Dang+Taormina

__**The History of World War II**__

__**The Great Depression**__ Stocks that were bought at high prices by people were now worthless because people could not pay the money they owed on margin purchases. Unemployment rates rose as industrial production, prices, and wages declined. A very long business slump known as the Great Depression followed. It wasn't only the stock market crash that caused the Great Depression, but it did make the collapse of the economy come a lot quicker and made the Depression more difficult. Factory production was cut in half by 1932, tons of businesses failed! and banks had closed. Around nine million people lost money that was in their savings accounts because of the Great Depression. Many farmers lost their land because they could not pay the mortgage. By 1933, one-fourth of all American workers had no jobs. (7)

American bankers demanded for their money back from the oversea loans, and American investors withdrew their money from Europe. The American market for European goods dropped sharply as the U.S. Congress placed high tariffs on imported goods so that American dollars would stay in the United States pay for American goods. This backfired and conditions were now even worse in the United States. (7)

During the Great Depression from 1929 to 1939, millions of people worldwide lost their jobs or their farms. Many people made their home in makeshift shacks. Local governments and charities opened soup kitchens to provide free food. (7)

__**Rise of Dictators in Europe**__ The Rise of Dictators have started out when it was the time of economic crisis, and people decided to turn to fascism and leaders such as Mussolini and Hitler to solve their problems because they were scared. The people looked up to Mussolini, Hitler, and fascism because they were desperate and frustrated that nobody would lead them out of their crisis and give them solutions. Germany during that time was paying reparations for World War I, and Hitler spoke a lot about nationalism and how Germany should have a lot more pride. Germany was furious that they were blamed for the cause of World War I and Hitler wanted to do something about it, while Mussolini promised many things to the Italians and the fascist party. (17)

Hitler also rose to dictatorship and he used propaganda and violence to gain power. He told and promised the people that he would do something good for them and to make things better, but he ended up putting the Jews into concentration camps. He was one of the well-known dictators of all time. He didn't handle economic crisis very well and he failed to keep most of his promises. He was considered to be selfish because wanted to create a perfect nation for only himself. (17)

Joseph Stalin also rose to power, and he did this by tricking people. He did it by using a lot of counter arguments to make another politician look bad and that would get rid of that leader, and that would lead to him rising as a powerful leader. His style of leadership was totalitarianism and that was when the people have no authority or control on anything and they can't choose on who or what they want. He created a policy for industrial expansion and he also eliminated people one by one to try to get back the land that was lost from World War I. He also used fear to get rid of his enemies. He was also a leader that ruled through the terror of the people and he had so much power that no one would want to rebel against him. Because if they did, he would instantly kill them or tortured them. He had over 2 million Russians killed for his own hate against them. (17)

The last leader that rose to power was Benito Mussolini. His way of taking power was Blitzkrieg. He rose to power by attacking a country, and promising the people things that would make the economy and country better. He used a two-fold plan to try to get the economy up to normal, but it didn't work. He style of leadership was fascism and his goals were to make Italy fascist, create a Roman Empire, and to reduce the power of the League of Nations. (17) media type="youtube" key="fRYUdCxpaWc" width="572" height="336" align="center"



__**The Beginnings of World War II**__ When the First World War ended, the winners of the war wanted the losers of the war to pay. Germany was left as victors' vindictive peace agreement. Germany began a big grudge because they were humiliated and broke. Lots of people weren't happy with the outcome, they thought they were cheated and they thought Germany hadn't been punished enough. (7)

All of the nations experienced financial troubles after World War I. Slowly, each of the nations made a recovery just in time for the world economy to spiral downward. The U.S. stock market crashed in 1929, and the economies in Europe went down pretty soon after that. No European nation was able to stop the economic downturn because they were weakened by war. They thought capitalism and democracy had failed because of the ruined economy. Since the world was one big mess, people started to look toward their governments to solve their problems. (7)

Fascism and Nazism had now started. Fascism is a political ideology in which the state is exalted above all else. Fascists believe that people reach their potential only through service to their nation. They believed that if the nation is great, then the people are great, and that the best representation of the nation's greatness is through war. Nazism is the same thing as fascism except for the race issue in Nazism. The Nazis believed that race is the fundamental trait, therefore, the defining characteristic of people. (7)

Eventually, Hitler rose to power in Germany and had the idea that everyone needed to pay and he needed to take over the world. The British and French people feared another war coming out of Hitler's desire and rage. America thought the same way and did not want to go through another war, so they isolated themselves from Europe or anywhere else in the world that could make them go to war. (7)

__**Major Battles in World War II**__ There were numerous battles that had happened during World War II. Some lasted for only days, while some lasted for months or years. World War II was known for one of the bloodiest battles of all time. There were a couple of battles that stood out because they changed the course of the war and one of them was "The Battle of France." During this battle, Hitler's goal was to invade the Soviet Union and the first step to do so was to invade the lower countries such as France. When trying to invade, the German Army was outnumbered against the allies, but it didn't matter because the German's plans were so effective. They eventually cut through the Allied defenses and they launched a new offensive against Paris, France and France fell. The country was then divided into German occupation zones and Germany was focused to knockout Britain out of the war. Another important battle was the "Battle of Midway." After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had hoped to eliminate the United States and they chose to occupy the Midway Atoll to extend their defensive perimeter, and to lure the American aircraft carriers into a fight. But instead of letting Japan attacking, the United States have broken Japanese code and they knew where and when they going to attack. The USS Yorktown was repaired after being attacked and damaged at the "Battle of the Coral Sea" and joined Enterprise and Hornet, which were carriers, for he battle. They had faced four Japanese carriers and Japan had chose to attack on Midway. Most of the American were destroyed and Japan chose to attack there again. But the American aircraft were already on their way to destroy Japan's ships. The SBD Dauntless dive bombers had destroyed four Japanese carries and it had sunk and by the time Japan had replaced them, the Unites States had commissioned two dozens of more ships. Midway paved the way for the landings at Guadalcanal, and it gave the Allies the strategic advantage to be on the offensive for the rest of the war in the Pacific. (18)

One of the most important battles during World War II was the "Battle of Stalingrad." The battle was the Midway of the Eastern Front and was a disaster for Germany. After the Red Army had prevailed at Moscow, the Eastern Front had stabilized in line running from Leningrad to Rostov near the Black Sea and Hitler had thought that he could beat the Red Army. This battle was important because it was a vital transportation route between the Caspian Sea and northern Russia, and was the gateway to the oil-rich Caucasus Sea. The battle began with the Luftwaffe reducing the city to rubble. By the end of the month of August of that year, Germany had reach Stalingrad. Germany was very strong and powerful at this time, but the Soviets were able to hold onto the city until winter and at certain points during the battle, the Germans held a 90% of the city. That didn't last long when the Red Army counterattacked in November and were able to encircle 300,000 Axis troops and the Germans sustained 841,000 casualties and the Germans were defeated. (18)

Perhaps the most important battle of World War II, was probably the "Battle of Britain." It started with the fall of France and Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis. Winston Churchill was the new British prime minister and he had already declared that his nation would not give in. Hitler turned his mind to an invasion of Great Britain and his plan was to first knock out the Royal Air Force (RAF) and then to land more than 250,000 soldiers on England's shores. In the summer of 1940, the Luftwaffe began bombing Great Britain. At first, the Germans targeted British airfields and aircraft factories. The RAF were outnumbered and began to hit back hard. There were two technological devices that helped urn the tide in the RAF's favor and one of them was an electronic tracking system which was known as the radar. The radar could tell the number, speed, and direction of an incoming warplane. Another device that helped them was a German code making machine named Enigma. Enigma can enable the British to decode German secret messages and with the information that the devices can gather, the RAF fliers could quickly launch attack on the enemy. To avoid the RAF's attacks, the Germans gave up daylight raids in October of 1940. At sunset, the wail of sirens filled the air as Londoners flocked to the subways. Some rode out the bombing raids at home in smaller air-raid shelters. The "Battle of Britain" continued on May 10, 1941 and Hitler decided to call off his attacks and to focus on the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe. The Battle of Britain taught the Allies a crucial lesson and they learned that Hitler's attacks could be blocked. (7)

