High School U.S. History Study Guide for the STAAR test

World War II

World War II changed the world. You need to understand the domestic and international impact of U.S. participation in the war. Largely, the U.S. entered the war reeling from the Great Depression and emerged a superpower on the global stage.

Reasons for U.S. Involvement

Extreme nationalism in Europe (specifically Italy and Germany) as well as in Japan led to growing concerns in the U.S., France, and the UK. Weak leaders in other European countries consistently gave in to the demands of aggressive dictators. The U.S. was determined to stay out of the conflict as long as possible but was brought into the war after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

U.S. Presidential Leadership

The war brought the country out of the Great Depression as the government approved spending for rapid industrialization and mobilization for the war effort. Domestic policies put people back to work and rallied the nation around the war effort.

Franklin D. Roosevelt—U.S. president during much of the war; helped bring the country out of the Great Depression

Harry Truman—took over the presidency after Roosevelt’s death and made the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan.

U.S. Office of War Information

The Office of War Information was created during WWII to encourage people to work at jobs that were in support of the war. Many advertisements supporting the war effort were created by this office.

Major Issues During the War

The WWII era had many other problems aside from the fighting. Familiarize yourself with the following topics that occurred during the war.

The Holocaust—genocide of Jews in Europe by the Nazis. Hitler also targeted homosexuals, Gypsies, handicapped persons, and others.

Internment of German, Italian, and Japanese Americans—the confinement by the U.S. Government of people from these countries and backgrounds to internment camps for the duration of the war

Executive Order 9066—signed by President Roosevelt authorizing the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans

New Weapons—included many advances in air forces, navy, artillery, tanks, and more. The largest and most world-changing advance came with the advent of the atomic bomb, which later led to the arms race during the Cold War.

Military Events

The following are a few of the main military events of WWII that you should be able to analyze. Having some knowledge of the importance of these events will be helpful.

The Battle of Midway—successful preemptive strike on Japanese Navy by the U.S., allowed the U.S. an offensive position in the Pacific and was a turning point in the war.

The Pacific Islands—advancement through the Pacific Islands that was very difficult and costly for the U.S. This strategy and process was called island hopping, as the U.S. slowly advanced toward Japan one island at a time.

The Bataan Death March—when Japanese military forces captured American and Filipino forces in the Philippines and forced them to march 65 miles to prison camps, with thousands dying on the journey

The Invasion of Normandy—Allies landing at beaches in Normandy, northern France, to liberate France and begin the push toward Berlin; a turning point in the European theater

Multiple Fronts—both the Allies and Axis powers fighting a war on multiple fronts or in multiple places at once. Germany was fighting the Soviets to the East and the French, Americans, and British to the West. The U.S. was also fighting Japan in the Pacific.

Liberation of Concentration Camps—happened as the Allies pushed closer to Berlin and found concentration camps, freeing the prisoners. The atrocities found at these camps led to the preservation of the facilities so the world would never forget what happened there.

Military Leaders

The following men were instrumental U.S. military leaders during WWII. You should be familiar with their contributions to the success of the war for the Allies.

Omar Bradley—distinguished U.S. general in charge of forces in North Africa, Italy, and instrumental in Normandy invasion

Dwight Eisenhower—leader of U.S. Expeditionary forces in Europe

Douglas MacArthur—leader of U.S. troops in the Pacific

Chester A. Nimitz—leader of U.S. Navy in the Pacific

George Marshall—Secretary of the Army, in charge of all U.S. forces during WWII, came up with the Marshall Plan for reconstructing Europe after the war

George Patton—leader of U.S. troops in the Mediterranean and Europe during WWII.

The Homefront

At home, many Americans supported the war. There were record numbers of volunteers serving in the military, people were buying war bonds to help fund the war, and women were working in factories to boost the production of war machines. Patriotism abounded as citizens happily planted victory gardens, rationed food from the grocery store, and participated in rubber and metal drives. The heroic actions of groups like the Tuskegee Airmen, the Flying Tigers, and the Navajo Code Talkers encouraged support for the war effort. One downfall on the homefront was the lack of rights for minorities in the U.S. Many were frustrated that minorities could serve in the military and give their lives but still face discrimination and segregation at home.

