Global+War+InNo.+Part+1,+Section+2.+Ho+Yun+Cheon,+March+4th,+2011.

Global War InNo. Part 1, Section 2. Ho Yun Cheon, March 4th, 2011.

__Notes__ 5. The Great Fatherland War · **Why did Germany attack the USSR?** o Germany was not supposed to attack the USSR under the pact in 1939. o Because of the pact, Stalin of USSR did nothing to stop Hitler from attacking Poland, and just occupied the eastern half of Poland instead. o In 1940, Soviet took more land from other east-European countries. o The Nazi-Soviet Pact, was not easy to withstand, as Germany (Hitler) hated communism, and intended to destroy the USSR. o Hitler only signed the peace treaty, because he wanted peace from them when he was attacking Poland. o Stalin signed because he didn’t yet have enough strength to fight Germany. o In the early 1941, Hitler took over the entire western Europe, and paid more attention to eastern Europe, thus getting ready to attack the Soviet Union. · **Operation Barbarossa** o Operation Barbarossa, Germany’s operation to invade the Soviet began on June 22nd, 1941. o Germany used the **blitzkrieg** (intense military action to bring a swift victory) to invade the Soviet frontier. o They were successful in bringing down Soviet’s air force, and captured 500,000 men as prisoners. o Stalin, panicking because of total defeat, declared on radio to use the ‘**scorched** **earth**’ method -> eliminating transportation, food, or energy sources. o This did not really help stopping Germany’s invasion. o Germany had occupied Ukraine, and many other USSR regions by September. o They started leading their army towards Moscow, panicking the Russian people. o It seemed as though USSR was in for a complete defeat. · **How the USSR was saved** o In the autumn 1941, four things stopped Germans defeating the USSR. § The Soviet government had gotten rid of all the weapon family in the west, and moved it all to the east, out of Germany’s reach. USSR was in full mode to making weapons. § USSR also had bad, cold weather (autumn rains -> lakes of mud), weapons stopped working, and the army was also having major trouble with the cold. § Third reason was because Soviets had some help from the USA and the Great Britain. USA helped by supplying food, weapons, and medical supplies to the Soviet Union, while the British shipped fighter aircrafts. § Fourth and final reason was because of German army’s behaviors. They acted cruel to their campers, which fired up Soviet’s angers and hatred towards Germany. § Nazi Germany killed Jews, using the **Special Action Groups**. 6. War Spreads to the Far East · **The United States and Japan** o United States was sort of impartial, and did not want to join the war.3 o US congress passed a bill called **Neutrality Laws**, so that they would not enter someone else’s war in Europe. o The United States did not invest a lot of money in their army, because of the Neutrality Laws. o The Japanese, were doing the exact opposite thing, spending most of their money in the army, and attacking and starting wars. · **The end of US isolation** o United States started a ‘**cash and carry**’, where British needed to pay up front, and then carry their goods back to Great Britain. o The U.S., helped Britain a lot, even with the Neutrality Laws. o The States also started a **Lend-Lease Act**, so that they could legally give Britain, and other countries (opposing the Axis) weapons and aids. As well as China. o They barred all trades with Japan, including sale of planes, chemicals, and irons, and eventually oil. o That was critical for Japan, because they received about 90 % of their oil from the USA. o Japan would not budge on peace issues, and so wouldn’t the US. · **Japan attacks Pearl Harbor** o Japan was running out of oil, and was trying to find oil in British and Dutch colonies. o However, the Japanese realized that they could not attack American soldiers stationed in the Pacific, therefore planned a surprise attack of the U.S naval base at **Pearl Harbor**. o Sunday, December 7th, 1941 – 360 Japanese planes and bombers started attacking the Pearl Harbor in Hawaii aggressively. o The Japanese sank many American battleships, warships and precious airplane carriers, while killing 3580 U.S. soldiers. o Luckily, due to sheer coincidence, the U.S did not have four of its aircraft carriers at their port, and were completely unharmed, and there was no attack on the U.S oil tank. · **Declarations of War** o Due to the Pearl Harbor incident, the U.S. and Great Britain declared war on Japan, along with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and eight other countries. o Japan also had some support, from Germany and Italy due to the **Tripartite Axis Pact**, that said that they would back each other up if in trouble with other countries not in the war. o Germany and Italy declared war on U.S., which in turn declared war on both countries. o Afterwards, 26 nations from all different continents declared war on Germany, Italy, and Japan. o They signed a **United Nations Declaration**, to pull all resources into bringing down the Axis power, (making the war absolutely global). · **Japan conquers Asia** o Japan was still going strong in Asia, destroying U.S property in Philippines, Guam, Midway, and Wake Islands. o The Japanese also destroyed Britain warships. o Afterwards, Japanese were having to have a strike of luck. o Hong Kong, Singapore, Dutch East Indies all fell to Japan, and a string of American soldiers surrendered in Philippines. o Japan now had unlimited amount of raw resources they needed. 7. War At Sea · **Sea battles** o After 1941, both Germany and Britain engaged in sea battles, as Germany tried to avoid the Royal Navy. o Up till then, the only sea war that happened was in the **River Plate**, South America, when Britain captured three German battleships. o May 1941, Germany decided to invent deadly warships, and activate it in the Atlantic. o The //Bismarck//, a deadly battle cruiser destroyed British HMS //Hood//, and other British warships. o However, the British managed to shoot down the //Bismarck//. · **The menace of the U-boats** o However, the real big threat to the British navy was the German submarines, **U-boats**, which was able to hunt down British warships undetected and destroy them. o Although the British ships travelled in **convoys** for safety, the German U-boats still managed to destroy them. · **Battle of the Atlantic** o United States also joined in on this war, December 1941. o Before that happened, the only targets of the U-boats were the British ships. o After America declared war on Germany, it started destroying American ships (destroying over 200 ships). o In 1943, America and England both had new technology to find and destroy U-boats, using **High Frequency Direction Finder**, detecting U-boats from far away. o The British also decoded Germany’s //Ultra// codes, so that they could now understand the orders given to the U-boats. o America and Britain had lost many convoys due to U-boats, but had succeeded in sinking many U-boats towards the end.

