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World War II

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
World War II marks a watershed in American history. From a difficult and humiliating beginning, the United States emerged from this prolonged, painful, and expensive universal conflict triumphant as a superpower. It became the defender of the free world, a proud, confident nation, continuously involved in international affairs, a global economic powerhouse, and the most productive industrial country on earth. The national cohesion amid the turmoil, the unquestionable moral superiority of the United States in opposing the aggression of fascism and Nazism in Europe and Japanese designs for a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere unleashed movements for social justice and for cultural pluralism. The stark contrast with the domestic unrest during World War I, Woodrow Wilson's internationalist failures afterward, and the divisiveness caused by U.S. involvement and defeat in the Vietnam War a generation later considerably enhanced this legacy. The United States entered the conflict…
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Full text Article World War II

From Encyclopedia of Intelligence & Counterintelligence
A charcoal drawing by Griffith Coale in 1942...
The greatest conflict in human history, not surprisingly, spawned the most extensive intelligence efforts by the participants. World War II was also witness to some of the greatest intelligence failures. Though there were spies and saboteurs in full measure, the heroes who made the crucial…
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Full text Article World War II

From The Great American History Fact-Finder
Global conflict involving every major power in the world. The Allies originally consisted of Great Britain, France, and China, but totaled fifty nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, by the end of the war. The Axis powers of Germany, Italy, Japan, and (until 1941) the Soviet…
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Full text Article World War 2

From Philip's Encyclopedia
(1939-45) International conflict arising from disputes provoked by the expansionist policies of Germany in Europe and Japan in the Far East. During the 1930s, appeasement failed to check the ambitions of Adolf Hitler 's regime. Having made a defensive pact with the Soviet Union (August 1939), …
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Full text Article World War II Memorial

From Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
After years of debate, the National World War II Memorial, located in the heart of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated on Memorial Day in 2004. Designed by Friedrich St. Florian, the $195 million memorial has been criticized for its imperial grandiosity (some suggest reminiscent of…
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Full text Article World War II

From Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy
1939–1945 World War II was a watershed in U.S. foreign policy. Prior to the war, isolationist sentiment dominated American thinking on world politics. After, it internationalism emerged triumphant. Whereas the United States had rejected membership in the League of Nations , it enthusiastically…
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Full text Article World War II

From Encyclopedia of American Studies
U.S.S. West Virginia and U.S.S. Tennessee burn...
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Full text Article World War II

From Encyclopedia of American Literature Full text Article Volume 3
Although World War II began in 1939 with the British and French declaration of war on Germany, which had invaded Poland, the United States did not enter the conflict for two years. Between 1939 and 1941 it watched with growing alarm as German armies overran much of Western Europe and Japanese forces…
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Full text Article World War II and the presidency

From Encyclopedia of the American Presidency
Like Abraham Lincoln in the Civil War, and Woodrow Wilson in World War I, Franklin D. Roosevelt greatly expanded the scope of presidential power during World War II. World War II also transformed the United States into the dominant, or hegemonic, power of the world. This added to the powers and…
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Full text Article World War II

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
People in New York City celebrating the end of...
(1939–45) International conflict principally between the Axis powers —Germany, Italy, and Japan—and the Allied powers —France, Britain, the U.S., the Soviet Union, and China. Political and economic instability in Germany, combined with bitterness over its defeat in World War I and the harsh…
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Full text Article World War II

From Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
This propaganda poster from World War II shows...
World War II (1939–45) was an international conflict involving 61 countries that mobilized over 100 million military service people in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific. The war pitted the Allied Powers (the United States, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China, among…
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