America the Story of Us: World War 2

00:44:02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP-z7Cs8RgE

Summary

TLDRThe video chronicles America's rapid transformation into a superpower during World War II, driven by the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent mobilization of its economy and workforce. It highlights the mass production of military equipment, the pivotal role of women in factories, and the introduction of advanced technologies like radar and the B-17 bomber. The narrative culminates in the development and use of the atomic bomb, which decisively ended the war with Japan. Ultimately, the war reshaped American society, leading to economic prosperity and establishing the U.S. as a dominant global power.

Takeaways

  • 🇺🇸 America transforms into a superpower during WWII.
  • 💥 The attack on Pearl Harbor was a pivotal moment.
  • 👩‍🏭 Women played a crucial role in the war effort.
  • 🚀 Innovations like radar changed warfare.
  • ✈️ The B-17 bomber was key for precision bombing.
  • 💣 The Manhattan Project led to the atomic bomb.
  • 🌍 WWII reshaped America's global standing.
  • 💰 The war spurred economic growth and job creation.
  • 👶 Post-war America saw a baby boom and prosperity.
  • 🕊️ The atomic bombings led to Japan's surrender.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses how World War II propelled America into becoming a superpower, highlighting the transformation of the country into a powerful war machine in a mere four-year span. It outlines the shift in American industry during the 1930s from poverty to purpose, spurred by the war effort against the Axis powers, with massive production of military supplies and equipment.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    December 7, 1941, marked a pivotal moment in American history with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces. The attack caused significant loss of life and equipment, waking America from its isolationist stance and prompting the nation to prepare for a major war effort.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    The narrative emphasizes the role of radar technology in Japan's surprise attack. Despite early warnings detected by radar operators, America misjudged the incoming threat, leading to catastrophic consequences with the attack on Pearl Harbor marking the beginning of active U.S. involvement in World War II.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    In the wake of Pearl Harbor, America quickly mobilized its manufacturing capabilities which previously struggled due to the Great Depression. The nation transformed itself into the 'arsenal of democracy', producing weapons, vehicles, and other military necessities at an unprecedented scale, including the iconic Jeep and tanks.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The video highlights the crucial contribution of women to the war effort, as many took jobs in factories, significantly impacting production capabilities. With increased employment opportunities and wages, women played a vital role in sustaining the American war machine and altering societal views on women's labor.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    As the U.S. ramped up for war, it innovated in warfare technology, including the B-17 bomber and high altitude precision bombing techniques. Key missions marked a shift towards more aggressive and strategic air assaults, significantly impacting enemy supply lines while minimizing American casualties.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    The narrative transitions to the D-Day invasion, emphasizing the immense planning and logistical efforts behind Operation Overlord. The invasion exemplified American industrial capacity and the sacrifices made by U.S. troops to retake control of Europe from the Axis powers.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:44:02

    Finally, the development and deployment of the atomic bomb marked a radical turning point in warfare, showcasing American technological advancements. The bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki led to Japan's surrender, solidifying America's place as a superpower and transforming the global landscape post-war.

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Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What event marked America's entry into World War II?

    The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

  • How did America prepare for war economically?

    American industry went into overdrive, mass-producing weapons, vehicles, and supplies.

  • What role did women play during World War II?

    Women worked in factories, producing munitions and other war supplies, significantly contributing to the war effort.

  • What was the significance of the B-17 bomber?

    The B-17 bomber was crucial for precision bombing campaigns during the war.

  • What was the Manhattan Project?

    The Manhattan Project was a secret U.S. project to develop the atomic bomb.

  • How did World War II affect the American economy?

    The war led to economic growth, with increased production and job creation.

  • What was the outcome of the atomic bombings in Japan?

    The bombings led to Japan's surrender and marked a significant turning point in warfare.

  • What was the impact of World War II on American society?

    The war transformed American society, leading to a prosperous post-war era and significant demographic changes.

  • How did the war change America's global standing?

    America emerged as a superpower with unmatched economic and military strength.

  • What was the legacy of the 'Greatest Generation'?

    The 'Greatest Generation' sought to create a better life for their families after enduring the hardships of the Great Depression and World War II.

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  • 00:00:03
    World War two strikes America the
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    country fights back like never before
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    America becomes the most powerful war
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    machine the world has ever seen by
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    entering the war the United States
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    transforms itself into a superpower in
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    only four years
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    we are pioneers and trailblazers
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    we fight for freedom
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    we transform our dreams into the truth
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    our struggles will become a nation
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    america prepares for battle the 1930s
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    meant poverty no future
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    but with war comes purpose and
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    determination American industry goes
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    into overdrive it will go to war with
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    the economic and military powers of the
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    axis Germany Italy and Japan now every
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    weapon ration medical supply is
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    mass-produced on a scale never seen
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    before in human history sometimes it
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    takes a terrific challenge in a horrific
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    threat to the Republic till discover how
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    good you can be but the road to
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    greatness begins with treachery December
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    7 1941 200 miles north of Hawaii a pack
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    of cutting edge killing machines are on
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    a mission to destroy the American fleet
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    at Pearl Harbor
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    the Japanese zero was a better fighter
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    than anything the Americans had produced
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    to that time the Japanese zero it can
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    fly 2,000 miles without refueling
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    perfect for a surprise attack when Pearl
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    Harbor was attacked it was one of the
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    most stunning moments in American
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    history now 183 Japanese bombers and
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    fighters are heading straight for Hawaii
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    another 170 follow right behind Japan
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    has built an empire across Korea
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    Manchuria and Hong Kong it wants the
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    whole Pacific Ocean but the u.s. fleet
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    in Pearl Harbor stands in its way opana
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    mobile radar station 30 miles north of
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    Pearl Harbor radar operator Joe Lockard
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    makes first contact
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    what's this two blips are showing
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    something out to sea radar is still
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    experimental technology in 1941 its
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    importance is about to be realized if I
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    could reach out and touch you from
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    greater distances I had a tactical
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    strategic advantage radar will evolve
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    into a system essential to the modern
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    world tracking 10 million flights around
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    America and five billion passengers
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    around the world every year
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    definitely incoming so far America has
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    kept out of the Second World War we had
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    almost a whole fleet in one little
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    harbor one little area we were sitting
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    ducks but then again we trust it into
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    Japanese at the same time we were having
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    peace talks with them they even gave us
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    a peace medal America is about to
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    receive the biggest wake-up call it's
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    ever known operator private Joseph
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    McDonald's of the five hundred and
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    eightieth aircraft warning division yeah
