1. World War II and the Beginning of the Cold
War (1930s-1963) - The learner will analyze
United States involvement in World War II and
the war's influence on international affairs in
following decades.
What were the
causes of World
War II?
• Treaty of
Versailles
(WWI)
oCreated
new, unstable nations
oWar Guilt Clause: Germany wanted
revenge
• Dictators taking over many nations during the
Depression
oTotalitarianism
oGermany
§ Hitler/Nazism/Third Reich
oItaly
§ Mussolini/Fascism
2. oNationalism
oMilitarism
How did other nations respond to Germany’s
actions?
• Isolationism
oDid not want to get into another war
• Kellogg-Briand Pact
oSigned between WWI and WW2
oAgreement among nations not to use war
to take over other places
oGermany, Japan, and Italy all violated
oPact was not enforced
• Appeasement
oBritain and France
oGave into Germany’s demands hoping
they would not take any more land
oGermany broke their promises and
continued taking over nations
• Munich Pact
oExample of appeasement
oSigned by France, Great Britain and
Germany
3. oHitler promised that if these nations would
give him Sudetenland (part of
Czechoslovakia) he would not take over
any more land
• Non-Aggression Pact
oAgreement between former enemies,
Germany and Italy
oPromised never to attack one another
oAlliance
Britai
n
and
Fran
ce
decla
re
war
• Ge
rmany took over Poland
oBroke Munich Pact
• By June 1940 Germany had taken over much
of northern Europe including France
4. How did America respond to the declaration of
war?
FDR’s Quarantine Speech
• Speech against isolationism
• Peace loving nations must isolate or
“quarantine” nations that are at war by not
trading with them
Neutrality Acts
• Passed by Congress in 1935
• Kept US out of war
• Outlawed sales of weapons or loans to nations
at war
Four Freedoms
• Roosevelt
• Four freedoms that we are all entitled to
oFreedom of speech
oFreedom of religion
oFreedom from want
oFreedom from fear
5. • Is it our job to make sure everyone has these
freedoms??
Lend-Lease Act
• We loaned weapons to any nation at war
whose defense was “vital” to us
• Extension of Cash and Carry policy
oPay cash and carry weapons on your own
ships
When did the US
join the war?
• December 7,
1941
• Japanese
bombers
attacked the US
naval base at
Pearl Harbor
o2,400 Americans were killed
o21 ships were sunk or damaged
• US declared war on Japan
• Germany and Italy declared war on the US
6. Nation Leader Type of Government Axis or
Allies?
Italy Benito
Mussolini
Fascism Axis
Germany
(Third
Reich)
Adolf Hitler Fascism/Nazism Axis
Japan Emperor
Hirohito/Tojo
Militarism/ Military
dictatorship
Axis
Soviet
Union
Joseph
Stalin
Communist Axis,
then
became
Allies
Great
Britain
Winston
Churchill
Constitutional
Monarchy/Parliamentary
Democracy
Allies
United
States
Franklin
Roosevelt
Representative
Democracy
Allies
What is Genocide?
7. • Mass killing of people with ethnic or religious
differences
• Hitler persecuted Jews throughout Europe
oHolocaust
• Other nations would not let Jews into their
country
• It is estimated that 11 million people died in the
Holocaust
How was Germany able to take over other
countries?
Blitzkrieg
• Lightning War
• Move in fast
before your
enemy can react
Allied Strategy
• 2 Front War
oJapan in the
Pacific
oGermany in
the Atlantic (Europe)
8. • Met at the Casablanca Conference
oAgreed to fight for unconditional surrender
oProvide aid to the Soviet Union
• Tehran Conference
oFirst Meeting of the Big Three
§ Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill
oDecided to open up a second front against
the Germans
oSoviets would help attack Japan
oWould create a new international
organization after the war
Fighting the War :
The War in Europe
Battle of Britain
• Attempt by
Germany to
invade Britain
• 2 months of
bombing by
aircraft
Stalingrad
9. • One of the first turning points in the war
• New enemies Germany and Soviet Union
fought each other
• Soviets cut off German supplies and many
Germans froze in the winter
• Germans surrendered in January, Soviets
headed toward Germany
D-
Da
y
(Ju
ne
6,
19
44
)
• M
assive air, land, and sea invasion of France to
get out Germans
• Over 3 million Allied troops were involved
• Allowed US General Patton to retake territory
in France
10. Battle of the Bulge
• Germany’s
desperate last
attempt to win the
war
• Lasted over a
month
• Germans lost 120,000 soldiers
• Could not recover and began to retreat
Victory in Europe
• Known as V-E Day
• Germany surrendered on May 8, 1945
Fighting the War: The War
in the Pacific
Island Hopping
• Nickname given to the
Allied strategy in the
Pacific
11. • Battles were fought from the air, on the sea
and on land
Battle of Midway
• Turning point in the Pacific war
• Attack was led by US commander Chester
Nimitz
• Americans had avenged Pearl Harbor
Battle of Iwo Jima
• Attack led by US General MacArthur
• Base that would allow our planes to reach
Japan
• 6,000 Marines died trying to take it, only 200
Japanese soldiers on the island survived
Okinawa
• US invaded in April 1945
• 7,600 Marines and 110,000 Japanese died
12. America’s Plan to
Defeat Japan
The Manhattan
Project
• Top secret
program to
develop an atomic
bomb
• Robert J. Oppenheimer
Potsdam Conference
(Feb. 1945)
• Truman, Stalin,
Churchill
• Divided Germany
into zones they
would control
• Determined borders of Poland
• Decision was made to use the atomic bomb
against Japan
13. • Warned Japan to surrender or face “prompt
and utter destruction”
• Bombed Hiroshima (8/6/45)
• Bombed Nagasaki three days later (8/9/45)
• 200,000 people died, many more were harmed
by radiation
• Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945
oV-J Day
Dropping the Atomic Bomb
1. What were the consequences of dropping
the bomb?
