What was World War 2 like for the US?

Answer 1

World War Two (WW2) was, most would agree, the most pivotal time in modern American History. It thrust an initially reluctant United States onto the world stage, and accelerated its rise to superpower status, just in time to confront a resurgent Soviet Union in a Cold War that would last the rest of the century.

Although the United States did not formally enter into hostilities until 1941, the War in Europe had long been the subject of intense debate in Washington. At the end of World War I, strict non-proliferation rules were put in place to prevent the defeated Germans from building up another world-threatening empire. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, however, the German military machine was again gaining strength, and there was only lukewarm American support for our British allies who warned of the dangers of a second World War. Eventually Britain was proved right, and Germany made her intentions clear with a shocking invasion of Poland in September of 1939.

For the next two years, America would maintain neutrality, but in name only. The United States helped Britain and her allies to slow the German advance by providing weapons through the Lend-Lease Act, and by providing military protection for the convoys of ships that were carrying these supplies across the Atlantic Ocean. Eventually, it became obvious that the United States was likely to enter the war on the side of what became known as the "Allies".

On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise dawn air raid on the Headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet, anchored at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly for a declaration of war against Japan on December 8. Japan's allies, Germany and Italy, immediately declared war on the United States. The Second World War was no longer limited to the Eastern Hemisphere.

America embarked on an industrial build-up for the war that was nothing short of incredible. Millions of able-bodied American men were drafted or joined the military willingly. The wives, parents, and children of those men joined together at home for the support of their men in uniform, both materially and emotionally.

The war would be fought on two fronts, or "Theaters". There would be a war in Europe to try and liberate free people from the grip of the Nazi Germans, and in the Pacific Ocean, the second theater would have the liberation of Pacific Islanders from the occupation of the imperial Japanese.

The European theater started with American aid to the British Royal Air Force in their 24/7 raids into Germany and German-held territory. Eventually, using combined air and ground forces and the first (successful) American airborne infantry attack, the Americans, British, and French were able to liberate northwestern Africa from the Nazis. General George Patton and his armored infantry force, along with General Montgomery of the British Army pushed successfully through Africa, eventually defeating the infamous "Desert Fox", German General Erwin Rommel. This allowed a southern foothold, which the Allies used for an attack up into and through the peninsula of Italy. In the west, the British and American armies finally massed enough manpower to engineer a successful (although costly) amphibious landing at Normandy, France in June of 1944. By winter of that year, the western and southern fronts were largely static, with the exception of a region of the front in Belgium where the Germans nearly succeeded in breaking through the American lines. The Americans miraculously held, however, creating a bow in the front. This bowing was referred to as a "bulge" and the extremely bloody battle for this piece of ground became known as the "Battle of the Bulge". By the spring of 1945, Germany, exhausted by a war on two fronts (Hitler had attacked his former ally Russia in 1941 during "Operation Barbarossa"; Russia's Red Army dogged his forces all the way back to Berlin), was at the breaking point. With the British and Americans closing in on Berlin from the west and the Red Army from the east, Hitler and his long-time girlfriend Ava Braun committed suicide. The Nazi German empire fell shortly thereafter, and Victory in Europe was declared in May 1945.

The Pacific Theater was a strategic difficulty. Unlike land battles in Europe, this theater would be largely fought between the American, and Japanese Navies. It was decided that instead of fighting on each and every Japanese-occupied island, the Americans would instead use an "island-hopping" campaign in which several critical groups of islands would be attacked, thereby cutting off the others from re-supply. This effort was spearheaded by the U.S. Marines, who hopped from island to island in the Pacific during the years from 1943-1945, eventually beating the Japanese back even at Okinawa, considered one of the "home islands". The iconic image of Marines and a Navy Corpsman raising the U.S. Flag on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima atoll is emblematic of this campaign. Having established air bases within striking distance of Tokyo, a check-mate had been achieved. The Japanese emperor, however, was reluctant to admit defeat, and resisted attempts to broker a peace between the two nations. Eventually, U.S. President Harry S Truman decided to unleash a secret weapon - the first two operational nuclear weapons in history. The first was dropped from a B29 over Hiroshima, Japan on 9 August 1945. When the horror of that first blast did not prompt an unconditional Japanese surrender, the second was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan 3 days later. Only one week after this dual atomic attack, the Japanese delegation surrendered unconditionally aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay..

Answer 2

On December 7, 1941, following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan. Three days later, after Germany and Italy declared war on it, the United States became fully engaged in the Second World War.

U.S. involvement in the Second World War was quickly followed by a massive mobilization effort. With millions of men and women serving overseas in the nation's armed forces, most of those who remained at home dedicated themselves to supporting the war effort in whatever means was available to them. Women, who had worked as homemakers or had held jobs outside military-related industries, took jobs in aircraft manufacturing plants, munitions plants, military uniform production factories, and so on. As the need for steel and other resources increased, American citizens participated in rationing programs, as well as recycling and scrap metal drives. Americans also supported the war effort with their hard-earned dollars by purchasing Liberty bonds. Sold by the U.S. government, the "war" bonds raised money for the war and helped the bond purchasers feel they were doing their part for the war effort.

The U.S. entry into the war helped to get the nation's economy back on its feet following the depression. Although just ten years before jobs were very difficult to come by, there were now jobs for nearly everyone who wanted one. With the creation of 17 million new jobs during the war, workers were afforded the opportunity to pay off old debts, as well as to begin saving some of their earnings. Not all Americans remaining at home gained favorably from the war. Fearing that Japan might invade the West Coast of the United States, the government rounded up thousands of Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast, and confined them to internment camps. By 1948 when the internment program ended, thousands of Japanese, German and Italian Americans, as well as dozens of Hungarian and Romanian Americans had suffered as internees.

Answer 3

It depends on what area of World War 2, look at the related links for all the info.

Answer 4

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