National and International Shifts: Pre-US Entry, 1941-1943, and 1944-1945 

You can use this resource to understand the study guide items about what is different in the 3 periods above.  Footnotes offer details. Abbreviations: FDR = Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Allies = Britain (Br), France (Fr), others, and eventually the United States (US)      Axis = Germany (Ger), Italy, Japan     1st Axis, 2nd Ally = Russia (Ru) – AKA USSR

 

Contents:

Interconnected Events in the Period from Just Before World War II to the US War Declaration   1

Major Assets of the Allies Once the US and Russia Join Britain   2

Interconnected Events in the Earlier Years of World War II: 1941 -1943  2

Interconnected Events in the Later Years of World War II: 1944 -1945  3

Groups and Institutions Arising from this War  4

Optional Reference: Reminders about the US from World War I through the 1920s and How Conflicts Get Worse in the 1930s  4

Interconnected Events in the Period from Just Before World War II to the US War Declaration

Notice:  What the US did to help the Allies (including Ru when it joins them) before the US gets in the war. Notice: What gets the US in the war?

Date

Presidential Election/Event

US Official -Unofficial Actions

Allies

Axis

US War Actions

Issue/Organization Development

1920s-30s

 

 

 

Examples: Rise of the Axis

 

 

1940-05

 

 

How fast they went to war

 

 

Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies

1940-06

Atomic bomb and Einstein connection[1]

 

Ger conquers Fr, occupies the North, creates Vichy (puppet gov.) in South

 

 

1940-08 to 10

 

Selective Service Act

 

Battle of Britain–Constant Nazi attack but the British held. It was “their finest hour” (Churchill’s words.)

Japan: Bases in Indochina (from Vichy); 10-yr. pact with Ger, Italy

Destroyers for Bases Agreement[2]

America First Committee – example of isolationism 

1940-11

Wendell Willkie vs. F. D. Roosevelt

 

 

 

 

 

1940-12

Fireside chat on US as “the great arsenal of democracy”

 

 

Japan: Embargo–“unfriendly act.” Ger: Protest over US aid to Br

 

 

1941-01

 

 

 

 

Threatened DC black march[3]

1941-03

 

 

 

Lend-Lease Bill[4]

 

1941-04

 

 

 

 

Rationing starts

 

1941-06

 

 

 

Ger invades Ru.

 

 

 

Lend-Lease to Ru

 

 

 

 

 

 

FDR: stops march[5]

 

 

 

 

 

1941-12

 

 

 

Japan: Takes many areas[6]

 

1941-12-07

 

 

 

Japan: Pearl Harbor

 

 

1941-12-11

 

US declares war on Japan

 

Ger, Italy: Declare war on US

 

Rosie the Riveter- (6 M women). Tuskegee Airmen

Major Assets of the Allies Once the US and Russia Join Britain

·        Br – sea power – Attacked by Hitler in Battle of Britain - August to October, 1940. It was alone.

·        Ru – manpower - They faced tremendous loses and continued to fight. Stalin’s policy was people fought or they were killed.  – Attacked by Hitler, June 1941; FDR extends Lend-Lease to Russia

·        US – “arsenal of democracy” (ability to manufacture and grow food incredibly fast—all that efficiency emphasis of the Progressive Era) – Attacked by Japanese, December 1941 and thus finally enters the war.

Interconnected Events in the Earlier Years of World War II: 1941 -1943

Notice: The Allies are going after weaker targets in Europe than the German military and in the Pacific than every island the Japanese conquered. Notice: The GI Bill avoids the disaster of World War I. If you do not remember the disaster, click here and look for the word vet.

 

Date

Presidential Election/Event

US Official -Unofficial Actions

Allies

Axis

US War Actions

Issue/Organization Development

1942

 

 

 

 

 

Detroit race riots;

CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) forms

1942-02

Exec. Order 9066 – Relocation[7]

 

 

 

 

 

1942-04

 

 

 

 

Draft starts

 

1942-11

 

 

Allies N. Africa campaign – victory against Vichy

 

 

 

1943-02

 

 

Ru: Victory at Stalingrad

 

 

 

 

 

US: Guadalcanal[8] secured – 6 months (New Guinea),

 

 

 

 

 

 

“leapfrog” campaign starts[9]

 

 

 

1943-06

 

 

 

 

 

Mobs against Mexican Americans (CA)

1943-07-08

 

 

Sicily victory; enter into N. Italy; Mussolini flees

 

 

 

1944-03

 

 

 

 

 

GI Bill – avoids the disaster of WWI

 


 

Interconnected Events in the Later Years of World War II: 1944 -1945

Notice: Only after the events of 1941-1943 do the Allies fight the German Army. Notice: the Cold War (undeclared war that is frequently war by proxy) that rises out of World War II.