__**Japan's Role in World War II**__ Hirohito was the emperor of Japan during the duration of the Second World War, and for many years to come. He took over during a time where there was rising democratic sentiment, but eventually his country would turn to ultra-nationalism and militarism. During World War II, Japan attacked most of the other nations in Asia. They then decided to ally itself with Nazi Germany and carried out the attack on Pearl Harbor. Hirohito had portrayed himself as a powerless constitutional monarch later in his life, but scholars believed that he actually played a much more prominent role in the war, by being active in the effort. After Japan's surrender in 1945, he had no political power(history.com).

Japan first got involved in the war with their historic attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Since 1931, they had gained land all across Northeastern and Central China. The Chinese resistance was dragging the war out longer, which Japan was not hoping for instead of a quick victory. This was an issue for them, because it had an effect on their economy. To increase their resources, the Japanese began going after the European colonies of Southeast Asia. Once Japan had taken over French Indochina, which was consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1941, the U.S. cut off oil shipments for them. Japan was gaining power over the years and eventually had over 1,700,000 men in their army in 1941. Of the 51 divisions that Japan had, 27 of them were stationed in China. Japan then planned simultaneous attacks on British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, along with American outposts in the Pacific. Admiral Isoruko Yamamoto, who was the greatest naval specialist in Japan, had called for the attack on Pearl Harbor's fleet. December 7th, 1941 was the day of Japan's greatest victory.

Japan was winning a war that had just begun. They attacked and captured Guam and Wake Island. Just a month after Pearl Harbor, they set their sights on the Philippines. With the Japanese forces marching into the capital of Manila, American and Filipino forces decided to set up defensive position on the Bataan Peninsula, on the northwestern edge of the Manila Bay. The Philippine government moved to the island of Corregidor, just south of Bataan. Within three long, difficult months of fighting, Bataan fell to the power of the Japanese, with Corregidor following a month later. Japan then went to the British colonies. By early 1942, they controlled Hong Kong, Malaya, and Singapore. They then took over the Dutch East Indies that were full of resources for the Japanese to take and use. Month after month of fighting, Japan finally had over a million square miles of Asian land. This was the beginning of the end of Japan's victories, however, and they didn't know it yet(militaryhistory.about.com)

Japan wanted to take over Midway Island. As the first Japanese planes got were getting in the air and ready to attack, American planes swooped in for the counter attack. Many of the Japanese's planes were still on the decks of the aircraft carriers when the Americans had come in. This ambush strategy was good thinking and ended better than expected. American pilots had in destroyed 332 Japanese planes, all four of the Japanese's aircraft carriers, and one support ships. Yamamoto pulled his crippled fleet out for withdrawal to avoid further loss. Within 3 days of the start of the battle, Japan lost.

__**U.S. Involvement**__ In October 1940, Americans were able to translate a code that the Japanese were using send secret messages. With this important new information, they were now well aware of the plans that the Japanese had for Southeast Asia. If Japan conquered European colonies there, it could also threaten the American-controlled Philippine Islands and Guam. To stop the Japanese advance, the U.S. government sent aid to strengthen Chinese resistance. When the Japanese overran French Indochina, which consisted of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, in July 1941, Roosevelt cut off oil shipments to Japan. The Japanese continued to take over in the area, even with an oil shortage on their hands. They hoped that they could catch the Europeans and the U.S. by surprise, so plans were made to carry out massive attacks on British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia and on American outposts in the Pacific at the same time. Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto had also called for an attack on the U.S. fleet stationed out in Hawaii. He was Japan’s greatest naval strategist(7).

