World War II
* Please be aware that this lecture contains discussion and graphic images of
war crimes, the holocaust and rape victims.
Fighting World War II
World War II was truly was a ‘world war’ with two fronts, one in Europe and one
in Japan. Although these regions were separated geographically, they were still
deeply
interconnected. By
the end of the war
there were between
35 million & 55
million casualties.
WWII like most wars
was extremely
complicated, so today
we will look at the
war in Europe first
and then the war in
Asia.
War in Europe
Lets recap a few
things from our
previous lecture.
Remember that Stalin
surprised everyone
by signing a non-aggression Pact with Hitler who had previously been sworn
enemies. Then Germany launched an aggressive campaign in Poland. Hitler used a
strategy called the Blitzkrieg or “lightening War” in which his troops administered
a constant barrage of firepower and appeared unstoppable. In 2 months Denmark,
Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg had all been taken by a
combination of air and land forces; panzer tanks. Traditionally all of these had
been neutral countries. Britain and France had pledged to support Poland and
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therefore declared war on Germany.
For nearly two years, Britain stood
virtually alone in fighting Germany.
Battle of Britain was a series of
devastating air attacks on London
other cities bringing collateral damage
to the nation. The Germans occupied
Northern France and they eventually
occupied Paris. American President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt wished to
help Britain, but US public opinion
limited him from getting involved. In
September of 1940 Germany, Japan, &
Italy created an alliance called the ‘Axis’ powers.
Hitler’s next objective was ‘Operation Barbarossa’ the invasion of Russia on June
22, 1941. Hitler knew he needed to be fast and reach the capital before winter. He
was successful all the way to Leningrad leaving a path of destruction through
Russia on his way. But he changed course to attempt to gain control of some oil
fields. This gave Stalin a chance to fortify the city of Moscow and prepare for
Hitler’s attack. In addition winter had begun and trapped the German troops.
Russia now joined the allies, as did the US.
Operation Barbarossa
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Americans had wanted to stay out of the conflict but congress agreed in 1940 to
sell arms to Britain on a cash and carry basis. The US also started the rearmament
process (just in case). Congress passed the Lend Lease Act in 1941, which gave
military aid to allied forces; it funneled billions of dollars into Britain and China.
The US also froze Japanese assets halting all trade and oil exports with the country.
Remember Japan got 80% of their oil for the US so this was very problematic for
them and leads to increasing tensions.
The War in the Pacific
The first few months of American involvement witnessed an unbroken string of
military disasters. Remember Japan Invades Manchuria 1931, but then signed a
Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy and joined the Axis powers. There was
never a close connection
between Japan and the other
Axis powers, they just shared
the same goals and had
common enemies. At the
same time Japan sought her
own expansion goals in the
pacific including China. They
captured the capital of Beijing
in 1937. Russia immediately
offers help to China bringing
Alliance between Japan and Germany
them into the Allies.
Pearl Harbor
As tensions between the US and Japan escalated, they came to a head on December
7, 1941. Japanese planes launched from aircraft carriers and bombed the naval base
at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This was the first foreign attack on US soil since war of
1812. It was a surprise attack that completely devastated the base and infuriated the
American people. Roosevelt addressed the nation and said it was ‘a date that will
live in infamy.’
Over 2000 servicemen died, 187 aircraft, 18 naval vessels and 8 battleships were
all destroyed. Fortunately, there were not any aircraft carriers in the harbor (they
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were all out to sea). The battleship USS Arizona was struck and sunk, as were
seven others. But unfortunately the servicemen aboard the USS Arizona were
trapped on board. 1,177 men died on board the ship.
Before
After
Roosevelt immediately asked for a declaration of war against Japan and congress
votes 388 to 1 in favor of the war. The next day Germany declared war on US.
The American Home Front
Mobilizing for war affected all aspects of society. We are going to look at how
people at home helped contribute to the war effort. The economy is usually hugely
affected. Mobilization means war production of weapons, ammunition, planes,
boats, uniforms, etc. Unemployment from 14% - 2% in 3 years and y 1944 the US
was producing 1 ship every day and 1 plane
every 5 min (this is what really ended The
Great Depression). Americans produced an
astonishing amount of wartime goods and
utilized science and technology improving
inventions like radar, jet engines and early
computers.
