Casualties Graph

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/WorldWarII-DeathsByCountry-Barchart.png

Europe During War

Allies and Axis Powers Map

Poll

Vocabulary

·      WAAC: Women’s auxiliary army corps

·      WPB: War production board

·      Omar Bradley: American army general who launched massive air and land attack against enemy at St. Louis

·      George Paton: American general

·      George Marshall: Army chief for staff general

·      Philip Randolph: President and Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car posters, highly respected leader

·      Manhattan Project: U.S. program to develop an atomic bomb for use in WWII

·      OPA: Office of Price Administration

·      Battle of the Bulge: allies succeeded in turning back the last major German offensive of the war

·      Rationing: a restriction of people’s rights to by unlimited amounts of particular good and other goods, often implemented during wartime to ensure adequate supplies for the military

·      Dwight D. Eisenhower: American general, he commanded the invasion on Axis-controlled North America

·      D-Day- June 6, 1944: the day on which the Allies launched an invasion of the European mainland in WWII

·      Harry S. Truman: Vice President for President Franklin Roosevelt, who then became the 33^rdpresident when FDR died in office

·      Tuskegee Airmen: African American Pilots of all black 99^th pursuit squadron, fought in Italy

·      Douglas MacArthur: Ally general who commanded the Philippines islands in Dec. 1941

·      Chester Nimitz: the commander of the American naval forces in the Pacific

·      Battle of Midway: Japanese were caught off guard. Was the turning point in the Pacific War

·      Kamikaze: involving or engaging in the deliberate crashing of a bomb-filled airplane into a military target 

·      Internment: confinement or a restriction in movement, especially under wartime conditions

·      JACL: The Japanese American Citizens League, an organization that pushed the U.S. government to compensate the Japanese Americans for property they had lost when they were interned during WWII

·      Iwo Jima: most heavily guarded island, Americans won it over to use to serve as a base from which heavily loaded bombers could reach Japan

·      J. Robert Oppenheimer: led research on the development of the atomic bomb, he was an American scientist

·      Hiroshima and Nagasaki: the two cities on which the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs during WWII

·      Nuremberg Trials: the court proceeding held in Nuremberg, Germany, after WWII, in which Nazi leaders were tried for war crimes

·      James Farmer: civil rights leader who founded the “CORE”

·      CORE: The Congress of Racial Equality, an interracial group founded in 1942 by James Farmer to work against racism in N. cities

·      GI Bill of Rights: a name given to the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, a 1944 law that provided financial and educational benefits for WWII veterans

Primary Source

http://www.historynet.com/aviation-history-interview-with-tuskegee-airman-charles-mcgee.htm

This was an interview with Tuskegee Airman, Charles McGee. Mr. McGee talks about his time at the Tuskegee Institute and learning how to fly the planes. In the article he also goes into detail about his experiences overseas during the war. He flew 136 missions, 82 were tactical, and 54 were long-range, high-altitude missions.  What I found the most interesting was how he took down an enemy plane at a Czechoslovakian Oil Refinery.  It was interesting to hear all of the maneuvers that were necessary for evasion, and what had to be done to get out safely. Once the war was over he continued to serve his country as a reserve officer, and served in both Vietnam and the Korean wars, as well.  It really shows you how patriotic these Airmen were, and how they loved to fight for their country, and keep it's citizens safe.

Major Events Timeline

Cartoon Analysis

In this cartoon it shows the Japanese  violence towards Americans. and how If you aren’t helping  you are putting danger on your fallen Americans. I also think that they are trying to reach any men that have not enlisted. It also shows how strong are men are even though they have been over thrown they still persevere to make it day by day.  This cartoon also liberates fellow Americans to work harder.

Interview

Interviewed is Emma Johnson, who lived during the war.


Question /Chris
Gram, how old were you in 1945

Answer/Great Grandmother
I was born in 1917 so I was twenty-eight years old. Your grandmother was to
years old.

Question /Chris
What can you tell me about how things were in 1945 during World War II?


Answer/Great Grandmother
There is so much, let me see, our family celebrated the New Year with a prayer
that the war would soon be over. That prayer was answered some time later
that year.