In the early morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack was underway. U.S. military leaders had known from a coded Japanese message that an attack might come, but did not know when or where it would occur. Within two hours of the attack on the Harbor, the Japanese had sunk or damaged 19 ships, including 8 battleships, stationed in Pearl Harbor. More than 2,300 Americans were killed, with over 1,100 wounded. News of the attack stunned the American people. The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress. December 7, 1941, he declared, was “a date which will live in infamy.”(1). Roosevelt has requested a declaration of war on Japan and its allies, and had Congress quickly accepted(2).

During the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese were bombing the British colony of Hong Kong and American-controlled Guam and Wake Island, and had landed an invasion force in Thailand. The Japanese and their desire of a Pacific empire was moving quickly at this point, and the Americans had to react to the ever growing threat. Many had looked at the Japanese as victorious, but the Allies disagreed. The U.S. and Australia had begun their bombing raids in Tokyo in April 1942. Lieutenant Colonel James H. Doolittle had commanded 16 B-25 bombers that raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. They did little damage, but this raid was important to the Americans and their morale because they had just learned that the Japanese were vulnerable to an attack(4).

On May 1942, an American fleet with Australian support intercepted a Japanese strike force headed for Port Moresby in New Guinea. This was an important city, because it housed an important Allied air base. If the Americans had control over this air base, that would put the Japanese in an easy striking distance of their ally Australia(5). Japan was looking at Midway as the next battle to have. This occurred six months after Pearl Harbor. Midway Island is about 1,500 miles west of Hawaii, which houses a key American airfield. Thanks to Allied code breakers, Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was aware that a huge Japanese force was heading toward Midway. Admiral Yamamoto was commanding that large fleet. He was hoping that the attack on Midway Island would draw the whole of the U.S. Pacific Fleet from Pearl Harbor to defend the island. The Battle of Midway was the most decisive naval battle of WWII (6).

On June 4, Admiral Nimitz allowed the first of the Japanese fleet to begin their assault on the island. As the first Japanese planes got were getting in the air and ready to attack, American planes swooped in for the counter attack. Many of the Japanese's planes were still on the decks of the aircraft carriers when the Americans had come in. This ambush strategy was good thinking and ended better than expected. American pilots had been successful in destroying 332 Japanese planes, all four of the Japanese's aircraft carriers, and one of their support ships. Yamamoto, fearful of an even greater loss on his side, pulled his crippled fleet out for withdrawal. Within 3 days of the start of the battle, it was over. The Battle of Midway turned the tide of war in the Pacific(7). __**The Holocaust**__ The Nazis had a plan for Europe and were proposing a new racial order. They referred to the Germanic peoples, or Aryans, as a “master race.” This use of the term Aryan was misused. The term Aryans actually to the Indo-European peoples who began to migrate into the Indian subcontinent around 1500 B.C. The Nazis claimed that all non-Aryan peoples, particularly Jewish people, were inferior. This racist remark towards those people would eventually lead to the Holocaust, which was the systematic mass slaughter of Jews and other groups judged inferior by the Nazis(11).

Hitler needed support for his racist ideas, Hitler had hatred for Jews that had very deep roots in European history. For generations, many Germans, along with other Europeans, had targeted Jews as the cause of their failures. Some Germans even blamed Jews for their country’s defeat in World War I and for its economic problems after that war. The Nazis made the targeting of Jews a government policy. The Nuremberg Laws, passed in 1935, deprived Jews of their rights to German citizenship and forbade marriages between Jews and non-Jews. Laws passed later also limited the kinds of work that Jews could do(12).

Worse was yet to come. Early in November 1938, 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a Jewish youth from Germany, was visiting an uncle in Paris. While Grynszpan was there, he received a postcard. It said that after living in Germany for 27 years, his father had been deported to Poland. On November 7, wishing to avenge his father’s deportation, Grynszpan shot a German diplomat living in Paris(13).

When Nazi leaders heard the news, they used this casualty to their advantage so they could launch a violent attack on the Jews. On November 9, Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany and Austria and murdered close to 100 Jews. They rounded up 30,000 Jews and sent them to concentration camps, where many died. The night of November 9 became known as Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass.”(11.)

