World War Two Readings

AIVIERJCAN HiSTORY FROM iSOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 569
4. Describe two important results of World War I in each of the following areas:
(a) social (b) economic (c) political.
PART 6. The United States Is Torn Between
Isolation and International Cooperation
(1919—1939)
OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS ON AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
1. Isolation: The Predominant Sentiment
a. Disillusionment With World War I. Many Americans were dlisap
pointed with the results of the war. It had proved costly in American lives and
money. Instead of making “the world safe for democracy,” it had led to major
European dictatorships. Instead of being a “war to end all wars,” it had appar
2ntly planted the seeds for another world conflict.
b. American Tradition of Isolation. Isolationists claimed that, except
or World War I, the United States had consistently and successfully pursued a
policy of isolation. Now they demanded that the United States return to and
tricdy adhere to its traditional policy.
c. Peace Through Isolation. Isolationists argued that America could
iave peace only by shutting itself off from the rest of the world. Let Uncle Sam
“stay on his side of the street” while Europe “stews in its own juice.”
Isolationist sentiment was powerful during the 1920s as well as during the
iepression years, when Americans concentrated upon domestic problems. It
found expression in books, plays, and newspapers, and it received strong support
om a powerful group of Senators.
2. International Cooperation: The Minority View
a. Defense of World War I. Internationalists defended American en
rance into World War I by emphasizing Wilsonian idealism and national security.
fhey claimed that, by rejecting world leadership, the United States endangered
ts own security and lost the opportunity to assure world peace.
b. Failure ofIsolation. Opponents of isolation insisted that isolation had
iot worked in the past, pointing to American involvement in the Napoleonic Wars
by the War of 1812) and World War I. Now that economic factors and.scientiflc
rogress had brought nations even closer together, internationalists argued, iso
ation was unrealistic.
c. Peace Through International Cooperation. Internationalists ar
sued that America could have peace only by cooperating with peace-loving na
ions against aggression. We cannot “stop the world and get off.”
Sentiment for cooperation grew in the late 1930s, as Americans observed
Fascist militarism and aggression. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had
served under and admired Wilson, worked cautiously but deliberately to swing
public opinion away from isolation. However, not until Britain stood alone in
World War II did international cooperation achieve acceptance by a majority of
Americans.
UNITED STATES REFUSAL TO JOIN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
1. Brief Survey of the League of Nations
a. Establishment. Woodrow Wilson believed that the single most im
portant step toward world peace was the League of Nations. Wilson succeeded
in placing the League Covenant (Charter) into the Treaty of Versailles.
b. Pu,poses. By international cooperation, the League proposed to (1)
deal with economic and social problems, (2) encourage disarmament, and (3)
settle disputes among nations peacefully. If an aggressor nation refused to submit
to peaceful settlement, the League could advise, but not force, its member na
tions to employ coercive measures, called sanctions. These might be withdrawing
ambassadors; halting trade; and, finally, using military force.
2. Senate Defeat of the Treaty of Versailles and the League
a. Republican Opposition. In control of the Senate, the Republicans
consisted of (1) a small group of extreme isolationists, notably William Borah,
Hiram Johnson, and Robert La Follette, and (2) a large group of more moderate
Senators, most of whom supported the chairman of the Foreign Relations Com
mittee, Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr. Bitterly hostile to Wilson, Senator Lodge deter
mined to humiliate the President, to “republicanize” the Treaty of Versailles, and
to protect American sovereignty by adding to the League Charter interpretations,
called reseruations. Lodge held lengthy committee hearings to delay action and
win support from the public and the Senate.
b. Arguments Aguinst the League. Lodge and his supporters offered
the following arguments: (1) The League might involve the United States in a
war, thereby violating the American Constitution, which gives Congress the ex
clusive power to declare war. (2) The League might interfere in domestic matters,
such as tariff and immigration policies. (3) The League would be under the dis
proportionate influence of Great Britain, since Britain and each of its dominions
had a vote in the League Assembly. (4) League membership would involve us
in world problems and violate America’s traditional policy of isolation.
c. Wilson’s Countermoves. Wilson denounced the Lodge reservations.
To arouse the people and to bring pressure on the Senate, Wilson undertook an
extensive speaking tour. His efforts ended abruptly when, overworked and ex
hausted, he suffered a paralytic stroke. From his sickbed, Wilson instructed the
Democrats in the Senate to reject the Lodge reservations.
d. The Senate Votes. The Senate overwhelmingly defeated the Treaty
of Versailles with the Lodge reservations and then also rejected the unamended

570 AMEPJCAN HISTORY
treaty. In a third and final vote, some Democrats disregarded Wilson’s instructions
and supported the treaty with the Lodge reservations. The amended treaty, how
ever, fell seven votes short of the required two-thirds majority. (Later, the United
States negotiated a peace treaty that ended the war with Germany but that did
not provide for a League.)
e. Who Defeated the Treaty and the League? The Treaty of Versailles
was defeated by (1) Lodge, by his insistence on reservations, (2) Wilson, by his
refusal to compromise, and (3) the American people. At first, most people prob
ably favored League membership, but they did not speak out with sufficient
strength. As the League debate raged, Americans became confused, disillu
sioned, and unwilling to assume the burdens of world leadership.
3. Election of 1920 and the League. Appealing to the voters again,
Wilson asked that the Presidential election of 1920 be a “great and solemn
referendum” on the League. James M. Cox, the Democratic candidate,
campaigned vigorously for the League. Warren G. Harding, the Republican
candidate, urged a “return to normalcy” but took no definite stand on the
League.
The voters were influenced by other factors, all working against the Demo
crats: falling farm prices; growing unemployment; disillusionment with the war,
and the resentment of various national groups who blamed Wilson for treating
Germany harshly, denying territory to Italy, and failing to secure independence
for Ireland. Harding won an overwhelming triumph. He interpreted the result to
mean that the American people opposed League membership.
HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE: A FAILURE
1. Reasois for Failure
a. Membership. The League did not include all major nations. The
United States never joined. The Soviet Union entered the League in 1934 but
was expelled in 1939. Germany and Japan withdrew in 1933, as did Italy four
years later.
b. Voting. League decisions required unanimous votes.
c. Powers. The League lacked the power to tax and to draft an army.
Although the League could request money and troops from its members, each
state was free to respond according to its own national interests. The League was
not a world government, but a weak confederation.
2. Record of Failure. Although the League settled minor disputes be
tween small nations, it failed in major crises to stop (a) the Japanese invasion of
Manchuria, (b) the Italian conquest of Ethiopia, and (c) German rearmament, in
violation of the Versailles Treaty, and German territorial seizures.
In 1946 the League disbanded and transferred its properties to the new world
organization, the United Nations.
FROM ISOLATION To WORLD LEADERSHIP 571
LIMITED INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION BY THE
UNITED STATES
1. The United States Cooperates With the League. The United
States cooperated with the League by (a) joining the International Labor Orga
nization (ILO), a League agency to improve world labor conditions, (b) working
with other League agencies to wipe out disease, suppress slavery, and establish
standards in communication and transportation, and (c) supporting the League
during the crisis over Manchuria. (Check the Index for “Stimson Doctrine.”)
2. The United States Joins In Naval Disarmament
a. Early Agreements. To reduce the tax burden and to avoid a naval
armaments race, which had helped cause World War I, the United States co
operated with other naval powers in eking a reduction of naval forces.
(1) Washington Conference (1921—1922). The United States, Great Britain,
Japan, France, and Italy agreed to stop building capital ships (large warships) for
ten years and to maintain capital ships for each nation in a ratio of
5:5:3:1.67:1.67, respectively.
(2) London Naval Conference (1930). The United States, Great Britain, and
Japan agreed to a ratio of approximately 10:10:7, for five years, for cruisers and
destroyers as well as capital ships.
b. Eventual Failure. At the London Conference (1935), the United
States and Britain faced a Japanese demand for a 10:10:10 ratio, or parity. The
democracies refused on the ground that Japan had no need of such naval power
unless for aggression. No agreement was reached; soon afterward Japan started
a new naval race.
