| VUS.11 |
The student will demonstrate knowledge of World War II by |
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a) |
analyzing the causes and events that led to American involvement in the war, including military assistance to Britain and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; |
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b) |
describing and locating the major battles and turning points of the war in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific, including Midway, Stalingrad, the Normandy landing (D-Day), and Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb to force the surrender of Japan; |
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c) |
describing the role of all-minority military units, including the Tuskegee Airmen and Nisei regiments; |
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examining the Geneva Convention and the treatment of prisoners of war during World War II; |
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analyzing the Holocaust (Hitler’s “final solution”), its impact on Jews and other groups, and postwar trials of war criminals. |
| VUS.11 |
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the effects of World War II on the home front by |
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c) |
explaining the internment of Japanese Americans during the war; |
NOTE: The Virginia Board of Education adopted the revised 2008 History and Social Science Standards of Learning at the January 10, 2008, meeting. Full implementation of these documents is scheduled for the 2010-2011 school year, as outlined in Superintendent’s Memorandum Informational Number 49.
Summarize how World War II began in Europe, using the following information as a guide. Focus on United States response to increasing totalitarian aggression:
• World War II began with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, followed shortly after by the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland from the east and the Baltic countries from the north.
• During the first two years of the war, the United States stayed officially neutral as Germany overran France and most of Europe, and pounded Britain from the air (the Battle of Britain). In mid-1941, Hitler violated the nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union and invaded it.
• Despite strong isolationist sentiment at home, the United States increasingly helped Britain. It gave Britain war supplies and old naval warships in return for military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean. Soon after, the Lend-Lease Act gave the president authority to sell or lend equipment to countries to defend themselves against the Axis powers. President Roosevelt compared it to “lending a garden hose to a next-door neighbor whose house is on fire.”
Summarize how Asia became involved in World War II, using the following information as a guide. Focus on the United States response to increasing totalitarian aggression:
• During the 1930s, a militaristic Japan invaded and brutalized Manchuria and China as it sought military and economic domination over Asia. The United States refused to recognize Japanese conquests in Asia and imposed an embargo on exports of oil and steel to Japan. Tensions rose, but both countries negotiated to avoid war.
• While negotiating with the United States and without any warning, Japan carried out an air attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack destroyed much of the American Pacific fleet and killed several thousand Americans. Roosevelt called it “a date that will live in infamy” as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
• After Pearl Harbor, Hitler honored a pact with Japan and declared war on the United States. The debates over isolationism in the United States were over. World War II was now a true world war, and the United States was fully involved.
• Explain that the United States gradually abandoned neutrality as events in Europe and Asia pulled the nations toward war.
Explain that wartime strategies reflected the political and military goals of alliances, resources on hand, and the geographical extent of the conflict.
Summarize the Allied strategies during World War II, using the following information as a guide:
• America and her allies (Britain and the Soviet Union, after being invaded by Germany), followed a “Defeat Hitler First” strategy. Most American military resources were targeted for Europe.
• In the Pacific, American military strategy called for an “island hopping” campaign, seizing islands closer and closer to Japan, using them as bases for air attacks on Japan, and cutting off Japanese supplies through submarine warfare against Japanese shipping.
Summarize the Axis strategies during World War II, using the following information as a guide:
• Germany hoped to defeat the Soviet Union quickly, gain control of Soviet oil fields, and force Britain out of the war through a bombing campaign and submarine warfare before America’s industrial and military strength could turn the tide.
• Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines and Indonesia and planned to invade both Australia and Hawaii. Its leaders hoped that America would then accept Japanese predominance in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, rather than conduct a bloody and costly war to reverse Japanese gains.
Describe the battles of World War II that were considered turning points, using the following information as a guide:
North Africa
• El Alamein — German forces threatening to seize Egypt and the Suez Canal were defeated by the British. This defeat prevented Hitler from gaining access to Middle Eastern oil supplies and potentially attacking the Soviet Union from the south.
Europe
• Stalingrad — Hundreds of thousands of German soldiers were killed or captured in a months-long siege of the Russian city of Stalingrad. This defeat prevented Germany from seizing the Soviet oil fields and turned the tide against Germany in the east.
