Pre-World War II timeline of critical events: 1928-1941 APUSH - Cornwell (thanks Tim!) 1928 U.S. signs Kellogg-Briand Pact Isolationism-to-Neutrality-War 1929 Hoover tours Latin America; U.S. troops to leave Nicaragua and Haiti 1931 Sept Japan invades Manchuria (U.S. invokes Stimson Doctrine) 1933 Hitler and Nazi party gain control of Reichstag Seventh Pan-American Conference - U.S. pledges non-intervention in internal Latin American affairs U.S. grants diplomatic recognition to Soviet Union 1934 Nye Committee - reports on U.S. involvement in WWI, strengthens isolationists Tydings-McDuffie Act provides for Philippine independence by 1946 Congress nullifies Platt Amendment 1935 Neutrality Act prohibits arms shipments to belligerents, forbids travel on ships of belligerent nations Italy invades Ethiopia 1936 Neutrality Act forbids extension of loans, credits to belligerents Germany occupies the Rhineland Spanish Civil War begins 1937 Neutrality Act forbids shipment of arms to either side in Spanish Civil War Full-scale war breaks out between Japan and China FDR makes quarantine speech negative public reaction 1938 Germany occupies the Sudetenland Sept Munich Conference Chamberlain and Daladier agree to allow Hitler to take the Sudetenland unopposed appeasement 1939 Mar Hitler breaks Munich agreement, occupies all of Czechoslovakia Britain & France pledge support to Poland if attacked Berlin & Moscow sign Nonaggression Pact
Sept Germany invades Poland Britain & France declare war on Germany WWII begins Neutrality Act allows cash and carry 1940 June Denmark, Norway and France surrender to Germany (blitzkrieg) Selective Service Act peacetime draft Sept Destroyers-for-bases deal U.S. trades Britain 50 destroyers for basing rights in the Caribbean Germany, Italy & Japan form the Axis Powers U.S. prohibits export of steel and scrap iron to all nations except Britain (and nations of the Western Hemisphere) aimed at Japan Nov Dec FDR reelected to unprecedented third term Fireside chat reveals arsenal of democracy plan 1941 Jan Four Freedoms speech proposes lending money to Britain Mar July Lend-Lease Act passed by Congress U.S. Navy to escort British ships carrying lend-lease materials (Iceland) Japan invades Indochina U.S. freezes Japanese credits, cuts off access to vital materials, including oil Aug FDR & Churchill draw up the Atlantic Charter outlines peace objectives Sept U.S.S. Greer attacked by German submarine; FDR orders Navy to attack all German ships on sight U.S. fighting undeclared naval war against Germany Oct Dec New Japanese government under Gen. Tojo makes final attempt at negotiating agreement neither side budges Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor U.S. declares war ( date that will live in infamy. ) Germany & Italy declare war on the U.S.
AP U.S. Strategy Germany first Invasion of Japanese mainland The Second World War Dec. 7, 1941 Sept. 2, 1945 Home Front Economy Full employment by 1944 Labor unions weakened no strikes & wage freeze (Smith-Connally Act, 1943) Women Rosie the Riveter Minorities African Americans, Mexican Americans, Native Americans Migration North (big cities) and West (California) Central Planning War Production Board, Office of War Mobilization Rationing Office of Price Administration Financing -- $320 billion: income tax, bonds; $250 billion debt Social Race riots New York, Detroit, Los Angeles Internment Camps 1942; Korematsu v. United States (1944) Political Roosevelt reelected with Truman as Vice President November 1944 FDR dies April 12, 1945 European Theater Mainland Invasion Nov. 42 Invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch) Summer 43 Invasion of Sicily Sept. 43 Invasion of Italy June 6, 44 D-Day (Operation Over Lord) Dec. 44 Battle of the Bulge May 7/8 45 Germany surrenders; V E Day Pacific Theater Island Hopping May 42 Battle of Coral Sea June 42 Battle of Midway Oct. 44 Battle of Leyte Gulf Apr-June 45 Battle of Okinawa (use of the kamikaze) Aug. 6 Hiroshima 9 Nagasaki Aug 14 Japanese agree to surrender Sept 2 Japanese surrender to MacArthur on Battle ship Missouri War Time Conferences Aug 41- Atlantic Charter Jan 43 Casablanca Nov 43 Tehran Feb 45 Yalta July 45 Potsdam April 1945 representatives from 50 countries meet in San Francisco to draft charter for UN
WORLD WAR II: notes -WORLD WAR II principal causes: -THE VERSAILLES TREATY -THE GREAT DEPRESSION -RISE OF DICTATORS IN EUROPE AND ASIA -APPEASEMENT POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES (FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN) -ISOLATIONISM BY THE UNITED STATES The sides formed: AXIS POWERS Germany, Italy, Japan (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo axis) VS. ALLIED POWERS Great Britain, France, Soviet Union, United States 1. THE VERSAILLES TREATY - Hitler said it was altogether unreasonable - Denied War Guilt from WWI - Reparations were impossible to pay 2. THE GREAT DEPRESSION - World wide depression had people desperate for immediate answers - Many countries were primed for dictatorships 3. THE RISE OF DICTATORSHIPS AND TOTALITARIANISM IN EUROPE AND ASIA : All of these had unprecedented pride in their country. They were extreme nationalists. - Hitler in Germany (Nazis) - Mussolini in Italy (Fascists) - Hirohito in Japan (Imperialists) - Franco in Spain (Fascists) - Stalin in Russia (Communism) - Unique to these dictators was their thirst for conquest, 1st regionally and 2nd worldwide. The thrust of the R-B-T AXIS was to eventually dominate the world.
4. THE APPEASEMENT POLICY OF THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES. - In 1935 the Germans began to rebuild their military. - In 1936, the Germans occupied the Rhineland. - In 1938, the Germans annexed Austria and the Sudetenland. They later occupied Czechoslovakia. -All of these were in defiance of Versailles and dared the West to defend the treaty. - Prime Minister Chamberlain of GBR championed this policy in the quest for peace. He believed that peace had been achieved in our time at the Munich Conference by finally appeasing Hitler one more time. 5. ISOLATIONISM IN THE UNITED STATES - U.S. was slowed by an unwillingness to commit our boys to someone else's problem. -Isolationists -Appeasers -Status Quo -Nazi/German sympathizers -President Franklin D. Roosevelt had begun to prepare the United States for a potential war. A.-OUR NATIONAL POLICY 1. A National Defense 2. An Allied Defense 3. We would not back down from dictators around the world to sacrifice principles of freedom. - The United States should and would serve as an/the arsenal of democracy. B.-FDR OUTLINED EXPECTATIONS FOR DICTATOR-LED/TOTALITARIAN NATIONS. C.-FDR STATED THE FOUR ESSENTIAL FREEDOMS FOR EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD. 1. Freedom of speech and expression. 2. Each should be able to worship God in his own way. 3. Freedom from want. All should have sufficient necessity in order to exist. 4. Freedom from fear of outside aggression.
A TIMELINE of the actual war... 1939 - June: NAZI-SOVIET PACT - Hitler and Stalin sign a non-aggression pact stunning the world. - Sept. 1: Hitler and the Nazis invade POLAND. - Britain and France declare war on the Nazis. 1940 - The Nazis invade FRANCE through Belgium. - The Nazis drive the British and French to the sea at DUNKIRK. British save nearly 350,000 men. - The BATTLE OF BRITAIN happens between the British and the Nazis. The British hang on and the Nazis eventually back off. CHURCHILL comes to represent the determination that would eventually defeat the Axis. 1941 - June 22: The Nazis break agreement with the USSR and invade it. One of Hitler s greatest mistakes. - Summer: The BATTLE FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC begins in earnest. Radar and Sonar save the day for the Allies in 1942. - Dec. 7: Japan bombs PEARL HARBOR and draws the United States into the war. 1942 - May: Battle of the CORAL SEA is a tactical victory for the Japanese but a strategic one for the USA because the Japanese had to pull an invasion force away from Australia to win - June: Battle of MIDWAY is a decisive naval victory for the USA. - August-February {43}: The Island of GUADALCANAL is captured by the Americans in some of the most brutal hand to hand combat of the war. 1943 - January: The Russians turn the Nazis back at STALINGRAD and began to drive the Nazis back toward Berlin. - February: CASABLANCA CONFERENCE between Churchill and Roosevelt decides the next steps after El Alamein, Stalingrad and Guadalcanal. - May: In North Africa, the British turn back Rommel and the Afrika Korps at the battle of EL ALAMEIN in the Egyptian desert. In the process they protect the vital Suez Canal from Nazi hands.
- Summer of 1943 sees OPERATION TORCH, or the Allied invasion of North Africa. - TEHRAN CONFERENCE is the first meeting of Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill. 1944 - June 6: D-DAY/OPERATION OVERLORD in Northern France (Normandy) is the largest amphibious invasion in the history of warfare. It is successful and a second front is created in Western Europe. - December: BATTLE OF THE BULGE/(ARDENNES OFFENSIVE) sees the last great Allied offensive and Nazi counter-offensive. The Allies prevail. 1945 - February: YALTA CONFERENCE: Last meeting of the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) determines post-war goals for peace. - April: FDR dies and Harry S. TRUMAN becomes US president. - April 25: The Russians and Anglo-American forces meet at the ELBE RIVER in Germany. - May 7-8: V-E DAY is celebrated in Europe after the Nazi surrender. - In the aftermath, the true brutality of the Nazis is discovered in their system of concentration camps. Particularly gripping were those at AUSCHWITZ, DACHAU, and TREBLINKA... - June: Island of IWO JIMA taken by the Americans at great cost. - July: OKINAWA taken from the Japanese. - July: Churchill is replaced in British general elections by Attlee. - July 16: POTSDAM CONFERENCE: Truman, Attlee, and Stalin meet and the USA issues a warning to the Japanese to either surrender or face ultimate destruction. The Japanese ignored the warning... - August 6 & 9: The USA follows up with its ultimatum to the Japanese and drops two atomic bombs. The first on HIROSHIMA and the second on NAGASAKI. - August 14: The Japanese finally surrender to the Allies aboard the USS MISSOURI after the Russians declare war on them. - September 2, 1945: V-J DAY celebrated in Allied countries officially ending the war SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 - SEPTEMBER 2, 1945: THE WAR WAS FINALLY OVER AT THE GREATEST HUMAN COST EVER KNOWN IN WARFARE.