Chap. 3 : World War II

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Mise-à-jour le 25 March 2024, 16 minutes de lecture

Chapter 3 : World War II

Summary:

I. USA and the War : Diplomacy, from Neutrality to the Bomb

A. 1939-1941 : Keeping Neutral

  • The USA had a “not interventionist” policy
  • Neutrality Acts 1930s (7 of them)
    • 1935 : Doing nothing
    • 1937 : Sending non military things (buyers must have their own ship)
    • 1939 : Battle of Britain
  • Hitler invades Poland
  • 1940 : Battle of Britain (German air force over britain (BOMB))
    • The USA started conscription but they are still neutral
    • Roosevelt promotes the four freedom

B. 1941

  • FDR speech about the four freedoms (1941)
    • Speech and expression
    • Every person to worship God in his own want
    • Want
    • Fear
  • Lend-Lease Act
    • The President could lend, lease, or dispose of weapons to anyone who were defending themselves to a common ennemy. The country doesn’t need to pay for the weapons.
    • Most of the weapons weree going to the UK, USSR
  • After France was defeated the USA remained the ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY by providing weapons through the Lend-Lease program
  • Japan declared war to the USA (Pearl Harbor) December 7th
  • From the American’s perspective, the WWII is from 1941 - 1945

C. USA at War

  • Island Hopping
    • The goal was to attack the least well defended island on the way to Japan, and to go from Island to Island

II. USA and the War : Economy

A. Government Control of the Economy

  • The Economy was transformed to be fully turned upon war
  • Unemployment drops from year 1940 to year 1944
  • The government intervenes and takes control of the economy
    • The “laissez-faire” economy wasn’t working
    • Control and rise of the prices, for money to come in

B. Government Control of the Production

  • Government takes control of the production
  • War Production Board (WPB)
    • Established in 1942, versaw defence production, tasked with changing production priorities to suit the military
    • The government was telling the companies what to produce
    • The government was telling the companies how much to produce
    • Ex
      • A factory that makes pushiers for babies, now produces food carts, for the hospitals
      • A vaccum cleaner factory, now produces gas masks
      • A factory that produces silk, now produces parachutes
      • A factory that produces cars, now produces tanks
      • A factory that produces pots and pans, now produces helmets
      • Vaccum cleaner, now produces gas masks
    • Factories that made products for civillians, would change their production to make products for the military
    • The government had contracts with the companies

C. Winning support for the war

  • The government had to win the support of the people
  • They had to shape the opinion (1943)
    • Propaganda
    • Office of War Information
      • Responsible to spread information to convince people to be motivated for war, and encourage men to join the army
      • They would convince to fight for freedom
      • Gave warnings about the ennemy, and how evil they were

D. Employment growth

  • All the young men were voluntering for the army
  • 17 Million new civillians jobs
  • Industrial activity went up nearly 100%
  • Over 10% of the population in uniform
  • 14M americans worked in factories
  • Most of the jobs were in the mid west

E. Funding the war effort

  • Economy was growing
  • Direct cost of the war estimated to 4 Trillion dollars
  • Tax increase : New revenue service, that targetted mainly the upper class and large companies
    • But 1942 : Everyone earning at least 6000 dollars a year had to pay taxes
  • War bonds
    • The government would sell bonds to the people, and the people would get the money back with interest
    • The government would use the money to fund the war
    • The government would garantee the bonds would be paid back after the war
  • During the course of the war, the Americans got 129B dollars from the war bonds

Conclusion

When the war broke out in 1939, the US received orders for planes, 30 000 aircraft engines. In 1940, USSR and UK bought a lot of weapons.

  • US were working non stop
  • People who worked were paid higher wages. The US’ economy growed so high that the US produced half of the world’s manufactured goods.
    • It had the biggest economy at that time
    • Monopoly on airspace and electronics
  • 1945, only country with atomic bomb
  • USA had no destruction, and no intensive bomb

III. WWII and The impact on civilians in the USA - the Home Front

A. Demographic Shift

USA in 1940 :

  • Population 133M
  • 16M men and women served in military
  • 40M people worked in factories.
  • Marriage rate grew from 1939 : 73/1000 men married to 93/1000
  • People moved from rural areas to cities, because that’s where the jobs were
  • In California between 1940 and 1945, there were 1.5M new workers

B. Gardening for Victory

Idea : Overcome the food shortages

How ?

