Fascism and the Start of the War

In Italy, Benito Mussolini assumed control by promising law and order. Adolf Hitler rearmed Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. By March 1939, Nazi Germany had annexed Austria and seized Czechoslovakia. Hitler then invaded Poland with the blitzkrieg strategy in September 1939, after signing a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union. The British and French governments declared war.

America Goes to War

The United States issued “neutrality laws” to avoid being drawn into wars in Europe and Asia, but with the fall of France, Roosevelt accelerated military aid to Great Britain through the Lend-Lease Act. In the summer of 1941, the United States and Great Britain signed the Atlantic Charter, announcing their aims in the war. After Japan joined with Germany and Italy to form the “Axis” alliance, President Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United States and restricted oil exports to Japan, which frustrated the Japanese, who decided to launch a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The war had profound social effects. Americans—white, black, and brown—migrated west to take jobs in defense industry factories; unemployment was soon a thing of the past. Farmers recovered, supported by Mexican labor through the bracero program. The federal government, through agencies such as the War Production Board, took control of managing the economy. Many women took nontraditional jobs. About 1 million African Americans served in the military in segregated units. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly interned in “war relocation camps.”

By 1943, the Allies had defeated the German and Italian armies occupying North Africa. From there, they launched attacks on Sicily and then the mainland of Italy. Stalin, meanwhile, demanded a full-scale Allied attack on the Atlantic coast of France to ease pressure on the Russian Front, but Operation Overlord was delayed until June 6, 1944. German resistance slowly crumbled. The “Big Three” Allied leaders—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—met at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where they decided that a conquered Germany would be divided into four occupation zones. In May, Soviet forces captured Berlin, and Germany surrendered. After the war, Allied forces discovered the extent of the Holocaust—the Nazis’ systematic effort to exterminate the Jews.

The Japanese advance across the Pacific was halted in June 1942 with the Battle of Midway. Fierce Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and Japan’s refusal to surrender after the firebombing of Tokyo led the new president, Harry S. Truman, to order the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Soviet Union and the United States emerged from the war as global superpowers, with the United States possessing the world’s strongest economy. The opportunities for women and minorities during the war also increased their aspirations and would contribute to the emergence of the civil rights and feminist movements.

In Italy, Benito Mussolini assumed control by promising law and order. Adolf Hitler rearmed Germany in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. By March 1939, Nazi Germany had annexed Austria and seized Czechoslovakia. Hitler then invaded Poland with the blitzkrieg strategy in September 1939, after signing a nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union. The British and French governments declared war.

The United States issued “neutrality laws” to avoid being drawn into wars in Europe and Asia, but with the fall of France, Roosevelt accelerated military aid to Great Britain through the Lend-Lease Act. In the summer of 1941, the United States and Great Britain signed the Atlantic Charter, announcing their aims in the war. After Japan joined with Germany and Italy to form the “Axis” alliance, President Roosevelt froze Japanese assets in the United States and restricted oil exports to Japan, which frustrated the Japanese, who decided to launch a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The war had profound social effects. Americans—white, black, and brown—migrated west to take jobs in defense industry factories; unemployment was soon a thing of the past. Farmers recovered, supported by Mexican labor through the bracero program. The federal government, through agencies such as the War Production Board, took control of managing the economy. Many women took nontraditional jobs. About 1 million African Americans served in the military in segregated units. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly interned in “war relocation camps.”

By 1943, the Allies had defeated the German and Italian armies occupying North Africa. From there, they launched attacks on Sicily and then the mainland of Italy. Stalin, meanwhile, demanded a full-scale Allied attack on the Atlantic coast of France to ease pressure on the Russian Front, but Operation Overlord was delayed until June 6, 1944. German resistance slowly crumbled. The “Big Three” Allied leaders—Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin—met at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where they decided that a conquered Germany would be divided into four occupation zones. In May, Soviet forces captured Berlin, and Germany surrendered. After the war, Allied forces discovered the extent of the Holocaust—the Nazis’ systematic effort to exterminate the Jews.

The Japanese advance across the Pacific was halted in June 1942 with the Battle of Midway. Fierce Japanese resistance at Iwo Jima and Okinawa and Japan’s refusal to surrender after the firebombing of Tokyo led the new president, Harry S. Truman, to order the use of atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Soviet Union and the United States emerged from the war as global superpowers, with the United States possessing the world’s strongest economy. The opportunities for women and minorities during the war also increased their aspirations and would contribute to the emergence of the civil rights and feminist movements.