GENERAL CURRICULUM TEST OBJECTIVE : 0006  Understand major developments in the history of the United States from precolonial times to the present.

• Examine the emergence of the United States as a world power (e.g., the era of U.S. overseas expansion, WWi, WWII, the Cold War).

World War II (1939-1945) was divided into two large areas: Europe and the Pacific. Between 1938-1941 the U.S. provided aid to the Allied forces to combat the advancing armies of the Axis (Germany, Italy, and Japan). However many in the U.S. supported isolationalism, a policy of staying out of wars not directly involving the country. In 1941, the U.S. entered the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii by Japan, prompting President Roosevelt to send troops. In all, fifty-nine nations were involved in World War II. The U.S. achieved major victories in the battles of Midway (1942), Iwo Jima (1945), and Okinawa (1945). The most success series of battles in Europe by the U.S. and their Allies (initially England, France, and Poland and later the Soviet Union) were around D-Day (June 6, 1944) and by the end of the summer the war in Europe had ended with the surrender of the Axis powers there. Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Axis power of Germany, committed suicide in April of 1945.

The discovery of a genocide known as the Holocaust, the mass killing of as many as 6 million Jewish civilians and others, stunned the world. A vast network on prison camps, called "concentration camps", mass graves, and crematoria were discovered.

The U.S. then turned its attention to Japan. During this time, the U.S. had developed weapons using atomic energy (The Manhattan Project) and in order to end the war in Japan quickly, the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and when Japan would not surrender, they dropped a second bomb three days later on the city of Nagasaki, resulting in a surrender by the Japanese. The term superpower was first used at the end of World War II to describe the United States due to the impressive demonstration of military strength, the use of atomic weapons, and the strength of the economy.  The war ended Sept. 2, 1945 and it was followed by the establishment of the United Nations, an organization made up of member countries promoting international cooperation.

Causes of World War II:

• Resentment over the results of WWI, including the Treaty of Paris
• Unresolved economic problems of countries following the war
• The weakening of democratic governments in Europe
• Strong nationalistic movements in unstable countries, making them ripe for dictatorships

Resources:

http://www.history.com/interactives/inside-wwii-interactive

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/worldwar2/