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Abby and Anna: OUR WORLD WAR TWO RESEARCH PROJECT FOR U.S. HISTORY 2024😁😁🎉🎉

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Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 that broke out in Spain. It was a war against Republican government and the Nationalist rebel forever that was led by General Francisco Franco. The war began after a group of conservative military leaders, Generals Emilio Amosa and Francisco Franco, started a uprising they aimed at overthrowing the left-leaning Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republican. The war eventually became,e internationalized with Nazi Germans and Fascist Italy. With them providing military aid to the Nationalist while the Soviet Union helped support the Republicans.

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Germany Offensive

The Germany Offensive allowed Germany to rapidly conquer much of Europe and the Soviet Union. The offensive wanted to break through the Allied lines, capture channel ports, separate the French and British armies, and out flank the British army. The Germans struggled to maintain momentum due to logistical issues and the Allie’s were able to concentrate their forces in key areas.

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Hitlers “Final Solution”

The “Final Solution” was implemented in Wannsee Conference in January 1942. It lasted about 3 years from the dates 1942 to 1945. It was a plan that the Nazi’s had made to systematically murder all the Jew population that were from Europe. This resulted to the death of 6 million European Jews. They also implemented the “Final Solution” through mass shootings, deportations to extermination camps, and other genocidal policies during the World War II.

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The Final Stage

The final solution reached its final stage in early 1942, Hitler had held a meeting in Berlin where him and his top officials agreed to a new phase of the mass murder of Jews. Nazis had previously been using mass slaughter and starvation methods but now they were going to add death from passion gas. The Germans built 6 death camps, the biggest and most known one being Auschwitz. The camps contained large gas chambers and as many as 12,000 people could be killed in one day. To cover up these mass murders they would bury the bodies but eventually they built large crematoriums and burned all of the dead bodies.

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Moving Away From Neutrality

President Roosevelt had revised the Neutrality Act of 1935. He eventually persuaded Congress to pass the “cash-and-carry” provision of the Neutrality Act. This had helped allow warring nations to buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in their own ship. This act showed that it was a move away from strict neutrality. It also showed that the U.S. had favored the Allies, like Britain and France, over the Axis powers. In 1941, the United States approved the Lend-Lease program which let them be able to transfer the arms and other aid to nations vital to the United States national defense. Which also undermined the policy of neutrality. Over the moving away from neutrality, Congress took steps to oppose racism and neutrality.

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Image from national ww2 museum website (link in sources post)

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Pearl Harbor

Early one December morning was the attack on Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was the largest U.S. naval base in the pacific. A Japanese dive-bomber flew over the base followed by over 180 Japanese warplanes. They dropped bombs, and an air raid on Pearl Harbor was sent over the radio. The U.S. antiaircraft guns had very small impact in the battle, the Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and injured 1,178 more. The attack had damaged or sunk 21 ships which included 8 battle chips, this was almost the whole U.S. Pacific fleet. After the attack in his speech, Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Japan. Three days later both Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States.

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Women in the Military and Military Production

After the bill was established the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) had become law on May 15th, 1942. Under this bill women volunteers would serve the non combat positions. The law gave the WAACs an official status and salary but they had only a few benefits that male soldiers all together had. However in July 1943 the U.S. Army dropped the “auxiliary” status and had gave the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) full U.S. Army benefits. WAC had performed every duty besides direct combat. For example they worked as nurses, ambulance drivers, radio operators, electricians, and pilots.

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African Americans Fight For Two Victories

The hope was that African Americans could win two victories.  The first victory would be over the country’s enemies, the second would be over poor treatment at home. Nationalism that inspired these contributions also had many African Americans believe that their situation would improve. Around 1 million African Americans served in the military. They lived and worked in segregated units and never got to see actual combat. After many protests African American soldiers finally got to see combat in April of 1943.

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Image from ww2 museum website (link is in sources post)

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D-Day

D-Day was an invasion that happened on June 6th, 1944. It was a crucial turning point in World War II that had led to the liberation of the Western Europe from Nazi Germans. D-Day had a Codename that was Operation Overlord. It was identified as the largest naval air, and land operation in history. The Allies forces of American, British, and Canadian troops landed in the beaches of Normandy, France. However, D-Day did not end the war in Europe immediately. But it allowed the Allies to begin the liberation of France and bring able to advance into Germany. D-Day was successful due to the result of extensive planning, preparation, and coordination between the Allied forces. It was marked a significant victory for the Western Allies and a big step to eventually defeat Nazi Germany.

