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Luftwaffe and RAF Bombings
- Germany’s aerial warfare was called luftwaffe
- RAF played a central role in strategic bombing of Germany in WWII
- If the RAF had not held off the Luftwaffe, Hitler would have likely moved forward with his Operation Sea Lion invasion
- This also allowed the US to establish a base of operations in England to invade Normandy on D-Day in 1944
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Nuremburg Laws
- Antisemitic and racist laws in Nazi Germany
- Economic and social impact on Jewish community
- Jews tried to come to America, but we could not save them all = this tragedy caused us to be against Nazi ways
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Japan invades China
- This increased conflict with US and Japan
- Japan became more powerful and it sent a threat to Allies
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Kristallnacht
- Germany torched synagogues, vandalized Jewish homes, schools and businesses
- Jews were arrested and some were killed
- On November 15, 1938, FDR responded to Kristallnacht by reading a statement to the media in which he harshly denounced the rising tide of anti-semitism and violence in Germany. This began the US's opposition to Germany.
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Poland ceases to exist
- This is how WW2 began
- Germany invaded on September 1, 1939, then the Soviet Union invaded on September 17, 1939. Warsaw surrendered September 27, 1939 and by October it was all over
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Nonaggression Pact
- Right before WW2 began, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union mad a pact: they would split up Poland and they would not attack each other
- This began the formation of alliances in WW2
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France, Great Britain, and Poland declare war on Germany
- Declared in response to the invasion of Poland
- Beginning of WWII
- Caused tension in US since allies were going to war
- US debating whether to remain isolationist policy
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"Cash and Carry"
- Policy by FDR that replaced the Neutrality Acts of 1937. The "Cash and Carry" revision allowed the sale of military arms to belligerents on the same cash-and-carry basis.
- The purpose was to allow Allied nations at war with Germany to purchase materials while remaining some neutrality
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Blitzkreig
- new German military tactic
- created psychological shock and resulted in disorganization in enemy forces through the employment of surprise, speed, and superiority in material or firepower
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Soviet Union annexes Baltic States
- Soviet Union annexed Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
- This increased Soviet Union’s power during WW2
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Hitler invades Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg
- This brought more Jews under German control
- More Allies were being invaded, caused tension in US
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Hitler invades and splits France
- Two regions = one occupied by Nazi German troops and the other unoccupied
- This militarily and economically affected US bc we supplied France with military and other supplies
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Selective Training Service Act
- required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft
- This caused military tension between the US and Germany because this was US preparing to go to war
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Tripartite Pact
- Defensive military alliance between Germany, Italy, and Japan. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Slovakia all joined later
- This directed primarily at the US - pushed Germany to declare war with US in 1941
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Lend-lease Plan
- United States supplied the United Kingdom, Free France, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, and material
- This helped further Allies in WWII to go against German ways
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Hitler breaks Stalin agreement
- Hitler’s ideology of lebensraum caused him to invade USSR, he wanted all power
- This deepened the war and caused more tension throughout Europe
- US still debating whether to remain isolationism
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Executive Order #8802
- prohibited ethnic or racial discrimination in the nation's defense industry
- important step toward ending it in federal government employment practices overall
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US cutoff trade with Japan
- This increased tension between US and Japan
- This led to the Attack on Pearl Harbor, which finally caused the US to enter the war
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Atlantic Charter
- Set out British and American goals for the period following the end of WWII
- Outlined US and UK aims for the world as follows: no territorial aggrandizement; no territorial changes made against the wishes of the people; restoration of self-government to those deprived of it; global cooperation to secure better economic and social conditions for all and abandonment of the use of force, as well as disarmament of aggressor nations.
- Inspired other international agreements after war
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Neutrality Acts
- Acts passed in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 and repealed on November 14, 1941
- Acts meant to encourage the US’s isolationism
- These isolationism acts were repealed once we entered the war after Pearl Harbor
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Island Hopping Strategy
- United States launched a counter-offensive strike known as "island-hopping," establishing a line of overlapping island bases, as well as air control. The idea was to capture certain key islands, one after another, until Japan came within range of American bombers
- Increased military tension between US and Japan
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Attack on Pearl Harbor
- Surprise attack made by Japan on US in Honolulu, Hawaii
- Japan intended the attack as a preventive action to keep the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its planned military actions in Southeast Asia against overseas territories of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States.
