Master Link:
(WW II) To Do:
Links to Follow :You need a background
to understand the following activities. Please read the information
at the following site before you proceed to Activity One.
(Read Chapter 7 sections 10 thru 13) http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1990/index.htm
Activity 1: Background: Before you attempt any activities concerning WW2 please read the following short passage. If you do not understand a term in bold please click on the term for a brief explanation.
The Reading: The Second World War:1939-1945
From the time of our first president, George Washington , through out the 1930's, America for the most part, tried to maintain a foreign policy based on isolationists principles. I use the word attempt because with improvements in transportion, our rising industrial strength, along with vast leaps in communications America found it increasingly difficult to maintain this position. Add to this, as a nation of immigrants, when war takes place in any part of the world there is a good likelyhood that some Americans used to call this home. Home ties ring strong at times.
These factors, along with others, should have indicated to America and its people, the difficulty of staying out of war in Europe. When Germmany invaded Poland, in September of 1939, America did attempt to stay out the conflict. However, when the United States began the lend-lease program, providing massive amounts of supplies to Britain and the Soviet Union. Nazi submarines began sinking American ships. We were really involved in an undeclared war with Germany, well before the procalmation of war. Roosevelt went so far as to meet with Churchill to set forth peace aims in the Atlantic Charter. On December 7, 1941, Japanese naval and air forces launched a successful surprise attack on the main United States naval base in the Pacific, at Pearl Harbor. They also attacked in many other places in the western Pacific. The following day the United States declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy then declared war on the United States. Thus began our direct involvement in the war.
American industry, agriculture, and technology proved equal to the task of mobilizing for war. Women and minorities entered the industrial labor market in large numbers. The work force expanded greatly, and production increased. Many unions agreed to a wartime moratorium on strikes. American scientists produced experimental nuclear reactions.
The Anglo-American military command's first priority was the defeat of Germany. Its second priority was involved defeated Japan. To achieve these aims, it was essential that the Allies win control of the Atlantic. A turning place in the war took place when the Soviets stopped the German advance at Stalingrad. Over a million lives were lost, by the Soviety Union, in this attempt. These deaths along with 26 million more by the Soviet Union would shape greatly the activities and borders of post WW 2 Europe. several other After victory in North Africa and then in Italy, Allied forces crossed the English Channel (Opereation Overlord or D Day ) and invaded France. Despite several Allied setbacks, Berlin finally fell to the Soviets, and Hitler took his own life. On May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany.
After almost two years of continual retreat and defeat of the American forces, by the Japanese, the tide turned in the western pacific, in a series of successful American Naval victories. Soon after this, Japanese forces came within range of American bombers. Much as Germany had experiened the impact of saturation bombing, Japanese cities and towns were soon to discover the horror that fire storms could create General MacArthur's policy of leap-frogging selected Pacific islands was successful. Much of the Japanese navy was destroyed. Finally, Japan was force to surrender after the United States dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
Even before the victory in Japan, however, the Allies began planning the postwar world. Roosevelt and Churchill guided the Anglo-American alliance. They began to have difficulty with Stalin when they met him at Yalta in February 1945. Stalin was determined to control eastern Europe. 27 million deaths, invasion into the Soviet Union two times before (Napolean and WW1) might have influenced him. Two months later Roosevelt died, leaving the final decisions of the war to his successor Harry S.Truman. An international conference established the United Nations. MacArthur took charge of the United States occupation of Japan without a large occupying army. The Allies divided Germany and its capital, Berlin, into four different occupied zones and set up courts (The Nuremberg Trials) to try Nazi leaders for war crimes. Some Japanese military and political leaders faced similar trials.
Chronology of Main Events
1941- Japan attacks Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters World War II
1943- Germans surrender at Stalingrad
1944- Rome liberated; Allies land in France; Paris liberated; Battle of the Bulge
1945- Yalta Conference; Roosevelt dies; Harry S. Truman succeeds to Presidency; Germany surrenders; Japan surrenders
Activity 2: Background and Directions: War Handout Summary: Demonstrate your knowledge of World War II, by completing the WW 2 guide. All parts must be completed. A variety of sites is provided below to help you with this handout. Answer all questions. Label and mark each section. If the handout looks like the one for WW I you are correct. The answers are not. The questions for the two are identical; The answers are not. Additionally, If you are unsure of what I am looking for to complete a certain section. click on the section to receive further information. Minimum length (2 & 1/2 typed pages minimum.) (100 Points Possible) WarGuideAct
Activity 3: Background: In past units, we have investigated the definition, as well as the implementation of propaganda techniques often used during war time. Additionally, we have restricted ourselves to American propaganda. The United States however not the only country to use these techniques. Germany, Italy, France, the Soveit Union, Japan and many others used propaganda to influence public opinion. In fact, many of the same themes, can be discovered by an investigation of propaganda posters from different countries during World War II. God, the family, home are among these themes you will find.
Activity 3 Links
Activity 3 Directions:
a.Create four World War II, Propaganda Posters (from at least three countries besides the United States) in World War II. Remember I am looking for the use of symbols and propaganda techniques. If you wish your posters may be against the war. Your might be a pacifist. (15 points per Poster Possible)
Activity 4 : Background: Often history is taught as the the history of great events or as the history of great individuals. And while the history of these "greate individuals" or events does hold weight, it is not the only or perhaps not even the most productive way of learning about history. Letters, diaries, notebooks, and interviews with ordinary individuals are other venues which may be explored. Your parents or grandparents have their own stories and histories to share. It is this voice of history that you will be investigating. You will be reading and reporting on how World War II affected the ordinary individual. In addition, this activity will help prepare you for the Oral History Project a much more extensive investigation into this process.
Activity 4 Links:
Activity 4 Directions:
From the site above read the following oral history written by Tara Melish along with three other individuals, of your choice, interviewed on this page. This will make for a total of 4 interviews I want you to read. If, for any reason, Tara's interview is impossible to retrieve, pick another individual as a substitute. After you have read their stories...
Activity 5: Background The Atomic Bomb Decision: There has been much controversy concerning the dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In fact, some have argued that the war had in reality already been won and the use of these weapons was not only not necessary but in dropping them. we in affect committed an immoral act. Others have argued just the opposite, not only were they necessary, but as they helped to shorten the war, these weapons in affect, helped to save lives. Whatever your opinion on this debate, there is little dought that the war ended shortly after their use. Even today, controversy surrounds this issue. There has been much debate as to what to include in the World War II Museum in Washington DC, in regards a display of the Enola Gay, the B52 that dropped the first Atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Should this display show the impact of this bomb on the ordinary Japanese citizen; Should the morality of the bomb's use be discussed? How about atrocities committed by the Japanese against American soldiers in the Pacific Theater, Bataan in particular, should they be included in the display? These are but of the few of the questions that have been raised in regards to this issue.
Activity 5 Links:
Activity 5 Directions:
Activity 6 Background and Directions: So far you have investigated some of the people, places and events which took place during World War II. Next you will investigate, in further detail, one of these items or perhaps one we have not investigated before. You have a choice of 15 different projects. Note, not all projects are worth the same amount as some are more difficult and time consuming than others. Also, I have not provided exact links for these activities. Instead I have provided links that are more general in scope. Give yourself more time than usual to compenstate. Also, you must provide me with the exact set of links (the URL addresses ) that you used for this project. You must use at least 3 different ULR addresses as well as use quotes as you would in a term paper. In fact one the first links provided gives you the format your paper must follow. (Possible Points 80-120 depending on project)
Activitiy 6 Links: