WWII U.S. Involvement: Key Events 1939-1943

After reading “For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States from 1607 to 2012” written by Millet, Maslowski and Feis, I learned that major events in the United States that occurred from 1939 to 1943 influenced the USA to participate in war.  On September 1^st 1939, Germany invades Poland resulting at the beginning of World War Two (WWII). The advent of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich in Germany, the Spanish Civil War, the Japanese invasion of China, the German annexation of Austria, and the internment of thousands of Jews in concentration camps had all heightened tensions in Europe and Asia in the years leading up to 1939 (Millet et al., 2012). Germany's occupation of territories of Czechoslovakia not previously agreed to in the Munich Pact, as well as its invasion of Poland, convinced the rest of Europe that it could no longer appease Germany. The Soviet Union invaded Finland as the United States attempted to remain neutral. 

During 1940, Germany invaded its European neighbors in the first year of the war: Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, and Romania, and the bombardment of Britain lasted months. On response, the Royal Air Force launched nocturnal raids in Germany. Italy attacked Egypt, which was controlled by the British, Albania, and Greece, after Germany, Italy, and Japan negotiated a unified military and economic accord. Late in the year, the United States adopted a "nonbelligerent" rather than neutral attitude in order to find ways to assist the Allies, and the Lend-Lease Act (the exchange of materiel aid for 99-year leases on property to be used for foreign military facilities) was proposed (Millet et al., 2012). 

The year 1941 was a year of global escalation. Even though Italy had been beaten in Greece, Germany was still determined to capture the country. Then it was off to Russia and Yugoslavia. Germany violated its alliance with the Soviet Union and invaded, but the winter and Soviet counter-offensive killed a large number of German forces. Following it, the Soviets joined the Allies. Japan had invaded Burma, Hong Kong (then under British rule), and the Philippines within a week of the Pearl Harbor attack, and the United States was formally involved in the battle (Millet et al., 2012). The first American troops arrived in the United Kingdom in January 1942. In the same year, Japan seized Singapore, Britain's last outpost in the Pacific, as well as the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. The Allies began to gain ground by the middle of the year, with the Battle of Midway serving as a turning point. Germany took Libya, but the Allies began to make gains in Africa, and Soviet counterattacks in Stalingrad progressed as well. 

In 1943, with the capitulation of the Axis powers to the Allies in Tunisia, Germany suffered its first significant setback, and the North African stalemate came to an end. The tide was finally changing, though not quickly enough for the survivors of Germany's four-day sinking of 27 cargo ships in the Atlantic in March (Millet et al., 2012). The Battle of the Atlantic was effectively over when Bletchley codebreakers and long-range aircraft imposed a heavy toll on the U-boats. The loss of Italy to Allied forces in the autumn of the year prompted Germany to invade the country. Mussolini was successfully rescued by the Germans, and combat in Italy between north and south forces continued. To summarize, the war was not yet won, but it would not be lost if the Allied alliance remained intact and focused its military force on achieving unconditional surrender from the Germans and Japanese. 

References

Millet, A. R., Maslowski, P., & Feis, W. B. (2012). For the Common Defense: A Military History of the United States from 1607 to 2012. New York: Free Press, 277, 681.