Military Aspects of WWI and WWII-
Major Battles of the Wars:
Experiences of soldiers:
Women's Roles:
In WWI:
World War 1 gave women an opportunity to prove themselves in a male-dominated society, doing more than cleaning the house and tending to the children. With so many men going to war, there was a large gap in employment and, in response, women came in to replace the men. Some of the more well-known roles of women in WW1 include: nurses, munitions factory workers, sewing bandages, and selling war bonds, shipyards and spies. The Women's Royal Air Force was created, which is where women worked on planes as mechanics. By 1917 its was surveyed that 68% of women had changed jobs since the war began, 16% had moved out of domestic service, 22% that were unemployed in 1914 now had work and 23% had changed factories (from one factory to another). |
In WWII:
American women played important roles during World War II, both at home and in uniform. Not only did they give their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers to the war effort, they gave their time, energy, and some even gave their lives. Reluctant to enter the war when it erupted in 1939, the United States quickly committed itself to total war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That commitment included utilizing all of America’s assets—women included. When the war began, quickie marriages became the norm, as teenagers married their sweethearts before their men went overseas. As the men fought abroad, women on the Home Front worked in defense plants and volunteered for war-related organizations, in addition to managing their households. In New Orleans, as the demand for public transportation grew, women even became streetcar “conductorettes” for the first time. When men left, women became proficient cooks and housekeepers, managed the finances, learned to fix the car, worked in a defense plant, and wrote letters to their soldier husbands that were consistently upbeat. Nearly 350,000 American women served in uniform, both at home and abroad, volunteering for the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs, later renamed the Women’s Army Corps), the Navy Women’s Reserve (WAVES), the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS), the Women Air force Service Pilots (WASPS), the Army Nurses Corps, and the Navy Nurse Corps. General Eisenhower felt that he could not win the war without the aid of the women in uniform. Women in uniform took office and clerical jobs in the armed forces in order to free men to fight. They also drove trucks, repaired airplanes, worked as laboratory technicians, rigged parachutes, served as radio operators, analyzed photographs, flew military aircraft across the country, test-flew newly repaired planes, and even trained anti-aircraft artillery gunners by acting as flying targets. Some women served near the front lines in the Army Nurse Corps, where 16 were killed as a result of direct enemy fire. Sixty-eight American service women were captured as POWs in the Philippines. More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service, and 565 WACs in the Pacific Theater won combat decorations. At the war’s end, even though a majority of women surveyed reported wanted to keep their jobs, many were forced out by men returning home and by the downturn in demand for war materials. Women veterans encountered roadblocks when they tried to take advantage of benefit programs for veterans, like the G.I. Bill. The nation that needed their help in a time of crisis, it seems, was not yet ready for the greater social equality that would slowly come in the decades to follow. |
Native Americans in WWII:
1918
Iroquois Indians declare war on Germany. Since they were not included in the 1919 Peace Treaty, they simply renewed their Declaration of War in 1941 and included Italy and Japan.
1919
Indian soldiers and sailors receive citizenship.
1924
The Snyder Act grants full citizenship to all American Indians.
1938
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) estimates number of potential registrants for a draft in case of war.
1939
BIA updates male Indian age groups.
Jun 1940
The Navajo tribe announces that any un-American activity among its people will be dealt with severely.
Aug 1940
BIA Commissioner John Collier meets with Selective Service representatives to determine how to register Indians.
Sep 1940
Congress passes Selective Service Act.
Oct 1940
Congress passes Nationalities Act granting citizenship to all Native Americans without impairing tribal
authority. -For the first time, American Indians register for the draft.
Jan 1941
The Fourth Signal Company recruits thirty Oklahoma Comanche Indians to be part of a special Signal Corps Detachment.
Oct 1940
The armed forces have inducted 1,785 Native Americans.
Dec 1941
There are 5,000 Native Americans in the armed forces when Japanese forces attack Pearl Harbor.
Jan 1942
According to Selective Service officials, 99 percent of all eligible Native Americans had registered for the draft. This ration set the national standard for the nation.
Jan 1942
The Navajo Tribal Council calls a special convention to dramatize their support for the war effort; 50,000 attend.
Jul 1942
The Six Nations (Mohawks, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Iroquois) declare war on the Axis Powers.
1942-1943
The Army Air Corps runs a literacy program in Atlantic City, N.J., for native Americans who could not meet military literacy standards.
Apr 1943
Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes announces that Indians have bought $12.6 million in war bonds.
1944
Over 46,000 Indian men and women have left their reservations for defense-related jobs.