3. The United States Joins In International Pacts
a. Nine-Power Treaty at the Washington Conference (1921—
1922). The United States, Japan, Britain, France, and five smaller nations
agreed to support equal trading rights in China and to respect China’s indepen
dence, thus reaffirming the Open Door Policy.
b. Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928). Frank Kellogg, United States secretary
of state, and Aristide Briand, French foreign minister, proposed a pact to settle
all disputes peacefully and to outlaw war “as an instrument of national policy.”
Most nations, including Germany, Japan, and italy, signed this idealistic state
ment, also called the Pact of Paris.
c. Failure ofInternational Pacts. In the 1930s militarist Japan, Fascist
Italy, and Nazi Germany all violated the Kellogg-Briand Pact Japan also violated
the Nine-Power Treaty. Without provision for enforcement, these agreements
proved worthless.
I

572 AMERICAN HISTORY 1 FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 573
FURTHER EVIDENCES OF ISOLATION BY THE UNITED STATES
1. Refusal to Join the World Court. The World Court was estab
lished by the League to settle disputes between nations according to international
law. Despite the requests of four successive Presidents—Harding, Coolidge,
Hoover, and Roosevelt—Senate isolationists managed to keep the United States
from membership in the World Court. They insisted that the World Court was a
“back door” into the League.
2. ImmIgration Restrictions. By a series of immigration laws in the
1920s, drastically limiting admissions, Congress expressed American sentiment
for fewer world contacts—an aspect of isolationism.
3. High Tariff Policy. Congress restored high import duties and in 1930
passed the highest rates ever, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. By such protection
ism, Congress reflected the isolationist view in economic matters.
4. Insistence Upon Repayment of War Debts. During World War
I the European Allies—mainly Britain, France, and Italy—borrowed $10 billion
from the United States, primarily to buy American war materials. Thereafter, the
Allies claimed that they could not repay these loans, especially since America’s
high tariffs made it difficult for them to sell goods here and secure dollars.
The United States refused to cancel the war debts. By 1934, as all debtor
nations except Finland had ceased repayments, Congress passed the Johnson
Debt Default Act. It prohibited public or private loans to any foreign government
that had defaulted on debts in the United States.
5. American Neutrality Acts (1935, 1937). As Germany and Italy
became more and more aggressive, Americans sensed that Europe was again
headed toward war. Congress passed two Neutrality Acts which (a) prohibited
the sale of war implements to belligerents, (b) prohibited loans to belligerents, (c)
prohibited Americans from sailing on ships of belligerents, and (d) restricted the
entry of American merchant ships into war zones.
These acts surrendered traditional American claims to freedom of the seas.
Congress hoped that neutrality would prevent the economic and emotional
entanglements that, many believed, had involved the United States in World
War I.
6. Unfavorable Response to President Roosevelt’s
“Quarantine” Speech (1937). After Japan’s invasion of China proper,
President Franklin D. Roosevelt braved isolationist sentiment by delivering his
“quarantine” speech. Citing “the present reign of terror and international law
lessness,” Roosevelt warned, “let no one imagine that America will escape...
that this Western Hemisphere will not be attacked.” He compared world law
lessness to an “epidemic of physical disease” and proposed that the aggressor
nations be subjected to “quarantine.” Deliberately vague, Roosevelt wanted to
test the readiness of Americans to support efforts against the aggressors.
Public and press reaction to the speech was generally unfavorable. Ameri
cans still believed that they could avoid war by maintaining isolation. Extreme
isolationists called Roosevelt a “warmonger.”
PART 7. The Allies Defeat the Axis and Win
World War II
AXIS NATIONS: JAPAN, ITALY, AND GERMANY
Imperial Japan was controlled by the military, Fascist Italy was led by the
dictator Benito Mussolini, and Nazi Germany was headed by the dictator Adolf
Hitler. These nations (1) engaged in one act of aggression after another, thereby
violating, without any effective opposition, the major international peace agree
ments: the Treaty of Versailles, the Covenant of the League of Nations, the Nine-
Power Treaty, and the Kellogg-Briand Pact, (2) withdrew from membership in
the League, and (3) joined together to form a military alliance, the Rome-Berlin
Tokyo Axis.
RECORD OF AXIS AGGRESSION
1. Manchuria. In 1931—1932 Japan invaded and conquered China’s
northern province of Manchuria. (Check the Index for Manchuria.)