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Battle of the Buldge

During October 1944, Americans captured their first German town of Aachen. Hitler ordered his troops to break through and recapture the Belgian port of Antwerp.  Later on December 16th, 8 German tank divisions broke through the Americans weak defense. With the Germans being in allied territory it created a bulge in the lines, this why it is called the battle of the bulge. As the Germans moved westward they captured 120 American GI’s, they also led prisoners into large fields and plowed them down with machine guns and pistols. This battle contuined on for a month and nothing seemed to have changed by the end even though the Germans had lost thousands of troops, and hundreds of different military weapons. After this point in time, Nazis could no longer do anything other than retreat.

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The Philippines

On December 8th, 1941 the Japanese invaded the Philippines just 10 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese forces defeated the Filipino and American soldiers in the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor April 1942. The Battle of Bataan and the Bataan Death March were devastating for the Filipino and American forces. Where over 123,000 personnel were killed or were captured. However, Filipinos staged a strong guerrilla resistance against the Japanese until the islands were liberated by Allied forces in 1944. The resistance of The Philippine Underground Resistance had played a a major role in supporting the Allied war effort. Which helped disrupt Japanese operations. Even though the Philippines suffered tremendously during the war. They eventually Allied victory in the Pacific.

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Picture from britannica website (link in sources post)

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The Battle of Okinawa

In April of 1945, U.S. marines invaded Okinawa. The Japanese attacked with more than 1,900 kamikaze attacks in Allies, this sank 30 ships and damaged hundreds more while also killing about 5,000 seamen. The fighting lasted about 2 long months when the battle ended on June 21st of 1945. More than 7,600 Americans had died along with another 110,000 Japanese lives.  The battle was a vital precursor to the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, this was because Okinawa provided strategic military value with its fleet anchorage and airfields in proximity to Japan.

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The United Nations Is Created | Flashback | History

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United Nations

The United Nations were formed as an international organization dedicated to maintain peace and security. The United Nations began to snap during the war with the Declaration by United Nations in 1942 where 26 nations had pledged to use their full resources against the Axis power. The United Nations finally formed at the San Francisco Conference in April-June 1945. This is where 50 nations met to finalize the UN Charter. The Charter was containing General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and UN Secretariat. The declaration had marked the significant step of developing peaceful international relations after World War II.

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The United Nations Is Created | Flashback | History

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GI Bill of Rights

By the end of the war, there were new opportunities for the country’s millions of new veterans. In 1944 congress passed the GI bill of rights. This provided education and training for veterans, paid for by the federal government. Over half the returning soldiers or around 7.8 million veterans attended colleges or other schools the new bill.  Many people who did this were African Americans and members of other minority groups, for many this was the first opportunity to receive a higher education. The GI bill of rights also provided federal loan guarantees to veterans buying homes or starting new businesses etc.

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World War II had several long-term effects on Europe and the United States. One long-term effect was the Health and Economic Outcomes. For example, the survivors of the war were more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions. Also how the economic impact was severe especially to countries that were on the losing side. Many European nationals were able to achieve higher per capita GDP growth than the winners in the decades after the war had ended. One other long-term impact was Social and Political Changes. The war was a major social change in the United States due to the gender equality and race. Due to the war the United States emerged to a global superpower. Since the United States had intact industrial bases, large gold reserves, and unmatched military might.

On the other hand, the short-term effects speeded communism and that started the Cold War, division of Germany into East and West, severe economic hardship and hyperinflation in some countries. However it also had positives of how it ended the Great Depression, the end of imperial aggression and territorial expansion.

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World War Two was a very major and important part of our worlds history, there were many significant events that took place that paved the way for the future. Some things we enjoyed about the research project was all the images we got to see and all the new information we learned while researching. It was interesting for us to learn about battles or certain events that we had no idea occurred during this time and how they ended up being big contributors to the war.

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Sources and citations:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview. Accessed 8 Apr. 2024.

Michal. “The Path to Pearl Harbor: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, The National World War II Museum, 22 June 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/path-pearl-harbor.

Michal. “D-Day: The Allies Invade Europe: The National WWII Museum: New Orleans.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, The National World War II Museum, 22 June 2017, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/d-day-allies-invade-europe.

“Battle of Okinawa.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 27 Mar. 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/Battle-of-Okinawa.

“The United Nations Is Created: Flashback: History.” YouTube, 19 Oct. 2018, youtu.be/FnQESSTouNU?si=FFjqke0iVSIqWeOO.