Nov 1944
Fifty tribes establish the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Denver, Colorado.
Jan 1945
John Collier resigns as Indian Commissioner after years of political controversy.
1946
TheTruman Commissionon Civil Right surges more humanitarian consideration for Native Americans. -Indian Claims Commission Act created by Congress to adjudicate Indian land claims in the aftermath of WWII.
1947
Army Indian Scouts discontinued as a separate element of the U.S. armed forces. They had last been used on border patrol duties.
1957
Utah becomes the last state to permit Indians to vote.
Iroquois Indians declare war on Germany. Since they were not included in the 1919 Peace Treaty, they simply renewed their Declaration of War in 1941 and included Italy and Japan.
1919
Indian soldiers and sailors receive citizenship.
1924
The Snyder Act grants full citizenship to all American Indians.
1938
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) estimates number of potential registrants for a draft in case of war.
1939
BIA updates male Indian age groups.
Jun 1940
The Navajo tribe announces that any un-American activity among its people will be dealt with severely.
Aug 1940
BIA Commissioner John Collier meets with Selective Service representatives to determine how to register Indians.
Sep 1940
Congress passes Selective Service Act.
Oct 1940
Congress passes Nationalities Act granting citizenship to all Native Americans without impairing tribal
authority. -For the first time, American Indians register for the draft.
Jan 1941
The Fourth Signal Company recruits thirty Oklahoma Comanche Indians to be part of a special Signal Corps Detachment.
Oct 1940
The armed forces have inducted 1,785 Native Americans.
Dec 1941
There are 5,000 Native Americans in the armed forces when Japanese forces attack Pearl Harbor.
Jan 1942
According to Selective Service officials, 99 percent of all eligible Native Americans had registered for the draft. This ration set the national standard for the nation.
Jan 1942
The Navajo Tribal Council calls a special convention to dramatize their support for the war effort; 50,000 attend.
Jul 1942
The Six Nations (Mohawks, Oneida, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Iroquois) declare war on the Axis Powers.
1942-1943
The Army Air Corps runs a literacy program in Atlantic City, N.J., for native Americans who could not meet military literacy standards.
Apr 1943
Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes announces that Indians have bought $12.6 million in war bonds.
1944
Over 46,000 Indian men and women have left their reservations for defense-related jobs.
Nov 1944
Fifty tribes establish the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in Denver, Colorado.
Jan 1945
John Collier resigns as Indian Commissioner after years of political controversy.
1946
TheTruman Commissionon Civil Right surges more humanitarian consideration for Native Americans. -Indian Claims Commission Act created by Congress to adjudicate Indian land claims in the aftermath of WWII.
1947
Army Indian Scouts discontinued as a separate element of the U.S. armed forces. They had last been used on border patrol duties.
1957
Utah becomes the last state to permit Indians to vote.
African Americans:
In WWI:
Despite institutionalized prejudice, hundreds of thousands of African Americans fought in the U.S. military during World War I. Even as most African Americans did not reap the benefits of American democracy—so central to the rhetoric of World War I—many still chose to support a nation that denied them full citizenship. Late in 1917, the War Department created two all-black infantry divisions. The 93rd Infantry Division received unanimous praise for its performance in combat, fighting as part of France’s 4th Army. In this lesson, students combine their research in a variety of sources, including firsthand accounts, to develop a hypothesis evaluating contradictory statements about the performance of the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I. |
In WWII:
Of the more than 2.5 million blacks who registered for the draft in World War II, about 909,000 served in the Army. In 1944 there were over 700,000 blacks in the Army; this represented the greatest proportion of blacks to total Army strength in World War II. So at its peak, only 8.7 percent of the Army -- instead of the planned 10 percent -- was black. In June 1945 blacks accounted for less than 3 percent of all men assigned to combat duty in the Army. About 78 percent of all black males -- and only 40 percent of all white males-in the Army were placed in the service branches (including quartermaster, engineer, and transportation corps). Approximately 167,000 blacks served in the Navy during the war, about 4 percent of total Navy strength; and over 17,000 blacks enlisted in the Marine Corps, 2.5 percent of all marines. They had been used by more branches and in a greater variety of units, ranging from divisions to platoons in size and from fighter units to quartermaster service companies in the complexity of duties. They had been used in a wider range of geographical, cultural, and climatic conditions than was believed possible in 1942. All of this was true of white troops as well, but in its manpower deliberations and in its attempts to wrest maximum efficiency and production from the manpower allotted to it, the Army found that it was the 10 percent of American manpower which was Negro that spelled a large part of the difference between the full and wasteful employment of available American manpower of military age. |