World War II:

World War Looms

Chapter 24

World War Looms: Dictators Threaten World Peace

Chapter 24, Section 1

Causes of World War II Militarism—build up of army

Alliances

Italy, Germany, Japan unite to control the world around their Axis

Britain, France, Russia and the U.S. become the Allies

Imperialism—expanding empires

Ex. Mussolini wants to recreate the Roman empire

Nationalism—belief that your Nation is supreme and should take control of surrounding territories

Appeasement—Britain and France allow Hitler to Treaty of Versailles to hoping that he would not attack surrounding territories

World Depression—economic crisis opened doors for dictators to take control in Europe

Ex. Hitler, Mussolini

League of Nations—did not have the force to stop Japan and Hitler

Treaty of Versailles—unfair terms create resentment from Germany

Treaty of Versailles: Failures of the World War I Peace Settlement

Treaty of Versailles causes anger, resentment in Europe

Germany resents: blame for war loss of colonies and border territories outrageous reparations that they had difficulty repaying • Dawes Plan—U.S. loaned Germany money to pay

reparations and set up a reasonable repayment schedule

Russia resents loss of lands used to create other nations

New democracies had little experience, little tradition, and were weak

flounder under social and economic problems

Dictators rise; driven by nationalism, desire for more territory

Joseph Stalin transforms the Soviet Union 1922 V. I. Lenin established Soviet Union after civil war

1924 Joseph Stalin took over:

created a great industrial power (second in the world) by using the “five-year plan” replaced private farms with collectives—large government owned farms

Millions died in famines caused by the restructuring

Stalin used the army and other police forces to crush all opposition

• Great Purge (1930s)—arrested or killed anyone who threatened his power; 8–13 million killed

Stalin turned the Soviet Union into a totalitarian state (a country where the government has complete control)

Totalitarian

Totalitarian government exerts almost complete control over nearly every aspect of public and private behavior

Totalitarian state, individuals have no rights, and the government suppresses all opposition

They maintain themselves in power by means of secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-controlled mass media, regulation and restriction of free discussion and criticism, and widespread use of terror tactics

Joseph Stalin

The Rise of Fascism in Italy Unemployment and inflation led to bitter strikes—some were communist-led

Middle and upper classes wanted stronger leaders

Benito Mussolini played on fears of economic collapse and communism

Supported by government officials, police, army

1922 Mussolini led an army of his followers, whose black uniforms gave them the name Blackshirts, in a march on Rome

• Italian king appointed Mussolini prime minister and granted him dictatorial powers

He called himself Il Duce (the leader), he crushed all opposition with the Blackshirts

He wanted to restore the Roman Empire

Fascism, a military-dominated government that controls all aspects of society—stresses nationalism and the needs of state above individual

Benito Mussolini

The Nazis Take Over Germany Adolf Hitler leader of National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party)

He wanted to emulate Mussolini’s march on Rome, his attempt failed and he was sent to jail

While in jail he wrote Mein Kampf—which outlined the basic beliefs of Nazism, based on extreme nationalism

Wanted to unite German-speaking people, enforce racial “purification”

By 1932, 6 million unemployed—they bought into Hitler’s message; many men joined Hitler’s private army

Nazis became strongest political party; Hitler named chancellor (“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”)

Dismantled democratic Weimar Republic; established Third Reich (the Third Empire) and claimed dictatorial powers

Hitler prohibited Jews and non-Nazis from holding government positions, outlawed strikes, and made military service mandatory

Nazi storm troopers, known as Brownshirts because of the color of their uniforms, crushed all political opposition

Adolf Hitler

U.S. Cautious after Peace Agreements Broken

Washington Conference—an international conference that the United States held—led to three important treaties (Japan broke by invading Manchuria)

Four-Power Treaty—an agreement among US, Great Britain, France, and JAPAN to respect one another’s Pacific holdings

Five-Power Treaty—US, Great Britain, JAPAN, France, ITALY agreed to freeze their navies at 1921 levels and thus avoid the financial strain of further naval buildups

Nine-Power Treaty—signed by US, France, Great Britain, JAPAN, ITALY, Belgium, China, the Netherlands, and Portugal; it put the “Open Door” China policies of John Hay into a treaty