• Normandy landings (D-Day) — American and Allied troops under Eisenhower landed in German-occupied France on June 6, 1944. Despite intense German opposition and heavy American casualties, the landings succeeded, and the liberation of Western Europe from Hitler had begun.__
Pacific
• Midway — In the “Miracle of Midway,” American naval forces defeated a much larger Japanese force as it prepared to seize Midway Island. Coming only a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Japanese victory at Midway would have enabled Japan to invade Hawaii. The American victory ended the Japanese threat to Hawaii and began a series of American victories in the “island hopping” campaign that carried the war closer and closer to Japan.
• Iwo Jima and Okinawa — The American invasions of the islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa brought American forces closer than ever to Japan, but both invasions cost thousands of American lives and even more Japanese lives, as Japanese soldiers fought fiercely over every square inch of the islands and Japanese soldiers and civilians committed suicide rather than surrender.
• Use of the atomic bomb — Facing the prospect of horrendous casualties among both Americans and Japanese if American forces had to invade Japan itself, President Harry Truman ordered the use of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force the Japanese to surrender. Tens of thousands of people were killed in both cities. Shortly after the bombs were used, the Japanese leaders surrendered, avoiding the need for American forces to invade Japan.
• Explain that World War II solidified the nation’s role as a global power, ushered in social changes, and established reform agendas that would preoccupy public discourse in the United States for the remainder of the twentieth century. Women entered into previously male job roles as African Americans and others struggled to obtain desegregation of the armed forces and end discriminatory hiring practices.
Explain that minority participation in World War II reflected social conditions in the United States because African Americans generally served in segregated military units and were assigned to non-combat roles. African American began to demand the right to serve in combat rather than only support roles. (relate to VUS.11b)
Summarize the minority contributions to Allied victory, using the following information as a guide:
• Tuskegee Airmen (African Americans) served in Europe with distinction.
• Nisei regiments (Asian Americans) earned a high number of military decorations.
Summarize the following contributions of minorities to the war effort:
• Communication codes of the Navajo were used (oral, not written language; impossible for the Japanese to break).
• Mexican Americans also fought, but in units that were not segregated.
• Minority units suffered high casualties and won numerous unit citations and individual medals for bravery in action.
Explain that the Geneva Convention attempted to ensure the humane treatment of prisoners of war by establishing rules to be followed by all nations.
Explain that the conduct of war often reflects social and moral codes of a nation.
Explain that the treatment of prisoners of war often reflected the savage nature of conflict and the cultural norms of the nation.
Explain how the treatment of prisoners differed, using the following information as a guide:
• In the Bataan Death March, American POWs suffered brutal treatment by the Japanese after the surrender of the Philippines.
• Japanese soldiers often committed suicide rather than surrender.
• The treatment of prisoners in the Pacific Theater often reflected the savagery of the fighting there.
• The treatment of prisoners in Europe more closely followed the ideas of the Geneva Convention.
Explain that specific groups, often the object of hatred and prejudice, face increased risk of discrimination during wartime.
Explain the following terms:
• Genocide: The systematic and purposeful destruction of a racial, political, religious, or cultural group
• Final solution: Germany’s decision to exterminate all Jews.
Describe the Holocaust and identify its victims, using the following information as a guide:
• Jews
• Poles
• Slavs
• Gypsies
• “Undesirables” (homosexuals, mentally ill, political dissidents).
Summarize the short-term and long-term significance of the Holocaust, using the following information as a guide:
• In the Nuremberg trials, Nazi leaders and others were convicted of war crimes.
• The Nuremberg trials emphasized individual responsibility for actions during a war, regardless of orders received.
• The trials led to increased demand for a Jewish homeland.
Explain that prejudice, coupled with wartime fears, can affect civil liberties of minorities.
Summarize the treatment of Americans of Japanese descent after the United States entered World War II, using the following information as a guide:
Reasons for internment
• Strong anti-Japanese prejudice on the West Coast
• False belief that Japanese Americans were aiding the enemy
• Japanese Americans were re-located to internment camps.
• Internment affected Japanese American populations along the West Coast. The Supreme Court upheld the government’s right to act against Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States. A public apology was eventually issued by the United States government. Financial retribution was made to survivors.
