acc. PHILLIPS
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  • acc. PHILLIPS
  • America
    • Introduction
      • Course Overview
      • Policies
      • Essential Documents
    • 1492-1754
      • Colonization
    • 1754-1848
      • Revolution
      • Constitution
      • Expansion
    • 1848-1898
      • The Civil War
      • The Gilded Age
    • 1898-1945
      • The American Empire
      • The Great Depression
      • The Second World War
    • 1945-1991
      • The Early Cold War
      • The Great Society
      • The Late Cold War
    • 1991-Today
      • The Culture Wars
      • The War on Terror
  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • 1200-1450
    • 1450-1648
      • Renaissance
      • Reformation
      • Exploration
      • Links
      • Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Rick Steves Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1648-1815
      • Sovereignty
      • Commerce
      • Reason
      • Revolution
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      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
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    • 1815-1914
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      • Ideology
      • Empire
      • Modernity
      • Links
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        • John Green Videos
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      • Cold War
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        • John Green Videos
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      • 1200-1450
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      • 1450-1750
        • Discovery
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Modern America
​c. 1898-1945

The Second World War

1930s-1940s

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Contents


​The Second World War, 1930s-1940s:
  • WWII Before American Entry
  • WWII After Pearl Harbor​
  • WWII Dates to Know
  • ​Assignments and Readings
  • Slideshows
  • Videos

WWII Before American Entry

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Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Adolf Hitler of Germany, and Benito Mussolini of Italy established totalitarian regimes in their respective countries during the 1920s and 1930s.
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The massive Nuremberg rallies, such as this one in 1935, instilled a fierce loyalty to (or fearful silence about) Hitler and the National Socialist Party in Germany. Wikimedia.
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The German bombing of London left thousands homeless, hurt, or dead. This child, holding a stuffed toy, sits in the rubble as adults ponder their fate in the background. 1945. Library of Congress.
WWII Before American Entry
  • Treaty of Versailles
  • Dawes Plan
  • Kellogg-Briand Pact
  • Totalitarianism
  • Fascism
  • Benito Mussolini
  • Joseph Stalin
  • Adolf Hitler
  • Nazism
  • Third Reich
  • Lebensraum
  • Emperor Hirohito
  • Hideki Tojo
  • 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria
  • 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia
  • American isolationism
  • Nye Committee
  • America First
  • 1935 US Neutrality Acts
  • Spanish Civil War
  • Francisco Franco
  • 1937 Japanese invasion of China
  • Rape of Nanjing
  • Quarantine Speech
  • Appeasement
  • Axis Powers – Germany, Italy, and Japan
  • Anschluss (Annexation of Austria)
  • Munich Conference - Sudentenland
  • Neville Chamberlain
  • Kristallnacht
  • Cash and carry
  • Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact
  • 1939 German Invasion of Poland
  • Blitzkrieg
  • Fall of France
  • Charles de Gaulle
  • Battle of Britain
  • Winston Churchill
  • Lend-Lease Act
  • Selective Training and Service Act of 1940
  • Atlantic Charter
  • Four Freedoms
WWII Before American Entry Quizlet
Article: Trump and Mussolini: The same, only different? Eleven key lessons from historical fascism
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Review:
  • Why did totalitarian states rise after World War I, and what did they do?
  • How did Americans react to events in Europe and Asia in the early years of World War II?​

