Module 11

World War II
Essential Question
Why did the Allies win World War II?

About the Painting: This painting, Dawn In this module you will learn about the events that led to the outbreak
Patrol Launching by Paul Sample, depicts an of World War II. You will also discover how political decisions, military
aircraft carrier. Carriers were used extensively campaigns, and home front sacrifices led to an Allied victory.
in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
What You Will Learn . . .
Lesson 1: War Breaks Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
The Big Idea The rise of rulers with total power in Europe and Asia
Explore ONLINE! led to World War II.
VIDEOS, including... Lesson 2: The Holocaust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497
• Digging In The Big Idea During the Holocaust, the Nazis systematically executed
6 million Jews and 5 million other “non-Aryans.”
• The Holocaust
Lesson 3: America Moves Toward War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506
• The Lend-Lease Act The Big Idea The United States hesitated to become involved in
• Black Soldiers in World War II another global conflict. However, it did provide economic and military
• Battle of the Bulge aid to help the Allies achieve victory.
• Battle of Midway Lesson 4: The War Effort on the Home Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
The Big Idea Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States
• Mourning FDR
mobilized for war.
• The Manhattan Project
Lesson 5: The War for Europe and North Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . 536
Document-Based Investigations The Big Idea Allied forces, led by the United States and Great Britain,
battled Axis powers for control of Europe and North Africa.
Graphic Organizers Lesson 6: The War in the Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
The Big Idea After early defeats in the Pacific, the United States
Interactive Games gained the upper hand and began to fight its way, island by island, to
Japan.
Carousel: World War II Propaganda
Lesson 7: The End of World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
Posters The Big Idea While the Allies completed the defeat of the Axis
Image with Hotspots: D-Day, June 6, Powers on the battlefield, Allied leaders were making plans for the
postwar world.
1944

482 Module 11
 Timeline of Events 1930–1946 Explore ONLINE!

United States Events World Events

1930

1931  Japan conquers Manchuria in northern China.

1932  Franklin Delano Roosevelt

is elected president.

1933  Prohibition ends. 1933  Adolf Hitler is appointed German chancellor.

1937  Amelia Earhart disappears

attempting solo around-the-world flight.

1938  Kristallnacht—Nazis riot, destroying

Jewish neighborhoods.

1939  Germany invades Poland.

Britain and France declare war.
1941  A. Philip Randolph demands that war industries
hire African Americans.
1941  The United States enters World
War II after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

1942  Roosevelt
creates the War 1942  Thousands of Filipino and American
Production Board soldiers die during the Bataan Death March.
to coordinate
1942  In the Pacific, the Battle of Midway
mobilization.
turns the tide in favor of the Allies.
1942  Japanese Americans are sent 1943  Rommel’s forces surrender in North Africa.
to relocation centers.

1944  The GI Bill of 1944  On June 6 the Allies

Rights is passed. launch a massive invasion
of Europe.
1945  Harry S. Truman becomes 1945  Japan surrenders after
president when Roosevelt dies. atomic bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.

1946 1945  The United Nations is established.

World War II 483

 Lesson 1

War Breaks Out

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
Martha Gellhorn arrived in Madrid in 1937 to cover the brutal civil
The rise of rulers with total
war that had broken out in Spain the year before. Hired as a special
power in Europe and Asia led to
correspondent for Collier’s Weekly, she had come with very little
World War II.
money and no special protection. On assignment there, she met the
Why It Matters Now writer Ernest Hemingway, whom she later married. To Gellhorn, a
Dictators of the 1930s and 1940s young American writer, the Spanish Civil War was a deadly struggle
changed the course of history between tyranny and democracy. For the people of Madrid, it was
when their actions started World
also a daily struggle for survival.
War II, serving as a warning to be
vigilant about totalitarian gov-
ernment. “You would be walking down
Key Terms and People a street, hearing only the city
Joseph Stalin
noises of streetcars and auto-
mobiles and people calling to
totalitarian
one another, and suddenly,
Benito Mussolini
crushing it all out, would be
fascism the huge stony deep booming
Adolf Hitler of a falling shell, at the corner.
Nazism There was no place to run,
Hideki Tojo because how did you know that Martha Gellhorn, one of the first
Neville Chamberlain the next shell would not be women war correspondents, began
behind you, or ahead, or to the her career during the Spanish Civil
Winston Churchill War.
appeasement
left or right?”
—Martha Gellhorn, from
nonaggression pact The Face of War
blitzkrieg
Less than two decades after the end of World War I—“the war to
end all wars”—fighting erupted again in Europe and in Asia. As
Americans read about distant battles, they hoped the conflicts
would remain on the other side of the world.

484 Module 11
 Failures of the Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, left many European
nations dissatisfied. The treaty’s war-guilt clause placed the blame for the
war solely on Germany. The treaty also demanded that the Germans pay
reparations, or payments for damages and expenses caused by the war.
The amount demanded far exceeded what the German government could
actually afford to pay.
Instead of securing a “just and secure peace,” the Treaty of Versailles
caused anger and resentment. Germans saw nothing fair in a treaty that
blamed them for starting the war. Nor did they find security in a settlement
that stripped them of their overseas colonies and border territories. The
terms of the treaty did serious damage to the German economy. It forced
Germany to give up control of some of its major industrial regions, which
made the reparations payments even more challenging. These factors helped
bring about a period of severe inflation, or rising prices. Prices increased at
such an incredible rate that by 1923, German currency had simply ceased
to have any meaningful value. These problems overwhelmed the Weimar
Republic, the democratic government set up in Germany after World War I.
Italy was also unhappy with the treaty. The Italians had been on the
winning side in the war. They had hoped to be rewarded with territory
as part of the treaty. Instead, they were largely ignored during the peace
talks. Similarly dissatisfied, the Soviets resented the carving up of parts of
Russia.
The peace settlement had not fulfilled President Wilson’s hope of a
Reading Check 
Analyze Causes  world “safe for democracy.” New democratic governments that emerged in
What factors Europe after the war floundered. Without a democratic tradition, people
contributed to the turned to authoritarian leaders to solve their economic and social prob-
rise of authoritarian
governments during lems. The new democracies collapsed, and dictators were able to seize
this period? power. Some had great ambitions.

Germany was expected to

pay off huge debts while
dealing with widespread
poverty. By 1923 an
inflating economy made a
five-million German mark
worth less than a penny.
Here children build blocks
with stacks of useless
German marks.

World War II 485

 The Spread of Totalitarianism
The seeds of new conflicts had been sown in World War I. For many
nations, peace had brought not prosperity but revolution fueled by eco-
nomic depression and struggle. The postwar years also brought the rise
of powerful dictators driven by the belief in nationalism—loyalty to one’s
country above all else—and dreams of territorial expansion.
JOSEPH STALIN TRANSFORMS THE SOVIET UNION In Russia, hopes for
democracy gave way to civil war, resulting in the establishment of a Com-
munist state, officially called the Soviet Union, in 1922. After V. I. Lenin
died in 1924, Joseph Stalin, whose last name means “man of steel,” took
control of the country. Stalin focused on creating a model Communist
state. In doing so, he made both agricultural and industrial growth the
prime economic goals of the Soviet Union. Stalin abolished all privately
owned farms and replaced them with collectives—large government-
owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families.
Stalin moved to transform the Soviet Union from a backward rural
nation into a great industrial power. In 1928 the Soviet dictator outlined
the first of several “five-year plans” for industrialization. All economic
activity was placed under state management. By 1937 the Soviet Union
had become the world’s second-largest industrial power, surpassed in over-
all production only by the United States. The human costs of this transfor-
mation were enormous.
In his drive to purge, or eliminate, anyone who threatened his power,
Stalin did not spare even his most faithful supporters. While the final toll
will never be known, historians estimate that Stalin was responsible for
the deaths of 8 million to 13 million people. Millions more died in famines
caused by the restructuring of Soviet society.
By 1939 Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that
tried to exert complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state,
individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition.
THE RISE OF FASCISM IN ITALY While Stalin was consolidating his power
in the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini was establishing a totalitarian
regime in Italy, where unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes.
Some of those strikes were led by Communists. Alarmed by these threats,
the middle and upper classes demanded stronger leadership. Mussolini
took advantage of this situation. A powerful speaker, Mussolini knew how
to appeal to Italy’s wounded national pride. He played on the fears of eco-
nomic collapse and communism. “Italy wants peace, work, and calm. I will
give these things with love if possible, with force if necessary,” he said. In
this way, he won the support of many discontented Italians.
By 1921 Mussolini had established the Fascist Party. Fascism
(făshʹĭz´әm) stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state
above those of individuals. To strengthen the nation, Fascists argued,
power must rest with a single strong leader and a small group of devoted
party members. (The Latin fasces—a bundle of rods tied around an ax
handle—had been a symbol of unity and authority in ancient Rome.)

486 Module 11
 Explore ONLINE!
The Rise of Nationalism, 1922–1941
N
Joseph Stalin grabs control of the
Soviet Union in 1924 and squelches
W E
all opposition after V. I. Lenin, founder
of the Communist regime, dies.
S
Adolf Hitler offers economic
5°N
775°N stability to unemployed Germans
during the Great Depression and Fascist dictatorship
becomes chancellor in 1933. 45°E
Communist dictatorship

0°
Imperialist military regime
Arctic Circle
0 750 1,500 mi
AT L A N T I C
OCEAN S O V I E T U N I O N 0 750 1,500 km

60°N

Moscow
w Benito Mussolini rises to
AT
GREAT power in 1922 and attempts
BRITAIN
AIN
London Be lin
Berlin
B to restore Italy to its former
GERMANY
GER
G RMANY
Y position as a world power.
Paris
FRANCE CHINA
45°N ITALY
Ca

SPAIN
spi

Rome
an S

Madrid
d M e d i t e r ra n e JAPAN
ea

an
Sea
Tokyo
Hideki Tojo, the force behind Japanese
Francisco Franco leads the strategy, becomes Japan’s prime PA C I F I C
rebel Nationalist army to victory minister in 1941. Emperor Hirohito OCEAN
in Spain and gains complete becomes a powerless figurehead. Tropic oof Cancer
control of the country in 1939.

Interpret Maps
1. Region In which countries did authoritarian leaders come to power?
Who were the leaders?
2. Location What geographic features might have led Japan to expand?

In October 1922 Mussolini marched on Rome with thousands of his

followers, whose black uniforms gave them the name “Black Shirts.” When
important government officials, the army, and the police sided with the
Fascists, the Italian king appointed Mussolini head of the government.
Calling himself Il Duce, or “the leader,” Mussolini gradually extended
Fascist control to every aspect of Italian life. Tourists marveled that Il Duce
had even “made the trains run on time.” Mussolini achieved this efficiency,
however, by crushing all opposition and by making Italy a totalitarian state.
THE NAZIS TAKE OVER GERMANY In Germany, Adolf Hitler had fol-
lowed a path to power similar to Mussolini’s. At the end of World War
I, Hitler had been a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919 he
joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers’
Party, better known as the Nazi Party. Despite its name, this party had no
ties to socialism.
Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that
he quickly became the party’s leader. Calling himself Der Führer—“the
Leader”—he promised to bring Germany out of chaos.

World War II 487

 In his book Mein Kampf [My Struggle], Hitler set forth the basic beliefs
of Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism
(nätʹsĭz´әm), the German brand of fascism, was based on extreme national-
ism. Hitler, who had been born in Austria, dreamed of uniting all German-
speaking people in a great German empire.
Hitler also wanted to enforce racial “purification” at home. In his view,
Germans—especially blue-eyed, blond-haired “Aryans”—formed a “master
race” that was destined to rule the world. “Inferior races,” such as Jews,
Slavs, and all nonwhites, were deemed fit only to serve the Aryans.
A third element of Nazism was national expansion. Hitler believed that
for Germany to thrive, it needed more lebensraum, or living space. One of
the Nazis’ aims, as Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the Ger-
man people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even
if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.”
The Great Depression helped the Nazis come to power. Because of war
debts and dependence on American loans and investments, Germany’s
economy was hit hard. By 1932 some 6 million Germans were unemployed.
Many men who were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the “storm
troopers” (or “Brown Shirts”). The German people were desperate and
turned to Hitler as their last hope.
Background
According to Hitler
By mid-1932, the Nazis had become the strongest political party in Ger-
there were three many. In January 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor (prime minister).
German empires: the Once in power, Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar
Holy Roman Empire,
Republic. In its place he established the Third Reich, or Third German
the German Empire of
1871–1918, and the Empire. According to Hitler, the Third Reich would be a “Thousand-Year
Third Reich. Reich”—it would last for a thousand years.

The Faces of Totalitarianism

Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Communist
Soviet Union
Benito Adolf Joseph
Mussolini Hitler Stalin

• Extreme nationalism • Extreme nationalism and • Planned to create a sound

• Militaristic expansionism racism Communist state and wait
• Militaristic expansionism for world revolution
• Charismatic leader
• Forceful leader • Forceful leader
• Private property with strong
government controls • Private property with strong • Eventual rule by working
government controls class
• Anti-Communist
• Anti-Communist • State ownership of property

488 Module 11
Background MILITARISTS GAIN CONTROL IN JAPAN  Halfway around the world, Japan
Military government
was another country torn by political and economic conflict. Among the
had centuries-old
roots in Japan. The problems facing Japan was the limited size of its territory. The islands of
shogun lords of the Japan were growing crowded. At the time, Japan’s government was under
Middle Ages had been civilian control. Many Japanese, however, were unhappy with their lead-
military leaders.
ers. Dissatisfaction was especially high among members of the military
who held strong nationalist beliefs.
In the early 1930s a group of military leaders used violence to take
control of the imperial government of Japan. Like Hitler and Mussolini,
these leaders believed in the need for a strong army to accomplish their
country’s goals, a philosophy known as militarism. Also like Hitler, they
felt the need for more living space for a growing population. Many Japa-
nese wanted to expand their territory and gain greater access to wealth
and resources. This desire grew even stronger as a result of the worldwide
economic depression of the 1930s.
CIVIL WAR BREAKS OUT IN SPAIN  In 1936 a group of Spanish army offi-
cers led by General Francisco Franco rebelled against the Spanish republic.
Revolts broke out all over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began. The war
aroused passions not only in Spain but also throughout the world. About
3,000 Americans formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and traveled to
Spain to fight against Franco. “We knew, we just knew,” recalled Martha
Gellhorn, “that Spain was the place to stop fascism.”
Such limited aid was not sufficient to stop the spread of fascism, how-
ever. The Western democracies remained neutral. Although the Soviet
Union sent equipment and advisers, Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco’s
forces with troops, weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. The war forged a
close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed
Reading Check  a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. After a loss of almost
Summarize  What
are the characteristics 500,000 lives, Franco’s victory in 1939 established him as Spain’s fascist
of a totalitarian state? dictator. Once again a totalitarian government ruled in Europe.

Dictators Expand Their Territory

Having established their totalitarian regimes, many dictators sought to
increase their territories, often through military action. Unfortunately the
League of Nations, which had been established after World War I to pre-
vent such aggressive acts, did little to thwart their efforts.
JAPAN’S AMBITIONS IN THE PACIFIC  In 1931 the militarists in control
of Japan’s government began working in earnest to achieve their goals of
growing Japan’s territory and access to resources. Ignoring the protests
of more moderate Japanese officials, they launched a surprise attack
and seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria. Within several
months, Japanese troops controlled the entire province, a large region
about twice the size of Texas that was rich in natural resources.
This action was a significant test of the power of the League of Nations.
The League sent representatives to Manchuria to investigate the situation.

World War II 489

 Their report condemned Japan, who in turn simply quit the League. Mean-
while, the success of the Manchurian invasion put the militarists firmly in
control of Japan’s government.
As Germany began to expand its territory in Europe, it opened new
opportunities for Japanese expansionists. Already in control of Man-
churia, in July 1937 Hideki Tojo (hē ʹd-kē tōʹjō´), chief of staff of Japan’s
Kwantung Army, launched an invasion farther into China. As French,
Dutch, and British colonies lay unprotected in Asia, Japanese leaders
leaped at the opportunity to unite East Asia under Japanese control by
seizing the colonial lands.
AGGRESSION IN EUROPE AND AFRICA  The failure of the League of
Nations to take action against Japan did not escape the notice of Europe’s
dictators. In 1933 Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations. In
1935 he began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
A year later he sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region border-
ing France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of
Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler.

Explore ONLINE!

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931 Italy Invades Ethiopia, 1935–1936

SOVIET UNION ITALY

Japan took
control of the
southern half Rome
of Sakhalin
Island in 1905.
Mediterranean Sea

MANCHURIA
MONGOLIA (Province of China)
MapQuest.Com, Inc. MapQuest.Com, Inc.
Mukden
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program Red
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program
Sea of JAPAN Sea
Book R/Unit 5/Chapter
Japan16 - arpe-0516s1-19-e Book R/Unit 5/Chapter 16 - arpe-0516s1-18-e
15°N
Aggressive Acts LOCATOR
(East Sea) Aggressive Acts LOCATOR
KOREA ETHIOPIA
Vital Information Area (per page): 8p wide X 4p deep Vital Information Area (per page): 8p wide X 4p deep
CHINA Mask Area (per page): 8p wide x 4p deep
Tokyo Addis
MaskAbaba
Area (per page): 8p wide x 4p deep
Yellow 3rd proof date: 5/02/01 3rd proof date: 5/02/01
Sea INDIAN
0° Equator OCEAN 0°

In 1910, Korea East China

was annexed Sea
N
by Japan. N

W E Tropic of Cancer
15°S W E

S
0 200 400 mi S
PACIFIC 0 400 800 mi
OCEAN 0 200 400 km Tropic of Capricorn
0 400 800 km
135°E

Interpret Maps
1. Location  What countries were aggressors during this period?
2. Movement  Notice the size and location of Italy and of Japan with respect to the
country each invaded. What similarities do you see?
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016
HS_SNLESE454194_219M
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Vital Information Area (per page): 22p wide X 28p deep
490 Module 11 Mask Area (per page): 24p wide x 30p deep
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016 First proof 03/07/16
 Meanwhile, Mussolini began building his new Roman Empire. His first
target was Ethiopia, one of Africa’s few remaining independent countries. By
the fall of 1935, tens of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance
on Ethiopia. The League of Nations reacted with brave talk of “collective resis-
tance to all acts of unprovoked aggression.”
When the invasion began, however, the League’s response was an ineffec-
tive economic boycott—little more than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936
Ethiopia had fallen. In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian
emperor, appealed to the League for assistance. Nothing was done. “It is us
today,” he told them. “It will be you tomorrow.”
AUSTRIA AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA FALL On November 5, 1937, Hitler met
secretly with his top military advisers. He boldly declared that to grow and
prosper Germany needed the land of its neighbors. His plan was to absorb
Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich. When one of his advisers
protested that annexing those countries could provoke war, Hitler replied,
“‘The German Question’ can be solved only by means of force, and this is never
without risk.”
Austria was Hitler’s first target. The Paris Peace Conference following
World War I had created the relatively small nation of Austria out of what
was left of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of Austria’s 6 million
people were Germans who favored unification with Germany. On March 12,
1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed. A day later Germany
announced that its Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The
United States and the rest of the world did nothing.
Hitler then turned to Czechoslovakia. About 3 million German-speaking peo-
ple lived in the western border regions of Czechoslovakia which were called the
Sudetenland. The mountainous region formed Czechoslovakia’s main defense
against German attack. Hitler wanted to annex Czechoslovakia to provide more
living space for Germany as well as to control its important natural resources.
Hitler charged that the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten Germans, and he
began massing troops on the Czech border. The U.S. correspondent William
Shirer, then stationed in Berlin, wrote in his diary: “The Nazi press [is] full of
hysterical headlines. All lies. Some examples: ‘Women and Children Mowed
Down by Czech Armored Cars,’ or ‘Bloody Regime—New Czech Murders of
Germans.’”
Early in the crisis, both France and Great Britain promised to protect
Czechoslovakia. Then, just when war seemed inevitable, Hitler invited French
premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain
to meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the
annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their
eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On
September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the
Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired. Chamberlain
returned home and proclaimed: “My friends, there has come back from Germany
peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time.”
Chamberlain’s satisfaction was not shared by Winston Churchill, Cham-
berlain’s political rival in Great Britain. In Churchill’s view, by signing the

World War II 491

 Germany, Italy, and Japan were a threat to the entire world. They believed they were superior
and more powerful than other nations, especially democracies. This cartoon shows their
obsession with global domination.

Munich Agreement, Daladier and Chamberlain had adopted a shameful

policy of appeasement—or giving up principles to pacify an aggressor. As
Churchill bluntly put it, “Britain and France had to choose between war and
dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war.” Nonetheless, the House
of Commons approved Chamberlain’s policy toward Germany and Churchill
responded with a warning.

“[W]e have passed an awful milestone in our history. . . . And do not sup-
pose that this is the end. . . . This is only the First sip, the First foretaste
Reading Check  of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a
Analyze Issues 
What was supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and
appeasement, and take our stand for freedom as in the olden time.”
why did Churchill —Winston Churchill, from a speech to the House of Commons,
oppose it so strongly? quoted in The Gathering Storm

The German Offensive

As Churchill had warned, Hitler was not finished expanding the Third
Reich. As dawn broke on March 15, 1939, German troops poured into what
remained of Czechoslovakia. At nightfall Hitler gloated, “Czechoslovakia has
ceased to exist.” After that, the German dictator turned his land-hungry gaze
toward Germany’s eastern neighbor, Poland.
THE SOVIET UNION DECLARES NEUTRALITY  Like Czechoslovakia, Poland
had a sizable German-speaking population. In the spring of 1939, Hitler
began his familiar routine, charging that Germans in Poland were mistreated
by the Poles and needed his protection. Some people thought that this time
Hitler must have been bluffing. After all, an attack on Poland might bring

492 Module 11
 Germany into conflict with the Soviet Union, Poland’s eastern neighbor.
At the same time, such an attack would most likely provoke a declaration
of war from France and Britain—both of whom had promised military aid
to Poland. The result would be a two-front war. Fighting on two fronts had
exhausted Germany in World War I. Surely, many thought, Hitler would
not be foolish enough to repeat that mistake.
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone when he signed
a nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23,
1939, fascist Germany and Communist Russia now committed never to
attack each other. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second,
secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. With the danger of a
two-front war eliminated, the fate of Poland was sealed.
BLITZKRIEG IN POLAND As day broke on September 1, 1939, the German
Luftwaffe, or German air force, roared over Poland, raining bombs on mili-
Background
Luftwaffe in German tary bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks
means “air weapon.” raced across the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This
invasion was the initial test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the
blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military
technology—such as fast tanks that had been adapted to move quickly
over rough terrain and more powerful aircraft that could travel over longer
distances—to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all oppo-
sition with overwhelming force. On September 3, two days following the
terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
The blitzkrieg tactics worked perfectly. Major fighting was over in three
weeks, long before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense.
In the last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the
east, grabbing some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in west-
ern Poland contained almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end
of the month, Poland had ceased to exist—and World War II had begun.

A German tank unit moves through western Poland in 1939.

World War II 493

 THE PHONY WAR  For several months after the fall of Poland, French and
British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifications built along
France’s eastern border, sat staring into Germany, waiting for something to
happen. On the Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back.
The blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg (“sitting
war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the phony war.
After occupying eastern Poland, Stalin began annexing the Baltic states
of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Late in 1939 Stalin sent his Soviet army
into Finland. After three months of fighting, the outnumbered Finns
surrendered.
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion of Denmark
and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom and indepen-
dence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the coasts to strike at
Great Britain. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands, Belgium, and Lux-
embourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony war had ended.
THE FALL OF FRANCE  France’s Maginot Line proved to be ineffective; the
German army threatened to bypass the line during its invasion of Belgium.
Hitler’s generals sent their tanks through the Ardennes, a region of wooded
ravines in northeast France, thereby avoiding British and French troops who
thought the Ardennes were impassable. The Germans continued to march
toward Paris.
Explore ONLINE!
German Advances, 1938–1941

Axis powers
19

FINLAND
41

NORWAY Axis-controlled by Dec. 1941

SWEDEN
60°N MapQuest.Com, Inc.
Leningrad Allied territory, Dec. 1941
Sea

ESTONIA
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program Neutral countries
lti c

Book R/Unit 5/ChapterLATVIA

16 - arpe-0516s2-10-e German troop movements
Ba

North DENMARK WWII: Gerrman Advances, 1939–1941-LOCATOR Moscow

Sea LITHUANIA Maginot Line
Vital Information Area (per page): 8p wide X 4p deep
194

Mask AreaEAST
(per page):
1 8p wide x 4p deep 0 200 400 mi
0

IRELAND English PRUSSIA 194

GREAT Channel NETH. Berlin 39
2nd proof date:
S O V 1/16/01
IET UNION
19 0 200 400 km
BRITAIN 1940 GERMANY SUDETENLAND
London Warsaw
RHINELAND 1939
BELG. 1940 1938 1941
Dunkirk POLAND
LUX. CZECHO
Paris SAAR SLOV Stalingrad N
AK I
A
FRANCE Munich AUSTRIA
19 HUNGARY BESSARABIA 1941
14 W E
SWITZ.
1941

AT L A N T I C ROMANIA
VICHY FRENCH S
OCEAN GOVERNMENT
(unoccupied zone) Ad
YUGOSLAVIA
ITALY r iat Black Sea
ic BULGARIA
1941

Sea
Rome
PORTUGAL ALBANIA
SPAIN
GREECE TURKEY
M e d i t e r r
a
n
ALGERIA e a
TUNISIA n S e a SYRIA IRAQ IRAN
15°E 30°E

Interpret Maps
1. Region  Which European countries did Germany invade?
2. Location  How was Germany’s geographic location an advantage?
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016
HS_SNLESE454194_222M
WWII: Gerrman Advances, 1939–1941
494 Information
Vital Module 11
Area (per page): 51p wide X 29p deep
Mask Area (per page): 52p10 wide x 29p9 deep
 The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British and French sol-
diers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of the Eng-
lish Channel. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of fishing trawlers, tug
boats, river barges, and pleasure craft—more than 800 vessels in all—fer-
ried about 330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety across the
Channel.
A few days later Italy entered the war on the side of Germany and invaded
France from the south as the Germans closed in on Paris from the north.
On June 22, 1940, at Compiègne, as William Shirer and the rest of the world
watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of surrender. Germans
Background would occupy the northern part of France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet
Hitler demanded that
the surrender take government, headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, would be set up at Vichy in
place in the same southern France.
railroad car where the
French had dictated
After France fell, a French general named Charles de Gaulle fled to Eng-
terms to the Germans land, where he set up a government-in-exile. De Gaulle proclaimed defi-
in World War I. antly, “France has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war.”
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN In the summer of 1940, the Germans began to
assemble an invasion fleet along the French coast. Because its naval power
could not compete with that of Britain, Germany also launched an air war
at the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombing runs over Brit-
ain. Its goal was to gain total control of the skies by destroying Britain’s
Royal Air Force (RAF). Hitler had 2,600 planes at his disposal. On a single
day—August 15—approximately 2,000 German planes ranged over Britain.
Bombers pounded London every night for two solid months.
The Battle of Britain raged on through the summer and fall. Night after
night, German planes pounded British targets. At first the Luftwaffe con-
centrated on airfields and aircraft. Next it targeted cities.
The RAF fought back brilliantly. With the help of a new technological
device called radar, British pilots accurately plotted the flight paths of Ger-
man planes, even in darkness. On September 15, 1940 the RAF shot down

Document-Based Investigation Historical Source

The London Blitz

Londoner Len Jones was just 18 years old when bombs fell on his East End neighborhood.

“[T]he suction and the compression from the high-explosive bombs just pushed you and pulled you,
and the whole of the atmosphere was turbulating so hard that, after an explosion of a nearby bomb,
you could actually feel your eyeballs being [almost] sucked out . . . and the suction was so vast, it
ripped my shirt away, and ripped my trousers. Then I couldn’t get my breath, the smoke was like acid
and everything round me was black and yellow. And these bombers kept on and on, the whole road
was moving, rising and falling . . . .”
—Len Jones, quoted in The Blitz: The British Under Attack

Analyze Historical Sources

How do you think the Blitz might have affected civilian morale in London?

World War II 495

 BIOGRAPHY

Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

Winston Churchill may have been Great Britain’s greatest weapon in the
fight against the Nazis during World War II. He had been active in British
politics since 1900, but it was the growing danger posed by Germany in
the 1930s that brought out his finest qualities as a leader and a speaker.
He became prime minister of Great Britain in May 1940. In that role, he
used his gift as a speaker to rouse and unite the British people, urging
them to remain strong in their opposition to Nazi Germany. His refusal
to consider surrender helped maintain Britain as a base from which the
Allies could eventually attack Hitler’s armies.

over 185 German planes; at the same time, they lost only 26 aircraft. Six
weeks later Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefinitely. “Never
in the field of human conflict,” said Churchill in praise of the RAF pilots,
“was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Still, German bombers continued to pound Britain’s cities trying to dis-
rupt production and break civilian morale. Even late in the war, when the
Luftwaffe had been weakened and no longer had enough planes to send to
Britain, the bombing continued. German scientists developed two types of
Reading Check  rockets, the V-1 and the V-2, that could rain devastation on British cities
Summarize  How
did German blitzkrieg
from launch sites on the European mainland. At the same time, British
tactics rely on new pilots also bombed German cities. Civilians in both countries unrelent-
military technology? ingly carried on.

Lesson 1 Assessment
1. Organize Information  Use a chart to record details 4. Form Generalizations  Why do you think Hitler found
about the goals and actions of each leader. widespread support among the German people?
Support your answer with details from the text.
Leader Goals Actions
5. Evaluate  If you had been a member of the British
Stalin House of Commons in 1938, would you have voted
Mussolini for or against the Munich Agreement? Support your
Hitler decision.
Franco 6. Draw Conclusions  Review Germany’s aggressive
actions between 1938 and 1945. At what point do you
Tojo
think Hitler concluded that he could take any territory
without being stopped? Why?
What were the consequences of the rise of fascism and
other totalitarian governments during this period? 7. Analyze Issues  How did the development of new
conventional weapons factor into Germany’s blitzkrieg
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term or person in
strategy and attacks on Britain? How did geographic
the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance.
factors affect the development of those weapons?
3. Analyze Effects  How did the Treaty of Versailles sow
the seeds of instability in Europe?
Think About:
• effects on Germany and the Soviet Union
• effects of the treaty on national pride
• the economic legacy of the war

496 Module 11
 Lesson 2

The Holocaust

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
Gerda Weissmann was a carefree girl of 15 when, in September
During the Holocaust, the Nazis
1939, invading German troops shattered her world. Because the
systematically executed 6 million
Weissmanns were Jews, they were forced to give up their home to
Jews and 5 million other “non-
Aryans.” a German family. In 1942 Gerda, her parents, and most of Poland’s
3,000,000 Jews were sent to labor camps. Gerda recalls when mem-
Why It Matters Now bers of Hitler’s elite Schutzstaffel, or “security squadron” (SS), came to
After the atrocities of the round up the Jews.
Holocaust, agencies formed to
publicize human rights. These
agencies continue to fight for “We had to form a line and an
social justice in today’s world. SS man stood there with a little
Key Terms and People stick. I was holding hands with
Holocaust
my mother and . . . he looked at
me and said, ‘How old?’ And I
Kristallnacht
said, ‘eighteen,’ and he sort of
genocide
pushed me to one side and my
ghetto mother to the other side. . . . And
concentration camp shortly thereafter, some trucks
arrived . . . and we were loaded
onto the trucks. I heard my
mother’s voice from very far off Gerda Weissmann Klein
ask, ‘Where to?’ and I shouted
back, ‘I don’t know.’”
—Gerda Weissmann Klein, quoted in
the film One Survivor Remembers

American lieutenant Kurt Klein liberated her from the Nazis in 1945.
It was just one day before her 21st birthday. She weighed 68 pounds,
and her hair had turned white. Of all her family and friends, she
alone had survived the Nazis’ campaign to exterminate Europe’s
Jews. Klein would later become Gerda’s husband.

World War II 497

 The Persecution Begins
On April 7, 1933, shortly after Hitler took power in Germany, he ordered
all “non-Aryans” to be removed from government jobs. This order was one
of the first moves in a campaign for racial purity. That campaign eventu-
ally led to the Holocaust, the systematic murder of 6 million Jews across
Europe. The Nazis also murdered 5 million other people.
JEWS TARGETED Although Jews were not the only victims of the Holo-
caust, they were the main Nazi targets. Anti-Semitism, or hatred of the
Jews, had a long history in parts of Europe. For decades many Germans
Vocabulary had been looking for a scapegoat. They blamed the Jews as the cause of
scapegoat someone their failures.
who is made to bear
the blame of others Adolf Hitler rose to power in part by promising to return Germany to
its former glory. Hitler found that a majority of Germans were willing
to support his belief that Jews were responsible for Germany’s economic
problems and defeat in World War I. He also told the Germans that they
came from a superior race, the Aryans, an idea that was found in German
music and folktales. Hitler effectively used this notion to build support for
his plans.
As the Nazis tightened their hold on Germany, their persecution of
the Jews increased. In 1935 the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their
German citizenship, jobs, and property. Jews had to wear a bright yellow
Star of David attached to their clothing to make it easier for the Nazis to
identify them. Worse things were yet to come.
KRISTALLNACHT November 9–10, 1938, became known as Kristallnacht
(krĭsʹtälʹnächt´), or “Night of Broken Glass.” Nazi storm troopers attacked
Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany, Austria, and
the recently occupied Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. The Nazis claimed
the attacks were a spontaneous reaction to the assassination of a Nazi offi-
cial by a Jewish teenager. In fact, Nazi officials encouraged the violence.

On November 17, 1938, two passersby examine the shattered window of a Jewish-owned store in
the aftermath of Kristallnacht.

498 Module 11
 During the rampage, thousands of Jewish businesses and places of wor-
ship were damaged or destroyed. An American who witnessed the violence
wrote, “Jewish shop windows by the hundreds were systematically and wan-
tonly smashed. . . . The main streets of the city were a positive litter of shat-
tered plate glass.” Around 100 Jews were killed, and hundreds more were
injured. Some 30,000 Jews were arrested. Afterward, the Nazis blamed the
Jews for the destruction and held them financially responsible. Jews were
fined a total of 1 billion marks.
A FLOOD OF JEWISH REFUGEES  Kristallnacht marked an increase in the
Nazis’ Jewish persecution and sent a clear message to those Jews still in
Germany. Over 100,000 managed to leave in the months following the
attacks. However, many had trouble finding countries that would accept
them. Nazi laws had left many German Jews without money or property,
and most countries were unwilling to take in poor immigrants. France
already had 40,000 Jewish refugees and did not want more. The British
worried about fueling anti-Semitism. They refused to admit more than
80,000 Jewish refugees. The British also controlled the Palestine Mandate,
part of which later became Israel. They did allow 30,000 refugees to settle
there. Late in 1938 Germany’s foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop,
observed, “We all want to get rid of our Jews. The difficulty is that no coun-
try wishes to receive them.”
Although the average Jew had little chance of reaching the United States,
“persons of exceptional merit” were allowed in. Physicist Albert Einstein,
author Thomas Mann, architect Walter Gropius, and theologian Paul Tillich
were among 100,000 refugees the United States accepted.
Many Americans wanted the door closed. Americans were concerned
that letting in more refugees during the Great Depression would deny jobs
to U.S. citizens. They also thought it would threaten economic recovery.
Among Americans, there was widespread anti-Semitism and fear that
“enemy agents” would enter the country. President Roosevelt said that he
sympathized with the Jews. But he also said that he would not “do anything
which would conceivably hurt the future of present American citizens.”
THE PLIGHT OF THE ST. LOUIS  Official indifference to the situation of
Germany’s Jews was clear in the case of the ship St. Louis. This German
ocean liner passed Miami, Florida, in 1939. Although 740 of the liner’s 943
passengers had U.S. immigration papers, the Coast Guard followed the
ship to prevent anyone from getting off in America. The ship was forced to
return to Europe. “The cruise of the St. Louis,” wrote the New York Times,
“cries to high heaven of man’s inhumanity to man.” Passenger Liane Reif-
Lehrer recalls her childhood experiences.

“My mother and brother and I were among the passengers who sur-
Reading Check 
Analyze Issues   vived. . . . We were sent back to Europe and given haven in France,
What problems did only to find the Nazis on our doorstep again a few months later.”
German Jews face in —Liane Reif-Lehrer, quoted in A History of US
Nazi Germany from
1935 to 1938? More than half of the passengers were later killed in the Holocaust.

World War II 499

 Hitler’s “Final Solution”
By 1939 only about a quarter million Jews remained in Germany. But other
nations that Hitler occupied had millions more. Obsessed with a desire to rid
Europe of its Jews, Hitler imposed what he called the “Final Solution”—a pol-
icy of genocide, the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire population.
THE CONDEMNED  Hitler’s Final Solution rested on the belief that Aryans
were a superior people and that the strength and purity of this “master race”
must be preserved. To accomplish this, the Nazis condemned the Jews to slav-
ery and death. They did the same to other groups that they viewed as inferior
or unworthy or as “enemies of the state.”
After taking power in 1933, the Nazis had concentrated on silencing their
political opponents: communists, socialists, liberals, and anyone else who
spoke out against the government. Once the Nazis had eliminated these
enemies, they turned against other groups in Germany. In addition to Jews,
these groups included the following:
• Gypsies—whom the Nazis believed to be an “inferior race”
• Freemasons—whom the Nazis charged as supporters of the “Jewish
conspiracy” to rule the world
• Jehovah’s Witnesses—who refused to join the army or salute Hitler
The Nazis also targeted other Germans whom they found unfit to be
part of the “master race.” Such victims included homosexuals, the mentally
­deficient, the mentally ill, the physically disabled, and the incurably ill.
Hitler began implementing his Final Solution in Poland with special Nazi
death squads. Hitler’s elite Nazi “security squadrons” (or SS), rounded up
­Jewish men, women, children, and babies, and shot them on the spot.
FORCED RELOCATION  Jews also were ordered into dismal, overcrowded
ghettos, segregated Jewish areas in certain Polish cities. The Nazis sealed off
the ghettos with barbed wire and stone walls. Those Jews who tried to leave
were shot.

On May 9, 1945, inmates at the Ebensee concentration camp in Austria were liberated by U.S. soldiers.

500 Module 11
Document-Based Investigation Historical Source

Concentration Camp Uniforms

Prisoners were required to wear color-coded triangles
on their uniforms. There were several categories
of prisoners. They included communists, socialists,
criminals, emigrants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and
homosexuals. They also included Germans and other
nationalities “shy of work.” The categories show a
variation among the rows. One row is for repeat
offenders, and one is for prisoners assigned to punish
other prisoners. The double triangles are for Jews. Letters
on top of a patch indicate nationality.

Analyze Historical Sources

Why do you think the Nazis established this color-coded
system to identify prisoners in the concentration camps?

Life inside the ghetto was miserable. Food was scarce. Diseases spread
quickly in the cramped conditions, and many Jews fell ill. The bodies of
victims of the death squads piled up in the streets faster than they could
be removed. Factories were built alongside ghettos where people were
forced to work for German industry. In spite of the impossible living
conditions, the Jews hung on. While some formed resistance movements
inside the ghettos, others resisted by other means. They published and
distributed underground newspapers. Secret schools were set up to educate
Jewish children. Even theater and music groups continued to operate.
CONCENTRATION CAMPS Finally, Jews in communities not reached by
the killing squads were dragged from their homes and herded onto trains
or trucks for shipment to concentration camps, or labor camps. Families
were often separated, sometimes—like the Weissmanns—forever.
Nazi concentration camps were originally set up to imprison political
opponents and protesters. The camps were later turned over to the SS,
who expanded the concentration camps and used them to warehouse other
“undesirables.” Life in the camps was a cycle of hunger, humiliation, and
work that almost always ended in death.
The prisoners were crammed into crude wooden barracks that held
up to a thousand people each. They shared their crowded quarters, as
well as their meager meals, with hordes of rats and fleas. One survi-
vor remembered such intense hunger “that if a bit of soup spilled over,
prisoners would converge on the spot, dig their spoons into the mud and
Reading Check stuff the mess into their mouths.” Inmates in the camps worked from
Find Main Ideas
What was Hitler’s dawn to dusk, seven days a week, until they collapsed. Those too weak to
Final Solution? work were killed.

World War II 501

 Estimated Jewish Losses
Pre-Holocaust Number Killed
Population Low Estimate High Estimate

Austria 191,000 50,000 65,500

Belgium 60,000 25,000 29,000
Bohemia/Moravia 92,000 77,000 78,300
Denmark 8,000 60 116
Estonia 4,600 1,500 2,000
France 260,000 75,000 77,000
Germany 566,000 135,000 142,000
Greece 73,000 59,000 67,000
Hungary 725,000 502,000 569,000
Italy 48,000 6,500 9,000
Latvia 95,000 70,000 72,000
Lithuania 155,000 130,000 143,000
Luxembourg 3,500 1,000 2,000
Netherlands 112,000 100,000 105,000
Norway 1,700 800 800
Poland 3,250,000 2,700,000 3,000,000
Romania 441,000 121,000 287,000
Slovakia 89,000 60,000 71,000
USSR 2,825,000 700,000 1,100,000
Yugoslavia 68,000 56,000 65,000

TOTALS 9,067,800 4,869,860 5,894,716

Source: Columbia Guide to the Holocaust

Interpret Charts
Approximately what percentage of the total Jewish population in Europe was killed during
the Holocaust?

The Final Stage

The Final Solution reached its final stage in early 1942. Hitler called his top
officials to a meeting held in Wannsee, a suburb near Berlin. There they
agreed to a new phase of the mass murder of Jews. Nazis already were using
mass slaughter and starvation. Now they would add murder by poison gas.
MASS EXTERMINATIONS  Overwork, starvation, beatings, and bullets did
not kill fast enough to satisfy the Nazis. The Germans built six death camps
in Poland. The first, Chelmno, began operating in 1941—before the meeting
at Wannsee. Each camp had several huge gas chambers. As many as 12,000
people a day could be killed in them.
Auschwitz was the largest of the death camps. When prisoners arrived
there, they had to walk past several SS doctors. The doctors separated those
strong enough to work from those who would die that day. Both groups had

502 Module 11
 to leave all their belongings behind, supposedly to be returned to them
later. Those assigned to die were taken to a room outside the gas chamber.
They were told to undress for a shower and were even given pieces of soap.
Finally, they were led into the chamber and poisoned with cyanide gas that
came out of vents in the walls. Sometimes an orchestra of camp inmates
played cheerful music during the killings. Those inmates had been tempo-
rarily spared from death because of their musical abilities.
At first the bodies were buried in huge pits.
At Belzec, Rudolf Reder was part of a 500-man
death brigade that worked all day, he said,
“either at grave digging or emptying the gas
chambers.” But the decaying corpses gave off
an odor that could be smelled for miles around.
Worse yet, mass graves left evidence of the
mass murder.
At some camps, Nazis tried to cover up the
evidence of their slaughter. They installed huge
crematoriums, or ovens, in which to burn the
dead. At other camps, the bodies were simply
thrown into a pit and set on fire.
Gassing was not the only method of exter-
mination used in the camps. Prisoners were
also shot, hanged, or injected with poison.
Others died from horrible medical experiments
done by camp doctors. Some of these victims
were injected with deadly germs. The SS doc-
tors wanted to study the effect of disease on
Children taken from Eastern Europe and imprisoned in Auschwitz different groups of people. Many more inmates
look out from behind the barbed-wire fence in July 1944. were used to test methods of sterilization.
Some Nazi doctors were interested in this as a possible way to improve the
“master race.”
THE GLOBAL RESPONSE  In the United States, news of the Nazi violence
against European Jews was not always noticeably reported. Anti-Jewish
violence increased from 1939 to 1941. After that, some newspapers carried
stories about German shooting operations in Poland and the Soviet Union.
However, the victims’ ethnic background was not always identified. Also,
the fate of Europe’s Jews was just one of many issues of concern to the
United States. The war was the main focus of many countries’ attention.
By 1942 the world began to become aware of the horrifying details of
Hitler’s Final Solution. That year, one escapee from a concentration camp,
Jacob Grojanowski, published a report of his experiences in the camp.
From Poland, the report made its way to London and then to other parts of
Europe. Also in 1942, Gerhart Riegner, the head of a major Jewish organi-
zation in Switzerland, sent a report to the U.S. State Department about the
atrocities occurring in Europe. Those who read these reports or heard them
described on the radio were horrified by their contents. Leaders of the
Allied nations publicly condemned the Nazis for their disgraceful actions.

World War II 503

 The response to the Holocaust varied by nation and by individual. Some
risked their own lives to save Jews from the Nazis. In 1942 King Christian X
rejected the Nazis’ demand to enforce the Nuremberg Laws against the Jews
in German-occupied Denmark. Almost all of Denmark’s Jews were rescued
by being taken to Sweden in boats. Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese
diplomat stationed in France, defied his government’s orders to deny entry
to Jewish refugees. Instead he issued some 10,000 visas to Jews seeking to
enter Portugal. The Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg issued “protective
passports” that allowed thousands of Hungarian Jews to escape the Nazi
death camps. Even citizens of Germany lent a hand. And Sempo Sugihara,
Japanese consul in Lithuania, helped over 6,000 Jews to escape the Nazis’
clutches, an act that cost him his career.
The United States did not immediately take steps to protect Europe’s Jew-
ish population. Many observers have criticized that inaction. In part, the U.S.
government was unsure how to arrange rescue operations in Europe. It was
also unsure of what the outcome of those operations would be. It was not
until January 1944 that President Roosevelt announced the creation of the
War Refugee Board. The task of this organization was to rescue thousands
of Jews in Hungary, Romania, and other parts of Europe. Those Jews might
otherwise have fallen into the hands of the Nazis. In the spring of 1944,
some Jewish organizations received detailed reports about the mass murders
by gassing happening at Auschwitz. Those organizations proposed bombing
the camp. The U.S. War Department refused, uncertain of the results. They

American Literature

The Holocaust
Elie Wiesel and his family were deported from Romania to Auschwitz in 1944. Only he and two older
sisters survived the camps. His parents and younger sister perished. In 1960 his memoir was published in
English as Night. Critics consider it to be one of the most significant literary works about the Holocaust.

Night
“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that
turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never
shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of
the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under
a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed
my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that
deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I
forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and
turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things,
even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”
ELIE WIESEL
—Elie Wiesel, from Night.

Analyze American Literature

How does the personal testimony of survivors such as Wiesel help people understand the Holocaust?

504 Module 11
 explained that they were not able to carry out a bombing raid with enough
accuracy. They also argued that the best way to help the Jews was to end
the war as quickly as possible. The War Department believed its focus
should be exclusively on military targets.
THE SURVIVORS  An estimated six million Jews died in the death camps
and in the Nazi massacres. But some miraculously escaped the worst of the
Holocaust. Many had help from ordinary people who were appalled by the
Nazis’ treatment of Jews. Some Jews even managed to survive the horrors
of the concentration camps.
In Gerda Weissmann Klein’s view, survival depended as much on one’s
spirit as on getting enough to eat. “I do believe that if you were blessed
with imagination, you could work through it,” she wrote. “If, unfortu-
nately, you were a person that faced reality, I think you didn’t have much of
a chance.” Those who did come out of the camps alive were forever changed
by what they had witnessed.
For survivor Elie Wiesel, who entered Auschwitz at the age of 15, the
sun had set forever. Although he survived his ordeal, Wiesel’s experiences
in Ausc­hwitz irrevocably altered his worldview. After his liberation in
1945, Wiesel moved to France where he studied and became a journalist.
He first recorded memoirs of his time in Auschwitz in Yiddish in 1956. The
work, which was published as Night in 1960, has become known as one of
Reading Check  the great pieces of Holocaust literature. Wiesel became a noted lecturer
Summarize  How about the Holocaust. His work condemning violence, hatred, and oppres-
was news of the
Holocaust reported in sion brought him worldwide fame, and in 1986 he was awarded the Nobel
the United States? Peace Prize.

Lesson 2 Assessment

1. Organize Information  List at least four events that led 3. Evaluate  Do you think that the United States was
to the Holocaust. justified in not doing more to aid Holocaust victims,
either by allowing more Jewish refugees to immigrate
Cause Effect or by attempting rescue missions in Europe? Why or
why not?
The Holocaust
Think About:
• the views of isolationists in the United States
• some Americans’ prejudices and fears
• the unknowns of a military response
Write a paragraph explaining how significant you 4. Develop Historical Perspective  Why do you think the
think the different events were in contributing to the Nazi system of systematic genocide was so brutally
Holocaust. effective? Support your answer with details from the
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term in the text.
lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. 5. Analyze Motives  How might concentration camp
doctors and guards have justified to themselves the
death and suffering they caused other human beings?
6. Analyze Events  How did word of the Holocaust
spread beyond Germany, and how did people in other
countries react to the news?

World War II 505

 Lesson 3

America Moves Toward War

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
Two days after Hitler invaded Poland, President Roosevelt spoke to
The United States hesitated to
Americans about the outbreak of war in Europe. Roosevelt talked
become involved in another
clearly about how the United States should be consistent in seek-
global conflict. However, it did
provide economic and military ing peace for all people. He also announced a new proclamation
aid to help the Allies achieve ­declaring American neutrality.
victory.
Why It Matters Now “This nation will remain a
U.S. military capability became neutral nation, but I can-
a key factor in World War II, and not ask that every American
it has been a consideration in remain neutral in thought
world affairs ever since. as well. . . . Even a neutral
Key Terms and People cannot be asked to close his
Neutrality Acts mind or his conscience. . . . I
Axis powers
have said not once, but many
times, that I have seen war
Selective Training and Service
Act
and I hate war. . . . As long
as it is my power to prevent,
Lend-Lease Act
there will be no blackout of
Atlantic Charter
peace in the U.S.”
Allies —Franklin D. Roosevelt, from a
radio speech, September 3, 1939 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt knew that Americans still wanted to stay out of war.

However, he also believed that there could be no peace in a world
controlled by dictators. “When peace has been broken anywhere,”
he said, “the peace of all countries everywhere is in danger.”

506 Module 11
 Isolationism Amidst Conflict
Most Americans were alarmed by the international conflicts of the mid-1930s.
But they believed that the United States should not get involved. Since World
War I, the United States had kept a policy of isolationism. The nation’s leaders
avoided any action that would involve the United States in global affairs.
THE ROOTS OF ISOLATIONISM  Because of the horrors of World War I,
many Americans were determined never to be involved in an interna-
tional war again. In 1919 Congress refused to allow the United States
to join the League of Nations. They feared that the league would control
American foreign policy. They also feared that it would tie the country
too closely to Europe.
After World War I, the United States made sure that it would not
be pulled into war again. At the Washington Naval Conference of
1921, the United States and its allies signed a disarmament treaty.
They also promised not to build any warships during the next
decade. In 1928 the United States signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact.
The treaty was signed by 62 countries. It stated that war would not
be used “as an instrument of national policy.” Yet it did not include
This cartoon imagines a way to deal with countries that broke their pledge. Therefore, the Pact was
Woodrow Wilson, who only a small step toward peace.
led the United States
through World War I, AMERICANS CLING TO ISOLATIONISM  In the early 1930s numerous books
looking over Roosevelt’s
shoulder and wishing
argued that greedy bankers and arms dealers had dragged the United States
him luck maintaining into World War I. Public outrage led a congressional committee to investigate
U.S. neutrality. these charges. North Dakota senator Gerald Nye chaired the committee. The
Nye committee found that banks and manufacturers had made large prof-
its during the war. Anger grew over these “merchants of death.” Americans
became even more determined to avoid war. Antiwar feeling was very strong.
The Girl Scouts of America even changed the color of its uniforms to green.
The original khaki was similar to the color used by the military.
News of Japan’s invasion of Manchuria reached the United States in 1932.
The U.S. government avoided getting involved. Secretary of State Henry
Stimson’s response was supported by President Hoover. Stimson notified the
governments of both Japan and China that the United States would not recog-
nize the conflict. The U.S. government would continue to consider Manchuria
a part of China. The Hoover-Stimson note also insisted that Americans kept
all their trade rights in China.
Americans’ growing isolationism eventually affected President Roosevelt’s
foreign policy. When he first took office in 1933, Roosevelt reached out to
other nations in several ways. He officially recognized the Soviet Union in
1933 and agreed to exchange ambassadors with Moscow. His Good Neighbor
Policy continued the nonintervention policy in Latin America begun by Presi-
dents Coolidge and Hoover. Roosevelt also withdrew armed forces stationed
there. In 1934 Roosevelt pushed Congress to pass the Reciprocal Trade Agree-
ment Act. It lowered trade barriers by giving the president the power to make
trade agreements with other nations. It was aimed at reducing tariffs by as
much as 50 percent.

World War II 507

 Congress, however, disagreed with Roosevelt’s efforts to involve the
country in foreign affairs. In 1934 it passed the Johnson Debt Default Act,
which prohibited any foreign aid loans to countries that had not paid back
their World War I debts. Congress also passed a series of Neutrality Acts
to keep the country out of future wars. The first two acts, passed in 1935
and 1937, outlawed arms sales or loans to nations at war. The third act was
passed in 1939 in response to the fighting in Spain. This act prohibited
arms sales and loans to nations engaged in civil wars.
NEUTRALITY BREAKS DOWN Even though Congress passed laws to keep
the country neutral, Roosevelt found it impossible to remain neutral.
When Japan launched a new attack on China in July 1937, Roosevelt
found a way around the Neutrality Acts. Because Japan had not formally
declared war against China, the president claimed there was no need to
enforce the Neutrality Acts. The United States continued sending arms
and supplies to China. A few months later Roosevelt spoke out strongly
against isolationism in a speech delivered in Chicago. He called on peace-
loving nations to “quarantine,” or isolate, aggressor nations in order to
stop the spread of war.

“The peace, the freedom, and the security of 90 percent of the

population of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10
percent who are threatening a breakdown of all international order
and law. Surely the 90 percent who want to live in peace under law
and in accordance with moral standards that have received almost
universal acceptance through the centuries, can and must find some
way . . . to preserve peace.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt, from the “Quarantine Speech,” October 5, 1937

Document-Based Investigation Historical Source

“The Only Way We Can Save Her”

During the late 1930s Americans watched events in
Europe with growing alarm. Dictators were destroying
democratic systems of government throughout
Europe. They were dragging the continent into
war. These political events divided American public
opinion. Some Americans felt that the United States
should help European democracies. However,
isolationists—people who believed that the United
States should not interfere in other nations’ affairs—
opposed getting involved in European disagreements.

Analyze Historical Sources

1. What does the kneeling figure fear will happen to America
if Uncle Sam gets involved?
2. What U.S. policy does the cartoon support?

508 Module 11
 At last Roosevelt seemed ready to take a stand against aggression—
until isolationist newspapers exploded in protest. They accused the presi-
dent of leading the nation into war. Roosevelt backed off as a result of this
criticism, but his speech did begin to shift the debate. For the moment the
Reading Check  conflicts remained “over there.”
Analyze
Causes  What factors
contributed to
Moving Away from Neutrality
Americans’ growing As German tanks rolled across Poland, Roosevelt revised the Neutral-
isolationism after ity Act of 1935. At the same time, he began to prepare the nation for the
World War I?
struggle he feared lay just ahead.
CAUTIOUS STEPS  In September 1939 Roosevelt persuaded Congress to
pass a “cash-and-carry” provision. It allowed warring nations to buy U.S.
arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in their own ships.
Roosevelt argued that providing the arms would help France and Brit-
ain defeat Hitler and keep the United States out of the war. Isolationists
attacked Roosevelt for his actions. However, after six weeks of heated
debate, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1939, and a cash-and-carry
policy went into effect.
THE AXIS THREAT  The United States’s cash-and-carry policy seemed like
too little, too late. By summer 1940 France had fallen and Britain was
under siege. Roosevelt worked to provide the British with “all aid short of
war.” By June he had sent Britain 500,000 rifles and 80,000 machine guns.
In early September the United States traded 50 old destroyers for leases on
British military bases in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. British prime
minister Winston Churchill would later recall this move with affection as
“a decidedly unneutral act.”
On September 27 Americans were startled by the news that Germany,
Italy, and Japan had signed a mutual defense treaty, the Tripartite Pact.
The three nations became known as the Axis powers.
The Tripartite Pact was intended to keep the United States out of the
war. Under the treaty each Axis nation agreed to defend the others in case
of attack. This meant that if the United States declared war on any one of
the Axis powers, it would have to fight a two-ocean war, in both the Atlan-
tic and the Pacific.
BUILDING U.S. DEFENSES  Meanwhile, Roosevelt asked Congress to
increase spending for national defense. Despite years of U.S. isolationism,
Nazi victories in 1940 changed U.S. thinking. Congress boosted defense
spending. Congress also passed the nation’s first peacetime military
draft—the Selective Training and Service Act. Under this law 16 million
men between the ages of 21 and 35 were registered. Of these, one mil-
lion would be drafted for one year. They were allowed to serve only in the
Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt drew the first draft numbers. He told a
national radio audience, “This is a most solemn ceremony.”

World War II 509

 ROOSEVELT RUNS FOR A THIRD TERM  That same year, Roosevelt broke
the tradition of a two-term presidency begun by George Washington.
He decided to run for reelection. Roosevelt’s Republican opponent was a
public utilities executive named Wendell Willkie. He supported Roosevelt’s
policy of aiding Britain, which disappointed isolationists. At the same
time, both Willkie and Roosevelt promised to keep the nation out of war.
Because there was so little difference between the candidates, the major-
ity of voters chose the one they knew better. Roosevelt was reelected with
nearly 55 percent of the votes cast.
Not long after the election, President Roosevelt continued his drive to
provide aid to the Allies in their fight against the Axis powers. He told his
radio audience during a fireside chat that it would be impossible to negoti-
ate a peace with Hitler. “No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking
it.” He warned that if Britain fell, the Axis powers would be left unchal-
lenged to conquer the world. At that point, he said, “all of us in all the
Americas would be living at the point of a gun.” To prevent such a situa-
tion, the United States had to help defeat the Axis threat. It had to become
what Roosevelt called “the great arsenal of democracy.”
THE LEND-LEASE PLAN  By late 1940 Britain had no more cash to spend
on arms. In addition, as a result of the Johnson Debt Default Act, Roos-
evelt was unable to lend money to Britain directly. Instead, he tried to help
by suggesting a new plan that he called a lend-lease policy. Under this plan
Vocabulary the president would lend or lease arms and other supplies to “any country
lease to grant use or whose defense was vital to the United States.”
occupation of under
the terms of a contract
Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor
whose house was on fire. He maintained that this was the only sensible
thing to do to prevent the fire from spreading to your own property. Isola-
tionists opposed the plan, but most Americans favored it. Congress passed
the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941.
Britain was not the only nation to receive lend-lease aid. In June 1941
Hitler broke the agreement he had made in 1939 with Stalin not to go
to war and invaded the Soviet Union. Acting on the principle that “the
enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Roosevelt worked to improve the
diplomatic relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
He began sending lend-lease supplies to the Soviets. Some Americans
opposed providing aid to Stalin. However, Roosevelt agreed with Winston
Churchill, who had said “if Hitler invaded Hell,” the British would work
with the devil himself. The cooperation among these three nations laid
the groundwork for what Churchill would come to call the Grand Alliance.
As a result of policies such as the Lend-Lease Act, American i­ ndustries
began shifting to wartime production before the United States ­officially
entered the war. Defense spending skyrocketed in 1940. Idle ­factories
came back to life. They changed from making consumer goods to
­producing war supplies. A merry-go-round company began producing
gun mounts, and a stove factory made ­lifeboats. A famous New York toy

510 Module 11
 maker made compasses. A pinball-machine ­company made armor-pierc-
Reading Check  ing shells. This increase in production did what all of the programs of the
Analyze Effects  New Deal could not do: it ended the Great Depression. With factories hir-
What impact did the ing again, the nation’s unemployment level began shrinking rapidly. It fell
outbreak of war in Europe
have on U.S. foreign and by 400,000 in August 1940 and by another 500,000 in September. By the
defense policy? end of 1941, America was going back to work.

POINT COUNTERPOINT

“The United States should not become “The United States must protect democracies
involved in European wars.” throughout the world.”
Many Americans were still recovering from World As the conflict in Europe deepened,
War I and struggling with the Great Depression. interventionists embraced President Franklin D.
They believed their country should remain Roosevelt’s declaration that “when peace has
neutral in the war in Europe. been broken anywhere, peace of all countries
Representative James F. O’Connor expressed everywhere is in danger.” Roosevelt emphasized
the country’s reservations. He asked, “Dare we the global character of 20th-century commerce
set America up and commit her as the financial and communication by noting, “Every word that
and military blood bank of the rest of the world?” comes through the air, every ship that sails the
O’Connor maintained that the United States sea, every battle that is fought does affect the
could not “right every wrong” or “police [the] American future.”
world.” Roosevelt and other political leaders also
The aviator Charles Lindbergh stated his hope appealed to the nation’s conscience. Secretary
that “the future of America . . . not be tied to of State Cordell Hull noted that the world was
these eternal wars in Europe.” Lindbergh asserted “face to face . . . with an organized, ruthless, and
that “Americans [should] fight anybody and implacable movement of steadily expanding
everybody who attempts to interfere with our conquest.” Similarly, Undersecretary of State
hemisphere.” However, he also said, “Our safety Sumner Welles called Hitler “a sinister and pitiless
does not lie in fighting European wars. It lies in conqueror [who] has reduced more than half of
our own internal strength, in the character of Europe to abject serfdom.”
the American people and American institutions.” After the war expanded into the Atlantic,
Like many isolationists, Lindbergh believed that Roosevelt stated, “It is time for all Americans . . .
democracy would not be saved “by the forceful to stop being deluded by the romantic notion
imposition of our ideals abroad, but by example that the Americas can go on living happily and
of their successful operation at home.” peacefully in a Nazi-dominated world.” He added,
“Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas
should begin to defend themselves after the first
attack . . . or the twentieth attack. The time for
active defense is now.”

Critical Thinking
1. Connect to History  Compare and contrast different 2. Connect to Today  After World War l, many Americans
perspectives about how the United States should have became isolationists. Do you recommend that the United
responded to the aggressive actions taken by other States practice isolationism today? Why or why not?
nations leading up to World War II. What arguments did
supporters and opponents of isolationism present to
make their cases? Write a paragraph presenting your
findings.

World War II 511

 FDR Plans for War
Although Roosevelt was popular, his foreign policy was under constant
attack. Still, he recognized that American forces were seriously under-
armed. Roosevelt took a number of actions to ensure that the U.S. military
would be prepared for the war he was certain would come.
GERMAN WOLF PACKS Lend-lease aid was helping, but supply lines
across the Atlantic Ocean had to be kept open to deliver goods to Britain
and the Soviet Union. Hitler tried to prevent delivery of lend-lease ship-
ments by sending out hundreds of German submarines, or U-boats, to
attack supply ships.
From the spring through the fall of 1941, attacks by individual U-boats
were replaced by the wolf pack attack. At night groups of up to 40 sub-
marines patrolled areas in the North Atlantic where convoys could be
expected. Wolf packs were successful in sinking as much as 350,000 tons
of shipments in a single month. In June 1941 President Roosevelt granted
the navy permission for U.S. warships to attack German U-boats in
self-defense.

German Wolf Packs

On October 17, 1940, near Rockall, west of Ireland,
British Convoy SC-7 (shown below) was attacked by
a German wolf pack. The convoy was outlined clearly
against a moonlit sky, which made the merchant
ships an easy target.

A tanker burns and sinks in

the Atlantic Ocean after being
torpedoed by a German U-boat.

At the start of the war, the British

had too few warships to escort
the convoys.

German aircraft could patrol 1,000 miles

out to sea to scout for convoys.

The Germans used radios to summon

U-boats into a fighting wolf pack.

U-boats used hydrophonic equipment to

pick up the sound of convoy propellers up
to 100 miles away.
Convoys pinned their hopes on finding
U-boats using ASDIC—sonar apparatus that
could detect submerged submarines.

512 Module 11
 THE ATLANTIC CHARTER In August 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill met
secretly at a summit aboard the battleship USS Augusta. Although Churchill
hoped for a military commitment, he settled for a joint declaration of war
goals called the Atlantic Charter. Both countries pledged collective security,
disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, and freedom of
the seas. Roosevelt told Churchill that he couldn’t ask Congress for a decla-
ration of war against Germany. But he said that he “would wage war” and do
“everything” to “force an incident.”
The Atlantic Charter became the basis of a new document called “A Decla-
ration of the United Nations.” Roosevelt suggested the term United Nations
to express the common purpose of the Allies, those nations that fought the
Axis powers. The declaration was signed on January 1, 1942, by 26 nations:
Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia,
the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala,
Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nica-
ragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United
States, and Yugoslavia. By the end of the war, another 21 countries had
added their signatures.
SHOOT ON SIGHT After a German submarine fired on the U.S. destroyer
Greer in the Atlantic on September 4, 1941, Roosevelt ordered navy com-
manders to respond. “When you see a rattlesnake poised to strike,” the
president explained, “you crush him.” Roosevelt ordered the navy to shoot
the German submarines on sight.
Two weeks later the Pink Star, an American merchant ship, was sunk off
Greenland. In mid-October a U-boat sank the U.S. destroyer Kearny, and 11
lives were lost.
Days later German U-boats torpedoed the U.S. destroyer Reuben James,
killing more than 100 sailors. “America has been attacked,” Roosevelt
announced grimly. “The shooting has started. And history has recorded
Reading Check who fired the first shot.” As the death toll mounted, the Senate repealed a
Summarize Why was
the Atlantic Charter ban against arming merchant ships. A formal declaration of a full-scale war
important? seemed inevitable.

Japan Attacks the United States

The United States was now involved in an undeclared naval war with Hit-
ler. However, the attack that finally brought the United States into the war
came from Japan. By the late fall of 1941, American leaders had become
convinced that war between the United States and Japan was likely. The
only remaining question was how and where the fighting would start.
ECONOMIC MOTIVATIONS By early 1941 the Japanese had already pushed
westward into Manchuria and other parts of China. They also set their
sights on the European colonial possessions to the south. By 1941 the
European powers were too busy fighting Hitler to block Japanese expansion.
Only the United States and its Pacific islands remained in Japan’s way.

World War II 513

 The Japanese began a southward push in July 1941. They took over
French military bases in Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos).
The United States protested this aggression by halting trade with Japan.
One item that Japan could not live without was oil for its war machine.
Japanese military leaders warned that a lack of oil could defeat Japan
without its enemies ever striking a blow. The leaders declared that Japan
must either persuade the United States to end its oil embargo or capture
the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. Any attack on the East Indies,
though, would mean war.
PEACE TALKS ARE QUESTIONED  Shortly after becoming the prime min-
ister of Japan, Hideki Tojo met with emperor Hirohito. Tojo promised the
emperor that the Japanese government would try to keep peace with the
Americans. But on November 5, 1941, Tojo ordered the Japanese navy to
prepare an attack on the United States.
The U.S. military had broken Japan’s secret communication codes. It
learned that Japan was preparing an attack. But it didn’t know where the
attack would happen. Late in November Roosevelt sent a “war warning” to
military commanders in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. If war could
not be avoided, the warning said, “the United States desires that Japan
commit the first overt act.” And the nation waited.
After the embargo began, representatives of the two nations met to try
to settle their growing differences. U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull held
several meetings with the Japanese ambassador. The United States wanted
Japan to pull out of China, but the Japanese refused. The peace talks went
on until December 6, 1941, when Roosevelt received a decoded message.
It instructed Japan’s peace envoy to refuse all American peace proposals.
“This means war,” Roosevelt declared.
THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR  Early the next morning, a Japanese
dive-bomber flew low over Pearl Harbor—the largest U.S. naval base in the
Pacific. The bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes
from six aircraft carriers. Japanese bombs began falling on the base. A
radio operator sent this message: “Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This is not a
drill.”
For an hour and a half, the Japanese planes attacked.
The U.S. antiaircraft guns had little effect, and the
planes hit target after target. By the time the last plane
flew away around 9:30 a.m., there was widespread
devastation. The Japanese goal had been to weaken
U.S. naval power in the Pacific. They thought that this
would keep the Americans from preventing Japanese
expansion, and they were successful.
In less than two hours, the Japanese had killed
2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The sur-
prise attack had sunk or damaged 21 ships, includ-
At Pearl Harbor, American sailors are rescued by ing 8 battleships—nearly the whole U.S. Pacific fleet.
motorboat after the bombing of their battleships—the
USS West Virginia and the USS Tennessee.
More than 300 aircraft were severely damaged or

514 Module 11
 Explore ONLINE!
Japanese Aggression, 1931–1941
N

W E
Pearl Harbor Invasion
S
First Attack, Second Attack,
7:55 A.M 8:55 A.M
MapQuest.Com,h ters Inc. PACIFIC
Fig OCEAN

Hori
S OV IET 150°E McDougal-Littell,
165°E The Americas
180° Program
O ahu

z
mbers
onta
UNION BookR/UnitKamchatka
5/Chapter 16 - arpe-0516s4-11-e
Fighters
Japanese Aggression Locator

l
Wheeler

bom
Torpedo b

bo
Sakhalin
MONG O LI A MANCHURIA Vital Information nd Area (per page):8p wide X 4pAirdeep Force Base
21°30'N

Dive
s

be rs
(Province s l a
of China) rile
I Mask Area (per page):8p wide x 4p
ive deep

D
Ku bombers

o mb
2nd proof date: 1/17/01 Kaneohe Naval
er Air Station
s

H or i z
Peking Pearl Harbor Naval Base

on
Honolulu
R.

tal
w bo
llo KOREA mbers
Ye JAPAN PACIFIC Pearl
0 8 16 mi
OCEAN Harbor
CHINA 158°W
. Shanghai 0 8 16 km
eR Midway Islands
gtz
Yan
Ryukyu
Islands
Tropic of Cancer
Formosa
BURMA Hong Kong
Mariana Wake Island
Islands Hawaiian Islands
PHILIPPINES (U.S.)
15°S THAILAND
FRENCH Guam
INDOCHINA
Pearl Harbor
Marshall Invasion, 
Caroline Islands Islands December 7, 1941
MALAYA
Singapore
0°

New Guinea
U.S. Ships at Pearl Harbor
D U T C H E A S T I N D I E S Solomon
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016
Islands
HS_SNLESE454194_236M Detroit Phoenix

INDIAN OCEAN Japanese

150°E
Aggression-Oahu
165°E
Inset
Raleigh map Solace

Vital Information Area (per page): Utah 14p5 wide X13p6Nevada deep
Tangier
AUSTRALIA
Mask Area (per page): 14p5 wide x 13p6 deep
Arizona
First proof 03/07/16 Curtiss Tennessee Vestal
Ford Island
Maryland West Virginia
r
Neosho
Oklahoma
r b o
Japanese Empire in 1931 California H a
San Francisco
Areas under Japanese New Orleans
control, 1941 Oglala Honolulu
r l Helena St. Louis
Extent of Japanese P e a Pennsylvania
control, 1941
Shaw Ships undamaged
0 600 1,200 mi Cassin
Downes Ships damaged
0 600 1,200 km U.S. NAVAL Ships sunk
STATION
0 .25 .5 mi

0 .25 .5 km

Interpret Maps
1. Region  Which countries had Japan invaded by 1941?
2. Movement  On the lower inset map notice the placement of the U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor.
What might the navy have done differently to minimize damage from a surprise attack?
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016
HS_SNLESE454194_237M
Japanese Aggression-Pearl Harbor Inset Inset map
Vital Information Area (per page): 13p6 wide X16p de
Mask Area (per page): 14p6 wide x 17p deep
First proof 03/11/16 World War II 515
 destroyed. This damage was greater than the U.S. Navy had suffered in all
of World War I. By chance, three aircraft carriers at sea escaped the disas-
ter. Their survival would be key to the war’s outcome.
REACTION TO PEARL HARBOR In Washington, the mood ranged from
outrage to panic. At the White House, Eleanor Roosevelt stood by as her
husband received the news from Hawaii, “each report more terrible than
the last.” Beneath the president’s calm, Eleanor could see how worried he
was. “I never wanted to have to fight this war on two fronts,” Roosevelt
told his wife. “We haven’t the Navy to fight in both the Atlantic and the
Pacific . . . so we will have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that
will mean that we will have to take a good many defeats before we can
have a victory.”
The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress.

