On this day we finished the blog discussion. Here are the notes I have taken, starting with last Monday.
Selective Training and Service Act-Happened in 1940. First peacetime draft in the US. Used until 1973. Afterwards depended on volunteers.
Women in WWII-Women were represented by Rosie the Riveter, mainly workers. Also worked on farms, as typist, bus drivers, taxi drivers, timekeepers, elevator operators, messengers, laundresses, teachers, conductors.
African American's Role-Rights were not equal yet, so black soldiers/African American soldiers, were not as well respected. Secondary roles were common.
Asian American's Role-Volunteers for the most part, not drafted. Wore buttons that told them apart from the enemy.
OPA: Maintained prices of houshold items during WWII to prevent another depression, which we were just getting out of. Limited the number of purchases. Last time United States rationed food.
Hollywood's Role: Films were used as propeganda. Dozens were made about the war during wartime. Were very patriotic. USO recruited entertainers to entertain the troops in WWII.
War Production: The United States was bent on producing for the war. Vehicles, guns, etc.
Home Front Winning War: We produced so many war goods that it was impossible for us not to win the war. Also women working and African-Americans and Asian-Americans. Hollywood gets credit as well.
Convoy System: Great Britain and the US were taking hard hits from German U-Boats and decided they would make it easier so that merchant ships could survive. They did this by surrounding them with allied forces fighting against German ships and other U-Boats.
Codes: Deciphering codes was a key to victory for either side, and a few years into the war Germany had deciphered Britain's code, so GB had to change it.
Magic: The way the United States broke codes. Was used mainly against the Japanese to decipher codes. They would recieve a message/steal a message and put it through a machine, translate the message from Japanese to Latin to English. There it would be sent further to Generals, Preisdents, and Colonels, etc.
Ultra: The way Great Britain broke codes. Was used mainly against the Germans to decipher codes. Used the same process as Magic.
Barbarosa: In summer 1941 Hitler turns on Soviet Union. Lebensraum means living space, where Germans will live in Russia. One of the largest invasions in history. Battle deaths are higher than all American war casualties combined. That is between Germany and USSR.
Battle of Stalingrad: Caucasus mountains were the goal, on the way to Stalingrad. After one year they reached Stalingrad. August 1942. Hitler had control of 90% of the city, but winter set in. Soldiers on Russia's side were faced between two choices: retreat and die or fight and probably die. Germans start to lose and Russia begins to push back. It took six months to hit Stalingrad and four years for Russia to push back the Germans. Stalingrad was reduced to rubble for the most part.
Battle of Moscow: Moscow was never invaded by troops but bombardments did happen. Moscow was nearly surrounded in 1941. But winter helped the Russians held their ground and then pushed the Germans back. Hitler was furious that Moscow wasn't taken. He fired all of his generals and high-up leaders in military and other officers. He replaced them with younger people without experience. He did this so they wouldn't question Hitler.
Seige of Leningrad: Not a battle or invasion, but Hitler decided to surround them and wait them out. Two months after the start of the invasion they seiged Leningrad. Lasted a couple years before it ended. Deaths became a regular basis. Cannibalism became common. Gangs would beat people up and then eat them. Police tried to stop this, but it wasn't quite possible. Eventually the Germans were pulled back and Russians were able to retake the city.
War in Africa: North-African campaign. Eisenhower was the lead general in charge. They hurridly trained several soldiers. They invaded Casablanca and found French and tried to negotiate. Britain invaded other parts of Africa. After dealing with Morocco, they moved to Tunesia, but Germans beat them there. Camps were set up for Allied forces, but they were destroyed by Germans. Reinforcements helped us push back the Germans, who eventually surrendered. Only laster November of 1942 to May of 1943.
George Patton: A famous general in Africa and later in Europe. Rough and tough guy who would rustle up his soldiers if they weren't superior. Both he and Eisenhower wanted the fame and glory. Died in Europe shortly after the war in an automobile accident.
Casablanca Confrence: Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Casablanca to force Germany to surrender conditionally. Didn't really succeed.
War in Italy: Started with the invasion of Sicily where we faced off against Italy. Air and water invasion. British would lead and we would follow. They were held off by defenses. We pushed forward and attacked places north of Sicily. Germans retreated. British invaded other places of Italy. Italian government surrendered in late 1943. Italy became an Allied Power. Mousillini was killed. Germany had control of the country, but eventually they retreated due to their losses.
George Marshall: Chief of Staff of the US military during WWII. Under Roosevelt/Truman.
Dwight Eisenhower: Supreme Allied Commander of all Allied forces in WWII. Under Marshall.
Douglas MacArthur: Head of the army against Japan in WWII.
Chester Nimitz: Head of the navy against Japan in WWII.
