To really understand the Great Depression and how it started, you need to look at industrial production, specifically in the United States. Many countries after WWI had a huge surplus of factory production, but after their the war, many count rise were incredibly poor from the huge amount of money they put into fighting. The citizens could not afford to pay for a lot of products. As a result, stores didn't sell a lot, meaning they couldn't buy a lot of product, and so factories had to slow down production and cut jobs. Similarly, farmers produced a lot of crops to feed the high demand, and with new technologies, like tractors, this was very easy. But after WWI, people didn't have the money to buy a lot of food, nor did they have as urgent a need to as they did during the war. Farmers overproduced dramatically, and thus were not able to pay off their loans.
The final blow came from Wall Street New York, the business Capitol of the world. Here, stock prices soared and every took loans to buy stock (buying on margin). This was very successful because stock kept rising and everyone was able to pay off their loans. Some people, however, started to wonder if prices would go any higher. A majority of people started selling stock to get the highest profit. On Black Tuesday, 16 million stocks were sold, and then the market crashed (1).
After Black Tuesday, all the stocks that were bought at high prices were basically worthless. Unemployment rates went up as industrial production went down, and soon, the economy entered what is known as the Great Depression. The stock market crash wasn't the soul cause of the depression, but it sped it up dramatically. In just three years time, factory production was cut in half, one in four Americans were unemployed, and most banks and businesses were closed.mOver nine million people lost their money that they had in their savings account.
Everyone soon started demanding payment from their overseas loans. Investors withdrew all their money from Europe to keep it safe. The U.S. Government raised tariffs on foreign goods dramatically in order to keep American dollars in America to buy American goods. Many foreign countries that relied on the American economy for trade went poor as well. Those countries raised tariffs high as well, lowering global trade by 65%.
Many countries that were dependent on American loans and stock, specifically Germany and Austria, took a huge hit as well. Austria's largest bank fell, Asian farmers and urban workers went unemployed because of the loss of trade, and Latin American countries couldn't produce enough products and crops to feed the now poor and starving U.S. and Europe.
The United States, luckily, elected President FDR. He created many public projects and opened social security to help people with money and to get a job. The United States made a safer covert, but other countries needed to elect leaders that would take away everything on order to make things right.
The Rise of Fascism
In Europe, a new dictatorship, known as fascism, was starting. This form of government was based off of extreme nationalism, where everyone was to wear certain colors, fight in the military,and pledge loyalty to a single leader.
In Italy, a man named Benito Mussolini wanted to rebuild Italy's fallen economy. He pledge strong leadership and a better economy. He gained more support as the economy worsened. He then criticized the government for not supporting Italian citizens, and after marching to Rome with his followers, became the Il Duce, or leader of Italy. With his new title of power, he abolished democracy, took out all political parties except for fascists, and used military force to kill all his enemies.
As other countries were going over fascist revolutions, Russia was going under a communist revolution. When Lenin took ideas from Marks on how a communist government should be run, many people, especially the poor, took to his side. After many years, Lenin became the leader of Russia. Shortly after he reached the top, Lenin had a stroke and died. His successor, Stalin, also expressing communist ideas, was not so kind or gentle. He immediately forced newspapers to write nothing but positive things about him and for schools to teach nothing but how great communism was. He had a secret police that monitored all mail and phone calls to make sure no one was betraying the government. Above all, Stalin was a killer. He killed anyone who stood against him, and quickly became one of the most feared men in the world.
In Germany, an extreme form of fascism called Nazism spawned. This was made possible by Adolfo Hitler, a favored politician who was jailed during WWI. After gaining control over the Nazi party, he became known as der Führer. Or gaining this title, he was jailed by veteran officials for trying to overthrow the government. After the war, however, the Sherman's were willing to accept anyone as their leader, and with German promising strong leadership and a better economy, people were willing to choose him.
Hitler officially became leader of Germany in 1933 when he was named chancellor. Hitler immediately declared new elections, which took out democratic and communist leaders and replaced them with fascists. Hitler turned Germany into a complete totalitarian government, promising his people to not only to help the economy, but to increase living space by conquering Europe. Hitler created millions of jobs by opening factories, building highways, and recruiting a massive military.
Hitler was also incredibly prejudice, believing that only the supreme humans should survive. He sought out killing gays, handicaps, non-Germans, and above all, Jews.
The start of WWII
The beginning of WWII goes back to the rise of fascism and dictatorship throughout the world. As dictators like Hitler from a Germany, Mussolini from Italy, and Franco from Spain took power, tensions started to rise in other countries who wondered if their countries would fall to fascism.
In late 1936, these countries came together with Japan, another country going through a dictatorship, and created the Axis powers. Each of these countries were now entering world affairs. Italy entered into Africa to gain colonies like how Britain and France had. Japan invaded China and Manchuria in the making of an empire. Countries fell to the Axis powers left and right, causing worries with France and Britain.
To try and create peace with Germany, the two countries gave Germany Czechoslovakia, making him happy, and hopefully, making him stop.
Hitler, however, continued taking countries. Albania was taken, and then he invaded Poland. Britain and France asked Russia to help, but Hitler planned for this. Signing a nonaggression pact with Stalin, Russia's dictator, Hitler tempted the threat of Russia entirely. As of now, he was untouchable.
In late 1939, after signing the non aggression pact with Russia, Hitler preceded into invading Poland. German soldiers crossed the border and stormed the country, even bombing Warsaw. Britain and France were finally done with compromising. They both declared war on Germany.
Russia also took a step into battle. They took over the eastern half of Poland (without violating the nonaggression pact) and also invaded Finland.
After they declared war on Germany, Britain and France lined up on the Maginot line, the border between France and Germany. Waiting for the Germans to attack, the Allies sat and stared at the Germans. A few miles away, the Germans also stared back, waiting for the Allies to attack. Because both sides didn't make a move, newspapers and other propaganda called this war the Phony War.
Then suddenly, the Germans made their move. Hitler ordered a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell within a few hours, whereas Norway fell within two months. Now, with a new practical positions, the Germans could easily launch attacks on Britain.
Germany soon started sweeping through Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. This was all part of a plot to take over France. Instead of going directly over the Maginot line, the Germans slipped through a part of Belgium called the Ardennes. They were on the French beach within ten days.
