Korean War Lesson

Due to the recent war in Korea the United States can benefit from the lessons learnt. The U.S. had reasonable goals when entering the war. They wanted to remove the North Koreans from South Korea. This would be achieved with the help of member forces supplied by the United Nations. As time went on, General MacArthur quickly reached success by pushing the North Koreans back to the 38th parallel, or better known as the border, which separates North from South Korea. The United Nations allowed MacArthur to advance into North Korea, despite warnings made by China's leader, Mao Tse-tung. The U.S. forces continued pushing and by October had reached the Yalu River. Now Truman and MacArthur aimed to do more than just drive out North Korean troops from South Korea; they wanted to completely remove Communism from Korea.

This stage in the war could not have been reached without the help of the United Nations. The U.S. was the single biggest contributor to the UN budget. This provided them with some influence over the UN decision especially when they needed it the most; for example when North Korea invaded South Korea, President Truman asked the UN Security Council to condemn the actions of the North Koreans and tell them to withdraw their troops. The United Nations assisted South Korea in restoring international peace and security. They did exactly so by providing troops or support of some kind.

The Chinese stuck with their word and 200,000 Chinese troops, along with USSR supplies, were sent to North Korea in aid. MacArthur underestimated their power. The fighting pushed the UN forces back to the 38th parallel. After this, Truman realized saving South Korea was good enough because Truman's allies in the United Nations saw that MacArthur's idea of attacking China was too risky. They believed it might start a war, in which the USSR could possibly become involved. The attack became ruled out after Truman agreed.

MacArthur and Truman obviously didn't see eye to eye after Truman agreed with the UN. MacArthur blatantly ignored UN instruction to stop attacking and openly threatened attack on China. Truman immediately removed Mac Arthur from his position and brought him back home because he disagreed with MacArthur's aggressive policy towards Communism. General Omar Bradley agreed with Truman and the UN. He believed MacArthur's approach would have "involved America in the wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy." Even though Truman too was strongly against Communism it is a good thing he was pre-cautious or an invasion into China would cause many new and worse problems for America.

In the end, the price in successfully fighting against Communism was not cheap. Civilian deaths made up a significant portion of the deaths during the war. Now the U.S. can learn a couple of things from the war. First is the United Nations can be depended on as long as the United States has some influence over them, like through the budget. Second is to make sure to control your generals. They will not always listen to your commands especially if they have a history of following their own policies like MacArthur did. Next it is to be cautious and listen to the advice of others before putting your own beliefs ahead. Truman and MacArthur both were strongly against Communism but Truman did what was best for the U.S., UN, and South Korea at the time instead of abusing his power to continuously fight for what he believed in. Then we learn that we must not underestimate the power of our opponent. The Chinese only sent only a portion of their troops and they matched the power of the force of the United Nations. Their whole army would be a larger and definitely more difficult challenge to fight against and overcome. Finally we should learn that liberty comes with a cost. Freedom from Communism is costly in the lives of not only soldiers but more so civilians. It affects everybody. These are the lessons which the United States can learn from the war.

Dropping the Atomic Bomb

1. What factors have affected viewpoints on Truman's decision?

• number of causualties for the Allies


• length of the war


• Japanese signals- showed that the Japanese military were determined to fight to the finish


• Military advice- US military officers wanted to use the bomb as weapon of war and try to achieve complete surprise

2. Do you think he made the right decision? Give your reasons.



I believe Truman made the right decision. This is so because of a couple of reasons. First the Japanese showed that they had no means of backing down or surrendering. Two examples were the battles for the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The Japanese fought fiercely and even used kamikazes, ritual suicides in which aircraft pilots would purposely crash their planes into American fleets, instead of surrendering. After the bomb on Nagasaki, Japanese Emperor Hirohito and most of his government wanted to surrender but even then some of the Japanese military leaders attempted to overthrow Hirohito and continue the war. With the Japanese not wanting to surrender countless lives of the Allies and Japanese would be taken. It was also predicted that the war would continue on for one more year if the bombs were not used, inevitably taking even more lives. Finally most leaders of countries, such as Truman, trust their military adivsors to make the best decisions for the country in a state of war. The military wanted to end the war as soon as possible to prevent further loss of lives and thought weakening the moral of the Japanese people would do exactly so.

War in the Pacific

1. What was the importance of the Battle of Midway?

The Japanese wanted to move towards the Island of Midway to get closer to Hawaii but they were successfully stopped by the Allies. The Americans knew they would be attacking the island because they broke the Japanese code. When American Admiral Chester Nimitz attacked with torpedo and bomber planes, while the Japanese planes were still on the decks of their fleets, the results were devastating. The Battle of Midway was important because it was the turning point in the Pacific War. Soon after the Allies began regaining territory from the Japanese by conquering island by island. Every island captured allowed the Allied forces to move closer to Japan and inevitably attack.



2. What strategy did the United States adopt in fighting Japan?

The United states adopted the strategy of island hopping. Island hopping is moving from island to island, winning back territory from the Japanese. Every island captured allowed the Allied forces to move closer to Japan and inevitably attack.



3. Why did the Japanese fight so hard on Iwo Jima?

Iwo Jima was probably the most heavily defended spot with 20,700 Japanese troops entrenched in tunnels and caves. This is because Iwo Jima was critical to the United States as a base from which heavily loaded bombers might reach Japan. Also if the Allies capture Iwo Jima than just one obstacle, the island of Okinawa, stood in in between them and a final assault on Japan.



4. Why did the Allies believe Okinawa was a foretaste of an invasion of Japan?

The Allies believed Okinawa was a foretaste of an invasion of Japan because the Japanese fought extremely hard, this includes using ritual suicide, instead of surrendering in shame. Casualties were devastating. More than 7,600 Americans had died and 110,000 Japanese.



5. What was the Manhattan Project?


The Manhattan Project was a secret project led by General Leslie Groves with the help of research directed by American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer. The project was the development of the atomic bomb.


6. Ultimately, why did President Truman decide to drop atomic bombs on Japan?


Truman did not hesitate to use the bomb as a military weapon to end the war.

War for Europe and North Africa - Part II

6. What was D-Day?
General Eisenhower was planning an attack on Normandy. Under his command, the Allies gathered nearly 3 millions troops. The Allies tried to keep their plans a secret by setting up a huge fake army, which had its own headquarters and equipment. Allied commanders sent orders through the radio to this fake army and made sure the Germans could understand them. The orders were to attack the French port of Calais so as a result Hitler ordered his generals to keep a large army at the port of Calais. Due to bad weather the invasion was delayed a day. On June 6,1944 Eisenhower gave the signal to attack and the first day of the invasion became known as D-Day.

7. What happened at the Battle of the Bulge?
By October 1944 the American had captured their first German town, Aachen. Hitler hoped to disrupt the enemy's supply lines and demoralize the Allies by ordering his troops to break through the Allied lines and recapture the Belgian port of Antwerp. On December 16th, eight German tank division broke through the weak American defenses with the help of dense fog to cover them. The tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, which created a bulge in the lines. The Germans continued westward, capturing 120 American soldiers. Then German troops moved the prisoners to a large field and shot them dead. The battle continued for a month. In the ended the Germans had been pushed back and took a loss of 120,000 troops, 600 tanks, and assault guns, and 1,600 planes. Little could be done for the Germans now.

8. What did Allied troops find in Germany?
In Germany Allied troops came across Nazi death camps in July 1944. When the Soviets grew close to a camp called Majdanek in Poland the German officers began to bury and burn all evidence of their horrible crime. When the Soviet soldiers captured Majdanek, they found prisoners barely alive, the world's largest crematorium, and a storehouse containing 800,000 shoes. Later on Americans liberated Nazi death camps in Germany and were equally horrified.

9. What happened to Hitler? What happened to F.D. Roosevelt? Who became U.S. President?
On April 29, Hitler married his long time companion, Eva Braun. The same day he wrote his last address to the German people, preparing for the end. In this address he blamed the Jewish people for starting the war and his generals for losing it. The next day Hitler shot himself and his new wife swallowed poison. According to Hitler's orders, the two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned. On May 8, 1945 the Allies celebrated V-E Day, victory in Europe day; the war in Europe was finally over. It was too bad that Roosevelt did not live to see this day. On April 12, 1945 the president had a stroke and died. The same night Vice President Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President of the United States.

War for Europe & North Africa

1. To what did Roosevelt and Churchill agree early in the war?
Early in the war Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to have a strong alliance between the U.S. and Great Britain. Winston Churchill spent three weeks at the White House. Churchill, Roosevelt, and his advisers worked out war plans. Churchill convinced Roosevelt to strike against Hitler first because he believed Germany and Italy posed a greater threat than Japan. After the Allies gained control of the upper hand in Europe they could put more attention and supplies into the Pacific War. By the end of their meeting Roosevelt and Churchill had formed a very remarkable alliance.

2. Why was winning the Battle of the Atlantic so crucial to the fortunes of the Allies?
Winning the Battle of the Atlantic was so crucial to the fortunes of the Allies because if Germany succeeded in its aim to prevent food and war materials from reaching Great Britain and the Soviet Union, then Britain's lifeline for resources would be cut. This would cause Britain to eventually be starved into submission. It almost seemed as if Hitler might be successful in his mission. Unprotected American ships were easy targets for German submarines. Within the first four months of 1942, they Germans had sunk 87 American ships off the Atlantic Shore and Seven months into the war, the Germans had destroyed a total of 681 Allied ships. If nothing was done then the war at sea would end up being lost. The Allies responded by using conveys, which were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection.These convoys would be escorted across the the Atlantic with detroyerers, which then would be equipped with sonar to detect German submarines. The Allies were able to find and destroy German submarines faster than the Germans could build them.

3. Why was the Battle of Stalingrad so important?
The Battle of Stalingrad was so important because it was a turning point in the war, which allowed the Soviet Union army to begin moving toward Germany. The Germans had been fighting in the Soviet Union since June of 1941 but by November they stopped because of the frigid cold. Once it was warm again the Germans attacked with tanks, ready to take over Moscow and Leningrad. Hitler also wanted to take out Stalingrad, which was a major industrial center, and the Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains. By August of 1942 the Germans pressed on with their attacks on Stalingrad. The situation was so bad that by the end of September the Germans had taken over nine-tenths of the city but to the luck of the Soviets winter set in again and everything became quite again. The Soviets used this as an opportunity to begin a massive counterattack. The Soviets encircled the city with its army, trapping the Germans inside and cutting them off from their supplies. Hitler ordered the Germans to stay and fight but this was no use because his commander surrendered on January 31, 1943 and his freezing and starving troops did the same two days later.

4. What happened in the war in North Africa?
Instead of listening to Stalin's idea about invading across the English Channel to force Hitler to divert troops from the Soviet Union front (America and Britain feared they didn't have enough troops to attempt and invasion of European soil), America and Britain invaded the Axis-controlled North Africa under the command of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In November 1942 about 107,000 Allied troops landed in Casablanca, Oran, and the Algiers. Then they sped towards the east, chasing the Afrika Korps, who were led by General Erwin Roommel. In May 1943, after heavy fighting the last of the Afrika Korps surrendered. The Allies were victorious in the North African front.

5. What happened after the Allies invaded Italy?
After the Allies invaded Italy, the Italian government forced Benito Mussolini to resign. King Victor Emmanuel III replaced him with Il Duce. The Italians begin celebrating the end of the war but it wasn't over yet. Hitler wanted to stop the Allied invasion in Italy rather than fight on German soil. This led to one of the hardest battles the Allies encountered in Europe. It was fought less than 40 miles from Rome and became known as "Bloody Anizio". The battle lasted four months and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. The year after this battle, the Germans continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy didn't succeed until 1945 when Germany itself was close to collapsing.

Mobilizing for WWII.

1. Selective Service System
The Selective Service expanded the draft. By doing this they provided another 10 million soldiers to the already 5 million, who volunteered for military service. This helped to meet the armed forces' needs. Later on when the war began, the Selective Service System warned defense contractors that the nation did not have enough workers to meet both its military and industrial needs but they were wrong.

2. Women
There was also a great need for the military's work force. With this being so Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall pushed for the formation of a Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). In support he stated, "There are innumerable duties now being performed by soldiers that can be done better by women". This bill allowed women volunteers to serve in noncombat positions. Even though the bill had opposition from some members of Congress, it was passed and became a law on May 15,1942. The law gave the women an official status ans salary but they were only given some of the same benefits given to male soldiers. Thousands of women had joined the WAAC by July 1943. This caused the U.S Army to drop the "auxiliary" status and granted the WACs the full U.S. Army benefits. WACs worked in a number of different job fields which ranged from nurses to radio operators and even pilots but these were all duties which did not involve direct combat.