2. EthIopia. In 1935 Italy invaded the African nation of Ethiopia. The
League of Nations branded Italy an aggressor and voted minor economic sanc
tions but not an embargo on Italy’s most essential import, oil. Undeterred by such
feeble opposition, Mussolini conquered and annexed Ethiopia.
3 German RemilitarizatIon. Nazi Germany violated the Treaty of Ver
sailles in 1935 by reintroducing conscription and in 1936 by remilitarizing the
Rhineland. Hitler encountered no serious Allied opposition although Germany’s
military strength was then still slight
4. SpaIn. In 1936 General Francisco Franco began a revolt against the
legally elected left-of-center government of Spain. The Loyalists, who supported
the elected government, received limited aid from the Soviet Union; Franco re
ceived extensive support of troops and equipment from Italy and Germany. After
three years of civil war, Franco won complete control and established a military
dictatorship. The Spanish civil war served Nazi Germany as a testing ground for
new weapons and military tactics, such as dive-bombings and tank assaults, later
used in World War II.
5. ChIna. In 1937 Japanese forces from Manchuria invaded China proper.
(Check the Index for China.)

574 AMERICAN HISTORY FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 575
Axis Aggressions in Europe 1933—1942
jNAZI GERMANY - 1933
TERRITORIES ACQUIRED
WITHOUT WO.R - TO 1939
8. Albania. In 1939 Mussolini invaded and annexed the Balkan country
of Albania, giving Italy control of the Adriatic Sea.
9. Poland
a. Hitler’s Demands. In 1939 Hitler demanded the return of Danzig and
the Polish Corridor since they were inhabited by German-speaking people:
b. Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact. Before Poland responded,
Germany and the Soviet Union announced a ten-year Nonaggression Pact. The
world was surprised because Hitler had always preached hatred of communism,
and Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, had always condemned fascism. (1) The
pact enabled the Soviet Union to avoid (for the time being) involvement in a ma
jor war and, by its secret clauses, gave Stalin a free hand over eastern Poland and
the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. (2) The pact protected Ger
many against a two-front war and promised Hitler foodstuffs and war supplies
from the Soviets.
c. Start of World War II. On September 1, 1939, German troops in
vaded Poland. Two days later, Britain and France honored their guarantee to
Poland and declared war on Germany. World War II had started.
6. Austria. In 1938 Hitler invaded and annexed Austria, claiming that all
German-speaking people belonged within one German nation. Anschluss
(union) of Germany and Austria violated the World War I peace treaties and was
never approved by the Austrian people in an honest plebiscite.
7. Czechoslovakia
a. Hitler Demands the Sudetenland. Later in 1938 Hitler claimed the
Sudetenland, a region in Czechoslovakia bordering on Germany and inhabited
by German-speaking people. Although the Sudeten people had not been op
pressed, Nazi propagandists manufactured stories of Czech “atrocities.” The
Czech government refused to yield. It counted on its alliances with the Soviet
Union and France, and expected British support However, Britain and France
decided not to risk war but to appease Hitler.
b. Munich Conference. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and
French Premier Edouard Daladier, meeting at Munich with Mussolini and Hitler,
agreed to let Hitler annex the Sudetenland. Deserted by its friends, Czechoslo
vakia yielded. Chamberlain returned to London and proclaimed that he had pre
served “peace in our time.” Hitler promised that he would demand no more
territory.
c. Hitler Seizes the Rest of Czechoslovakia. Six months later, Hitler
seized the Slavic-inhabited remainder of Czechoslovakia. In Britain, the Cham
berlain government at last realized that Hitler could not be trusted. Britain and
France joined in a military alliance and guaranteed protection to Germany’s next
probable victim, Poland.
BASIC CAUSES OF WORLD WAR II: AXIS PHILOSOPHY AND
AGGRESSION
1. Totalitarianism. The Axis nations were totalitarian dictatorships.
They scorned the democratic ideals of civil liberties, dignity of the individual, and
world peace; and they openly declared their intent to destroy democracy.
2. MilitarIsm. The Axis nations spent vast sums on armaments, devised
new weapons, and prepared their peoples for war. They proclaimed war a glo
rious adventure and death for the Fatherland the highest honor.
3. Nationalism. Japanese Shinto religious beliefs, Italian dreams of a re
vival of the Roman Empire, and German “master race” doctrines all fostered a
narrow and bigoted nationalism. The Axis nations considered themselves supe
rior and destined to rule over “lesser peoples.”
4. Imperialism. The Axis powers embarked upon imperialism with the
excuse that they lacked land and resources and were have-not nations. Japan
expanded into Manchuria and China proper to establish a Japanese-dominated
“New Order” in Asia. Italy enlarged its African empire and planned to make the
Mediterranean an “Italian lake.” Germany annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia
as first steps toward domination of Europe and eventually, perhaps, of the world.
SUBSIDIARY CAUSES OF WORLD WAR II
1. Failure of Appeasement. Britain and France followed a policy of
appeasement—that is, making concessions to the dictators in the hope that they
would eventually be satisfied and stop their aqqression. Anxious for peace. dem

WORLD WAR 11(1939—1945)
shed the Free French movement.
tral Denmark and Norway. Germany thus gained valuable submarine bases on
the Atlantic Ocean.
In Britain, General Charles de Gaulle, determined to liberate France, estab
dvance southward, France surrendered.
The Communist Soviet Union urged collective security because it feared at
France delayed the formation of a firm alliance until 1939.
itary action. The United States was determined to remain neutral. Bntain and
from aggression. However, the democratic peoples shrank from any kind of mil
to turn the Nazi war machine against Britain and France. Thereupon, the Soviets
sale of war implements to all belligerents, the Neutrality Acts actually favored the
plied that America would not intervene to check Axis aggression.
Stalin Pact, the Soviet Union seized eastern Poland and the Baltic countries.)
ory was already won, Italy entered the war. As the Nazi armies continued their
Ilied defenders. The British were able to evacuate most of their troops to En
rench defensive fortifications, the Maginot Line. Nazi armies easily defeated the
well-armed aggressor nations over their ill-equipped victims. These laws also im
terminated their support of collective security and concluded the Stalin-Hitler
b. Conquest ofDenmark and Norway. Nazi armies next overran neu
3ermans bypassed the Franco-German border with its mountainous terrain and
y going through the plains of neutral Holland and Belgium. By this route, the
all Polish resistance. Germany annexed western Poland. (As agreed in the Hitler-
ings and tank assaults unleashed a “lightning war,” or blitzkrieg, and destroyed
a. Conquest of Poland. German armies employing massive air bomb
c. Conquest of France. Nazi armies invaded northern France in 1940
ger to protect the Soviet Union. In 1939, the Soviet Union saw an opportunity
Nonaggression Pact.
2. Lack of Collective Security. Peace-loving nations, by coordinating
3. AmerIcan Neutrality Legislation. By prohibiting loans and the
of the Sudetenland to Germany by the Munich Conference.
collective security with the Soviet Union pacts because they (a) doubted Soviet
sincerity, (b) plans feared Communist for world revolution, and (c) were not ea
appeasement was Neville Chamberlain, and its final application was the transfer
1. Initial German Successes (1939—1940)
ocratic failed to peoples understand that each concession strengthened the ag
gressors and to emboldened further them make demands. The chief advocate of
their military strength and acting collectively, might have protected each other
tack by Nazi Germany. Democratic nations, however, were reluctant to enter into
iland while the French forces fled southward. With Mussolini confident that vic
was subjected to devastating air attacks by the German air force, the Luftwaffe.
blood, toil, tears, and sweat”
The Royal Air Force, the RAF, however, drove off the Luftwaffe and maintained
control of the air lanes. The RAF thus compelled the Nazis to abandon their plans
American people to the threat to their national security. When France fell in 1940,
way across the Atlantic. When convoys were attacked by German submarines,
Americans finally realized that Britain alone stood between them and a hostile
buildup, approving a two-ocean navy, a huge air force, and the 1940 Selective
Service Act. It provided for America’s first peacetime conscription.
submarines; the United States used the bases as defensive outposts. (Fearful of
delay in the Senate, Roosevelt negotiated this exchange by an executive agree
the President to lend or lease goods to any nation whose defense he deemed
substantial aid to Britain; he later gave aid to other Allies, including the Soviet
American warchinc ro*iIrna, fir,. fk,,r -
necessary for the defense of the United States. Immediately, Roosevelt extended
as the arsenal of democracy. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act authorizing
“over-age” destroyers to Britain in exchange for military bases on British territory
hausted, President Roosevelt requested legislation to maintain the United States
and carried the goods away in their own vessels. Cash and carry was designed
d. Destroyer-Naval Bose Deal (1940). President Roosevelt traded 50
ment rather than by a treaty, which would have required Senate approval.)
in the Western Hemisphere. Britain needed the destroyers to combat German
c. Military Preparedness. Congress also supported a vast military
all measures short of war.
D. Roosevelt requested Congress to pass the Neutrality Act of 1939. This law
(1939—1941)
for an invasion of Britain.
b. Battle of Britain. For three months (August to October 1940) Britain
b. Changes in Public Opinion. President Roosevelt awakened the
Churchill inspired the English people, as he called upon them to save the world
from the “abyss of a new dark age.” “I have nothing to offer,” he said, “but
to give limited assistance to the Atlantic sea powers (France and Britain) and, at
Fascist world. For America’s self-defense, Congress supported aid to Britain by
posed appeasement of the Nazis, succeeded Chamberlain as Prime Minister.
a. Neutrality Act of 1939. As World War II started, President Franklin
a. Leadership ofChurchill. Winston Churchill, who had repeatedly op
permitted belligerents to purchase war materials on condition that they paid cash
the same time, maintain American neutrality.
e. Lend-Lease Act (1941). Realizing that Britain’s cash was almost ex
that merchant ships carrying lend-lease materials be convoyed by the Navy part
Union. (Total lend-lease aid amounted to $50 billion.) Roosevelt also ordered
2. BrItain Stands Alone (1940—1941)
3. American Preparedness and Aid to the Allies
576 AMERICAN HISTORY • FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 577

578 AMERICAN HISTORY
f. Embargo on Strategic Materials to Japan. The United States op
posed Japan’s aggression in eastern Asia. In 1940-4941 the United States pro
tested Japanese occupation of French Indochina. Since protests proved
ineffective, President Roosevelt embargoed the sale of aviation gasoline and
scrap iron to Japan and “froze” Japanese assets in the United States.
4. The Axis Makes Two Mistakes (1941)
a. GermanAttack Upon the Soviet Union (June22, 1941). Despite
the Soviet-German Nonaggression Pact, Hitler ordered a blitzkrieg against the
Soviet Union. Hitler expected a quick victory, but the Soviet Union was a for
midable foe. The Nazis occupied much territory but were unable to crush the
Soviet armies.
b. Japanese Attack Upon the United States (December 7, 1941).
Japan staged a surprise attack upon the American naval base at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii, forcing the United States actively into the war. Under General Hideki
Tojo, the Japanese government planned to humble the United States and assure
Japanese domination of eastern Asia. Japan’s Axis partners, Germany and Italy,
immediately declared war on the United States.
5. The United States Organizes for Victory
a. Presidential Leadership. Franklin D. Roosevelt showed confidence
and determination in directing the national war effort. As commander in chief he
planned the overall war strategy: first beat Hitler, then Japan. He met with top
Allied leaders in several wartime conferences. On the home front, Roosevelt es
tablished an array of wartime economic agencies.
b. Economic Mobilization. (1) The War Production Board ordered mil
itary equipment, shifted peacetime plants to war production, set priorities for raw
materials, and built new plants, notably to produce aluminum and synthetic rub
ber. (2) The War Labor Board settled labor-management disputes and tried to
prevent strikes. (3) The WarManpower Commission trained workers for essential
industries, supervised the Selective Service system, and recruited new workers,
including several million women. (4) The Fair Employment Practices Committee
encouraged maximum use of labor by combating racial and religious discrimi
nation in employment. (5) The Office of Price Administration combated inflation
by imposing price and rent ceilings and by rationing scarce consumer goods, such
as sugar, meat, shoes, and gasoline.
c. Civil Liberties. Except for the forced removal of Japanese-Americans
from the West Coast to interior relocation centers, civil liberties survived the war
strains. The nation experienced little war hysteria. The press and the people re
mained free to criticize the government, and vigorous debate marked the Presi
dential election of 1944, in which Roosevelt won a fourth term.
d. Wartime Finances. The federal government greatly increased cor
porate and individual income taxes and for the first time taxed low-income per
sons. The number of taxpayers rose from 8 million to almost 55 million. The
government introduced a withholding system by which employers deducted in
FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 579
advance the estimated tax from each worker’s paycheck to be forwarded to the
government Of the total war cost of $330 billion, taxes provided one-third. The
government borrowed the rest through the sale of war bonds. From 1940 to 1945
the federal debt rose from under $50 billion to over $250 billion.
e. Military Personnel. With Selective Service draft boards providing
most of the recruits, the armed forces enrolled 15 million Americans. At peak
strength the army totalled 8.5 million recruits, the navy 3.5 million, and the ma
rines half a million. To release men for frontline duty, women’s branches—Army
Wacs, Navy Waves, and Women Marines—took over necessary noncombat du
ties.
6. Victory In Europe
a. From North Africa to Italy. In 1942, a British army under General
Bernard Montgomery defeated the Germans and Italians at El Alamein, Egypt,
and pursued them westward. Meanwhile, an Anglo-Canadian-American army
under General Dwight D. Eisenhower invaded French North Africa and moved
eastward. The Allies destroyed the Axis African armies. In 1943 the Allies crossed
the Mediterranean and invaded Sicily and southern Italy. Mussolini’s Fascist gov
ernment collapsed, and italy surrendered unconditionally. To resist the Allied ad
vance northward, Germany rushed troops into Italy.
b. Soviet Counteroffensive. In early 1943, following a six-month bat
tle, the Soviets annihilated a large Nazi army deep inside the Soviet Union at
Stalingrad. Following this great victory, Soviet armies drove out the Nazis and
pursued them through eastern and central Europe. In 1945 the Soviets reached
Germany and entered Berlin.
c. Anglo-American Invasion of France. On June 6, 1944 (D Day),
American and British forces, led by General Eisenhower, crossed the English
Channel and landed in northern France at Normandy. This, the greatest waterborne
invasion in history, established a major second front The invading forces
met a strong German army, kept from the Soviet front in anticipation of the in
vasion. Allied forces pushed back the Germans and drove them from France.
d. Surrender of Germany. in 1945 Anglo-American armies crossed the
Rhine River in Germany and continued eastward to the Elbe River. Here they
met the Soviets driving westward. After Hitler committed suicide, on May 8
(V-E Day), Germany surrendered unconditionally.
7. Victory In the Pacific
a. Initial Japanese Offensive. In 1941—1942 Japanese forces overran
the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and part of New Guinea. Poised just north
of Australia, they were halted by American naval victories in the Coral Sea and
afterward in the central Pacific at Midway.
b. Allied Counteroffensive. In 1942, General Douglas MacArthur
started the Allied forces (chiefly American) on an “island-hopping” offensive
toward Japan. In 1944, the American navy won a decisive victory at Leyte Gulf
and American forces returned to the PhiliDnines. In early 1945 they also caotured

I
I91
I.
£
pages 579—582.
1VN-W
i
C.
/
iL
r
•OJIA4
f-
x w&
.
o
‘—--F
Io I /
l_z__z__—I 0/
IUJ.0’F
—
Ic >I/
4
jYcz,
z
0
U,
0)
0)
0)
0)
Cl)
0)
0)
0)
0)
0)
E
0
0)
0
•0
0)
0
Arrows show Allied progress in Southeast Asia and in the Pacific. See text,
ENIWETOK
if4
I W
FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEADERSHIP 581
World War II: Victory in the Pacific
KHALlN
—— KISKAI
ki
OKINAWA’
A
1945
F •
-( SMPAN
Jone. QUAM
p’
KWAJAUIN
MIDWAY
I H AWAII
Peon
TARAWA
CORAL SEA
1
power
HSeptember 2, f
$ lv-j Doy, I
— —
Iwo Jima and Okinawa. From these islands, American planes launched destruc
tive raids upon Japan.
c. Atom Bomb and the Surrender ofJapan. After Japan belittled the
Allied demand to surrender or face “utter destruction,” President Truman or
invaded Japanese-held Manchuria. The following day the United States dropped
result from a seaborne invasion of Japan, and would hasten the end of the war.
