{"id":5616,"date":"2022-01-20T17:39:49","date_gmt":"2022-01-20T17:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/?page_id=5616"},"modified":"2025-03-06T10:10:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T15:10:37","slug":"world-war-ii-origins","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/course-syllabus\/world-war-ii-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"World War II: Origins"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote>\n<h3>What US actions might have averted World War II?<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/\">American Yawp, chapter 24, World War II<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#I_Introduction\">I. Introduction<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#II_The_Origins_of_the_Pacific_War\">II. The Origins of the Pacific War<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#III_The_Origins_of_the_European_War\">III. The Origins of the European War<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#IV_The_United_States_and_the_European_War\">IV. The United States and the European War<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#V_The_United_States_and_the_Japanese_War\">V. The United States and the Japanese War<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/24-world-war-ii\/#VI_Soldiers_Experiences\">VI. Soldiers\u2019 Experiences<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newspapers.ushmm.org\/events\/american-nazis-rally-in-new-york-city\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-378 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2015\/03\/Bund-300x236.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2015\/03\/Bund-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2015\/03\/Bund.jpg 478w\" alt=\"Bund\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" \/><\/a>The 1940s witnessed the worst military conflict in world history. \u00a0Out of more than 70 million combatants from 70 different countries, the editors at Digital History estimate about 17 million dead, including about 400,000 American military personnel out of more than\u00a015 million in uniform. \u00a0All of those figures exclude other types of casualties (such as wounded) and also civilian deaths, which vary widely by source, but which probably exceeded 50 million overall, included nearly 6 million European Jews in\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3481\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nazi death\u00a0camps<\/a>. There had been plenty of warnings of impending conflict, but nothing that could have anticipated this type of carnage. \u00a0Americans seemed especially determined to learn\u00a0lessons from this immense bloodletting. The United States was not really\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">isolationist<\/a>\u00a0in the years between 1919 and 1941, but there had been a palpable sense of disconnection with the rising tide of problems in Europe and Asia. \u00a0As Russell Baker put it in his memoir,\u00a0<em>Growing Up<\/em>, \u201cworlds were burning, but they seemed far away.\u201d \u00a0Baker remembers his family mocking the \u201csausage-stuffers\u201d of the German American Bund (pictured above, marching in New York in 1939). \u00a0 His mother memorably claimed in 1939, while they lived in Baltimore, that \u201cThis is England\u2019s war. \u00a0Let England fight it.\u201d \u00a0Yet once the Japanese launched a surprise attack on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pearl Harbor<\/a>\u00a0on December 7, 1941, such cautious sentiment shifted dramatically. \u00a0Under the leadership of Franklin Roosevelt, the United States quickly moved to engage in the global conflict\u00a0on multiple fronts, not only in the Pacific against Imperial Japan, but also in support of the Allied powers in the European fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. \u00a0The war turned much of the politics of the previous generation upside down. \u00a0The US was now allied with the Soviet Union. \u00a0American men and materials were being rushed overseas. \u00a0Women were working and contributing mightily to the war effort on what was called the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3493\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201chomefront.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0There were also periods of terrible panic, such as the decision to relocate Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the West Coast to\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.digitalhistory.uh.edu\/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&amp;psid=3495\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">internment camps<\/a>. Throughout this turbulent period, however, the United States continued to lead what many were already calling the \u201cunited nations\u201d against a range of totalitarian threats. \u00a0There was still some signs of economic, social and racial troubles at home, but the national focus had generally moved away from the kind of domestic concerns that had dominated during the Great Depression.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Timeline<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>1931 \/\/ Manchurian incident and Japanese takeover<\/p>\n<p>1932 \/\/ Stimson Doctrine<\/p>\n<p>1933 \/\/ Hitler seizes emergency powers in Germany<\/p>\n<p>1935-39 \/\/ <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1921-1936\/neutrality-acts\">Congress adopts a series of neutrality acts<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1937 \/\/ Japanese invasion of China (Rape of Nanking)<\/p>\n<p>1938 \/\/ Munich Conference<\/p>\n<p>1939 \/\/ Germans invade Poland; start of WWII in Europe<\/p>\n<p>1940 \/\/ Roosevelt elected to unprecedented third term<\/p>\n<p>1941 \/\/ <a href=\"https:\/\/history.state.gov\/milestones\/1937-1945\/lend-lease\">(March) Lend-Lease Act<\/a><\/p>\n<p>1941 \/\/ (June) Hitler breaks pact with Stalin; Germans invade USSR<\/p>\n<p>1941 \/\/ (December) Pearl Harbor<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lK8gYGg0dkE\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Featured Document:\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/reader\/24-world-war-ii\/charles-a-lindbergh-america-first-1941\/\">America First Committee<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Speech by Charles Lindbergh (1941)<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There are many \u2026 interventionists in America, but there are more people among us of a different type. That is why you and I are assembled here tonight. There is a policy open to this nation that will lead to success\u2013a policy that leaves us free to follow our own way of life, and to develop our own civilization.\u00a0It is not a new and untried idea. It was advocated by Washington. It was incorporated in the Monroe Doctrine. Under its guidance, the United States became the greatest nation in the world.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7521\" style=\"width: 250px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2025\/03\/Lindbergh.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7521\" class=\"wp-image-7521 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2025\/03\/Lindbergh-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"Lindberg\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2025\/03\/Lindbergh-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/files\/2025\/03\/Lindbergh.jpg 440w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-7521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charles Lindbergh<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It is based upon the belief that the security of a nation lies in the strength and character of its own people. It recommends the maintenance of armed forces sufficient to defend this hemisphere from attack by any combination of foreign powers. It demands faith in an independent American destiny. This is the policy of the America First Committee today. It is a policy not of isolation, but of independence; not of defeat, but of courage. It is a policy that led this nation to success during the most trying years of our history, and it is a policy that will lead us to success again&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>The time has come when those of us who believe in an independent American destiny must band together and organize for strength. We have been led toward war by a minority of our people. This minority has power. It has influence. It has a loud voice. But it does not represent the American people. During the last several years I have traveled over this country from one end to the other. I have talked to many hundreds of men and women, and I have letters from tens of thousands more, who feel the same way as you and I.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZluIuRg2K7o\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What US actions might have averted World War II? American Yawp, chapter 24, World War II I. Introduction II. The Origins of the Pacific War III. The Origins of the European War IV. The United States and the European War V. The United States and the Japanese War VI. Soldiers\u2019 Experiences Overview The 1940s witnessed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":373,"featured_media":0,"parent":13,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-5616","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/373"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5616\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/13"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-118pinsker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}