Vocabulary “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the

infamy evil fame United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by
or reputation
naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt, from his address to Congress requesting a
declaration of war, December 8, 1941

In his speech, Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan,

which Congress quickly approved. Three days later both Germany and Italy
declared war on the United States.
Reading Check Terrible damage was done to Pearl Harbor. Great damage also was done
Draw Conclusions to the cause of isolationism. After the surprise attack, many isolation-
Why was Japan’s ists supported a strong American response. Isolationist senator Burton
attack on Pearl
Harbor so Wheeler proclaimed, “The only thing now to do is to lick the hell
devastating? out of them.”

Lesson 3 Assessment
1. Organize Information 3. Evaluate
Use a graphic organizer to trace the events that led the Do you think that the United States should have
United States from isolationism and neutrality toward waited to be attacked before declaring war?
full involvement in World War II. Think About:
1945 • the ongoing negotiations between the United States
and Japan
• the influence of isolationists
• the events at Pearl Harbor
4. Analyze Issues
What steps did world powers take after World War I to
1919 avoid future wars? Why?
5. Form Generalizations
Which of the events that you listed was most Would powerful nations or weak nations be more
influential in bringing the United States into the war? likely to follow an isolationist policy? Explain.
Why? 6. Draw Conclusions
2. Key Terms and People Would you consider Roosevelt a strong president or a
For each key term in the lesson, write a sentence weak one? How did his leadership abilities compare to
explaining its significance. those of other presidents you have studied?

516 Module 11
 Lesson 4

The War Effort on the Home Front

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
As soldiers left home to fight in Europe and the Pacific, many Ameri-
Following the attack on Pearl
can families were separated. This letter from Marine 1st Lt. Leonard
Harbor, the United States mobi-
Isacks expresses the emotions that many soldiers felt when thinking
lized for war.
of their loved ones back home.
Why It Matters Now
Changes on the home front
reshaped American society as “My dear little boys:
well as the economy.
I am writing to you today,
Key Terms and People
just a week before Christmas
George Marshall
eve, in the hope that you
Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps will get this little note at
(WAAC)
Christmas time. All of this
Office of Price Administration coming week will be holidays,
(OPA)
and I can just imagine the
War Production Board (WPB) fun you will be having . . .
rationing
Leonard Isacks’s wife and children
Manhattan Project I won’t be able to give you a
A. Philip Randolph Christmas present personally this year, but I do want you
James Farmer to know that I think of you all the time. . . . I know that you
Congress of Racial Equality would like to give me a Xmas present too, so I will tell you
(CORE) what you can do, and this will be your Xmas present to me.
internment Everyday ask Mummie if there are any errands that you
Japanese American Citizens
can do for her, and when there are errands to run, say, ‘sure
League (JACL) Mummie’ and give her a big smile; . . .”
—Leonard Isacks, from “Letter from Marine 1st Lt. Leonard Isacks”

As the United States began to mobilize for war, the Isacks family, like
most Americans, had few illusions about what lay ahead. It would
be a time filled with hard work, hope, sacrifice, and sorrow.

World War II 517

 Americans Join the Military
The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor expecting that after Americans expe-
rienced Japan’s power, they would shrink from further conflict. The day
after the raid, the Japan Times boasted that the United States was reduced
to a third-rate power and was “trembling in her shoes.” But if Americans
were trembling, it was with rage, not fear. American patriotism drove
citizens to incredible acts of bravery and sacrifice, on the battlefields of
Europe and the Pacific as well as at home. Uniting under the battle cry
“Remember Pearl Harbor!” they set out to prove Japan wrong.
SELECTIVE SERVICE AND THE GI  After Pearl Harbor, patriotic young
Americans jammed recruiting offices. “I wanted to be a hero, let’s face it,”
admitted Roger Tuttrup. “I was havin’ trouble in school. . . . The war’d been
goin’ on for two years. I didn’t wanna miss it. . . . I was an American. I was
seventeen.”
Even the 5 million who volunteered for military service, however, were not
enough to face the challenge of an all-out war on two fronts—Europe and the
Pacific. The Selective Service System expanded the draft and eventually pro-
vided another 10 million soldiers to meet the armed forces’ needs.
All of the Americans entering the armed forces needed training and
housing. This required building hundreds of new military bases and
training centers. In general, the military wanted to build new bases in
rural areas where there was plenty of open land. A warm climate was
also important. The military buildup changed many parts of the country.
California became home to more military bases than any other state.
In Florida, Camp Blanding had 55,000 soldiers and became the state’s
fourth-largest city almost overnight.
Background Volunteers and draftees reported to these and other military bases
The initials GI around the country. There they received eight weeks of basic train-
originally stood for
“galvanized iron.” ing. In this short period, seasoned sergeants did their best to turn raw
They were later recruits into disciplined, battle-ready GIs. Army Chief of Staff General
reinterpreted as George Marshall was the leader of the armed forces mobilization effort.
“government issue,”
meaning uniforms
He ensured that American soldiers were well equipped and properly
and supplies. In time, trained. Marshall also played an important role in developing the nation’s
the abbreviation came military strategy.
to stand for American
soldiers. According to Sergeant Debs Myers, however, there was much more to
basic training than teaching a recruit how to stand at attention, march in
step, handle a rifle, and follow orders.

“The civilian went before the Army doctors, took off his clothes, feel-
ing silly; jigged, stooped, squatted, wet into a bottle; became a soldier.
He learned how to sleep in the mud, tie a knot, kill a man. He learned
the ache of loneliness, the ache of exhaustion, the kinship of misery.
He learned that men make the same queasy noises in the morning,
feel the same longings at night; that every man is alike and that each
man is different.”
—Sergeant Debs Myers, quoted in The GI War: 1941–1945

518 Module 11
 EXPANDING THE MILITARY The military’s work force needs were so great
that Marshall pushed for the formation of a Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
(WAAC). “There are innumerable duties now being performed by soldiers that
can be done better by women,” Marshall said in support of a bill to establish
the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Under this bill, women volunteers would
serve in noncombat positions.
Some members of Congress called the bill “the silliest piece of legislation” they
had ever seen. Despite their opposition, the bill establishing the WAAC became
law on May 15, 1942. The law gave the WAACs an official status and salary but
few of the benefits that male soldiers received. Even so, thousands of patriotic
women enlisted. They wanted to help the army win the war. In July 1943 the U.S.
Army dropped the “auxiliary” status and gave members of the Women’s Army
Corps (WAC) full U.S. Army benefits. WACs worked as nurses, ambulance drivers,
radio operators, electricians, and pilots. They performed nearly every duty not
involving direct combat.
More than 1,000 women who had been trained as pilots before the war also
signed up for duty. They formed the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).
WASPs flew noncombat missions. They transported supplies, moved aircraft
between bases, and tested new planes. This freed male pilots for combat mis-
sions. Among the first women to sign up to be a WASP was Cornelia Fort. She
was a civilian pilot who had witnessed the bombing of Pearl Harbor from the air.
RECRUITING AND DISCRIMINATION For many minority groups—espe-
cially African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian
Americans—the war created new difficulties. They were restricted to racially
segregated neighborhoods and reservations. They were denied basic citizen-
ship rights. Some members of these groups questioned whether this was their
war to fight. “Why die for democracy for some foreign country when we don’t
even have it here?” asked an editorial in an African American newspaper.

NOW & THEN

Women in the Military

A few weeks after the bill to establish the Women’s
Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) had become law,
Oveta Culp Hobby (shown, far right), a Texas
newspaper executive and the first director of
the WAAC, put out a call for recruits. More than
13,000 women applied on the first day. In all, some
350,000 women served in this and other auxiliary
branches during the war.

After the war, many expected the U.S. military continued to serve in separate units. Not until
to dismiss most of the women who had served. 1978 were male and female forces integrated. In
Instead, in 1948 President Truman signed the 2013 U.S. military leaders signed a directive to
Women’s Armed Services Integration Act. This allow the more than 200,000 women who were
law allowed women to serve as full members serving in the active-duty military to fill front-line
of the U.S. armed forces. Still, American women combat positions.

World War II 519

 When one African American received his draft notice, he responded
unhappily, “Just carve on my tombstone, ‘Here lies a black man killed
fighting a yellow man for the protection of a white man.’”
Some African Americans, however, saw the war effort as an opportu-
nity to fight this discrimination. Across the country, African American
newspapers supported the Double V Campaign. Government posters with
the slogan “V For Victory” inspired the campaign. It encouraged African
Americans to join together to support the war effort. Double V Clubs col-
lected money and supplies. They sponsored patriotic events and met with
local leaders to promote fairer hiring practices. Their hope was that African
Americans could win two victories. One would be a victory over the coun-
try’s enemies, and one would be over poor treatment at home. The national-
ism that inspired these contributions also made many African Americans
believe that their situation could improve.
DRAMATIC CONTRIBUTIONS  Despite discrimination in the military,
more than 300,000 Mexican Americans joined the armed forces. Mexican
Americans in Los Angeles made up only a tenth of the city’s population.
However, they suffered a fifth of the city’s wartime casualties.
About 1 million African Americans also served in the military. African
American soldiers lived and worked in segregated units. They were limited
mostly to noncombat roles. After much protest, African Americans did
finally see combat beginning in April 1943.
Asian Americans also took part in the struggle. More than 13,000 Chi-
nese Americans, or about one of every five adult males, joined the armed
forces. In addition, 33,000 Japanese Americans put on uniforms. Of these,
several thousand volunteered to serve as spies and interpreters in the
Pacific war. “During battles,” wrote an admiring officer, “they crawled up
close enough to be able to hear [Japanese] officers’ commands and to make
Reading Check 
Contrast  How
verbal translations to our soldiers.”
did the American Some 25,000 Native Americans also enlisted in the armed services,
response to the raid including 800 women. The willingness of Native Americans to serve led
on Pearl Harbor
differ from Japanese The Saturday Evening Post to comment, “We would not need the Selective
expectations? Service if all volunteered like Indians.”

In March 1941 a group of African

American men in New York City
enlisted in the United States Army
Air Corps. This was the first time
the Army Air Corps accepted
African Americans.

520 Module 11
 The Federal Government Manages the War Effort
The United States was much better prepared to enter World War II than it
had been for World War I. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt had
recognized the importance of managing the war effort. He created a series
of agencies to aid in this task. The Office of War Mobilization was created in
1943 to oversee the agencies and coordinate all wartime efforts.
WINNING AMERICAN SUPPORT  American lead-
ers understood that public support for the war
effort was vital to its success. In June 1942 the
government created the Office of War Information
(OWI). This agency was responsible for spreading
propaganda to influence the thoughts, feelings, and
actions of the public in favor of the war effort.
The OWI produced dozens of posters and films
during the war. Many of these encouraged a posi-
tive vision of the United States and stressed posi-
tive actions. For example, some encouraged men
to join the armed forces and women to take jobs
in war industries. Others encouraged those on the
home front to save essential resources, such as
gasoline and aluminum. The OWI also issued warn-
ings to the public about the dangers they faced.
Drawings of Nazi or Japanese soldiers threaten-
ing small children were meant to inspire fear in
Americans—and the desire to take action against
the Axis nations. Another technique was to show
the harmful outcomes of improper actions, such as
sharing sensitive military information.
This U.S. government Movies remained enormously popular during the war years. In the early
poster created
during the war
1940s some 85 million Americans went to the movies each week. As a result,
advised Americans the nation’s film industry became a major producer of wartime propaganda.
to conserve fuel. Movie studios churned out patriotic films that featured soldiers and workers
on the home front. The OWI helped by reviewing movie scripts for the proper
messages. Moviemakers also created informational films, such as Frank
Capra’s Why We Fight series. As the war dragged on, moviegoers grew tired of
propaganda and war themes. Hollywood responded with musicals, romances,
and other escapist fare. These were designed to take viewers away from the
grim realities of war, if only for an hour or two.
ECONOMIC CONTROLS  Due to their experiences in World War I, government
officials knew that wartime inflation could threaten the American economy.
Inflation is a general rise in the level of prices. When it occurs, each dollar
that a person earns will buy fewer goods and services than it did before. As
war production increased, fewer consumer products would be available. With
demand increasing and supplies dropping, prices seemed likely to climb.

World War II 521

 Roosevelt responded to this threat by creating the Office of Price
Administration (OPA). The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most
goods. Congress also raised income tax rates and extended the tax to mil-
lions of people who had never paid it before. As a result, workers had less
to spend. This reduced consumer demand on scarce goods. In addition, the
government encouraged Americans to buy war bonds with their extra cash.
As a result of these measures, inflation remained below 30 percent for the
entire period of World War II. This was about half the inflation level during
World War I.
These measures also helped fund the war effort. According to some esti-
mates, preparations for World War II cost the U.S. government more than
$300 billion. After restructuring the tax system, Congress created the with-
holding system of payroll deductions to collect income taxes. Employers
withheld a percentage of their workers’ pay from each paycheck.
Then they sent the money directly to the U.S. treasury, supplying
a steady flow of funds. The money that ordinary citizens invested
in war bonds also helped pay for the war. It paid for shipping,
aircraft, and other weaponry produced in American factories. By
war’s end, 85 million Americans had purchased war bonds, rais-
ing nearly $185 billion.
Besides controlling inflation and paying for the war effort,
the government had to make sure that the armed forces and
war industries received the resources they needed. The War
Production Board (WPB) assumed that responsibility. The WPB
decided which companies would change from peacetime to war-
time production. It allocated raw materials to key industries. The
WPB also organized drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper,
Children of all ages helped with wartime rags, and cooking fat to recycle into war goods. Across America,
recycling. This 5-year-old boy pounded
the pavement in New York City collecting children searched attics, cellars, garages, vacant lots, and back
aluminum. alleys, looking for useful junk. During one five-month-long paper
drive in Chicago, schoolchildren collected 36 million pounds of old paper.
Their effort was equal to about 65 pounds per child.
CONSERVING FOOD AND OTHER GOODS  Meeting the food needs of the
military took top priority in the United States. One way to grow more food
for Americans on the home front was to plant victory gardens. Americans
prepared with a few simple tools, some seed and fertilizer, and a patriotic
spirit. They farmed small plots of land to overcome food shortages. In small
towns and large cities, any spare piece of land was likely to be used to grow
food. Many victory gardens were small and humble, but the combined efforts
of millions of Americans produced big results. In 1943 the nation’s 20 mil-
lion victory gardens yielded an astounding 8 million tons of produce.
However, victory gardens alone could not fulfill all of the nation’s food
needs. Some foods could not be grown in home gardens. There were shortages
of other products as well. As a result, the OPA set up a system for rationing,
or establishing fixed allotments of goods deemed essential for the military.
Under this system, households received ration books with coupons to be used

522 Module 11
for buying such scarce goods. These included meat, shoes, sugar, coffee,
and gasoline. Most Americans willingly accepted rationing as a personal
contribution to the war effort. Inevitably, some cheated by hoarding scarce
goods or purchasing them through the “black market.” There, rationed
items could be bought illegally without coupons at inflated prices. How-
ever, the penalties for breaking the rules could be severe.
Some materials were so vital to the war effort that even rationing was
not enough to preserve the country’s supply. To help fulfill the military’s
needs—and to keep civilians from suffering too much—scientists devel-
oped synthetic versions of some of these products. For example, rubber
was necessary for making tires and other automotive parts. Nearly all of
the world’s rubber supply came from parts of Asia that had been conquered
by Japan. American companies began to produce synthetic rubber for
many of these uses. The synthetic fabric nylon was produced to replace silk
in parachutes, protective gear, and other military applications.
MOBILIZATION OF SCIENTISTS  In 1941 Roosevelt created the Office of
Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) to bring scientists into the
war effort. The OSRD stimulated improvements in semiconductor technol-
ogy, which is vital for modern communications equipment. In turn, these
advances led to the development of radar and sonar. These new technolo-
gies were used to locate submarines under water. Scientists with the OSRD
also worked to improve weapons technology. For example, they developed
new bombs and guided missiles. They also improved aircraft technology.
The first combat jet aircraft were launched during World War II, although
they were not actually used in fighting during the war.
The OSRD also supported research into lifesaving medications and tech-
niques. For example, it pushed the development of “miracle drugs,” such
as penicillin. These drugs saved countless lives on and off the battlefield.
It also funded research into new ways to isolate blood plasma—the liquid
portion of blood—and transport both plasma and whole blood to where
they were needed on the battlefield. The OSRD encouraged the use of pes-
ticides like DDT to fight insects. As a result, U.S. soldiers were probably the
first in history to be relatively free from body lice.
The most significant achievement of the OSRD, however, was the secret
development of a new weapon, the atomic bomb. Interest in such a weapon
began in 1939, after German scientists succeeded in splitting uranium
atoms. That process released an enormous amount of energy. This news
prompted physicist and German refugee Albert Einstein to write a letter
to President Roosevelt. Einstein warned that the Germans could use their
discovery to build a weapon of enormous destructive power.
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium
to study the new discovery. In 1941 the committee reported that it would
take from three to five years to build an atomic bomb. The OSRD hoped
to shorten that time. It set up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a
bomb as quickly as possible. Much of the early research was performed at
Columbia University in Manhattan. As a result, the Manhattan Project
became the code name for research work that was done across the country.

World War II 523

The Government Takes Control of the Economy, 1942–1945
Agencies and Laws Actions and Results

Office of War Information (OWI) • Spread propaganda to increase support for the war effort
• Produced posters and films alerting Americans to the need for
rationing and to potential dangers

Office of Price Administration (OPA) • Fought inflation by freezing wages, prices, and rents
• Rationed foods such as meat, butter, cheese, vegetables, sugar, and
coffee

Department of the Treasury • Issued war bonds to raise money for the war effort and to fight
inflation

Revenue Act of 1942 • Raised the top personal-income tax rate to 88 percent
• Added lower- and middle-income Americans to the income-tax rolls

War Production Board (WPB) • Rationed fuel and materials vital to the war effort, such as gasoline,
heating oil, metals, rubber, and plastics

Office of Scientific Research and Development • Developed and improved military technology
(OSRD) • Researched new medications and medical techniques
• Established Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb

National War Labor Board (NWLB) • Limited wage increases

• Allowed negotiated benefits such as paid vacation, pensions, and
medical insurance
• Kept unions stable by forbidding workers to change unions

Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) • Limited the right to strike in industries crucial to the war effort
• Gave the president power to take over striking plants

Fair Employment Practices • Prohibited job discrimination based on race or religion

Committee

Interpret Tables
1. Why did President Roosevelt create the OSRD, and what did it do?
2. What was the purpose of the Fair Employment Practices Committee?

TRANSPORTING GOODS  All of the products made in American factories and

saved by citizens had to be shipped to the soldiers overseas. Soldiers on both
fronts needed weapons, food, medicines, and other supplies to be successful.
Much of the responsibility for transporting goods to the war fronts fell to the
U.S. merchant marine, a fleet of civilian merchant ships. More than 200,000
Americans served in the merchant marine during the war.
With battles raging on two fronts, transporting goods presented a huge
challenge. Any goods transported to either Europe or the Pacific front had

524 Module 11
 to cross an ocean patrolled by enemy ships, submarines, and planes.
For safety, most merchant ships traveled in convoys. These groups were
often escorted by warships. Even with such precautions, however, mer-
chant shipping was dangerous. Dozens of ships were sunk, and tens of
thousands of sailors were killed.
The nature of some products made them more challenging to ship.
Many medicines and foods were perishable. They could not be shipped or
stored without refrigeration, which often was not available. Fragile con-
tainers, such as glass jars, were difficult to transport without damage.
However, American ingenuity provided solutions. Researchers developed
methods to freeze-dry vital medical supplies, including penicillin and
Reading Check  blood plasma. Dried supplies did not need refrigeration. They could also
Identify Problems  be transported in more durable containers, such as cans. Freeze-drying
What basic problems
were the OPA and was also used later in the war to preserve food to ship to soldiers on both
WPB created to solve? fronts.

A Production Miracle
One of the most important and most challenging aspects of mobilization
was the rapid industrial change from peacetime to wartime production.
Following the outbreak of war, the federal government spent tens of bil-
lions of dollars on weapons and supplies. Roosevelt set the ambitious goal
of building 60,000 new planes in 1942 and 125,000 more the next year. He
asked for 120,000 tanks in the same period. To meet these goals, Roosevelt
relied on government agencies to regulate industry. They determined what
factories produced, what prices they charged, and how raw materials would
be allocated. He also relied on the efforts of millions of Americans who
went to work in the nation’s factories, many for the first time.

The Production Miracle

Aircraft and Ship Production, 1940-45 U.S. Budget Expenditure, 1941-45
100 100
Production (in thousands)

80 80
aircraft defense
$ billions

60 60

40 40

20 20 non-defense
ships
0 0
1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
Source: The Times Atlas of the Second World War

Interpret Graphs
1. Study the first graph. In what year did aircraft and ship production reach
their highest production levels?
2. How does the second graph help explain how this production miracle
was possible?

World War II 525

 THE INDUSTRIAL RESPONSE  Early in February 1942, American news­
papers reported the end of automobile production for private use. The last
car to roll off an automaker’s assembly line was a gray sedan with “victory
trim,”—that is, without chrome-plated parts. Within weeks of the shut-
down in production, the nation’s automobile plants had been retooled.
They began to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars. They were
not alone. Across the nation, factories were quickly converted to war pro-
duction. A maker of mechanical pencils produced bomb parts. A bedspread
manufacturer made mosquito netting. A soft-drink company converted
from filling bottles with liquid to filling shells with explosives.
Meanwhile, shipyards and defense plants expanded with dizzying
speed. By the end of 1942, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser had built seven
massive new shipyards that turned out Liberty ships (cargo carriers),
tankers, troop transports, and “baby” aircraft carriers at an astonishing
rate. Late that year Kaiser invited reporters to Way One in his Richmond,
California, shipyard. They watched as his workers assembled Hull 440, a
Liberty ship, in a record-breaking four days. Before the end of the fourth
day, 25,000 amazed spectators watched as Hull 440 slid into the water.
How could such a ship be built so fast? Kaiser used prefabricated, or fac-
tory-made, parts that could be assembled quickly at his shipyards. Equally
important were his workers, who worked at record speeds.
LABOR’S CONTRIBUTION  When the war began, defense contractors
warned the Selective Service System that the nation did not have enough
workers to meet both its military and its industrial needs. They were
wrong. A wave of patriotism swept through the country, binding Ameri-
cans together against a common enemy. Some Americans expressed their
patriotic feelings by enlisting in the armed forces. Others rushed to take
jobs in factories to support the war effort. By 1944, despite the draft,
nearly 18 million workers were laboring in war industries, three times as
many as in 1941.

Liberty Ship Production

These images illustrate the progress of a Liberty ship at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore, Maryland, in
the spring of 1943. From left to right, the construction is documented from Day 1 to Day 10 to Day 24, when the ship is
complete and ready to launch.

