Heather Hogue
ANTH 209
11/19/2014
WWII: Family History
Introduction
This paper will explain the history of World War II and how it relates to my family history. I chose to interview my aunt about her father (my grandfather), Joseph Clayton Hogue a.k.a Skeeter Hogue. I chose my grandfather because based on most of my group, we fall under the topic of war.
WWII
It’s been said that World War II started in July 7, 1937, but is still debated. It made major leaps in technology and laid groundwork that created post-war social changes that led to ending European colonialism, the civil rights movement, modern women’s rights movement, and outer space programs. The countries involved were the Axis nations (Germany, Italy, Japan), Allied nations (Britain), the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the United States. The Allies turned out to be the victors.
Casualties in WWII
World War II was the most destructive war in all of history. The lives cost is unknown but 50 million service personnel and civilians died. Nations with the highest losses are listed below:
• USSR: 42,000,000
• Germany: 9,000,000
• China: 4,000,000
• Japan: 3,000,000
(See more at: http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii#sthash.GgJ4dqX3.dpuf)
The U.S. in WWII
Apparently, the U.S. wasn’t involved until the end of 1941. It provided aid to Britain and the Soviet Union. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Congress declared war on Japan. Then, Germany who honored Japan, declared war on the U.S. Other countries such as Italy, Romania, and other European Axis alliances did the same. America suffered less than 20,000 losses.
“Two American commanders came to public attention during the North African campaign and would become two of the war’s most famous g...
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...ationed in Texas. Lastly, I thought it was interesting how 3 out of 4 of us in my group had relations to WWII. It’s quite interesting how something such as war would bring us together as a whole.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this paper has explained the history of World War II and how it relates to my family history. I discussed in the interview I had with my aunt about her father (my grandfather), Joseph Clayton Hogue a.k.a Skeeter Hogue. I chose my grandfather because based on my group, we fell under the topic of war.
References Cited
• Geni. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.geni.com/
• World War II Facts, information and articles about World War II, 1939-1945. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii
• World War 2 Facts. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014, from http://world-war-2.info/facts/
Ward, Geoffrey C. and Burns, Ken, The War, An Intimate History 1941-1945. (New York: Knopf 2007)
1.Langer, W. L., & Gleason, S. E. (1953). The Undeclared War, 1940-1941 (1st ed.). New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=7965978
In the summer of 1940, World War II had been in progress for nearly a year. Adolf Hitler was victorious and planning an invasion of England to seal Europe’s fate. Everyone in the United States of America knew it. The Germans were too powerful. Hitler's Luftwaffe had too many planes, too many pilots and too many bombs and since Hitler was Europe's problem, the United States claimed to be a neutral country (Neutrality Act of 1939). Seven Americans, however, did not remain neutral and that’s what this book is about. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to help save Britain in its darkest hour to fight off the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England, the English Channel, and North Europe. By October 1940, they had helped England succeed in one of the greatest air battles in the history of aviation, the Battle of Britain. This book helps to show the impact of the few Americans who joined the Battle of Britain to fight off an evil that the United States didn’t acknowledge at the time. The name of Kershaw’s book was inspired from the quote, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to sow few,” which was said by British Officer and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Morison, Samuel, E. (1960). Victory in the pacific, 1945 – history of the united states naval operations in world war ii. (Vol. 14, p. 389). Boston: Little Brown.
World War II began on September 1, 1939. It all started when Hitler wanted to expand his territory, and he had planned to invade Poland on this day. Then two years later in 1941 Japan bombed America in which is known as Pearl Harbor and General Eisenhower entered America into World War II. America then joined the Allied powers and helped fight against the Axis powers. The major countries that took part as the Allied Powers in World War II was the United States of America, Great Britain, France, and Russia.Their main goal was to stick together and to defend each other from the attacks of the Axis Powers. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan.General EIsenhower had been planning an attack on the beaches of Normandy in France.
World War II officially got under way in 1939 when the Germans, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland and violated nearly every law placed against them from the Treaty of Versailles. It was nearly impossible for the Germans not to violate the Treaty of Versailles because over 100 of the 140 clauses agreed on were targeted against the Germans. The treaty placed the blame for World War I on Germany, forcing them to pay for nearly the entire war in reparations. This led to a German economic collapse, a change in the government of Germany, and also the start of World War II. When Hitler was put into power he began invading other countries and dwindling down the population of his own country, leading to World War II. When World War II started there were two sides to the war, the Axis, consisting of Germany, Italy, and Japan, which formed after the signing of the tripartite pact, and the Allies, consisting of the France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union and China. Some of the United States’ most important battles of World War II happened in the Pacific. The Pacific contained a great portion of World War II. The Americans and Japanese accounted for most of the action that occurred. The Japanese had gained a multitude of momentum from the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, a United States military base, the Invasion of Manchuria, in which they took over the country, and the Invasion of China. After these huge victories and mass expansion, the Japanese looked practically unstoppable, but they ran into two major problems; The Battle of Coral Sea, in which the United States defeated the Japanese, hindering their expansion efforts, and the turning point in the Pacific, the Battle of Midway.
Jeffries, John. Wartime America: The World War II Home Front. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1996. Print. American Way.
WWII evolved the entire globe, putting the world's largest economic and military powers against each other: the AXIS powers Germany, Japan and Italy against the ALLIED powers Russia, Britain and the U.S. There were some 27,372,900 civilians and 20,858,800 military personnel killed in the war. http://warchronicle.com/numbers/WWII/deaths.htm
"World War II by the Numbers." National World War II Museum n. pag. Web. .
World War Two had a lasting impact on the culture of the American People. Although, one distinct thing that changed during the War was an increase in the power of the Amer...
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
The Origins of the Second World War, by A.J.P. Taylor, proposes and investigates unconventional and widely unaccepted theories as to the underlying causes of World War Two. Taylor is British historian who specialized in 20th century diplomacy, and in his book claims that as a historian his job is to “state the truth” (pg. xi) as he sees it, even if it means disagreeing with existing prejudices. The book was published in 1961, a relatively short time after the war, and as a result of his extreme unbias the work became subject to controversy for many years.
This book is essentially different from any other that has been published concerning the 'late war' or any of incidents. Those who have had any such experiences as the author will see its truthfulness at once, and to all other readers it is commended as a statement of actual things by one who experienced them to the fullest. (O'Brien Prologue)
Zink, Harold. (1957) The United States in Germany, 1944-1955 [online]. Princeton, NJ: D. Van Nostrand [cited 12th September 2011]. Available from:
“The Captain” America in WWII. America in WWII, Web, 2013. Retrieved on February 11, 2014 from http://www.americainwwii.com/articles/the-captain/