6 years in a nutshell
some general facts...
1939
-
The 10th year of the great U.S. depression
-
In September, the U.S. Army Air Corp consisted
of 26,000 men and 800 aircraft. (At the begining of 1939, the U.S. Army
Air Corp had 17 B-17 bombers and 40 on order.)
-
In the year 1939 the underdog race horse, Seabiscuit, earned more newspaper column inches than President Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, or Italy's Musolini
-
During this year, the U.S. aircraft industry
experienced a sudden boom due to a rush of British and French orders.
1940
-
The third year of war in Asia, the second
year of war in Europe (France fell to Germany in June), and the 11th year
of the great United States depression.
-
It is estimated that 45% of white and
90% of black citizens of the U.S. were living in poverty.
-
In international economics and politics,
the U.S.A. was isolationist and officially neutral.
-
The United States had repeatedly refused
to join the League of Nations and had the highest tarifs on imports in
its history.
-
The U.S. Army was #17 in the world with
200,000 men.
1941
-
War planning began in earnest for participation
in the war against Hitler's armies in Europe.
-
By December the U.S. Army Air Corp had
expanded to 354,000 men and 2,846 aircraft.
-
Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December.
"Now it is impossible for us
to lose this war. We now have an ally that has not been vanquished in 3000
years."
- Adolf Hitler (in response to the
news of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor)
-
It was decided that the war planners could
not commit 230 divisions of Army troops to their war plan as this would
jeopardize the home economy. The number was reduced to 90 divisions
(known historically as "the 90 division gamble").
Two immediate results of the 90 division
gamble were:
1. The deployment of American land-invasion
troops in Europe (which Stalin begged for to divert Nazi armies away from
the Russian front) was delayed for over one year.
2. More citizens were available at
home for involvement in weapons production.
-
As predicted by Roosevelt, the United
States became "the arsenal" of the great war pumping guns, bombs, bullets,
ships, planes, tanks and all manner of hardware into the Allied war effort.
August 17, 1942
12 B-17s of the USAAF flew from Grafton
Underwood in eastern England. Accompanied by four squadrons of Royal Air
Force Spitfire fighters, they flew 200 miles to Rouen, France and dropped
18.5 tons of bombs on a railroad marshaling yard.
Although small in comparison to previous
Royal Air Force efforts, this event was a milestone in establishing "war
from the air" as the method of warfare preferred by this nation up to the
present day.
1945
May - Germany's surrender.
September - Japan's surrender
Some mortality statistics
of the war:
|
NATION
|
TOTAL KILLED in WW II
|
CIVILIANS KILLED in WW II
|
Great Britain |
350,000 |
100,000 |
China |
10,000,000 |
6,000,000 |
Yugoslavia |
2,000,000 |
1,500,000 |
Poland |
8,000,000 |
6,000,000 (5,000,000 Jewish) |
USSR |
24,000,000 |
16,000,000 |
USA |
405,405 |
6 |
It should be noted that the United
States was the only nation involved in World War II that did not
experience a decline in the general standard of living. As an example:
while the civilian standard of living in Great Britain declined by approximately
35%, the average U.S. citizen experienced a 15% increase in living standard
between 1940 and 1945.
"The United States stand at the
summit of the world."
- Winston Churchill - 1945
The10 years following World War II
brought the U.S. into full bloom as a world power - a position this nation
has now maintained for over 60 years.
"The post war generation experienced
the longest
moment of collective inebriation in history."
- Author
Phillip Roth
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