Essentials for US History--Semester 2
7. Students will understand the causes and effects of the Great Depression.
The cycle started. Banks and businesses closed down, people lost savings, lost jobs, quit buying, and so on.
High tariffs in the 1920's didn’t bother us too much, but then the stock market crashed. Suddenly, people couldn’t buy stuff from us, we couldn't buy from them. This hurt other countries. With the world trade, companies overseas weren't making money from us, so that same bad cycle happened.
Stock Market: Stock prices raised a lot. Over-priced stocks. Record levels. What led to this? Speculating(buying and selling stocks quickly) makes the demand raise and this caused the stocks to go up. Banks invested people's money in stocks. Also, people took money out for margin buying and when they couldn't pay for their loans, that hurt banks too. Buying on Margin-paying for part of the stock and borrowing the other part of it. Buying with this makes the demand for this stock go up so the prices raise.
Farmers: Farmers had overproduction of goods and that led them to not making money. Their farms had to be stopped by the banks and then they had to move to the cities, which cause problems in cities too.
- Effects
Farmers: Farmers moved to the cities because they ran out of money. People did not have money so they went to soup kitchens.
Cities: Breadlines-people who brought home the money or food was known as the breadwinners.
People would hop on Freight Trains going from city to city for jobs. People have disappeared when doing this. Possibly kidnapped.
Street Venders-People would sell food on the street. Maybe selling apples to make money for your family. They stopped that eventually to stop the public view on that.
President Hoover: There were names to call Hoover by: Hoovervilles (Where poor people go.) Hoover Hogs, and Hoover blankets (Covered themselves with newspapers.) People thought Hoover could care less about them.
Women: Women had to take charge since their husbands lost their jobs. Women learned ways to preserve food and make clothes. To basically make life better since their husbands left.
Children: Children suffered the most. Children were more imaginitive back then because they had no toys like us now. -Children left and tried hopping on trains to possibly get to america for free. About 25,000 kids were injured. -A lot of children were out of school. So they got jobs right away. They were called Wild Boys(People who travel on trains.) The kids were almost like the hobos. -Hospitals closed down as well. Less health care for children and a lot got rickets (A disease when your bones soften.)
Social and Psychological Effects: Psychologically, people were depressed and committed suicide. -Social effects brought neighbors together because they relyed on eachother to survive.
1. Students will understand the impact the Great Depression and New Deal had on the US.
There were republicans who said he was spending way too much money and doing way too much. They wanted to go back to Laissez Faire (small government, don’t do much.) Also, other reasons were the heavy debt burden (deficit spending.) Charles, Francis Townshend criticized to help the old people more because old people can’t go find jobs, young people can. Senator Huey Long was assassinated, but he had the "Share our wealth" plan. He believed we should take money from the rich and distribute it out into the poor. (Equalism)
First New Deal: (1933-1935) Help out banks and businesses to keep them going."Emergency Bank Act- provided the president with the means to reopen banks and regulate businesses Economy Act- cut federal costs through reorganization of and cuts in salaries and veterans' pensions.
Second New Deal: (1935-1938) National Labor Relations Act limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector who create labor unions. Social Security. Set up programs on retail and price control. Differences: First was to keep businesses and banks going and the second was to help the needy people and get rid of the Great Depression
Relief, Recovery, and Reform
Relief (for people): Emergency Banking Act closed the insolvent banks and only reopened the solvent ones. Basically gave relief to people who were suffering in different ways. Included Bank Holiday, Emergency Bank Act, (Unemployed)-- Federal Emergency Relief Act-Was designed to create jobs for unskilled and unemployed people during the Great Depression. Jobs included construction of houses, schools, and other buildings, Civil Works Administration-Hired both men and women and provided them with jobs such as repairing roadways, buildings, bridges, and construction, and Civilian Conservation Corps-.
Recovery (from Great Depression): Agricultural Adjustment Act taxed food processors and gave money to farmers as a payment for not growing food. This decreased supply so the prices would go up and included temporary programs to restart the flow of consumer demand. Helped people put their lives back together. Included Agricultural Adjustment Act, National Recovery Act, Home Owners Loan Corp, Works Progress Administration, and Tennessee Valley Authority.
Reform (economy/businesses/banks/stock market): Soil Conservation Act were laws that mandated proper soil maintenance to make sure that another dust bowl was avoided. Included National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, Social Security Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission
-Congress declared his New Deal unconstitutional. The main one was the National Recovery Administration.
New Deal helped the Unemployed-Works Progress Administration, Public Works Administration-both gave jobs for building.
Farmers: Tennessee Valley Authority-created new fertilizers, taught farmers how to improve crop yields, replant forests, control forest fires, and improved habitats for wildlife and fish. They also built dams to control rivers mostly in the Tennessee River Valley. Farm Security Administration: They assisted poor famers. Took photos of farmers to show what their lives were like and how much they struggled. Soil Conservation and Domestic Allottment Act: Allowed the government to pay farmers to lower production and also conserve soil and prevent soil erosion.
Banks/Businesses: Emergency Banking Relief Act/ Banking Holiday: Was allowed to fund over 500 billion dollars to help people in need. Federal Security Act: Was aimed at helping the stock market. Was set up after the market crashed and would now monitor the stock market and make sure it didn't crash again. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-Pays you your money back if the bank closes down. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act: Oversee the safety of food, drugs, and cosmetics in an industry.
Homeowners: United States Housing Authority: Was designed to lend money to states or communities for the construction of low-rental housing projects for low-income families. Federal Housing Administration- helped people with their mortgage. Social Security Administration- helped older people with retirement.
2. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of WWII.
Causes:
Treaty of Versailles- Was the cause of everything to come leading up to WWII. It was the official treaty that ended WWI...Woodrow Wilson was the U.S. president at the time. Germany and the Soviet Union wanted to get land back when it was divided up helping the cause of WWII. Hitler thought that anyone who spoke the German language should live in Germany. (Treaty of Versailles: Germany lost land-given to France, Belgium ,Denmark, Czechoslovakia,Poland.)-Invading Poland-Hitler Wanting expansion
Major Events:
Manhatten Project-code name for the development of the atomic bomb. General Leslie Groves was in charge of this atomic bomb project. He also was in charge of the scientists. The scientist that was in charge was J Robert Oppenheimer, he was an american who happened to be a communist. Los alomos is where we created the bomb. Alamagordo, New Mexico was a waste land where we tested the bomb. (The test was called the Trinity Test.) Groves was excited when he saw the bomb. After the testing, everything turned to Japan. There was no plane big enough to carry these atomic bombs, the B29 super fortriss plane was called Enola Gay. Paul Tibbits was the main pilot. Two bombs were the uranium and plutonium. Hiroschima and Nagasaki are the two places we dropped bombs.
D-Day Operation Overlord- Stands for Day of Days. Largest invasion in world history. Allied invasion of Nazi controlled France. Took place on Omaha Beach.
Operation Barbarossa-Battle of Stalingrad-after 90% of the city controlled, soviets were able to finally to push back. Germany never got all of Stalingrad, only 90% of it. Battle of Moscow- German advance on Moscow was very close to achieving his goals. The winter months helped the Soviets out a lot. Soviets were going to win, it was just a matter of time. Hitler believed Moscow would lead to the collapse of the country. Soviets pushed back Germany when Germany was only 12 miles away! Siege of Leningrad-(surrounding leningrad to take over. Like a bombardment.) One of the longest, destructive in history. Also, most costly in terms of casualties. Hitler did not want to feed people. Reports of cannibalism!-after all birds, rats, and pets were eaten by survivors. Hungry gangs attacked and ate defenseless people. A police force formed a special unit to combat cannibalism. Leningrad pushed back finally and Germany never got leningrad.
Battle in the Pacific-Baton Death March-60 mile forcible transfer of 75,000 American and Filipino POW's to a POW camp; was characterized by physical abuse and murder.due to this, Japanese officials faced war crimes after the war.Battle of Leyte Gulf-we massively destroyed anything Japan had left. (Japanese Navy.) Japan is still fighting to the death...we bombed japan alot. This battle ended because we sunk their navy. This was a major naval battle between the Japanese Navy and Allied naval air forces from the US and Australia. Battle of Coral Sea-while japan sunk more ships than the Allies did, it was a strategic victory for the Allies as it was the first time we stopped the Japanese from advancing. Battle of Midway-Widely regarded as the most important naval battle against Japan because after this battle we destroyed alot of their ships.(more than they could make, another reason why we won the war.) We were now on offence. Japan was attacking us. Guadalcanal-Marked the transition by the Allies from defensive operations to offensive, that resulted in Japan's eventual surrender and the end of WWII. This was the first battle that the US was on the offensive. Iwo Jima-was a massive battle for us. There were two flag raisings. First one was too small.
EFFECTS
Yalta conference-The fate of post-war Europe was dictated at this conference. Compromise- Germany would be broken into four occupation zones (US,GB,France, and USSR) and became eastern Germany.
Nuremburg Trials- In Nuremburg Germany for war crime trials after WW2. Hermann Goering explained what he did with Germany as a leader of LufWafe.
Japanese Internment Camps in US- We forced Japanese to sell everything and go to Internment Camps, (one of the bad things we did.) Kind of like army barracks in desolate areas. We said it was for their safety but we just didnt trust them. We allowed them to play sports and work. We basically isolated them away from us.
Millions of deaths! Countries became ruined by the bombing.
3. Students will understand how/why the Allies won WWII.
ULTRA and MAGIC secret helped us win the war.
The women were the ones who made our weapons, so we had more weapons than other countries. Worked in factories and WAVES(women’s navy), WASP(Army service pilots.)
We made stuff for the war (women did), war labor board(Made sure workers got along with eachother.), war production board(Working hard at work wins the war.)
Henry Kaiser (owner of a ship building company)--by the end of the war, we were making more ships and everything else (war goods) than any of the other countries combined...
Hollywood in WWII: They made propaganda films and helped to get people to buy war bonds and boost morale. Bob Hope (comedian); made movies and comedy shows--USO tour (the US tried to get as many comedians and singers to go and entertain soldiers in Korea and other places to give soldiers some time off and give them something to look forward to and enjoy.)--John Wayne did a lot of WWII movies as well as westerns; he was one of the bigger actors and really got his name during WWII.
African-Americans-Significant role in WW2. Fought in front lines, flew airplanes, did everything a white person would do in WW2 but in a discriminated fashion.
4. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Cold War.
Causes:
United States v. Soviet Union. Democratics(freedom) v. Communists(controls you). 1945-1990. differences in gov't, US didn't like it and thought that they would try to push communists to us and other countries. Free Trade- we thought that it would be good for us, Soviet Union didn't like it. US thought that Soviet Union wanted to over-power us, and they thought we wanted to over-power them (rivalry). Separating Germany into 4 parts Britain, France, US=West, Soviet Union=East. They didn't know what to do with Europe. Tensions between controlling Germany and the gov't there help start the war. Soviet Union didn't like Truman Doctrine- US can help any country that is threatened by communism, or the Marshall Plan- US rebuilding European countries. Atomic Bomb- US and Soviet Union both had nuclear weapons, but agreed not to use them, but intensified the Cold War. Truman didn't like Stalin- he said the only thing Stalin understood was us going to war with him. Red Scare.
Major Events:
China becoming Communist-Mao-2 groups were the republic of china (Taiwan/Nationalists) and the people's republic of china( mainland of china/communists). After Kaishels army was pushed to taiwan the communists controlled most of all of mainland China.