After Kristallnacht, some Jews realized that violence against them was bound to increase. By the end of 1939, a number of German Jews had fled to other countries. Many however, remained in Germany. Later, Hitler conquered territories in which millions more Jews lived. At first, Hitler favored emigration as a solution to what he called “the Jewish problem.” Getting other countries to continue admitting Germany’s Jews became an issue, however. After admitting tens of thousands of Jewish refugees, such countries as France, Britain, and the United States abruptly closed their doors to further immigration(14).

When Hitler found that he could not get rid of Jews through emigration, he put another plan into effect. He ordered Jews in all countries under his control to be moved to designated cities. In those cities, the Nazis herded the Jews into dismal, overcrowded ghettos, or segregated Jewish areas. The Nazis then sealed off the ghettos with barbed wire and stone walls. They hoped that the Jews inside would starve to death or die from disease. Even under these horrible conditions, the Jews hung on. Some, particularly the Jews in Warsaw, Poland, formed resistance organizations within the ghettos. They also struggled to keep their traditions. Ghetto theaters produced plays and concerts. Teachers taught lessons in secret schools. Scholars kept records so that one day people would find out the truth. (11)

Hitler soon grew impatient and decided to take more direct action. His plan was called the “Final Solution.” It was actually a program of genocide, the systematic murder of an entire people(4). Hitler believed that his plan of conquest depended on the purity of the Aryan race. To protect racial purity, the Nazis had to eliminate other races, nationalities, or groups they viewed as inferior—as “subhumans.” They included Roma, or gypsies, Poles, which were Polish, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, and the incurably ill. But the Nazis focused especially on the Jews. (11)

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Hitler had his task force, the SS, go into towns and villages across Europe and round up any Jews there(15). The would search every home for men, women, and even children and take them to concentration camps, where they would be prisoners work everyday as slaves, if they were not killed before loaded into the trucks. The camps were awful. With the Jews in the camps, they worked seven days a week and were poorly fed. Guards would beat them for not working fast or hard enough. Many died of starvation or disease(16).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Hitler had a plan for the end of the war on Jews. His "Final Solution" was to build large extermination camps with gas chambers capable of killing up to 6,000 people a day. The largest of the camps was Auschwitz. The Jews would be taken to the camp and separated, strong from weak. The weak would go into fake showers, where cyanide gas poured out from the shower heads and killed them in mere minutes. The bodies were then cremated(11).

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">There were times when uprisings would occur within the camps. Jews, learning that they would be sent to the crematorium to be killed, would rebel by killing guards and steal weapons to make their escape. Gunpowder was smuggled to blow up the crematory buildings during the rebellion. Few people had escaped the camps(11). Most were killed not long after. For those that did survive, however, they would join partisan groups and fight till the end of the war. __**The Allied Victory**__ Right after Pearl Harbor on December 22, 1941, Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt met at the White House to develop a joint war policy. Stalin had asked his allies to relieve German pressure on his armies in the east. He wanted them to open a second front in the west and this would split the Germans' strength by forcing them to fight major battles in two regions instead of one. All Britain and the United States could offer to help was supplies and in 1942, the Allies began to turn the tide of the war both in the Mediterranean and on the Eastern Front. (7)

The Battle of Stalingrad began on August 23, 1942. The Luftwaffe went on nightly bombing raids that set much of the city ablaze and reduced the rest of the rubble. Stalin had already told his commanders to defend the city named after him to the death. Germany controlled 90 percent of the ruined city and the Soviet troops outside the city launched a counterattack on November 19. The Soviets trapped the Germans inside and cut off their supplies. On February 2, 1943, 90,000 German troops surrendered to the Soviets. Stalingrad's defense had cost the Soviets over one million soldiers and the city was 99 percent destroyed. But the Germans were now on the defensive, with the Soviets pushing them westward. (7)

As the Battle of Stalingrad continued, Stalin continued to urge the British and Americans to invade France. But Roosevelt and Churchill decided to attack Italy first. On July 10, 1943, Allied forces landed on Sicily and captured it from Italian and German troops. The conquest of Sicily toppled Mussolini from power and Italy surrendered. When the Italian resistance fighters found Mussolini disguised in one of the trucks, they shot him and later hung his body. (7)

While all of the battles were going on, the Americans at home made a lot of contribution to the Allied war effort. They helped them by producing weapons and equipments that would help the win. Defeating the Axis powers would mean that the Allies needed to mobilize for total war. In the Unites Staes, factories converted to wartime productions and made machine guns, tanks, and much more. Many of the workers were women. (7)

To inspire their people to greater efforts, Allied governments conducted high effective propaganda campaigns. Many people produced a lot of artilleries and some saved money to buy tanks and to help finance the war. But the propagandas also had a negative effect on the war. After Pearl Harbor, prejudice arose in the United States against Japanese Americans and most of them lived in Hawaii and on the West Coast. The bombing of Pearl Harbor frightened Americans and they were scared Japan. President Roosevelt had an order to call the internment of Japanese Americans because they were considered to be a threat to the United States. They did this by gathering all of the Japanese Americans up and putting them into restricted military areas that is far away from the coast. They also did this because they thought that the Japanese Americans were going to interact and tell Japan their plans and what they were going to do. (7)

To push for victory in Europe, the Allies began to build an invasion force in Great Britain and their plan was to launch an attack on German-held France across the English Channel. By 1944, the invasion force was ready to attack. Eisenhower planned to strike the coast of Normandy and the Germans knew that the attack was coming their way, but did not know where it would be launched. The invasion of Normandy was the largest land and sea attack in history and the invasion finally began on June 6, 1944 and it was known as D-Day. During the battle, the Germans had dug in with machine guns, rocket launchers, and cannons and they sheltered behind the concrete walls and the Allies took advantage of them and had defeated the Germans. (7)

As Allied forces moved toward Germany from the west, the Soviet army was advancing toward German from the east and Hitler had to face a war on two fronts. On December 16, German tanks broke through the weak American defenses and the push into Allied lines gave the name of the battle, the "Battle of the Bulge." Eventually, the Allies would push the Germans back and the Germans had no choice but to go back because they were out reinforcements and no supplies left to attack and the war was beginning to end.

In March of 1945, the Allies rolled across the Rhine River into Germany and they closed around Berlin. By April 25, 1945, the Soviets had surrounded the capital and were pounding the city with artillery fire and while the Soviet shells burst over Berlin, Hitler prepared his end because he knew that he was going to lose and that there would be no point in fighting and battling with the Allies anymore. Hitler and his wife decided to commit suicide the next day after the Soviets had attacked and both of their bodies were burned outside. (7)

On May 9 of 1945, the Nazi surrendered and it was officially signed in Berlin. The United States and other Allied powers celebrated V-E Day in Europe. After six years of fighting, the war had finally ended. Although the war in Europe was over, the Allies were still fighting the Japanese in the Pacific and with the Allied victory at Guadalcanal, the Japanese advances in the Pacific had finally stopped. Japan had finally retreated because they knew that they were going to lose against the Allies now that the Nazis had surrendered. (7)

Japan wanted to take one more shot at the Allies, and they had a plan that would destroy the American fleet. But the plan required Japan to use all of their fleets to attack. On October 23, in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese naval had lost. After a month of fighting, the American Marines took Iwo Jima and Okinawa. On June 21, there was a battle that was the bloodiest land battles of all the battles and that ended the war with Japan. Japan had lost over 100,000 troops while the Americans lost around 12,000 troops. After the battle, Japan didn't quite surrender. (7)

To make Japan surrender, President Truman had to use atomic bombs to get Japan to surrender and he would keep using them until they did so. The first atomic bomb was exploded in a desert of New Mexico as a warning for Japan. Since Japan didn't surrender yet, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and about 75,000 people had died in the attack. Three days later, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and more than 70,000 people died. Japan finally surrendered to General MacArthur. With Japan's surrender, the war had finally ended. (7) media type="youtube" key="RIIN0Ug8wg8" width="482" height="300" align="left"

