The stock market crashed. High costing stocks were now useless, employment rates skyrocketed. Industrial production began slowing down. Any farmers couldn't pay their mortgage and lost their land. Local governments had to open up charity soup kitchens to keep people feed. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president at the time. Started a program called the New Deal. Government agencies gave financial help to failing businesses. Advisors believed government spending would create jobs and therefore help the unemployed. He plan succeeded and it gave America a good impression. (1)
Protests during the Great Depression
Rise of Dictators
Mussolini is head of fascist movement. Fascism is a party or ideology that puts the government above the individual often at expense of their rights. This fight in with the nationalism the countries were feeling. He promised to rescue Italy by rebuilding its armed forces and aiding its failing economy. He helped create the growing fascist party, soon he supported Fascists who harassed and assaulted communists and socialists streets. Soon fascists marched on Rome and demanded that Mussolini be put in charge.
The fascist Mussolini
Hitler was a leader in the Nazi party. The nazi party already had its own militia. The nazis planned overthrow the government, but they were found out. He was imprisoned, but even from there he spoke his ideas. He wrote a book about why Germany was in ruins, the book blamed the Jews for much of the trouble. He told the Germans they were the master race and needed more living space. Nazis became the largest party they influenced politicians to make Hitler chancellor. As chancellor he blamed the communists to gain favor.
Hungary also had communists powers, but soon they joined and made Admiral Miklós Horthy a dictator. Poland also had a dictator gain control. The only European nations with a strong democratic stand were Scandinavia, Britain, and France. (1)
Hitler the ruler of Nazi Germany
Beginning Battles of WWII
Although, at first, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact he went ahead and conquered Poland. This lead to both Britain and France declaring war on the Germans. Germany used the Blitzkrieg, or lightning war, to conquer. This started off the war. One of the major battles was the Battle of Britain, this battle was comprised of bombings on key points. Radar was made to predict attacks. The North Africa campaign was over the Mediterranean area in Africa. This was the area that the Nazis fought for in the south. The allies were losing men and ground. In the northern the Soviets struggled to take Finland in the harsh conditions. J Germany took both Denmark and Norway in order to fight Britain more efficiently. Hitler marched his armies south take France at the same time. The war would continue to be mostly dominated by the Axis until U.S. involvement. (1)
U.S. involvement
When the war started most Americans didn't want to be involved so congress passed neutrality acts to keep them out of the war, this made it illegal to sell weapons or lend money to any country. President Roosevelt then asked congress to pass the lend-lease act which allowed him to lend or lease arms and supplies to countries that were vital to the U.S. Which they passed. Because of this u-boats were sent to sink any cargo ship. Around this time President Roosevelt and Churchill also met secretly to discuss the Atlantic Charter which allowed people to choose their own government and upheld free trade. Later a u-boat fired on a U.S. Destroyer, because of this they were supposed to fire on any German submarine on site. What really brought the U.S. into the war was that on December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor with bombing raids. They sunk or damaged 19 ships including 8 battleships, 2,300 people died and 1,100 were wounded. This attack brought the U.S. into the war and were fighting with the allies. The U.S. fought for control for the pacific and sent bombing raids to Japan. The U.S. also fought when they invaded Africa, Italy, and helped fight on D-Day. (1)
The Holocaust
Jews were targeted by Germans for their roots in history and blamed them for economic failure and their WWI defeat. Herschel Grynszpan, a Jew, shot a German diplomat to avenge his father. This launched an attack on the Jewish Community. They began rounding up Jews and putting them into camps. November 9, 1938 is known as the "Night of the Broken Glass", because of the many shop and house windows smashed in Jewish buildings. Many Jews tried to escape and fled to other countries. Hitler thought that was a good solution, although other countries had trouble handling them. The genera a began isolating areas known as ghettos to hold them. Hen that didn't have the desired effect he decided on a final solution. He would round them up for them into camps where that would be underfed and overworked. If the prisoner wasn't what they wanted he/she would be shot. The camps often would include gas chambers for the Jews to be poisoned and then burned. He wanted a pursue of all Aryans. In some camps revolts lead to a brief freedom before being hunted and killed. Some were lucky to get out of the country or avoid being caught, but only four million of the six million survived. (1)
Holocaust prisoners
Japan's Role
The military leaders of Japan's also had similar ambitions to Hitler, so in September of 1940 they signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. In this treaty they agreed to help each other and help fight incase of war. They were called the axis power. Japan started to bring troops into French Indochina and the U.S. responded by putting bans and restrictions on trading with Japan. A year later on December 17, 1941 Japan went to war on the U.S. and bombed Pearl Harbor which ended up bringing the U.S. into the war. The next thing Japan tried to do was take over much of the Pacific Ocean islands and also take a lot of land in Southeast Asia. In the beginning they were very successful with their plan, but then at the battle of midway in June of 1942 they lost much of their momentum. Even after that they kept on fighting and wouldn't stop until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they surrendered on August 15, 1945. (2)
Major WWII Battles
