America's involvement in World War II had a significant impact on the economy and workforce of the United States. The United States was still recovering from the impact of the Great Depression and the unemployment rate was hovering around 25%. Our involvement in the war soon changed that rate. American factories were retooled to produce goods to support the war effort and almost overnight the unemployment rate dropped to around 10%. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines. Before World War II, women had generally been discouraged from working outside the home. Now, they were being encouraged to take over jobs that had been traditionally considered 'men's work.'

The war was in many respects a continuation, after an uneasy 20-year hiatus, of the disputes left unsettled by World War I. The 40,000,000–50,000,000 deaths incurred in World War II make it the bloodiest conflict, as well as the largest war, in history. World War II: Germany invading Poland Germany invading Poland, September 1, 1939. World War II also marked the beginning of trends that took decades to fully develop, including technological disruption, global economic integration and digital communication. More broadly, the.

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In 1941 the United States was still recovering from the great depression. The jobless rate had been as high as 25 percent, bankruptcy was not uncommon, and the standard of living for most Americans was 60 percent lower than before the stock market crash of 1929. When the war started, all that changed. More people were needed to produce the food and weapons for the men on the front lines. The new jobs were taken by many who had been out of work for several years. As more men were sent away to fight, women were hired to take over their positions on the assembly lines.

Before World War II, women had generally been discouraged from working outside the home. Now they were being encouraged to take over jobs that had been traditionally considered 'men's work.' existing companies changed their lines from consumer goods to war materials, and new plants were constructed strictly for the creation of products for the war effort. In Ankeny, the Des Moines ordinance plant was already under construction when war was declared. By 1942, .30 and .50 caliber machine gun ammunition began to roll off the line. Jeanne Ersland of Ankeny, formerly Jeanne Gibson, was among the 19,000 people who worked at the facility.

“I think they gave us a short indoctrination as to what we were there for, and then they took us right to the working area. I stayed in that same working area all the time that i was there. I think the patriotism came as it progressed and I was thinking of going on into the service.'

After more than a year at the ordinance plant, Ersland joined the United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve. Following training at Camp LeJune, she was assigned to Cherry Point North Carolina and worked as an aircraft engine mechanic.

Excerpt from 'Iowa's WWII Stories,' Iowa PBS, 2006

World War II, which took place between September 1939 and September 1945, was the bloodiest conflict in human history. Though no exact casualty count for the war exists, it is thought that up to 85 million people were killed as a direct or indirect result of the conflict. The war involved all of the world’s great powers, and touched nearly every corner of the globe. On one side was the Axis, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan. On the other side were the Allies, led by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. There were numerous reasons for the outbreak of the Second World War, from the megalomaniac ambitions of ruthless dictators, to the unprovoked attacks on countries that precipitated their entry into the war. Here are the main causes for the outbreak of WWII, humanity’s most destructive conflict.

The Rise Of Dictators And Their Imperialist Ambitions

Before WWII began, two men took power in the countries of Germany and Italy. One was Benito Mussolini, who became Prime Minister of Italy in 1922. The other was Adolf Hitler, who became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933. In just a short time, the two men turned their countries into tyrannical dictatorships. Mussolini sought the resurrection of the Roman Empire, while Hitler sought the formation of a new German empire, the Third Reich, which he wanted to stretch from the Ural Mountains in the east, all the way to the west coast of Europe.

The Treaty Of Versailles And The Desire For Revenge

Hitler was able to ascend to power in Germany in part because he was successful in tapping the anger of the German people in response to the terms of their surrender in the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles compelled Germany to give up large amounts of territory, and pay war reparations, which significantly damaged the German economy. Hitler promised his people revenge against the Allied powers, and the expansion of German power and territory.

The Great Depression

The economic ruin brought on by the Great Depression of the 1930s helped bring about the rise of many extremist movements in Europe, of which Nazism and fascism were just two. During the Depression, the Nazis and fascists did battle with the communists, but it was the former movements who emerged victorious in the end.

Pre-WWII Conquests

Before WWII had officially begun, the powers that would merge to form the Axis had already launched campaigns of conquest. Shortly after Hitler came to power, he managed to seize control of Austria and part of what was then Czechoslovakia without any major combat operation. Italy had already conquered both Ethiopia and Albania, and Japan was expanding its imperial realm decades before WWII began, conquering the Korean peninsula, Taiwan, and the southern half of the Far East Soviet island of Sakhalin. In 1931, Japan began its attempt to conquer China by invading Manchuria. The fact that the Axis powers were able to expand their territory with little to no resistance from rest of the international community only emboldened them to make further conquests.

2 Results Of Ww2

The Failure Of Appeasement

One leader of the Western powers, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, believed he could placate Adolf Hitler by appeasing him, thus allowing the Nazi dictator to take a small bit of territory in Czechoslovakia without provoking a war, and getting Hitler to promise that future territorial disputes would be resolved through non-violent means. But just a few months later, Hitler broke his promise and seized all of Czechoslovakia.

Political Results Of Ww2

Unprovoked Attacks Against Uninvolved Powers

2 Results Of Ww2 Casualties

The Nazi invasion of Poland, beginning on September 1, 1939, was the catalyst for the outbreak of WWII, when the Allied powers finally gave up on diplomacy and appeasement, and decided that only force could stop the Axis powers from making any new conquests. But even after the Nazis’ invasion of Poland, the war was still largely a European conflict. The Soviet Union and the United States had not yet begun fighting the Axis powers. Unprovoked attacks against them, however, changed that. In the summer of 1941, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, drawing the communist dictatorship into the conflict. Just six months later, another unprovoked attack led to the U.S. entering the war on the side of the Allies, when on December 7, 1941, Japanese forces bombed the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor.