U.S. History B Chapter 16
World War
Looms
526 C
HAPTER 16
Flanked by storm troopers, Adolf Hitler
arrives at a Nazi rally in September 1934.
Prohibition
ends.
1933
Jesse Owens wins
four gold medals at Olympics
in Berlin, Germany.
1936
The Empire
State Building
opens in New
Yor k City.
1931
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt is
elected president.
1932
Roosevelt
is reelected.
1936
Japan con-
quers Manchuria,
in northern China.
1931
Adolf Hitler is
appointed German
chancellor and sets up
Dachau concentration
camp.
1933
Stalin begins
great purge in USSR.
1934
General Francisco Franco
leads a fascist rebellion in Spain.
1936
1931
USA
WORLD
1931
1933
1933
1935
1935
Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie
asks League of Nations for
help against Italian invasion.
1936
Chinese
communists flee in
the Long March.
1934
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World War Looms 527
1938
1940 1941
1938
1940 1941
INTERACT
INTERACT
WITH HISTORY
WITH HISTORY
In the summer of 1939, President
Franklin Roosevelt addresses an
anxious nation in response to
atrocities in Europe committed by
Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Roosevelt
declares in his broadcast that the
United States “will remain a neutral
nation.” He acknowledges, however,
that he “cannot ask that every
American remain neutral in thought.”
Why might the
United States
try to remain
neutral?
Examine the Issues
How might involvement in a large
scale war influence the United
States?
How can neutral countries part-
icipate in the affairs of warring
countries?
Orson Welles
broadcasts The War
of the Worlds, a fic-
tional alien invasion.
1938
United
States enters
World War II.
1941
Germany
invades Poland.
Britain and
France declare
war.
1939
Kristallnacht—
Nazis riot,
destroying Jewish
neighborhoods.
1938
Japan
bombs Pearl
Harbor.
1941
Roosevelt
is elected to a
third term.
1940
1937
1937
1939
1939
1941
1941
Amelia
Earhart
mysteriously
disappears
attempting solo
round-the-world
flight.
1937
Visit the Chapter 16 links for more information
related to World War Looms.
RESEARCH LINKS CLASSZONE.COM
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Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
Joseph Stalin
totalitarian
Benito Mussolini
fascism
Adolf Hitler
Nazism
Francisco Franco
Neutrality Acts
The rise of rulers with total
power in Europe and Asia led
to World War ll.
Dictators of the 1930s and
1940s changed the course of
history, making world leaders
especially watchful for the
actions of dictators today.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
528 C
HAPTER 16
One American's Story
Martha Gellhorn arrived in Madrid in 1937 to cover the
brutal civil war that had broken out in Spain the year
before. Hired as a special correspondent for Collier’s Weekly,
she had come with very little money and no special protec-
tion. On assignment there, she met the writer Ernest
Hemingway, whom she later married. To Gellhorn, a young
American writer, the Spanish Civil War was a deadly strug-
gle between tyranny and democracy. For the people of
Madrid, it was also a daily struggle for survival.
A PERSONAL VOICE MARTHA GELLHORN
You would be walking down a street, hearing only the city
noises of streetcars and automobiles and people calling to
one another, and suddenly, crushing it all out, would be the
huge stony deep booming of a falling shell, at the corner. There was no place to
run, because how did you know that the next shell would not be behind you, or
ahead, or to the left or right?
—The Face of War
Less than two decades after the end of World War I—“the war to end all
wars”—fighting erupted again in Europe and in Asia. As Americans read about dis-
tant battles, they hoped the conflicts would remain on the other side of the world.
Nationalism Grips Europe and Asia
The seeds of new conflicts had been sown in World War I. For many nations,
peace had brought not prosperity but revolution fueled by economic depression
and struggle. The postwar years also brought the rise of powerful dictators driven
by the belief in nationalism—loyalty to one’s country above all else—and dreams
of territorial expansion.
Dictators Threaten
World Peace
Martha Gellhorn,
one of the first
women war
correspondents,
began her career
during the
Spanish Civil War.
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FAILURES OF THE WORLD WAR I PEACE SETTLEMENT
Instead of securing
a “just and secure peace,” the Treaty of Versailles caused anger and resentment.
Germans saw nothing fair in a treaty that blamed them for starting the war. Nor
did they find security in a settlement that stripped them of their overseas colonies
and border territories. These problems overwhelmed the Weimar Republic, the
democratic government set up in Germany after World War I. Similarly, the
Soviets resented the carving up of parts of Russia. (See map, Chapter 11, p. 400.)
The peace settlement had not fulfilled President Wilson’s hope of a world
“safe for democracy.” New democratic governments that emerged in Europe after
the war floundered. Without a democratic tradition, people turned to authoritar-
ian leaders to solve their economic and social problems. The new democracies
collapsed, and dictators were able to seize power. Some had great ambitions.
JOSEPH STALIN TRANSFORMS THE SOVIET UNION
In Russia, hopes for
democracy gave way to civil war, resulting in the establishment of a communist
state, officially called the Soviet Union, in 1922. After V. I. Lenin died in 1924,
Joseph Stalin, whose last name means “man of steel,” took control of the coun-
try. Stalin focused on creating a model communist state. In so doing, he made
both agricultural and industrial growth the prime economic goals of the Soviet
Union. Stalin abolished all privately owned farms and replaced them with collec-
tives—large government-owned farms, each worked by hundreds of families.
Stalin moved to transform the Soviet Union from a backward rural nation into
a great industrial power. In 1928, the Soviet dictator outlined the first of several
“five-year plans,” to direct the industrialization. All economic activity was placed
under state management. By 1937, the Soviet Union had become the world’s sec-
ond-largest industrial power, surpassed in overall production only by the United
States. The human costs of this transformation, however, were enormous.
In his drive to purge, or eliminate, anyone who threatened his power, Stalin
did not spare even his most faithful supporters. While the final toll will never be
known, historians estimate that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of 8 million
to 13 million people. Millions more died in famines caused by the restructuring
of Soviet society.
By 1939, Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that
maintained complete control over its citizens. In a totalitarian state, individuals
have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition.
World War Looms 529
A
B
Germany was expected to pay off huge
debts while dealing with widespread
poverty. By 1923, an inflating economy
made a five-million German mark worth
less than a penny. Here children build
blocks with stacks of useless German
marks.
A. Answer
A lack of demo-
cratic tradition,
failure of the
Treaty of
Versailles and
economic dev-
astation.
B. Answer
Complete con-
trol over citizens
and ruthless
suppression of
opposition.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Identifying
Problems
Why did the
new democracies
set up after World
War I fail?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Summarizing
What are the
characteristics of
a totalitarian
state?
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C
THE RISE OF FASCISM IN ITALY
While Stalin was consolidating his power in
the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini was establishing a totalitarian regime in
Italy, where unemployment and inflation produced bitter strikes, some commu-
nist-led. Alarmed by these threats, the middle and upper classes demanded
stronger leadership. Mussolini took advantage of this situation. A powerful speak-
er, Mussolini knew how to appeal to Italy’s wounded national pride. He played on
the fears of economic collapse and communism. In this way, he won the support
of many discontented Italians.
By 1921, Mussolini had established the Fascist
Party. Fascism (
fBshPGzQEm) stressed nationalism and
placed the interests of the state above those of individ-
uals. To strengthen the nation, Fascists argued, power
must rest with a single strong leader and a small group
of devoted party members. (The Latin fasces—a bundle
of rods tied around an ax handle—had been a symbol of
unity and authority in ancient Rome.)
In October 1922, Mussolini marched on Rome with
thousands of his followers, whose black uniforms gave them the name “Black
Shirts.” When important government officials, the army, and the police sided
with the Fascists, the Italian king appointed Mussolini head of the government.
Calling himself Il Duce, or “the leader,” Mussolini gradually extended Fascist
control to every aspect of Italian life. Tourists marveled that Il Duce had even
“made the trains run on time.” Mussolini achieved this efficiency, however, by
crushing all opposition and by making Italy a totalitarian state.
530 C
HAPTER 16
Italy wants peace,
work, and calm.
I will give these
things with love if
possible, with force
if necessary.
BENITO MUSSOLINI
Rome
Berlin
London
Paris
Moscow
Tokyo
Madrid
Yellow
Sea
Sea of
Japan
East
China
Sea
M
e
d
i
t
e
r
r
a
n
e
a
n
S
e
a
PACIFIC
OCEAN
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Tropic of Cancer
Arctic Circle
45°E 165°E
0°
75°N
60°N
45°N
FRANCE
ITALY
GERMANY
JAPAN
CHINA
SOVIET UNION
SPAIN
GREAT
BRITAIN
Fascist dictatorship
Communist dictatorship
Imperialist military regime
0
0 750 1,500 kilometers
750 1,500 miles
N
S
E
W
The Rise of Nationalism, 1922–1941
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1.
Region In which countries did authoritarian leaders come to power?
Who were the leaders?
2.
Location What geographic features might have led Japan to expand?
Francisco Franco leads the rebel
Nationalist army to victory in
Spain and gains complete con-
trol of the country in 1939.
Benito Mussolini rises to power
in 1922 and attempts to restore
Italy to its former position as a
world power.
Joseph Stalin grabs control of the
Soviet Union in 1924 and squelches
all opposition after V. I. Lenin, founder
of the communist regime, dies.
Hideki Tojo, the force behind Japanese
strategy, becomes Japan’s prime
minister in 1941. Emperor Hirohito
becomes a powerless figurehead.
Adolf Hitler offers economic stability
to unemployed Germans during the
Great Depression and becomes
chancellor in 1933.
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Germany—
Adolph Hitler;
Spain—
Francisco
Franco; Italy—
Benito
Mussolini;
Soviet Union—
Joseph Stalin;
Japan—Hideki
Toj o.
2. Its status as
island nation.
C. Answer
Italians pride
was hurt, rising
inflation, unem-
ployment, and
social unrest.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Analyzing
Causes
What factors
led to the rise of
Fascism in Italy?