  • Grow crops everywhere :
    • School gardens
    • Kitchen doors
    • Balcon

20M new victory gardens yielded to 8M tons of food

  • They learnt how to make food in jars
  • It brought communities together, all fighting for a common interest

C. Rationing and recycling

  • Campains to encourage rationing and recycling
  • Recycled cans could be used to make munitions
    • Tubes of toothpaste contained aluminium Even that would be useful

D. Role of Women

  • During the war, 300 000 women joined the armed forces
  • 7M joined the work force
  • The government made posters to recruit women - Poser “We can do it” by Rosy
  • By 1945, 1/3 of the work force were women
  • Women served as WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service)
  • WAAC / WAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps)
    • Women learned to repair equipments, work as electricians…
    • They didn’t directly work for the army but helped the army
    • When it became the WAC, women became direct members of the army
    • Women were paid low wages and didn’t have a lot of assistance when they had children
      • Post war, women learnt how to become more independent
  • After working, once their boyfriend would come back, a lot of women didn’t want to leave their independence, they were glad to work

E. Funding the War

F. African Americans

  • Saw the war as an opportunity to bring more equal rights
    • Remained segregated
  • Roosevelt signed an executive order : 882 in 1941
    • Banned discrimination against African Americans in federal employments and defense industries
    • Discrimination based on race, color, national origin…
    • First step going into more equalities
    • but in the army, there was still a lot of segregation
  • Jim Crow Law
  • People started to rise up, they needed more workers

G. Japanese - Nisei & Issei Internment

Issei : First generation of Japanese Americans Nisei : Second generation of Japanese Americans (Children of Issei)

  • US wanted to take revenge on the Japanese (Pearl Harbor)
  • They were convinced that anyone with the Japanese blood was a threat, helping the ennemy
  • 1941 : The government signed a commission to investigate any sign of sabotage
    • They found nothing, no concrete evidence
    • The leader of this commission will recommand that all Japanese Americans be removed from the West Coast
    • Because they didn’t find any evidence, they said that the Japanese were very good at hiding their tracks, and that it’s worse than what they fought about
  • 1942 : Roosevelt signed an executive order 9066
    • Allowed the military to exclude anyone from a certain area (West Coast)
    • Gave the power to establish military zones and force people of Japanese heritage into special zones (camps)
    • The government said that it was for the safety of the Japanese Americans
    • Isolate and regroup all the Japanese Americans
    • Evacuation of Issei and Nisei
    • Some were shop owners, they lost shops, houses, farms…
    • They were allowed to take a few possessions with them (a suitcase)
    • The official term for the camps was “Relocation Centers”
    • They were released after the war (May 1945)
      • It was hard for them to reintegrate society
      • Not until 1988, that the government apologized and gave 20 000 dollars to each survivor
  • People could be called at anytime

H. Hispanics

  • Hispanics were also segregated in the army
  • Bracero program
    • 2M mexicans came to the USA to work in the fields
    • They were paid very low wages
    • They were not allowed to join the army
    • Created tensions around cities specifically
      • Riots broke out, mainly in California
      • Sleepy lagoon murder
        • 9 Latino were convicted but there was no proofs

I. Native Americans

Languages :

  • WWI Navajo
  • WWII Choc taw

The ennemy couldn’t understand these languages

J. Conscription

  • Conscription policies
  • Different countries implemented conscription
  • Age ranges of those who were drafted
  • In the UK, conscription was implemented from 1939 to 1960.
    • Legally designated as “National Service”

IV. The Impact of the WWII on civillians, the use of violence, mass violence

A. The Role of ideology (Europe and Asia)

  • Staline and Hitler were the main responsible for the violence
  • They forced the removal of over 30M people
  • People were pushed out of Germany
  • Huge dimension linked to ideology
  • No longer the objective of defeat of the ennemy, it was destroying the ennemy
  • Mass violence, destruction
  • Mass extermination by the Nazis, justified by race
    • They were considered as “sub”-humans
  • Groups targeted
    • People with disabilities
    • The gypsies jsp comment ça s’écrit
    • Slave populations
    • Communists (in Europe)
  • Persecution based on behavior or political beliefs
  • 1933, Jewish population around 9M
    • By the end of the war, 2/3 had been part of the “final solution” (murdured)
  • Hitler wants to build the German Reich
    • He needs more land
      • Invades Poland
      • All those that wouldn’t fit the criterias would be deported
    • The allies justified the fight to defend freedom
  • Churchil and Roosevelt signed the Antlatic Chartre in 1941
    • fight for freedom
    • They would not accept any territorial changes that didn’t agree with the will of the people
    • Respect the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live
    • Work together to improve the living conditions of all people
    • Establish peace and security
    • Establish a new order based on the right of people
  • 1933 : Jewish stores were bocotted
  • 1935 : Nuremberg laws => German Jews were no longer german citizens
  • 1938/39 : Nazis started deporting
    • Jews were locked up in ghettos
      • Forced to labor
  • Hitler wanted to make more room for the “true” Germans
  • 1941 : USA and soviet union allied

Asia

  • The Japanese linked their war against Chinese to the idea of racial superiority 
    The Chinese people are bacteria infecting world civilisation
  • Nankin massacre
  • 1937 : Japanese invaded China (Nankin)
    • The Japanese destroyed anyone they saw
    • Stealing, raping, burrying people alive, burning houses…
  • Mass crimes and violence
  • Holocaust (“sacrifice by fire”)
  • 1941 : USA and soviet union allied

B. Mass Crime and Violence (Europe, Eastern Europe, and Asia)

  • 40M died in Europe
  • 2/3 of casualties were civillians
  • Jews - Ghettos => Concentration camps

Death camps

Einsatzgruppen

  • Job : Kill jews, communists, anyone who resisted
  • They were an operational killing unit
  • Were there to murder

  • They, by themselves, killed 1M civillians

  • The Holocaust started with the invasion of USSR
    • Killed all jewish or bolsheviks
    • Nazis started to kill every jewish people not just to push them away
    • Vans with gaz in them
      • They became difficult to manage as they had to be reprepared for the next vague
    • Mass shooting was expensive
    • Murdered man, children, jewish
    • Time consuming, expensive

The Final Solution

  • Logistical answer to exterminate people
  • January 1942 : Wassee conference, the plan the extermination of jews in Europe
  • The new method designed to answer the Jewish question

Birkenau Camp

  • 10 000 people killed per day
  • By the end of the war, survivors

In the forest of Katyn, 1940 (Katyn Massacre)

  • 4500 Polish officers were shot down
  • It was denied by Stalin

1945 : Tokyo Firebombing

  • Bombs that would spread a fireball
  • The fire was so intense that water in the rivers would reach boiling temperature

Atomic Bomb

  • Two bombs were dropped (no warning)
    • Altough the president gave the Japanese a last warning
    • “or there will be prompt and auto-destruction”
    • “Little boy” droppsed over Hiroshima Aug 6th
    • “Fat Man” droppsed over Nagasaki on Aug 9th
  • Nearly everything in a 1 mile radius was destroyed
  • Heavy damages
  • 80 000 died immediately
  • Fires everywhere
  • Still the Japanse did not surrender
    • They did a little after the second bomb
  • In the Japanese mentality, you never surrender until your death

C. Economy and Technology to serve human mass destruction

Development of new weapons to destroy the ennemy New ways for mass murder

  • gas chambers

  • …

  • Linked to new technology
  • The war costed over 60M lives
  • Large psychological impact
  • Just under 19 000 women has been raped by Soviet Soldiers when they arrived in Vienna in Austria
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