Kellogg-Briand Pact—treaty signed by 62 countries (including the United States, Great Britain, Japan, France, and Italy) that renounced war as a national policy

Militarists Gain Control in Japan 1931, Nationalist military leaders seized Manchurian northeastern China

They did this because Manchuria was mineral-rich and contained an abundance of factories

League of Nations condemned action; Japan quits League

Militarists took control of Japanese government

Wanted to lessen Japan’s reliance on foreign imports and reduce the influence of Western countries in Asia

Aggression in Europe and Africa Hitler and Germany

1933, he quit League of Nations

1935, he began military buildup

• sent troops into Rhineland—German region bordering France and Belgium

• League did nothing to stop him

Mussolini and Italy

1935, he invaded Ethiopia

• The League’s economic boycott failed to stop Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia

Civil War Breaks Out in Spain

1936, General Francisco Franco rebelled against Spanish republic—Spanish Civil War began

Hitler and Mussolini backed Franco

Stalin aided opposition

Western democracies remained neutral

War led to Rome-Berlin Axis—alliance between Italy and Germany

1939, Franco won the war—became fascist dictator

Americans Cling to Isolationism Americans became isolationists— avoid entangling alliances with other nations and avoid all wars not related to direct territorial self-defense

Girl Scouts of American actually change uniforms from khaki to green to appear less militaristic

FDR backed away from foreign policy

“Good Neighbor” Policy—nonintervention in Latin America and removal of troops already stationed in Latin American countries

Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act of 1934 allowed the state Department to make treaties with other countries to mutually lower import duties

within six years, the United States had reached such agreements with more than a dozen nations

US formally recognized Soviet Union

hoped that the Soviets would help eliminate the military threat of the Japanese expansion

Public was outraged at profits of banks and arms dealers during WW I

America, fueled by the Nye committee, called them “merchants of death”

1935 Neutrality Acts tried to keep U.S. out of future wars

outlawed the transportation or sale of arms to warring nations and banned loans to nations at war outside the Western Hemisphere

Neutrality Breaks Down

1937 Japan launched new attack on China

FDR sent aid to China—got around the Neutrality Acts because Japan had not actually declared war on China

FDR wanted to isolate aggressor nations to stop war—U.S. public and newspapers exploded in protest on FDR accusing him of leading the nation into war

World War Looms: War in Europe

Chapter 24, Section 2

Union with Austria

Post WW I division of Austria-Hungary created fairly small Austria

Majority of Austrians are German and favored unification with Germany

1938, German troops marched into Austria unopposed and the union was completed

U.S. and the rest of world did nothing to stop Germany

Bargaining for the Sudetenland Hitler next wanted to control the Sudetenland, a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia (3 million German-speakers)

Hitler claimed Czechs abused Sudetenland Germans and massed troops on border

1938, Prime Ministers Daladier (France), Neville Chamberlain (Great Britain) met with Hitler—Munich Conference

The leaders signed the Munich Agreement (Conference) which gave Germany control of the Sudetenland if in return Hitler promised to make no further territorial demands—APPEASEMENT.

The European leaders had adopted a policy of appeasement, or giving in to demands in an attempt to avoid a larger conflict.

Winston Churchill, Chamberlain’s political rival in Britain, condemned appeasement policy and warned war would follow

The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality

March 1939, German troops occupied rest of Czechoslovakia

In an attempt to gain the German speaking lands of Poland, Hitler charged Poles mistreated the Germans in Poland

Many thought he was bluffing since invading Poland would bring two-front war (USSR in the East and France-Great Britain in the West)

Stalin, Hitler signed nonaggression pact—would not attack each other

This shocked the world but the rest of the world did not know that there was a secret clause that the two nations agreed to divide Poland between them

Blitzkrieg in Poland September 1, 1939—World War II begins

Hitler overran Poland in blitzkrieg: lightning war—using excessive force, quick tanks and powerful aircraft, to surprise and quickly overtake enemy before they can mobilize formal defense

The German Luftwaffe, German air force, began dropping bombs on strategic Polish sites

The tank units rolled in and the major fighting was over within a matter of 3 weeks

