried the products on their own ships. The Act was in favor of the Allies because the British navy controlled the seas. Many Americans disagreed with the Act because it could push the U.S. into war because of it was favorable to the Allies.
Throughout World War II, Americans made a policy of internment or a temporary imprisonment of Japanese citizens. After World War II, some survivors of the Japanese interment camps sought justice. In the case Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court carried on the wartime internment line. Until 1988, as an apology to the Japanese survivors, the government offered $2o,ooo.