The Germans swung up by Belgium, meeting more German troops at the border. Whence in France, the Germans started trapping the Allies in a French city called Dunkirk. The allies were outnumbered, outgunned and trapped on the beach. Their backs face the sea.
After hearing this, Britain sent thousands of boats from its navy to help the trapped soldiers and rescue them from the Germans.
After the resistance in France fell apart a feet Dunkirk, French leaders and generals surrendered to Germany. Germany claimed the Northern part of France and created a puppet government in the southern part. As leader of this government, they chose, Philippe Pétain, a hero from WWI.
With the fall of France, Britain was now the only remaining country that stood against the Nazis. Winston Churchill, prime minister of Britain, was a strong believer in Britain defending itself against Germany and brought up the hopes of the citizens. And Britain needed all the hope it could get.
Hitler planned to use a full out invasion of Britain. This would be done by the Luftwaffe, Germany's Air Force. The Luftwaffe vas one of the best military groups in the world and was responsible for most of the Nazi's victories. Britain's Air Force, the RAF, despite being greatly outnumbered, was able to match the Luftwaffe. The RAF, had radar, which was able to detect German planes. They also had an Enigma machine, which decoded German messages. As result, when Germany invaded in the Battle of Britain, they had to retreat. This was a tremendous confidence boost for the Allies (1).
The Axis powers agreed that they could not take over Britain quite yet, so they started focusing on North Africa. Britain controlled Egypt at the time, and Mussolini found that it would we very valuable to Italy if Egypt fell.
After just a few weeks of battle, the Italians pushed the a British back 60 miles into the Middle East. The Britain's, however, planned a counter attack and killed thousands of Italian soldiers and imprisoned over 130000. After hearing about the weakening Italian forces, Hitler sent in a German army under the command of Erwin Rommel. Rommel was very successful name pushed the a British back to Libya. Yet again, the tides of war changed. The two sides went back and forth until Rommel took over the city of Tobruk.
At this time, Hitler started preparing to attack Russia. He decided that the best way to do so was the conquer the Balkans first. He was able to get Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria to join the axis powers. This led to the victories over Greece and Yugoslavia. With all these countries under his command, butler was finally ready to conquer Russia.
Since both countries had signed a peace treaty, Russia was not expecting a German attack. Because of this, Hitler caught the Russians off guard and pushed back 500 miles into the Soviet Union within the first few weeks. As the Russians retreated, the used the scorched earth policy to make sure Germany didn't gain any resources.
Butler decided to invade the city of Leningrad, a city with over 2.5 million Russian inhabitants. The Germans cut off the food and water supply, hoping that the citizens would surrender. People took to eating rats and birds in order to survive, and despite over a million deaths that winter, Leningrad refused to fall (1).
Hitler grew impatient, and as a result, sent a full out invasion to Moscow. This would drag the Germans into winter with very little supplies and summer clothing. The Nazis were no match for the Russians, who were well equipped and better prepared for the winter. Germany lost over half a million troops that winter.
The Holocaust
The Nazis wanted to make a new racial order for their new world after they had won the war. The Nazis called themselves the Aryans or the master race. The also made clear that all non-Aryan people were inferior. One group however was the main target; the Jews (1).
In order to support his racist ideas he used pass events to blame the Jews. Many Germans had blamed them for the cause of their failures, their defeat in World War One, and the economics problems that followed (1).
Targeting of the Jews became part of the German government policy. In 1935 the Nuremberg laws were passed which took away the rights of the Jews. They had many rights taken away: their rights to German citizenship, the type of work they could do, and the people they could marry (1).
However, what really increased Jewish prosecution was the death of a German diplomat. November 1938, a 17-year-old Jewish boy named Herschel Grynszpan was in Paris and received a postcard. It's had said that his father was deported to Poland. He wanted vengeance and so on November 7 Grynszpan shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris. The nazis used this situation to their advantage (1).
On November 9 Nazi soldiers attacked Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues across Germany and Austria. It ended in 100 dead Jews and 30,000 of them were sent to concentration camps where they later died. This night became known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass" (1).
After that night some Jews knew it was going to get worse; thus, some German Jews fled the country by the end of 1939. Sadly, many Jews stayed in Germany and Hitler conquered territories that had millions of Jews (1).
First Hitler wanted to get rid of the Jews by emigration however many countries closed their doors and didn't want the Jews. Since Hitler could no longer emigrate them he instead put them in designated cities where they crammed into ghettos, or segregated Jewish areas. These were usually sealed off with barbwire and stone walls (1).
Hitler grew tired of waiting and put in action the final solution which was actually genocide. Hitler believed that winning the war relied on the purity of the Aryan race. So he had to eliminate other groups viewed as inferior. These groups included, Roma or gypsies, Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, the incurably ill, and mainly the Jews (1).
The units from the SS went from town to town looking for Jews. They took men, women, children, and even babies to isolated areas where the SS men had the Jews dig a ditch to be shot in. Jews not reached by the SS were sent into concentration camps located mainly in Germany and Poland. The SS at these camps beat the Jews for not working fast enough. The Jews had to work seven days a week as slaves for the SS. Their meals consisted of thin soup, a scrap of bread, and potato peelings (1).
In 1942 Hitler turned towards the final solution and had extermination camps built with huge gas chambers that could kill 6,000 people a day. Later on the Nazis also built crematoriums to burn the bodies (1).
However the Jews didn't give up. In the extermination camps many Jews rose up fought to survive. In August 1943 at Treblinka and at Sobibor in October 1943 groups of Jews fought back. They killed the guards and went into the armories and took guns and grenades. In both of these revolts 300 Jews escaped however many were killed in the following days (1).
U.S. Involvement
America was involved in the war since the beginning not directly though. Since many people of America at the time were isolationist, as were the politicians, Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn't do anything directly. However three different policies were made to help aid the allies and which ended the American intent of staying out of foreign affairs (2).
The first policy was the cash and carry policy. This was requested by Roosevelt himself. It was requested on September 21, 1939 to replace the neutrality act. This would allow the sale of materials to nations at war. However the country that is buying the materials, would have to arrange the transport of the materials with their own ships. The buyers also had to pay in cash, immediately (2).
The next policy was an agreement which was between America and Great Britain. It was made on September 2, 1940. This was a trade of fifty destroyers for land rights on British possessions. This agreement however was Winston Churchill's. Since France had fallen to the Germans, Great Britain was the last democratic nation against Germany. They were also involved in the battle of the Atlantic and needed ships immediately. Churchill only got the destroyers because he told Roosevelt that if Britain fell, the islands closest to America would fall to the Germans and pose a threat. On September 2, 1940 the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, signed to transfer naval warships. The U.S. Was given land in British control for the creation of naval or air bases on a 99 year rent free lease (2)
The lend-lease act was a program in which the U.S. supplied the U.K., Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other ally nations with weapons and other utilities for war between the years 1941 and 1945. It was signed on March 11, 1941. The supplies shipped amounted to about $50.1 billion but in today's money that's $647 billion. The lend-lease act stated that the supplies given were to be used until they were to be returned or destroyed. However under this program the U.S. didn't charge for the aid and supplies provided (2)
The lend-lease act was very important in the war. It played a huge factor for the victory of the allied powers. A quarter of British munitions came from the lend-lease act between 1943 and 1944. Plans were a majority of the shipments but also was made up of food, land vehicles, and ships. This was also very helpful for Britain, seeing that they had liquidated many of their assets to pay for the cash and carry policy and were low on money (2).
Japan's role in World War II
The Japanese were the ones who brought the U.S. into the war. At the time the Japanese people were in a time of hardship. Natural disasters and economic problems caused the people to want change; Also at the time a communist movement during the time started to become popular and gained power. This group soon took power and the Japanese wanted to fix their problems with imperialism. They first attacked Manchuria but the league nations condemned them; After this the Japanese withdrew from the league. The Japanese also wanted to make a pacific empire and the only problem was the United States. So when Japan overran French Indochina, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1941, Roosevelt had oil shipments, which were being sent to Japan, stopped. Even the greatest naval strategist in the Japanese army, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, said that the U.S. Naval fleet in the Hawaiian islands was a "dagger pointed at Japan's throat" and must be destroyed (1).
So on the morning of December 7 of 1941 the Americans at Pearl Harbor were attacked by surprise by the Japanese. The Americans knew an attack was coming from a decode Japanese transmission but didn't know where. Two hours into the attack the Japanese had sunk or damaged 18 ships, eight of which were battleships. More than 2,300 Americans were killed and more than 1,100 injured. The attack puzzled the American people and the next day president Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy." Around the same time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were launching bombing raids on the British colony of Hong Kong and American-controlled Guam and Wake Island. The Japanese also sent an invasions force to Thailand (1).
Guam and Wake island were lightly defended and easily taken by the Japanese. Their next target was the Philippines. In January 1942, the Japanese went into the Philippine capital Manila. Both American and Filipino forces took up a defensive position on the Bataan Peninsula. At the same time the Philippine government moved to the island Corregidor south of Bataan. After some time Bataan fell and as did Corregidor. They took most of the pacific islands and islands near them (1).
Allied Victory
As Hitler grew ever so stronger, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union came together in order to devise a plan to stop Hitler. All three leaders, FDR, Stalin, and Churchill, agreed to attack Germany on two different fronts, weakening Hitler slowly over time.
The first major allies victory after the meeting between these leaders occurred in North Africa. As we know, General Rommel, seized North Africa from Britain. Britain sent in General Bernard Montgomery to deal with the Germans. When he arrived, the Germans had great strategical position and there was no possible way to go around them. The only way to win was to take a full out frontal attack. On October 23, the battle of El Alamein began. With Montgomery's strategy going into play, the Germans were caught completely off guard. They started retreating East, but waiting for them were American soldiers, lead by General Dwight Eisenhower. Rommel and his troops had to accept the inevitable and surrender (1).
As the British and Americans won battles on their front, Russia was preparing to beat Germany on their front. Germany had already sent the Luftwaffe on bombing raids to take down the city of Stalingrad. The city itself didn't have any strategical positions or important resources, but if the Germans took over the city that was named after Russia's leader, it would be a huge moral blow to the Soviet Union (3).
As Nazi soldiers entered the now destroyed city, thinking that they had won it, Russian soldiers surrounded the city and cut off all their supplies. The Russians didn't need to invade the city however. They just waited. The Germans in the city, however, didn't have the option to wait. Their only option was to leave, restock, and hope to come back another day to win Stalingrad. Hitler, however, was not willing to accept defeat. He told his soldiers to keep the city at all costs. With winter in action and supplies running low, the Germans slowly died off. In February 1943, the 90000 surviving Germans surrendered. Over a quarter million Germans died that winter and the whole city was destroyed. This battle, despite the immense losses on the Soviets, changed the tide of war (3).
On the other front, British and America soldiers were getting ready to invade France, but in order to do that, they had to invade Italy first. They entered at Sicily, and slowly moved through Italy. Mussolini was arrested and the Italians were defeated. However, Germany stepped in to play and seized control of Italy, putting Mussolini back in charge. As another battle commenced between the Allies and Axis Powers, the Germans were slowly pushed back. Italian resistance fighters helped as well, even killing Mussolini in the process (1).
As Germany was slowly falling apart, the United States started to mobilize for war completely. This included using all possible resources for the war and building massive factories to hold equipment for the war. The government even starting rationing most of American consumer goods, like meat, salt, rubber, nylon and soap. They even brought the national speed limit down to 35 mph in order to save gas. In addition to regulating goods, the U.S. Also regulated people. As a result of the Pearl Harbor bombing, the government built relocation camps,which were designed to keep all Japanese immigrants and Americans away from any contact with Japan. The government rounded up millions of immigrants. Many of those immigrants fought for the military despite the fact that they had family and friends living in relocation plants.
As Germany slowly weakened, and as the Axis powers fell, the Allies started planning their final blow to end the Axis powers.
In mid 1944, the invasion force was ready to attack. On June 6, 1944, soon know as D-Day, the largest land and sea attack in history commenced. Three million soldiers led by General Dwight Eisenhower landed on the beach of Normandy along with millions of other Canadian and French troops. The Germans did not expect the attack, but were still prepared. They had dug in holes and put in heavy artillery to stop anyone from getting to the mainland. They also put in huge walls and armor to protect themselves against any enemies. Over 2700 Americans died that day, but they still persisted. Over a million other soldiers landed on Normandy within the next month. Then, another American force led by General George Patton attacked German soldiers in a different beach, pushing the German forces back even further. Eventually, the Germans were pushed out of France, Belgium, and Austria (4).