Germany annexed western Poland

U.S.S.R. attacked and annexed eastern Poland

France and Britain declared war on Germany—World War II began

The Phony War French and British soldiers waited on the Maginot Line—a system of fortifications built along France’s eastern border

German troops waited on the other side waiting for orders—became known as sitzkrieg—”sitting war”

While France and Britain waited—Germany invaded Denmark, Norway and then Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg

Stalin annexed Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; defeated Finland

The Fall of France German army bypassed the Maginot Line (French and British) by going through the Ardennes—a region of wooded ravines thought to be impassable

British and French retreated and became trapped on Dunkirk

From May 26 to June 4, 1940, Operation Dynamo was put into action; 887 ships (mostly private—fishing trawlers, tugboats, river barges, etc.) crossed the English Channel to rescued 338,226 men

Allied forces were battered, but they were in tact enough to fight another day www.rania.co.uk/dunkirk/html/images.htm

Few days later, Italy invaded France from the south

French defeated and signed an armistice at Compeigne on June22 in the same railway car that Germany sign its humiliating armistice to end World War I

Hitler set up a Nazi puppet government in the southern French city of Vichy

General Charles de Gaulle set up government-in-exile in England

www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/wwtwo_map_fall_france/index.shtml

The reality of Dunkirk: vehicles

abandoned to the Nazis. The British

army left behind 2,500 guns, 84,500

vehicles, 77,000 tons of ammunition,

416,000 tons of supplies and 165,000

tons of petrol. 68,000 soldiers were

killed or taken prisoner.

The Battle of Britain Summer 1940, Germany prepares fleet to invade Britain

Battle of Britain—German planes bomb British targets

From September, 1940 to June 1941, the German air force, or Luftwaffe, dropped bombs on London and the other major cities of Great Britain in a plan to overwhelm the city, Operation Sea Lion

• London and other cities had blackouts at night—cities would turnout their lights because they did not want the lights of the cities to create a target

Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) fought back brilliantly

German aircraft were eventually detected by early forms of RADAR

Over 30,000 Londoners died, but Germany lost over 1,700 aircraft

Hitler calls off invasion of Britain

Germans, British continue to bomb each other’s cities

Fighter Vapor trails through London sky

World War Looms: The Holocaust

Chapter 24, Section 3

The Holocaust

Jews Targeted Holocaust—an attempt to “rid Europe of Jews”, Hitler put in place his “Final Solution”—slavery, genocide of “inferior” groups in order to preserve his idea of a “master race”

murder of 12 million people, more than half were Jews

Europe had a long history of anti-Semitism

Germans believed Hitler’s claims and blamed Jews for many of Germany’s problems

Nuremberg Race Laws

Nazis took away citizenship, jobs, and property

Required Jews to wear a bright yellow Star of David

Nuremberg Race Laws

Nuremberg Race Laws

white figures represent Aryans

black figures represent Jews

shaded figures represent Mischlinge

Mischlinge—term used to denote persons deemed to have partial Jewish ancestry

Kristallnacht

Kristallnacht—Night of Broken Glass—November 9, 1938

All over Germany, Austria and other Nazi controlled areas, Jewish homes, businesses, synagogues had their windows smashed and contents destroyed

The attack came after a Jewish boy shot and killed a member of the German Embassy staff in retaliation for the poor treatment of his father and his family suffered at the hands of the Nazis in Germany

About 100 Jews killed, hundreds injured, 30,000 arrested

A Flood of Jewish Refugees 1938, Nazis tried to speed up Jewish emigration

France had 40,000 refugees

Britain had 80,000 refugees

both refused more

U.S. took 100,000, many “persons of exceptional merit”—scientists (Albert Einstein), architects (Walter Gropius), authors (Thomas Mann), etc.

