World War II or the Second World War was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world’s countries, including all the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participating countries invested all available economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities into this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources.
Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) 15 nations dedicated to outlawing aggression and war as tools of foreign policy. 62 nations signed. However, they had no means of actual enforcement and gave Americans a false sense of security.
- FDR persuades Congress in special session to allow the US to aid European democracies in a limited way
- The US could sell weapons to the European democracies on a “cash-and-carry” basis
- FDR was authorized to proclaim danger zones which US ships and citizens could not enter
- America became the arsenal of democracy
The “Arsenal of Democracy”
- Lend-Lease Act (March 1941)
- Seven billion dollars to Britain, extended to USSR after German invasion in June 1941
- Battle of Atlantic (1941)
- German U-Boats sank millions of tons of shipping; secret meetings between US and Britain decided that if the US entered the war - the defeat of German would take precedence
- Atlantic Charter
- Joint statement with Great Britain of their war aims that called for self-determination, free trade, and freedom of the seas, equal access to raw materials, and a new system of collective security.
Wartime Production
- Double V Campaign (Victory in war and race relations)
- Certain cities grow into wartime industries (Detroit, Seattle, LA)
- Buildup of Smokestacks
- Wartime economy (Total War)
- Automobile plants retooled to make tanks, planes, and jeeps
- Wartime economy (Total War)
- Stoppages to production were not allowed
- Smith-Connally Act: Government could seize businesses if strikes stopped productions
VE Day Victory in Europe Day or VE Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front, with the last known shots fired on 11 May.
Island Hopping Leapfrogging, also known as island hopping, was an amphibious military strategy employed by the Allies in the Pacific War against the Empire of Japan during World War II. The key idea was to bypass heavily fortified enemy islands instead of trying to capture every island in sequence en route to a final target.