Women at Work
Women in 1944 made up over one-third of the
civilian labor force, but as men were away
fighting new opportunities opened up for
married women and mothers. Previously only
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single women worked unless
they were very poor, but
now more middle class
women will work to ‘do
their part.’ Propaganda
campaigns flooded the world
encouraging women to do
their part in the war. This
leads to the birth of the
famous Rosie the Riveter.
Women in vast numbers
were working in the
industrial world building airplanes bombers and other war goods.
We also see women take on active roles in the war. For example, the development
of the WASP program – Women’s Air Force Service Pilots. The call came in 1942
when more and more military pilots were being called overseas to fight in combat.
At this time some male air force pilots remained in the United States in order to
ferry the newly built aircrafts to their final destinations where they would be put
into use. This method was effective until higher than expected casualties overseas
required more men to leave these ferrying and transportation posts to actively fight.
Over 25,000 women applied for the WASP’s. From this number 1830 were
selected for training and 1,074 completed their training. The Wasps were formally
disbanded rather abruptly as the
war began to come to an end in
1944. Flew approximately sixty
million miles during the war.
Throughout this timeframe the
women’s division endured
thirty-eight casualties during
their training and missions. This
casualty ratio is similar and
equal to that of the men who
had done the same job.
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Trained nurses were valued necessity during any combat situation, however with
the advance of technological warfare and airplane bombings, injuries and deaths
were gruesome and frequent. In 1940 before the war there were about 1600 women
enlisted in the both the army and navy nurse corps. This number grew to over
40,000 in just three years. Female nurses were officers, paid very well and traveled
all over the world. These were all opportunities usually denied to young single
women. These nurses were often near the front lines and involved in bombings,
and hundreds were taken as prisoners of war.
Lastly women were often involved in espionage. The United States governments
had used female spies since the civil war, so the concept and implementation of
them during World War II was not completely new, but used in a new and official
way. The British and US formally organized of the Office of Strategic Services
(OSS). Women were used because they were less suspicious, and didn’t have to
carry documents that men in Europe usually did. Many educated American women
also possessed language skill that was useful in espionage.
Many female spies found it necessary to compromise their ethics and morals and
implement their sexuality in order to achieve the desired results of their mission.
They often used the sexual desire of officers to seduce high ranking military
officials in order to gain access to secret information. An example of a women who
used her sexuality for information was Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Brousse whose
codename was Cynthia. Cynthia had sexual liaisons with three separate men in
order to gain information. Her most important seduction was of an Italian
admiral/naval attaché of the Italian Embassy. “Of her willingness to grant sexual
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favors for information she remarked, ‘ After all, wars are not won by respectable
means!’” The third man was sympathetic to the United States and joined her to
help her gain French Vichy naval codes. The admiral was so taken with Cynthia
that he handed over Italian naval codes. Another young woman named Patty
O’Sullivan flirted with a German officer and made a date with him to distract him
from inspecting her suitcase filled with secret documents.
Japan War & Atrocities
The Japanese, like the Nazi’s, committed war crimes beyond what many
comprehend. In Hong Kong and Shanghai, the Japanese imprisoned thousands of
British, Dutch, and American citizens. Like the Nazis, the Japanese thought
themselves to be racially superior. In China Japan was especially brutal and some
twenty-one million Chinese were killed by the Japanese, whose official slogan in
China was "Kill all, Burn all, Loot All."
Decapitated heads in China
Rape of Nanking from 1937 – 1938 left about 300,000 Chinese dead. In six weeks,
many consider this the worst single atrocity of WWII. 90,000 POW’s killed
horrifically and between 20,000 – 80,000 women were gang raped then stabbed to
death. There was no mercy and no one was off limits pregnant women, children,
the elderly were all rape victims. The Japanese also forced the Chinese to
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participate in family rapes.
They would barge into
homes and force, family
members to rape each other
(fathers to daughters, sons
to mothers, brothers to
sisters. All of the women
were usually killed after
words. In addition to the
rapes and POW executions
there were citywide
burnings, stabbings, drowning’s, strangulations, thefts, and massive property
destruction. Often the Chinese were forced to dig their own graves before they
were executed. Lastly the Japanese forced many Chinese to take drugs, including
children, leading to a drug addicted society of about 50,000. In short China was left
in ruins after the Japanese had descended on the nation.
Meanwhile, Japan dominated the South Pacific, hopping from Island to Island
conquering them as they went. Thousands of Americans and Filipino’s were forced
to surrender. Over 60,000 Filipino’s were forced to march 8- miles with little food,
dirty water and enduring abuse. This event, known as the Bataan Death March
killed over 10,000 people. The Japanese however could not keep their stronghold
and the tide of the war in the Pacific turned with the battles at Coral Sea in May
and Midway in June of 1942. Both battles devastated Japanese Navy, but the battle
of Midway Island was particularly
debilitating.
