World+War+II

 **__ Vocabulary and basic information for WWII __** ** Vocabulary ** There are three major words that you should know from World War II. They are appeasement, fascism, and home front. ** Appeasement -** is to bring to a state of peace, quiet, ease, calm, or contentment; pacify; soothe. ** Fascism -** is a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism. ** Home Front **- is the civilian sector of a nation at war when its armed forces are in combat abroad. ** Basic Information ** World War II happened in the year 1939 through 1945 in Europe, when the prime minister of Britain declared war on Germany. This war was the toughest war to fight in. Every person, business, and service was involved. There were 61 countries with 1.7 billion people, which is three quarters of the earth’s population.

This is a tank used by the Soviets in World War 2. They were the popular defense mechanism of the war. Weapons of mass destruction, they wiped out entire lines. Where was most of the combat taken place? o  In World War 2, battles took place all over the world. A majority of the battles took place in Asian countries as well as Europe. There were minor battles occurring all over the world. World War 2 was the biggest world war in history. When and what the first battle of the U.S. took part of in the war? o  The United States first official battle was on December 11, 1941 when Germany declared war on the U.S. after losing to the Japanese at the battle of Pearl Harbor. When and what was the turning point battle the U.S. were a part of? o  The Battle of Midway was the turning point of the war. The first attack, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was a surprise attack. This time the U.S. was ready. Japanese admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was planning to quickly knock down midway’s defense and establish an air base. He expected the U.S. to fight, but believed they would arrive too late to save Midway. Their assumption was wrong. It was a huge naval battle and Japan could not keep the pace with the US’s ship building and air training advancements. How many forces were committed? o  In this battle America and Japan were the main forces. We battled against each other for only a short time, but it made a huge impact in starting the decent of the war. Japan became worn out and we strengthened our forces. What were the casualties? o  Japan lost as many aircrewmen in a single day as their pre-war training program had produced in a year. Although the US lost many aircrafts and men, we were much quicker to recover from our losses than Japan. They lost four out of six fleet carriers as well as many highly trained aircrews. The loss was so great for Japan that the Imperial Japanese Navy gave false pictures of the results of the battle. How did it change the war? o  The Battle of Midway changed the war in many ways. It weakened one of the leading axis powers causing the Allied forces to slowly but steadily take over. After this battle Japan’s forces faded and became little or no threat to us.

**__Home Front__** What did the Home Front do to help during the war? -The United Service Organizations was founded in 1941 because President Franklin D. Roosevelt requested it to provide morale and recreation services to uniformed military personnel. This led six civilian agencies to unite in support of the troops. -A bountiful amount of women who were housewives, took jobs in factories that directly supported the war effort. Also they took jobs that men who entered the military had to leave. -Also the United States rations a cornucopia of products, including tires, typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, fuel oil, coffee, and much more. This was so we would have enough supplies to cover all of the military needs. What kind of media was used to report on the war? -The types of media used during World War 2 were primarily newspapers. Most people got the paper so this would be the most efficient way to spread news about the war to uninformed civilians. Also radios were a way to spread news. Radio stations would announce information about the war to anybody listening. Films were also a big part for the war. Many films were shown to display positive nature toward the military, encouraging people to join and support out troops. Was there any unpopular support for the war? Who were they and why? -Pacifist opposed the war because they believed in only non-violent ways of solving problems. Mahatma Gandhi’s pacifist movement was a big opposition. -Nationalists opposed the war in colonial countries. These countries would take no part in the conflict, which they saw as one of the colonialists’ making. -Isolationism was very popular in the United States. This means that the people just basically wanted to stay out of this war. __ Technology and Tactics from WWII __  1. Technology played a major role in World War II. Radar was invented so that motored vehicles and ships could be found in the terrain. Radars could also jam other radars so that it would be harder to spot the enemy. Another advancement that was produced during World War II was an aircraft. Aircrafts carried cruise missiles which were proven very effective in air warfare. The aircraft carrier also changed technology because it could ship weapons, aircraft, bombs, and vehicles into war.  2. Technology played a major role in World War II. When the US was at war with Japan we were the only ones to use nuclear warfare but we promised to never use it again. The reason why we don’t use nuclear warfare is because there are enough nuclear bombs on the earth that could wipe out every specie of life on the earth.