526 Module 11
 Swept up in the national wave of patriotism, laborers threw themselves
fully into the war effort. Individuals willingly worked long hours with few
breaks. Labor unions pledged not to strike or take any other action that
would slow down production. As the war dragged on and prices climbed,
however, some workers grew frustrated. They called on union leaders
to fight for higher wages. To head off a potential production slowdown,
Roosevelt established the National War Labor Board (NWLB) in 1942.
The board served as a mediator between labor and management to pre-
vent strikes. It prevented protests about wages by setting limits on wage
increases, which took the decision out of management’s hands. To prevent
union instability, which could affect production, it banned workers from
quitting or changing unions while employed.
NEW WORKERS  Among those who committed to
working in war industries were more than 6 mil-
lion women who wanted to support their country.
At first, war industries feared that most women
lacked the necessary strength for factory work and
were reluctant to hire them. But women proved that
they could operate welding torches or riveting guns
as well as men. After that, employers could not hire
enough of them, especially since women earned only
about 60 percent as much as men doing the same
jobs. The character “Rosie the Riveter” was inspired
by a popular song of the era. Her image was that of a
During the war, women took many jobs previously held strong woman hard at work in an arms factory. That
by men. In this 1943 photo, a young woman is seen image became an enduring symbol of these women
operating a hand drill in Nashville, Tennessee. and their contributions to the war.
Defense plants also hired more than 2 million
minority workers during the war years. These included
African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Ameri-
cans, Native Americans, and others. Like women,
minorities faced strong prejudice at first. Before the
war, 75 percent of defense contractors simply refused
to hire African Americans. Another 15 percent
employed them only in menial jobs. Nationalism and
a desire to contribute led African American workers to
take these menial jobs. However, many were not happy
about the situation. “Negroes will be considered only as
janitors,” declared the general manager of North Amer-
A lathe operator at the Consolidated Aircraft plant in ican Aviation. “It is the company policy not to employ
Fort Worth, Texas, creates parts for transport planes. them as mechanics and aircraft workers.”
Many of the new workers in America’s factories had previously worked
on farms, as had many soldiers. The departure of so many workers from
American farms led to a severe shortage of agricultural laborers. Faced with
the possibility of low harvests, the U.S. government responded. In 1942 it
launched a program in which Mexican braceros, or hired hands, were invited

World War II 527

 Document-Based Investigation Historical Source

Women in the Workplace

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor many women, barred from serving in the military, took jobs to
support the war effort. Among those women were Mary Cohen of New York City and her sister.

“We both wanted to get something to help the war effort. We saw an ad in the paper about working
on aircraft on fighter planes. . . . We didn’t realize how much stress that would be, but we were young,
so it didn’t bother us at that time. . . . It didn’t matter as far as the money. We just wanted to get
these planes out. It was a very patriotic feeling. It took its toll. I got sick once. I never even took time
off. I just went in all the time.”
—Mary Cohen, quoted in the Rosie the Riveter WWII Oral History Project

Analyze Historical Sources

How did the outbreak of war change the lives of Mary Cohen and women like her?

to the United States to work on farms. Hundreds of thousands of braceros

entered the United States between 1942 and 1947. By the war’s end, many
braceros had also taken jobs in the railroad industry.
In theory, the bracero program guaranteed that all workers would
Reading Check receive fair pay and equal treatment under the law. In practice, however,
Form Generalizations many farm owners ignored these guidelines. Some shorted workers’ pay-
How did women and checks or gave them inadequate tools for their work. In addition, many
minorities contribute
to the wartime braceros entering the country were met with scorn and abuse from other
work force? farm workers and from supervisors.

Opportunity, Discrimination, and Adjustment

The war opened up many opportunities for women and minorities. At
the same time, though, old prejudices and policies persisted, both in the
military and at home. In addition, Americans of all ethnicities and back-
grounds had to adjust to the absence of loved ones fighting abroad.
CONFRONTING LABOR ISSUES To protest discrimination both in the
military and in industry, A. Philip Randolph organized a march on Wash-
ington. Randolph was president and founder of the Brotherhood of Sleep-
ing Car Porters and the nation’s most respected African American labor
leader. He called on African Americans everywhere to come to the capital
on July 1, 1941. They were to march under the banner “We Loyal Colored
Americans Demand the Right to Work and Fight for Our Country.”
President Roosevelt feared that the march might provoke white resentment
or violence. He called Randolph to the White House and asked him to back

528 Module 11
 down. “I’m sorry Mr. President,” the labor leader said, “the
march cannot be called off.” Roosevelt then asked, “How
many people do you plan to bring?” Randolph replied, “One
hundred thousand, Mr. President.” Roosevelt was stunned.
Even half that number of African American protesters
would be far more than Washington—still a very segregated
city—could feed, house, and transport.
In the end it was Roosevelt, not Randolph, who backed
down. In return for Randolph’s promise to cancel the
march, the president issued an executive order creating the
Fair Employment Practices Committee. It called on employ-
ers and labor unions “to provide for the full and equitable
participation of all workers in defense industries, without
discrimination because of race, creed, color, or national
origin.”
CIVIL RIGHTS PROTESTS  African Americans made some
progress on the home front. During the war, thousands of
A. Philip Randolph in 1942 African Americans left the South. The majority moved to
the Midwest where they could find better jobs. Between 1940 and 1944
the percentage of African Americans working in skilled or semiskilled jobs
rose from 16 to 30 percent.
Wherever African Americans moved, however, discrimination presented
tough hurdles. In 1942 civil rights leader James Farmer founded an inter­
racial organization called the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Its
purpose was to confront urban segregation in the North. That same year,
CORE staged its first sit-in at a segregated Chicago restaurant.
As African American migrants moved into already overcrowded cities,
tensions rose. In 1943 a tidal wave of racial violence swept across the coun-
try. The worst conflict erupted in Detroit on a hot Sunday afternoon in
June. It began as a disagreement between blacks and whites at a beach on
the Detroit River. It grew into a riot when white sailors stationed nearby
joined in. The fighting continued for three days. False rumors circulated
that whites had murdered a black woman and her child and that black
rioters had killed 17 whites. By the time President Roosevelt sent federal
troops to restore order, 9 whites and 25 blacks lay dead or dying.
The violence of 1943 showed both black and white Americans just how
serious racial tensions had become in the United States. By 1945 more
than 400 committees had been established by American communities to
improve race relations. Progress was slow, but African Americans were
determined not to give up the gains they had made.
TENSION IN LOS ANGELES  Mexican Americans also experienced preju-
dice during the war years. In the violent summer of 1943, Los Angeles
exploded in anti-Mexican “zoot-suit” riots. The zoot suit was a style of
dress adopted by Mexican American youths to symbolize their rebellion
against tradition. It consisted of a long jacket and pleated pants. Broad-
brimmed hats were often worn with the suits.

World War II 529

 These Mexican Americans, involved in the 1943 Los Angeles riots, are seen here
leaving jail to make court appearances.

The riots began when 11 sailors in Los Angeles reported that they had
been attacked by zoot-suit-wearing Mexican Americans. This charge
triggered violence involving thousands of servicemen and civilians. Mobs
poured into Mexican neighborhoods and grabbed any zoot-suiters they
could find. The attackers ripped off their victims’ clothes and beat them
senseless. The riots lasted almost a week and resulted in the beatings of
hundreds of Mexican American youth and other minorities.
In spite of such unhappy experiences with racism, many Mexican
Americans expressed hope that their sacrifices during wartime would lead
to a better future.

“This war . . . is doing what we in our Mexican-American movement

had planned to do in one generation. . . . It has shown those ‘across
the tracks’ that we all share the same problems. It has shown them
what the Mexican American will do, what responsibility he will take
and what leadership qualities he will demonstrate. After this strug-
gle, the status of the Mexican Americans will be different.”
—Manuel de la Raza, quoted in A Different Mirror:
A History of Multicultural America

HARDSHIPS FOR NATIVE AMERICANS  Native Americans, too, faced dis-

crimination during the war. Native Americans on the whole were among
the most enthusiastic volunteers for military service. Although they risked
their lives to defend American values, many states still prohibited them
from voting. Even in states that did not bar Native Americans from voting
outright, local policies prevented many from casting ballots.

530 Module 11
 During the war, the federal government reclaimed some reservation
land for its own use. Some of this land was used to build or enlarge mili-
tary bases or to create weapons-testing areas. Parts of two reservations in
Arizona were designated as relocation camps, despite the objections of the
residents. Huge tracts of Native American land were mined for valuable
resources, including oil, gas, lead, and helium. During the war, these lands
yielded more than $39 million worth of vital minerals. However, the Native
American tribes on the lands received only $6 million in compensation.
SOCIAL ADJUSTMENTS  Americans willingly put up with many hardships and
managed without comforts during the war. For many, the hardest part was
dealing with the absence of loved ones. Across the country, families with loved
ones in the armed forces showed their sacrifice by displaying a flag with a blue
star. If the service member was killed, the blue star was replaced with a gold
one. Over the course of the war, more than 400,000 American service members
were killed, leaving many grieving families behind.
Families adjusted to the changes brought on by war as best they could.
With millions of fathers in the armed forces, mothers struggled to raise
their children alone. Many young children got used to being left with neigh-
bors or relatives or in child-care centers as more and more mothers went
to work. Teenagers left at home without parents sometimes drifted into
juvenile delinquency. And when fathers finally did come home, there was
often a painful period of readjustment as family members got to know one
another again.
The war helped create new families, too. Longtime sweethearts—as well
as couples who barely knew each other—rushed to marry before the soldier
or sailor was shipped overseas. In booming towns like Seattle, the number
Reading Check 
Summarize  Why did of marriage licenses issued went up by as much as 300 percent early in the
A. Philip Randolph war. A New Yorker observed in 1943, “On Fridays and Saturdays, the City
propose a march on Hall area is blurred with running soldiers, sailors, and girls hunting the
Washington, DC, and
how did President license bureau, floral shops, ministers, blood-testing laboratories, and the
Roosevelt respond? Legal Aid Society.”

Internment of Japanese Americans

While some minorities struggled with tension and discrimination, the war
produced tragic result for others. After Pearl Harbor, government officials
began to fear that people of German, Italian, and Japanese descent might
resort to sabotage or other disloyal behavior in order to help the enemy.
Italians and Germans who had immigrated to the United States but not
yet completed the citizenship process were considered “enemy aliens.”
Many were forced to register with the government and carry identification
cards. In addition, the government designated certain areas restricted from
enemy aliens. Such restrictions on people’s civil liberties placed a huge bur-
den on those living or working in these areas. Thousands of Germans and
Italians were placed in prison camps. But the worst treatment was reserved
for the Japanese Americans.

World War II 531

 Japanese Relocation Camps, 1942

IDAHO
Minidoka Heart
Mountain
Tule
Lake WYOMING

UTAH
CALIFORNIA COLORADO
Topaz Granada
Manzanar (Amache)
ARIZONA
Poston ARKANSAS
Rohwer
Gila River Jerome

Interpret Maps
1. Location  In which states were the Japanese internment camps located On March 3, 1942, a Japanese American mother
in 1942? carries her sleeping daughter during their
2. Place  Why do you think the majority of these camps were located in relocation to an internment camp.
the West?

MapQuest.Com, Inc.
When the war began, 120,000 Japanese Americans lived in the United
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program
States, mostly Bookon the5/Chapter
R/Unit West Coast. The sense of fear and uncertainty follow-
17 - arpe-0517s4-07-e
ing Pearl Harbor caused Japanese Relocation
a wave Camps, 1942
of prejudice against them. The surprise in
Vital Information Area (per page): 29p wide X 18p deep
Hawaii had stunned the nation. After
2nd proof date:the bombing, panic-stricken citizens
2/27/01
feared that the Japanese would soon attack the United States. Frightened
people believed false rumors that Japanese Americans were committing
sabotage by mining coastal harbors and poisoning vegetables.
Early in 1942 the War Department called for the mass evacuation of all
Japanese Americans from Hawaii. General Delos Emmons, the military gov-
ernor of Hawaii, resisted the order because 37 percent of the people in Hawaii
were Japanese Americans. To remove them would have destroyed the islands’
economy and hindered U.S. military operations there. However, he was even-
tually forced to order the internment, or confinement, of 1,444 Japanese
Americans, 1 percent of Hawaii’s Japanese American population.
On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066
requiring the removal of people of Japanese ancestry from California and
parts of Washington, Oregon, and Arizona. Based on strong recommen-
dations from the military, he justified this step as necessary for national
security. In the following weeks, the army rounded up some 110,000 Japa-
nese Americans. They were sent to ten hastily constructed remote “reloca-
tion centers,” euphemisms for prison camps.
About two-thirds were Nisei, or Japanese people born in this country of
parents who emigrated from Japan. Thousands of Nisei had already joined
the armed forces. To Monica Itoi Sone, a Nisei teenager from Seattle, the
evacuation to the Minidoka camp in Idaho seemed unbelievable.

532 Module 11
 “We couldn’t believe that the government meant that the Japanese-
Americans must go. . . . We were quite sure that our rights as
American citizens would not be violated, and we would not be
marched out of our homes on the same basis as enemy aliens.”
—Monica Itoi Sone, from Nisei Daughter

No specific charges were ever filed against Japanese Americans, and

no evidence of subversion was ever found. Faced with expulsion, terrified
families were forced to sell their homes, businesses, and all their belong-
ings for less than their true value.
Japanese Americans fought for justice, both in the courts and in Con-
gress. The initial results were discouraging. In 1944 the Supreme Court
decided, in Korematsu v. United States, that the government’s policy of evac-
uating Japanese Americans to camps was justified under the Constitution
on the basis of “military necessity.” After the war, however, the Japanese
American Citizens League (JACL) pushed the government to compensate
those sent to the camps for their lost property. In 1965 Congress autho-
rized the spending of $38 million for that purpose. This amount repre-
sented less than a tenth of Japanese Americans’ actual losses.
The JACL did not give up its quest for justice. In 1978 it called for the
payment of reparations, or restitution, to each individual that suffered
internment. A decade later Congress passed, and President Ronald Reagan
signed, a bill that promised $20,000 to every Japanese American sent to a
Reading Check  relocation camp. When the checks were sent in 1990, a letter from Presi-
Analyze Motives  dent George Bush accompanied them, in which he stated, “We can never
Why did President fully right the wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice
Roosevelt order
the internment of and recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans
Japanese Americans? during World War II.”

Lesson 4 Assessment
1. Organize Information  Use a web diagram to record the 4. Summarize   How did the scientific and technological
ways that the war affected the lives of Americans on the advances made by American researchers during World
home front. War II meet wartime needs?
5. Analyze Events   How did the U.S. government finance
the country’s involvement in World War II?
6. Analyze Causes   Why did many women and minority
Preparation for War, Americans contribute to the war effort despite facing
1941–1942
discrimination?
7. Evaluate   Do you think the government’s actions
toward German, Italian, and Japanese Americans were
justified on the basis of “military necessity” or a denial of
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term or person in civil rights? Explain your answer.
the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance.
3. Analyze Issues   How did government agencies manage
wartime mobilization?
Think About:
• the Office of War Information and the use of
propaganda
• the Office of Price Administration and inflation
• the War Production Board and industrial mobilization

World War II 533

HISTORIC DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

ORIGINS OF THE CASE Japanese Americans from their homes and

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor moved them into detention camps. Fred Kore-
on December 7, 1941, U.S. military officials matsu was convicted of defying the military
argued that Japanese Americans posed a order to leave his home. At the urging of the
threat to the nation’s security. Based on rec- American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Kore-
ommendations from the military, President matsu appealed that conviction.
Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066, which gave military officials the power THE RULING
to limit the civil rights of Japanese Americans. The Court upheld Korematsu’s conviction and
Military authorities began by setting a curfew argued that military necessity made intern-
for ­Japanese Americans. Later, they forced ment constitutional.

LEGAL REASONING LEGAL SOURCES

Executive Order 9066 was clearly aimed at one group of
people—Japanese Americans. Korematsu argued that LEGISLATION
this order was unconstitutional because it was based on U.S. Constitution, Fifth Amendment
race. Writing for the Court majority, Justice Hugo Black
(1791) 
agreed “that all legal restrictions which curtail the civil
rights of a single racial group are immediately suspect.” “No person shall . . . be deprived of
However, in this case, he said, the restrictions were based life, liberty, or property, without due
on “a military imperative” and not “group punishment process of law.”
based on antagonism to those of Japanese origin.” As Executive Order 9066 (1942) 
such, Justice Black stated that the restrictions were “I hereby authorize and direct the
constitutional. Secretary of War . . . to prescribe military
“Compulsory exclusion of large groups, . . . areas in such places and of such extent
except under circumstances of direct emergency and peril, as he . . . may determine, from which
is inconsistent with our basic governmental institutions. any or all persons may be excluded.”
But when under conditions of modern warfare our shores
are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must RELATED CASES
be commensurate with the threatened danger.”
Hirabayashi v. United States (June 1943) 
Justice Frank Murphy, however, dissented—he opposed The Court upheld the conviction of a
the majority. He believed that military necessity was Japanese American man for breaking
merely an excuse that could not conceal the racism at curfew. The Court argued that the
the heart of the restrictions. curfew was within congressional and
“This exclusion . . . ought not to be approved. Such presidential authority.
exclusion goes over ‘the very brink of constitutional Ex Parte Endo (December 1944) 
power’ and falls into the ugly abyss of racism.” The Court ruled that a Japanese
American girl, whose loyalty had been
Two other justices also dissented, but Korematsu’s
clearly established, could not be held in
conviction stood.
an internment camp.

534 Module 11
 HISTORIC DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT

Internees did what they could to adjust to confinement in the camps. They established schools for their children, produced
newspapers, planted gardens, and formed a variety of community groups. Inset: President Clinton presents Fred Korematsu with a
Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony at the White House on January 15, 1998.

WHY IT MATTERED  HISTORICAL IMPACT 

About 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced In the end, the internment of Japanese Americans
into internment camps, as shown above, during became a national embarrassment. In 1976
World War II. Many had to sell their businesses and President Gerald R. Ford repealed Executive Order
homes at great loss. Thousands were forced to give 9066.
up their possessions. In the internment camps,
Similarly, the Court’s decision in Korematsu became
Japanese Americans lived in a prison-like setting
an embarrassing example of court-sanctioned
under constant guard.
racism often compared to the decisions on Dred
The Court ruled that these government actions did Scott (1857) and Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the early
not violate people’s rights because the restrictions 1980s a scholar conducting research obtained copies
were based on military necessity rather than of government documents related to the Hirabayashi
on race. But the government treated German and Korematsu cases. The documents showed
Americans and Italian Americans much differently. that the army had lied to the Court in the 1940s.
In those instances, the government identified Japanese Americans had not posed any security
potentially disloyal people but did not harass the threat. Korematsu’s conviction was overturned
people it believed to be loyal. By contrast, the in 1984. Hirabayashi’s conviction was overturned
government refused to make distinctions between in 1986. In 1988 Congress passed a law ordering
loyal and potentially disloyal Japanese Americans. reparations payments to surviving Japanese
Americans who had been detained in the camps.

Critical Thinking
1. Connect to History  Do Internet research to locate 2. Connect to Today  The internment of Japanese
the three dissenting opinions in Korematsu written Americans during World War II disrupted lives and
by Justices Frank Murphy, Robert Jackson, and Owen ripped apart families. What do you think can be done
Roberts. Read one of these opinions, and then write a today to address this terrible mistake? How can the
summary that states its main idea. What constitutional government make amends?
principle, if any, does the opinion use?

World War II 535

 Lesson 5

The War for Europe and

North Africa
One American’s Story
The Big Idea
It was 1951, and John Patrick McGrath was just finishing his second
Allied forces, led by the United
year in drama school. For an acting class, his final exam was to be a
States and Great Britain, battled
performance of a death scene. McGrath knew his lines perfectly. But
Axis powers for control of
Europe and North Africa. as he began the final farewell, he broke out in a sweat and bolted
off the stage. Suddenly he had a flashback to a frozen meadow in
Why It Matters Now Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. Three German tanks
During World War II, the United were spraying his platoon with machine-gun fire.
States assumed a leading role
in world affairs that continues
today. “Only a few feet away,
Key Terms and People
one of the men in my pla-
toon falls. . . . He calls out
Dwight D. Eisenhower
to me. ‘Don’t leave me.
Omar Bradley
Don’t. . . .’ The tanks
D-Day advance, one straight for
George Patton me. I grab my buddy by
Battle of the Bulge the wrist and pull him
across the snow. . . . The
tank nearest to us is on a
track to run us down. . . . Private John P. McGrath carried this bullet-
riddled letter in a pack that saved his life. In
When the German tank 1990 he visited Anzio, where members of his
is but 15 yards away, I company were buried.
grab my buddy by the
wrist and feign a lurch to my right. The tank follows the move.
Then I lurch back to my left. The German tank clamors by,
only inches away. . . . In their wake the meadow is strewn with
casualties. I turn to tend my fallen comrade. He is dead.”
—John Patrick McGrath, from A Cue for Passion

Like countless other soldiers, McGrath would never forget both the
heroism and the horrors he witnessed while fighting to free Europe.

536 Module 11
The United States and Britain Join Forces
“Now that we are, as you say, ‘in the same boat,’” British prime minister
Winston Churchill wired President Roosevelt two days after the Pearl Har-
bor attack, “would it not be wise for us to have another conference. . . . and
the sooner the better.” As commander in chief of the U.S. military, it would
fall to Roosevelt to direct the country’s overall war strategy. He responded
to Churchill’s wire with an invitation to come to Washington at once. So
began a remarkable alliance between the two nations.
WAR PLANS  Prime Minister Churchill arrived at the White House on
December 22, 1941, and spent the next three weeks working out war
plans with President Roosevelt and his advisers. The strategy they devel-
oped was called Germany First. Believing that Germany and Italy posed
a greater threat than Japan, Churchill convinced Roosevelt to strike first
against Hitler. Once the Allies had gained an upper hand in Europe, they
could pour more resources into the Pacific War.
By the end of their meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill had formed, in
Churchill’s words, “a very strong affection, which grew with our years of
comradeship.” When Churchill reached London, he found a message from
the president waiting for him. “It is fun,” Roosevelt wrote in the message,
“to be in the same decade with you.”
THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hitler
ordered submarine raids against ships along America’s east coast. The Ger-
man aim in the Battle of the Atlantic was to prevent food and war materi-
als from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union. Britain depended
on supplies from the sea. The 3,000-mile-long shipping lanes from North
America were her lifeline. Hitler knew that if he cut that lifeline, Britain
would be starved into submission.
The Allies responded by organizing their cargo ships into convoys. Con-
voys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they
had done in the First World War. However, for a long time, it looked as
though Hitler might succeed in his mission. Early in the war, the Allies did
not have enough vessels to form effective convoys. As a result, American
ships proved to be easy targets for the Germans. In the first four months
of 1942, the Germans sank 87 ships off the Atlantic shore. Seven months
into the year, German wolf packs had destroyed a total of 681 Allied ships
in the Atlantic. Something had to be done or the war at sea would be lost.
Gradually, the Allied situation began to improve. As U.S. industry
shifted to wartime production, the United States launched a crash ship-
building program. By early 1943, 140 Liberty ships were produced each
month. Launchings of Allied ships began to outnumber sinkings. At the
same time, U.S. aircraft production ramped up, with four times as many
airplanes built in 1943 as were constructed in 1941.

World War II 537

 A convoy of British and American ships rides at anchor in the harbor of Hvalfjord, Iceland.

As a result, convoys began to be escorted across the Atlantic accompa-

nied by more destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines
underwater and by airplanes that used radar to spot U-boats on the
ocean’s surface. With this improved tracking and support, the Allies were
able to find and destroy German U-boats faster than the Germans could
build them. In late spring of 1943, Admiral Karl Doenitz, the commander
of the German U-boat offensive, reported that his losses had “reached an
Reading Check 
unbearable height.”
Find Main Ideas  By mid-1943 the tide of the Battle of the Atlantic had turned. A happy
Where did Churchill Churchill reported to the House of Commons that June “was the best
believe the Allies
should focus their month [at sea] from every point of view we have ever known in the whole
efforts and why? 46 months of the war.”

The Eastern Front and the Mediterranean

By the winter of 1943, the Allies began to see victories on land as well as
sea. The first great turning point came in the Battle of Stalingrad.
THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD  The Germans had been fighting in the
Soviet Union since June 1941. In November 1941 the bitter cold had
stopped them in their tracks outside the Soviet cities of Moscow and Len-
ingrad. When spring came, the German tanks were ready to roll.
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive in the south-
ern Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus
Mountains. He also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial
center on the Volga River.

538 Module 11
 The German army confidently approached Stalingrad in August 1942.
“To reach the Volga and take Stalingrad is not so difficult for us,” one Ger-
man soldier wrote home. “Victory is not far away.” The Luftwaffe—the
German air force—prepared the way with nightly bombing raids over the
city. Nearly every wooden building in Stalingrad was set on fire. The situa-
tion looked desperate. Soviet officers in Stalingrad recommended blowing
up the city’s factories and abandoning the city. A furious Stalin ordered
them to defend his namesake city no matter what the cost.
For weeks the Germans pressed in on Stalingrad, conquering it house by
house in brutal hand-to-hand combat. By the end of September, they con-
trolled nine-tenths of the city—or what was left of it. Then another winter
set in. The Soviets saw the cold as an opportunity to roll fresh tanks across
the frozen landscape and begin a massive counterattack. The Soviet army
closed around Stalingrad. This action trapped the Germans in and around
the city and cut off their supplies. The Germans’ situation was hopeless,
but Hitler’s orders came: “Stay and fight! I won’t go back from the Volga.”
The fighting continued as winter turned Stalingrad into a frozen wasteland.
“We just lay in our holes and froze, knowing that 24 hours later and 48 hours
later we should be shivering precisely as we were now,” wrote a German sol-
dier, Benno Zieser. “But there was now no hope whatsoever of relief, and that
was the worst thing of all.” The German commander surrendered on January
31, 1943. Two days later his starving troops also surrendered.
In defending Stalingrad, the Soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers—
more than all American deaths during the entire war. Despite the staggering
death toll, the Soviet victory marked a turning point in the war. From that
point on, the Soviet army began to move westward toward Germany.

Document-Based Investigation Historical Source

Stalingrad Prisoners of War Analyze Historical Sources

What does the photograph tell you about the
Dazed, starved, and freezing, these German soldiers
conditions faced by the German soldiers at the Battle of
were taken prisoner after months of struggle. But Stalingrad? What details in the photograph support your
they were the lucky ones. More than 230,000 of conclusions?
their comrades died in the Battle of Stalingrad.

World War II 539

 THE NORTH AFRICAN FRONT  While the Battle of Stalingrad raged, Stalin
pressured Britain and America to open a “second front” in Western Europe.
He argued that an invasion across the English Channel would force Hitler to
divert troops from the Soviet front. Churchill and Roosevelt didn’t think the
Allies had enough troops to attempt an invasion on European soil. Instead,
they launched Operation Torch, an invasion of Axis-controlled North Africa,
commanded by American general Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The British and the Italians had begun a battle for North Africa in June
1940, shortly after the fall of France. Control of the territory was vital to
the Allies because it would protect Mediterranean shipping lanes that pro-
vided the British with Middle Eastern oil via the Suez Canal. Without oil,
Great Britain would not be able to defend itself, much less defeat the Axis.
In the early fighting, Italian forces tried to drive the British from their
stronghold in Egypt and failed. The Italians were beaten badly and driven
back. In early 1941 Hitler was forced to send troops, led by General Erwin
Rommel, to support the Italians. The German forces fought a back-and-
forth battle against the British for control of North Africa throughout
1941 and 1942. Rommel led brilliantly, earning the nickname Desert Fox.
But the British ultimately gained the upper hand. They struck a major
blow when they defeated the Germans at the Battle of El Alamein.

Explore ONLINE!
World War II: Europe and North Africa, 1942–1944

Axis and Axis controlled

Allies
FINLAND SOVIET Neutral countries
NORWAY UNION
60°N SWEDEN Axis forces
Leningrad
1944 Allied forces
S ea

N
Soviet forces
tic

W E North DENMARK Moscow Major battles

al

Sea B
MapQuest.Com, Inc. EAST 0 200 400 mi
S 43
GREAT
NETH. Berlin
PRUSSIA 19
IRELAND
BRITAIN Warsaw 0 200 400 km
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program
London
kR/Unit 5/Chapter 17 - arpe-0517s2-06-16-e POLAND
BELG. GERMANY SOVIET
WWII: Europe and Africa locator CZECHO 42
SLOV UNION 19 Stalingrad
mation Area (per November
page): 8p 8, 1942 
wide X 4p deep AKI
A Vo
Paris E U R O P E lg
Mask Area (perOperation
page): 8pTorch
wide x 4p deep
a

2nd proof date: 2/27/01 SWITZ. AUSTRIA HUNGARY 1942

R.

AT L A N T I C FRANCE
ROMANIA
OCEAN 42
19

Ad
May 13, 1943  r YUGOSLAVIA
ITALY iatic Black Sea
Axis surrender Sea BULGARIA Caspian ASIA
Lisbon
of North Africa
Rome Sea
Anzio ALBANIA
Madrid
PORTUGAL
Interpret Maps
SPAIN GREECE TURKEY
1. Place  Which countries were
1 94 3
Algiers neutral in 1942?
TUNISIA Me
Oran dite
rrane 2. Movement  What was the name
an Sea
Casablanca ALGERIA
of the invasion that the Allies
MOROCCO 1942
30°N Tobruk El Alamein launched in North Africa?

15°W
AFRICA EGYPT Per
LIBYA s
SAUDI ARABIA Gu ian
lf

540 Module 11
 Operation Torch called for an Allied invasion of Morocco and Algeria.
France had controlled these areas before the war. In November 1942 some
107,000 Allied troops, most of them Americans, landed in Casablanca, Oran,
and Algiers in North Africa. From there they sped eastward, chasing Rom-
mel’s Afrika Korps. After months of heavy fighting, the last of the Afrika
Korps surrendered in May 1943. British general Harold Alexander sent a
message to Churchill: “All enemy resistance has ceased. We are masters of the
North African shores.”
Some 20,000 Americans were killed or wounded during the six months
of fighting. However, as a result of the campaign in North Africa, American
troops gained some much-needed combat experience. Their efforts toward the
victory in North Africa proved that they could make a significant contribu-
tion to the war effort.
THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN  Even before the battle in North Africa was won,
Roosevelt, Churchill, and their commanders met in Casablanca. At this meet-
ing, the two leaders agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the
Axis powers. That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms
of peace the Allies dictated. The two leaders also discussed where to attack
next. The Americans argued for organizing a massive invasion fleet in Britain
and launching it across the English Channel. Then Allied troops would move
through France and into the heart of Germany. Churchill, however, thought it
would be safer to first attack Italy.
The Italian campaign got off to a good start with the capture of Sicily in
the summer of 1943. Stunned by their army’s collapse in Sicily, the Italian
government forced dictator Benito Mussolini to resign. On July 25, 1943,
King Victor Emmanuel III summoned Il Duce (Italian for “the leader”) to his
palace. The king stripped Mussolini of power and had him arrested. “At this
moment,” the king told Mussolini, “you are the most hated man in Italy.” Ital-
ians began celebrating the end of the war.
Their cheers were premature. Hitler was determined to stop the Allies in Italy
rather than fight on German soil. One of the hardest battles the Allies encoun-
tered in Europe was fought less than 40 miles from Rome. This battle, “Bloody
Anzio,” lasted four months, until the end of May 1944. It left about 25,000 Allied
and 30,000 Axis casualties. During the year after Anzio, German armies contin-
ued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until 1945,
when Germany itself was close to collapse.
HEROES IN COMBAT  Among the brave men who fought in Italy were several
units composed entirely of minority groups. The soldiers in these units sometimes
had to deal with discrimination and poor treatment. Even so, their feelings of
nationalism led them to risk their lives for their country.
The most celebrated of these minority units were the pilots of the all-black
99th Pursuit Squadron—the first squadron of Tuskegee Airmen. In Sicily the
squadron registered its first victory against an enemy aircraft. Then it went
on to more impressive strategic strikes against the German forces throughout
Italy. The Tuskegee Airmen won two Distinguished Unit Citations (the mili-
tary’s highest commendation) for their outstanding aerial combat against the
German Luftwaffe.

World War II 541

 The 99th Pursuit Squadron was the first group of African American pilots trained at the
Tuskegee Institute. In addition to the Presidential Unit citation, the highly decorated squadron
earned over 100 Distinguished Flying Crosses, a Legion of Merit, and other commendations.

Another African American unit to distinguish itself was the famous

92nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the Buffaloes. In just six months of
fighting in Europe, the Buffaloes won 7 Legion of Merit awards, 65 Silver
Stars, and 162 Bronze Stars for courage under fire.
Like African Americans, most Mexican Americans served in segregated
units. Seventeen Mexican American soldiers were awarded the Congressio-
nal Medal of Honor. An all-Chicano unit—Company E of the 141st Regi-
ment, 36th Division—became one of the most decorated of the war.
Japanese Americans also served in Italy and North Africa. At the urging
of General Delos Emmons, the army created the 100th Battalion. It con-
Reading Check  sisted of 1,300 Hawaiian Nisei. (The word Nisei refers to American citizens
Summarize  whose parents had emigrated from Japan.) The 100th saw brutal combat
Describe the and became known as the Purple Heart Battalion. Later the 100th was
contributions of
minorities to the merged into the all-Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team. It became the
war effort. most decorated unit in U.S. history.

The Allies Gain Ground in Europe

Even as the Allies were battling for Italy in 1943, they had begun work on a
dramatic plan to free Western Europe from the Nazis. In late 1943 Roosevelt,
Churchill, and Stalin met in Tehran, Iran, to discuss the Allied strategy. The
Tehran Conference had two major outcomes. The Soviet Union agreed to
launch a major offensive against Germany from the east. At the same time,

542 Module 11
 the other Allies planned to invade the Normandy region of France.
This would force Germany to fight on two fronts. The Soviets had been
asking Allied leaders to open a second front to help relieve the pressure
on the Soviet army. The Allies eventually agreed to the Soviet request.
Their delay, however, caused lingering resentment between Soviet and
Western leaders.
D-DAY  General Dwight D. Eisenhower was chosen to command the Allied
invasion of Normandy, code-named Operation Overlord. He selected
General Omar Bradley to lead the American forces participating in the
mission. From this point on, Bradley commanded all U.S. ground troops
invading Europe from the west.
Under Eisenhower’s direction in England, the Allies gathered a massive
force. It consisted of nearly 3 million British, American, and Canadian troops
and mountains of military equipment and supplies. To keep their plans secret,
the Allies set up a huge phantom army with its own headquarters and equip-
ment. In radio messages they knew the Germans could read, Allied com-
Background manders sent orders to this make-believe army to attack the French port of
American Calais—150 miles away—where the English Channel is narrowest. As a result,
paratroopers on
D-Day carried a Hitler ordered his generals to keep a large army at Calais.
simple signaling The Allied invasion was originally set for June 5, but bad weather forced a
device to help them
find one another in
delay. Based on a forecast for clearing skies, Eisenhower gave the go-ahead for
the dark. Each had D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day of the invasion. Shortly after midnight,
a metal toy cricket two American divisions—the 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions—and one
to click. No German
British division parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed in
radio operators
could intercept these the early morning hours by thousands upon thousands of seaborne soldiers.
messages. This was the largest land-sea-air operation in army history.

BIOGRAPHY

Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower (1890–

1969)
When Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall
chose modest Lieutenant General Dwight David
Eisenhower to become the Supreme Commander
of U.S. forces in Europe, he knew what he was
doing. Eisenhower, or “Ike” as he was known, was
a superb planner and possessed a keen mind for
military tactics.

More important, Eisenhower had an uncommon

ability to work with all kinds of people, even
competitive and temperamental allies. After V-E
Day a grateful Marshall wrote to Ike, saying, “You
have been selfless in your actions, always sound and You have made history, great history for the good of
tolerant in your judgments and altogether admirable mankind.” In 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower became the
in the courage and wisdom of your military decisions. 34th president of the United States.

World War II 543

 Despite the massive air and sea bombardment by the Allies, German
retaliation was brutal, particularly at Omaha Beach. “People were yelling,
screaming, dying, running on the beach, equipment was flying every-
where, men were bleeding to death, crawling, lying everywhere, firing com-
ing from all directions,” soldier Felix Branham wrote of the scene there.
“We dropped down behind anything that was the size of a golf ball.”
THE ALLIES ADVANCE  Despite heavy casualties, the Allies held the beach-
heads. The invasion of Normandy was a success. After seven days of fighting,
the Allies held an 80-mile strip of France. Within a month they had landed
a million troops, 567,000 tons of supplies, and 170,000 vehicles in France.
On July 25, General Bradley unleashed massive air and land bombardment
against the enemy at St. Lô. This attack opened a gap in the German line of

London
Explore ONLINE! GREAT
ov
er
BRITAIN Dover

D
of
D-Day, June 6, 1944 Portsmouth

ait
Portland
Calais

Str
Torquay

50°N
N
nnel
h Cha
W E g lis Cherbourg
En
FRANCE
S

MapQuest.Com, Inc.
HMH— High School U.S. History—2016
McDougal-Littell, The Americas Program 21st ARMY HS_SNLESE454194_261M
GROUP
ookR/Unit 5/Chapter 17 - arpe-0517s2-17-e
English Channel Normandy
COMMANDER OFInvasions, June 6,1944 Inset
GROUND FORCES
Montgomery
Normandy Invasions, June 6,1944-Loc Trim: 18p2 x 12p2
ation Area (per page): 8p wide X 4p deep First proof 03/07/16
U.S. 1st ARMY BRITISH 2nd ARMY
Mask Area (per page):8p wide x 4p deep Bradley Dempsey
2nd proof date: 2/28/01
UT ACH
BE
AH

Ste-Mère-
Eglise OMAHA GOLD JUNO SWORD
La BEACH BEACH BEACH BEACH
Madeleine

Vierville-sur-Mer

Colleville
Arromanches
Courseulles
Carentan Isigny
Trévières Lion

Bayeux

to St . Lô
FRANCE
Caen
Allied forces
Interpret Maps
Flooded area
1. Place  How does the inset map at the top help
Glider landing area
explain why Hitler was expecting the invasion to
Planned drop zone
cross from Dover to Calais over the Strait of Dover?
Canal
2. Human-Environment Interaction  Was D-Day a
0 6 12 mi simple or complex operation? How can you tell?
0 6 12 km

544 Module 11
 defense through which General George Patton and his Third Army could
advance. On August 23 Patton and the Third Army reached the Seine River
south of Paris. Two days later French resistance forces and American troops
liberated the French capital from four years of German occupation. Parisians
were delirious with joy. Patton announced this joyous event to his com-
mander in a message that read, “Dear Ike: Today I spat in the Seine.”
By September 1944 the Allies had freed France, Belgium, and Luxem-
bourg. This good news—and the American people’s desire not to “change
horses in midstream”—helped Franklin Roosevelt. He was elected to an
unprecedented fourth term in November, along with his running mate,
Senator Harry S. Truman.
THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE  In October 1944 Americans captured their
first German town, Aachen. Hitler responded with a desperate last-gasp
offensive. He ordered his troops to break through the Allied lines and to
recapture the Belgian port of Antwerp. The Führer hoped that this bold
move would cut the enemy’s supply lines and discourage the Allies.
On December 16, under cover of dense fog, eight German tank divisions
broke through weak American defenses along an 80-mile front. Hitler hoped
that a victory would split American and British forces. German tanks drove
60 miles into Allied territory. Their advance created a bulge in the lines that
gave this desperate last-ditch offensive its name, the Battle of the Bulge. As
the Germans moved westward, they captured 120 American GIs near Mal-
Vocabulary  médy. Elite German troops—the SS troopers—herded the prisoners into a
elite  a small and large field and mowed them down with machine guns and pistols.
privileged group
The battle raged for a month. When it was over, the Germans had been
Reading Check 
Analyze Effects  pushed back and little seemed to have changed. But in fact, events had taken
How did the a decisive turn. The Germans had lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault
Battle of the Bulge guns, and 1,600 planes in the Battle of the Bulge. These were soldiers and
signal the beginning
of the end of World weapons that they could not replace. From that point on, the Nazis could do
War II in Europe? little but retreat.

Lesson 5 Assessment
1. Organize Information  Create a timeline of the 3. Evaluate  Evaluate the military contributions of leaders
major events influencing the fighting in Europe and during World War II.
North Africa. Think About:
• Dwight Eisenhower
event two event four
• Omar Bradley
• George Patton
event one event three 4. Draw Conclusions  Why did Stalin want the other Allied
nations to open a second front? Why did Roosevelt and
Write a paragraph indicating how any two of these Churchill resist?
events are related. 5. Analyze Events  Why was the invasion of Normandy
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term or person in significant?
the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. 6. Summarize  What were the results of the Casablanca
and Tehran conferences?

World War II 545

 Lesson 6

The War in the Pacific

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
The writer William Manchester left college after Pearl Harbor to join
After early defeats in the Pacific,
the marines. Manchester says that, as a child, his “horror of violence
the United States gained the
had been so deep-seated that I had been unable to trade punches
upper hand and began to fight
its way, island by island, to with other boys.” On a Pacific island, he would have to confront that
Japan. horror the first time he killed a man in face-to-face combat. Man-
chester’s target was a Japanese sniper firing on Manchester’s bud-
Why It Matters Now
dies from a fisherman’s shack.
These battles in the Pacific con-
vinced world leaders that a pow-
erful weapon would be required
to win the war.
Key Terms and People
Douglas MacArthur
Bataan Death March
Chester Nimitz
Battle of Midway
island hopping
kamikaze

American soldiers fighting on Leyte in the Philippine Islands in late 1944.

“My mouth was dry, my legs quaking, and my eyes out of

focus. Then my vision cleared. I . . . kicked the door with my
right foot, and leapt inside. . . . I . . . saw him as a blur to my
right. . . . My first shot missed him, embedding itself in the
straw wall, but the second caught him dead-on. . . . A wave of
blood gushed from the wound. . . . He dipped a hand in it and
listlessly smeared his cheek red. . . . Almost immediately a fly
landed on his left eyeball. . . . A feeling of disgust and self-
hatred clotted darkly in my throat, gagging me.”
—William Manchester, from Goodbye Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War

The Pacific War was a savage conflict fought with raw courage.
Few who took part in that fearsome struggle would return home
unchanged.

546 Module 11
A Slow Start for the Allies
While the Allies agreed that the defeat of the Nazis was their first prior-
ity, the United States did not wait until V-E Day to move against Japan.
Fortunately, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 had missed the
Pacific Fleet’s submarines. Even more importantly, the attack had missed
the fleet’s aircraft carriers, which were out at sea at the time.
JAPANESE ADVANCES  Still, the attack on Pearl Harbor had dealt a tremen-
dous blow to the U.S. Pacific Fleet, one that would take months to overcome.
Pearl Harbor also provided a major boost to Japanese pride and encouraged
them to continue their assault on territory in Asia. The combination of these
factors led to a quick string of Japanese victories unimpeded by U.S. forces.
In the first six months after Pearl Harbor, the Japanese conquered an
empire that dwarfed Hitler’s Third Reich. On the Asian mainland, Japa-
nese troops overran Hong Kong, French Indochina, Malaya, Burma, Thai-
land, and much of China. The British had believed that the mighty fortress
of Singapore, part of Malaya, would never fall to invaders. The Japanese
captured it in just two weeks.
They also swept south and east across the Pacific, conquering the Dutch
East Indies, Guam, Wake Island, the Solomon Islands, and countless other
outposts in the ocean, including two islands in the Aleutian chain, which
were part of Alaska. Their conquests gave them control of rich oil reserves,
which were vital to their military plans, and also functioned as strategic
bases for future operations.
The Allies were stunned by the rapid success of the Japanese military in
the months following Pearl Harbor. They had underestimated the skill of
Japanese soldiers, not realizing that they were so well trained. The Japa-
nese military also had excellent equipment. For instance, Japanese fighter
aircraft were as good as—or better than—anything the Allies could pro-
duce. Japanese ships and torpedoes were also of high quality. These factors
gave the Japanese an important advantage early in the war.
THE PHILIPPINES  Japan’s attacks on Hong Kong, Singapore, the Dutch
East Indies, and Burma were part of a larger offensive strategy with one
other major target: the American-controlled islands of the Philippines.
At the time of the Japanese invasion in December 1941, General Douglas
MacArthur was in command of Allied forces on the islands. He led a small
force of Americans plus a number of poorly trained and equipped Fili-
pino soldiers, totaling roughly 80,000 troops. They were no match for the
200,000 Japanese invaders who came ashore in December 1941.
As the Japanese gained ground, MacArthur planned a retreat to the
Bataan Peninsula. There he hoped to hold off the Japanese for as long as
possible. Simply getting his troops into this defensive position took deter-
mined fighting and brilliant leadership. Once there, the soldiers found
that food, medicine, and other supplies were terribly limited. MacArthur
urged Allied officials to send ships to help relieve his starving, battle-worn
troops. War planners, however, decided that such a move was too risky.

World War II 547

 BIOGRAPHY

Douglas MacArthur
(1880–1964)
Douglas MacArthur was too arrogant and
prickly to be considered a “regular guy” by
his troops. But he was arguably the most
brilliant Allied strategist of World War II.
For every American soldier killed in his
campaigns, the Japanese lost ten.

He was considered a real hero of the war,

both by the military and by the prisoners on
the Philippines, whom he freed. “MacArthur
took more territory with less loss of life,”
observed journalist John Gunther, “than any
military commander since Darius the Great
[king of Persia, 522–486 BC].”

MacArthur and his forces fought on bravely. They held out against the
invading Japanese troops for four months on the Bataan Peninsula. Hun-
ger, disease, and bombardments killed 14,000 Allied troops and left 48,000
wounded. When American and Filipino forces found themselves with their
backs to the wall on Bataan, President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to leave.
On March 11, 1942, MacArthur left the Philippines with his wife, his son, and
his staff. As he left, he pledged to the many thousands of men who did not
make it out, “I shall return.” Less than a month later, about 10,000 American
and 60,000 Filipino troops remaining on Bataan surrendered.
Although the fighting was over, the suffering of the soldiers had just
begun. For five days and nights, the Japanese forced the captured soldiers
Reading Check
Analyze Causes through what came to be called the Bataan Death March. The prisoners
What factors had little food or water, and those who dropped out of line were beaten or
contributed to Japan’s shot. Thousands perished. Those who completed this terrible journey did
series of rapid military
victories following not fare much better. In the Japanese prison camp, lack of food and medi-
Pearl Harbor? cine claimed hundreds more lives.

Fortunes Shift in the Pacific

The loss of the Philippines was a low point for the United States in the
Pacific war. In the spring of 1942, however, the Allies began to turn the
tide against the Japanese. In fact, just days after the surrender on Bataan,
Americans finally got some good news.
DOOLITTLE’S RAID On April 18, 1942, Army Lieutenant Colonel James
Doolittle led 16 bombers in a daring raid on Tokyo and several other Japanese
cities. The next day, Americans awoke to headlines that read “Tokyo Bombed!
Doolittle Do’od It.” Doolittle’s raid, as the event came to be known, did not do

548 Module 11
 major damage to the Japanese targets, but it still had some significant
effects. Pulling off a Pearl Harbor-style air raid over Japan lifted America’s
sunken spirits. At the same time, it dampened spirits in Japan.
BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA  Close on the heels of Doolittle’s raid came
another morale booster for the Allies. Since the beginning of the war, Allied
forces in the Pacific, mainly Americans and Australians, had seen little suc-
cess in slowing Japanese conquests. In May 1942, however, the Allies finally
turned a corner. They succeeded in stopping the Japanese drive toward Aus-
tralia in the five-day Battle of the Coral Sea. During this battle, the fighting
was done by airplanes that took off from enormous aircraft carriers. Not a
single shot was fired by surface ships. It was not a decisive win for the Allies.
Both sides suffered losses and both, in fact, claimed victory. But it was a stra-
tegic triumph. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, a Japanese invasion had
been stopped and turned back.
THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY  Japanese leaders had been troubled by Doolittle’s
raid. They were determined to stop any future attacks on the Japanese main-
land. To do so, they planned to lure the Americans into a large sea battle
with the goal of destroying what remained of U.S. naval forces. The first step
in their plan would be to attack Midway Island, a strategic island that lies
northwest of Hawaii. The Japanese had a large advantage in the number of
ships and carriers they could bring to the battle. However, the Americans
had an advantage that Japan did not know about. Naval intelligence officers
had broken the Japanese code and knew that Midway was to be their next
target. They also knew the date of the planned attack and the direction from
which the Japanese ships would approach. Here again the Allies succeeded in
stopping the Japanese.
Admiral Chester Nimitz, the commander of American naval forces in the
Pacific, moved to defend the island, carefully placing his forces based on
his knowledge of the Japanese military’s plans. On June 3, 1942, his scout
planes found the Japanese fleet. The Americans sent torpedo planes and dive
Reading Check  bombers to attack. The Japanese were caught with their planes still on the
Find Main Ideas  decks of their carriers. The results were devastating. By the end of the Battle
What was the of Midway, it was clear the Allies had won a tremendous victory. The Japa-
significance of the
Battle of the Coral nese had lost 4 aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 250 planes. In the words of a
Sea? Japanese official, at Midway the Americans had “avenged Pearl Harbor.”

The Allies Go on the Offensive

The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the Pacific War. With the Japa-
nese navy crippled, the Allies decided to take the fight to Japan.
GUADALCANAL  The first step in the new Allied strategy was to win control
of territory in the Solomon Islands. The Japanese had taken these islands
in 1942, and an Allied presence there would help protect nearby Australia.
A key goal in the Solomons was the capture of an island called Guadalcanal.
The Japanese had nearly completed an airfield there, making it a tempting

World War II 549

 War in The Pacific and in Europe, 1941–1946

PACIFIC EUROPE
1941

Apr  Germany invades Greece and Yugoslavia.

Jun  Germany invades the Soviet Union.

Dec  Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. Dec  Germany and Italy declare war
U.S. declares war on Japan. 1942 on the United States.

Apr  U.S. surrenders Bataan in the Philippines.

May  Allies turn back Japanese fleet
in Battle of the Coral Sea.
Jun  Allies defeat Japan in Battle of Midway. Aug  Hitler orders attack on Stalingrad.
Aug  U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal.
Nov  Allies land in North Africa.
1943
Feb  German troops surrender at Stalingrad.

May  Axis forces surrender in North Africa.

Jun  Allies win Battle of the Philippine Sea.
Jul  Allies invade Sicily.
Sep  Italy secretly
surrenders to Allies.

1944

May  “Bloody Anzio” ends.

Jun  Allies invade Europe on D-Day.
Jul  Soviets first liberate death camps.
Aug  Allies liberate Paris.
Oct  Allies win Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Dec  Germans attack Allies in Battle
1945 of the Bulge.
Mar  Allies capture Iwo Jima.
Apr  Italians execute Mussolini.
Hitler commits suicide.
Jun  Allies capture Okinawa. May  V-E Day ends
Aug  U.S. drops atomic bombs on war in Europe.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Sep  Japan surrenders.

1946

550 Module 11
 target. The rest of the island, however, offered little. It was covered by
swamps and dense jungles, and daytime temperatures regularly reached
into the 90s. It was a miserable place to fight.
The Allied offensive against Guadalcanal began in August 1942 when
19,000 troops stormed the island. The battle took place on land, at sea,
and in the air. Each side won small victories until the Japanese finally
abandoned Guadalcanal six months later. At the time, they called it the
Island of Death. To war correspondent Ralph Martin and the troops who
fought there, it was simply “hell.”

“Hell was red furry spiders as big as your fist, giant lizards as long
as your leg, leeches falling from trees to suck blood, armies of white
ants with a bite of fire, scurrying scorpions inflaming any flesh they
touched, enormous rats and bats everywhere, and rivers with waiting
crocodiles. Hell was the sour, foul smell of the squishy jungle, humid-
ity that rotted a body within hours, . . . stinking wet heat of dripping
rain forests that sapped the strength of any man.”
—Ralph G. Martin, from The GI War

THE ALLIES PRESS ON  Guadalcanal marked Japan’s first defeat on

land, but not its last. However, the Japanese still controlled a number of
heavily fortified islands throughout the Pacific. Attacking those islands
would have been a costly and time-consuming endeavor. Instead, the
Allies chose to bypass them in favor of strategically important but less-
well-defended islands. Soon the Allies began “island hopping.” This
method used a powerful combination of land, sea, and air forces to capture
and secure islands while avoiding the heaviest concentrations of enemy
forces. These captured islands would then become bases from which future
military actions could be launched. Island by island
they won territory back from the Japanese. With
each island, Allied forces moved closer to Japan.
American diversity and ingenuity aided their
progress. Hundreds of Native Americans of the
Navajo nation worked as code talkers, translating
messages into a coded version of their own lan-
guage. The Navajo language was spoken only in
the American Southwest and traditionally had no
alphabet or other written symbols. This unwritten
language was so complex that the Japanese never
deciphered it, allowing quick and secure transmis-
sion of vital military information. Although the
Navajo had no words for combat terms, they devel-
oped terms such as chicken hawk for dive-bomber and
war chief for commanding general. Throughout the
Pacific campaign—from Midway to Iwo Jima—the
code talkers were considered indispensable to the
Four hundred Navajo were recruited into the Marine
Corps as code talkers. Their primary duty was transmitting
war effort. They finally received national recogni-
telephone and radio messages. tion in 1969.

World War II 551

 Explore
B e r in g ONLINE!
Sea ALASKA
(U.S.)
World War II: TheS War
OV I E T UN I ON
in the Pacific, 1942–1945
ds
slan
tian I
Aleu
Attu I.

N
Sakhalin
MON GOL I A

ds
MANCHURIA n
(Province I sl a
r il e W E 45°N
of China) Ku

ril 1942
Beijing aid, Ap
tle R S
CHINA
JAPAN oolit
KOREA D
Nagasaki, PACIFIC OCEAN
Aug. 9, 1945
Tokyo
Allied air supply Hiroshima, Battle of Midway,
route to China Chongqing Shanghai Aug. 6, 1945 June 1942
30°N
Kohima Ledo Road Iwo Jima,
Kunming Okinawa,
Imphal April–June Feb.–Mar. 1945
Burma Road 1945 Pearl Harbor
INDIA BURMA Formosa Tropic of Cancer
Hong Kong Mariana Wake I.
PHILIPPINES Islands
Rangoon Luzon Hawaiian Is.
THAILAND Philippine Sea, (U.S.)
15°N
Manila Tinian I. Saipan, 15°N
INDOCHINA June 1944 June–July 1944
Mindoro Enewetak,
Guam,
South July–Aug. Feb. 1944
China Palau I. 1944 Marshall Is.
Sea Caroline Is. Kwajalein,
BRUNEI Leyte Gulf, Peleliu, Jan.–Feb. 1944
MALAYA Oct. 1944 Sept.–Nov. 1944
Singapore
Tarawa, Gilbert Is.
Su

0° Equator Nov. 1943 0°

ma

Borneo Hollandia
tra

Rabaul Bougainville,
New Guinea Mar. 1944
DUTCH EAST INDIES Solomon Is.
PAPUA Guadalcanal, Aug. 1942–Feb. 1943
INDIAN OCEAN Java
Japanese Empire and conquest
Coral Sea,
May 1942
15°S Major Allied campaign
0 800 1,600 mi
Coral Sea
Limit of Japanese advance
0 800 1,600 km AUSTRALIA
Atomic bombing
Major battle

20°S

Interpret Maps
75°E
1. Movement Which
90°E 105°E
island served as a jumping-off
120°E
point for several Pacific battles?
135°E 165°E 180° 165°W 150°W
2. Human-Environment Interaction How do you think the distances between the Pacific islands
affected U.S. naval strategy?

The Allies also began to take advantage of the United States’ vast
resources. The fighting in the Pacific was extremely costly, and both sides
lost dozens of ships and thousands of aircraft. These were losses the Japa-
nese were unable to replace. Busy American factories, though, produced
planes and ships at a tremendous rate. At the same time, gains in Europe
allowed the Allies to send more troops and resources to the Pacific.
THE BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF The Americans continued leapfrogging
across the Pacific toward Japan, and in October 1944 some 178,000 Allied
troops and 738 ships converged on Leyte Island in the Philippines. General
MacArthur, who had left the Philippines two years earlier, waded ashore
and announced, “People of the Philippines: I have returned.”

552 Module 11
 The Japanese threw their entire fleet into the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They
also tested a new tactic, the kamikaze (kä´mĭ-käʹzē), or suicide-plane,
attack in which Japanese pilots crashed their bomb-laden planes into
Allied ships. (Kamikaze means “divine wind” and refers to a legendary
typhoon that saved Japan in 1281 by destroying a Mongol invasion.) In
the Philippines, 424 kamikaze pilots embarked on suicide missions, sink-
ing 16 ships and damaging another 80.
Americans watched these terrifying attacks with “a strange mixture of
respect and pity” according to Vice Admiral Charles Brown. “You have to
admire the devotion to country demonstrated by those pilots,” recalled Sea-
man George Marse. “Yet, when they were shot down, rescued and brought
aboard our ship, we were surprised to find the pilots looked like ordinary,
scared young men, not the wide-eyed fanatical ‘devils’ we imagined them
to be.”
Despite the damage done by the kamikazes, the Battle of Leyte Gulf was
a disaster for Japan. In three days of battle, it lost 3 battleships, 4 aircraft
carriers, 13 cruisers, and almost 500 planes. From then on the Imperial
Navy played only a minor role in the defense of Japan.
IWO JIMA  After retaking much of the Philippines and liberating the Amer-
ican prisoners of war there, the Allies turned to Iwo Jima, an island that
writer William Manchester later described as “an ugly, smelly glob of cold

Historical Source

Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima

In February 1945 U.S. Marines captured Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima’s highest point, after four days of
intense fighting. Although the battle raged on, troops were sent to place a flag at the top of the peak,
large enough that it could be seen from across the island. Photographer Joe Rosenthal saw the flag
raising, grabbed his camera, and snapped a hasty photo. It appeared the next morning on the front
pages of American newspapers and has become an enduring symbol of World War II.

Analyze Historical Sources

What human qualities or events do you think Rosenthal’s photograph symbolizes?

World War II 553

 lava squatting in a surly ocean.” Iwo Jima
(which means “sulfur island” in Japanese)
was critical to the United States as a base
from which heavily loaded bombers might
reach Japan. It was also perhaps the most
heavily defended spot on earth, with 20,700
Japanese troops entrenched in tunnels and
caves. More than 6,000 marines died taking
this desolate island, the greatest number in
any battle in the Pacific to that point. Only
200 Japanese survived. Just one obstacle now
Japanese kamikaze pilots pose—smiling—just before taking off stood between the Allies and a final assault on
on the mission that would be their last. Japan—the island of Okinawa.
THE BATTLE FOR OKINAWA  In April 1945 U.S. Marines invaded Oki-
nawa. The Japanese unleashed more than 1,900 kamikaze attacks on the
Allies during the Okinawa campaign. They sank 30 ships, damaged over
300 more, and killed almost 5,000 seamen.
Once ashore, the Allies faced even fiercer opposition than on Iwo Jima.
By the time the fighting ended on June 21, 1945, more than 7,600 Ameri-
cans had died. But the Japanese paid an even ghastlier price—110,000
lives—in defending Okinawa. This total included two generals who chose
ritual suicide over the shame of surrender. A witness to this ceremony
described their end: “A simultaneous shout and a flash of the sword . . . and
Reading Check  both generals had nobly accomplished their last duty to their Emperor.”
Draw Conclusions  The Battle of Okinawa was a chilling foretaste of what the Allies imagined
Why was Okinawa a
significant island in the invasion of Japan’s home islands would be. Churchill predicted the cost
the war in the Pacific? would be a million American lives and half that number of British lives.

Lesson 6 Assessment
1. Organize Information  Use a chart to describe the 3. Evaluate  Evaluate the military contributions of leaders
significance of key Allied military actions in the Pacific during World War II.
during World War II. Think About:
• Douglas MacArthur
Military Significance
Action • Chester Nimitz
1. 4. Predict  What was the Bataan Death March? How do
2. you think it affected the Allied war effort?
3. 5. Develop Historical Perspective  Analyze the
4. significance of the Battle of Midway as a turning point in
5.
the war in the Pacific.
6. Draw Conclusions  How were the Allies able to gain
Which military action was a turning point for the Allies? ground against the Japanese in the Pacific?
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term or person in
the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance.

554 Module 11
 Lesson 7

The End of World War II

One American’s Story

The Big Idea
Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell served as second-in-command of
While the Allies completed the
the Manhattan Project. Early on the morning of July 16, 1945, Farrell
defeat of the Axis powers on the
and other key figures gathered at White Sands in the remote New
battlefield, Allied leaders were
making plans for the postwar Mexico desert to witness the first official test of the atomic bomb.
world. Code-named “Trinity,” the test would determine whether the bomb
would work as a weapon. Farrell and the rest watched from several
Why It Matters Now
miles away as the bomb successfully exploded at 5:29 a.m.
Wartime decisions affected
global affairs for the next several
decades. “The effects could well
Key Terms and People
be called unprecedented,
magnificent, beautiful, stu-
V-E Day
pendous and terrifying. No
Harry S. Truman
man-made phenomenon of
J. Robert Oppenheimer such tremendous power had
Hiroshima ever occurred before. . . . The
Nagasaki whole country was lighted
United Nations (UN) by a searing light with the
Nuremberg trials intensity many times that of
G B
GI Bill o
of Rights
g ts the midday sun. It was gold-
en, purple, violet, gray and
blue. . . . Thirty seconds after
the explosion came first,
Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell
the air blast pressing hard
against the people and things, to be followed almost immedi-
ately by the strong, sustained, awesome roar which warned
of doomsday and made us feel that we puny things were blas-
phemous to dare tamper with the forces heretofore reserved to
The Almighty.”
—Thomas F. Farrell, from a memorandum for the Secretary of War, July 18, 1945

The test was a success. Scientists and military personnel cheered

and danced in celebration. Finally, Farrell reflected, they had found
a weapon that could end the war.

World War II 555

 The Allies Liberate Europe
Even as Manhattan Project scientists were feverishly working to create a
weapon to end it, war raged on. In both Europe and the Pacific, the tide
had turned in the Allies’ favor, but neither Germany nor Japan was beaten.
Still, as the months passed, the Allies moved closer and closer to victory.
LIBERATION OF THE DEATH CAMPS  In Europe, the Battle of the Bulge
left Germany severely weakened. Allied troops pressed eastward into the
German heartland, and the Soviet army pushed westward across Poland
toward Berlin. Soviet troops were the first to come upon one of the Nazi
death camps, in July 1944. As the Soviets drew near a camp called Maj-
danek in Poland, SS guards worked feverishly to bury and burn all evi-
dence of their hideous crimes. But they ran out of time. When the Soviets
entered Majdanek, they found a thousand starving prisoners barely alive,
the world’s largest crematorium, and a storehouse containing 800,000
shoes. “This is not a concentration camp,” reported a stunned Soviet war
correspondent, “it is a gigantic murder plant.” The Americans who later
liberated Nazi death camps in Germany were equally horrified.

“We started smelling a terrible odor and suddenly we were at the con-
centration camp at Landsberg. Forced the gate and faced hundreds
of starving prisoners. . . . We saw emaciated men whose thighs were
smaller than wrists, many had bones sticking out thru their skin. . . .
Also we saw hundreds of burned and naked bodies. . . . That evening I
wrote my wife that ‘For the first time I truly realized the evil of Hitler
and why this war had to be waged.’”
—Robert T. Johnson, quoted in Voices:
Letters from World War II

MARCHING DEEPER INTO GERMANY  As the Soviet army approached Ger-

many from the east, Allied forces in the west were preparing to cross the
Rhine River. The Rhine was the last physical obstacle between Germany
and France, and Hitler was determined to stop the Allied advance there.
He ordered his soldiers to destroy all bridges across the river and to hold
defensive positions on its banks.
Despite the efforts of German troops, American forces were able to
capture a railroad bridge over the Rhine at Remagen in March 1945. Allied
forces poured across the Rhine into the heart of Germany. The forces that
had sought to stop the Allies’ passage suddenly found themselves sur-
rounded. More than a quarter of a million German soldiers were captured,
and tens of thousands more were killed.
With the Rhine crossed, there was little to stop the Allied advance through
Germany. Allied planes roamed the skies freely, raining bombs down on Ger-
man targets. Allied troops pushed toward Berlin from both sides, ready to end
the war once and for all. Meanwhile, the leaders of the Allies were meeting
half a continent away to debate Germany’s postwar fate.

556 Module 11
 THE YALTA CONFERENCE  In January 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt took
the presidential oath of office for the fourth time. He had run in 1944
believing that he needed to see the nation through to victory. A majority
of American voters had agreed. Shortly after his inauguration in Febru-
ary 1945, an ailing Roosevelt met with Churchill and Stalin at the Black
Sea resort city of Yalta in the Soviet Union. Stalin graciously welcomed
the president and the prime minister. The Big Three, as they were called,
toasted the defeat of Germany that now seemed certain.
For eight grueling days, the three leaders discussed the fate of Germany
and the postwar world. Stalin’s country was devastated by German forces,
and he favored a harsh approach. He wanted to keep Germany divided
into occupation zones—areas controlled by Allied military forces—so that
Germany would never again threaten the Soviet Union.
When Churchill strongly disagreed, Roosevelt acted as a mediator in
an effort to maintain the Grand Alliance. He was prepared to make con-
cessions to Stalin for two reasons. First, he hoped that the Soviet Union
would stand by its commitments to join the war against Japan that was
still waging in the Pacific. Stalin had thus far refused to send troops to
the region. This had caused tension among the Allies. Second, Roosevelt
wanted Stalin’s support for a new world peacekeeping organization to be
named the United Nations.
The historic meeting at Yalta produced a series of
compromises. To pacify Stalin, Roosevelt convinced
Churchill to agree to a temporary division of Germany
into four zones. There would be one zone each for the
Americans, the British, the Soviets, and the French.
Churchill and Roosevelt assumed that, in time, all the
zones would be brought together in a reunited Ger-
many. For his part, Stalin promised “free and unfettered
elections” in Poland and other Soviet-occupied Eastern
European countries.
Stalin also agreed to join in the war against Japan.
That struggle was expected to continue for another year
or more. All three leaders hoped that Soviet participa-
Winston Churchill, tion would hasten the war’s end. In addition, Stalin agreed to participate
Franklin D. Roosevelt, and
in an international conference to take place in April in San Francisco.
Joseph Stalin meet at the
Yalta Conference. There, Roosevelt’s dream of a United Nations (UN) would become a reality.
Although Roosevelt had secured Stalin’s agreement, the Yalta Conference
had been tense. Friction between the Soviet Union and the other Allies
was growing.
UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER  By April 25, 1945, the Soviet army had
stormed Berlin. As Soviet shells burst overhead, the city panicked. “Hordes
of soldiers stationed in Berlin deserted and were shot on the spot or
hanged from the nearest tree,” wrote Claus Fuhrmann, a Berlin clerk. “On
their chests they had placards reading, ‘We betrayed the Führer.’”

World War II 557

 New Yorkers
celebrate V-E Day
with a massive
party that began
in Times Square
and went on
for days at sites
throughout the
city.

In his underground headquarters in Berlin, Hitler prepared for the end.

On April 29 he married Eva Braun, his longtime companion. The same
day, he wrote out his last address to the German people. In it he blamed
the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. “I die with a
happy heart aware of the immeasurable deeds of our soldiers at the front.
I myself and my wife choose to die in order to escape the disgrace of . . .
Vocabulary capitulation,” he said. The next day Hitler shot himself while his new wife
capitulation swallowed poison. In accordance with Hitler’s orders, the two bodies were
surrender
carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned.
A week later General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender
of the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies proclaimed V-E Day—Vic-
tory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over. Many celebrated
throughout the United States and Europe. Many others, however, still had
work to do to end the war in the Pacific.
TRUMAN BECOMES PRESIDENT President Roosevelt did not live to
see V-E Day. On April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm
Springs, Georgia, the president had a stroke and died. Vice-President
Harry S. Truman became the nation’s 33rd president that same night.
Truman, previously a U.S. senator from Missouri, had been picked as
Roosevelt’s running mate in 1944. He had served as vice-president for just
a few months before Roosevelt’s death. During his term as vice-president,
Reading Check
Truman had not been included in top policy decisions. He had not even
Summarize What known that the United States was developing an atomic bomb. Many
decisions did Americans doubted Truman’s ability to serve as president. But Truman was
Roosevelt, Churchill,
honest and had a willingness to make tough decisions. These were quali-
and Stalin make at the
Yalta Conference? ties that he would need desperately during his presidency.

