America At War
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Grand Canyon University *
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Course
HIS-144
Subject
History
Date
Feb 20, 2024
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by MagistrateLionPerson1035
HIS-144 T7: AMERICA AT WAR
Name: Zoei Castillon
Directions:
Using resources from the Topic 7 Readings, including your textbook, materials provided by your instructor through class discussion, and materials from the GCU Library Guide for HIS-144 US History Themes, complete the assignment worksheet. Each answer to the questions should be a minimum of 200-300 words; and, include citations for each question formatted using the APA Style Guide. The overall assignment must include three to five relevant scholarly sources in support of your content. Each response should show good writing mechanics, grammar, formatting, and proper citations at the end of each question/response. Wikipedia, Ask.com, ehow.com and other online information sites, encyclopedias, or dictionaries are not considered university academic sources and are NOT TO BE USED.
1.
What were the causes of the war? What attempts were made beforehand to prevent war? There were a few causes that started World War II, one being Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939, which drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war. Another major thing that led to the war was the great depression, it was said that if a new deal could not end the great depression, then a war would break out, which did end up happening. There were some attempts to help prevent the war, but in the end they were unsuccessful. Congress, under President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull's approval, enacted a series of neutrality laws legislating against the factors that had supposedly taken the U.S. into World War I. As Italy was preparing to invade Ethiopia, Congress passed the Neutrality Act of 1935. The Neutrality Act embargoed shipping of arms to either the aggressor or victim. Stronger legislation was enacted following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, in an effort to penalize the Spanish government, whose fascist enemies were receiving support from Mussolini and Hitler (Onion, 2014).
2.
Describe the general course of the war (major battles, leader decisions, significant events). What was the turning point for victory or defeat? Many events happened leading up and during the war, they each played a significant part. Starting with Hitler, at this point Hitler had Germany’s army growing and expanding, he also was reaching out to Poland to get them to part of his plans in order to wipe out an entire religion. By 1940 Hitler had most of Europe under his control. Then with Japan, in 1941, Pearl Harbor took place, on December 7th, Japan killed or wounded around 4,000 American soldiers. They also took out aircrafts and war ships, the next day America entered into World War II. Back to Germany, in 1943 Germany had its first major defeat. In 1944, America contributed a lot when it came to battle with an end goal of getting France back. In 1945, a lot of concentration camps in Germany were happening, wiping out many people. However, bombs were starting to go off in Germany and London, causing shortly after Germany to surrender. Germany surrendered in April which is the same month former president Roosevelt had died due to natural causes. Although Germany surrendered, there were still wars taking place in the Pacific, which slowly started to die down as troops started retreating to their countries (Onion, 2014).
3.
How does the home front respond to this war? Discuss some of the opportunities and challenges American society faced during the war. On the morning of December 7, 1941, military forces of the Empire of Japan attacked the United States Naval Fleet and ground bases at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. On December 8, 1941, one day after the “Day of Infamy,” the United States declared war against the Empire of Japan and on December 11, 1941, Japan’s ally, Germany,
declared war on the United States. Sixteen million Americans, mostly young working age men, would serve in the military during WWII, out of an overall United States population of 113 million. While an unprecedented number of young men would serve in World War II, the country would drastically increase its war production on the Home Front, serving not only the needs of the armed forces of the United States but her allies as well - what President Franklin Roosevelt called “The Arsenal of Democracy.” The combination of so many serving in the military, during a period of necessary and drastic increases in production, led to unprecedented social changes on the American Home Front. This consisted of, shortage of workers, Boom towns, working conditions and challenges, rationing on the home front, and Preserving History. These events had occurred due to the response of the American Homefront, these caused many challenges for people and created a new norm for the people that did not attend the war (N.P.S, 2017).
4.
What were the outcomes of the war? Explain the significant changes or results that follow the war. As fighting came to an end in 1945, people the world over faced for the first time the unprecedented extent of destruction and loss of life caused by World War II. As the costs of victory came into devastating focus, the diplomatic responses, rising global tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, and social disruption that followed in the aftermath of this conflict showed that World War II was truly "the war that changed the world. “Sixty million people died in the Second World War more than in any other war before. The majority of those killed were civilians, and they lived on all continents. Nearly every human family felt scarred in some way by the war. The luckiest ones did not lose a loved one, but they still experienced dislocation and deprivation. Not only did many people die or many people lost a loved one, but their lives before the war no longer existed, many people had no homes, no jobs, or anything left. It took up to a decade for people to finally recover from the war, and this was in all countries that played a part in World War II, which included, Germany, Russia, London, Japan, China, Poland, and more (Mallory, 2020).
5.
How does this war contribute to the creation of an American Identity? The most destructive war in history WW2 was a massive driver of not only social but also technological, political and economic change. While today we see the massive societal changes brought about by Covid-19 for example in how we work, communicate, travel and feed ourselves, WW2 would have an effect on every aspect of life. New families were created as women married servicemen of other nations and moved overseas; children were born in fatherless homes as a result of demobilized troops leaving the UK to return to the US or Canada or due to a death as a result of the war; and the divorce rate spiked as many families struggled to re-adjust to a world at peace. Many were looking for new nations. Commonwealth troops emigrated to Britain; Jewish survivors of the Holocaust looked east and west for a new home; Polish soldiers made Britain their permanent home; and new social policies were to change nations across the world. A historical event this big is bound to make changes to society and the economy, recovering from this war was difficult for so many people. And this war changed many people’s lives, and the war is part of the reason we are where we are today (Mallory, 2020). Reference(s)
Mallory, K. (2020, June 16). The cost of victory: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans. The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/cost-victory National Park Service. (2017). The WWII Home Front (U.S. National Park Service). National Parks Service. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-wwii-home-front.htm Onion, A. (2014, February 14). World War II history. History.com. Retrieved December 18, 2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history-video
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