- Japan declared war on US later that day. On December 8, Congress declared war on Japan. Germany and Italy, Japan’s allies, declared war on US. US officially entered WWII.
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US declares war
- This increased tension immensely among the US; removed isolationist policy
- Led to US declaring war on Germany and Japan's other allies
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Bataan
- US and Philippine Commonwealth against Japan
- One of the most-devastating military defeats in American history
- Stopped Japan from invading Australia
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U-boat attacks
- Germany believed u-boats would not allow US to supply Great Britain and France with material and fuel
- Germany thought it would be an advantage to use u-boat attacks before US was strong enough to intervene
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Executive Order #9066
- Authorized the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable” (aka threat to national security)
- As a result, over 120,000 Japanese people were forced to relocate to one of ten different internment camps around the United States
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Midway
- Naval war fought with aircraft - US destroyed Japan's first-line carrier strength and most of its best trained naval pilots
- US launched its first attack on the Japanese home islands. This raid caused the Japanese to want to push back the American presence in the Pacific Ocean
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Stalingrad
- Largest confrontation in WWII
- Ended Germany’s advancement into Eastern Europe and Russia and it was Germany’s first major loss - marked the beginning of the end of the war
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El Alamein
- The Allied victory at El Alamein lead to the retreat of the Afrika Korps and the German surrender in North Africa in May 1943
- First battle ended in stalemate, second battle was decisive
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Liberation of concentration camps
- Allied Forces liberated concentration camps
- This altered social and cultural tension because now all people were released from camps. It was a very sympathetic time
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D-Day
- Allied victory that marked the start of Operation Overlord, which drove the Nazis from northwest Europe in June 1944
- Within a year, Germany surrendered
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Bulge
- Germans created a “bulge” around the area of the Ardennes forest in pushing through the American defensive line, was the largest fought on the Western front
- Resulted in a massive loss of American and civilian life
- This battle is significant because it was Hitler’s plan to destabilize the allies and take control of the port of Antwerp, which was the port in which many supplies were delivered to the allies
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Korematsu vs. US
- Landmark United States Supreme Court case upholding the exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast Military Area during WW2
- This furthered the cultural tension between Japanese and Americans
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Yalta Conference
- US, UK, and Soviet Union discuss postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe
- This conference was developed to figure out the future of the world and what would happen after the war
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Iwo Jima
- US Marine corps and navy vs imperial Japanese army
- The island of Iwo Jima was a strategic location because the US needed a place for fighter planes and bombers to land and take off when attacking Japan
- First major battle of WWII to take place on Japanese homeland
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VE Day
- Victory in Europe Day commemorates the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allied forces
- War officially over: tension in Allied countries is replaced with relief and tranquility
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Potsdam Conference
- Last of WW2 meetings; arrived on agreements for German economy, punishment for war criminals, land boundaries and reparations
- Failed to settle most important issues: led to Cold War
- Gave temporary relief
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Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
- Killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people
- Japan surrendered to Allies on August 15, six days after the Soviet Union's declaration of war and the bombing of Nagasaki.
- The Japanese government signed the instrument of surrender on September 2 in Tokyo Bay, which effectively ended WWII.
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Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- Killed between 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki
- Japan surrendered to Allies on August 15, six days after the Soviet Union's declaration of war and the bombing of Nagasaki.
- The Japanese government signed the instrument of surrender on September 2 in Tokyo Bay
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VJ Day
- Victory over Japan Day marked the ending of WW2
- Great Britain, France, and US marked victory over Axis Powers
- Sparked joyous street celebration all across America
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Geneva Convention
- Established the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war, mainly because Germany continued to carry out horrific acts on the WWII battlefield after the Geneva Convention in 1929
- Laid out rules for protecting wounded, sick or shipwrecked armed forces at sea or on hospital ships as well as medical workers and civilians accompanying or treating military personnel