Date

Presidential Election/Event

Allies

Axis

US War Actions

Issue/Organization Development

1944-06

 

Allies: Normandy- D.D. Eisenhower[10]

 

 

 

1944-07

 

 

 

 

Port Chicago, CA – 250 black sailors killed

1944-12

 

US/Br: Battle of Bulge – stop German counter 77K US casualties

 

 

 

1945-02

 

US: Philippines victory – 7 months

 

 

US public learns of the Holocaust-“Final Solution.”  Caution: Some of you may not want to read this footnote.[11]

 

 

Yalta[12] Accords – UN, free elections

 

 

 

1945-03

 

US: Iwo Jima – victory – 2 months

 

 

 

1945-04

FDR dead; Harry S Truman President

 

Ger: Suicide of Hitler

 

Foreign policy trends

- Cold War begins

- Presidential power up

(Note that the Cold War makes foreign policy/treat of war a constant compared to the roles of Congress and the states.)

1945-04-06

 

United Nations Conference – draft charter

 

 

 

Nation trends:

1945-05

 

Allies: Berlin falls (May 2), Ger surrenders (May 7), V-E (May 8)

 

 

- American workers’ pay increases (We have no completion in the world.)

1945-06

 

German/Berlin occupation zones est.; Ru., US, Fr, Br[13]

 

 

- Racism, as a foreign policy issue. (Hitler and later Stalin can criticize us for our racism.)

1945-07

 

Potsdam Conference – agree to trials (Nuremberg with equivalent trials in Japan)

Japan: Rejects unconditional surrender

US: Successful atomic bomb test (Jul. 17)

 

1945-08

 

US: Hiroshima, atomic bomb
(Aug. 6); Nagasaki (Aug. 9);
V-J Day (Aug. 15)

Emperor Hirohito encourages surrender.

 

 

 

US alone: occupies Japan

 

 

 


Groups and Institutions Arising from this War

Notice: Each of the groups and institutions, especially how they change by the last time period.

Group/Institution

World War II to US War Declaration

World War II, early (1941-1943) 

World War II, late (1944-1945+)

African Americans

Threatened black march on Washington[14]

FDR: action to avoid the march[15]

Tuskegee Airmen (remember Tuskegee from Unit 1)

Tuskegee Airmen (Tip: Tuskegee was the trade school associated with Booker T. Washington)

Racism, as a foreign policy issue. (Hitler and later Stalin can criticize us for our racism.)

Policy to reduce national divisions

Example: Rationing starts for everyone—rich and poor alike

Continues

Continues until the shift to peacetime economy

Racism in general

Race riots at the end of World War I

Segregation in the South

Exec. Order 9066 – Relocation[16]

1943: attacks on Mexican Americans

Racism, as a foreign policy issue. (Hitler and later Stalin can criticize us for our racism.)

Veterans

--

--

GI Bill—including education, loans for houses, medical care (Post 1945: part of creation of middle class.)

United Nations

--

--

Notice: In a world where colonies (frequently of varied races) will be breaking away from the Br, Fr, and others who held them, these colonies will become nations. When they join the General Assembly, that world will be different. Think about it.

Women

--

Rosie the Riveter- (6 M women)

 

Continues to end of war and then ceases abruptly

Workers in factories and on farms

Prior increase in unionism in industrial unions

Continued employment during the war

Selling to a defeated world that could no longer manufacture or grow food so we held the markets. (Post 1945: part of creation of middle class.)

Optional Reference: Reminders about the US from World War I through the 1920s and How Conflicts Get Worse in the 1930s

US Trait

World War I and Initial Post War

1920s

1930s

Views on World War I and Congress

Initially in these slogans “the war to end war” and the “war to make the world safe for democracy”

Disillusion about the war, death rate/ damage

Distrust over US private banks’ loans to Allies, push for war, and ugly in realities Europe, including Ger and so-called “war guilt” clause and paying reparations

Congress passes Neutrality Acts to prevent bankers’ involvement in growing international wars (Sometimes called “cash and carry.” These policies applied to purchases by any nation at war)[17]

Veterans, economy and social conditions

Vets returning from war could not find jobs.[18]

Additional post war problems: 1st Red Scare, bombings, race riots

Illusion of prosperity but fundamentals were not sound (Examples: market saturation, stock market speculation, disparity in wages, profits and dividends)

Hoover: Crash and beginning of Great Depression.
With vets, Bonus March on Washington & US Army actions to remove them. With loan payments to US bankers, Hoover does moratorium (no payment for 18 months; never resumed)

FDR: New Deal, Great Depression continues

International methods about conflict

Treaties, but the treaty ending World War I led to problems in 1920s and 1930s

New: League of Nations

League of Nations, but the US does not:

- join the League of Nations

- sign the treaty ending World War I.

League of Nation cannot deal with the rising conflicts

 

Hoover: All the US can do is non-recognition of Japan’s China’s takeover of Manchuria.

 

Optional Reference: How Fast Did They Go to War: 1939 to 1940?