558 Module 11
The Atomic Bomb Ends the War in the Pacific
The taking of Iwo Jima and Okinawa opened the way for an invasion of Japan.
However, Allied leaders knew that such an invasion would become a desperate
struggle. Japan still had a huge army that would defend every inch of home-
land. President Truman saw only one way to avoid an invasion of Japan. He
decided to use a powerful new weapon that had been developed by scientists
working on the Manhattan Project—the atomic bomb.
THE MANHATTAN PROJECT General Leslie Groves led the project, with
research directed by American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The
development of the atomic bomb was the most ambitious scientific enter-
prise in history. It was also a very costly enterprise, requiring more than
$2 billion in government investment. There was also significant oppor-
tunity cost involved with the project. Resources and personnel who could
have been used in other war industries were instead employed in a highly
theoretical undertaking. Over the life of the project, more than 600,000
Americans at sites across the country were involved in it.
Among the major sites were Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the project
was headquartered, and Los Alamos, New Mexico, where the actual bomb
was built. Despite the number of people involved, though, the Manhattan
Project was the best kept secret of the war. Few of the workers engaged
in the project knew its ultimate purpose. The government and the mili-
tary took every precaution to keep news of the bomb’s development from
reaching enemy ears.
The first test of the new bomb took place on the morning of July 16, 1945,
in an empty expanse of desert near Alamogordo, New Mexico. A blinding flash,
which was visible 180 miles away, was followed by a deafening roar as a tremen-
dous shock wave rolled across the trembling desert. Otto Frisch, a scientist on
the project, described the huge mushroom cloud that rose over the desert as “a
red-hot elephant standing balanced on its trunk.” The bomb worked!
WEIGHING THE OPTIONS President Truman now faced a difficult deci-
sion. Should the Allies use the bomb to bring an end to the war? Many
advisers to President Truman, including Secretary of War Henry Stimson,
believed the bomb should be used to end the war and save American lives.
Some scientists working on the bomb agreed—even more so as the casu-
alty figures from Iwo Jima and Okinawa sank in. “Are we to go on shed-
ding American blood when we have available a means to a steady victory?”
they petitioned. “No! If we can save even a handful of American lives, then
let us use this weapon—now!”
Diplomatic and political considerations also factored into the decision. Ten-
sion and distrust were already developing between the Western Allies and
the Soviets. At the Yalta Conference, Roosevelt had received Stalin’s promise
that the Soviet Union would enter the war in the Pacific. After the successful
test of the atomic bomb, Secretary of State James F. Byrnes and other top advis-
ers agreed that Soviet entry into the Pacific war should be reconsidered. As a
result of the bomb, it was seen as no longer necessary. If it could be prevented,
it would reduce Soviet influence in East Asia after the war. Additionally, some

World War II 559

 NOW & THEN American officials believed that a successful use of the atomic
bomb would give the United States a powerful advantage over
Atom Bombs to Brain Scans the Soviets in shaping the postwar world. Finally, some feared
Faced with that if the bomb were not dropped, the project would be seen
alarming rumors as a gigantic waste of money and wartime resources.
of work on a However, many of the scientists who had worked on the
German atomic bomb had doubts about using it. So did some military leaders
bomb, America and civilian policymakers. Dr. Leo Szilard, a Hungarian-born
mobilized physicist who had helped President Roosevelt launch the
some of the
project and who had a major role in developing the bomb,
finest scientific
minds in the was a key figure opposing its use. A petition drawn up by
world to create its own atomic Szilard and signed by 70 other scientists argued that it would
bomb. The energy released by its be immoral to drop an atomic bomb on Japan without fair
nuclear reaction was enough to kill warning. Many supported staging a demonstration of the
hundreds of thousands of people, bomb for Japanese leaders. They suggested exploding one on
as evidenced by the destruction of a deserted island near Japan to convince the Japanese to sur-
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. render. Others, such as Supreme Allied Commander General
Dwight D. Eisenhower, argued that Japan had already been
But the resulting ability to harness defeated and was on the verge of surrender. He maintained
the atom’s energy also led to new
that “dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary” to
technologies for diagnosing and
treating human diseases. Today, save American lives.
the diagnostic techniques using Truman did not hesitate. In a journal entry, he acknowl-
radioisotopes instead of x-rays can edged that the bomb “seems to be the most terrible thing
allow imaging of both bones and ever discovered, but it can be made the most useful.” Truman
soft tissues. For example, positron was committed to fulfilling Roosevelt’s legacy. Throughout
emission tomography (PET) is able the war, Roosevelt’s fundamental strategy had been to com-
to reveal the inner workings of the
mit the vast industrial and technological resources of the
human brain. Another major use of
radioisotopes as a diagnostic tool is
United States to achieve total victory with the lowest cost in
in laboratory blood tests. Radiation American lives. In Truman’s estimation, the bomb was the
is also used to treat a variety of way to achieve this goal. He believed it would bring about an
cancers. One new field is Targeted end to the war in the Pacific without sacrificing lives in an
Alpha Therapy (TAT), which uses Allied invasion.
alpha emissions to control cancers On July 25, 1945, Truman ordered the military to make
dispersed throughout the body. final plans for dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese
targets. Meanwhile, he and other Allied leaders meeting at
Potsdam, Germany, discussed plans for ending the war in the Pacific. A
day after Truman’s order to the military, the United States and the other
Allies warned Japan that it faced “prompt and utter destruction” unless it
surrendered at once. Japan refused. Truman later wrote, “The final deci-
sion of where and when to use the atomic bomb was up to me. Let there be
no mistake about it. I regarded the bomb as a military weapon and never
had any doubt that it should be used.”
HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI  On August 6 a B-29 bomber named Enola
Gay released an atomic bomb, code-named Little Boy, over Hiroshima, an
important Japanese military center. Forty-three seconds later, almost every
building in the city collapsed into dust from the force of the blast. Hiroshima

560 Module 11
 had ceased to exist. Still, Japan’s leaders hesitated to surrender. Three days
later a second bomb, code-named Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, lev-
eling half the city. By the end of the year, an estimated 200,000 people had
died due to injuries and radiation poisoning caused by the atomic blasts.
Shinji Mikamo was a teenager living less than a mile from the epicenter
when the first bomb hit Hiroshima. He later told his daughter Akiko about
the blast.

“In that instant, I felt a searing pain that spread through my entire
body. It was as if a bucket of boiling water had been dumped over my
whole body and scoured my skin.
At the same time, I was thrown into a pit of absolute darkness. What
had happened? I couldn’t see anything. I was in total shock. I could
feel nothing at all.”
—Shinji Mikamo, as recounted by Akiko Mikamo in Rising from the Ashes

Emperor Hirohito was horrified by the destruction wrought by the

bomb. “I cannot bear to see my innocent people suffer any longer,” he told
Japan’s leaders tearfully. Then he ordered them to draw up papers “to end
Reading Check 
Find Main Ideas  the war.” On September 2, formal surrender ceremonies took place on the
What were the main U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. “Today the guns are silent,” General
arguments for and MacArthur said in a speech marking this historic moment. “The skies no
against dropping the
atomic bomb longer rain death—the seas bear only commerce—men everywhere walk
on Japan? upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace.”

Hiroshima was in ruins following the atomic bomb blast on August 6, 1945.

World War II 561

 The Challenges of Victory
With Japan’s surrender, the Allies turned to the challenge of rebuilding war-
torn nations in a changed world. The creation and use of the atomic bomb had
brought the world into the nuclear age. No one had ever used such a destruc-
tive weapon before, and it was destined to change the nature of warfare.
American leaders hoped it would give them leverage over the Soviet Union in
the postwar world. However, they could not foresee that it would eventually
prompt a massive arms race. The Soviet Union and other nations sought to
build their own atomic weapons in an effort to feel secure and restore the bal-
ance of power. At the time, all they could see were the challenges of restoring
order after a destructive war. Even before the last guns fell silent, Allied lead-
ers were thinking about principles that would govern the postwar world.
THE UNITED NATIONS  In the fall of 1943, Secretary of State Cordell Hull
began working with other Allied leaders on a declaration of the intent to form
an international organization based on the equality of nations. Details of the
organization were discussed at several wartime conferences. At the Yalta Con-
ference, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin declared their intention to establish “a
general international organization to maintain peace and security.”
In the midst of war, hopes for world peace were high. The most vis-
ible symbol of these hopes was the United Nations (UN). On April 25,
1945, the representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to establish
this new peacekeeping body. President Truman appointed Mary McLeod
Bethune to serve as the U.S. representative at the founding conference.
She was the only woman of color in attendance. After two months of
debate, on June 26, 1945, the delegates signed the charter establishing the
UN. The UN officially came into being on October 24, 1945. On that day,
China, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and a
number of other nations ratified the charter.
One of the UN’s first actions was to commission a document declaring
the fundamental equal rights of all human beings. This act was a sign of
the international community’s commitment to preventing the atrocities
of World War II and the Holocaust from ever happening again. The
Commission on Human Rights was made up of 18 men and women
from a variety of political and cultural backgrounds. Eleanor Roosevelt
chaired the committee responsible for drafting the declaration. The
committee worked for two years, and in December 1948 the UN Gen-
eral Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Although the UN had been founded as a union of many nations, it
soon came to be dominated by two. The United States and the Soviet
Union were the most powerful countries in the world following
World War II, and they became the major players in UN affairs. In
the years following the war, tensions arose between the two coun-
tries. Their conflicts crept into international debates. The UN was
intended to promote peace, but it soon became a place in which the
Delegates of 50 nations gathered in San
Francisco in 1945 to draft the United two superpowers competed. Both the United States and the Soviet
Nations charter. Union used the UN as a forum to spread their influence over others.

562 Module 11
THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE  The tension between the United States and the
Soviet Union had arisen even before World War II ended. In July 1945, just a
month after the UN charter was signed, Allied leaders came together for the
final wartime conference at Potsdam near Berlin. The countries that partici-
pated were the same ones that had been represented at Yalta in February.
Stalin still represented the Soviet Union. Clement Attlee replaced Churchill
as Britain’s representative mid-conference, because Churchill’s party lost a
general election. And Harry Truman took Roosevelt’s place.
At Yalta, Stalin had promised Roosevelt that he would allow free elec-
tions—that is, a vote by secret ballot in a multiparty system—in Poland
and other parts of Eastern Europe that the Soviets occupied at the end of
the war. By the time of the Potsdam Conference, however, it was clear that
Stalin would not keep this promise. The Soviets prevented free elections in
Poland and banned democratic parties. Stalin’s refusal to allow free elec-
tions in Poland convinced Truman that U.S. and Soviet aims were deeply at
odds. Truman’s goal in demanding free elections was to spread democracy to
nations that had been under Nazi rule. These disagreements would influ-
ence postwar relations.
Despite the conflict over Poland, most of the discussion at Potsdam
dealt with the question of how to deal with Germany after the war. At
the Yalta Conference, the Soviets had wanted to take reparations from
Germany to help repay Soviet wartime losses. Now, at Potsdam, Truman
objected to that. He feared that crippling reparations against Germany
would eventually backfire, as they had after World War I. Those repara-
tions nearly destroyed the German economy and paved the way for the
growth of the Nazi Party.
After hard bargaining, the leaders at Potsdam reached a compromise.
They confirmed the plan made at Yalta to divide Germany into four occu-
pation zones. The zones would be administered by the United States, Great
Britain, France, and the Soviet Union. It was agreed that each occupying
country could independently take reparations from its own occupation
zone. In addition, the German navy and merchant fleet were to be divided
among the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union.

Clement Attlee, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference

World War II 563

 THE NUREMBERG WAR TRIALS Besides
geographic division, Germany had another
price to pay for its part in the war. The
discovery of Hitler’s death camps led the
Allies to put 24 surviving Nazi leaders
on trial. They were charged with crimes
against humanity, crimes against the
peace, and war crimes. The trials were held
in the southern German town of Nurem-
berg, between November 20, 1945, and
October 1, 1946.
At the Nuremberg trials, the defen-
dants included Hitler’s most trusted
party officials, government ministers,
military leaders, and powerful industrial-
ists. Each defendant at the Nuremberg
trials was accused of one or more of the
following crimes:
The Nuremberg trials • Crimes Against the Peace—Germany had planned and waged an aggres-
began in November sive war against other countries.
1945.
• War Crimes—The Germans had performed acts against the customs of
warfare, such as the killing of hostages and prisoners. Such acts violated
the Geneva Conventions. Those were a series of international agree-
ments signed after World War I that protected the rights of prisoners. In
addition, the Germans had stolen private property and destroyed towns
and cities.
• Crimes Against Humanity—In the Holocaust, the Germans had
attempted the murder, extermination, deportation, or enslavement of
civilians.
In his opening argument, the chief prosecutor for the United States,
Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, explained the significance of the
event.

“The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so

calculated, so malignant and so devastating, that civilization can-
not tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being
repeated. . . . It is hard now to perceive in these miserable men . . .
the power by which as Nazi leaders they once dominated much of the
world and terrified most of it. Merely as individuals, their fate is of
little consequence to the world. What makes this inquest significant
is that these prisoners represent sinister influences that will lurk in
the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. They are liv-
ing symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the
arrogance and cruelty of power. . . . Civilization can afford no com-
promise with the social forces which would gain renewed strength
if we deal ambiguously or indecisively with the men in whom those
forces now precariously survive.”
—Robert Jackson, from the opening address to the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial

564 Module 11
 In the end, 12 of the 24 defendants were sentenced to death. Most of those
remaining were sent to prison. In later trials of lesser leaders, nearly 200 more
Nazis were found guilty of war crimes. Still, many people have argued that the
trials did not go far enough in seeking out and punishing war criminals. Many
Nazis who took part in the Holocaust did indeed go free.
Yet no matter how imperfect the trials might have been, they did establish
an important principle. This was the idea that individuals are responsible for
their own actions, even in times of war. Nazi executioners could not escape
punishment by claiming that they were merely “following orders.” The prin-
ciple of individual responsibility was now part of international law.
THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN  Following its surrender, Japan was occu-
pied by U.S. forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur. In
the early years of the occupation, more than 1,100 Japanese, from former
prime minister Hideki Tojo to lowly prison guards, were arrested and put
on trial. Seven, including Tojo, were sentenced to death. In the Philippines,
in China, and in other Asian battlegrounds, additional Japanese officials
were tried for atrocities against civilians or prisoners of war.
During the seven-year American occupation, MacArthur reshaped
Japan’s economy by introducing free-market practices that led to a remark-
able economic recovery. MacArthur also worked to transform Japan’s gov-
ernment. He called for a new constitution that would provide for woman
suffrage and guarantee basic freedoms. Americans followed these changes
with interest. The New York Times reported that “General MacArthur . . .
Reading Check  has swept away an autocratic regime by a warrior god and installed in its
Summarize  Why place a democratic government presided over by a very human emperor
was the United and based on the will of the people as expressed in free elections.” The
Nations formed, and
who was involved in Japanese apparently agreed. To this day, their constitution is known as the
its formation? MacArthur Constitution.

Changes on the Home Front

Despite the devastation it caused in Europe and Japan, World War II was a time
of opportunity for millions of Americans. Jobs abounded, and despite ration-
ing and shortages, people had money to spend. At the end of World War II, the
nation emerged as the world’s dominant economic and military power.
The war years were good ones for working people. As defense industries
boomed, unemployment fell to a low of 1.2 percent in 1944. Even with
price and wage controls, average weekly pay (adjusted for inflation) rose 10
percent during the war. And although workers still protested long hours,
overtime, and night shifts, they were able to save money for the future.
Some workers invested up to half their paychecks in war bonds.
Farmers also prospered during the war. During the Depression years, farm-
ers had battled dust storms and floods. But the early 1940s featured good
weather for growing crops. Farmers benefited from improvements in farm
machinery and fertilizers. They reaped the profits from rising crop prices. As
a result, crop production increased by 50 percent, and farm income tripled.
Before the war ended, many farmers could pay off their mortgages.

World War II 565

 African-American Migration, 1940–1950
African American Migration, 1940–1950

New
England
West Middle
Coast Atlantic
Mountain and Midwest
Plains States

+ 3 8 6 ,8 0 0
+

00
+523,200

,9
4

26
+2

,30
0
South
+283,600 –1,244,800

Interpret Maps
1. Movement  To which geographic region did the greatest number of African
Americans migrate?
2. Movement  How did the wartime economy contribute to this mass migration?

Women also enjoyed employment gains during the war, although many
lost their jobs when the war ended. Over 6 million women had entered the
work force for the first time, boosting the percentage of women
in the total work force to 35 percent. A third of those jobs were in
defense plants, which offered women more challenging work and
better pay than jobs traditionally associated with women, such
as waitressing, clerking, and domestic service. With men away at
war, many women also took advantage of openings in journalism
and other professions. “The war really created opportunities for
women,” said Winona Espinosa, a wife and mother who became a
riveter and bus driver during the war. “It was the first time we got
a chance to show that we could do a lot of things that only men
had done before.” In the years that followed the war, many women
fought to regain the rights they had enjoyed during the war. They
wanted the same opportunities available to men, such as access to
better jobs and education.
In addition to revamping the economy, the war triggered
one of the greatest mass migrations in American history. Ameri-
cans whose families had lived for decades in one place sud-
The war gave women the chance to
denly uprooted themselves to seek work elsewhere. Men and
prove they could be just as productive as
men. But their pay usually did not reflect women left farms and small towns to take jobs in shipyards, steel
their productivity. mills, and aircraft plants across the country. More than a million

566 Module 11
 newcomers poured into California alone
between 1941 and 1944. Across the country,
towns with defense industries saw their pop-
ulations double and even triple, sometimes
almost overnight. Among the most eager
migrants during the war were African Ameri-
cans. Looking for new jobs and an escape
from discrimination, hundreds of thousands
of African Americans left the South for cities
in the North and West.
The war also created new opportunities for
the country’s millions of new veterans. In 1944,
to help ease the transition of returning service-
men to civilian life, Congress passed the Ser-
vicemen’s Readjustment Act, better known as
the GI Bill of Rights. This legislation provided
education and training for veterans, paid for
Attending Pennsylvania State College under the GI Bill of Rights,
William Oskay Jr. paid $28 a month for the trailer home in which
by the federal government. Just over half the
you see him working. returning soldiers, or about 7.8 million veterans,
attended colleges and technical schools under
Reading Check  the GI Bill. Among those who attended college under the GI Bill were many
Analyze Causes  African Americans and members of other minority groups. For many, it was
How did World War II their first opportunity to receive higher education. The act also provided
alter the population
distribution of the federal loan guarantees to veterans buying homes or farms or starting new
United States? businesses.

Lesson 7 Assessment
1. Organize Information  Trace on a timeline the events 4. Draw Conclusions  What were the economic,
leading up to the end of the war in Europe and in the diplomatic, and military consequences of developing
Pacific and the beginning of planning for the postwar the atomic bomb?
world. 5. Analyze Primary Sources  Review the quotation from
event two event four
Robert T. Johnson about liberating the death camps. Why
was the liberation of concentration camps an important
event in World War II?
event one event three 6. Analyze Causes  What led to the growth of the defense
and agricultural industries during World War II?
2. Key Terms and People  For each key term or person in 7. Predict  How do you think increased tension among
the lesson, write a sentence explaining its significance. Allied leaders would affect the postwar world?
3. Form Generalizations  What were the key diplomatic
outcomes of World War II?
Think About:
• the decisions made at Yalta and Potsdam
• the goals of the United Nations
• the results of the Nuremberg trial
• plans for after the war

World War II 567

Module 11 Assessment
Key Terms and People 11. Why did Roosevelt take one “unneutral”
For each term or person below, write a sentence step after another to assist Britain and the
explaining its significance during World War II. Soviet Union in 1941?
12. How did the isolationist views of many
1. fascism 6. rationing
Americans challenge Roosevelt’s political
2. Adolf Hitler 7. Dwight D. leadership?
3. Winston Churchill Eisenhower 13. What factors led Japan to attack the United
4. appeasement 8. D-Day States at Pearl Harbor?
5. Holocaust 9. Hiroshima 14. Why did the United States enter World War
10. GI Bill of Rights II?
The War Effort on the Home Front
Main Ideas 15. What was the Double V Campaign?
Use your notes and the information in the module 16. What role did the media play in helping the
to answer the following questions. country mobilize?
War Breaks Out 17. Why did the outbreak of World War II cre-
1. What factors led to the rise of totalitarian ate a need for new military bases across the
governments, such as fascism and commu- country?
nism, in Europe? 18. What were the causes and consequences of
2. Why did Japan invade Manchuria? racial tension in the 1940s?
3. Why was the blitzkrieg effective? 19. How did the war affect families?
4. How did the civil and political values of Nazi The War for Europe and North Africa
Germany and Imperial Japan differ from 20. What role did Franklin Roosevelt play as
those of the United States? commander in chief of the U.S. military?
5. How effective was the League of Nations in 21. How did the Allies win control of the Atlan-
dealing with aggression among nations in tic Ocean between 1941 and 1943?
the 1930s? 22. What two key decisions determined the
The Holocaust final outcome at Stalingrad?
6. How did the United States respond to 23. What was the outcome of the North African
Jewish refugees after Kristallnacht? and Italian campaigns?
7. What groups did Nazis deem unfit to The War in the Pacific
belong to the Aryan “master race”? 24. Briefly describe the strategy of island hop-
8. How did some Europeans show their resis- ping during the war in the Pacific.
tance to Nazi persecution of the Jews? 25. Why was the Battle of Leyte Gulf so crucial
9. How did the Holocaust affect Jews and to the Allies?
other targeted groups living in territory 26. What was significant about the Battle of Iwo
controlled by the Nazis? Jima?
America Moves Toward War The End of World War II
10. How did isolationist policy shape U.S. for- 27. Why did President Truman decide to use
eign policy in the 1920s and 1930s? What atomic weapons?
were the consequences of U.S. isolationism?

568 Module 11
Module 11 Assessment, continued
28. How are the Nuremberg trials an example War II, and analyze the impact of the post-
of the humanitarian effects of World War II? war shift back to domestic production.
29. How did World War II expand access to 8. Make Inferences  How do you think World
education? War II helped some Americans attain their
30. What issues did Allied leaders address at vision of the American Dream?
the Potsdam Conference, and what deci- 9. Analyze Effects  How did policies such
sions did they make? as the Lend-Lease Act and other wartime
changes affect the American economy?
Critical Thinking 10. Evaluate Evaluate the domestic and inter-
1. Categorize In a chart like the one shown national leadership of Presidents Franklin D.
below, explain the opportunities and Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman during World
obstacles that women and ethnic and racial War II. Consider the U.S. domestic industry’s
minorities faced during World War II. rapid mobilization for the war effort and the
nation’s relationship with its allies.
Women Minorities
Opportunities
Engage with History
Obstacles
Imagine that you are a journalist in 1955, work-
2. Draw Conclusions  How did the rise of ing for a major magazine that is preparing an
dictatorships in Italy, Germany, and Japan issue focusing on the ten-year anniversary of
and the aggression of those nations toward the end of World War II. Write an article in which
other countries lead to World War II? you look back at the changes in American life
3. Interpret Maps  Look at the map “German brought about by involvement in the war.
Advances, 1938–1941” in Lesson 1. How Discuss political and economic changes that
might Poland’s location have influenced the resulted from the war as well as social changes
secret pact that Germany and the Soviet that stemmed from issues on the home front.
Union signed on August 23, 1939?
4. Compare How were the geography and Focus on Writing
events in the European and Pacific theaters Write an expository essay in which you explain
of World War II similar? How were they the Holocaust as an instance of genocide.
different? Include varying perspectives, such as those of
5. Summarize Explain the bravery and con- victims, perpetrators, and observers.
tributions of women and ethnic minorities
in the armed forces during World War II, Multimedia Activity
including the Tuskegee Airmen, the 442nd Conduct library or Internet research to learn
Regimental Combat Team, and the Navajo more about some of the actions the U.S. gov-
code talkers. ernment took between World Wars I and II to
6. Evaluate Do you think the United States preserve its isolationist policy. Then investigate
was justified in using atomic bombs against the events that drew the country into World War
the Japanese? Write a paragraph explaining II. Consider the perspectives of people on both
your response. sides of the debate. Use your findings to draw
7. Analyze Effects  Apply opportunity cost a political cartoon that supports or opposes
and trade-offs to evaluate the shift in the U.S. policy of neutrality at the beginning
economic resources from the production of World War II. Write a caption to accompany
of domestic to military goods during World your cartoon.

World War II 569

 MULTIMEDIA CONNECTIONS

Memories of
WORLD WAR II

A global conflict, World War II shaped the history these Americans left behind firsthand accounts of their
of both the United States and the world. Americans experiences during the war, both at home and abroad.
contributed to the war effort in numerous ways. Many Explore some of the personal stories and recollections of
enlisted in the military and served in Africa, Europe, and World War II online. You can find a wealth of information,
the Pacific. Others contributed by working in factories to video clips, primary sources, activities, and more through
produce the massive amounts of ships, planes, guns, and your online textbook.
other supplies necessary to win the war. In the process,

569 MC1 MULTIMEDIA CONNECTIONS

 Go online to view these and
other HISTORY® resources.

America Mobilizes for War

Watch the video to see how the United States
mobilized its citizens for war and how society
“I am allowed to write of my own personal combat changed as a result.
experiences and I can say that I have been fortunate
so far. War is like something you cannot imagine. I
had no idea what it was about and still don’t.”
— Erwin Blonder, U.S. soldier

A Soldier’s Letter Home

Air War Over Germany
Read the document to learn about one
Watch the video to see how the P-51 Mustang
soldier’s wartime experiences in southern
helped the Allies win the air war over Germany.
France.

The Pacific Islands

Watch the video to hear veterans describe their
experiences fighting in the Pacific theater.

MEMORIES OF WORLD WAR II 569 MC2

Copyright © 2018 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any informa-
tion storage and retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner
unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law. Requests for permission to
make copies of any part of the work should be addressed to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub-
lishing Company, Attn: Intellectual Property Licensing, 9400 Southpark Center Loop, Orlando,
Florida 32819-8647.
Portions © 2010 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
HISTORY® and the HISTORY® H Logo are trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. All
rights reserved.
Unless otherwise indicated, all maps ©Maps.com LLC.
Printed in the U.S.A.

If you have received these materials as examination copies free of charge, Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt Publishing Company retains title to the materials and they may not be resold. Resale of
examination copies is strictly prohibited.

Possession of this publication in print format does not entitle users to convert this publication, or
any portion of it, into electronic format.

ISBN 978-0-544-66906-2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 XXXX 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16
4500000000 EFG