Describe the significance of major battles, events, and consequences of World War II campaigns, including North Africa, Midway, Normandy, Okinawa, the Battle of the Bulge, Iwo Jima, and Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.

Chapter 24 and 25

 United States  Britain  France  Soviet Union  China

 Germany  Italy  Japan

 Roosevelt’s goal is to help Britain and defeat the Axis powers.  Roosevelt restricts materials to other countries.  Japan gets mad and signs an alliance with the Axis.  July 1941: Roosevelt send Douglas MacArthur to the Philippines to build up defenses.  Japan decides to attack British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, seize the Philippines and attack Pearl Harbor.

 December 7, 1941  Japan attacks Americans naval base in Hawaii  Sinks and damages 21 ships.  Kills 2403 Americans  December 8, 1941: America declares war on Japan  December 11, 1941: Germany and Italy declare war on US.  “A date which will live in infamy.”

 Chester Nimitz: commander of the US Navy in the Pacific  Douglas MacArthur takes his badly outnumbered troops and retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.  Roosevelt orders the troops to retreat to Australia.  The Allied defenders will surrender at Bataan Peninsula.  Thousands die on the Bataan Death March to a Japanese prison camp.

Douglas MacArthur

 Japan wants to attack the Midway Islands, last American base in the North Pacific west of Hawaii.  Lure American destroyers into battle and cut their supply lines to Australia.  Failed: US had a team of code breakers who broke the Japanese code.  Turning point in the Pacific: stopped the Japanese advance into the Pacific.

 Dwight Eisenhower is the commander of the troops in North Africa.  George Patton led the American forces in Morocco and captured the city of Casablanca.  Battle of Kasserine Pass: 1 st time Americans come in contact with Germans  Outnumbered, outmaneuvered; huge loses for America.  Patton is put in command and pushes the Germans back.  May 13, 1943, German forces in North Africa surrendered.

 Hitler wants to take the Soviets out of the war by hurting their economy.  Capture oil fields, industries and farmlands vital to the Soviet Union.  Germans tried to capture Stalingrad. Soviets held their ground. Germans were surrounded and surrendered.  Turning point in Europe: it put the Germans on the defensive.

 Eisenhower is the overall commander.  Patton and Montgomery is in charge of the troops on the ground.  Germans evacuate Sicily by August 18.  Mussolini is arrested by the king of Italy.  September 8, 1943 Italy surrendered.  Hitler send Germans to seize control of Italy and put Mussolini back in power.  German retreat in May 1944.

 Nicknamed: Operation Overlord, D-Day  Planned invasion of France  Eisenhower is commander  Allies have the element of surprise  June 6, 1944  Over 100,000 soldiers sailed to the coast of France. 23,000 paratroopers were dropped inland.  Stormed the beaches called Utah, Omaha, Gold, Sword, and Juno

 Utah Beach: easy, 3 hours and overtook the beach and moved inland, Germans were weak  Omaha Beach: hard, intense German fire, over time Americans break through the German defenses.  Invasion: successful

 Plan to defeat Japan: 2 pronged attack:  Island hopping  Invasion to retake Philippines  Island Hopping began in fall of 1943 in Central Pacific with Admiral Nimitz  Tarawa Atoll: difficult trip, amptrac  Kwajalein Atoll: smoother, Marine captured island.  Mariana Islands: captured by Americans by August 1944

 MacArthur invaded the Guadalcanal in August  By 1944, the American troops had captured enough land to surround Rabaul (main Japanese base in the region.)  Japan removed most of the troops from Rabaul.  MacArthur ordered his troops 600 miles past Rabaul and captured a base called Hollandia.

 MacArthur heads towards the Philippines.  Battle of Leyte Gulf: kamikazes used for the 1 st time, American destroyers left to defend another area, Japanese take advantage of this and attack. The Japanese believed the Americans would return soon and retreated.  Winning the Philippines back took a long time and was hard work.  March 1945, MacArthur finally captures Manila.

 After the Allied troops invaded Normandy, they moved inward.  The Allies liberated Paris on August 25.  Three weeks later, the Allies were 20 miles from the German border.

 Hitler attempts one last time at cutting the Allied supply lines through Antwerp, Belguim.  On December 16, 1944, the Battle of the Bulge catch the American troops off guard.  Still, the Americans won. The Germans withdrew.  The battle gets its name for the way the German lines bulged outward as they moved west.  The Americans cross the Rhine River and enter Germany.

 Hitler kills himself.  Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz takes over. He tried to surrender to America and Britain, but still tried to fight the Soviet Union.  Finally, he surrenders on May 7, 1945  May 8, 1945 V-E Day, Victory in Europe Day.

 America attempts to bomb Japan, but miss their target.  They try to move closer to actually hit their target: Iwo Jima.  February 19, 1945 Americans land in Iwo Jima.  6,800 died before the island was captured.  In the Mariana Islands, Curtis LeMay changed the strategy of dropping napalm bombs.  America firebombed 6 major Japanese cities.

 Japan refuses to surrender.  Americans invade Okinawa to prepare for a fight.  On April 1, 1945, American troops land in Okinawa.  By June 22, American troops captured Okinawa. (12,000 people die)  America decides to drop the atomic bomb on Japan to get them to surrender. (Manhattan Project)

 Nickname of the project to drop the atomic bomb  Enola Gay  The atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9).  By August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered.  World War II is over.