1 Major WWII U.S. Military Strategies, Actions & Leaders From Defense to Offense FDR domestic brilliance Military Generals Experienced Strategists Scientific Innovation Collective race to beat Hitler to the bomb 2 3 Allies Goal in WWII = Total Victory over Axis Helping England was 1 st Priority 4 North Africa Campaign 1942 5 Rommel & Eisenhower 6 Gen. Patton Italy Invasion - Summer 43 7 GIs Liberating Sicily July 43 8 Mussolini executed April 1945 9 European Theater 10 Eastern Front 1942 44 11 US B-17s & P-51s Bomb Germany 12 D Day June 6 th, 1944 13 3 million Allied soldiers 12,000 Allied planes vs. 300 German 14 - Air assault then dropping of paratroopers behind enemy lines -Finally amphibious landing 15 16 Battle of the Bulge -- December, 1944 17 Dresden & Berlin Fire Bombed Spring 1945 18 Western Allies Meets USSR At Elbe River April, 1945 19 Liberation of the camps the atrocities were beyond the American mind to comprehend. 20 V-E Day -- May 7 th, 1945 21 Pacific Theater 22 Gen. MacArthur Island Hopping Strategy ( ) 23 Aircraft Carriers Allied advantages: -defensive -Japan depleted -No help fr. Germany or Italy Turning Points: 1943 24 Bataan Death March Winter-Spring 1942 At least 16k died within weeks of reaching prison 25 Iwo Jima Feb./March 1945 26 27 Battle of Okinawa: Largest amphibious assault in Pacific war 28 B-29s Bomb Japan 29 Harry Truman Becomes President April, 1945 30 Manhattan Project Hiroshima & Nagasaki Dropping the bomb August 6 th & 9 th 1945 Establish your opinion and reasoning given your role. Identify likely people who would agree with you; first from the list of 5 roles then from the documents Examine Atom Bomb Sources at US History Handouts Examine links Devise three specific reasons 31 Should the U.S. do it? 32 33 V J Day September 2 nd 1945 34 IV. Overview of Military & Diplomatic Impacts of WWII: Global Total War Brings Unprecedented Devastation New military techniques & technologies used world wide Examples: Fully Mechanized War, Arial Fire Bombing, Paratroopers, Amphibious Invasions, Radar, Flame Throwers, Jets, Nuclear Weapons Civilians across the globe mobilized & targeted like never before 50 million dead/wounded world wide -- 1 million US dead/wounded New World Order Emerges U.S. ends isolationism & accepts role as world superpower during & after war Traditional European powers geopolitical influence diminished US/USSR power struggle (aka the Cold War) begins even before WWII officially ends