3. Minorities
Minorities (African Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, and Asian Americans) faced new dilemmas due to the war. They were restricted to racially segregated neighborhoods and reservations, being denied the basic citizenship rights. Some even went on to question whether or not this was their war to fight. For example, an editorial in an African-American newspaper stated, " Why die for democracy for some foreign country when we don't even have it here?"

Even though there was discrimination in the military, more than 300,000 Mexican Americans ended up joining the armed forces. This ethnic group only made up a tenth of Los Angeles's population, but suffered a fifth of the city's wartime casualties. About 1 million African Americans also enlisted in the military. Members of this ethnic group were forced to live and work in segregated units. They were also limited to mostly noncombat roles but due to much protest they finally began seeing combat by the beginning of April 1943. Asian Americans also wanted to help in the struggle. More than 13,000 Chinese Americans, or about one of every five adult males, joined the armed forces. On top of this 33,000 Japanese Americans joined too. Out of this group several thousand volunteered to serve as spies and interpreters for the war in the Pacific. During battles they would sneak up close enough to be able to hear the Japanese officers' commands and then take this information and translate it back to their American counterparts. About 25,000 Native Americans also enlisted in the armed service. This included 800 women. Their great willingness to serve led to The Saturday Evening Post to comment, "We would not need the Selective Service if all volunteered like Indians."

4. Manufacturers
Early February of 1942 automobile production was shutdown for private use and instead the nation's plants had been reopened to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars. This quickly resulted in the conversion of factories into those for war production. Examples include the conversion of a maker of mechanical pencils to one for bomb parts, a bedspread manufacturer to mosquito netting, and a soft-drink company into a company that filled shells with explosives instead of on that filled bottles with liquid. Expansion of shipyards and defense plants rapidly increased. An industrialist by the name of Henry J. Kaiser built seven enormous shipyards, which produced cargo carriers, tankers, troop transports, and baby aircraft carriers at an astonishing rate.

Laborers were equally as important, for they made up these manufacturing companies. Despite the draft nearly 18 million workers were laboring in war industries. This was 3 times as many as in 1941. More than 6 million of these new workers were women. At first, war industries were hesitant to hire women because they believed they lacked the necessary stamina for factory work but after women proved themselves, employers could not hire enough of them, especially since women made only about 60 percent as much as men who did the same jobs. Defense plants also hired more than 2 million minority workers during the war. Like women they faced strong prejudice in the beginning. Before the war began, 75 percent of defense contractors simply refused to hire hire African Americans while the other 15 percent employed them in only menial jobs.

5. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)
The Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD) was created by Roosevelt to bring scientists into the war effort. The OSRD improved radar and sonar, encouraged the use of pesticides to fight insects, and pushed the development of "miracle drugs" such as penicillin. As a result of these technologies for detecting submarines underwater improved, U.S. soldiers were probably the first in history to be relatively free from body lice, and the "miracle drugs" saved countless lives on and off the battlefield. Although these were not even close to the most significant achievement. The most significant achievement of the OSRD was the development of the atomic bomb. After Albert Einstein warned Roosevelt of the Germans being able to successfully split uranium atoms, Roosevelt created the Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the discovery. The code name for the project to build the atomic bomb became known as the Manhattan Project.

6. Entertainment industry
After Pearl Harbor, Hollywood began making war-orientated films, which obviously contained a out of propaganda. Heroic movies glorified America's new wartime ally, the U.S.S.R. They also made films, which stirred up hatred against the Nazis. This helped to energize people to join the war effort. There was a downfall to these propaganda and war themed movies as the war continued on. Many people grew tired of them. Hollywood responded by creating musicals, romances, and other escapist fares to take film goers away from the grim realities of war, even if it was only for an hour or two.

7. Office of Price Administration (OPA)
With war production increasing and fewer consumer products becoming available for purchase, there was and increasing demand for a limited amount of supplies. It only seemed logical that the prices would likely shoot upwards. Roosevelt responded to this threat by creating the Office of Price Administration (OPA). The OPA fought against inflation by freezing prices on most goods. Congress went on to raise income tax rates and extended the tax to millions of people who had never paid it before. These higher taxes reduced consumer demand on limited goods by leaving workers with less to spend. On top of this the government encouraged Americans to spend their extra money on war bonds. this resulted in inflation reaming below 30 percent.

8. War Production Board (WPB)
The War Production Board (WPB) assumed the responsibility of providing the armed forces and war industries with resources needed to win the war. The WPB decided which companies would convert from peacetime to wartime production and divided up raw materials to key industries. In addition the WPB also organized drives to collect scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and even cooking fat for recycling into war goods.

9. Rationing
The OPA also set up a system of establishing fixed allotments of goods deemed essential for the military, or better known as rationing. Under this system households received ration books with coupons to be used for buying these scarce goods (meat, shoes, sugar, coffee, and gasoline). Gas rationing was especially hard on those who lived in western regions because driving was the only way to get around in this area. Eleanor Roosevelt sympathized with their complaints. Most people accepted rationing as their contribution to the war effort. Some workers carpooled or rode their bicycles. Families coped with shortages of almost everything. As usual there were those who hoarded scarce goods or purchased them through the "black market" where rationed goods could be bought illegally without a coupon at inflated prices.

Japan and U.S. Relations in 1941

Japan and U.S. Relations in 1941

Document A

• Vice-Chief of Staff Tsukada Isao believes that if the Japanese continue to move Southward then Italy and Germany can defeat Britain
• With the Axis powers conquering England they could probably eventually take China and the U.S.S.R
• The taking of the South would cause a deficit in American sources of strategic materials
• If England falls then American should reconsider its position

Document B

• Roosevelt, Hull, and Welles are trying to deal with the situation in the Pacific
• They find Tojo circles them from all sides
• Roosevelt, Hull, and Welles are confused as to what to do
• Tojo is depicted negatively with his exaggeratedly small size

Document C

• Japanese ambassadors are trying extremely hard to get the United States to agree with Japan
• The U.S. comes up with a different proposal and endured great sacrifices to preserve peace in the Pacific
• Japanese want to break off the negotiations but don't want the U.S. to know this
• Instead the Japanese insist they have been peaceful all along but the U.S. is being unbendable, making it impossible for the Japanese to negotiate

Document D

• The Japanese are successful and powerful (invaded Mancguris, etc.) but because of this they have great responsibilities from now on
• They must stay powerful and to do so must bring their military and government closer together
• Together Japan believes it will be victorious if its efforts to reach its aims pays off

Document E

• Japan purposely attacked Pearl Harbor and took America by surprise
• Before the U.S. had peaceful relationships with Japan according to FDR
• They are try to maintain peace but it is useless to continue peace negotiations which were supposed to prevent attacks or war
• The Japanese lied by saying they intended peace and gave the the U.S. false statements since it obviously took a lot of intended planning to carry out the attack on Pearl Harbor
• FDR wants war between the U.S. and Japan

America Moves Toward War

1. What did the 1939 Neutrality Act allow?
The 1939 Neutrality Act allowed warring nations to buy U.S. arms as long as they paid cash and transported them in their own ships.

2. Who were the Axis powers?
The Axis powers were Germany, Italy, and Japan. They signed a mutual defense treaty called the Tripartite Pact.

3. What did the Lend-Lease Act do?
The Lend-Lease Act was intended to help any country, whose defense was vital to the U.S., by lending or leasing arms and other supplies to them. Instead with the idea that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Roosevelt decided to help the U.S.S.R. and Stalin when Hitler decided to attack them.

4. What pledges were contained in the Atlantic Charter?
Britain and the United States pledged in the Atlantic Charter for collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, and freedom of the seas.

5. Who were the Allies?
The Allies were the twenty-six nations who fought against the Axis powers.

6. What did the attack at Pearl Harbor do to the U.S. Pacific fleet?
The attack at Pearl Harbor killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The raid either sunk or damaged 21 ships, which included 8 battleships. This was nearly the entire U.S. Pacific fleet. Also more than 300 aircrafts were damaged or destroyed.

7. Why did Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.?
Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. because the U.S. declared a war on Japan for bombing Pearl Harbor. Germany and Italy had to declare war because they signed the Tripartite Pact agreeing to help each other out in case of attack or war.