Germany was now fighting on two fronts, and in a desperate attempt to fight back, Hitler launched an attack in the west. This attack, later known as the battle of the bulge, was a German attempt to stop American supply lines. The Americans were ready for a counterattack however, and despite falling back for the first few days, were able to push the Germans back. Now, the Germans had no options. The British, Americans, and Soviets, now equipped with heavy artillery, were right outside of Berlin. The forces destroyed the city, but were unsuccessful in killing Hitler. Instead, Hitler and his newly wed wife committed suicide together to avoid getting captured. A few days later, the new President, Harry Truman, received the unconditional surrender from Germany.
With the war in Europe over, the Allied powers started to focus on Japan. Japan had changed greatly since the beginning of the war. It had amassed a huge empire, and it would take many different strategies and weapons to take down Japan.
Japan had devised a plan to hold back and stop the Allied Powers by destroying the whole U.S. Fleet, cutting off supply lines. This would risk losing all of Japan's forces, however. Japan took the risk, and with it's kamikaze suicide bombers, tried as best it could to hold back the U.S. Forces.
The American soldiers were not going to back down, and after having a huge moral surge after beating Germany, they were not willing to go down. First, they took the island of Iwo Jima. After taking this island, they started heading for the island of Okinawa. This island was not so easily won. In one do the bloodiest battles in the history of war, Japan lost over 100000 soldiers. The Americans were now advancing to the center of Japan.
In early 1942, President FDR approved a top secret government project called the Manhattan Project. The goal was to create the most powerful weapon ever created using nuclear fission. Three years later, the new president, Harry Truman, was deciding whether to use it against Japan. Japan was not willing to surrender, and an invasion if the country would cost over half a million American soldiers. Truman was not willing to take that risk, so after warning Japan, and receiving their statement that Japan would not give up, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Over 80000 people were killed instantly, and thousands died later from nuclear fallout. Three days later, Truman dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. After taking two of the biggest blows in history, Japan surrendered. They had lost over 270000 citizens. The war was finally over. Now, it was time to rebuild the damaged world (1).
Saving Private Ryan
Many movies have portrayed the fighting, suffering, and victories of WWII. Most notably of these movies was Saving Private Ryan. In this movie, a captain who was successful in leading the Battle of Normandy invasion is given another task; find Private Ryan. Private Ryan is a soldier who was kidnapped by the Nazis, and all three of his brothers were killed in battle. In order to get the Private Ryan, the captain, portrayed by Tom Hanks, must win the Battle of Normandy to get to him, and more importantly, win the war. The Battle of Normandy is so greatly portrayed, as you can see the thousands of boats landing on the beach and the thousands of Germans who were prepared to defend it. The movie also shows the true sadness and violence of war, and how most people do not come back home from war in one piece. The movie won five Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, something that very few other movies can boast about.
Europe and Japan in Ruins
The following years, after the war, were horrible for people in Japan and Europe. Almost 40 million Europeans had died, two thirds of them were civilians. Cities were completely destroyed by bombings and the countryside ruined (1).
Not many cities were left unharmed from the war. Paris, Rome, and Brussels didn't take that much damage. Others were not so lucky such as Berlin. 95% of the central area in Berlin was destroyed by ally bombings. A good amount of the civilians stayed where they were and tried to continue living their lives after the huge bombings. They either lived in partially destroyed houses and apartments, cellars, and in caves created by the rubble. These people had no water or electricity and gas very little food (1).
A lot of people actually moved from where they were. They wandered all across Europe in search of their families or a safe place to live. These people included prisoners of war, refugees in wrong countries due to new national borders, and survivors of concentration camps (1).
Agriculture was hard seeing that most of the countryside was destroyed. Transportation was gone too so if any harvests were made they wouldn't reach the cities. Soon famine and disease spread throughout cities and worse was to come because winter was arriving (1).
Postwar governments and Politics
When the Germans lost some governments before the war returned quickly like the ones in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway. However the governments in Germany, Italy, and France changed (1).
Communist parties promised the people change and people wanted to hear what they had to say. In the first postwar elections communist parties made huge progress; however, the communist parties wanted to speed things up with violent strikes. French and Italians responded by voting for anti-communist parties; thus, communist membership went down and went even further down when the economies of France and Italy began to recover (1).
Next was the issue of war crimes. During the two years, 1945 and 1946, an International Military tribunal, which represented 23 nations, put on trial Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg Germany. In the first of these trials 22 nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression and for committing crimes against humanity, the killing of 11 million people. Hitler, the SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and Minster of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels call committed suicide before the trials (1).
Postwar Japan
Japan was in ruins after the war. All the large cities including Tokyo sustained huge damage. Two million people died. The atomic bombs had turned Nagasaki and Hiroshima into barren, dead cities. The allies also took Japan's colonial empire (1).
After the Japanese's surrender General Douglas MacArthur took control of the occupation of Japan. He was fair and started with the demilitarization of Japan. He left only a small police force. He brought war criminals to trial (1).
Next he focused on the democratization of Japan. February 1946 a new constitution was made for Japan and the Japanese people accepted it. Went into effect on May 3, 1947. He introduced a plan where absentee landlords had to sell their land to the government. The land was them sold to farmers at a reasonable price. MacArthur also gave workers the right to create independent labor unions (1).
The emperor became a figure head. New constitution put political power with the people. The people would then elect a two house parliament. Men and women who were citizens and above the age of 20 had the right to vote. The two house parliament would then vote a prime minster who would lead the government. There was a bill of rights to protect basic freedoms. Also in the constitution stated in article 9 the Japanese could not fight wars, only if attacked first. The U.S. and many other countries made peace treaties with Japan. Soon the American occupation was over. However since Japan was defenseless they asked the U.S. to stay and protect them (1).