In August 1945 the United States dropped a single atom bomb—the first
dered the air force to use the newly developed atom bomb. Its use, Truman be
lieved, would save countless American (and Japanese) casualties that would
and munitions factories—the city of Hiroshima. The bomb killed or injured
used in war—on the Japanese city that contained Japanese army headquarters
130,000 people. Two days later the Soviet Union declared war against Japan and

h1bflll t.,srifwsl ,,C ij r . . . -
war bond drives.
war purposes such inventions as radar, guided missiles, jet-propelled planes,
plasma, penicillin, and sulfa drugs to save lives.
naval units, destroyed railroads and industrial centers, and prepared the way for
of their empires. (f) The atomic age brought the problem of achieving intema
and Europe. It involved almost 60 nations, seven on the side of the Axis. To plan
RESULTS OF WORLD WAR II
and their totalitarian systems were overthrown. (b) The United States and the
and France declined as world powers and gradually relinquished major portions
3. Scientific Progress. Scientists and engineers devised or adapted for
Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam.
g)obal military strategy, top Allied leaders held several conferences, notably at
tionalistic and hastened the downfall of Western imperialism. (e) Great Britain
ellite nations. (d) The Asian and African colonial peoples became intensely na
Union to Eastern and Central Europe, and to several Asian nations.
called the cold war. (c) The Soviet Union acquired an empire of Communist sat
economic recovery. (c) The Communist economic system spread from the Soviet
pean and Asian nations, ravaged by military action, faced difficult problems of
over $1100 billion and caused property damage of over $230 billion. (b) Euro
1. EconomIc. (a) This most costly war exacted military expenditures of
invasion. Control of the air was essential to offensive military action.
4. Major Role of the Airplane. Fleets of airplanes attacked troop and
2. Global War. The war was fought on all major seas and in Africa, Asia,
2. Social. (a) This most destructive war left over 22 million military per
3. Political. (a) Germany, Italy, and Japan met complete military defeat,
sonnel and civilians dead, and over 34 million wounded. For the United States
lected scrap metal, rubber, and paper, helped air-raid wardens, and assisted in
magnetic mines, and atom bombs. World War 11 witnessed the use of blood
alone, the dead and wounded totaled over one million. (b) Several million ref
ugees and displaced persons, uprooted by the war, needed assistance to rebuild
their shattered lives.
Soviet Union emerged as the major world powers and soon came into a conflict
League of Nations was their oi
ternational controversies, and
forcement (d) was rejected by
terfered with United States e
(b) desire to secure the suppor
(a) disillusionment with World
(a) the rights of neutrals had 1
10. A nation that does not give au
12. United States neutrality legisk
for the return of Alsace-Lorrail
of the seas (d) discouraged a
expressed at the polls (d) willin
quotation is taken from the (a
that both (a) distinguished cle
States determination to fight
3. The United States Senate reje
4. A principal reason why isolatic
5. In which area was the League
8. The Kellogg-Briafld Pact faile
9. European nations claimed tha
11. One similarity between the Er
health conditions (b) achieven
Italian-Ethiopian dispute (d) w
United States did not (a) join
ligerent (b) a buffer state (c) a
(c) Nine-Power Treaty (d) Mu
(c) lower its tariff rates (d) join
(c) potential military commitni
treaty (a) contained the Cover
sume sole guilt for the war Ic)
League.
signed by Germany (b) was si
paredness of other nations (c)
2. Which factor encouraged an A
6. In 1934 the United States bec
7. “The high contracting parties
generally upon the (a) need to
War I had little effect on the o.
policy of international coopera
ican Union (c) Munich Confer
1. The United States has at times
also by civilians in factories and homes. Schoolchildren also took part. They col
MULTIPLE
1. Total War. The war was fought not only by armed forces in battle but
SIGNIFICANT FACTS DESCRIBING WORLD WAR II
ership.
Defenseless against atomic bombings and without allies, Japan surrendered.
United Nations and otherwise a
a second atom bomb, this time on the industrial and shipbuilding city of Nagasaki.
international organization, the L
582 AMERICAN HISTORY FROM ISOLATION TO WORLD LEAD