The Cold War

Immediately following WWII, the Cold War began. The U.S. and the **Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) were the two most powerful countries after the war. The Cold War was an ideological war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and the ideas of free enterprise economics and communism. The Korean and Vietnam Wars were active conflicts that were the result of U.S. attempts to stop the spread of communism.

U.S. Response to Soviet Aggression

During the Cold War, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were the two superpowers in the world. The Soviet Union was trying to spread their influence of communism, while the U.S. was trying to stop the spread of communism. If many other countries around the world became communist, the U.S. economy would suffer by losing trade partners.

The Truman Doctrine—U.S. policy of containment during the Cold War with the goal of stopping the influence of the USSR and the spread of communism

The Marshall Plan—name given to the U.S. plan for reconstruction in Europe after WWII

NATO—military alliance between the U.S., Canada, and many countries in Western Europe to combat the Soviet Union and the spread of communism

The Berlin Airlift—Allied plan of providing West Berlin with supplies during the Soviet blockade of East Germany

JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis—AKA 13 Days in October 1962; JFK sent the U.S. Navy to block Soviet ships from reaching Cuba with nuclear missiles.

Berlin Wall—Germany was divided after WWII and occupied by the Allies. For the duration of the Cold War, Germany and Berlin would be split East and West as separate countries.

Causes of Rising Tension

As the Cold War dragged on, tensions rose. The U.S. and the Soviet Union fell into an arms race and the fear of mutually assured destruction (the fear that everyone would lose their lives if either side used nuclear weapons).

The Arms Race—after the atomic bomb was dropped and the Cold War began, the two superpowers were in a race to see who could produce the largest, most powerful weapon.

The Space Race—referred to the race to send people to space and see who could control this frontier. The Russians launched the first satellite, but the Americans were the first to the moon.

McCarthyism—named after Senator McCarthy, was the practice of accusing people of being members of the Communist Party without citing proper evidence

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)—committee in Congress that invested allegations of communist activity in the U.S.

The Venona Papers—An American effort to decode Soviet messages to spies in the U.S. during the Cold War.

The Domino Theory

The Domino Theory was the idea that, if one country became communist, others would soon follow suit in a process similar to stacked dominos falling and knocking each other down. For this reason, the U.S. stuck to the policy of containment during the Cold War. If we couldn’t stop countries that are already communist from being communist, maybe we could at least stop the spread of communism. This is why we sent troops to Korea and Vietnam to fight alongside the people there against communist regimes that wanted to take over the country.

The Korean War

As the U.S. desperately tried to stop the spread of communism, the country got involved in the Korean War as a communist party attempted to overthrow the peninsula. The U.S. fought alongside the Southern capitalists in Korea, and the war ultimately ended in a bitter stalemate as both sides recognized the 38th parallel as the border between the new countries of North and South Korea. North Korea became communist, while South Korea was a free-market democracy.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was one of the longest conflicts in which the U.S. was involved and became very unpopular in the U.S. It was an attempt to maintain the policy of containment and prevent the spread of communism. By stopping the first domino from falling, we could prevent the others from falling too. This was the basic philosophy behind involvement in Vietnam.

The Tet Offensive—coordinated attack by North Vietnamese on over 100 cities in South Vietnam; news coverage of the offensive caused American public support of the war to decline

The Escalation of Forces—over the course of the war, continually escalated U.S. troop numbers in an effort to win the war. Eventually, the U.S. was forced to withdraw without victory.

Vietnamization—U.S. policy of slowly pulling troops out of Vietnam and turning over responsibility and war decisions to South Vietnam.

The Fall of Saigon—marked the end of the war with North Vietnamese forces capturing Saigon on April 30, 1975

The Draft—the power to conscript men for military service during the Vietnam War, a highly unpopular decision as the war dragged on

The 26th Amendment—set the voting age at 18 years old. The argument during the Vietnam War was that men could be conscripted at 18 but not vote, so the voting age was changed.

The Media’s Role—high coverage of the war by the media; public exposure to images of wounded soldiers and burning villages

The Credibility Gap—the difference between what is said and what is done. The public was upset with the difference between what government officials promised and what actually happened.

The Silent Majority—argument by Nixon that the majority of the nation agreed with his policies and those who protested him were the noisy minority.

The Anti-War Movement—The Vietnam War was possibly the most unpopular war in which the U.S. has been involved. Many people, including veterans of the war, protested U.S. involvement and advocated for bringing troops home, especially after news coverage of the Tet Offensive.