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    this is a fun about planes coming from
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    the north three points east uh I think
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    everyone's got off shift hold on it's
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    early Sunday morning Japan is over 4,000
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    miles from Hawaii Pearl Harbor is not
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    expecting to be attacked the surprise
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    attack once the specialty of american
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    rifleman in the war of independence the
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    tactic that made America free is now
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    being used against it we still got
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    planes coming in it looks like an awful
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    big flight
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    okay lieutenant Kermit Tyler he knows
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    there was a fight of American b-17s
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    doing today he assumes that's what's on
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    the screen look don't worry about what
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    do you think it is sir nothing the radar
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    is invented and used by the British as
  • 00:05:35
    early as 1935 this scr 270 mobile radar
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    system was developed by the US Army but
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    radar is still considered a gadget by
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    the military there are only five radar
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    trucks to cover the whole of the
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    Hawaiian Islands they're only man 3
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    hours a day 20 miles radar has another
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    weak point it can't see through Hawaii's
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    mountains
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    the low-flying Japanese wanderin
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    vanishes from the screen shift over
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    there's nothing more than men can do
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    McDonald types of his report
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    hey Bob take a look at this man
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    today America pays the price for
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    neglecting radar window this come in
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    at 750 am the Japanese attacked Pearl
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    Harbor
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    most of the Marines and sailors were
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    still in Iraq they were still asleep we
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    had no idea that this was gonna happen
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    but we all know that it did
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    the Japanese have prepared this attack
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    for a year
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    he rehearsed bombing a model of Pearl
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    Harbor in japan until they reach an
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    eighty percent hit rate
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    all eight battleships have put out of
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    action
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    1178 Americans are wounded 2403 are
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    killed
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    private McDonald's report was finally
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    read but by then it was too late
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    a day that will live in infamy we were
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    completely unprepared for that
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    emotionally and it turned the country on
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    a dime overnight anti-war people were
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    down signing up to join the Navy the
  • 00:08:37
    Army in the Marines whatever was
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    required
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    27 hours after the attack America
  • 00:08:45
    declares war on Japan three days later
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    the u.s. is at war with Germany
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    unleash the wrath of America and I think
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    it gave us an energy that carried us
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    through the rest of the war
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    once provoked that massive tiger of
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    engineering was awakened we had
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    factories that were sitting under
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    utilized in Detroit and around the
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    country because of the Great Depression
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    we were ready to go on a building spree
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    the sleeping giant awakens America
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    transforms into an arsenal of democracy
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    the nation sets to work
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    before the war there were 3 million
  • 00:09:40
    unemployed now America's huge potential