We still had rations, which meant we could only buy and have a certain
amount of anything, like gas for the car; you could buy small amounts of
certain meat and vegetables. Your great-great grandmother Stafford, saved
her cooking oil from bacon and would take it to her neighborhood store and
give to the owner. He would then give it to someone in the army; this oil saved
from all over the country would help our armed tanks run overseas.

Women could not have stockings/nylons, they are called pantyhose now.
Many women like the stockings /nylons with a line down the back of their legs
so they would take a pencil and draw a line down their leg to make people
think they had on stockings/nylons.


Question /Chris
What else can you share?

Answer/Great Grandmother
Your great grandfather was in the Civil Air Patrol. His feet were too flat to
be accepted into the armed services so he and other men would meet twice a
month and get certain things to do to help our city and country. He served as a
mechanic and repaired some of the equipment here in Michigan. He was also
Block Captain, which meant if anything like the enemy would attack our city,
he had certain things he had to do. He had a CA uniform, kaki pants and shirt
with stripes on the sleeve

Question/Chris
What did you do for fun?

Answer/Great Grandmother
I remember going to the Fisher Theatre, United Artist and other “movie
houses” and watching the news. We saw the war in action. After the
newsreels we sat through two full lengths pictures and cartoons plus coming
attractions. Most were war related, even the cartoons.

Most homes did not have television then so we sat around the radio and
listened to the news of the war. We would hear our President Roosevelt and
then Truman tell the country how our “boys” were doing.

Question /Chris
What did our family do when they found out the war was over?

Answer/Great Grandmother
Along with the entire country and our friends in other countries we celebrated. The shows
had celebrations with movies showing the ending of the war and marched all
over especially in New York and Washington. We had marched here in the
Metropolitan Detroit area as well.

Chapter Vocabulary

• Totalitarian -Exerts complete control over its citizens, In a totalitarian individuals have no rights and the government suppresses all opposition.

• Fascism - Stressed nationalism and placed the interests of the state above those of individuals.

• Nazism -The german brand of facism was based on extreme nationalism.

• Neutruality Acts - The first two acts outlawed arms sales or loans to nations at war. The third act was passed in response to the fighting in Spain.

• Appeasement - Giving up principles to pacify an aggressor.

• Nonagression pact - Russia and Germany committed never to attack each other.

• Blitzkrieg - made uses of advances in military technology such as fast tanks and more powerful aircraft to take the enemy by suprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force.

•  Holocaust- The systematic murder of 11 million people across europe more than half of whom were jews. 

• Kristallnacht - "night of Broken Glass' 

• Genocide - The delibirate and systematic killing of an entire population.  

• Ghettos - Segregated jewish areas in certian polish cities.  

• Concentration Camps - Labor Camps where they were imprisoned. 

• Axis Powers  - Germany, Italy and Japan joined to become known as the Axis Powers. 
• Office of Price Administration (OPA) – Established August 18, 1941 the functions of the OPA was originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War 1. It fought inflation  by freezing wages, prices, and rents. It also rationed foods, such as meat, butter, cheese, vegetables, sugar and coffee.

• War Production Board – The purpose of the board was to regulate the production of materials and fuel during World War II in the United States the board converted and expanded peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production

• Department of the Treasury – Issued war bonds to raise money for the war effort and to fight inflation. The government collected 16.7 billion dollars worth of bonds, they had one catch to the bonds. They weren’t allowed to be cashed for 40 years.

• Revenue Act of 1942 – Increased individual tax rates, increased corporate tax rate, Raised the top personal-income tax rate 88% and added lower and middle income Americans to the income tax rolls.

• Smith-Connally Anti-Strike Act (1943) –This was an American law that was passed in the year of 1943. It overthrew President Roosevelt’s veto. This legislature was created after 400,000 coal miners went on strike. The act allowed the government to seize and operate industries/buissness that were involved with a strike or had a threat of a strike. 

• Rationing: Rationing in addition t, to the OPA set up a system for rationing, or establishing fixed allotments of goods deemed essential for the military.