World War II
Who was president
during World War II?
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
What event started
World War II ?
•Hitler invaded
Poland.
What did the Soviet Union do
when Hitler invaded Poland?
• Invaded Poland and the Baltic
countries from the east
What were the Axis
nations during World
War II?
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan
What happened to France in
the first two years of
World War II?
• France was overrun by
Germany.
What was the Battle of Britain?
• Hitler’s air attack on Great
Britain
What country did Hitler invade
in mid-1941?
• The Soviet Union
What was the position of the
United States during the first
two years of World War II?
• Neutral
What foreign policy had
strong support in the United
States during the first two
years of World War II?
• Isolationism
Despite its official position of
neutrality, how did the United
States increasingly
help Great Britain?
• Gave Great Britain war
supplies and old naval
warships in exchange for
military bases in Bermuda
and the Caribbean Sea
What caused America’s
gradual abandonment of its
policy of neutrality?
• Between 1939 and mid-1941,
Germany overran France and
most of Europe, pounded
Great Britain by air in the
Battle of Britain, and invaded
the Soviet Union.
Identify the Lend-Lease Act.
• A law that gave the President
authority to sell, lease, or lend
military equipment to
countries to defend
themselves against the Axis
powers
Who compared the Lend-Lease
Act to “lending a garden hose
to a next-door neighbor whose
house is on fire”?
• President Franklin Roosevelt
How did America’s policy
towards Japan change after the
Japanese invaded Manchuria
and China during the thirties?
• U.S. refused to recognize
Japanese conquests in Asia.
• U.S. imposed an embargo on
exports of oil and steel to
Japan.
What event brought
the U.S. into World
War II?
•Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor
Who called the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor on December
7, 1941 “a date that will live in
infamy”?
• President Franklin D.
Roosevelt
Who was the leader of
Germany during World
War II?
• Adolf Hitler
Who were the Allies in
World War II?
• Great Britain
• the Soviet Union
• the United States
Who was the leader of
Great Britain during
World War II?
•Winston Churchill
Who was the leader of
the Soviet Union during
World War II?
•Joseph Stalin
What strategy did the
Allies follow?
•Defeat Hitler First
In what battle in North
Africa did the British defeat
German forces, thereby
denying Hitler control over
the Middle Eastern oil fields
and preventing Hitler from
attacking the Soviet Union
from the south?
•El Alamein
What happened at the
Battle of Stalingrad?
• Soviet army defeated the Germans
• Prevented the Germans from seizing
the Soviet oil fields
• Turned the tide against the Germans
on the eastern front
What happened at the
Normandy landings (D-Day)?
• American and Allied troops
landed in France.
• Liberation of Western
Europe had begun.
• It was the turning point of the
war on the western front.
Who was the commander of
the Allied forces at the D-
Day invasion?
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
What was the turning
point of the war in the
Pacific?
•The Battle of
Midway
What was the Allied
strategy in the Pacific?
•Island hopping
The invasions of what two
Pacific islands brought
American forces closer to
Japan?
•Iwo Jima
•Okinawa
How did the United
States end the war in the
Pacific?
• Dropped atomic
bombs on Hiroshima
and Nagasaki
During World War II,
when men left the factories
to serve in
the armed forces,
who often took their jobs?
•Women
What image represented
American women who worked
in factories during
World War II?
• Rosie the Riveter
What became the slogan of
African-Americans
on the home front
during World War II?
• Victory in war and equality at
home
Were the United States
armed forces racially
segregated during
World War II?
•Yes
During World War II,
what group of
African-American flyers served
with distinction in Europe?
•The Tuskegee
Airmen
During World War II, what
Japanese-American regiments
earned a high number of
decorations for bravery?
•Nisei regiments
What Native American
language was used by the U.S.
military during World War II
for communication codes in the
Pacific?
•Navajo
What international
agreement established rules
for the humane treatment of
prisoners of war?
• The Geneva Convention
What happened on the
Bataan Death March?
• American POWs in the
Philippines suffered brutal
treatment by the Japanese
How did the treatment of
prisoners of war in Europe
differ from that in the Pacific?
• The treatment of prisoners of
war in Europe more closely
followed the ideas of the
Geneva Convention.
What is genocide?
• The systematic and purposeful
destruction of a racial,
political, or cultural group
What was the
Holocaust?
• Nazi Germany’s
systematic murder of
European Jews.
What was Hitler’s
“final solution?”
• Exterminate (kill) all
the Jews in Europe
Besides Jews, what other
groups were victims of the
Holocaust?
• Poles
• Slavs
• Gypsies
• “Undesirables” defined by the
Nazis as homosexuals, the
mentally ill, and political
dissidents (protesters)
What were the
Nuremberg Trials?
• Trials of Nazi leaders
for war crimes
What was the short-term
significance of the Holocaust?
• In the Nuremberg trials, Nazi
leaders and others were
convicted of war crimes.
What was the long-term
significance of the Holocaust?
• The Nuremberg trials
emphasized individual
responsibility for actions
during a war, regardless of
orders received.
• The Nuremberg trials led to
increased demand for a
Jewish homeland.
In 1948 what nation was
founded by Jewish
settlers living in
Palestine?
•Israel
How did the U.S. maintain
an adequate supply of
products for the war effort?
• Rationing: each family
received a monthly
allowance of essential items
(sugar, gasoline, meat)
How did the Roosevelt
administration finance
World War II?
• War bonds
• The federal income
tax
What African-American
leader led the fight
for desegregation of
the armed forces and
equal hiring in defense jobs.
•A. Philip Randolph
What was the Selective
Service Act?
• 1940 law which established
the first peacetime draft in
American history
What happened to most
Japanese-Americans during
World War II?
• Relocated to internment
camps, where they were
required to stay until the
end of the war
What were two reasons for the
internment of Japanese-
Americans during
World War II?
• Strong anti-Japanese prejudice
on the West Coast
• False belief that Japanese-
Americans were aiding the
enemy
How did the Supreme Court
rule in Korematsu v. United
States?
• Upheld the government’s
right to act against Japanese-
Americans living on the West
Coast
• Upheld the Roosevelt
administration’s policy of
placing Japanese-Americans
in internment camps, because
of fears they might assist in a
Japanese invasion
What was the role of the
American media and
entertainment industries
during World War II?
• Promoted Nationalism
Define nationalism.
• A strong feeling of
patriotism or devotion to
one’s country
In what three ways did media
and communications assist the
Allied efforts during
World War II?
• 1) The United States
government maintained strict
censorship of the reporting of
the war.
• 2) Public morale and ad
campaigns kept Americans
focused on the war effort.
• 3) The entertainment
industry produced movies,
plays, and shows that boosted
morale and patriotic support
for the war effort as well as
portrayed the enemy in
stereotypical ways.