Work Cited:
1: World History: Patterns of Interaction
2: Boundless.com
3: History.com
4: U-S-history.com
To really understand the Great Depression and how it started, you need to look at industrial production, specifically in the United States. Many countries after WWI had a huge surplus of factory production, but after their the war, many count rise were incredibly poor from the huge amount of money they put into fighting. The citizens could not afford to pay for a lot of products. As a result, stores didn't sell a lot, meaning they couldn't buy a lot of product, and so factories had to slow down production and cut jobs. Similarly, farmers produced a lot of crops to feed the high demand, and with new technologies, like tractors, this was very easy. But after WWI, people didn't have the money to buy a lot of food, nor did they have as urgent a need to as they did during the war. Farmers overproduced dramatically, and thus were not able to pay off their loans.
The final blow came from Wall Street New York, the business Capitol of the world. Here, stock prices soared and every took loans to buy stock (buying on margin). This was very successful because stock kept rising and everyone was able to pay off their loans. Some people, however, started to wonder if prices would go any higher. A majority of people started selling stock to get the highest profit. On Black Tuesday, 16 million stocks were sold, and then the market crashed (1).
After Black Tuesday, all the stocks that were bought at high prices were basically worthless. Unemployment rates went up as industrial production went down, and soon, the economy entered what is known as the Great Depression. The stock market crash wasn't the soul cause of the depression, but it sped it up dramatically. In just three years time, factory production was cut in half, one in four Americans were unemployed, and most banks and businesses were closed.mOver nine million people lost their money that they had in their savings account.
Everyone soon started demanding payment from their overseas loans. Investors withdrew all their money from Europe to keep it safe. The U.S. Government raised tariffs on foreign goods dramatically in order to keep American dollars in America to buy American goods. Many foreign countries that relied on the American economy for trade went poor as well. Those countries raised tariffs high as well, lowering global trade by 65%.
Many countries that were dependent on American loans and stock, specifically Germany and Austria, took a huge hit as well. Austria's largest bank fell, Asian farmers and urban workers went unemployed because of the loss of trade, and Latin American countries couldn't produce enough products and crops to feed the now poor and starving U.S. and Europe.
The United States, luckily, elected President FDR. He created many public projects and opened social security to help people with money and to get a job. The United States made a safer covert, but other countries needed to elect leaders that would take away everything on order to make things right.
The Rise of Fascism
In Europe, a new dictatorship, known as fascism, was starting. This form of government was based off of extreme nationalism, where everyone was to wear certain colors, fight in the military,and pledge loyalty to a single leader.
In Italy, a man named Benito Mussolini wanted to rebuild Italy's fallen economy. He pledge strong leadership and a better economy. He gained more support as the economy worsened. He then criticized the government for not supporting Italian citizens, and after marching to Rome with his followers, became the Il Duce, or leader of Italy. With his new title of power, he abolished democracy, took out all political parties except for fascists, and used military force to kill all his enemies.
As other countries were going over fascist revolutions, Russia was going under a communist revolution. When Lenin took ideas from Marks on how a communist government should be run, many people, especially the poor, took to his side. After many years, Lenin became the leader of Russia. Shortly after he reached the top, Lenin had a stroke and died. His successor, Stalin, also expressing communist ideas, was not so kind or gentle. He immediately forced newspapers to write nothing but positive things about him and for schools to teach nothing but how great communism was. He had a secret police that monitored all mail and phone calls to make sure no one was betraying the government. Above all, Stalin was a killer. He killed anyone who stood against him, and quickly became one of the most feared men in the world.
In Germany, an extreme form of fascism called Nazism spawned. This was made possible by Adolfo Hitler, a favored politician who was jailed during WWI. After gaining control over the Nazi party, he became known as der Führer. Or gaining this title, he was jailed by veteran officials for trying to overthrow the government. After the war, however, the Sherman's were willing to accept anyone as their leader, and with German promising strong leadership and a better economy, people were willing to choose him.
Hitler officially became leader of Germany in 1933 when he was named chancellor. Hitler immediately declared new elections, which took out democratic and communist leaders and replaced them with fascists. Hitler turned Germany into a complete totalitarian government, promising his people to not only to help the economy, but to increase living space by conquering Europe. Hitler created millions of jobs by opening factories, building highways, and recruiting a massive military.
Hitler was also incredibly prejudice, believing that only the supreme humans should survive. He sought out killing gays, handicaps, non-Germans, and above all, Jews.
The start of WWII
The beginning of WWII goes back to the rise of fascism and dictatorship throughout the world. As dictators like Hitler from a Germany, Mussolini from Italy, and Franco from Spain took power, tensions started to rise in other countries who wondered if their countries would fall to fascism.
In late 1936, these countries came together with Japan, another country going through a dictatorship, and created the Axis powers. Each of these countries were now entering world affairs. Italy entered into Africa to gain colonies like how Britain and France had. Japan invaded China and Manchuria in the making of an empire. Countries fell to the Axis powers left and right, causing worries with France and Britain.
To try and create peace with Germany, the two countries gave Germany Czechoslovakia, making him happy, and hopefully, making him stop.
Hitler, however, continued taking countries. Albania was taken, and then he invaded Poland. Britain and France asked Russia to help, but Hitler planned for this. Signing a nonaggression pact with Stalin, Russia's dictator, Hitler tempted the threat of Russia entirely. As of now, he was untouchable.
In late 1939, after signing the non aggression pact with Russia, Hitler preceded into invading Poland. German soldiers crossed the border and stormed the country, even bombing Warsaw. Britain and France were finally done with compromising. They both declared war on Germany.
Russia also took a step into battle. They took over the eastern half of Poland (without violating the nonaggression pact) and also invaded Finland.
After they declared war on Germany, Britain and France lined up on the Maginot line, the border between France and Germany. Waiting for the Germans to attack, the Allies sat and stared at the Germans. A few miles away, the Germans also stared back, waiting for the Allies to attack. Because both sides didn't make a move, newspapers and other propaganda called this war the Phony War.
Then suddenly, the Germans made their move. Hitler ordered a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway. Denmark fell within a few hours, whereas Norway fell within two months. Now, with a new practical positions, the Germans could easily launch attacks on Britain.
Germany soon started sweeping through Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. This was all part of a plot to take over France. Instead of going directly over the Maginot line, the Germans slipped through a part of Belgium called the Ardennes. They were on the French beach within ten days.
The Germans swung up by Belgium, meeting more German troops at the border. Whence in France, the Germans started trapping the Allies in a French city called Dunkirk. The allies were outnumbered, outgunned and trapped on the beach. Their backs face the sea.
After hearing this, Britain sent thousands of boats from its navy to help the trapped soldiers and rescue them from the Germans.
After the resistance in France fell apart a feet Dunkirk, French leaders and generals surrendered to Germany. Germany claimed the Northern part of France and created a puppet government in the southern part. As leader of this government, they chose, Philippe Pétain, a hero from WWI.
With the fall of France, Britain was now the only remaining country that stood against the Nazis. Winston Churchill, prime minister of Britain, was a strong believer in Britain defending itself against Germany and brought up the hopes of the citizens. And Britain needed all the hope it could get.
Hitler planned to use a full out invasion of Britain. This would be done by the Luftwaffe, Germany's Air Force. The Luftwaffe vas one of the best military groups in the world and was responsible for most of the Nazi's victories. Britain's Air Force, the RAF, despite being greatly outnumbered, was able to match the Luftwaffe. The RAF, had radar, which was able to detect German planes. They also had an Enigma machine, which decoded German messages. As result, when Germany invaded in the Battle of Britain, they had to retreat. This was a tremendous confidence boost for the Allies (1).
The Axis powers agreed that they could not take over Britain quite yet, so they started focusing on North Africa. Britain controlled Egypt at the time, and Mussolini found that it would we very valuable to Italy if Egypt fell.
After just a few weeks of battle, the Italians pushed the a British back 60 miles into the Middle East. The Britain's, however, planned a counter attack and killed thousands of Italian soldiers and imprisoned over 130000. After hearing about the weakening Italian forces, Hitler sent in a German army under the command of Erwin Rommel. Rommel was very successful name pushed the a British back to Libya. Yet again, the tides of war changed. The two sides went back and forth until Rommel took over the city of Tobruk.
At this time, Hitler started preparing to attack Russia. He decided that the best way to do so was the conquer the Balkans first. He was able to get Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria to join the axis powers. This led to the victories over Greece and Yugoslavia. With all these countries under his command, butler was finally ready to conquer Russia.
Since both countries had signed a peace treaty, Russia was not expecting a German attack. Because of this, Hitler caught the Russians off guard and pushed back 500 miles into the Soviet Union within the first few weeks. As the Russians retreated, the used the scorched earth policy to make sure Germany didn't gain any resources.
Butler decided to invade the city of Leningrad, a city with over 2.5 million Russian inhabitants. The Germans cut off the food and water supply, hoping that the citizens would surrender. People took to eating rats and birds in order to survive, and despite over a million deaths that winter, Leningrad refused to fall (1).
Hitler grew impatient, and as a result, sent a full out invasion to Moscow. This would drag the Germans into winter with very little supplies and summer clothing. The Nazis were no match for the Russians, who were well equipped and better prepared for the winter. Germany lost over half a million troops that winter.
The Holocaust
The Nazis wanted to make a new racial order for their new world after they had won the war. The Nazis called themselves the Aryans or the master race. The also made clear that all non-Aryan people were inferior. One group however was the main target; the Jews (1).
In order to support his racist ideas he used pass events to blame the Jews. Many Germans had blamed them for the cause of their failures, their defeat in World War One, and the economics problems that followed (1).
Targeting of the Jews became part of the German government policy. In 1935 the Nuremberg laws were passed which took away the rights of the Jews. They had many rights taken away: their rights to German citizenship, the type of work they could do, and the people they could marry (1).
However, what really increased Jewish prosecution was the death of a German diplomat. November 1938, a 17-year-old Jewish boy named Herschel Grynszpan was in Paris and received a postcard. It's had said that his father was deported to Poland. He wanted vengeance and so on November 7 Grynszpan shot and killed a German diplomat in Paris. The nazis used this situation to their advantage (1).
On November 9 Nazi soldiers attacked Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues across Germany and Austria. It ended in 100 dead Jews and 30,000 of them were sent to concentration camps where they later died. This night became known as Kristallnacht or "Night of Broken Glass" (1).
After that night some Jews knew it was going to get worse; thus, some German Jews fled the country by the end of 1939. Sadly, many Jews stayed in Germany and Hitler conquered territories that had millions of Jews (1).
First Hitler wanted to get rid of the Jews by emigration however many countries closed their doors and didn't want the Jews. Since Hitler could no longer emigrate them he instead put them in designated cities where they crammed into ghettos, or segregated Jewish areas. These were usually sealed off with barbwire and stone walls (1).
Hitler grew tired of waiting and put in action the final solution which was actually genocide. Hitler believed that winning the war relied on the purity of the Aryan race. So he had to eliminate other groups viewed as inferior. These groups included, Roma or gypsies, Poles, Russians, homosexuals, the insane, the disabled, the incurably ill, and mainly the Jews (1).
The units from the SS went from town to town looking for Jews. They took men, women, children, and even babies to isolated areas where the SS men had the Jews dig a ditch to be shot in. Jews not reached by the SS were sent into concentration camps located mainly in Germany and Poland. The SS at these camps beat the Jews for not working fast enough. The Jews had to work seven days a week as slaves for the SS. Their meals consisted of thin soup, a scrap of bread, and potato peelings (1).
In 1942 Hitler turned towards the final solution and had extermination camps built with huge gas chambers that could kill 6,000 people a day. Later on the Nazis also built crematoriums to burn the bodies (1).
However the Jews didn't give up. In the extermination camps many Jews rose up fought to survive. In August 1943 at Treblinka and at Sobibor in October 1943 groups of Jews fought back. They killed the guards and went into the armories and took guns and grenades. In both of these revolts 300 Jews escaped however many were killed in the following days (1).
U.S. Involvement
America was involved in the war since the beginning not directly though. Since many people of America at the time were isolationist, as were the politicians, Franklin D. Roosevelt couldn't do anything directly. However three different policies were made to help aid the allies and which ended the American intent of staying out of foreign affairs (2).
The first policy was the cash and carry policy. This was requested by Roosevelt himself. It was requested on September 21, 1939 to replace the neutrality act. This would allow the sale of materials to nations at war. However the country that is buying the materials, would have to arrange the transport of the materials with their own ships. The buyers also had to pay in cash, immediately (2).
