Krista Henson

September 3, 2008

2nd Block

World War II • A global military conflict which involved a majority of the world’s nations, including all of

the great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel, making it the most widespread war in history. In a state of “total war", the major participants placed their complete economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort, erasing the distinction between civilian and military resources. Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.

• The starting date of the war is generally held to be September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by the United Kingdom, France and the British Dominions. However, as a result of other events, many belligerents entered the war before or after this date, during a period which spanned from 1937 to 1941. Amongst these main events are the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the start of Operation Bar Barossa and the attack on Pearl Harbor and British and Netherlands colonies in South East Asia.

• The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the world's leading superpowers. This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict. The self determination spawned by the war accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe itself began moving toward interrogation.

Causes of World War ll

• Failure of the Treaty of Versailles

• Appeasement, Isolationism, and the Failure of the League of Nations

• Fascism, Nationalism, Totalitarianism, and Collectivist Ideology

• Expansionism

• Economic Depression and Instability

• Entangling Alliances

Munich Conference • In 1938 Russia, Germany, Britain,

France, and Italy met in Munich to decide what action, if any, to take concerning Germany’s aggression in Czechoslovakia. This conference came to be known as the Munich Conference. While there, the allies decided to enact a policy of appeasement, wherein they would allow Germany to erase the boundaries of the Versailles Treaty without taking military action. However, it was also agreed that the sovereignty of Poland would be protected, and thus a line was drawn that Germany would not be allowed to cross without risking full scale war.

Invasion of PolandWhen Hitler invaded Poland, he was confident that Britain and France would

continue their policy of appeasement and broker a peace deal. Bradley Lightbody considers his gross miscalculation and how it led Europe to stumble into war. The decision of Adolf Hitler to invade Poland was a gamble. The Wehrmacht (the German Army) was not yet at full strength and the German economy was still locked into peacetime production. As such, the invasion alarmed Hitler's generals and raised opposition to his command - and leaks of his war plans to Britain and France.'The decision ... to invade Poland was a gamble. 'Hitler's generals urged caution and asked for more time to complete the defences of the 'West Wall', in order to stem any British and French counter-offensive in the west while the bulk of the Wehrmacht was engaged in the east. Their leader dismissed their concerns, however, and demanded instead their total loyalty.Hitler was confident that the invasion of Poland would result in a short, victorious war for two important reasons. First, he was convinced that the deployment of the world's first armoured corps would swiftly defeat the Polish armed forces in a blitzkrieg offensive. Secondly, he judged the British and French prime-ministers, Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, to be weak, indecisive leaders who would opt for a peace settlement rather than war.

• On 7 December 1941,the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.  On 8 December 1941, America, China and Britain declared war on Japan.  Thus the Pacific War had begun.

• However the Japanese started their expansionists policy as early as October 1941.Starting first in Southern Indochina m they moved down like a swarm of killer bees to Patani (in Southern Thailand) , and soon progressed down to the Malay Peninsula from Kota Bahru to Kuala Lumpur and finally to Johor Bahru.   By 31st January 1942,the whole of Malaya had fallen into the Japanese clutch.

• Singapore was then regarded as an "impregnable fortress".  But as the Japanese progressed in their march to victory in Malaya. The possibility of an attack on Singapore became real.   The battle-ships "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" arrived on 2 December 1941.   

• Indian, Australian and more British troops arrived to strengthen the defence of Singapore.  As for any seward invasion, the naval defence included heavy 15-inch guns and a naval base at the south of the island.  

• Yet the Japanese bombing of Singapore during the pre-dawn hours of 8 December 1941 took the people and the British by surprise.   Two days later, the 2 British battleships were sunk off Kuantan and the Japanese forces charged across the Causeway.   Yet all this while the British had expected attacks on ,and had increased defence of the south.  The situation looked hopeless for the British in Singapore, and the Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival, Commander of the Royal Army surrendered on 15 February 1942.   Black Sunday, the first day of the Chinese New Year.   Yet unknown to the British, the Japanese were numerically fewer than the British and would not be able to be involved in the drawn-out affair.

Attack on Pearl Harbor• The 7 December 1941 Japanese

raid on Pearl Harbor was one of the great defining moments in history. A single carefully-planned and well-executed stroke removed the United States Navy's battleship force as a possible threat to the Japanese Empire's southward expansion. America, unprepared and now considerably weakened, was abruptly brought into the Second World War as a full combatant.

