To support the war effort on the home front, Americans shifted factory production from consumer goods to war materials under government control while rationing limited certain goods. Women replaced men in industries like manufacturing, and both sexes received equal pay. While discrimination persisted, FDR ordered businesses to hire African Americans. Allied forces agreed to defeat Germany first, pushing them back in North Africa and Europe through invasions of Italy and Normandy. The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, leading Japan to surrender and ending World War II.