The next policy was an agreement which was between America and Great Britain. It was made on September 2, 1940. This was a trade of fifty destroyers for land rights on British possessions. This agreement however was Winston Churchill's. Since France had fallen to the Germans, Great Britain was the last democratic nation against Germany. They were also involved in the battle of the Atlantic and needed ships immediately. Churchill only got the destroyers because he told Roosevelt that if Britain fell, the islands closest to America would fall to the Germans and pose a threat. On September 2, 1940 the Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, signed to transfer naval warships. The U.S. Was given land in British control for the creation of naval or air bases on a 99 year rent free lease (2)
The lend-lease act was a program in which the U.S. supplied the U.K., Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other ally nations with weapons and other utilities for war between the years 1941 and 1945. It was signed on March 11, 1941. The supplies shipped amounted to about $50.1 billion but in today's money that's $647 billion. The lend-lease act stated that the supplies given were to be used until they were to be returned or destroyed. However under this program the U.S. didn't charge for the aid and supplies provided (2)
The lend-lease act was very important in the war. It played a huge factor for the victory of the allied powers. A quarter of British munitions came from the lend-lease act between 1943 and 1944. Plans were a majority of the shipments but also was made up of food, land vehicles, and ships. This was also very helpful for Britain, seeing that they had liquidated many of their assets to pay for the cash and carry policy and were low on money (2).
Japan's role in World War II
The Japanese were the ones who brought the U.S. into the war. At the time the Japanese people were in a time of hardship. Natural disasters and economic problems caused the people to want change; Also at the time a communist movement during the time started to become popular and gained power. This group soon took power and the Japanese wanted to fix their problems with imperialism. They first attacked Manchuria but the league nations condemned them; After this the Japanese withdrew from the league. The Japanese also wanted to make a pacific empire and the only problem was the United States. So when Japan overran French Indochina, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in 1941, Roosevelt had oil shipments, which were being sent to Japan, stopped. Even the greatest naval strategist in the Japanese army, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, said that the U.S. Naval fleet in the Hawaiian islands was a "dagger pointed at Japan's throat" and must be destroyed (1).
So on the morning of December 7 of 1941 the Americans at Pearl Harbor were attacked by surprise by the Japanese. The Americans knew an attack was coming from a decode Japanese transmission but didn't know where. Two hours into the attack the Japanese had sunk or damaged 18 ships, eight of which were battleships. More than 2,300 Americans were killed and more than 1,100 injured. The attack puzzled the American people and the next day president Roosevelt said that December 7, 1941 was "a date which will live in infamy." Around the same time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were launching bombing raids on the British colony of Hong Kong and American-controlled Guam and Wake Island. The Japanese also sent an invasions force to Thailand (1).
Guam and Wake island were lightly defended and easily taken by the Japanese. Their next target was the Philippines. In January 1942, the Japanese went into the Philippine capital Manila. Both American and Filipino forces took up a defensive position on the Bataan Peninsula. At the same time the Philippine government moved to the island Corregidor south of Bataan. After some time Bataan fell and as did Corregidor. They took most of the pacific islands and islands near them (1).
Allied Victory
As Hitler grew ever so stronger, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union came together in order to devise a plan to stop Hitler. All three leaders, FDR, Stalin, and Churchill, agreed to attack Germany on two different fronts, weakening Hitler slowly over time.
The first major allies victory after the meeting between these leaders occurred in North Africa. As we know, General Rommel, seized North Africa from Britain. Britain sent in General Bernard Montgomery to deal with the Germans. When he arrived, the Germans had great strategical position and there was no possible way to go around them. The only way to win was to take a full out frontal attack. On October 23, the battle of El Alamein began. With Montgomery's strategy going into play, the Germans were caught completely off guard. They started retreating East, but waiting for them were American soldiers, lead by General Dwight Eisenhower. Rommel and his troops had to accept the inevitable and surrender (1).
As the British and Americans won battles on their front, Russia was preparing to beat Germany on their front. Germany had already sent the Luftwaffe on bombing raids to take down the city of Stalingrad. The city itself didn't have any strategical positions or important resources, but if the Germans took over the city that was named after Russia's leader, it would be a huge moral blow to the Soviet Union (3).
As Nazi soldiers entered the now destroyed city, thinking that they had won it, Russian soldiers surrounded the city and cut off all their supplies. The Russians didn't need to invade the city however. They just waited. The Germans in the city, however, didn't have the option to wait. Their only option was to leave, restock, and hope to come back another day to win Stalingrad. Hitler, however, was not willing to accept defeat. He told his soldiers to keep the city at all costs. With winter in action and supplies running low, the Germans slowly died off. In February 1943, the 90000 surviving Germans surrendered. Over a quarter million Germans died that winter and the whole city was destroyed. This battle, despite the immense losses on the Soviets, changed the tide of war (3).
On the other front, British and America soldiers were getting ready to invade France, but in order to do that, they had to invade Italy first. They entered at Sicily, and slowly moved through Italy. Mussolini was arrested and the Italians were defeated. However, Germany stepped in to play and seized control of Italy, putting Mussolini back in charge. As another battle commenced between the Allies and Axis Powers, the Germans were slowly pushed back. Italian resistance fighters helped as well, even killing Mussolini in the process (1).
As Germany was slowly falling apart, the United States started to mobilize for war completely. This included using all possible resources for the war and building massive factories to hold equipment for the war. The government even starting rationing most of American consumer goods, like meat, salt, rubber, nylon and soap. They even brought the national speed limit down to 35 mph in order to save gas. In addition to regulating goods, the U.S. Also regulated people. As a result of the Pearl Harbor bombing, the government built relocation camps,which were designed to keep all Japanese immigrants and Americans away from any contact with Japan. The government rounded up millions of immigrants. Many of those immigrants fought for the military despite the fact that they had family and friends living in relocation plants.
As Germany slowly weakened, and as the Axis powers fell, the Allies started planning their final blow to end the Axis powers.
In mid 1944, the invasion force was ready to attack. On June 6, 1944, soon know as D-Day, the largest land and sea attack in history commenced. Three million soldiers led by General Dwight Eisenhower landed on the beach of Normandy along with millions of other Canadian and French troops. The Germans did not expect the attack, but were still prepared. They had dug in holes and put in heavy artillery to stop anyone from getting to the mainland. They also put in huge walls and armor to protect themselves against any enemies. Over 2700 Americans died that day, but they still persisted. Over a million other soldiers landed on Normandy within the next month. Then, another American force led by General George Patton attacked German soldiers in a different beach, pushing the German forces back even further. Eventually, the Germans were pushed out of France, Belgium, and Austria (4).