Americans feared:

refugees would deny U.S. citizens jobs during the depression thus further straining economy

enemy agents

the already wide spread anti-Semitism would increase

The Plight of the St. Louis

Coast Guard prevented passengers on St. Louis from disembarking despite the majority having U.S. immigration papers

Ship forced to return to Europe

Most of the 943 passengers were later killed in Holocaust

The Condemned

In an attempt to rid Europe of Jews, Hitler put in place his “Final Solution”—slavery, genocide of “inferior” groups in order to preserve his idea of a “master race”

Genocide—deliberate, systematic killing of an entire population

Targeted:

Jews—blamed as the cause of Germany’s economic and social failures

Gypsies—believed to be “an inferior race”

Freemasons—believed to be supporters of the “Jewish conspiracy” to rule the world

Jehovah’s Witnesses—because they refused to join the army or salute Hitler

Unfit Germans—homosexuals, mentally deficient, the mentally ill, the physically

Nazi death squads (SS) rounded up Jews and shot them on the spot

Forced Relocation

Jews forced into ghettos

segregated areas in certain cities (mostly in Poland) sealed off with barbed wire and walls

Factories were built alongside ghettos where people were forced to work

Some form resistance movements; others maintain Jewish culture

Resistance in the ghettos Between 1941 and 1943, underground resistance movements formed in about 100 Jewish groups

The most famous attempt by Jews to resist the Germans in armed fighting occurred in the Warsaw ghetto

In the summer of 1942, about 300,000 Jews were deported from Warsaw to Treblinka

When reports of mass murder in the killing center leaked back to the Warsaw ghetto, a group called the Z.O.B. (Jewish Fighting Organization) began to form

Warsaw Rebellion

On April 19, 1943, the Warsaw ghetto uprising began after German troops and police entered the ghetto to deport its surviving inhabitants

Seven hundred and fifty fighters fought the heavily armed and well-trained Germans

The ghetto fighters were able to hold out for nearly a month, but on May 16, 1943, the revolt ended

The Germans had slowly crushed the resistance

Of the more than 56,000 Jews captured, about 7,000 were shot, and the remainder were deported to killing centers or concentration camps

Concentration Camps

Many Jews taken to concentration camps—forced labor camps

families often separated

Camps were originally prisons given to the SS to warehouse “undesirables”

Prisoners crammed into wooden barracks and given little food

Prisoners work from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week

Those too weak to work were killed

"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 following morning by new arrivals from the transport of the day. . . . It was a miracle if anyone survived for five or six months in Belzec."—RUDOLF REDER quoted in The Holocaust

Mass Exterminations Germans built death camps with gas chambers to kill thousands

On arrival, SS doctors separated those who could work and those who couldn’t

Those who couldn’t work were immediately killed in the gas chambers

At first, bodies were buried in pits but later they were cremated to cover up evidence

Some prisoners were shot, hung, poisoned, or died from experiments performed on them

Auschwitz A German concentration camp in Poland. The camp was a major element in the perpetration of the Holocaust. The camp was actually subdivided into three camps:

Auschwitz I, the original concentration camp which served as the administrative centre for the whole complex, and was the site of the deaths of roughly 70,000 Poles, gay men and Soviet Prisoners of War

Auschwitz II (Birkenau), an extermination camp and the site of the deaths of roughly 1 million Jews, 75,000 Poles, gay men and some 19,000 Romamian

Auschwitz III (Monowitz), which served as a labor camp for the IG Farben company

The Survivors About 6 million Jews were killed in death camps and massacres

Some escaped, many with help from ordinary people

Some survive concentration camps

survivors were forever changed by experience

• Elie Wiesel

– A Holocaust survivor, a world–renowned author, and a political activist

– He is the author of over 40 books, the most famous of which, Night, serves as a testimony to his experiences during the Holocaust

" 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 bodies I saw turned into wreaths of smoke beneath a silent blue sky. Never shall I forget 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." —ELIE WIESEL from Night

Life in a Concentration Camp

A prisoner in Dachau is forced to stand without moving for endless hours as a punishment. He is wearing a triangle patch identification on his chest.

A chart of prisoner triangle identification markings used in Nazi concentration camps which allowed the guards to easily see which type of prisoner any individual

was.

A view of Majdanek, which served as a concentration camp and also as a killing center for Jews.

At Belzec death camp, SS Guards stand in formation outside the kommandant's house.

Nazis sift through the enormous pile of clothing left behind by the victims of a massacre. (1941)

Soviet POWs at forced labor in 1943 exhuming bodies in the ravine at Babi Yar, where the Nazis had murdered over 33,000 Jews in September of 1941.

Survivors in Mauthausen open one of the crematoria ovens for American troops who are inspecting the camp.

A warehouse full of shoes and clothing confiscated from the prisoners and deportees gassed upon their arrival. The Nazis shipped these goods to Germany.

A mass grave in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Young survivors behind a barbed wire fence in

Buchenwald.

Statistics of the Holocaust

Country Initial Jewish

Population

Estimated %

Killed Estimated

Killed Number of

Survivors

POLAND 3,300,000 91% 3,000,000 300,000

USSR 3,020,000 36% 1,100,000 1,920,000

HUNGARY 800,000 74% 596,000 204,000

GERMANY 566,000 36% 200,000 366,000

FRANCE 350,000 22% 77,320 272,680

ROMANIA 342,000 84% 287,000 55,000

AUSTRIA 185,000 35% 65,000 120,000

LITHUANIA 168,000 85% 143,000 25,000

NETHERLANDS 140,000 71% 100,000 40,000

BOHEMIA

118,310 60% 71,150 47,160 MORAVIA

LATVIA 95,000 84% 80,000 15,000

SLOVAKIA 88,950 80% 71,000 17,950

YUGOSLAVIA 78,000 81% 63,300 14,700

GREECE 77,380 87% 67,000 10,380

BELGIUM 65,700 45% 28,900 36,800

ITALY 44,500 17% 7,680 36,820

ESTONIA 4,500 44% 2,000 2,500

LUXEMBOURG 3,500 55% 1,950 1,550

TOTAL 9,508,340 63% 5,962,129 3,546,211

World War Looms: America Moves Toward War

Chapter 24, Section 4

Dr. Seuss political cartoon-1941

Moving Cautiously Away from Neutrality

1939, FDR persuaded Congress to pass Neutrality Act of 1939—contained “cash-and-carry” provision

allowed allies to buy munitions with payment up front and required them to provide their own transportation

U.S. hoped to retain neutrality while helping to defeat Germany

The Axis Threat

1940, FDR tried to provide Britain “all aid short of war”

Germany, Japan, Italy signed Tripartite Pact, mutual defense treaty

became known as Axis Powers

Also included Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland

Pact aimed at keeping U.S. out of war by forcing fight on two oceans

This cartoon shows the Axis powers' obsession with global domination.

Building U.S. Defenses Nazi victories in 1940 lead to increased U.S. defense spending

U.S. new it needed to be ready for possible war because:

After the Germans captured France the U.S. realized that the Atlantic Ocean would become a lot smaller if Hitler and Mussolini added both the British and French fleets to their arsenal

The U.S. military was at a low and needed to train new troops) and thus passes the Selective Service Act

Selective Training and Service Act—First peacetime draft

It required all men between 21 and 35 (later 18 to 45) to register for the draft

Draftees to serve for 1 year in Western Hemisphere only

Roosevelt Runs for a Third Term FDR broke two-term tradition and ran for reelection

Republican candidate was Wendell Willkie

Willkie’s biggest campaign idea was urging people not to vote for FDR because he argued it would lead to the U.S. entering the war

FDR reelected with 55% of votes

The Lend-Lease Plan FDR tells nation if Britain falls, Axis powers free to conquer world

U.S. must become “arsenal of democracy”

By late 1940, Britain has no more cash to buy U.S. arms

1941 Lend-Lease Act—U.S. to lend or lease supplies for Allied defense

These goods could be returned or replaced after the war, thus avoiding the prospect of huge new war debts

By the end of the war, the total value of American aid to Allied countries was about $50 billion

Supporting Stalin 1941, Hitler breaks pact with Stalin, invades Soviet Union

Germany broke the treaty because:

it wanted the agricultural capabilities of Western Russia

the Germans feared that the Red Army was preparing to attack them, and their own assault was thus presented as a preemptive war

www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/media_fi.php?ModuleId=10005164&MediaId=250 Roosevelt sends lend-lease supplies to Soviet Union

“the enemy of my enemy is my friend”

German Wolf Packs

To prevent delivery of lend-lease shipments, Hitler deployed U-boats to attack supply convoys

Wolf packs—groups of up to 40 submarines patrolled the North Atlantic

sink supply ships

FDR allowed navy to attack German U-boats in self-defense

German Wolf Packs

Aerial views of a convoy escorted by a battleship during the Battle of the Atlantic in April 1941. The ships stretch as far as the eye can see.

