Mid-twentieth century war fought primarily in Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific that pitted the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) against the Allied powers (Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States).
The deteriorated economic condition of Europe during the Great Depression coupled with German anger over the punitive peace terms of World War I created international tension that led to general war in Europe after Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. War also wracked Asia as Japanese expansionists fought a series of wars against China beginning in 1931. Despite war around the globe, the United States initially attempted to remain neutral. Even so, American neutrality was not impartial; the United States clearly favored the Allies over the Axis powers.
However, the United States was initially unable to supply Britain with a great deal of aid. A series of U.S. Neutrality Acts passed in the 1930s prohibited loans to nations at war and forbade American vessels from shipping arms to belligerents. Instead, the United States abided by a policy known as “cash and carry,” whereby belligerents could purchase goods in the United States and ship them home in their own ships. Such a policy made acquiring arms in the United States difficult for the European powers. The strength of the British navy prevented German merchants from picking up goods in the United States, and by the end of 1940, British credit was running out. To aid Britain and circumvent the Neutrality Acts (which prohibited the sale of arms, or even the making of loans, to belligerent nations), the United States initiated the Lend-Lease program in March 1941 to provide military supplies without requiring the payment of cash. Lend-lease allowed the U.S. government to loan military hardware to any nation considered vital to American security. The program clearly demonstrated American support for Britain and the Allies. Over the course of the war, lend-lease was the principal method of U.S. economic and industrial support for the Allies. By the war’s end, the United States had distributed more than $50 billion in lend-lease assistance. Britain received the most aid with more than $31 billion. The Soviet Union, which entered the war in the summer of 1941 and ultimately received about $11 billion in aid, was a distant second.
The United States also maintained an interest in the fighting between Japan and China. By 1940, Japan had become increasingly expansionistic. The Japanese government stressed the creation of a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, in which Japan would lead Asia into political and economic competition against the industrialized Western nations. The United States favored China in the conflict and attempted to pressure Japan through a Japanese oil embargo that began in July 1940. In September 1940, U.S.-Japan relations deteriorated further when Japan forged an alliance with Germany and joined the Axis powers. As a result, the United States steadily increased economic pressure on Japan until the Japanese finally retaliated with the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.
The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States fully into World War II. The scale of the fighting in World War II vastly surpassed anything the United States had ever experienced, and during the conflict, the United States military fought in North Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. The Allies finally won after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in August 1945. However, American industrial capacity with its development of new technologies contributed as much to the victory as did military action.
When the United States entered the war, mobilization became a key issue—the scale of World War II required total economic and industrial commitment. Anticipating a need for readiness, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had created the War Resources Board and the Office of Production Management to carry out planning and to stress military production, but without the threat of immediate war, these agencies were largely ineffective in persuading industry to prepare. The attack on Pearl Harbor generated the required willingness to participate, and American industry, led by the newly created War Production Board, began converting to military production. Conversion was difficult, but once it was complete the United States churned out military equipment at an impressive rate. The American auto industry was probably the industry most affected by the war. Auto factories turned to the production of a wide range of military vehicles, from supply trucks and tanks to fighter planes and heavy bombers. By the war’s end, former auto producers had manufactured thousands of tanks, armored cars, and airplanes.
Increased industrial production created huge labor demands, and World War II eradicated the unemployment problems created by the Great Depression. With the need for large numbers of workers, labor concerns were an important issue, and the federal government created the National War Labor Board to help ensure labor’s loyalty throughout the war. Production rates were so high and so many men served in the military that businesses also hired women in large numbers for jobs traditionally reserved for men.
The war provided millions of Americans with jobs and money, but it nonetheless created problems with the domestic economy. Industries involved in military production required a great deal of raw material, especially metals, rubber, and fabric. Consequently consumers experienced shortages of several products. In response, the government created the Office of Price Administration to oversee the rationing of consumer goods such as fuel, food, and tires.
Despite the irritation of shortages and rationing, the American economy boomed during World War II. Heavy industrial output ensured an Allied victory but it also put the United States at full production and ended the Great Depression. Indeed, by 1945, the United States had become the world’s leading industrial power. A significant factor in the rise of the United States was its separation from the fighting; it is the only major industrialized nation that did not suffer a significant attack on its industrial base. Warfare ravaged Europe and Japan but American factories emerged from the war unscathed. World War II reduced the industrial capacity of the other powers in Europe and Japan even as American industry expanded.
