FCPS U.S./Virginia History SOL Standards: VUS 11a, 11b, 11c, 11d, and 11e World War II (1939-1945) You mean the whole world was at war again? Who Fought? World War II officially began in Europe when German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s armies invaded Poland in 1939. Great Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany, while the Soviet Union invaded its neighboring Baltic countries. Japan wanted to dominate East Asia and invaded Manchuria and China earlier in 1931 and 1937. Germany and Japan formed an alliance with Italy in 1937 known as the Axis Powers while Great Britain and France formed the Allies. During the first two years of the war, the United States was officially neutral while Germany conquered France and most of Europe. FCPS HS Social Studies © 2012 In World War II, about 50 Allied nations joined forces against Germany, Japan, and the other Axis powers. Few countries remained totally neutral. e map below shows a colony or dependency in the same color as the country governing it. Source: www.robinsonlibrary.com/history/history/worldwar2/nations.htm Why did the United States Enter the War? Despite resistance by many Americans to enter the war, the United States increasingly helped Britain in its war effort against Germany. In a deal known as the “Lend-Lease Act,” the United States gave Britain war supplies and old naval warships. President Franklin Roosevelt compared it to “lending a garden hose to a next-door neighbor whose house is on fire.” Troubled by Japanese conquests in China, the United States began an embargo on Japan. After diplomacy e “ Big 3” Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Teheran_ conference-1943.jpg In June, 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and the Soviets joined the Allies against Hitler and Nazi Germany, but did not go to war against Japan. Atomic bomb mushroom clouds over Hiroshima (leſt) and Nagasaki (right) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_ Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki failed to resolve their disagreements, Japan carried out a surprise attack on an American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack destroyed much of America’s fleet and killed over 2,000 Americans. President Roosevelt called it “a date which will live in infamy” and asked Congress to declare war on Japan. After Pearl Harbor, Hitler honored a treaty with Japan and declared war on the United States. America officially joined the Allies and sent forces to Europe and Asia. What Happened? The Allies followed a “Defeat Hitler First” strategy and most American resources went to Europe. A British victory at El Alamein (1942) in North Africa prevented Hitler from gaining access to oil in the Middle East. Another German defeat at Stalingrad (1943) in the Soviet Union prevented Germany from capturing Soviet oil fields. In June, 1944, Allied troops under the command of American General Dwight Eisenhower landed in German-occupied France in a battle known as D-Day. The landings succeeded and the liberation of Europe began. The Soviet military invaded Germany’s capital Berlin and forced the Nazis to surrender in 1945. In the Pacific, American military strategy called for an “island hopping” campaign. In the Battle of Midway, American naval forces defeated a much larger Japanese force. American forces then moved on to victories on the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, but both battles cost thousands of Japanese and American lives. After the death of President Roosevelt, the new President Harry Truman ordered the use of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The two bombs killed between 150,000 – 240,000 people and forced the Japanese to surrender in August, 1945.