__**Europe and Japan in Ruins**__ Some great cities in Europe remained us damaged by the war, but a lot went through very bad destruction. Lots of people did not stay where they were, but they took to roads. These people usually included the survivors of concentration camps, prisoners of war, and refugees who found themselves in the wrong country when postwar treaties changed national borders. Europe's misery still continued after the war was over. The fighting and the battles had ruined the countryside of Europe and the agriculture had been destroyed. Europe blamed their leaders for the war and what it had done. Hitler's Nazi government had brought Germany to ruins. (7)

When Japan lost in World War II, they suffered the defeat by getting their country left in ruins. They lost two million lives and the country's major cities, including their capital, had been destroyed by bombing raids. The Allies stripped Japan of its colonial empire. General Douglas MacArthur took charge of the U.S. occupation of Japan. He was determined to be fair and not to try to start another war. He began the process of demilitarization, which disbanded Japanese armed forces. Then he turned his attention to democratization, which created a government elected by the people. (7)

The new constitution was the most important achievement of the occupation. It brought deep changes to Japanese society. After the tradition of Japan was to believe that the emperor was divine, one day the emperor had to declare that he wasn't divine. His power was reduced and he became a symbol of Japan. The new constitution guaranteed that real political power in Japan rested with the people. In September 1951, the United States and forty-seven other nations signed a formal peace treaty with Japan. (7)

__ **U.S. and Europe Celebrating Victory** __ <span class="s3" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">Ever since the Americans and their Allies had won the Battle of Midway, Japan’s power and influence was on a sharp decline. The Allies came together to defeat the enemies in the Pacific, while still having to deal with the European issues, like Nazi Germany. (6) <span class="s3" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">On December 22 <span class="s4" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0); vertical-align: super;">nd <span class="s3" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);">, 1941, Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt had developed a joint war policy. Stalin had asked his allies to assist with fighting on the eastern front of Germany, allowing the German army to be split on the western front also. With the army thinned out, the Allies would have a chance to weaken the Germans on two fronts before having to deal with a deathblow. (6)

On May 8, 1945, the United States and Europe celebrated VE Day, or Victory in Europe day. The war in Europe had lasted for six years, and after Hitler committed suicide, Germany had surrendered and the people in the U.S. and in Europe were content. News that the Europe war had ended was published that same day in many American newspapers. Church bells rang and the streets were filled with singing and cheering, People went to places like Trafalgar Square in London and Times Square in New York City to celebrate. Newspapers were made and everybody grabbed them. One of the newspapers had said "Germany Quits!" and another had said "Victory! Germany Gives Up." There were many political cartoons that showed how Germany had quit. The battle didn't end for another three months until Japan surrendered. Once Japan surrendered, the war had finally ended and everyone had another celebration cheering for the returning home of soldiers. (6) __ **Rosie the Riveter** __ Rosie the Riveter was an icon of the United States in which she represented women who work in factories and work yards during World War II. She was used as a symbol of feminism and for women's economic power. Her advertisement was used by the government to encourage women to volunteer for wartime service in factories. The term "Rosie the Riveter" was first used in 1942 in a sing written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. It became a national hit. The song portrays "Rosie" as a tireless assembly line worker and doing her part to help the American war effort. Nearly 19 million women held jobs during World War II and many of the women had already been working, but they decided to work in factories to help out. Rosie the Riveter was an inspiration to us all and is still an inspiration today. (6)

__ **Work Cited** __ Archives.com (1) pearlharboroahu.com/attack (2) Historynet.com (3) Doolittleraider.com (4) 2australia.gov.au (5) history.com (6) World History Patterns of Interaction (7) history.com (8) militaryhistory.about.com (9) historyplace.com (10) ushmm.com (11) jewishvirtuallibrary.org (12) roizen.com (13) remember.org (14) britannica.com (15) history.com (16) http://briannahildreth.edu.glogster.com (17) listverse.com (18)