Battle of the Bulge- The last major nazi attack on Ally forces. At first it looked like an Axis victory, but due to lack of arsenal and reinforcements they failed. (3) It was fought in western Germany with the hopes of splitting U.S. and British forces.(1)
Battle of Berlin- considered the last major battle of World War II. It was fought by Germany trying to hold off against the Russians in the east, but the German were exhausted and prepared. Historians believe the outcome of the battle lead to Hitler committing suicide wit his comrades. (3)
Pearl Harbor- First attack carried out on the U.S. lead by the Japanese navy against an American port. Bomber rained down on buildings and torpedoes took out boats. Roughly 2,400 people were killed and many boats, factories, and homes were destroyed.(3) This was a leading cause of U.S. involvement.
Battle of Normandy- Known as d-day this large scale operation was carried out by the Alilies to retake France. This was meant to be an unexpected amphibious mission. It had enough success to lead the U.S. into having land on French soil. Around 425,000 soldiers of either side were killed. (3)
The Allied Victory
The Allies wanted to split up their forces by going through Africa and Southern Europe. Stalin was angered because this meant he had to fight all alone up in the Soviet Union. In North Africa General Rommel of Germany had taken an Egyptian village near Alexandria, the British sent General Montgomery to fight them. By the time he made it there the Germans had dug themselves deeply in village and their was no possible away around them without suffering heavy casualties. To get around them Montgomery decided to go right through them, and after a few days the Germans retreat, but a force of mostly Americans led by Eisenhower came from behind and together they crushed the Germans. Back in the Soviet Union the Germans were moving through and were held in Moscow, their next move was to capture oil fields and to capture the city of Stalingrad. Stalin told his troops to hold the city even if it meant death. Even though the Germans held 90% of the city the Soviet Union kept on fighting. Then a harsh Russian winter hit the Germans hard and they ended up finding themselves surrounded by the Soviet troops and caught off from all supplies. 90,000 German troops surrendered and the tides of war started to change with the Soviets pushing the Germans west. (1)
Churchill decided it would be best to land in Sicily and attack Italy. They took Sicily and then the Italians surrendered. Then the Germans came in and attacked and took northern Italy, eventually though the allies pushed passed them and took Rome but fighting still lasted for a while. D-Day was what won the war for the allies. They attacked the shoreline of Normandy, but set up a fake invasion which was positioned at the port of Calasis. Then after a month of fighting they broke through enemy lines and were headed to free the rest of Europe. As the allies moved on towards Germany, German troops ambushed them and broke through weak american lines. This battle was called the battle of the bulge. The battle was quick and it was easy for the Americans to push them back because the Germans had no reinforcements. A little while later the allies closed around Berlin. Hitler prepared for his end by marrying and then both him and his wife committed suicide. The Germans unconditionally surrendered. (1)
In the pacific the Americans were pushing through the Japanese forces and they ended up landing on the island of Leyte. To halt the allied advance the Japanese were going to try to full out destroy the fleet but in the process it might cost them their own fleet if they lose. The Japanese ended up losing the battle drastically and their entire fleet was destroyed. Then the allies were able to land on the island of Okinawa where they fought a very bad and bloody fight costing over 100,000 troops both allied and Japanese. The next step was to invade Japan but it would be too costly so they just dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (1)
Hardcore WWII Soldier: "Mad Jack" Churchill
John Churchill was an English soldier in World War II. His most notable attack was the invasion of Dunkirk. He was one of the first out of the boat, carrying a Scottish basket-halted claybeg (sword) and an English longbow.(4). He was able to take full company's of men at sword point, by sneaking out at night and catching them off guard. He is also credited for the last longbow kill in history. Two of his most notable hobbys were riding his motorcycle or looking down the barrels of heavy artiller. When he and his troops where sent to take the island of Brač, he was one of the only seven to survive the charge. For the next few minutes he was recorded bagpiping the song "Will Ye Come No Back Again"(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JAIAN4fUMCg) until knocked unconscious with a nazi grenade. The Nazis decide not to kill him because he could be interrogated, they suspected he was related to Winston Churchill, and out of pure respect and honor. They realized he had no value able information and were intimidated by him, so they sent him to a camp. He soon escaped and was then transferred to an Italian camp of which he again escaped. After the war he stayed involved in military in Burma and retired in 1959.(5)
Europe and Japan in Ruins
Europe's land laid in ruin and their agricultural protection was low because of all the damage done to farm land by bombs and machines of war. Many people were left homeless and even more civilians were killed because of the war and bombings. Some cities were left mainly untouched like Paris, Rome, and Brussels, but many others were left destroyed and had to endure terrible conditions. Civilians lived in half destroyed houses or in underground cellars formed out of the rubble from broken buildings. People had little to no food or water, and shelter was hard to come by. Since there weren't any men to harvest food or transport it food never really made it to the cities. When winter came many died because of having no shoes and coats and the freezing temperatures killed them. Eventually people started to blame their governments and many people vied for a communist government, but after a few violent strikes from them they soon opted for a non-communist party.
