Causes
There were many reasons way WWII started and a few were the
Treaty of Versailles, Hitler's actions, and the League of Nations. The Treaty of
Versailles had put a very hard punishment on Germany. They had to take blame for
WWI which highly humiliated them. Germany also had to pay millions for all the
damage that was caused from WWI. Their offensive military was taken away from
them and could have a very limited army for protection. Lastly, their land was
taken away from them and given to other countries. Hitler started breaking the
treaty by increasing the size of his army. When his army was big enough he sent
troops to take back land which caused a lot of problems. The League of nations
was a failure due to countries not wanting to join it. It had basically no power
to stop other countries. There was no army to prevent countries from taking
action towards it. All nations would have to meet up and agree which was slow
and it prevented quick decisions. These are only a few of many reasons why WWII
started.
This is the map of the Pacific which was the war against
Japan. It shows the names of major battles that had happened.
This is a map of the war that was going on in Europe. It shows
the places troops were sent to attack and battle sites.
Setting
The war consisted of two sides the Axis and the Allies.
Germany, Italy and Japan had formed the Axis Powers and the main Allies were the
United States, Soviet Union, France, and England. Europe is where most of the
fighting was at because many of the Allie countries were their and had to
protect their land. In Europe fighting was in the country, a city, and even on
the beaches. Germany and Japan had used submarines to sink a lot of ships. Many
air planes were used throughout the war like Kamikazes, bombers and fighter
planes. When fighting against Germany they showed more respect than Japan. In
the Pacific a lot of the fighting consisted on islands and it was very hot. The
tactic there was to hop island to island until the U.S was close enough to
Japan. Japan was the first time the atomic bomb was ever used.
The chart shows the
casualties of the Allie and Axis Powers. Overall the Allies lost more soldiers
and civilians than the Axis.
In this chart it shows the amount of planes that Germany lost
during WWII. Throughout the years the planes lost in combat started to
increase.
U.S Involvement
The United States wanted to stay out of the war in Europe.
Germany had broken the Treaty of Versailles and other agreements. They started
to take back land and attack other countries.This lead to the U.S to the
Lend-Lease Act which was to aid England and other countries in the war by giving
them money and weapons.The U.S started to have a draft so they could train and
have soldiers ready to enter into battle. Another reason they got involved was
because of Japan taken over other countries because the European countries
couldn't defend them due to the war in Europe. This upset the U.S so they cut
off trading with Japan and that angered them. Finally after cutting Japan off
and angering them Japan lead an attack on Pearl Harbor. This was the eye opener
to the U.S and they entered the war after many attempts to stay out of it.
With Japan becoming aggressive the U.S was trying to get
support. This poster would convince people either to join the military or help
in factories to help out their country.
With the war going on and threats on both sides of the U.S
showed that they were not safe. This was to have citizens to realize they were
in danger and that they needed to be ready to protect their land and fight
back.
Home Front
Even though the U.S wanted to stay out of the war they were
helping out their Allies. Men were being drafted into the military so they could
be ready for war. With many men leaving women started to join the work force
which helped out a lot. Many women would work in factories to make weapons.
Propaganda was used to have people to buy war bonds which would give the U.S
money so they could have enough money to support the war. With women in the work
force it gave more jobs to people leading to the end of the Great Depression and
giving women more respect. They were a big help in the war because without them
the U.S would of struggled to have enough weapons in the war.
During WWII there was a lot of island hopping in the Pacific.
Here are soldiers being dropped off by the boats and running into the
battle.
To help end the war in Japan the Atomic bomb was used for its
first time. It was dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima causing a huge amount a
damage.
End
At the end of the war the Allies won it due to the U.S joining
in and helping out. The war started in 1939 when Germany had invaded Poland and
ended in 1945 which lasted 6 years. The war in Europe was the first to end after
Germany surrenedered. Hitler had committed suicide which was a big reason.
Germany was overwhelmed because they had to fight from all sides and they
couldn't protect themselves anymore. Japan had lasted a few months longer
because they would not surrender. They would fight until everyone of them were
killed. To save many lives President Truman decided to drop the bomb on Japan.
The first one was dropped on Hiroshima but Japan still didn't surrender so then
Truman had another one dropped on Nagasaki. This forced Japan to surrender
leading to the U.S's victory. Many people question wether that was right or
wrong but in the end it ended the war.
Quotes
One of the soldiers in the war had entered at the Battle of
the Bulge which was a very bloody battle. The war had lasted for 39 days and he
had told me it was hard for him to see all the people die. At one point he had
to cross a river. Marvin Korte said, "The hardest part was when I had to cross
the Roer River and seeing all the dead bodies floating in the water." The war
wasn't pleasent to see or even be in. It was very hard on a soldier to deal
with.
The war was very firghtening to soldiers but they had to do
their job and knew what they were in for. In an interview Master Seargent
William Abernathy of the Marines said, "No, it didn't bother me. I mean, it's --
that was part of life as far as I was concerned. I mean, it was something I
trained for all that time. I mean, yeah, in some ways I was scared, I don't
think anybody gets shot at that's not scared, but we had -- we had that job to
do so we had to keep on doing what we was doing. Of course, we had weapons so if
we got -- actually had to shoot back, in other words, we could get -- man a line
but." (Library of Congress) Even though he was scared he still knew he had a
mission to carry out. They have been trained and it didn't bother him a lot but
no matter who you were when you were in battle you will always be slightly
scared.
Many people felt like after the attack they needed to join the
military. Instead of being drafted some people had decided to enlist. Young
teens had started to be drafted or even enlist into the military. Corporla
Daniel Ackerman had an interview and he said, "RIGHT AFTER PEARL HARBOR, ABOUT A
YEAR AFTER PEARL HARBOR, I ENLISTED."(Library of Congress) Some people knew that
they need to help out their country. Ackerman had decdied to enlist into the
Marines because he knew it was the right thing to do. He joined in at a young
age which many people did.
No comments:
Post a Comment