__Summary__ After Japanese decide to step in and involve the United States, the war becomes truly global. After the U.S. declares war on Japan, because of the Tripartite Pact, Germany and Italy declares war on the U.S., which in turn makes twenty-six other countries who weren’t previously involved in the war declare war on the three axis power. Germany, Italy, and Japan was fighting against the rest of the world. Japan was doing fine, taking over Southeast Asia and its supplies, while Germany was focusing on the war going on at the Atlantic Sea, with their submarines.

__Questions__ -If Japan had not been successful at invading Philippines, Guam, etc. (with rich resources), would they have surrendered sooner to the U.S.? -Seeing that the Tripartite Pact later resulted in Germany having 26 new enemies, was it more beneficial or harmful to the members of the Pact? -Why did Britain’s ships travel in convoys? -How did the U.S., change the war in Asia, as well as Europe? -If Germany did not invent U-boats, but instead used regular warships, how do you think the war would have turned out in the Atlantic?

__Found Awesomeness__ Awesomeness 1 – Pearl Harbor I found a graphic of what happened at Pearl Harbor in 1941, December 7th. This is a significant moment in the war, because up to this point, no matter how much the U.S., was helping the Great Britain, they were not directly involved in the war. However, because of Japan’s surprise attack, U.S decided to step in to the war, changing the outcome forever. Awesomeness 2 – U-boat kills a blimp This is a depiction of a German U-boat shooting down a blimp. U-boats were commonly used by Germany to destroy any British or American warships, battleships, airplanes and even blimps. They were known as the destructors, and nothing could be done about them until the Americans invented a high frequency detectors that could identify them, even when they were underwater.

__Self-made Awesomeness__

This cartoon is a self made cartoon, a simple depiction of how Japan invaded Pearl Harbor. I picked this moment because it is EXTREMELY important to the course of World War II history. If Japan wasn't running out of oil and wasn't feeling desperate, there might not have been the Atomic Bomb. This cartoon is a bit too simple, but it is not designed for scholars, its for kids and young adults. (