Veronica

**World War II: The Beginning**

Banito Moussolini was the type of man that always got what he wanted, even if he had to take it by force. He was also the type of man that wanted to prove that he should be feared. And as to do so, in __[|October 1935]__mussolini sent Pietro Badoglio and the Italian Army; into Ethiopia to take it by force. Moussolini also wanted to prove that his regime was the strongest and was enraged when he found out that The League of Nations imposed sanctions. He was so enraged that Italian troops began to fight in Ethiopia until May 1936, the date that Italian troops forced Emperor Haile Selassie to flee to England. In 1939, Banito increased co-operation with Nazi Germany. And to make matters worse, France and Great Britain looked the other way whenever Germany would do something that was frowned upon. In 1933 Hitler was in charge and ignored the Treaty of Versailles, then chose not to pay France and Great Britain the money that they owed. Following this action was the first appeasement [|in 1936], when Hitler moved his troops into Rhineland and France/Great Britain turned the other way as if nothing ever happened; they did nothing to stop him. [|In 1938]Hitler invaded Austria and declared Anschluss, yet again France and Great Britain turned their head as if nothing ever happened, that was the second appeasement. And the third appeasement was the worst, [|September 22 1938]was when France and Great Britain gave Hitler sudetenland ( they gave him what he wanted as to not cause a war). Now on to my next topic, the expansion of the Japanese empire. There were three major things that caused the expansion of the Japanese Empire, first was when the Japenese Empire invaded Manchuria in 1931. Japan claimed that the invasion was done outta liberation but others thought differently. The second major thing was the Second Sino-Japanese War which occured in 1937 when Japan invaded China, which in turn created a three way war between Japan, Mao Zedong's communists and Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists. The third major thing was when Japan clashed with the Soviet Union in 1938, all these things were what caused the expansion of the Japanese Empire. But that's not all you'll hear about the Japanese, the Japanese were also what caused the US to enter World War II when they decided toattack [|Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.] The attack started at 7:53 a.m and ended at 9:55 a.m, between that time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor three different times. One at 7:53, another at 8:55 and the last one was at 9:55; by 1:00 p.m the Japan carriers were already headed back to Japan. When reading this information one couldn't help but think that they knew what they were doing, they thought the attack out and planned it for so long that they perfected it in terms of time. But what they didn't know was that the US would get it's revenge. The Home Front: The USA in the Fight There were many things that were rationed during world war II because some of the things were running out or were running low. [|Some of the things]that were being rationed during World War II were sugar and coffee because they were so scarce. Some other things that were rationed were nylon stockings,metal,cooking fat,and gasoline. These things were rationed because those items were used to make weapons for the soldiers to use. Most people were more then willing to give those things up for the cause of the war but you still could find some people that were a bit selfish and didn't wanna give up anything. I personally would have given up anything that was necessary to help out the cause. Rationing was very necessary back then because times were hard and we were losing many men out on the battle field, if helping out the cause helped the soldiers out there. Then it would be more then worth it, those guys gave up their lives to protect ours and all we had to do was give up some things. How hard was that? Now on to my next topic, the [|Office of War Information]. The Office of War is the information they produce is propoganda to support the war effort. [|Propoganda] is defined as information that is supposed to help publicize a certain political issue. When the Office of War information was using propoganda, it was one of those good and bad things. It was good because it helped publicize the war efforts but it could also be bad because not every war effort was perfect. There were more problems then there were solutions and sometimes that can be really bad. But enough of that, internment camps can be described as camps where families were keeped caged in. They hoarded the Japanese together in several buildings, the camp was also surrounded by a metal fence that was topped with barb wire. The president also found it necessary to have to camp surrounded not only by the fence but also by guards. While Japanese American citizens were being sent to this canp, the Executive Order 9066 was also in effect. Executive Order 9066 was a so called military necessity because the military was trying to protect the country from any bad events happening because of the Japanese that were in the state. But it was later proven that not one Japanese citizen caused any crimes. In my opinion the Executive Order 9066 was not necessary because it was something that restricted the Japanese from feeling like part of the country. I'm sure it made them feel like dirt, maybe even angry because the people of our country were showing anger towards them because of the Japanese. They might have been Japanese as well but they obviously liked this country more because they left their home country to come to this one for a better life. And then we go off and discriminate against them, it wasn't fair and i'm sure they didn't understand. Another thing that was going on was something that was called the [|Manhattan Project]which started in 1936 but the first bomb wasn't tested until July 6, 1945, when they tested the first bomb in Los Alamos. The whole reason for the Manhattan Project was to make something that would end the World War II and get the Japanese to surrender. With all honesty the Manhattan Project back then did seem necessary because we were the only ones with that kind of power, the only ones that would use it if it was absolutely necessary. But now it's different, other countries have that power as well and some of those countries will use it in rage. To destroy something that they've come to despise and for humanity that can be a very bad thing. HOW THE WAR WAS FOUGHT The invasion of Normandy, also known as D-day was under control of Dwight Eisenhower, Eisenhower was the supreme allied commander which means he commanded all allied forces. Another person who should be recognized is George Marshall, he was the man that came up with "Operation Overlord". Operation Overlord was the first planned peactime draft and Marshall also helped co-ordinate the largest expansion of the US military in history. Other people that follow are Omar Bradley and George Patton, Omar Bradley was the man who led the 1st army at the Battle of the Bulge. And George Patton was the best tank commander that the allies had, he was also the secret weapon to reach the goal of taking back Africa. Out of all these men I would have to say that Dwight Eisenhower would have to be the most influential person on the outcome of WWII because of the fact that he was the president when the war was occurring. Any force that was fighting on our side had to fist go to him with their ideas. If he approved the idea would go thhrough and vice versa, I personally think that every president no matter who they are standing against, will have the most influence on the nation. But enough of my babbling let's move on to the next topic, Tuskeegee Airmen. The Airmen were the first black airmen, flew 311 missions and were awarded 95 distinguished flying crosses. Moving on, when the US army liberated the concentration camps they not only were horrified by what they saw but they also realized that the camps were death camps. The Battaan Death March was when the Japanese captured 78,000 US and Filipino prisoners and forced them to march to the prison camp. This occured in Australia when Douglas MacArthur could not protect his soldiers. And when the soldiers were captured and taken to the prison camp, the Japanese beat them, stabbed them with bayonets, and denied them water and medical treatment. Something that followed this was the Battle of Midway which occurred when the Japanese were planning a surprise attack on the Islands of Midway but were very mistaken.Chester Nimitz was the one who was in charge of the US navy in the Pacific and who also stopped the attak on the Midway Islands.When the Japenese attacked they soon lost because their surprise attack wasn't an actual surprise at all. After the Japenese lost that one time, the navies became equal and I guess outta anger and shame; the Japanese started suicide attacks. In result of the suicide attacks the US drops a bomb on Nagasaki which killed 60,000-80,000. And another bomb on Hiroshima which killed 90,000-166,000. Then fianlly Japan surrenders on August 14, 1945.