2. What could have happened if Truman had
decided not to do it?
3. Did Truman have any good alternatives?
What were they?
Nuremberg War Trials
• German leaders were tried for war crimes
• Established the principle that everyone is
responsible for their actions, even during
wartime
14. The War at HOME
Selective Service Act
• Draft
• 5 million men volunteered
• 10 million were
drafted
Women’s Auxiliary
Army Corps (WAC)
• Women could not
participate in combat
• Served as nurses,
radio operators,
worked at desk jobs
War Production Board
• Encouraged/forced
companies to produce materials for the war
• No new cars were produced during the war,
only tanks and jeeps for the troops
• Rationed food and materials
American Sacrifices
15. • Asked to ration food and metal
• Buy war bonds
• Great Migration continued as African
Americans moved North to cities to work in
factories
• Women were asked to work in factories to
replace men
oRosie the Riveter
Discrimination
against
Japanese
Americans
• 120,000
Japanese
Americans
were forced to move to relocation camps
• Lost their homes, businesses, and belongings
• German Americans did NOT face similar
discrimination
• Relocation was challenged in Korematsu v.
US (1944)
16. oAmericans can be moved during times of
war
oNational security
The Troops Return Home
GI Bill of Rights
• Provided veterans with money for education
• Also gave them money to buy homes
Levittown
• New neighborhood for
rising middle class
• All the homes looked
alike
Baby Boom
17. • Lots of babies were born after the war (ask
your parents for more info.)
• Largest generation in the nation’s history
What was the Cold
War?
• Conflict between
the US and the
Soviet Union (1945-
1991)
• Not on a battlefield,
nations competed in
other ways
• US wanted to stop the spread of communism
oContainment
• World was divided between Communism and
Capitalism/Democracy
oSeparated by an “Iron Curtain”
How did the US fight the Cold War?
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• Created to spy on other nations
• Conduct covert (secret) missions
18. The Korean War
Causes
• Korea was divided
oNorth: Communist
oSouth: Democratic
• North Korea invaded South Korea
Fighting the War
• US helped the South, China and Soviet
Union helped the North
• Considered a stalemate with neither side
truly winning
• Agreed to split the nation near the 38th
parallel
• Korea is still divided today with a
demilitarized zone in between the two
nations
• Americans lost billions of dollars and 54,000
lives
Geneva Accords
• Removed French from Vietnam
19. • Split the nation in the same way as Korea
• US refused to recognize or participate
The H-Bomb
• US and
Soviet
Union
raced
each
other to
develop the Hydrogen Bomb
• Much more powerful than atomic bomb
• US detonated in 1952, Soviets in 1953
• The world was afraid of nuclear war
US Cold War Policies
Truman Doctrine (1947)
• US loaned money to countries to prevent
them from becoming communist
o$400 million in aid was sent to Greece
and Turkey
20. Marshall Plan (1947)
• Secretary of State John Marshall
• Aid to European countries recovering from
the war
• Helped rebuild Europe
Eisenhower Doctrine
• US would use force to stop the spread of
communism
The U-2 Incident
• US U-2 plane was caught spying on Soviet
Union
• Plane shot down and the US was forced to
apologize
• Cold
War
intensifi
ed
Berlin Wall
• Built by
the
Soviets
21. to separate their section of Berlin from Allied
controlled areas
oEast Berlin (Soviet Union) and West
Berlin (Allies)
• Food and supplies had to be delivered to
West Berlin by planes
oBerlin Airlift
Cuba
• Fidel
Castro had
taken over
Cuba
oCommu
nist
Revolut
ion
• Soviet Union supported
22. The
Bay of
Pigs
Invasio
n
• US
att
em
pte
d to remove Castro
• CIA trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and
start a revolution
• Invasion failed
• US had to abandon the fighters in Cuba
• Made the US look bad
23. The
Cuban
Missil
e
Crisis
• So
vie
t
Un
ion
wa
s placing missiles in Cuba
• Nuclear bombs could now reach the US
• President Kennedy asked Soviet President
Khrushchev to remove the missiles
• After two tense weeks, Khrushchev and
Kennedy reached an agreement
• US had to remove its missiles in Turkey and
promise not to attack Cuba
25. The United Nations
(June 26, 1945)
• Similar to the
League of
Nations
• 50 nations
signed the
charter
• The US and the Soviet Union were both
members of the Security Council
oPeacekeeping group
oMany disagreements
Organization Purpose US or
SU?
Region
North
Atlantic
Treaty
Organization
(NATO)
• First
peacetime
alliance for
US
(permanent)
• Nations
pledged to
defend each
US US and
Western
Europe
26. other
Warsaw
Pact
• Soviet
Union’s
response to
NATO
• Made up of
Eastern
European
nations
Soviet
Union
Soviet
Union
and
Eastern
Europe
Southeast
Asia Treaty
Organization
(SEATO)
• Organized
to prevent
any further
Communist
expansion
US Southeast
Asia
Alliance for
Progress
• Kennedy’s
plan to help
South
American
nations and
stop the
spread of
US South
America
