I Used to Know That_ Stuff You Forgot From School - Caroline Taggart [40]
In 1940 the United States implemented a series of embargoes against Japan, and in September of that same year, the United States agreed to swap American destroyers for British bases. In December 1941 the Japanese bombed the Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into the war and opening up a whole new theater of conflict in the Pacific.
Exactly six months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy defeated a Japanese attack of the Midway Islands, sinking four Japanese carriers and a warship. This defense severely weakened Japanese Naval power, turning the tide in the United State’s favor. The Battle of the Japanese island, Iwo Jima, constituted another hard-fought victory for the Allied forces and was a stepping-stone toward the Japanese heartland. The Japanese had built an elaborate bunker and tunnel system on the island through Mount Suribachi. Allied forces used flamethrowers and grenades to clear them out. Eventually the Japanese ran out of water, food, and supplies. Most of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers fought to their deaths, and one in four U.S. soldiers died during the attack—over 26,500. One of the most reproduced photographs in history is the flag raising by U.S. soldiers on the top of the mountain, which was converted into a statue at Arlington Cemetery and a war memorial in Harlingen, Texas. Three of the six flag raisers would die soon after the photograph was taken.
After Iwo Jima, another major win for the Allied forces—the Battle of Okinawa—took more lives than the atomic bombs later dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Kamikazes, or suicide aviation bombers, sunk almost 34 Allied ships and crafts of all kind, damaging 368; the fleet lost 763 aircraft. The cost of this battle in lives, time, and material weighed heavily on the decision to drop the atomic bombs six weeks later, which forced the Japanese to surrender.
Far away, Germany made the mistake of attacking western Russia in July of 1942. The Russians held out in Stalingrad and launched a counteroffensive in the bloodiest battle in human history, with combined casualties of over 1.5 million. The Nazis were held up in the winter on their way to Moscow, some freezing to death. The Germans were ill-equipped and ill-prepared for winter conflict. Stalingrad continued until February 1943, when the last German forces surrendered. This paved the way for the Normandy (D-Day) landings in June 1944, the turning point for Germany, which surrendered in May 1945.
The Holocaust. Prior to and during the war, the German country became involved in state-supported genocide of Jewish people (the Holocaust or Shoah). Many German nationalists held deep-seated resentment, hatred, and prejudice against the Jewish people. Before World War II the Depression hit Germany hard, especially because of reparations required after World War I. Germans blamed communists for WW I, calling it a Judeo-Bolshevist conspiracy and even went so far as to blame Jewish Bankers for the Treaty of Versailles. Many Germans resented Jewish successes and felt that the Jewish people were taking German jobs. Hitler believed in supremacy of the German/Aryan race and considered Jewish, Polish, gay, Gypsies, Slavs, Russian, and mentally challenged people as subhuman. Hitler preached hatred, and the ignorant masses followed, looking for a scapegoat for their desperate situation. Some believed the propaganda that the Jews were being jailed for their “crimes,” whereas others simply went along in fear of the Nazis as they essentially brutally beat up or killed anyone who opposed their power.
☞ 1950-53: THE KOREAN WAR
After WWII Korea was divided into the communist Northern half and the American-occupied South, with the dividing line at the 38th parallel. This war began when the North Korean communist army, armed with Soviet tanks, invaded South Korea. Although the territory was not strategically important to the United States, a deep-seated fear of communism led to the country’s involvement in what was termed a police action, so Congress did not need