World War II: Military aspects
Begins abruptly with Pearl harbor, 12/1941
Pacific: Japan successful until Midway,-6/1942 - turning point - then "island hopping" until 8/1945
Europe: Axis gradually pushed back by allies to Berlin, 5/1945
Air power - ascendant
Total war: (not just soldiers)
WW II: US homefront
Americans fighting for "4 freedoms" (?) (speech, worship, from want, from fear)
Mass migrations to centers of war production, African-Americans, Mexicans migrate for war effort
6 million women enter work force: "Rosie the Riveter"
Japanese-Americans to concentration camps
Racial segregation maintained through war - CORE est. 1942
WW II: Ending
V-E Day, 5/1945: effort devoted to Japan
Yalta Conference, 2/1945: "big 3" discuss post-war world: (Cold War boundaries set)
7/1945: A-bomb test successful
8/6/45 - Hiroshima bombed, 8/8/45: USSR enters war v. Japan, 8/9/45-Nagasaki bombed, 8/14/45: conditional surrender: emperor kept
Q-Was the US justified in use of atomic bombs? Is the question even valid - as a historical i
ssue?