Europe wasn't the only one in ruins, Japan was also suffering from the war. Like Europe many of their cities were destroyed and reduced to ruble by bombing raids. Their cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were nothing and were just empty wastelands destroyed by the atomic bombs of the U.S. General MacArthur, who accepted the surrender of Japan, took control of the U.S. occupation of Japan. He tried to keep a long lasting peace in Japan to prevent any future wars. He did this by enforcing demilitarization, he started bringing Japanese war criminals to justice, and he also started democratization. Then in February of 1946 the Americans started a new constitution for the Japanese, they have them a constitutional monarchy (like Britain). The Americans and Japanese signed a treaty ending all war, and then American occupation was over, but the Japanese still wanted American protection since they didn't have an army. The Americans and Japanese were now friends. (1)
The Great Depression
The stock market crashed. High costing stocks were now useless, employment rates skyrocketed. Industrial production began slowing down. Any farmers couldn't pay their mortgage and lost their land. Local governments had to open up charity soup kitchens to keep people feed. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president at the time. Started a program called the New Deal. Government agencies gave financial help to failing businesses. Advisors believed government spending would create jobs and therefore help the unemployed. He plan succeeded and it gave America a good impression. (1)
Rise of Dictators
Mussolini is head of fascist movement. Fascism is a party or ideology that puts the government above the individual often at expense of their rights. This fight in with the nationalism the countries were feeling. He promised to rescue Italy by rebuilding its armed forces and aiding its failing economy. He helped create the growing fascist party, soon he supported Fascists who harassed and assaulted communists and socialists streets. Soon fascists marched on Rome and demanded that Mussolini be put in charge.
Hitler was a leader in the Nazi party. The nazi party already had its own militia. The nazis planned overthrow the government, but they were found out. He was imprisoned, but even from there he spoke his ideas. He wrote a book about why Germany was in ruins, the book blamed the Jews for much of the trouble. He told the Germans they were the master race and needed more living space. Nazis became the largest party they influenced politicians to make Hitler chancellor. As chancellor he blamed the communists to gain favor.
