Comparative Essay Exam Two: Ww II Vs. World War I

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Essay Exam Two

World War II

World WarII was very different in comparison to World War I. It presented differentchallenges for the Americans that were not presented during the First WorldWar. This was the first time that two capable and determined enemy nationsfaced America simultaneously. The two enemies Nazi Germany and Japan at thistime were not nations to be looked down upon. Nazi Germany had the potentialtechnological capability to launch devastating attacks on the Americanmainland. The Empire of Japan had gained more territory and gained control in ashorter time than the Romans, Mongols, or the Muslim empires. Contrary WorldWar I when America had entered the war at the last minute and
had no allies, inWorld War II, America had three main allies, England, France, and Russia.America held the position as the dominant role of leadership for the Westernhemisphere. Due to these differences, World War II was different from otherwars that America had participated in. We as historians can study the causesand the general events of the war, see why the United States entered the war,and see the impact the war had on the home front and how it changed the UnitedStates’ relationships with foreign nations.

After WorldWar I, as a way to avenge Germany, the Allied powers formed a treaty known asthe Treaty of Versailles.
The Treaty of Versailles included Woodrow Wilson’sfourteen points and a set of points that Germany had to abide to at all times.These rules stated that Germany had to take full blame for starting the war,had to pay for all of the damage stated by the war, had to reduce Germany’sarmy to a hundred thousand men with no air force. Germany also lost anabundance of land due to this treaty such as Alsace Lorraine, Malmedy, andNorth Schleswig. This was the cause that soon ignited Germany into beginningWorld War II. A man in Germany known as Hitler began to claim that he couldchange everything. He provided a new form of government and leadership thatwould lead Germany to the victory they deserved from World War I and turn thetables around to their favor. The war itself first began on September of 1939when Hitler invaded Poland which broke the Treaty of Versailles. By 1940,Germany had defeated French and British forces in France and had taken fulloccupation of France. Japan formed an alliance with Germany and on December 7th1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and bordering islands in the United
States.

December 7th1941, known as “a date which will live in infamy”, is the day that the UnitedStates officially entered World War II.
Three days following the assault, theUnited States declared war on Japan which was followed by Japan’s alliesGermany and Italy declaring war on the United States as well. As soon as theUnited States had entered the war, the tides had turned against Nazi Germanyand Japan. The war between these nations remained strong until December of 1943when Roosevelt and Churchill appointed General Eisenhower to command aninvasion on Germany. The plan which became known as Operation Overlord,involved more than 1.6 million American soldiers as well as British, Canadians,Poles, and Free French. The plan was to set a phony “army” that was poised toattack the Pasde-Calais, which was exactly where Hitler had expected the Alliesto strike. The real invasion however was more than two hundred miles away, onthe beaches of Normandy. Even before the attack, there were positive feelingsthat the Americans would win. The Allies possessed overwhelming air and seasuperiority, a large number of fresh troops, and the element of surprise. Theywere able to read German secret enigma codes, which provided the Allies withcrucial intelligence that helped to form the basis for the attack. On June 6th1944, the famous day known as D-Day, the Allied forces attacked Omaha Beach.Fighting on this beach was very gruesome. Hundreds of men frowned in theferocious Channel water; and
German gunners peppered the ramps of the landingboats with machine-guns killing men before they even dropped. The weight ofsoldier’s own packs and equipment began weighing and drowning the men. The onlysafe spot on the whole beach was at the sand dunes located at the base of theAtlantic Wall. Everyone else who remained on the shore had to attack or bekilled. As the enemy position on the beach collapsed and by the end of the day,the Allies had penetrated as far inland as seven miles. Within two months, theAllies held a tactical beachhead and had enough supplies in order to attempt abreakout. With strategically planned attacks, the Allied forces were able toencircle the German Seventh Army. Following Hitler’s retreat, the United StatesSeventh Army had invaded southern France and had driven north in order to linkup. After many battles consisted of major bridges and locations, the Red Armyhad entered Berlin where Hitler and his wife were hiding. As the Red Armyentered and bombshells began raining the area, Hitler and his wife took poisonand committed suicide. On May 7th, 1945, General Alfred Jodl, chiefof staff of the German armed forces, surrendered. Victory in Europe had finallybeen achieved.