The War in Europe
Lets check back in with the war in
Europe. The war in Europe was first
fought in North Africa and Italy. But as
Hitler expanded his forces throughout
Europe the allies expanded as well. A
turning point for the war in Europe was
D-Day Invasion
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the D-Day Invasion were 200,000 Allied forces landed on the beaches of
Normandy (NW France) to take back France from the Germans. Up to a million
allied troops entered over the next few weeks. This invasion established the muchneeded second front in Western Europe and the German armies retreated and Paris
is liberated from their control. Even though the western front is a major benefit, the
crucial fighting in Europe took place on the eastern front between Germany and the
Soviet Union.
The battle of Stalingrad in Russia marked the
biggest turning point in 1943 where Germany
surrendered. Other methods implemented in 1943 to
try and end the war were constant (twenty-four hour
a day) bombings of German cities. One of the
targets was the city of Dresden were as least 100,
000 inhabitants, mostly civilians were killed.
The fighting alone claimed millions of lives, and the
Holocaust claimed millions more. The holocaust
was the strategic execution of millions of Slavs,
gypsies, homosexuals, Jews, communists, mentally
ill and disabled. These were the groups that Hitler deemed undesirable and needed
to be eliminated to create a ‘master race’. Hitler did not immediately begin to
execute these groups but occurred in stages. First, Jews were first targeted with the
Nuremberg laws that took legal rights away from Jews. Next Jews had to wear
badges on their clothing in
the shape of a star so they
could be identified on sight
(one of the Nuremberg
laws). The third step was
that many Jews were moved
to Ghettos neighborhoods
where they would be
monitored daily). The fourth
step was the transportation
of Jews into concentration
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camps. At first just labor camps, they quickly transitioned to execution camps.
These executions, the fifth and final step, are known as Hitler’s ‘Final Solution.’
Heinrich Himmler's (1900-1945) SS killed at least thirty million Slavs and
imprisoned some six million more forcing them to be slave labor. To eliminate the
Jews, Hitler used firing squad at first but did not find it efficient enough and then
used the Gas chambers. The gas that was used was called Zyklon B. The Jews were
told that they were going to take showers and instead of water, the poisonous gas
came through the vents. Six million Jews were executed during WWII.
The End of the War
In 1943 Mussolini was overthrown and Italy joined the Allies. By early 1945 an
allied victory was ensured and in March American troops entered Germany and
Hitler committed suicide on May 1, 1945. Even in his last will and testament Hitler
blames the war on the Jews. V-E day, meaning Victory in Europe was March 8,
1945. But there is still a war
waging in the South Pacific.
The Most Terrible Weapon
The United States and her allies
were island hopping to reclaim
pacific Islands from Japan and are
firebombing Japanese cities,
including Tokyo. One of the most
momentous decisions ever
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confronted by an American president fell to Harry Truman (FDR had run for a
fourth term but died of a stroke shortly thereafter). The options that Truman had
was to launch another land invasion and risk hundreds of thousands of lives, or
drop the bomb and end the war but in so taking innocent lives. On August 6, 1945,
an American plane dropped an atomic bomb that detonated over Hiroshima, Japan.
Population of the city included 280,000 civilians and 40,000 soldiers. 70,000
people died immediately, 140,000 more by the end of year & thousands more over
5 years from radiation poisoning. Three days later on August 9 a second bomb was
dropped on Nagasaki with similar casualty results. Japan surrenders within the
week. Because of the enormous cost in civilian lives, the use of the bomb remains
controversial.
Planning the Postwar World
Even before the war was over there were a series of meetings between Allied
leaders known as The Big Three, Stalin, FDR, Churchill, formulated plans for the
postwar world. The Big Three had tensions amongst themselves. Stalin is a
communist so they are allies in the war but ideological enemies. We will learn
more about this when we transition to The Cold War. The three peace conferences
included the Tehran and Yalta conferences (FDR was at these), and the Potsdam
conference in 1954 (Truman). At the Potsdam meeting, Stalin gets to retain Eastern
Europe and the Baltic states for his part in the victory; this will lead to the cold
war. The end of WWII leads to ‘Peace, But Not Harmony’ as tensions for The
Cold War escalate instantly.
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