Date

US

Allies

Axis

1939-03

 

 

Ger: Makes demands on Poles (Mar. 23)

 

 

Br, Fr: Promise aid to Poles (Mar. 31)

 

1939-04

 

 

Italy: Invades Albania (Apr. 7)

 

US/FDR: to Hitler and Mussolini asking assurances (Apr. 15)

 

 

1939-05

 

 

Ger/Italy: Military alliance (May 22)

1939-08

 

 

Ger/Ru: Non-aggression pact (Aug. 23)

 

US/FDR: to Poles, Hitler, Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel for negotiation (Aug. 24)

 

 

 

 

Poles: Accept conciliation. No response so mobilize (Aug. 31)

 

1939-09

 

 

Ger: Invades Poland (Sept. 1)

 

Br/Fr: declare war on Ger (Sept. 1)

 

US: Declares neutrality (Sept. 3)

 

 

 

 

Ru: Invades Poland (Sept. 17)

 

 

Ger/Ru: Partition Poland (Sept. 18)

1939-11

 

 

Ru: Invades Finland. Complete (Mar. 1940)

1940-04

 

 

Ger: Invades Denmark, Norway

1940-05

 

 

Ger: Invades The Netherlands, Belgium (May 10). Fall by June.

Optional Reference: Examples: Rise of the Axis

Date

Rise of Axis Powers

1931-09

Japan:  Manchurian invasion

1933-01

Germany: Hitler, Chancellor

1935-05

Italy: Invades Ethiopia

1936

Germany: Reoccupies the Rhineland

Germany, Italy: Mutual defense pact

Germany, Japan: Mutual defense pact

Spanish Civil War (Germany and Italy practice warfare methods as allies of F. Franco

1937-12

Japan: Bombs US Panay in Yangtze River in China

Japan: As part of attacks on China (with high Chinese dead counts), fall of the city of Nanking (Nanjing), Rape of Nanking – torture, rape, mass murder

1938

Germany takes Sudetenland (the militarized section of Czechoslovakia that was a barrier to Germany) ; Munich – Chamberlain and the French leader agree to appeasement

1938-11

Kristallnacht – the first public attack on the Jews

 

 

 

Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2020

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or bibusc@wcjc.edu

Last Updated:

2020

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/

 

 



[1] Military research, including the atomic bomb (or Manhattan Project), with Albert Einstein alerting FDR of German research. Other weapons: radar, sonar, firebombs.

[2] FDR helped the Allies without war. US could build bases in British island colonies in the Caribbean. Britain got 50 old destroyers from the US

[3] During 1941, threat by A. Phillip Randolph – African American leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Reminder: with German and Italian racism, the US cannot afford to look racist too in a world comparing the sides at war. Think about it.

[4] Following the election of 1940, Congress passed the Lend-Lease Bill. It allowed the president to lend or lease (notice these words don’t mean sell) “military equipment to ‘any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States.”

[5]  The federal government creates the Fair Employment Practice Committee (FEPC) in return for no march.

[6] 1941-12 Japan takes Guam, Wake Island, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dutch East Indies, and others; Corregidor surrenders May; Bataan Death March follows

[7] Had to sell all property in 48 hours; only what they could carry. Internment camps for Japanese and American-born children. 1988 – Congress – survivors $20K reparations

[8] The Japanese had held (see 1941-12) key territories without defeats—with Guadalcanal Island being their first.

[9] After Guadalcanal, the US strategy —called leapfrogging (for the very old kid’s game) or “wither on the vine” (if you nip or cut a vine, the fruit on it withers)–becomes bombing Japanese airbases and leaving the Japanese troops in place on the islands but without a way to supply the soldier.

[10] The optional primaries for this chapter cover some of the challenges of D-Day.

[11] Caution: Some of you may not want to read this footnote:
These methods solved the challenges of mass murder in the millions:

- Gas chamber that looks like a shower, tricking people arriving at the concentration camp to remove their own clothes

- Gas as a very efficient way to kill—one that does not require the murder to face directly the victim

- Forcing a few Jews in the concentration camp to drag the bodies to furnaces. (They had a vile stench from what I have read.)

- Using an earlier predecessor of computing to log the victims by the number tattooed on the victim and to log what was stolen

[12] FDR, Churchill, Stalin agree to the United Nations. Stalin promises aid in war against Japan, but our use of the atomic bomb ends that need. Stalin agrees to free and open elections in Eastern Europe, areas the Russians hold, but he does not.

[13] Later West Germany (prior US, Fr, Br zones) and East Germany (prior Ru zone) and later still a unified Germany

[14] During 1941, march threatened by A. Phillip Randolph –  leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

[15] 1941-06:  The federal government creates the Practices Commission (FEPC) in return for no march

[16] Had to sell all property in 48 hours; only what they could carry. Internment camps for Japanese and American-born children. 1988 – Congress – survivors $20K reparations

[17] US gets around this by FDR’s executive order the Destroyer-Bases Agreement and by Congress with the Lend-Lease Bill.

[18] In World War II, the prevention is the GI Bill.