The Atlantic Charter FDR’s proposal to extend the term of draftees (passes House by 1 vote)

FDR and Churchill held a secret meeting in Newfoundland

Result was the Atlantic Charter—joint declaration of war aims

The agreement said: that the United States and Britain would not pursue territorial expansion affirmed their belief that every nation has the right to choose its own form of government called for freedom of international trade and equal access for all countries to raw materials once the war was over—all aggressor states should be disarmed

Charter is basis of “A Declaration of the United Nations” or Allies Allies—nations that fight Axis powers; 26 nations sign Declaration • Including GREAT BRITAIN, U.S., USSR—France, China, India, Poland,

Canada, Australia, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Greece, Netherlands, New Zealand, Union of South Africa, Norway, and Denmark

Shoot on Sight

Germans fired on U.S. ship, FDR ordered navy to shoot U-boats on sight

U-boat attacks led Senate to repeal ban on arming merchant ships

Japan’s Ambitions in the Pacific Hideki Tojo—prime minister of Japan ordered invasion of China

Japan then seized French bases in Indochina (now Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos)

In an effort to discourage Japan's war efforts in China, the United States, Britain, and the Dutch government in exile (still in control of the oil-rich Dutch East Indies) stopped selling oil and steel to Japan—put an embargo on them

Embargo— restriction of trade on another country (not trading with and in some cases denying the trade of others)

Japan saw this as an act of aggression, as without these resources Japan's military machine would grind to a halt

Japan needs oil from U.S. or must take Dutch East Indies oil fields

Peace Talks are Questioned 1941 U.S. broke Japanese codes

learns Japan planning to attack U.S.

issued warning to military commanders in Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines

Peace talks with Japan lasted about 1 month

December 6, Japanese envoy instructed to reject all U.S. proposals and to destroy key documents as well as decoding machines

The Attack on Pearl Harbor On the morning of December 7, 1941, planes and midget submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy issued a surprise attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor—largest U.S. naval base in the Pacific

At 6:00 a.m. on December 7th the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive-bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters

The Japanese hit American ships and military installations at 7:53 a.m.. They attacked military airfields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor

Attack Especially Devastating Attack on U.S. soil—moral damaging

Overall, twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific fleet and more than 300 aircraft were damaged or destroyed

2,403 Americans killed; 1,178 wounded

U.S. did not anticipate an aerial attack

Pearl Harbor was too shallow for conventional torpedoes to be dropped (they would bottom out); however, Japanese modified the tail to allow them to be dropped into shallower water

Because the U.S. did not fear an aerial attack, they focused on sabotage

To guard planes and ships against sabotage, the U.S. put all of their planes and ships together so it would be easier to guard them

Deciphering the Clues

Clues about the forthcoming attack on Pearl Harbor

Missing Japanese’s fleet

The overflow of Japanese communications (this usually meant a country was up to something and they did it to delay the interpretations/translations of the real messages because the enemy had to sort through all the false messages)

The Radar station picking up the Japanese aircraft but were dismissed as US B-17 Bombers flying in from the mainland

The Japanese Embassy closing up and destroying all confidential documents including their decoding machine

Pearl Harbor Invasion U.S. Ships at Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona

The USS Arizona ablaze after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

USS Arizona Memorial, dedicated in 1962, spans the sunken hull of the

battleship without touching it

B-17 Bomber after the attack on Hickam Field

A navy photographer snapped this photograph of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, just as the USS Shaw exploded.

USS Utah took a torpedo hit and capsized early in the battle.

USS Pennsylvania, behind the wreckage of the USS Downes and the USS Cassin

" 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 magazines: 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. " —JOHN GARCIA quoted in The Good War

Reaction to Pearl Harbor

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan”

Congress approved FDR’s request for declaration of war against Japan

Germany and Italy declared war on U.S.

U.S. was unprepared to fight a two-front war (both Atlantic and Pacific)