Below is an annotated list of Internet resources for this organizing topic. Copyright restrictions may exist for the material on some Web sites. Please note and abide by any such restrictions.
A-Bomb WWW Museum. <http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/>. Scroll to “Welcome to A-bomb WWW Museum” for detailed information about the atom bomb’s capability and the horrendous consequences of its use.
“Battle of Midway, 4–7 June 1942: Overview and Special Image Selection.” Naval Historical Museum. <http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/midway.htm>. This site contains information on the Battle of Midway.
“Congress, Neutrality, and Lend-Lease.” Library of Congress. <http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/treasures_of_congress/page_20.html>. This site contains an article on the 1935–1937 Neutrality Acts.
“Demilitarized Zone-Treaty of Versailles.” A Teacher’s Guide to the Holocaust. <http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/maps/map002.HTM>. This site provides maps of Europe after 1919.
“Exhibit at U.S. Natl. Building Museum: WWII & the American Dream.” Humanities and Social Sciences Online. <http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/~local/exhibitions/dream.html>. This site provides information on U.S. involvement in World War II.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt's War Message, Asking Congress to Declare War on Japan.” Information Please. <http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0900147.html>. This site contains President Roosevelt’s war message on 12/8/41 and information on Japan’s subsequent attacks.
“Modern History Sourcebook: Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945): America, the Arsenal of Democracy.” Internet Modern History Sourcebook .<http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/roosevelt-arsenal.html>. This site provides an excerpt of Roosevelt’s “Fireside talk” on 12/29/40.
“Modern History Sourcebook: Treaty of Versailles, Jun 28, 1919.” Internet Modern History Sourcebook. <http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1919versailles.html>. This site provides specific clauses of the Treaty of Versailles indicating territorial and political changes for Germany.
“Neville Chamberlain on Appeasement (1939).” The History Guide: Lectures on Twentieth Century Europe. <http://www.historyguide.org/europe/munich.html>. This site provides excerpts from Neville Chamberlain’s speech on appeasement 9/27/38.
“Suffering Under a Great Injustice.” The Library of Congress. <http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/02034/internment.html>. This site provides photographs by Ansel Adams documenting Japanese internment.
“Themes: The Holocaust, anti-Semitism, U.S. immigration policy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, World War II.” Public Broadcasting Service. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/tguide/index.html>. This site provides lesson plans for a Holocaust film, including accompanying questions, information, and maps.
“Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929 Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War.” The International Red Cross. <http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/57JNWS>. This site contains a description of the Convention as well as the full text.
“Timeline: World War II in the Philippines, 1941-1944.” Public Broadcasting Service. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/timeline/index.html>. This site provides information on the Bataan Death March and Rescue.
United States Army Center of Military History. <http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/cmhsearch.htm>. Type in “WWII” as keyword to access summaries, individual accounts, and photographs (more than 600 sites) of WW II.
“The Attack At Pearl Harbor, 1941.” Eyewitness to History.com. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/pearl.htm.> This site provides access to information on the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Photographs of the WWII Japanese Surrender.” Naval Historical Center. <http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-8.htm>. This site contains photographs of the Japanese surrender.
“War in the Pacific.” United States Marine Corps. <http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/6991/usmc.htm>. The site provide information on the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II.
“Why did the United States enter World War II?” The Social Studies Help Center. <http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/USRA_WWII_Begins.htm>. This site provides a copy of Roosevelt’s Quarantine of Lawlessness speech.
“World War II: Combatants and Casualties (1937–45),” John Jay College of Criminal Justice. <http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob62.html>. This site offers information on WWII casualties.
Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments for the 2001 History and Social Science Standards of Learning: History and Social Science Released Items for Virginia and United States History. Virginia Department of Education 2003/04. <http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/Release2003/History/VA-RIBs_g11vush-1.pdf>.
Virginia Standards of Learning Assessments for the 2001 History and Social Science Standards of Learning. Virginia and United States History. Test Blueprint. Virginia Department of Education, 2003/04. <http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Assessment/HistoryBlueprints03/2002Blueprint10VUS.pdf>. This site provides assessment information for the course in Virginia and United States History. |