Hungary also had communists powers, but soon they joined and made Admiral Miklós Horthy a dictator. Poland also had a dictator gain control. The only European nations with a strong democratic stand were Scandinavia, Britain, and France. (1)
Beginning Battles of WWII
Although, at first, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact he went ahead and conquered Poland. This lead to both Britain and France declaring war on the Germans. Germany used the Blitzkrieg, or lightning war, to conquer. This started off the war. One of the major battles was the Battle of Britain, this battle was comprised of bombings on key points. Radar was made to predict attacks. The North Africa campaign was over the Mediterranean area in Africa. This was the area that the Nazis fought for in the south. The allies were losing men and ground. In the northern the Soviets struggled to take Finland in the harsh conditions. J Germany took both Denmark and Norway in order to fight Britain more efficiently. Hitler marched his armies south take France at the same time. The war would continue to be mostly dominated by the Axis until U.S. involvement. (1)
U.S. involvement
When the war started most Americans didn't want to be involved so congress passed neutrality acts to keep them out of the war, this made it illegal to sell weapons or lend money to any country. President Roosevelt then asked congress to pass the lend-lease act which allowed him to lend or lease arms and supplies to countries that were vital to the U.S. Which they passed. Because of this u-boats were sent to sink any cargo ship. Around this time President Roosevelt and Churchill also met secretly to discuss the Atlantic Charter which allowed people to choose their own government and upheld free trade. Later a u-boat fired on a U.S. Destroyer, because of this they were supposed to fire on any German submarine on site. What really brought the U.S. into the war was that on December 7, 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor with bombing raids. They sunk or damaged 19 ships including 8 battleships, 2,300 people died and 1,100 were wounded. This attack brought the U.S. into the war and were fighting with the allies. The U.S. fought for control for the pacific and sent bombing raids to Japan. The U.S. also fought when they invaded Africa, Italy, and helped fight on D-Day. (1)
The Holocaust
Jews were targeted by Germans for their roots in history and blamed them for economic failure and their WWI defeat. Herschel Grynszpan, a Jew, shot a German diplomat to avenge his father. This launched an attack on the Jewish Community. They began rounding up Jews and putting them into camps. November 9, 1938 is known as the "Night of the Broken Glass", because of the many shop and house windows smashed in Jewish buildings. Many Jews tried to escape and fled to other countries. Hitler thought that was a good solution, although other countries had trouble handling them. The genera a began isolating areas known as ghettos to hold them. Hen that didn't have the desired effect he decided on a final solution. He would round them up for them into camps where that would be underfed and overworked. If the prisoner wasn't what they wanted he/she would be shot. The camps often would include gas chambers for the Jews to be poisoned and then burned. He wanted a pursue of all Aryans. In some camps revolts lead to a brief freedom before being hunted and killed. Some were lucky to get out of the country or avoid being caught, but only four million of the six million survived. (1)
Japan's Role
The military leaders of Japan's also had similar ambitions to Hitler, so in September of 1940 they signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy. In this treaty they agreed to help each other and help fight incase of war. They were called the axis power. Japan started to bring troops into French Indochina and the U.S. responded by putting bans and restrictions on trading with Japan. A year later on December 17, 1941 Japan went to war on the U.S. and bombed Pearl Harbor which ended up bringing the U.S. into the war. The next thing Japan tried to do was take over much of the Pacific Ocean islands and also take a lot of land in Southeast Asia. In the beginning they were very successful with their plan, but then at the battle of midway in June of 1942 they lost much of their momentum. Even after that they kept on fighting and wouldn't stop until the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they surrendered on August 15, 1945. (2)
Major WWII Battles
Battle of the Bulge- The last major nazi attack on Ally forces. At first it looked like an Axis victory, but due to lack of arsenal and reinforcements they failed. (3) It was fought in western Germany with the hopes of splitting U.S. and British forces.(1)
Battle of Berlin- considered the last major battle of World War II. It was fought by Germany trying to hold off against the Russians in the east, but the German were exhausted and prepared. Historians believe the outcome of the battle lead to Hitler committing suicide wit his comrades. (3)
Pearl Harbor- First attack carried out on the U.S. lead by the Japanese navy against an American port. Bomber rained down on buildings and torpedoes took out boats. Roughly 2,400 people were killed and many boats, factories, and homes were destroyed.(3) This was a leading cause of U.S. involvement.