Germany was now fighting on two fronts, and in a desperate attempt to fight back, Hitler launched an attack in the west. This attack, later known as the battle of the bulge, was a German attempt to stop American supply lines. The Americans were ready for a counterattack however, and despite falling back for the first few days, were able to push the Germans back. Now, the Germans had no options. The British, Americans, and Soviets, now equipped with heavy artillery, were right outside of Berlin. The forces destroyed the city, but were unsuccessful in killing Hitler. Instead, Hitler and his newly wed wife committed suicide together to avoid getting captured. A few days later, the new President, Harry Truman, received the unconditional surrender from Germany.
With the war in Europe over, the Allied powers started to focus on Japan. Japan had changed greatly since the beginning of the war. It had amassed a huge empire, and it would take many different strategies and weapons to take down Japan.
Japan had devised a plan to hold back and stop the Allied Powers by destroying the whole U.S. Fleet, cutting off supply lines. This would risk losing all of Japan's forces, however. Japan took the risk, and with it's kamikaze suicide bombers, tried as best it could to hold back the U.S. Forces.
The American soldiers were not going to back down, and after having a huge moral surge after beating Germany, they were not willing to go down. First, they took the island of Iwo Jima. After taking this island, they started heading for the island of Okinawa. This island was not so easily won. In one do the bloodiest battles in the history of war, Japan lost over 100000 soldiers. The Americans were now advancing to the center of Japan.
In early 1942, President FDR approved a top secret government project called the Manhattan Project. The goal was to create the most powerful weapon ever created using nuclear fission. Three years later, the new president, Harry Truman, was deciding whether to use it against Japan. Japan was not willing to surrender, and an invasion if the country would cost over half a million American soldiers. Truman was not willing to take that risk, so after warning Japan, and receiving their statement that Japan would not give up, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Over 80000 people were killed instantly, and thousands died later from nuclear fallout. Three days later, Truman dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. After taking two of the biggest blows in history, Japan surrendered. They had lost over 270000 citizens. The war was finally over. Now, it was time to rebuild the damaged world (1).
Saving Private Ryan
Many movies have portrayed the fighting, suffering, and victories of WWII. Most notably of these movies was Saving Private Ryan. In this movie, a captain who was successful in leading the Battle of Normandy invasion is given another task; find Private Ryan. Private Ryan is a soldier who was kidnapped by the Nazis, and all three of his brothers were killed in battle. In order to get the Private Ryan, the captain, portrayed by Tom Hanks, must win the Battle of Normandy to get to him, and more importantly, win the war. The Battle of Normandy is so greatly portrayed, as you can see the thousands of boats landing on the beach and the thousands of Germans who were prepared to defend it. The movie also shows the true sadness and violence of war, and how most people do not come back home from war in one piece. The movie won five Academy Awards and two Golden Globes, something that very few other movies can boast about.
Europe and Japan in Ruins
The following years, after the war, were horrible for people in Japan and Europe. Almost 40 million Europeans had died, two thirds of them were civilians. Cities were completely destroyed by bombings and the countryside ruined (1).
Not many cities were left unharmed from the war. Paris, Rome, and Brussels didn't take that much damage. Others were not so lucky such as Berlin. 95% of the central area in Berlin was destroyed by ally bombings. A good amount of the civilians stayed where they were and tried to continue living their lives after the huge bombings. They either lived in partially destroyed houses and apartments, cellars, and in caves created by the rubble. These people had no water or electricity and gas very little food (1).
A lot of people actually moved from where they were. They wandered all across Europe in search of their families or a safe place to live. These people included prisoners of war, refugees in wrong countries due to new national borders, and survivors of concentration camps (1).
Agriculture was hard seeing that most of the countryside was destroyed. Transportation was gone too so if any harvests were made they wouldn't reach the cities. Soon famine and disease spread throughout cities and worse was to come because winter was arriving (1).
Postwar governments and Politics
When the Germans lost some governments before the war returned quickly like the ones in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Norway. However the governments in Germany, Italy, and France changed (1).
Communist parties promised the people change and people wanted to hear what they had to say. In the first postwar elections communist parties made huge progress; however, the communist parties wanted to speed things up with violent strikes. French and Italians responded by voting for anti-communist parties; thus, communist membership went down and went even further down when the economies of France and Italy began to recover (1).
Next was the issue of war crimes. During the two years, 1945 and 1946, an International Military tribunal, which represented 23 nations, put on trial Nazi war criminals in Nuremberg Germany. In the first of these trials 22 nazi leaders were charged with waging a war of aggression and for committing crimes against humanity, the killing of 11 million people. Hitler, the SS chief Heinrich Himmler, and Minster of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels call committed suicide before the trials (1).
Postwar Japan
Japan was in ruins after the war. All the large cities including Tokyo sustained huge damage. Two million people died. The atomic bombs had turned Nagasaki and Hiroshima into barren, dead cities. The allies also took Japan's colonial empire (1).
After the Japanese's surrender General Douglas MacArthur took control of the occupation of Japan. He was fair and started with the demilitarization of Japan. He left only a small police force. He brought war criminals to trial (1).
Next he focused on the democratization of Japan. February 1946 a new constitution was made for Japan and the Japanese people accepted it. Went into effect on May 3, 1947. He introduced a plan where absentee landlords had to sell their land to the government. The land was them sold to farmers at a reasonable price. MacArthur also gave workers the right to create independent labor unions (1).
The emperor became a figure head. New constitution put political power with the people. The people would then elect a two house parliament. Men and women who were citizens and above the age of 20 had the right to vote. The two house parliament would then vote a prime minster who would lead the government. There was a bill of rights to protect basic freedoms. Also in the constitution stated in article 9 the Japanese could not fight wars, only if attacked first. The U.S. and many other countries made peace treaties with Japan. Soon the American occupation was over. However since Japan was defenseless they asked the U.S. to stay and protect them (1).
Work Cited:
1: World History: Patterns of Interaction
2: Boundless.com
3: History.com
4: U-S-history.com