After thedefeat of Germany, the Allied forces began targeting Japan. Guadalcanal anisland around six hundred miles southeast of the main Japanese staging basesoon became a key island in order to win the battle. After theAmerican-Australian victory over New Guinea, the target was then turned to IwoJima and Okinawa. As the U.S continued there successful strategy of islandhopping, they began closing in on Iwo Jima. On February twenty-third, a flagwent up on the hill in Iwo. The island had been taken over as a base with some7,000 Americans killed, including 5,900 marines. Only 200 out of the 21,000defenders of the island surrendered however. With Iwo Jima as a base, thebombings of Japan intensified. In March, a B-29 raid on Tokyo destroyed aquarter of a million homes in the most destructive single bombing mission ofthe war. Since the Japanese still refused to surrender, Okinawa, was the nextisland that the Americans needed control of. The only main source of defensethat Japan had for the island of Okinawa was its fleet of suicide bombers.Clouds of suicide bombers consisting of numbers up to 350 at a time rained downon the American fleets. Although many were shot down before hitting the ships,enough got through that 34 ships were sunk and another 368 were damaged. Thesesuicide bomber attacks emptied the Japanese arsenal and the Americans tookcontrol of Okinawa by June. As the Japanese still refused to surrender, onAugust 6, 1945, two B-29s flew over Hiroshima, one of them containing an atomicbomb. The bomb produced an explosion of about 20,000 tons of TNT and more than66,000 people in Hiroshima died instantly, some 80,000 more were injured, andanother 300,000 were exposed to radiation. After this bomb, the Japaneseattempted to construct their own atomic bomb, showing no feelings forsurrendering. Therefore, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and thedeath polls were similar to Hiroshima with nearly 75,000 dead. Finally evenwith some members of the Japanese Cabinet wanting to continue fighting, EmperorHirohito broadcasted on radio Japan’s official surrender.

This warimpacted the American home life in numerous ways. During this war, the nationalgovernment had spent twice as much during the war years compared to the aroundspent through the entire history of the United States up to that time! Thenational government had spent ten times more in World War II than what it hadspent fighting in World War I and a hundred times more than it had spentfighting the Civil war. To pay for these expenditures, the national governmentraised taxes, especially on income. Income taxes soared up from 60 percent to90 percent in 1942. Also, starting in 1942, anyone making over six hundreddollars a year had to pay some income tax. In 1943, the government began takingthe tax directly off payroll checks. As a result of all this, the government’s collectionfrom the income tax went from around $5 billion in 1940 to $44 billion in 1945.The war had a huge impact on the typical household in America economically.Through the support of these people, the United States was able to beeconomically funded enough to succeed and win the war. Following World War II,foreign tensions broke out between the United States and the U.S.S.R (SovietUnion). As Russia underwent a communist revolution, Resident Woodrow Wilsonbroke relations with Russia in 1917. As the United States began to worry that Russiawas attempting to convert many of its surrounding nations into a communiststate, the United States established the Truman Doctrine. This doctrine appliedto Greece and Turkey and promised massive military and economic aid totalingover $400 million to forces in Greece and Turkey to fight against communism.The fear of communism spreading to the rest of Europe also led the UnitedStates to create the Marshall Plan in 1947. It was named after the Secretary ofState George Marshall who announced it on June 5, 1947. It gave massiveeconomic aid to Western Europe and aimed to stop the spread of communism thatgrew where there existed economic instability. The Soviets responded by initiatingan economic policy for Eastern Europe known as the Molotov Plan. As thesetensions grew, this war between the United States and the U.S.S.R became knownas the Cold War.

As WorldWar II ended, it left a huge impact in American history. The war took around atotal cost of $304 billion dollars from America. It took a lot of bravesoldier’s lives fighting the enemy in combat. This was a new type of war forAmerica and we took it head strong and won the battle. Through the bravery ofsoldiers, alliances with fellow nations, and the intelligent strategies putinto the war, we were able to protect the people of America. There were manycauses that led to World War II. However, there were far more effects that thewar had on America. It left a huge impact in society and our history and is awar that each and every sacrifice made for our country, will be rememberedforever.