At the end of WWI, many countries were upset by the win of the Allied powers. WWI ended with Germany signing the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was forced to sign this treaty, because if they did not sign the treaty, then they would be attacked. There was essentially no compromising. One of these terms was that Germany had to pay for all of the damage that was caused by the war, even if it was not their fault. Another term of the Treaty of Versailles was that Germany could have only 100,000 people in their army, and could have almost no Navy or Air-force. This would make it very hard to defend themselves if there were to be another war. Germany also lost land in this treaty, and the League of Nations was set up due to the treaty also. All of these terms led to a very poor economy in Germany, and led to overall chaos. The terms of the Treaty of Versailles focused on Germany itself, and not the other countries that were fighting on Germany's side. In addition, the Treaty of Versailles took lots of land from Germany. The land that was taken from Germany in the Treaty of Versailles was very important. This land played a big part in the start of WWII. Germany wanted to take back the land that used to be theirs. Germany thought that they deserved to be in control of these areas because they were ethnically German. This caused meant Germans to experience a severe depression and very vulnerable to any leader who promised to help the people of the country. As some German's struggled with surviving, other Germans began to develop extreme ideas about Germany's role in the world. |
After his country being humiliated, Adolf Hitler, a survivor of WWI, he wanted to restore Germany to power by expanding his empire. Hitler built an army (which went against the Treaty of Versailles) and then he seized Austria on March 13, 1938. On September 30, 1930, France, Britain, and Italy sign the Munich Pack. This allowed Germany and his Nationalist Socialist Party to take over boarder regions. They believed this would prevent war. In March of 1939, Hitler became bolder and invaded Czechoslovakia. Only a few months later he invaded Poland. Britain and France immediately declare war on Germany.
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On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill was named Prime Minister of Great Britain. The same day he is named Prime Minister, The Nazi party invades Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and France. All of the countries surrender, except France. That June, France eventually surrendered to the Germans, which left Britain alone to fight the German's and the Nazi party. On July 10, 1940, Germany begins an air attack on Britain, later named "The Battle of Britain". This battle was ultimately a test of the air-force of the two opposing sides. Click on the link to learn more about the Battle of Britain.
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"I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire."
-Roosevelt |
Life for the Japanese- Americans
Not all American citizens were allowed to retain their independence during World War II. Just over two months after Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945) signed into law Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the removal from their communities and the subsequent imprisonment of all Americans of Japanese descent who resided on the West Coast. Executive Order 9066 was the offshoot of a combination of wartime panic and the belief on the part of some that anyone of Japanese ancestry, even those who were born in the U.S., was somehow capable of disloyalty and treachery. As a result of the order, nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans were dispatched to makeshift “relocation” camps. |
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Due to the war, many products were in short supply. Many supplies that the US used were imported from other countries at war. This meant that the US needed to get supplies from their own country and citizens. They needed metal for tanks, battleships, and weaponry. They also needed rubber for tires on Jeeps for the troops, but rubber was produced outside of the US. They also needed medicine for the battlefield. The US decided to begin to ration common supplies. Click on the button below to see a video of rationing in the US.
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The Battle of Iwo Jima was the American capture of the Japaese island of Iwo Jima during the Pacific Campaign of WWII. The USA needed to capture Iwo Jima to be able to defeat Japan.
It lasted from 19 February – 26 March 1945. It was major battle in which the US Armed Forces captured the island of Iwo Jima from Japan The Americans wanted to capture the island, including its three airfields. The US wanted to use this area for attacks on the Japanese main islands. This five-week battle had violent fighting. After the heavy losses in the battle, people questioned why the US went into the battle. The island was not useful for the Navy or Air Force. The Imperial Japanese Army was defended with thick defenses and underground tunnels. The Americans had ships that could fire on the island and total control of the air. This invasion was the first American attack on Japanese home territory. Japanese soldiers refused to surrender. The Japanese general, Tadamichi Kuribayashi, refused to surrender. He and his officers said they would fight until they died. Iwo Jima was the only battle by the US Marine Corps in which the number killed and wounded were higher than those of the Japanese. There were 22,000 Japanese soldiers on Iwo Jima at the beginning of the battle, only 216 were taken prisoner at the end. About 3000 Japanese soldiers kept fighting for weeks. The Japanese could not retreat or get new soldiers. This meant that the Americans had to win the battle. The battle was made famous by Joe Rosenthal's photograph of the raising of the U.S. flag on top of the 166 m (545 ft) Mount Suribachi. This photo became an important image of this battle, of the war in the Pacific, and of the Marine Corps. |
April 12, 1945
On April 12, 1945, the American nation faced its most devastating loss in all of World War II. The beloved president, father of the country, and to many, another family member: Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away in Warm Springs, GA from a fatal stroke. The nation was stunned and was unclear as to what to do next. He had just been inaugurated into his fourth term as the President of the United States. This was the man who brought the country out of the Great Depression and was helping to win the war in Europe. Quickly after learning of FDR's death, the administration rushed president, Harry Truman (who had only been elected into politics 3 months earlier), to take the oath and would now take over as Commander in Chief for the nation. FDR's funeral was seen by 500,000 in Washington DC., in addition to the millions that listened by their radios, bringing his country together one more time. Now the fate of the world was in Truman's hands, as FDR was not free from the pressure of the World War. |
April 30, 1945
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VE Day marks a very important event in World War 2 - the end of the War with Germany on Tuesday 8 May 1945. For almost six years from 1939 to 1945 Britain fought the toughest war it had ever experienced. Six years of bloodshed that had killed approximately 382,700 members of the British Armed forces and 67,100 civilians were over.
For days people had been anticipating the news of the German surrender. They knew it was on the cards and had begun decorating their gardens with red, white and blue bunting and Union Jack flags. Finally, in a school house in Rhins, Germany's unconditional surrender was signed at 2:41pm on 7 May. (Active operations by the German forces would cease by 11.01pm 8 May.) Church bells across the country pealed. A sea of red, white and blue erupted At 3pm on 8 May, Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, made a radio broadcast announcing that war in Europe was finally at an end. He made the broadcast from the War Cabinet Office, the same room that in 1939 Neville Chamberlain had made a speech announcing that the country was at war. Shortly after Churchill's speech King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and the two princesses came out onto the balcony at Buckingham Palace to acknowledge the huge crowd below. In addition to the celebration in Europe, the American nation celebrated as well, knowing that their boys were headed home. Source: Project Britain |
The Potsdam Conference was the last of the WW2 wartime summit meetings, held from 17 July 17, 1945 to August 2, 1945, between the United States, Great Britain and Russia. The Potsdam Conference was held at Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, in Germany. It was led by the three heads of government consisting of Harry S. Truman, Clement Attlee and Joseph Stalin. The war in Europe was nearly over and the purpose of the Potsdam Conference was to clarify and implement the terms for the for the end of WW2 that had been agreed at the Yalta Conference, which had been held two months earlier. The Potsdam Conference the led to tensions between the United States and Russia
Source: www.america-historama.org |
When World War 2 came to an end the Allied Powers decided to punish enemy leaders who committed terrible crimes during the war. They held war crimes trials to determine what crimes had been committed and who was responsible. Many German and Japanese leaders were executed for their actions during the war.
Perhaps the most famous war trials held after World War 2 were the Nuremberg Trials. These trials took place in the German city of Nuremberg and looked to punish 23 of the most powerful Nazi leaders for the crimes they committed during the war. The men on trial included Martin Bormann (Hitler's private secretary), Hermann Goering (Head of the Gestapo), and Rudolf Hess (Deputy Fuhrer). Twelve of these men were found guilty and sentenced to death. Source: Ducksters |