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THE NAZIS TAKE OVER GERMANY
In Germany, Adolf Hitler had followed
a path to power similar to Mussolini’s. At the end of World War I, Hitler had been
a jobless soldier drifting around Germany. In 1919, he joined a struggling group
called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi
Party. Despite its name, this party had no ties to socialism.
Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he
quickly became the party’s leader. Calling himself Der Führer—“the Leader”—he
promised to bring Germany out of chaos.
In his book Mein Kampf [My Struggle], Hitler set forth the basic beliefs of
Nazism that became the plan of action for the Nazi Party. Nazism (
nätPsGzQEm),
the German brand of fascism, was based on extreme nationalism. Hitler, who had
been born in Austria, dreamed of uniting all German-speaking people in a great
German empire.
Hitler also wanted to enforce racial “purification” at home. In his view,
Germans—especially blue-eyed, blond-haired “Aryans”—formed a “master race”
that was destined to rule the world. “Inferior races,” such as Jews, Slavs, and all
nonwhites, were deemed fit only to serve the Aryans.
A third element of Nazism was national expansion. Hitler believed that for
Germany to thrive, it needed more lebensraum, or living space. One of the Nazis’
aims, as Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the German people the
land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be
accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.”
The Great Depression helped the Nazis come to power. Because of war debts
and dependence on American loans and investments, Germany’s economy was
hit hard. By 1932, some 6 million Germans were unemployed. Many men who
were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts).
The German people were desperate and turned to Hitler as their last hope.
By mid 1932, the Nazis had become the strongest political party in Germany.
In January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor (prime minister). Once in power,
Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he
established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third
Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years.
World War Looms 531
Background
According to Hitler
there were three
German empires:
the Holy Roman
Empire; The
German Empire of
1871–1918; and
The Third Reich.
D
Left to right:
Benito Mussolini,
Adolf Hitler,
Joseph Stalin
The Faces of Totalitarianism
Fascist Italy Nazi Germany Communist Soviet Union
• Extreme nationalism
• Militaristic expansionism
• Charismatic leader
• Private property with strong
government controls
• Anticommunist
• Extreme nationalism and racism
• Militaristic expansionism
• Forceful leader
• Private property with strong
government controls
• Anticommunist
• Create a sound communist state
and wait for world revolution
• Revolution by workers
• Eventual rule by working class
• State ownership of property
D. Answer
To re unit e all
Germans;
Germans were a
master race;
other “races”
were inferior;
Germany need-
ed more living
space.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Summarizing
What were the
key ideas and
goals that Hitler
presented in Mein
Kampf ?
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E
Addis Ababa
Rome
ITALY
ETHIOPIA
Mediterranean Sea
Red
Sea
INDIAN
OCEAN
Tropic of Capricorn
Equator
0° 0°
15°N
15°S
N
S
E
W
0 400 800 kilometers
0 400 800 miles
Tokyo
Mukden
KOREA
JAPAN
SOVIET UNION
MONGOLIA
MANCHURIA
CHINA
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Yellow
Sea
East China
Sea
Sea of
Japan
Tropic of Cancer
135°E
N
S
E
W
0 200 400 kilometers
0 200 400 miles
MILITARISTS GAIN CONTROL IN JAPAN
Halfway around the world, nation-
alistic military leaders were trying to take control of the imperial government of
Japan. These leaders shared in common with Hitler a belief in the need for more
living space for a growing population. Ignoring the protests of more moderate
Japanese officials, the militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of
the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. Within several months, Japanese
troops controlled the entire province, a large region about twice the size of Texas,
that was rich in natural resources.
The watchful League of Nations had been established after World War I to pre-
vent just such aggressive acts. In this greatest test of the League’s power, represen-
tatives were sent to Manchuria to investigate the situation. Their report condemned
Japan, who in turn simply quit the League. Meanwhile, the success of the
Manchurian invasion put the militarists firmly in control of Japan’s government.
AGGRESSION IN EUROPE AND AFRICA
The failure of the League of Nations
to take action against Japan did not escape the notice of Europe’s dictators. In
1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of the League. In 1935, he began a military
buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. A year later, he sent troops into
the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demili-
tarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler.
532 C
HAPTER 16
Background
Military
government had
centuries-old roots
in Japan. The
shogun lords of
the Middle Ages
had been military
leaders.
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1.
Location What countries were aggressors
during this period?
2.
Movement Notice the size and location of
Italy and of Japan with respect to the country
each invaded. What similarities do you see?
Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931
Italy Invades Ethiopia, 1935–1936
Skillbuilder Answers
1. Italy, Germany, Japan
2. They were both small nations
that invaded larger countries.
E. Answer To
gain living
space and
resources for
people.
In 1910, Korea
was brought under
Japanese control.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
E
Analyzing
Motives
Why did Japan
invade Manchuria?
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Page 5 of 8
Meanwhile, Mussolini began building his new Roman
Empire. His first target was Ethiopia, one of Africa’s few
remaining independent countries. By the fall of 1935, tens
of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on
Ethiopia. The League of Nations reacted with brave talk of
“collective resistance to all acts of unprovoked aggression.”
When the invasion began, however, the League’s
response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more
than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fall-
en. In desperation, Haile Selassie, the ousted Ethiopian
emperor, appealed to the League for assistance. Nothing
was done. “It is us today,” he told them. “It will be you
tomorrow.”
CIVIL WAR BREAKS OUT IN SPAIN
In 1936, a group of
Spanish army officers led by General Francisco Franco,
rebelled against the Spanish republic. Revolts broke out all
over Spain, and the Spanish Civil War began. The war
aroused passions not only in Spain but throughout the
world. About 3,000 Americans formed the Abraham
Lincoln Battalion and traveled to Spain to fight against
Franco. “We knew, we just knew,” recalled Martha
Gellhorn, “that Spain was the place to stop fascism.”
Among the volunteers were African Americans still bitter
about Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia the year before.
Such limited aid was not sufficient to stop the spread of
fascism, however. The Western democracies remained neu-
tral. Although the Soviet Union sent equipment and advis-
ers, Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco’s forces with troops,
weapons, tanks, and fighter planes. The war forged a close
relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who
signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis.
After a loss of almost 500,000 lives, Franco’s victory in 1939
established him as Spain’s fascist dictator. Once again a
totalitarian government ruled in Europe.
World War Looms 533
S
P
O
T
L
I
G
H
T
S
P
O
T
L
I
G
H
T
HISTORICAL
HISTORICAL
AFRICAN AMERICANS STAND
BY ETHIOPIANS
When Mussolini invaded Ethiopia,
many Europeans and Americans—
especially African Americans—
were outraged. Almost overnight,
African Americans organized
to raise money for medical sup-
plies, and a few went to fight in
Ethiopia. Years later, the Ethiopian
emperor Haile Selassie (shown
above) said of these efforts,
“We can never forget the help
Ethiopia received from Negro
Americans during the terrible
crisis. . . . It moved me to
know that Americans of African
descent did not abandon their
embattled brothers, but stood
by us.
F
A French journalist
escapes from Spain to
France with a child he
rescued from a street
battle. Fighting would
soon engulf not only
France but the rest of
Europe and parts of
Asia.
F. A n sw er
Germany and
Italy on the side
of Franco; the
Soviet Union in
support of the
Spanish govern-
ment.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
F
Summarizing
What foreign
countries were
involved in the
Spanish Civil War?
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Page 6 of 8
The United States Responds Cautiously
Most Americans were alarmed by the international conflicts of the mid-1930s but
believed that the United States should not get involved. In 1928, the United
States had signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact. The treaty was signed by 62 countries
and declared that war would not be used “as an instrument of national policy.”
Yet it did not include a plan to deal with countries that broke their pledge. The
Pact was, therefore, only a small step toward peace.
AMERICANS CLING TO ISOLATIONISM
In the early 1930s, a flood of books
argued that the United States had been dragged into World War I by greedy
bankers and arms dealers. Public outrage led to the creation of a congressional
committee, chaired by North Dakota Senator Gerald Nye, that held hearings on
these charges. The Nye committee fueled the controversy by documenting the
large profits that banks and manufacturers made during the war. As the furor grew
over these “merchants of death,” Americans became more determined than ever to
avoid war. Antiwar feeling was so strong that the Girl Scouts of America changed
the color of its uniforms from khaki to green to appear less militaristic.
Americans’ growing isolationism eventually had an impact on President
Roosevelt’s foreign policy. When he had first taken office in 1933, Roosevelt felt
comfortable reaching out to the world in several ways. He officially recognized
the Soviet Union in 1933 and agreed to exchange ambassadors with Moscow. He
continued the policy of nonintervention in Latin America—begun by Presidents
Coolidge and Hoover—with his Good Neighbor Policy and withdrew armed
forces stationed there. In 1934, Roosevelt pushed the Reciprocal Trade Agreement
Act through Congress. This act lowered trade barriers by giving the president the
power to make trade agreements with other nations and was aimed at reducing
534 C
HAPTER 16
G
Analyzing
Analyzing
“IT AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE”
During the late 1930s, Americans were divided about
becoming involved in “Europe's quarrels.” Some peo-
ple felt that the United States should be more
involved in the economic and political problems
occurring across the Atlantic. Isolationists—people
who believed the United States should stay com-
pletely out of other nations’ affairs except in the
defense of the United States—strictly opposed inter-
vening. The idea that America and Europe were two
separate worlds divided by an ocean that could
guarantee safety was quickly eroding.
SKILLBUILDER
Analyzing Political Cartoons
1.
What does Uncle Sam’s turning his back on
Europe show about American attitudes in the
late 1930s?
2.
What U.S. policy does the cartoon imply?
3.
Why might the Atlantic Ocean have appeared to
shrink in the late 1930s?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
G
Analyzing
Causes
What factors
contributed to
Americans’
growing
isolationism?
G. Answer
Evidence that
large prots had
been made by
banks and arms
industries dur-
ing World War I;
regret over hav-
ing been
involved in that
war; hatred of
militarism.
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Page 7 of 8
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Using a web diagram like the one
below, fill it in with the main
ambition of each dictator.
What ambitions did the dictators
have in common?
CRITICAL THINKING
3. ANALYZING CAUSES
How did the Treaty of Versailles sow
the seeds of instability in Europe?
Think About:
effects of the treaty on Germany
and the Soviet Union
effects of the treaty on national
pride
the economic legacy of the war
4. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Why do you think Hitler found
widespread support among the
German people? Support your
answer with details from the text.
5. FORMING GENERALIZATIONS
Would powerful nations or weak
nations be more likely to follow an
isolationist policy? Explain.
tariffs by as much as 50 percent. In an effort to keep the United States out of
future wars, beginning in 1935, Congress passed a series of Neutrality 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. This act extended the ban on arms
sales and loans to nations engaged in civil wars.
NEUTRALITY BREAKS DOWN
Despite congressional efforts to legislate neu-
trality, Roosevelt found it impossible to remain neutral. When Japan launched a
new attack on China in July 1937, Roosevelt found a way around the Neutrality
Acts. Because Japan had not formally declared war against China, the president
claimed there was no need to enforce the Neutrality Acts. The United States con-
tinued sending arms and supplies to China. A few months later, Roosevelt spoke
out strongly against isolationism in a speech delivered in Chicago. He called on
peace-loving nations to “quarantine,” or isolate, aggressor nations in order to stop
the spread of war.
A PERSONAL VOICE FRANLKIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
The peace, the freedom, and the security of 90 percent of the population of the
world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10 percent who are threatening a
breakdown of all international order and law. Surely the 90 percent who want to
live in peace under law and in accordance with moral standards that have received
almost universal acceptance through the centuries, can and must find some way .
. . to preserve peace.
“Quarantine Speech,” October 5, 1937
At last Roosevelt seemed ready to take a stand against aggression—that is, until
isolationist newspapers exploded in protest, accusing the president of leading the
nation into war. Roosevelt backed off in the face of criticism, but his speech did
begin to shift the debate. For the moment the conflicts remained “over there.”
World War Looms 535
Stalin: Hitler:
Mussolini: Franco:
Dictator’s
Ambitions
Joseph Stalin
totalitarian
Benito Mussolini
fascism
Adolf Hitler
Nazism
Francisco Franco
Neutrality Acts
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
528-535-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:31 PM Page 535
Page 8 of 8
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
Neville
Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
appeasement
nonaggression
pact
blitzkrieg
Charles de Gaulle
Using the sudden mass
attack called blitzkrieg,
Germany invaded and quickly
conquered many European
countries.
Hitler’s actions started World
War II and still serve as a
warning to be vigilant about
totalitarian government.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
One American's Story
War in Europe
In 1940, CBS correspondent William Shirer stood in the for-
est near Compiègne, where 22 years earlier defeated German
generals had signed the armistice ending World War I. Shirer
was now waiting for Adolf Hitler to deliver his armistice
terms to a defeated France. He watched as Hitler walked up
to the monument and slowly read the inscription: “Here on
the eleventh of November 1918 succumbed the criminal
pride of the German empire . . . vanquished by the free peo-
ples which it tried to enslave.” Later that day, Shirer wrote a
diary entry describing the führer’s reaction.
A PERSONAL VOICE WILLIAM SHIRER
I have seen that face many times at the great moments of his life. But
today! It is afire with scorn, anger, hate, revenge, triumph. He steps off the monu-
ment and contrives to make even this gesture a masterpiece of contempt. . . . He
glances slowly around the clearing, and now, as his eyes meet ours, you grasp the
depth of his hatred. But there is triumph there too—revengeful, triumphant hate.
—Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941
Again and again Shirer had heard Hitler proclaim that “Germany needs
peace. . . . Germany wants peace.” The hatred and vengefulness that drove the
dictator’s every action, however, drew Germany ever closer to war.
Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
On November 5, 1937, Hitler met secretly with his top military advisers. He bold-
ly declared that to grow and prosper Germany needed the land of its neighbors.
His plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich. When
one of his advisors protested that annexing those countries could provoke war,
Hitler replied, ‘The German Question’ can be solved only by means of force, and
this is never without risk.”
536 C
HAPTER 16
William Shirer,
a journalist and
historian, became
well known for his
radio broadcasts
from Berlin at
the beginning of
World War II.
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 536
Page 1 of 6
UNION WITH AUSTRIA
Austria was Hitler’s first target.
The Paris Peace Conference following World War I had creat-
ed the relatively small nation of Austria out of what was left
of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The majority of Austria’s 6
million people were Germans who favored unification with
Germany. On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its
Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The United
States and the rest of the world did nothing.
BARGAINING FOR THE SUDETENLAND
Hitler then
turned to Czechoslovakia. About 3 million German-speak-
ing people lived in the western border regions of
Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland. The mountainous
region formed Czechoslovakia’s main defense against
German attack. (See map, p. 538.) Hitler wanted to annex
Czechoslovakia in order to provide more living space for
Germany as well as to control its important natural
resources.
Hitler charged that the Czechs were abusing the
Sudeten Germans, and he began massing troops on the
Czech border. The U.S. correspondent William Shirer, then stationed in Berlin,
wrote in his diary: “The Nazi press [is] full of hysterical headlines. All lies. Some
examples: ‘Women and Children Mowed Down by Czech Armored Cars,’ or
‘Bloody Regime—New Czech Murders of Germans.’”
Early in the crisis, both France and Great Britain promised to protect
Czechoslovakia. Then, just when war seemed inevitable, Hitler invited French
premier Édouard Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to
meet with him in Munich. When they arrived, the führer declared that the
annexation of the Sudetenland would be his “last territorial demand.” In their
eagerness to avoid war, Daladier and Chamberlain chose to believe him. On
September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the
Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired.
Chamberlain returned home and proclaimed: “My friends, there has come
back from Germany peace with honor. I believe it is peace in our time.”
K
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ADOLF HITLER
1889–1945
“All great world-shaking events
have been brought about not by
written matter, but by the spoken
word!” declared Adolf Hitler. A shy
and awkward speaker at first,
Hitler rehearsed carefully. He
even had photographs (shown
above) taken of his favorite
gestures so he could study them
and make changes to produce
exactly the desired effect.
Hitler’s extraordinary power as a
speaker, wrote Otto Strasser,
stemmed from an intuitive ability
to sense “the vibration of the
human heart . . . telling it what it
most wants to hear.
World Wa r L o o m s 537
A
A. Answer
Annexation of
Austria and the
Sudetenland.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Summarizing
What moves
did Germany make
in its quest for
lebensraum?
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 537
Page 2 of 6
Chamberlain’s satisfaction was not shared by Winston Churchill,
Chamberlain’s political rival in Great Britain. In Churchill’s view, by signing the
Munich Agreement, Daladier and Chamberlain had adopted a shameful policy of
appeasement—or giving up principles to pacify an aggressor. As Churchill bluntly
put it, “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose
dishonor. They will have war.” Nonetheless, the House of Commons approved
Chamberlain’s policy toward Germany and Churchill responded with a warning.
A PERSONAL VOICE WINSTON CHURCHILL
[W]e have passed an awful milestone in our history. . . . And do not suppose
that this is the end. . . . This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup
which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral
health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the
olden time.
speech to the House of Commons, quoted in The Gathering Storm
The German Offensive Begins
As Churchill had warned, Hitler was not finished expanding the Third Reich. As
dawn broke on March 15, 1939, German troops poured into what remained of
Czechoslovakia. At nightfall Hitler gloated, “Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist.”
After that, the German dictator turned his land-hungry gaze toward Germany’s
eastern neighbor, Poland.
1940
1941
1939
1940
1
9
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8
London
Berlin
Paris
Dunkirk
Munich
Rome
Warsaw
Leningrad
Moscow
Stalingrad
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
Black Sea
A
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BESSARABIA
RHINELAND
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SUDETENLAND
VICHY FRENCH
GOVERNMENT
(unoccupied zone)
FRANCE
IRAN
IRAQ
SYRIA
TURKEY
GREECE
ALBANIA
ITALY
BULGARIA
YUGOSLAVIA
SWITZ.
ROMANIA
HUNGARY
AUSTRIA
LUX.
BELG.
GERMANY
NETH.
POLAND
EAST
PRUSSIA
SOVIET UNION
LITHUANIA
DENMARK
LATVIA
ESTONIA
FINLAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN
ALGERIA
TUNISIA
PORTUGAL
SPAIN
GREAT
BRITAIN
IRELAND
C
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O
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60°N
15°E 30°E
Arctic Circle
N
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W
Axis powers
Axis-controlled by Dec. 1941
Allied territory, Dec. 1941
Neutral countries
German troop movements
Maginot Line
0 200 400 kilometers
0 200 400 miles
German Advances, 1938–1941
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1.
Region Which European countries did Germany invade?
2.
Location How was Germany’s geographic location an
advantage?
538 C
HAPTER 16
B
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Austria,
Yugoslavia,
Bulgaria, Greece,
Romania, Slovakia,
Hungary, Poland,
Lithuania, Latvia,
Estonia, Finland,
Norway, France,
Denmark, the
Netherlands,
Belgium, and the
Soviet Union.
2. It was centrally
located.
B. Answer An
attempt to do
whatever was
necessary to
pacify Hitler;
Churchill saw it
as an abandon-
ment of moral
principles that
would lead to a
war and nation-
al disaster.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Analyzing
Motives
What was
appeasement, and
why did Churchill
oppose it so
strongly?
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 538
Page 3 of 6
C
THE SOVIET UNION DECLARES NEUTRALITY
Like Czechoslovakia, Poland
had a sizable German-speaking population. In the spring of 1939, Hitler began his
familiar routine, charging that Germans in Poland were mistreated by the Poles
and needed his protection. Some people thought that this time Hitler must be
bluffing. After all, an attack on Poland might bring Germany into conflict with
the Soviet Union, Poland’s eastern neighbor. At the same time, such an attack
would most likely provoke a declaration of war from France and Britain—both of
whom had promised military aid to Poland. The result would be a two-front war.
Fighting on two fronts had exhausted Germany in World War I. Surely, many
thought, Hitler would not be foolish enough to repeat that mistake.
As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a
nonaggression pact with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, on August 23, 1939 fas-
cist Germany and communist Russia now committed never to attack each other.
Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to
divide Poland between them. With the danger of a two-front war eliminated, the
fate of Poland was sealed.
BLITZKRIEG IN POLAND
As day broke on September 1, 1939, the German
Luftwaffe, or German air force, roared over Poland, raining bombs on military
bases, airfields, railroads, and cities. At the same time, German tanks raced across
the Polish countryside, spreading terror and confusion. This invasion was the first
test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war.
Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology—such as fast tanks and
more powerful aircraft—to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all
opposition with overwhelming force. On September 3, two days following the ter-
ror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
The blitzkrieg tactics worked perfectly. Major fighting was over in three
weeks, long before France, Britain, and their allies could mount a defense. In the
last week of fighting, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east, grabbing
some of its territory. The portion Germany annexed in western Poland contained
almost two-thirds of Poland’s population. By the end of the month, Poland had
ceased to exist—and World War II had begun.
Background
Luftwaffe in
German means
“air weapon.
539
German Junkers JU-87
dive-bombers, commonly
known as Stukas, were
a mainstay of Germany’s
blitzkrieg style of
attack.
A German tank unit
in Western Poland
in 1939.
C. Answer The
development of
improved tanks
and airplanes
had made
blitzkrieg tactics
effective.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Evaluating
How did
German blitzkrieg
tactics rely on
new military
technology?
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 539
Page 4 of 6
D. Answer As a
way of protect-
ing their inde-
pendence.
540 C
HAPTER 16
THE PHONY WAR
For the next several months after the fall of Poland,
French and British troops on the Maginot Line, a system of fortifica-
tions built along France’s eastern border (see map on p. 538), sat
staring into Germany, waiting for something to happen. On the
Siegfried Line a few miles away German troops stared back. The
blitzkrieg had given way to what the Germans called the sitzkrieg
(“sitting war”), and what some newspapers referred to as the
phony war.
After occupying eastern Poland, Stalin began annexing the
Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Late in 1939, Stalin
sent his Soviet army into Finland. After three months of fighting,
the outnumbered Finns surrendered.
Suddenly, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise invasion
of Denmark and Norway in order “to protect [those countries’] freedom
and independence.” But in truth, Hitler planned to build bases along the
coasts to strike at Great Britain. Next, Hitler turned against the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, which were overrun by the end of May. The phony
war had ended.
France and Britain Fight On
France’s Maginot Line proved to be ineffective; the German army threatened to
bypass the line during its invasion of Belgium. Hitler’s generals sent their tanks
through the Ardennes, a region of wooded ravines in northeast France, thereby
avoiding British and French troops who thought the Ardennes were impassible.
The Germans continued to march toward Paris.
THE FALL OF FRANCE
The German offensive trapped almost 400,000 British
and French soldiers as they fled to the beaches of Dunkirk on the French side of
the English Channel. In less than a week, a makeshift fleet of fishing trawlers, tug-
boats, river barges, pleasure craft—more than 800 vessels in all—ferried about
330,000 British, French, and Belgian troops to safety
across the Channel.
A few days later, Italy entered the war on the side of
Germany and invaded France from the south as the
Germans closed in on Paris from the north. On June 22,
1940, at Compiègne, as William Shirer and the rest of the
world watched, Hitler handed French officers his terms of
surrender. Germans would occupy the northern part of
France, and a Nazi-controlled puppet government, head-
ed by Marshal Philippe Pétain, would be set up at Vichy,
in southern France.
After France fell, a French general named Charles
de Gaulle fled to England, where he set up a govern-
ment-in-exile. De Gaulle proclaimed defiantly, “France
has lost a battle, but France has not lost the war.”
THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
In the summer of 1940, the
Germans began to assemble an invasion fleet along the
French coast. Because its naval power could not compete
with that of Britain, Germany also launched an air war at
the same time. The Luftwaffe began making bombing
D
For months there
was nothing much
to defend against,
as the war turned
into a sitzkrieg
endured by
soldiers such as
this French one
on the Maginot
Line.
Children watch with wonder and fear as the battling British
and German air forces set the skies of London aflame.
Background
Hitler demanded
that the surrender
take place in the
same railroad car
where the French
had dictated terms
to the Germans in
World War I.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Analyzing
Motives
How did Hitler
rationalize the
German invasion
of Denmark and
Norway?
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 540
Page 5 of 6
runs over Britain. Its goal was to gain total control of the
skies by destroying Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF). Hitler
had 2,600 planes at his disposal. On a single day—August
15—approximately 2,000 German planes ranged over
Britain. Every night for two solid months, bombers pound-
ed London.
The Battle of Britain raged on through the summer and
fall. Night after night, German planes pounded British tar-
gets. At first the Luftwaffe concentrated on airfields and air-
craft. Next it targeted cities. Londoner Len Jones was just 18
years old when bombs fell on his East End neighborhood.
A PERSONAL VOICE LEN JONES
After an explosion of a nearby bomb, you could
actually feel your eyeballs being sucked out. I was holding
my eyes to try and stop them going. And the suction was
so vast, it ripped my shirt away, and ripped my trousers.
Then I couldn’t get my breath, the smoke was like acid and
everything round me was black and yellow.
quoted in London at War
The RAF fought back brilliantly. With the help of a new
technological device called radar, British pilots accurately
plotted the flight paths of German planes, even in darkness.
On September 15, 1940 the RAF shot down over 185 German
planes; at the same time, they lost only 26 aircraft. Six
weeks later, Hitler called off the invasion of Britain indefi-
nitely. “Never in the field of human conflict,” said
Churchill in praise of the RAF pilots, “was so much owed by
so many to so few.”
Still, German bombers continued to pound Britain's
cities trying to disrupt production and break civilian
morale. British pilots also bombed German cities. Civilians
in both countries unrelentingly carried on.
K
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WINSTON CHURCHILL
1874–1965
Churchill was possibly Britain’s
greatest weapon as that nation
faced the Nazis. A born fighter,
Churchill became prime minister
in May 1940 and used his gift as
a speaker to arouse Britons and
unite them:
“[W]e shall defend our island,
whatever the cost may be, we
shall fight on the beaches, we
shall fight on the landing-
grounds, we shall fight in the
fields and in the streets, we
shall fight in the hills; we shall
never surrender.
World Wa r L o o m s 541
1938 1940
1937 1939
Neville Chamberlain
Winston Churchill
appeasement
nonaggression pact
blitzkrieg
Charles de Gaulle
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Trac e t he m ovem e n t of G e r m a n
expansion from 1937 to the end of
1940 by supplying events to follow
the dates shown on the time line.
What event was the most
significant? Why?
CRITICAL THINKING
3. ANALYZING MOTIVES
To w h at e x t e nt d o y ou t h i nk l i e s and
deception played a role in Hitler’s
tactics? Support your answer with
examples. Think About:
William Shirer’s diary entry about
headlines in the Nazi newspa-
pers
Soviet-German relations
Hitler’s justifications for military
aggression
4. EVALUATING DECISIONS
If you had been a member of the
British House of Commons in 1938,
would you have voted for or against
the Munich Agreement? Support
your decision.
5. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS
Review Germany’s aggressive
actions between 1938 and 1945.
At what point do you think Hitler
concluded that he could take any
territory without being stopped?
Why?
536-541-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 541
Page 6 of 6
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
Holocaust
Kristallnacht
genocide
ghetto
concentration
camp
During the Holocaust, the
Nazis systematically
executed 6 million Jews and
5 million other “non-Aryans.
After the atrocities of the
Holocaust, agencies formed to
publicize human rights. These
agencies have remained a force
in today’s world.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
542 C
HAPTER 16
One American's Story
The Holocaust
Gerda Weissmann was a carefree girl of 15 when, in September
1939, invading German troops shattered her world. Because
the Weissmanns were Jews, they were forced to give up their
home to a German family. In 1942, Gerda, her parents, and
most of Poland’s 3,000,000 Jews were sent to labor camps.
Gerda recalls when members of Hitler’s elite Schutzstaffel, or
“security squadron” (SS), came to round up the Jews.
A PERSONAL
VOICE GERDA WEISSMANN KLEIN
We had to form a line and an SS man stood there with a little
stick. I was holding hands with my mother and . . . he looked at
me and said, ‘How old?’ And I said, ‘eighteen,and he sort of
pushed me to one side and my mother to the other side. . . . And
shortly thereafter, some trucks arrived . . . and we were loaded
onto the trucks. I heard my mother’s voice from very far off ask,
‘Where to?’ and I shouted back, ‘I don’t know.
quoted in the film One Survivor Remembers
When the American lieutenant Kurt Klein, who would later
become Gerda’s husband, liberated her from the Nazis in 1945—just
one day before her 21st birthday—she weighed 68 pounds and her hair
had turned white. Even so, of all her family and friends, she alone had survived
the Nazis’ campaign to exterminate Europe’s Jews.
The Persecution Begins
On April 7, 1933, shortly after Hitler took power in Germany, he ordered all “non-
Aryans” to be removed from government jobs. This order was one of the first
moves in a campaign for racial purity that eventually led to the Holocaust—the
systematic murder of 11 million people across Europe, more than half of whom
were Jews.
ESCAPING THE
FINAL SOLUTION
Kurt Klein
and Gerda
Weissmann Klein
Remember the
Holocaust
542-549-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 542
Page 1 of 8
A
World War Looms 543
JEWS TARGETED
Although Jews were not the only victims of the Holocaust,
they were the center of the Nazis’ targets. Anti-Semitism, or hatred of the Jews,
had a long history in many European countries. For decades many Germans look-
ing for a scapegoat had blamed the Jews as the cause of their failures. Hitler found
that a majority of Germans were willing to support his belief that Jews were
responsible for Germany’s economic problems and defeat in World War I.
As the Nazis tightened their hold on Germany, their persecution of the Jews
increased. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their German citizen-
ship, jobs, and property. To make it easier for the Nazis to identify them, Jews had
to wear a bright yellow Star of David attached to their clothing. Worse was yet
to come.
KRISTALLNACHT
November 9–10, 1938, became known as Kristallnacht
(
krGsPtälPnächtQ), or “Night of Broken Glass.” Nazi storm troopers attacked Jewish
homes, businesses, and synagogues across Germany. An American who witnessed
the violence wrote, “Jewish shop windows by the hundreds were systematically
and wantonly smashed. . . . The main streets of the city were a positive litter of
shattered plate glass.” Around 100 Jews were killed, and hundreds more were
injured. Some 30,000 Jews were arrested and hundreds of synagogues were
burned. Afterward, the Nazis blamed the Jews for the destruction.
A FLOOD OF JEWISH REFUGEES
Kristallnacht marked a step-up in the Nazi
policy of Jewish persecution. Nazis tried to speed Jewish emigration but encoun-
tered difficulty. Jews fleeing Germany had trouble finding nations that would
accept them. France already had 40,000 Jewish refugees and did not want more.
The British worried about fueling anti-Semitism and refused to admit more than
80,000 Jewish refugees. They also controlled Palestine (later Israel) and allowed
30,000 refugees to settle there. Late in 1938, Germany’s foreign minister, Joachim
von Ribbentrop, observed, “We all want to get rid of our Jews. The difficulty is
that no country wishes to receive them.”
Vocabulary
scapegoat:
someone who is
made to bear the
blame of others
On November 17, 1938, two
passersby examine the
shattered window of a Jewish-
owned store in the aftermath
of Kristallnacht.
Jewish men holding a “star of David”
are rounded up and marched through
the streets on their way to a
concentration camp.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Issues
What
problems did
German Jews face
in Nazi Germany
from 1935 to
1938?
A. Answer
Loss of employ-
ment and prop-
erty; harrass-
ment, humilia-
tion, and physi-
cal harm; death
threats and
murder.
542-549-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 543
Page 2 of 8
B
Although the average
Jew had little chance of
reaching the United States,
“persons of exceptional
merit,” including physicist
Albert Einstein, author
Thomas Mann, architect
Walter Gropius, and the-
ologian Paul Tillich were
among 100,000 refugees
the United States accepted.
Many Americans wanted
the door closed. Americans
were concerned that let-
ting in more refugees dur-
ing the Great Depression
would deny U.S. citizens jobs and threaten economic recovery. Among
Americans, there was widespread anti-Semitism and fear that “enemy agents”
would be allowed to enter the country. President Roosevelt said that while he
sympathized with the Jews, he would not “do anything which would conceivably
hurt the future of present American citizens.”
THE PLIGHT OF THE ST. LOUIS
Official indifference to the plight of Germany’s
Jews was in evidence in the case of the ship St. Louis. This German ocean liner
passed Miami in 1939. Although 740 of the liner’s 943 passengers had U.S. immi-
gration papers, the Coast Guard followed the ship to prevent anyone from disem-
barking in America. The ship was forced to return to Europe. “The cruise of the St.
Louis,” wrote the New York Times, “cries to high heaven of man's inhumanity to
man.” Passenger Liane Reif-Lehrer recalls her childhood experiences.
A PERSONAL VOICE LIANE REIF-LEHRER
My mother and brother and I were among the passengers who survived. . . . We
were sent back to Europe and given haven in France, only to nd the Nazis on our
doorstep again a few months later.
Liane Reif-Lehrer
More than half of the passengers were later killed in the Holocaust.
Hitler’s “Final Solution”
By 1939 only about a quarter million Jews remained in Germany. But other
nations that Hitler occupied had millions more. Obsessed with a desire to rid
Europe of its Jews, Hitler imposed what he called the “Final Solution”—a policy
of genocide, the deliberate and systematic killing of an entire population.
544 C
HAPTER 16
B. Answer The
United States
refused to
loosen immigra-
tion restrictions
to allow more
Jews to immi-
grate to the
United States.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Analyzing
Effects
How did the
United States
respond to Jewish
refugees?
Image not available
for use on CD-ROM.
Please refer to the
image in the textbook.
542-549-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:32 PM Page 544
Page 3 of 8
THE CONDEMNED
Hitler’s Final Solution rested on the
belief that Aryans were a superior people and that the
strength and purity of this “master race” must be preserved.
To accomplish this, the Nazis condemned to slavery and
death not only the Jews but other groups that they viewed
as inferior or unworthy or as “enemies of the state.”
After taking power in 1933, the Nazis had concentrated
on silencing their political opponents—communists, social-
ists, liberals, and anyone else who spoke out against the
government. Once the Nazis had eliminated these enemies,
they turned against other groups in Germany. In addition to
Jews, these groups included the following:
Gypsies—whom the Nazis believed to be an
“inferior race”
Freemasons—whom the Nazis charged as supporters
of the “Jewish conspiracy” to rule the world
Jehovah’s Witnesses—who refused to join the
army or salute Hitler
The Nazis also targeted other Germans whom they found unfit to be part of
the “master race.” Such victims included homosexuals, the mentally deficient,
the mentally ill, the physically
disabled, and the incurably ill.
Hitler began implementing
his Final Solution in Poland with
special Nazi death squads. Hitler’s
elite Nazi “security squadrons”
(or SS), rounded up Jews—men,
women, children, and babies—
and shot them on the spot.
FORCED RELOCATION
Jews
also were ordered into dismal,
overcrowded ghettos, segregat-
ed Jewish areas in certain Polish
cities. The Nazis sealed off the
ghettos with barbed wire and
stone walls.
Life inside the ghetto was
miserable. The bodies of victims
piled up in the streets faster than
they could be removed. Factories
were built alongside ghettos
where people were forced to work
for German industry. In spite of
the
impossible living conditions,
the Jews hung on. While some
formed resistance movements
inside the ghettos, others resisted
by other means. They published
and distributed underground
newspapers. Secret schools were
set up to educate Jewish children.
Even theater and music groups
continued to operate.
World War Looms 545
Background
The first person to
use the term Final
Solution was
General George
Custer. He was
referring to the
execution of
Native Americans.
Skillbuilder
Answer
Over 65 percent
ANOTHER
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P
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C
T
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E
DENMARK’S RESISTANCE
King Christian X became an
important symbol of Danish
resistance in World War II. In
1942, he rejected the Nazis’
demand to enforce the
Nuremberg Laws against the
Jews in occupied Denmark. In
August 1943, the king spoke out
against the German occupying
forces, an act that led to his
imprisonment for the remainder
of the war.
SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Charts
Approximately what percentage of the total Jewish population
in Europe was killed during the Holocaust?
Pre-Holocaust Low High
Population Estimate Estimate
Austria 191,000 50,000 65,500
Belgium 60,000 25,000 29,000
Bohemia/Moravia 92,000 77,000 78,300
Denmark 8,000 60 116
Estonia 4,600 1,500 2,000
France 260,000 75,000 77,000
Germany 566,000 135,000 142,000
Greece 73,000 59,000 67,000
Hungary 725,000 502,000 569,000
Italy 48,000 6,500 9,000
Latvia 95,000 70,000 72,000
Lithuania 155,000 130,000 143,000
Luxembourg 3,500 1,000 2,000
Netherlands 112,000 100,000 105,000
Norway 1,700 800 800
Poland 3,250,000 2,700,000 3,000,000
Romania 441,000 121,000 287,000
Slovakia 89,000 60,000 71,000
USSR 2,825,000 700,000 1,100,000
Yugoslavia 68,000 56,000 65,000
TOTALS 9,067,800 4,869,860 5,894,716
Source: Columbia Guide to the Holocaust
Number Killed
Estimated Jewish Losses
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CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Finally, Jews in communities not reached by the
killing squads were dragged from their homes and herded onto trains or trucks for
shipment to concentration camps, or labor camps. Families were often sepa-
rated, sometimes—like the Weissmanns—forever.
Nazi concentration camps were originally set up to imprison political oppo-
nents and protesters. The camps were later turned over to the SS, who expanded
the concentration camp and used it to warehouse other “undesirables.” Life in
the camps was a cycle of hunger, humiliation, and work that almost always
ended in death.
The prisoners were crammed into crude wooden barracks that held up to a
thousand people each. They shared their crowded quarters, as well as their mea-
ger meals, with hordes of rats and fleas. Hunger was so intense, recalled one sur-
vivor, “that if a bit of soup spilled over, prisoners would converge on the spot, dig
their spoons into the mud and stuff the mess into their mouths.”
Inmates in the camps worked from dawn to dusk, seven
days a week, until they collapsed. Those too weak to work
were killed. Some, like Rudolf Reder, endured. He was one of
only two Jews to survive the camp at Belzec, Poland.
A PERSONAL VOICE RUDOLF REDER
The brute Schmidt was our guard; he beat and kicked us
if he thought we were not working fast enough. He ordered
his victims to lie down and gave them 25 lashes with a
whip, ordering them to count out loud. If the victim made a
mistake, he was given 50 lashes. . . . Thirty or 40 of us
were shot every day. A doctor usually prepared a daily list of
the weakest men. During the lunch break they were taken
to a nearby grave and shot. They were replaced the follow-
ing morning by new arrivals from the transport of
the day. . . . It was a miracle if anyone survived for five or
six months in Belzec.
quoted in The Holocaust
On May 9,
1945, inmates
at the
Ebensee
concentration
camp in
Austria were
liberated by
U.S. soldiers.
After stripping their victims of life and dignity,
the Nazis hoarded whatever articles of value
the victims had possessed, such as wedding
rings and gold fillings from teeth.
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The Final Stage
The Final Solution reached its final stage
in early 1942. At a meeting held in
Wannsee, a lakeside suburb near Berlin,
Hitler’s top officials agreed to begin a new
phase of the mass murder of Jews. To mass
slaughter and starvation they would add a
third method of killing—murder by poi-
son gas.
MASS EXTERMINATIONS
As deadly as
overwork, starvation, beatings, and bullets
were, they did not kill fast enough to sat-
isfy the Nazis. The Germans built six death
camps in Poland. The first, Chelmno,
began operating in 1941—before the
meeting at Wannsee. Each camp had sev-
eral huge gas chambers in which as many
as 12,000 people could be killed a day.
When prisoners arrived at Auschwitz,
the largest of the death camps, they had to
parade by several SS doctors. With a wave
of the hand, the doctors separated those
strong enough to work from those who
would die that day. Both groups were told
to leave all their belongings behind, with a
promise that they would be returned later.
Those destined to die were then led into a
room outside the gas chamber and were
told to undress for a shower. To complete
the deception, the prisoners were even
World War Looms 547
Prisoners were required to wear color-coded
triangles on their uniforms. The categories of
prisoners include communists, socialists,
criminals, emigrants, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
homosexuals, Germans “shy of work,” and other
nationalities “shy of work.The vertical
categories show a variation. One for repeat
offenders, one for prisoners assigned to punish
other prisoners, and double triangles for Jews.
Letters on top of a patch indicate nationality.
C
C. Answer
Extermination of
European Jews
in death camps.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Summarizing
What was the
goal of the Nazis’
Final Solution, and
how was that goal
nearly achieved?
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HAPTER 16
given pieces of soap. Finally, they were led into the cham-
ber and poisoned with cyanide gas that spewed from vents
in the walls. This orderly mass extermination was some-
times carried out to the accompaniment of cheerful music
played by an orchestra of camp inmates who had tem-
porarily been spared execution.
At first the bodies were buried in huge pits. At Belzec,
Rudolf Reder was part of a 500-man death brigade that
labored all day, he said, “either at grave digging or empty-
ing the gas chambers.” But the decaying corpses gave off a
stench that could be smelled for miles around. Worse yet,
mass graves left evidence of the mass murder. Lilli
Kopecky recalls her arrival at Auschwitz.
A PERSONAL VOICE LILLI KOPECKY
When we came to Auschwitz, we smelt the sweet smell.
They said to us: 'There the people are gassed,
three kilometers over there.' We didn't believe it.
quoted in Never Again
At some camps, to try to cover up the evidence of
their slaughter, the Nazis installed huge crematoriums, or
ovens, in which to burn the dead. At other camps, the
bodies were simply thrown into a pit and set on fire.
Gassing was not the only method of extermination
used in the camps. Prisoners were also shot, hanged, or
injected with poison.
Still others died as a result of horrible medical experi-
ments carried out by camp doctors. Some of these victims
were injected with deadly germs in order to study the
effect of disease on different groups of people. Many more
were used to test methods of sterilization, a subject of
great interest to some Nazi doctors in their search for ways
to improve the “master race.”
W
O
R
L
D
S
T
A
G
E
W
O
R
L
D
S
T
A
G
E
RIGHTEOUS PERSONS OF
WORLD WAR II
In the midst of the world’s over-
all indifference to the plight of
Jewish refugees, thousands of
non-Jews risked—and in many
cases lost-—their own lives to
save Jews from the Nazis. In
recognition of such heroic
efforts, the Israeli Parliament, the
Knesset, bestowed on these indi-
viduals the title of Righteous
Gentiles (or Righteous Persons).
As of the year 2001 more than
18,269 individuals were recog-
nized for their courage and
morality.
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a
Portuguese diplomat stationed in
France, deed his governments
orders and issued some 10,000
visas to Jews seeking entry to his
country. The Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg issued “protec-
tive passports” that allowed
thousands of Hungarian Jews to
escape the Nazi death camps.
Even citizens of Germany lent a
hand. And Sempo Sugihara,
Japanese consul in Lithuania,
helped over 6,000 Jews to
escape the Nazis’ clutches, an
act that cost him his career.
Children taken
from Eastern
Europe and
imprisoned in
Auschwitz
look out from
behind the
barbed-wire
fence in July
1944.
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World War Looms 549
THE SURVIVORS
An estimated six million Jews died in the
death camps and in the Nazi massacres. But some miraculously
escaped the worst of the Holocaust. Many had help from ordi-
nary people who were appalled by the Nazis’ treatment of Jews.
Some Jews even survived the horrors of the concentration camps.
In Gerda Weissmann Klein’s view, survival depended as
much on one’s spirit as on getting enough to eat. “I do believe that if you were
blessed with imagination, you could work through it,” she wrote. “If, unfortu-
nately, you were a person that faced reality, I think you didn’t have much of a
chance.” Those who did come out of the camps alive were forever changed by
what they had witnessed. For survivor Elie Wiesel, who entered Auschwitz in
1944 at the age of 14, the sun had set forever.
A PERSONAL VOICE ELIE WIESEL
Never shall I forget that night, the first
night in the camp, which has turned my life
into one long night. . . . Never shall I forget
the little faces of the children, whose bod-
ies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke
beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I for-
get those flames which consumed my faith
forever. Never shall I forget that nocturnal
silence which deprived me, for all eternity,
of the desire to live. Never shall I forget
those moments which murdered my God
and my soul and turned my dreams to dust.
Never shall I forget these things, even if I
am condemned to live as long as God
Himself. Never.
—Night
Holocaust
Kristallnacht
genocide
ghetto
concentration camp
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
List at least four events that led to
the Holocaust.
Write a paragraph summarizing one
of the events that you listed.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. EVALUATING DECISIONS
Do you think that the United States
was justified in not allowing more
Jewish refugees to emigrate? Why
or why not? Think About:
the views of isolationists in the
United States
some Americans’ prejudices
and fears
the incident on the German
luxury liner St. Louis
4. DEVELOPING HISTORICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Why do you think the Nazi system of
systematic genocide was so brutally
effective? Support your answer with
details from the text.
5. ANALYZING MOTIVES
How might concentration camp
doctors and guards have justified to
themselves the death and suffering
they caused other human beings?
Cause Effect
The Holocaust
Survival is both an
exalted privilege and
a painful burden.
GERDA WEISSMANN KLEIN
Elie Wiesel, 1986
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Page 8 of 8
Terms & Names
Terms & Names
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
Axis powers
Lend-Lease Act
Atlantic Charter
Allies
Hideki Tojo
In response to the fighting
in Europe, the United States
provided economic and
military aid to help the
Allies achieve victory.
The military capability of the
U. S. became a deciding factor
in World War II and in world
affairs ever since.
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
WHY IT MATTERS NOW
One American's Story
America Moves
Toward War
Two days after Hitler invaded Poland, President Roosevelt
spoke reassuringly to Americans about the outbreak of war in
Europe.
A PERSONAL VOICE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT
This nation will remain a neutral nation, but I cannot ask
that every American remain neutral in thought as well. . . .
Even a neutral cannot be asked to close his mind or his con-
science. . . . I have said not once, but many times, that I
have seen war and I hate war. . . . As long as it is my power
to prevent, there will be no blackout of peace in the U.S.
radio speech, September 3, 1939
Although Roosevelt knew that Americans were still
deeply committed to staying out of war, he also believed that
there could be no peace in a world controlled by dictators.
The United States Musters Its Forces
As German tanks thundered across Poland, Roosevelt revised the Neutrality Act of
1935. At the same time, he began to prepare the nation for the struggle he feared
lay just ahead.
MOVING CAUTIOUSLY AWAY FROM NEUTRALITY
In September of 1939,
Roosevelt persuaded Congress to pass a “cash-and-carry” provision that allowed
warring nations to buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in
their own ships. Providing the arms, Roosevelt argued, would help France and
Britain defeat Hitler and keep the United States out of the war. Isolationists attacked
Roosevelt for his actions. However, after six weeks of heated debate, Congress
passed the Neutrality Act of 1939, and a cash-and-carry policy went into effect.
Franklin D.
Roosevelt
550 CHAPTER 16
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Page 1 of 8
Analyzing
Analyzing
THE AXIS THREAT
The United States cash-and-carry policy began to look like
too little, too late. By summer 1940, France had fallen and Britain was under
siege. In September 1940, Americans were jolted by the news that Germany, Italy,
and Japan had signed a mutual defense treaty, the Tripartite Pact. The three
nations became known as the Axis powers.
The Tripartite Pact was aimed at keeping the United States out of the war.
Under the treaty, each Axis nation agreed to come to the defense of the others in
case of attack. This meant that if the United States were to declare war on any one
of the Axis powers, it would face its worst military nightmare—a two-ocean war,
with fighting in both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Hoping to avoid this situation, Roosevelt scrambled to provide the British
with “all aid short of war.” By June 1940, he had sent Britain 500,000 rifles and
80,000 machine guns. In September, after the Tripartite Pact was signed, the
United States traded 50 old destroyers for leases on British military bases in the
Caribbean and Newfoundland. British prime minister Winston Churchill would
later recall this move with affection as “a decidedly unneutral act.”
BUILDING U.S DEFENSES
Meanwhile, Roosevelt asked Congress to increase
spending for national defense. In spite of years of isolationism, Nazi victories in
1940 changed U.S. thinking, and Congress boosted defense spending. Congress
also passed the nation’s first peacetime military draft—the Selective Training and
Service Act. Under this law 16 million men between the ages of 21 and 35 were
registered. Of these, 1 million were to be drafted for one year but were only allowed
to serve in the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt himself drew the first draft num-
bers as he told a national radio audience, “This is a most solemn ceremony.”
ROOSEVELT RUNS FOR A THIRD TERM
That same year, Roosevelt decided to
break the tradition of a two-term presidency, begun by George Washington, and
run for reelection. To the great disappointment of isolationists, Roosevelt’s
Republican opponent, a public utilities executive named Wendell Willkie, sup-
ported Roosevelt’s policy of aiding Britain. At the same time, both Willkie and
Roosevelt promised to keep the nation out of war. Because there was so little dif-
ference between the candidates, the majority of voters chose the one they knew
best. Roosevelt was reelected with nearly 55 percent of the votes cast.
CARVING IT UP
The three Axis nations—Germany, Italy, and Japan—
were a threat to the entire world. They believed they
were superior and more powerful than other nations,
especially democracies. By signing a mutual defense
pact, the Axis powers believed the United States
would never risk involvement in a two-ocean war. This
cartoon shows the Axis powers’ obsession with global
domination.
SKILLBUILDER
Analyzing Political Cartoons
1.
What are the Axis leaders—Hitler, Mussolini, and
Toj o g r eed ily ca r v i ng up?
2.
What do you think the artist means by showing
Hitler doing the carving?
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R24.
World Wa r L o o m s 551
A
A. Answer
Revision of the
Neutrality Acts;
dramatically
increased
defense spend-
ing; institution of
the nation's first
peacetime draft.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
A
Analyzing
Effects
What impact
did the outbreak
of war in Europe
have on U.S.
foreign and
defense policy?
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HAPTER 16
“The United States must protect
democracies throughout the world.
As the conflict in Europe deepened, interventionists
embraced President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s declaration
that “when peace has been broken anywhere, peace of
all countries everywhere is in danger.Roosevelt
emphasized the global character of 20th-century com-
merce and communication by noting, “Every word that
comes through the air, every ship that sails the sea,
every battle that is fought does affect the American
future.
Roosevelt and other political leaders also appealed
to the nation’s conscience. Secretary of State Cordell
Hull noted that the world was “face to face . . . with an
organized, ruthless, and implacable movement of
steadily expanding conquest.In the same vein,
Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles called Hitler “a
sinister and pitiless conqueror [who] has reduced more
than half of Europe to abject serfdom.
After the war expanded into the Atlantic, Roosevelt
declared, “It is time for all Americans . . . to stop being
deluded by the romantic
notion that the Americas
can go on living happily
and peacefully in a Nazi-
dominated world.He
added, “Let us not ask
ourselves whether the
Americas should begin to
defend themselves after
the first attack . . . or the
twentieth attack. The time
for active defense is now.
“The United States should not become
involved in European wars.
Still recovering from World War I and struggling with the
Great Depression, many Americans believed their coun-
try should remain strictly neutral in the war in Europe.
Representative James F. O’Connor voiced the coun-
try’s reservations when he asked, “Dare we set America
up and commit her as the financial and military blood
bank of the rest of the world?” O’Connor maintained
that the United States could not “right every wrong” or
“police [the] world.
The widely admired aviator Charles Lindbergh
risked his reputation by stating his hope that “the
future of America . . . not be tied to these eternal wars
in Europe.Lindbergh asserted that Americans
[should] fight anybody and everybody who attempts to
interfere with our hemisphere.However, he went on to
say, “Our safety does not lie in fighting European wars.
It lies in our own internal strength, in the character of
the American people and American institutions.” Like
many isolationists, Lindbergh believed that democracy
would not be saved “by
the forceful imposition
of our ideals abroad, but
by example of their suc-
cessful operation at
home.
COUNTERPOINT
COUNTERPOINT
POINT
POINT
THINKING CRITICALLY
THINKING CRITICALLY
1. CONNECT TO TODAY Making Inferences After World
War l, many Americans became isolationists. Do you
recommend that the United States practice isolationism
today? Why or why not?
2. CONNECT TO HISTORY Researching and Reporting
Do research to find out more about Charles Lindbergh’s
antiwar activities. Present yor findings in an editorial.
SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R34.
Vocabulary
lease: to grant use
or occupation of
under the terms of
a contract
“The Great Arsenal of Democracy”
Not long after the election, President Roosevelt told his radio audience during a
fireside chat that it would be impossible to negotiate a peace with Hitler. “No man
can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it.” He warned that if Britain fell, the
Axis powers would be left unchallenged to conquer the world, at which point, he
said, “all of us in all the Americas would be living at the point of a gun.” To pre-
vent such a situation, the United States had to help defeat the Axis threat by turn-
ing itself into what Roosevelt called “the great arsenal of democracy.”
THE LEND-LEASE PLAN
By late 1940, however, Britain had no more cash to
spend in the arsenal of democracy. Roosevelt tried to help by suggesting a new
plan that he called a lend-lease policy. Under this plan, the president would lend
or lease arms and other supplies to “any country whose defense was vital to the
United States.”
Roosevelt compared his plan to lending a garden hose to a neighbor whose
house was on fire. He asserted that this was the only sensible thing to do to pre-
vent the fire from spreading to your own property. Isolationists argued bitterly
against the plan, but most Americans favored it, and Congress passed the Lend-
Lease Act in March 1941.
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Page 3 of 8
Science
Science
SUPPORTING STALIN
Britain was not the only nation to receive lend-lease aid.
In June 1941, Hitler broke the agreement he had made in 1939 with Stalin not to
go to war and invaded the Soviet Union. Acting on the principle that “the enemy
of my enemy is my friend,” Roosevelt began sending lend-lease supplies to the
Soviet Union. Some Americans opposed providing aid to Stalin; Roosevelt, how-
ever, agreed with Winston Churchill, who had said “if Hitler invaded Hell,” the
British would be prepared to work with the devil himself.
GERMAN WOLF PACKS
Providing lend-lease aid was one thing, but to ensure
the safe delivery of goods to Britain and to the Soviet Union, supply lines had to
be kept open across the Atlantic Ocean. To prevent delivery of lend-lease ship-
ments, Hitler deployed hundreds of German submarines—U-boats—to attack sup-
ply ships.
From the spring through the fall of 1941, individual surface attacks by indi-
vidual U-boats gave way to what became known as the wolf pack attack. At night
groups of up to 40 submarines patrolled areas in the North Atlantic where con-
voys could be expected. Wolf packs were successful in sinking as much as 350,000
tons of shipments in a single month. In June 1941, President Roosevelt granted
the navy permission for U.S. warships to attack German U-boats in self-defense.
By late 1943, the submarine menace was contained by electronic detection tech-
niques (especially radar), and by airborne antisubmarine patrols operating from
small escort aircraft carriers.
World Wa r L o o m s 553
B
GERMAN WOLF PACKS
On October 17, 1940, near Rockall, west of Ireland, a British
Convoy, SC-7 (shown below), was attacked by a German wolf
pack. The convoy was outlined clearly against a moonlit sky,
making the merchant ships easy prey.
A tanker burns and sinks
in the Atlantic Ocean after
being torpedoed by a
German U-boat.
U-boats used hydrophonic
equipment to pick up the
sound of convoy propellers
up to 100 miles away.
The Germans used radios
to summon U-boats into a
fighting wolf pack.
German aircraft
could patrol 1,000
miles out to sea to
scout for convoys.
Convoys pinned their hopes on finding
U-boats using ASDIC—sonar apparatus
that could detect submerged submarines.
At the start of the war, the
British had too few warships
to escort the convoys.
B. Answer
Roosevelt
believed that the
best way to stop
the Axis powers
was to help their
opponents—
mainly Britain
and the Soviet
Union.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
B
Drawing
Conclusions
Why did
Roosevelt take
one “unneutral”
step after another
to assist Britain
and the Soviet
Union in 1941?
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554 C
HAPTER 16
FDR Plans for War
Although Roosevelt was popular, his foreign policy was under constant attack.
American forces were seriously underarmed. Roosevelt’s August 1941 proposal to
extend the term of draftees passed in the House of Representatives by only one
vote. With the army provided for, Roosevelt began planning for the war he was
certain would come.
THE ATLANTIC CHARTER
While Congress voted on the extension of the draft,
Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly at a summit aboard the battleship USS
Augusta. Although Churchill hoped for a military commitment, he settled for a
joint declaration of war aims, called the Atlantic Charter. Both countries pledged
the following: collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic
cooperation, and freedom of the seas. Roosevelt disclosed to Churchill that he
couldn’t ask Congress for a declaration of war against Germany, but “he would
wage war” and do “everything” to “force an incident.”
The Atlantic Charter became the basis of a new document called “A Declaration
of the United Nations.” The term United Nations was suggested by Roosevelt to
express the common purpose of the Allies, those nations that had fought the
Axis powers. The declaration was signed by 26 nations, “four-fifths of the human
race” observed Churchill.
SHOOT ON SIGHT
After a German submarine fired on the
U.S. destroyer Greer in the Atlantic on September 4, 1941,
Roosevelt ordered navy commanders to respond. “When you
see a rattlesnake poised to strike,” the president explained,
“you crush him.” Roosevelt ordered the navy to shoot the
German submarines on sight.
Two weeks later, the Pink Star, an American merchant
ship, was sunk off Greenland. In mid-October, a U-boat
torpedoed the U.S. destroyer Kearny, and 11 lives were lost.
Days later, German U-boats sank the U.S. destroyer
Reuben James, killing more than 100 sailors. “America has
been attacked,” Roosevelt announced grimly. “The shoot-
ing has started. And history has recorded who fired the first
shot.” As the death toll mounted, the Senate finally
repealed the ban against arming merchant ships. A formal
declaration of a full-scale war seemed inevitable.
Japan Attacks the United States
The United States was now involved in an undeclared naval
war with Hitler. However, the attack that brought the
United States into the war came from Japan.
JAPAN’S AMBITIONS IN THE PACIFIC
Germany’s
European victories created new opportunities for Japanese
expansionists. Japan was already in control of Manchuria.
In July 1937, Hideki Tojo (
hCPd-kC tIPjIQ), chief of staff of
Japan’s Kwantung Army, launched the invasion into China.
As French, Dutch, and British colonies lay unprotected in
Asia, Japanese leaders leaped at the opportunity to unite
East Asia under Japanese control by seizing the colonial
lands. By 1941, the British were too busy fighting Hitler to
block Japanese expansion. Only the U.S. and its Pacific
islands remained in Japan’s way.
C
D
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
K
E
Y
P
L
A
Y
E
R
HIDEKI TOJO
1884–1948
U.S. newspapers described
Hideki Tojo as “smart, hard-
boiled, resourceful, [and] con-
temptuous of theories, senti-
ments, and negotiations.
The Nazi press in Germany
praised Tojo as “a man charged
with energy, thinking clearly and
with a single purpose.To a
British paper, Tojo was “the son
of Satan” whose single purpose
was unleashing all hell on the
Far East.In Japan, however, Tojo
was looked up to as a man
whose “decisive leadership was a
signal for the nation to rise and
administer a great shock to the
anti-Axis powers.
C. Answer It set
forth the war
aims of the
Allies.
D. Answer
German U-boats
were attacking
American ships.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
D
Analyzing
Causes
Why did the
United States
enter into an
undeclared
shooting war with
Germany in fall
1941?
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
C
Summarizing
Why was the
Atlantic Charter
important?
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World Wa r L o o m s 555
The Japanese began their southward push in July 1941 by taking over French
military bases in Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos). The United
States protested this new act of aggression by cutting off trade with Japan. The
embargoed goods included one Japan could not live without—oil to fuel its war
machine. Japanese military leaders warned that without oil, Japan could be
defeated without its enemies ever striking a blow. The leaders declared that Japan
must either persuade the United States to end its oil embargo or seize the oil fields
in the Dutch East Indies. This would mean war.
PEACE TALKS ARE QUESTIONED
Shortly after becoming the prime minister
of Japan, Hideki Tojo met with emperor Hirohito. Tojo promised the emperor that
the Japanese government would attempt to preserve peace with the Americans.
But on November 5, 1941, Tojo ordered the Japanese navy to prepare for an attack
on the United States.
The U.S. military had broken Japan’s secret communication codes and
learned that Japan was preparing for a strike. What it didn’t know was where the
attack would come. Late in November, Roosevelt sent out a “war warning” to mil-
itary commanders in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines. If war could not be
avoided, the warning said, “the United States desires that Japan commit the first
overt act.” And the nation waited.
The peace talks went on for a month. Then on December
6, 1941, Roosevelt received a decoded message that instruct-
ed Japan’s peace envoy to reject all American peace propos-
als. “This means war,” Roosevelt declared.
THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR
Early the next morning,
a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor—
the largest U.S. naval base in the
Pacific. The bomber was followed by
more than 180 Japanese warplanes
launched from six aircraft carriers. As
the first Japanese bombs found their
targets, a radio operator flashed this
message: “Air raid on Pearl Harbor.
This is not a drill.”
For an hour and a half, the
Japanese planes were barely dis-
turbed by U.S. antiaircraft guns and
blasted target after target. By the
time the last plane soared off around
9:30
A.M., the devastation was
appalling. John Garcia, a pipe fitter’s
apprentice, was there.
A PERSONAL VOICE JOHN GARCIA
It was a mess. I was working on the U.S.S. Shaw. It was on a floating dry dock.
It was in flames. I started to go down into the pipe fitter’s shop to get my toolbox
when another wave of Japanese came in. I got under a set of concrete steps at
the dry dock where the battleship Pennsylvania was. An officer came by and
asked me to go into the Pennsylvania and try to get the fires out. A bomb had
penetrated the marine deck, and . . . three decks below. Under that was the maga-
zines: ammunition, powder, shells. I said “There ain’t no way I’m gonna go down
there.It could blow up any minute. I was young and 16, not stupid.
quoted in The Good War
E
Newspaper
headlines
announce
the surprise
Japanese
attack.
E. Answer
Japan needed
oil, and the
United States
had placed an
embargo on it to
protest
Japanese
aggression in
Indochina.
MAIN IDEA
MAIN IDEA
E
Analyzing
Issues
How was oil a
source of conflict
between Japan
and the United
States?
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Page 6 of 8
Tropic of Cancer
150°E 165°E 180°
150°E 165°E
15°S
0°
Kamchatka
Y
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I
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s
Sakhalin
Mariana
Islands
Marshall
Islands
Solomon
Islands
Wake Island
Midway Islands
Ryukyu
Islands
Formosa
New Guinea
Caroline Islands
Hawaiian Islands
(U.S.)
Guam
Shanghai
Peking
Hong Kong
Singapore
AUSTRALIA
DUTCH EAST INDIES
MALAYA
PHILIPPINES
THAILAND
FRENCH
INDOCHINA
BURMA
CHINA
MANCHURIA
KOREA
JAPAN
MONGOLIA
SOVIET
UNION
PACIFIC
OCEAN
INDIAN OCEAN
N
S
E
W
Japanese Empire in 1931
Areas under Japanese
control, 1941
Extent of Japanese
control, 1941
0
0 600 1,200 kilometers
600 1,200 miles
556 C
HAPTER 16
Japanese Aggression, 1931–1941
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER
1.
Region Which countries had
Japan invaded by 1941?
2.
Movement Notice the placement
of the U.S. ships in Pearl Harbor—
on the lower inset map. What
might the navy have done
differently to minimize damage
from a surprise attack?
At Pearl Harbor, American sailors are rescued by motorboat
after their battleships, the USS West Virginia and the
USS Tennessee,were bombed.
Pearl Harbor
Invasion,
Dec. 7, 1941
Solace
Phoenix
Nevada
Vestal
Arizona
Tennessee
Maryland
Neosho
Oglala
Shaw
Helena
Pennsylvania
Downes
Cassin
St. Louis
Honolulu
San Francisco
New Orleans
Detroit
Raleigh
Utah
Tangier
Curtiss
West Virginia
Oklahoma
California
P
e
a
r
l
H
a
r
b
o
r
U.S. NAVAL
STATION
Ford Island
Ships undamaged
Ships damaged
Ships sunk
0
0 .25 .5 kilometers
.25 .5 miles
U.S. Ships at Pearl Harbor
F
i
g
h
t
e
r
s
F
i
g
h
t
e
r
s
H
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l
b
o
m
b
e
r
s
T
o
r
p
e
d
o
b
o
m
b
e
r
s
D
i
v
e
b
o
m
b
e
r
s
H
o
r
i
z
o
n
t
a
l
b
o
m
b
e
r
s
D
i
v
e
b
o
m
b
e
r
s
Second Attack,
8:55 A.M
First Attack,
7:55 A.M
PACIFIC
OCEAN
Pearl
Harbor
Oahu
Kaneohe Naval
Air Station
Pearl Harbor Naval Base
Wheeler
Air Force Base
Honolulu
158°W
21°30'N
0
0 8 16 kilometers
8 16 miles
Pearl Harbor Invasion
550-557-Chapter 16 10/21/02 5:33 PM Page 556
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In less than two hours, the Japanese had killed 2,403
Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had
sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships—nearly
the whole U.S. Pacific fleet. More than 300 aircraft were
severely damaged or destroyed. These losses constituted
greater damage than the U.S. Navy had suffered in all of
World War I. By chance, three aircraft carriers at sea
escaped the disaster. Their survival would prove crucial to
the war’s outcome.
REACTION TO PEARL HARBOR
In Washington, the
mood ranged from outrage to panic. At the White House,
Eleanor Roosevelt watched closely as her husband absorbed
the news from Hawaii, “each report more terrible than the
last.” Beneath the president’s calm, Eleanor could see how
worried he was. “I never wanted to have to fight this war on
two fronts,” Roosevelt told his wife. “We haven’t the Navy
to fight in both the Atlantic and the Pacific . . . so we will
have to build up the Navy and the Air Force and that will
mean that we will have to take a good many defeats before
we can have a victory.”
The next day, President Roosevelt addressed Congress.
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in
infamy,” he said, “[the Japanese launched] an unprovoked
and dastardly attack.” Congress quickly approved Roosevelt’s
request for a declaration of war against Japan. Three days
later, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.
For all the damage done at Pearl Harbor, perhaps the
greatest was to the cause of isolationism. Many who had
been former isolationists now supported an all-out American effort. After the sur-
prise attack, isolationist senator Burton Wheeler proclaimed, “The only thing
now to do is to lick the hell out of them.”
World Wa r L o o m s 557
Axis powers
Lend-Lease Act
Atlantic Charter
Allies
Hideki Tojo
1. TERMS & NAMES For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Create a time line of key events
leading to America’s entry into World
War II. Use the dates below as a
guide.
Which of the events that you listed
was most influential in bringing the
United States into the war? Why?
CRITICAL THINKING
3. EVALUATING DECISIONS
Do you think that the United States
should have waited to be attacked
before declaring war? Think About:
the reputation of the United
States
the influence of isolationists
the events at Pearl Harbor
4. PREDICTING EFFECTS
What problem would the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor solve for
Roosevelt? What new problems
would it create?
5. ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES
Although the U.S. Congress was still
unwilling to declare war early in
1941, Churchill told his war cabinet,
We must have patience
and trust to the tide which
is flowing our way, and to
events.
What do you think Churchill meant
by this remark? Support your
answer.
E
C
O
N
O
M
I
C
E
C
O
N
O
M
I
C
WAR AND THE DEPRESSION
The approach of war did what all
the programs of the New Deal
could not do—end the Great
Depression. As defense spending
skyrocketed in 1940, long-idle
factories came back to life. A
merry-go-round company began
producing gun mounts; a stove
factory made lifeboats; a famous
New York toy maker made com-
passes; a pinball-machine com-
pany made armor-piercing shells.
With factories hiring again, the
nation’s unemployment rolls
began shrinking rapidly—by
400,000 in August 1940 and by
another 500,000 in September.
By the time the Japanese
attacked Pearl Harbor, America
was heading back to work.
(See Keynesian Economics on
page R42 in the Economics
Handbook.)
Vocabulary
infamy: evil fame
or reputation
September
1940
June
1941
December
1941
March
1941
August
1941
Skillbuilder
Answers
1. Japanese
islands, half of
the island north
of Japan, Korea,
Taiwan, smaller
islands,
Manchuria,
parts of eastern
and southern
China, French
Indochina.
2. Scatter the
ships to make
them more dif-
cult targets.
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