Omar Bradley: Involved in war in Africa and in Europe.
The Atlantic Wall: An Axis Powers defense line that went from Spain to Norway designed to slow down Allied Powers.
Hitler's Death: Died shortly after Roosevelt died. March 1945 RDR won the fourth term, and only died a month later. Hitler dies as well one month later. Eva Braun married Hitler the day they both died. Soviets were around so Hitler didn't want them to get his body. They both took poison, then Hitler shot himself. Braun died of the poison. Truman takes over for Roosevelt. Germany surrenders.
VE Day: May 8th 1945. Germany surrendered and officially ended that conflict.
Island Hopping: A tactic to win the war against Japan. Known as Operation Cartwheel. Due to the aggressiveness of Japan, we feared going onto Japan. Since island hopping worked so we didn't have to.
Phillapines Part I: Japan had China, Indonesia, and other sections of that part of the world. Japan also bombed the Phillapines on December 7th 1941. Australia became our central position for this part of the war. Bataan Death March was a huge loss to Phillapines. Japan had to pay for it after the war ended.
Phillapines Part II: Battle of Leyte Gulf was a major battle. We easily won. This is in 1945. MacArthur returned to the Phillapines.
Battle of Coral Sea: Battle against Japan while they tried to take the Solomon Island and New Guinia. Saw this as an opportunity to destroy American battleships. First major Japanese setback. Japan would have moved on to Australia.
Battle of Midway: Yamamoto decided to invade Midway. He took four aircraft carriers and went against Nimitz. Nimitz fired torpedos and missles and all sorts of fights against Japan. They were defeated in a major way. A sort of revenge for Pearl Harbor.
Guadalcanal: Fought between 1942-1943. Was a major strategic victory for Allied Forces. This is when we started going on the offensive against Japan.
Iwo Jima: First time we went to a Japanese island to attack them. Japanese were dug into the island, making it hard for retreat. Lasted 35 days. Only a few Japanese prisoners. 6800 American soldiers died. Flag raising world famous.
Okinaua: A big Allied offense. One of the bloodiest battle in the sea of Japan area. 12000 American died, with almost 50,000 casualties total. Very close to Japan. 107,000 Japanese died in this battle. Other Allied forces landed on the island while American ships watched for comacasies and other threats.
Code Talkers: US tried to send messages without Japanese figuring out what it was. One man realized that the Navajo language was unique enough to work. Spectical at first, but eventually they figured out how to work the messages back and forth without the Japanese figuiring it out. Thousands of lives were safe. Not recognized until Regan was president. Then later Clinton gave medals to the surviving code talkers.
Dolittle's Raid: A strike against Tokyo and Japan. Not very well thought of. They would have to land in China from aircraft carriers knowing they would run out of gas.
Manhattan Project: A code name for the atomic bomb. Started in the late 30's after Jewish scientists gave Roosevelt the nudge to get a head start. General Leslie Groves takes charge of the project, alongside Robert Oppenheimer. He was a communist, and the FBI followed him for years trying to find out if he was a spy. The test was done in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: The decision to bomb these places was decided right after the testing of the bomb. The plane that had the bombs was the Enola Gay. The target was first Hiroshima, then used again on Nagasaki. Truman was the one who gave the order to drop the bombs, and was responsible for 200,000 lives. Of course had we invaded, 1,000,000 lives would have been lost. Same thing happened for Nagasaki, and the war ended a few days later.
Yalta Confrence: Germany would be broken into four countries, each controlled by US, GB, France, and USSR. West Germany and East Germany is what it became. Stalin promised free elections in Eastern Europe, this wasn't true. Stalin promised to join the war against Japan after war with Germany was over, but he joined the day after Hiroshima. UN would form after meeting in San Francisco.
Nuremberg Trials: Germany trials where they had to be put on trial for the war and the Holocaust. Gering, the leader after Hitler, was on trial. He hanged himself in his cell during trials.
GI Bill of Rights: After WWII ended, troops would be helped with getting jobs and finding homes. Also transition back into normal life.
Japanese Interment Camps: After Pearl Harbor almost all Japanese went into a sort of concentration camp and watched by guards fearing they were spies. Racism in action represents the camps. Known as relocation centers. Able to play sports as well.
Why the Allies Won: We had a lot more countries than Axis Powers. Exports and resources were much higher than others. Production is also very high. At times higher technology, including guns and atomic bomb. Code talkers helped with deciphering codes. Magic and Ultra along with that. Mistakes by the Axis Powers military decisions. Women in the industry also helped.
After this Mr. Bruns assigned presentations over the Cold War. Mine is the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Basic definition of Cold War: A political strategic and ideological struggle between US and USSR from 1945-1991.
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