Cuban Misslie Crisis- the US started to build missile bases in Turkey and Italy, which could attack the capitol of the Soviet Union, Moscow. The Cuban Missile Crisis is the name for the Soviet Union and Cuban Gov't responding by building missile bases in Cuba withing range of US. US then began to react when images of missile bases emerged. JFK formed EX-COMM which was a group of people designated to handle the situation at hand. Eventually, JFK decided to form a naval bloackade around the island of Cuba. US then demanded that Soviet Union dismantle the bases in exchange of the US agreeing to not invade Cuba. Eventually the whole Crisis sudsided with the US and USSR getting rid of the bases in the problem areas. Cuba didn't mind having Soviet Union bases b/c of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. US had attempted to invade Cuba in '61, which failed. Fidel Castro ws confident that the US would attempt a second attack. when Premier Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR proposed the idea, Castro thought it would prevent anothe rinvasion. Crisis in Oct. of '62, fear of Nuclear War breaking out. US ready for attack from Cuba, if missile was launched, it would be taken as an attack against US. if anybody was to make a wrong move, a Nuclear War would start. very few people died in combat or aircraft. several exchanges of communication most from Krushchev. Oct. 15 images of bases revealed, 16th JFK informed, 22nd, JFK announced missile bases, 28th Krushchew dismantled bases which ended crisis.
Berlin Blockade- Soviet Union blocked the railroads going into Berlin to block supply line to stop other countries from taking over Berlin and not becoming communist, we created the idea of organizing the "Berlin Airlift,” our planes dropped tons of supplies(mostly food). Allied forces wanted to repair Germany and Soviets wanted to destroy it to not have to worry about it anymore. Stalin and the "Red Army" set up in East Germany while the US was in West Germany. Blockade lasted about 11 months. We set up an airlift called "Berlin Airlift" for planes to drop in supplies and food for the Berlin people. 12-13 tons of supplies a day. We airlifted supplies to not have a war by destroying the wall, soviet union didn’t want to attack us b/c they didn't want to start a war, this led to taking down the wall, it was useless.
The Nuclear Arms Race- After both nations possessed the nuclear weapons, a race began to get better, efficient, and more higher quality bombs, intercontinental Ballistic Missiles were created, could deliver missiles all over world, missiles best form of nuclear weapons, Soviets launched Sputnik satellite, US feared that they might launch a nuclear missile attack that would reach any part of the world, major rold in starting the space race. Satellites were designed to detect a nuclear strike before it happened, large bunkers made to save leaders and citizens built fallout shelters, people taught to react to nuclear strike. Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was the US and USSR's mutual understand that a nuclear strike from either side would cause massive damage to both parties, this came into play when both sides realized they both had enough power to destroy the other side, second strike- if one side would strike first, the other side would send a bomb to destroy the first side. This is when MAD came into effect. other countries UK, China, started making smaller amounts of nuclear weapons. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) reducing the nuclear weapons.
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan-Mujadeen against Afhan people and soviet union!- Soviet Union invaded in 1979 for about 8 years, Soviets financed the Afghans and lead some of their military. They wanted to help strengthen communists power of Afghanistan civil war between Soviet Union and Afghan. "holy war"- guerrillas started turning the Soviet army around when the soldier started losing motivation to keepy fighting.Gorbachev took Soviet Union out of Afghanistan saying he wanted better western relations and a better economy. in Moscow the two coutries signed a peace agreement and the Soviets would withdraw from Afghanistan. many died or wounded. Carter put an embargo against Soviet Union. Us boycotted the Moscow Olympics, Afghans competed.
Perestroika and Glasnost- Opening and restructuring. (change because Soviet Union was dying.) Russian words. Reagan's mission was no nuclear weapons. wanted to persuade soviet union to allow for more democracy and free speech to lead to reform. To end Communism. INF Treaty- Inetermediate Range Nuclear Force Treaty-eliminated nuclear and conventinal ground launches, reduce nuclear missiles.
The Berlin Wall Coming Up and Going Down- 1961- constructed by the Communist. Soviet workers tore up the streets in Berlin and put in a barbed wire wall, in 1965 concrete wall was built. To keep the people in East Berlin in. they wanted to keep the East Berlin people from escaping the Communist gov't. East Berlin wanted the benefits that West Berlin had like democracy. people would jump out of the buildings over the wall, tried to climb the wall, tried to destroy the wall, build tunnels under the wall to escape. The consequences of trying to escape- losing jobs, family, killed, injured. Border opened in 1989, wall taken down 1990.
Effects:
5. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Korean Conflict.
6. Students will understand the causes, effects and major events of the Vietnam Conflict.
7. Students will understand the causes and effects of the Persian Gulf Wars as well as the War on Terror.
Comments