WWII After Pearl Harbor

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In 1943, Allied forces began a bombing campaign of railroad and oil targets in Bucharest, part of the wider policy of bombing expeditions meant to incapacitate German transportation. Bucharest was considered the number one oil target in Europe. Photograph, August 1, 1943. Wikimedia.
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Bombings throughout Europe caused complete devastation in some areas, leveling beautiful ancient cities like Cologne, Germany. Cologne experienced an astonishing 262 separate air raids by Allied forces, leaving the city in ruins as in these the photograph above. Amazingly, the Cologne Cathedral stood nearly undamaged even after being hit numerous times, while the area around it crumbled. Photograph, April 24, 1945. Wikimedia.
WWII After Pearl Harbor
  • Pearl Harbor
  • Bataan Death March 
  • Doolittle’s Raid
  • Battle of the Coral Sea
  • Battle of Midway
  • Douglas MacArthur
  • “Island-hopping”
  • George Marshall
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower
  • Omar Bradley
  • George Patton
  • Chester Nimitz
  • Battle of Stalingrad
  • Total War
  • Holocaust/“Final Solution”
  • Concentration camp
  • Ghetto
  • Genocide
  • Rationing
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA)
  • Propaganda
  • Newsreels
  • Airborne leaflet pamphlets
  • War posters
  • War Bonds
  • GI Bill
  • War Production Board
  • Tuskegee Airmen
  • A. Philip Randolph
  • James Farmer
  • Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
  • Rosie the Riveter
  • Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps
  • Japanese-American internment
  • Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
  • Korematsu v. United States
  • Tehran Conference
  • Yalta Conference
  • Operation Overlord – the invasion of Normandy/“D-Day”
  • Battle of the Bulge
  • V-E Day
  • Potsdam Conference
  • Battle of Iwo Jima
  • Battle of Okinawa
  • Kamikaze
  • Bretton Woods Conference
  • United Nations
  • Manhattan Project/Atomic bomb/Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  • J. Robert Oppenheimer
  • Harry Truman
  • V-J Day 
  • Nuremberg trials
WWII After Pearl Harbor Quizlet
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With so many American workers deployed overseas and so many new positions created by war production, posters like the iconic “We Can Do It!” urged women to support the war effort by entering the work force. Wikimedia Commons.
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The Tuskegee Airmen stand at attention in 1941 as Major James A. Ellison returns the salute of Mac Ross, one of the first graduates of the Tuskegee cadets. The photographs captures the pride and poise of the Tuskegee Airmen, who continued the tradition of African Americans’ military service despite widespread racial discrimination and inequality at home. Wikimedia.
Review:
  • How did the US react to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
  • How did the war change America at home?
  • How did the Allies defeat the Axis Powers?
  • How did the Holocaust develop and what were its results?
  • What were the major immediate and long-term effects of World War II?

WWII Dates to Know:

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This pair of U.S. military recruiting posters demonstrates the way that two branches of the military—the Marines and the Women’s Army Corps—borrowed techniques from professional advertisers to “sell” a romantic vision of war to Americans. One shows Marines at war in a lush jungle, reminding viewers that the war was taking place in exotic lands; the other depicted women taking on new jobs as a patriotic duty. Bradshaw Crandall, Are You a Girl with a Star-Spangled Heart? Recruiting Publicity Bureau, U.S. Women’s Army Corps Recruiting Poster (1943); Unknown, Let’s Go Get ’Em. Beck Engraving Co. (1942). Library of Congress.
WWII Dates to Know:
  • September 1, 1939
  • June 22, 1941
  • December 7, 1941
  • June 6, 1944
  • May 8, 1945
  • August 6, 1945
  • August 9, 1945
  • September 2, 1945
WWII Dates to Know Quizlet

Assignments and Readings

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Americans Chapter 24: World War Looms
americans_chapter_24_reading_guides.pdf
File Size: 109 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Americans Chapter 25: The United States in World War II
americans_chapter_25_reading_guides.pdf
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Debate on the Atomic Bombings
debate_on_the_atomic_bombings.pdf
File Size: 92 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Timeline of the Second World War
timeline_of_the_second_world_war_worksheet.pdf
File Size: 192 kb
File Type: pdf
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Victory Through Air Power
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victory_through_air_power.pdf
File Size: 104 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II
hiroshima.pdf
File Size: 75 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Primary Sources

Charles A. Lindbergh, “America First” (1941)

Charles Lindbergh won international fame in 1927 after completing the first non-stop, solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. As Hitler’s armies marched across the European continent, many Americans began to imagine American participation in the war. Charles Lindbergh and the America First Committee, advocating “America First,” championed American isolationism.


The Atlantic Charter (1941)

The leaders of the United States and United Kingdom signed the Atlantic Charter in August 1941. The short document neatly outlined an idealized vision for political and economic order of the postwar world.


FDR, Executive Order No. 9066 (1942)

During World War II, the federal government removed over 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese descent (both foreign-born “issei” and native-born “nisei”) from the West Coast and interned in camps. President Roosevelt authorized the internments with his Executive Order No. 9066, issued on February 19, 1942.


Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945)

On August 6, 1945, Harry Truman disclosed to the American public that the United States had detonated an atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan.


Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945)

Vietnam, which had been colonized by the French and then by the Japanese, declared their independence from colonial rule—particularly the re-imposition of a French colonial regime—in the aftermath of Japan’s defeat in World War II. Proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh in September 1945, Vietnam’s Declaration of Independence reflected back the early promises of the Allies in World War II and even borrowed directly from the American Declaration of Independence.


Tuskegee Airmen (1941)

The Tuskegee Airmen stand at attention as Major James A. Ellison returns the salute of Mac Ross, one of the first graduates of the Tuskegee cadets. The Tuskegee Airmen who continued a tradition of African American military service while honorably serving a country that still considered them second-class citizens.


World War II Recruitment Posters (1942 & 1943)
​

This pair of US Military recruiting posters demonstrates the way that two branches of the military—the Marines and the Women’s Army Corps—borrowed techniques from advertising professionals to “sell” a romantic vision of war to Americans. These two images take different strategies: one shows Marines at war in a lush jungle, reminding viewers that the war was taking place in exotic lands, the other depicted women taking on new jobs as a patriotic duty.

Slideshows

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Totalitarianism - The Road to the Second World War.pdf from Dave Phillips
The Second World War.pdf from Dave Phillips
Axis and allies rules from Dave Phillips

Videos

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Digital History Textbook

America at War: World War II

In this chapter, you will learn about the war’s causes, the Holocaust, the military history of the war, the impact of the war on women and racial and ethnic minorities, the internment of Japanese Americans, and the dawn of the atomic age.
​
​
Joe Louis
The Holocaust
World War II
Isolationism
The Coming of World War II
Conflict in the Pacific
Italy
Germany
War Begins
A Collision Course in the Pacific
Pearl Harbor
Mobilizing for War
Molding Public Opinion
Social Changes During the War
Italians, Germans, Japanese Aliens and European Jewry
Japanese-American Internment
The Military Conflict
The War in the Pacific
Controversy Continues

American History Home
c. 1492-1754
c. 1754-1848
c. 1848-1898
c. 1898-1945
The American Empire
The Great Depression
The Second World War
c. 1945-1991
c. 1991-Today

Select:

America
Europe
World

​

Resources:

Barron's AP European History Flashcards, Second Edition​

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Contents are for educational purposes only.
© COPYRIGHT 2022.
  • acc. PHILLIPS
  • America
    • Introduction
      • Course Overview
      • Policies
      • Essential Documents
    • 1492-1754
      • Colonization
    • 1754-1848
      • Revolution
      • Constitution
      • Expansion
    • 1848-1898
      • The Civil War
      • The Gilded Age
    • 1898-1945
      • The American Empire
      • The Great Depression
      • The Second World War
    • 1945-1991
      • The Early Cold War
      • The Great Society
      • The Late Cold War
    • 1991-Today
      • The Culture Wars
      • The War on Terror
  • Europe
    • Introduction
    • 1200-1450
    • 1450-1648
      • Renaissance
      • Reformation
      • Exploration
      • Links
      • Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Rick Steves Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1648-1815
      • Sovereignty
      • Commerce
      • Reason
      • Revolution
      • Links
      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1815-1914
      • Industry
      • Ideology
      • Empire
      • Modernity
      • Links
      • Readings and Assignments
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
    • 1914-Today
      • WWI
      • WWII
      • Cold War
      • EU
      • Links
      • Assignments and Readings
      • Videos
        • John Green Videos
        • Tom Richey Videos
        • Assorted Videos
      • Slideshows
  • World
    • Ancient
    • Modern
      • Introduction
        • Course Overview
        • Policies
        • Essential Documents
        • Exam
      • 1200-1450
        • Asia
        • Africa
        • Europe
        • Americas
        • Trade
      • 1450-1750
        • Discovery
        • Maritime Empires
        • Land Empires
      • 1750-1900
        • Revolutions
        • Industrialization
        • Imperialism
      • 1900-Today
        • World Wars
        • Postwar World
        • Globalization
  • Research
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact