Compelling Question:

How did economic weakness influence global conflicts and resolutions?

Supporting Question:

How did the United States response to the aggression of European and Asian dictators increase the power of the executive branch?

Today we are going to discuss the evolution of American neutrality. After World War I, we entered a time of isolationism, where we did not become involved with international affairs especially as we did not join the League of Nations.

To aid in this discussion we will be using an interactive activity that is accessible through the link below. We will look at the reasons for the return to isolationism as well as how we responded to the increased aggression of Japan, Italy, and Germany.

Compelling Question:

How did economic weakness influence global conflicts and resolutions?

Supporting Question:

What strategies were used by American military to address the aggression of European and Asian dictators?

Now we will move to the American experience on the warfront. With the destruction of the majority of the the naval forces by the attack at Pearl Harbor, we focus our attention to the European theatre first.

Any time that countries begin to strategize, they look for the chink in the armor or the weak link. Hitler's blitzkrieg looked almost unsurmountable, however Mussolini and the Italian Army was much more of liability for the Axis Powers. So that is where the American forces focused their attention first.

Once we had secured North Africa as a base to launch attacks on the Italy, "the soft underbelly" of Europe we established a foot hold in Europe. By this time the Soviet forces had turned the tide on German forces by defending the city of Stalingrad and turning the German army back and inflicting heavy damage on their ability to wage war. Then we inevitably would have to launch an attack in northern Europe, D-Day.

Then we will look at the War in the Pacific. We will look at the strategy that we employed and finally look at the important battle of Iwo Jima to see the fierce fighting that occurred in the Pacific theatre.

Compelling Question:

How did economic weakness influence global conflicts and resolutions?

Supporting Question:

How did the American Government use propaganda in WWII to influence production and consumption?

As American is thrust into war, we must move our economy and society into wartime production. We will look at the economy and social changes that took place on the homefront. We will look at the effect that wartime changes had on the economy as well as on women, African-Americans, and Japanese Americans.