Battle of Normandy- Known as d-day this large scale operation was carried out by the Alilies to retake France. This was meant to be an unexpected amphibious mission. It had enough success to lead the U.S. into having land on French soil. Around 425,000 soldiers of either side were killed. (3)
The Allied Victory
The Allies wanted to split up their forces by going through Africa and Southern Europe. Stalin was angered because this meant he had to fight all alone up in the Soviet Union. In North Africa General Rommel of Germany had taken an Egyptian village near Alexandria, the British sent General Montgomery to fight them. By the time he made it there the Germans had dug themselves deeply in village and their was no possible away around them without suffering heavy casualties. To get around them Montgomery decided to go right through them, and after a few days the Germans retreat, but a force of mostly Americans led by Eisenhower came from behind and together they crushed the Germans. Back in the Soviet Union the Germans were moving through and were held in Moscow, their next move was to capture oil fields and to capture the city of Stalingrad. Stalin told his troops to hold the city even if it meant death. Even though the Germans held 90% of the city the Soviet Union kept on fighting. Then a harsh Russian winter hit the Germans hard and they ended up finding themselves surrounded by the Soviet troops and caught off from all supplies. 90,000 German troops surrendered and the tides of war started to change with the Soviets pushing the Germans west. (1)
Churchill decided it would be best to land in Sicily and attack Italy. They took Sicily and then the Italians surrendered. Then the Germans came in and attacked and took northern Italy, eventually though the allies pushed passed them and took Rome but fighting still lasted for a while. D-Day was what won the war for the allies. They attacked the shoreline of Normandy, but set up a fake invasion which was positioned at the port of Calasis. Then after a month of fighting they broke through enemy lines and were headed to free the rest of Europe. As the allies moved on towards Germany, German troops ambushed them and broke through weak american lines. This battle was called the battle of the bulge. The battle was quick and it was easy for the Americans to push them back because the Germans had no reinforcements. A little while later the allies closed around Berlin. Hitler prepared for his end by marrying and then both him and his wife committed suicide. The Germans unconditionally surrendered. (1)
In the pacific the Americans were pushing through the Japanese forces and they ended up landing on the island of Leyte. To halt the allied advance the Japanese were going to try to full out destroy the fleet but in the process it might cost them their own fleet if they lose. The Japanese ended up losing the battle drastically and their entire fleet was destroyed. Then the allies were able to land on the island of Okinawa where they fought a very bad and bloody fight costing over 100,000 troops both allied and Japanese. The next step was to invade Japan but it would be too costly so they just dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (1)
Hardcore WWII Soldier: "Mad Jack" Churchill
John Churchill was an English soldier in World War II. His most notable attack was the invasion of Dunkirk. He was one of the first out of the boat, carrying a Scottish basket-halted claybeg (sword) and an English longbow.(4). He was able to take full company's of men at sword point, by sneaking out at night and catching them off guard. He is also credited for the last longbow kill in history. Two of his most notable hobbys were riding his motorcycle or looking down the barrels of heavy artiller. When he and his troops where sent to take the island of Brač, he was one of the only seven to survive the charge. For the next few minutes he was recorded bagpiping the song "Will Ye Come No Back Again"(https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JAIAN4fUMCg) until knocked unconscious with a nazi grenade. The Nazis decide not to kill him because he could be interrogated, they suspected he was related to Winston Churchill, and out of pure respect and honor. They realized he had no value able information and were intimidated by him, so they sent him to a camp. He soon escaped and was then transferred to an Italian camp of which he again escaped. After the war he stayed involved in military in Burma and retired in 1959.(5)
Europe and Japan in Ruins
Europe's land laid in ruin and their agricultural protection was low because of all the damage done to farm land by bombs and machines of war. Many people were left homeless and even more civilians were killed because of the war and bombings. Some cities were left mainly untouched like Paris, Rome, and Brussels, but many others were left destroyed and had to endure terrible conditions. Civilians lived in half destroyed houses or in underground cellars formed out of the rubble from broken buildings. People had little to no food or water, and shelter was hard to come by. Since there weren't any men to harvest food or transport it food never really made it to the cities. When winter came many died because of having no shoes and coats and the freezing temperatures killed them. Eventually people started to blame their governments and many people vied for a communist government, but after a few violent strikes from them they soon opted for a non-communist party.
Europe wasn't the only one in ruins, Japan was also suffering from the war. Like Europe many of their cities were destroyed and reduced to ruble by bombing raids. Their cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were nothing and were just empty wastelands destroyed by the atomic bombs of the U.S. General MacArthur, who accepted the surrender of Japan, took control of the U.S. occupation of Japan. He tried to keep a long lasting peace in Japan to prevent any future wars. He did this by enforcing demilitarization, he started bringing Japanese war criminals to justice, and he also started democratization. Then in February of 1946 the Americans started a new constitution for the Japanese, they have them a constitutional monarchy (like Britain). The Americans and Japanese signed a treaty ending all war, and then American occupation was over, but the Japanese still wanted American protection since they didn't have an army. The Americans and Japanese were now friends. (1)
Europe Before and After WW2
Works Cited
(1) World History: Patterns of Interaction
(2) http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/hirohito
(3) http://topyaps.com/top-10-famous-battles-of-world-war-2
(4)http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/mad-jack-churchill-a-rare-breed-of-warrior/
(5)http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/mad-jack-churchill-a-rare-breed-of-warrior/