Chapter XXXVI: America in World War II

REVISED

  1. Why did the United States decide to make its major effort against Germany with a secondary one against Japan?
  2. Where did American soldiers first fight the Germans? To what ultimate outcome?
  3. What kinds of near hysterical reactions took place in California after we heard of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
  4. How was our war effort in World War II different from that in World War I?
  5. What kinds of changes happened at home as a result of wholesale war mobilization?
  6. What two battles marked the limits of the Japanese offensive in 1942? Which outcome was more successful for the United States? Why were we so fortunate?
  7. What was the strategy of island hopping, and why did the United States follow it in the Pacific Theater?
  8. What two battles marked the limits of the German offensive in 1942?
  9. Why was Operation Husky more difficult that Operation Torch?
  10. Why was Operation Overlord so much more important than either Husky or Torch?
  11. Who were generally recognized to be the best field commanders for the British and the U. S.? Why did they hate each other so much? Who was better?
  12. What were the limitations on the U.S. 3rd Army which kept them from ending the war by Christmas 1944?
  13. Why did the Battle of the Bulge happen? Why was it a near miss for the Germans?
  14. Why didn't the United States, Britain, and France attack Berlin? Who did? With what results?
  15. Why were Iwo Jima and Okinawa important victories for the United States in the Pacific?
  16. What wer the "fat man" and "little boy", and why were they so important to the outcome of the war and to the post-war world at large?
  17. Did Truman make the "right" decision to use the atomic bombs? Why or why not?
  18. Identify:
    • Thomas Dewey
    • Joseph Stalin
    • Kursk
    • Enola Gay
    • Leyte Gulf
    • Kamikaze
    • Dachau
    • Auschwitz
    • Omaha Beach
    • Anzio
    • the "slapping" incidents
    • Omar Bradley
    • Ike
    • George C. Marshall
    • Bataan Death March
    • Rosie the Riveter
    • Winston Churchill
    • RAF
    • Axis
    • Atlantic Chartrer
    • United Nations
    • "I have a terrible headache"
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