The Homefront and the aftermath of the war
The Mobilization of Peoples: Four Examples
Mobilization- the act of assembling
and preparing for war
20,000,000 civilians killed
Would you have supported the internment policy
for Japanese Americans during the war? Explain.
Frontline Civilians:
The bombing of cities
Britain
nightly bombings
of London
Germany
- British began bombing Cologne
- incendiary bombs
- Dresden- 100,000 killed
- did not decrease production
Japan
- B-29's began bombing Japanese cities in 1944
- 1/4 of homes destroyed
- Atomic bombs on Hiroshima (190,000 killed) and Nagasaki (80,000 killed)
Some people compared the Allied bombing of cities and the American use of the atomic bomb against Hiroshima and Nagasaki with Nazi death camps. Do you believe this has merit? Give reasons to support your point of view.
Peace and a new war
Cold War
Potsdam Conference
- FDR died- Truman now member of the Big Three
- Truman demanded free elections in Eastern Europe
- Stalin refused
- They all agreed on trials for war criminals- Nuremberg
"an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."
-Winston Churchill
an ideological war between the United States and Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin
Soviet Union
Franklin Roosevelt
United States
Tehran
- In November 1943, the big three met in Tehran to determine the course of the war.
- They decided that the British and Americans would attack Germany through France
- They would meet the Soviets (attacking from the east) in Germany
- They would partition Germany after the war
The Soviet Union
Japan
The United States
Germany
Leningrad
- 900 days of seige
- ate dogs, cats, mice
- 1.5 million died
War not fought on US territory
Became the aresenal for the Allies
- 6 ships/day
- 96,000 planes/year
1942
- massive increase in armaments production and size of the army
- Albert Speer was put in charge
- Tripled production
Factories
- moved east
- started work as walls were built around them
- "Battle of Machines"
- highly mobilized society
- government controlled prices, wages, labor, and resources
- traditional habits of obedience and heirarchy
- kamikaze- suicide missions
- women not encouraged to work
- Korean and Chinese laborers brought into Japan
Women
- 60% increase in industrial jobs
- only country to use women in combat
African Americans
- moved to cities in the North and East
- led to racial tension
- 1,000,000 enlisted in military
- segregated battle units
July 1944
- total mobilization of the economy
- schools, theaters, cafes closed
Japanese Americans
- 110,000 moved to "internment camps"
- 65% of those were born in the US
Women
- before war- kept out of job market
- during war- "working and fighting comrade of the man
- The Big Three meet again- 1945
- They knew Germany was defeated
- Soviets controlled all of Eastern Europe
- FDR wanted self-determination after the war
- Stalin didn't trust the West and wanted buffer states
Also at YALTA!:
- United Nations created
- Germany must surrender unconditionally
- US and USSR never agreed on Eastern Europe
- Germany divided