• Eighteen months earlier, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had transferred the United States Fleet to Pearl Harbor as a presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression. The Japanese military, deeply engaged in the seemingly endless war it had started against China in mid-1937, badly needed oil and other raw materials. Commercial access to these was gradually curtailed as the conquests continued. In July 1941 the Western powers effectively halted trade with Japan. From then on, as the desperate Japanese schemed to seize the oil and mineral-rich East Indies and Southeast Asia, a Pacific war was virtually inevitable

Women’s participation in industry

• In 1970, 43.3 percent of women age 16 or older in the United States were part of the labor force. The rate grew continually for about three decades before reaching what appears to be a peak labor force participation rate for women of 60.0 percent in 1999. Since 1999, the rate has held between 59 and 60 percent, coming in at 59.3 percent in 2005. It is unclear whether the decades-long increase in women's labor force participation rate has ended.

• Those decades did help to close the gap between the labor force participation of men and women. In 1970, men in the United States had a labor force participation rate of 79.7 percent. Over thirty-plus years, that rate drifted slowly down to 73.3 percent in 2005.

• Labor force participation rates by gender in Oregon are quite similar to national rates. In Oregon in 2005, an estimated 59.0 percent of women were in the labor force, compared with 73.3 percent of men.

Rationing• Rationing is the

controlled distribution of resources and scarce goods or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.

War Bonds

• War Bonds are government-issued savings bonds which are used to finance a war or a military action. In the United States, the last official war bond was the Series E Bond issued during the Second World War. War bonds generate capital for the federal government and they make civilians feel involved in their national militaries; exhortations to buy war bonds are often accompanied with appeals to patriotism and conscience.

• A bond is a special type of security. Bonds are issued by an agency which wants to generate capital, and the people who purchase them are essentially loaning money to the issuing agency. In return for the loan, the bond earns a set interest rate, and the purchaser can redeem the bond for its face value at a later date. Government issued bonds such as war bonds very safe, stable investments.

• In World War One, Americans could buy “Liberty Bonds,” while other nations issued an assortment of bonds and savings stamps to finance their war efforts. The language used in the promotion of war bonds is often quite florid, drawing the purchaser into the transaction tend to have a yield which is below market value, but the bonds are considered with an appeal to his or her patriotism. War bonds are available in a wide range of denominations to make them affordable to all, ranging from small stamps which school children could purchase to bonds in very large denominations for wealthier individuals.

Japanese internment camps• The "war to end all wars", or as it is better known as World

War I ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This Treaty was signed by the Allied Nations of Britain, France, Italy and Russia. However, the United States did not sign the treaty. The US felt that the price that Germany had to pay, approximately $33 billion dollars plus the loss of their prime food growing land was too high.

• But there was also something attached to the Treaty that the American Senate did not wish to approve. This was the League of Nations. Though, the League was United States President Wilson's dream, the US never joined the League of Nations. But, the League was ratified by other countries in the hope that the world would come together and create a council that could promote international cooperation and achieve peace and security.

• The United States felt that the League did not have enough support and power to fulfill its mission. Perhaps they were right, as the US found itself being pulled into another World War in 1941. The story begins with Adolph Hitler, ruling Germany as a dictator, declaring war on Poland. Distressed and outraged by Germany's attack, England and France declare war on Germany.

• The US tried to stay out of the war. However, they did support their European Allies in their struggle against Hitler by selling, lending and leasing war supplies.

• But, on December 7, 1941, the US was forced into war by the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt went on the radio to tell the nation about the attack. His speech began "December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy", and basically convinced the United States to join the war. Within an hour of the speech, Congress had declared war on Japan.

Assuming the Presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped the American people regain faith in themselves. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a national historic site--he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. On St. Patrick's Day, 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.

Joseph Stalin

• Joseph Stalin, was born in Gori, Georgia on 21st December, 1879. He was his mother's fourth child to be born in less than four years. The first three died and as Joseph was prone to bad health, his mother feared on several occasions that he would also die. Understandably, given this background, Joseph's mother was very protective towards him as a child.

Joseph's father was a bookmaker and his mother took in washing. As a child, Joseph experienced the poverty that most peasants had to endure in Russia at the end of the 19th century. At the age of seven he contacted smallpox. He survived but his face remained scarred for the rest of his life and other children cruelly called him "pocky".

Joseph's mother was deeply religious and in 1888 she managed to obtain him a place at the local church school. Despite his health problems, he made good progress at school and eventually won a free scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary. While studying at the seminary he joined a secret organization called Messame Dassy. Members were supporters of Georgian independence from Russia. Some were also socialist revolutionaries and it was through the people he met in this organization that Stalin first came into contact with the ideas of Karl Marx.