WORLD WAR IIA Review by Alicia Little

WWII in the Pacific Japanese tried to invade China

• Surprised by ferocity of Chinese response

• “Rape of Nanjing” Over 20,000 women raped by Japanese

Soldiers in China• September 1940

Japanese joins Axis Powers with Italy and Germany

Does not take advantage of opportunity to join the fight against USSR

• USA reluctant to enter war, but didn’t like Japan Stopped trading with them

• Pearl Harbor forces USA into war Lost battleships and airplanes, killed

2000 people• Japan had almost all the pacific islands to

themselves• More Rape on the part of the Japanese

soldiers Koreans, Chinese and Philippine women

forced to be sex slaves for soldiers• United Nations against the Axis Powers• Island Hopping

USA and British sending troops from island to island to kill Japanese and take back islands one by one

Japanese wouldn’t surrender; Allied forces forced to kill them all instead

This map shows the route of the Allied Forces to take the islands back from the Axis Powers

Results of the War Estimated 50 million deaths

30 million civilians Soviet Union lost most

20 million people Japan lost 2 million Germany lost 4 million Britain and USA both lost

about 400,000 6 million Jews died in Nazi

camps Also, hundreds of thousands

of Gypsies, handicapped people, homosexuals and Poles died

European countries tried to recapture colonies taken by Japanese Resistance groups arose and

many islands were not returned to Britain and France

This picture shows the German city of Frankfurt after the war. As you can see, it has been heavily attacked.

Technology and Women during the War

Dramatic increase in war technology Tanks Submarines Airplanes Tons of Troops

Huge costs Allied Forces spent a total of 62.5 million on

Armament Production Axis Powers spent a total of 18 million on

the same thing Drafts led to not enough workers at home

Tons of empty job positions Similar to WWI, women left house work to

do paid jobs Women got the vote between World Wars

one and two Allied forces wanted women to work

Powerful Female image Axis powers wanted women to be kept at

home Hitler gave money to women who left jobs to

raise family Banned Abortions Mussolini kept women out of government

offices Made tuition for girls and women double so

they were less likely to be educated

Tanks were vital to ground warfare in Europe

“Rosie the Riveter” became the role model for women on the home front

Horrors of the War Nazi obliteration of all Jewish

people and anyone below the norm First major genocide All major resources put to

exterminating an entire culture Racial hierarchy with Aryan

Christians at the top and Jews at the bottom with Poles, Homosexuals, Gypsies and Cripples on the lower end in between

Atomic Warfare New weapon capable of

destroying all life Huge debate over morality of

ending pacific war with such a powerful weapon that left such a mark

75,000 of 245,000 people in Hiroshima killed – estimated 100,000 later deaths do to after effects

The iconic mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb

Image of Humanity after the War

Elie Weisel Lived in Nazi Ghetto Sent to Auschwitz“Not far from us, flames were leaping up from a

ditch, gigantic flames. They were burning something. A lorry drew up at the pit and delivered its load – little children. Babies! Yes, I saw it – saw it with my own eyes… those children in the flames. (Is it surprising that I could not sleep after that? Sleep had fled my eyes.)… How could it be spossible for them to burn people, children, and for the world to keep silent? No, none of this could be true. It was a nightmare.”

Questions arose of how people could have ignored genocide for so long

Questions of morality of atomic bomb and testing in USA

People questioned whether the USA had to use such a devastating weapon to end the war in the pacific

Reconstruction of Japan and Germany

Japan occupied by USA until 1954

Four goals Punish war criminals Establish democratic institutions

and practices Revive devastated Japanese

economy Enlist Japanese as new ally

against USSR Germany Divided and

occupied by USA, Britain, France and USSR

Split for 45 years American, British and French

parts clumped into whole of West Germany

West side flourished while East side fell far behind the world

The Green, Blue and Yellow parts were later combined into one country collectively run by France, the UK and the USA

Important Terms and People Scorched Earth: a strategy of defensive warfare, in which everything that might be of use

to an invading army is destroyed by the defending army as it retreats Bomb Raids: WWII was host to the age of air warfare in which enemy planes would drop

bombs on civilian areas and army bases alike Keiretsu: Alliances of independent Japanese firms; successors of the pre-war Zaibatsu The Nuremburg trials: trials of the 22 most notorious Nazis for their war crimes Berlin Blockade: 1948 blockade put in place by the Russians that barred the entrance and

exit of people and supplies to and from Berlin in an attempt to gain control of the city

VS.

The Axis Powers The Allied ForcesGerman Italy Japan USSR Great Britain USA

Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party

Benito Mussolini took power and implemented fascism

Emperor Hirohito ok’d the takeover of the pacific islands

Josef Stalin was the first leader of Communist Russia

Winston Churchill motivated the people but wasn’t a good leader post-war

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman were the two presidents during WWII