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World War I and Great Depression

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World War I and Great Depression
Sheryln Patrick
The American Economy during World War II
HIS/145
November 2, 2008
Mr. Preston Rodrigue

The American Economy during World War II
World War II began in September of 1939 when Germany invaded Poland without a proper declaration of war. The United States entered World War II in December of 1941 after Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, creating heavy casualties and severe damage to the United States naval forces anchored there. (Tassava, C. Feb.10, 2008). In the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese killed 2,402 Americans, destroying at least five battleships and putting three of them out of commission completely. The Japanese also sank or heavily damaged at least 11 other American warships, and destroyed over 180 aircrafts on the ground. Not only attacking Pear Harbor, Japan also attacked the United States territories of Wake and Midway Islands, Guam, and the Philippines. Japan had planned this attack on Pearl Harbor around January of 1941. When warplanes from Japan launched a surprise attack on the U. S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii the war in the Pacific began in early December of 1941. At the same time, Japan was already at war with China for several years. China managed to seize the Chinese territory of Manchuria. For the United States, World War II and the Great Depression constituted the most important economic event of the twentieth century. (Tassava, C. Feb.10, 2008).
The Great Depression The "Great Depression" was a harsh, world -wide economic collapse symbolized in the United States by the stock market crash on "Black Thursday," October 24, 1929. The causes of the Great Depression were countless and diverse, but the blow was able to be seen across the country. At the elevation of the Depression in 1933, 24.9% of the total workforce or 11,385,000 people were unemployed. Although farmers themselves in principle were not without a job, severe drops in farm service prices resulted in farmers trailing their domain

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