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    is being realized there was no country
  • 00:09:47
    that had a deeper economic base and an
  • 00:09:51
    enormous pool of not just labor but of
  • 00:09:55
    scientists and engineers technologists
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    an American icon is born the general
  • 00:10:03
    purpose vehicle known as the GP or the
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    Jeep
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    it's made for war tough fast and low to
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    the ground it's 37 inches high as a flat
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    hood and a folding windscreen it's low
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    profile makes it difficult to line up in
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    an enemy sites
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    it's small but can carry up to seven men
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    even the front bumper is a seat an m1
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    carbine gun goes just below the
  • 00:10:35
    windscreen there's a shovel and an axe
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    to dig yourself out of trouble there are
  • 00:10:42
    jerry cans of gas to get you home if the
  • 00:10:46
    jeep flips over you just lift it out it
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    weighs in at a lean 2315 pounds light
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    enough to be put in gliders and dropped
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    behind enemy lines
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    what the Jeep symbolized in world war
  • 00:11:03
    two was not cutting edge technology
  • 00:11:06
    although it was a four-wheel drive
  • 00:11:07
    vehicle so it was very capable but but
  • 00:11:10
    the Jeep really showed was the power of
  • 00:11:12
    American manufacturer designed by Bantam
  • 00:11:16
    and produced by willys-overland and Ford
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    three jeeps are produced every four
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    minutes by the end of the war
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    over the course of the war we deployed
  • 00:11:25
    over 600,000 jeeps to fly around this
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    open vehicle at top speed was just
  • 00:11:34
    something every American boy I wanted to
  • 00:11:36
    grow up to do
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    to this day I mean part of the boom and
  • 00:11:40
    SUVs that we saw was that notion that
  • 00:11:43
    you want a vehicle that can go anywhere
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    they can do anything that's a very
  • 00:11:46
    American spirit and I'm really started
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    with the G jeeps tanks and every other
  • 00:11:55
    weapon of war will be produced in record
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    numbers but America's best kept secret
  • 00:12:01
    weapon of World War 2 as yet to be
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    revealed
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    America sets to work the plan
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    overwhelmed the enemy through mass
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    production
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    88,000 tenks
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    7333 ships 20 million rifles and small
  • 00:12:29
    arms
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    and forty billion bullets produced in
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    four years
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    43 million men are registered for combat
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    service but America needs more manpower
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    the answer is the best-kept secret
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    weapon of World War two
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    it was actually the women back in this
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    nation that were the ones working in the
  • 00:12:53
    factories that were putting the tanks
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    together building the ships building the
  • 00:12:57
    airplanes you know so they're actually
  • 00:12:59
    the ones that logistically won the war
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    for
  • 00:13:08
    women like Peggy Blakey a migrant farm
  • 00:13:12
    worker now she works in a munitions
  • 00:13:16
    factory but 2 million other women the
  • 00:13:20
    depression is suddenly over
  • 00:13:26
    the factory used to make fireworks now
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    it's pumping out 20 millimeter tracer
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    show
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    tracer shells leave a trail of burning
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    chemicals containing magnesium see where
  • 00:13:44
    it's going and you can hit your target
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    the pressure to produce quickly is real
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    so is the danger just combing your hair
  • 00:13:57
    could kill you static electricity and
  • 00:14:00
    gunpowder equal explosion
  • 00:14:07
    but the risk is worth it Peggy makes
  • 00:14:11
    real money $32 a week
  • 00:14:14
    to us it was just an absolute miracle
  • 00:14:17
    before that we made nothing now we'd
  • 00:14:20
    have money to buy shoes and a dress and
  • 00:14:23
    pay rent and get some food on the table
  • 00:14:30
    and pay taxes tax returns jump from less
  • 00:14:34
    than 4 million in 1939 to 42 million in
  • 00:14:37
    1945 World War two will cost 300 billion
  • 00:14:43
    dollars twice as much as the federal
  • 00:14:46
    government had spent since George
  • 00:14:48
    Washington women's salaries set off a
  • 00:14:52
    wartime consumer boom 11,000
  • 00:14:57
    supermarkets are built purchases go up
  • 00:15:00
    twelve percent the precedent of what
  • 00:15:03
    women had accomplished in World War two
  • 00:15:05
    did linger in the memory of the society
  • 00:15:08
    enlarged and I think was one of the
  • 00:15:09
    things that energized the feminist
  • 00:15:11
    movement to a decade or two later in
  • 00:15:15
    World War two when women entered the
  • 00:15:17
    work force once they got a taste of that
  • 00:15:19
    kind of fulfillment that work can give
  • 00:15:21
    you there was no going back
  • 00:15:31
    but Peggy's job is undeniably dangerous
  • 00:15:41
    I was most worried about the detonators
  • 00:15:48
    detonators are put into the tip of the
  • 00:15:50
    shell last they explode on impact they
  • 00:15:55
    set off the Gunpowder in the shell
  • 00:15:57
    detonators are extremely unstable
  • 00:16:12
    the factory is a giant bomb it's loaded
  • 00:16:15
    with tons of explosives
  • 00:16:18
    it only takes a spark to set it off this
  • 00:16:32
    terrible thunderstorm came we were in a
  • 00:16:40
    hurry to go and somebody knocked the
  • 00:16:42
    detonators on the floor
  • 00:16:49
    we were in the pitch dark somebody was
  • 00:16:53
    screaming don't move anybody I just
  • 00:16:56
    froze right where I was I was afraid to
  • 00:16:59
    step I was so scared I crawled on my
  • 00:17:03
    hands and knees we were in slow motion
  • 00:17:08
    because if we'd stepped on one making
  • 00:17:17
    weapons can be as dangerous as using
  • 00:17:19
    them in the first 16 and a half months
  • 00:17:23
    of the war 12,000 military men died but
  • 00:17:27
    64,000 American workers died through
  • 00:17:30
    accidents another 6 million are injured
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    tonight Peggy is one of the lucky ones
  • 00:17:43
    first they survived the depression now
  • 00:17:46
    they risk their lives every day for
  • 00:17:48
    their country at war that was our finest
  • 00:17:51
    generation in terms of people who would
  • 00:17:53
    sacrifice and give something of
  • 00:17:55
    themselves 300,000 aircraft come out of
  • 00:18:01
    us factories during the war America will
  • 00:18:05
    put them to use for the bold new tactic
  • 00:18:09
    high altitude precision bombing by day
  • 00:18:11
    while the British vomit night
  • 00:18:25
    august seventeenth 1942 these are the
  • 00:18:30
    men who will see if it can be done if
  • 00:18:33
    they survive the way wars fought will
  • 00:18:36
    change forever
  • 00:18:41
    Paul Tibbets from Quincy Illinois of
  • 00:18:45
    America's best pilots of the b-17 bomber
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    the Flying Fortress
  • 00:18:51
    my father thought I was crazy not to be
  • 00:18:54
    a doctor he said if you want to go kill
  • 00:18:57
    yourself go ahead the planes are cramped
  • 00:19:01
    unheated and unpressurized crews suffer
  • 00:19:05
    claustrophobia altitude sickness and
  • 00:19:07
    frostbite
  • 00:19:09
    of the 111 men on this mission 31 will
  • 00:19:14
    be dead or missing by the end of the war
  • 00:19:17
    these men depend on each other
  • 00:19:21
    you know if you ask anybody that's ever
  • 00:19:24
    been in combat they will tell you yeah
  • 00:19:28
    sure you fought for your country you
  • 00:19:30
    fought for your way of life you know but
  • 00:19:33
    in all reality you're fighting for your
  • 00:19:35
    buddy that's right next to you
  • 00:19:40
    the b-17 bomber is just as tough as its
  • 00:19:43
    crew it's got four engines not too
  • 00:19:49
    it's got 4,000 pounds of bombs and it
  • 00:19:53
    can go at least 2,000 miles
  • 00:19:56
    it bristles like a porcupine
  • 00:19:59
    8 50 caliber machine guns fight off
  • 00:20:02
    enemy air attacks the b-17 bomber the it
  • 00:20:08
    may not have been the greatest aircraft
  • 00:20:12
    that was ever created but it was tough
  • 00:20:13
    it was durable and have found a way to
  • 00:20:16
    keep going which is pretty much like an
  • 00:20:19
    American soldier you know tough durable
  • 00:20:21
    and found a way to keep going
  • 00:20:30
    the planes climb oxygen keeps you alive
  • 00:20:34
    above 10,000 feet no oxygen you could
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    black out in three minutes and die in 20
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    the target is ruined the Germans biggest
  • 00:20:49
    railway marshalling yard in northern
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    France
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    train supply the German economic and
  • 00:20:56
    military empire across Europe tibbetts
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    mission is to wipe the yard from the map
  • 00:21:08
    august seventeenth 1942
  • 00:21:12
    before today the Allies had only bombed
  • 00:21:15
    under the cover of night but targets are
  • 00:21:18
    hard to see to increase the chances of a
  • 00:21:21
    direct hit America bombs by day
  • 00:21:26
    the aim is accuracy the Norden bombsight
  • 00:21:30
    is the way to get it it's an early
  • 00:21:33
    computer it's top secret the crew will
  • 00:21:37
    destroy it rather than have it fall into
  • 00:21:39
    enemy hands
  • 00:21:43
    dial-in air speed wind direction and
  • 00:21:46
    altitude
  • 00:21:48
    one minute to target
  • 00:21:52
    machine calculates where to fly and when
  • 00:21:55
    to drop the bombs by destroying the
  • 00:21:57
    Germans economic and industrial base
  • 00:22:00
    America will weaken the Nazis military
  • 00:22:02
    money today's target is key the railway
  • 00:22:07
    yards at ruin keep the German war
  • 00:22:09
    machine alive
  • 00:22:11
    45 seconds and artist US air crews pay a
  • 00:22:15
    high price and casualties to achieve
  • 00:22:17
    their goal in 1943 alone two-thirds of
  • 00:22:21
    aircrews never came home
  • 00:22:27
    the weather is perfect for the bombing
  • 00:22:29
    Rock visibility virtually infinite
  • 00:22:36
    but at 23,000 feet b-17s leave paper
  • 00:22:40
    trails arrows in the sky pointing right
  • 00:22:44
    to the planes
  • 00:22:49
    German anti-aircraft fire explodes under
  • 00:22:52
    the b-17
  • 00:22:55
    tibbetts keeps his nerves and the plane
  • 00:22:58
    steady the computerized bomb site zeroes
  • 00:23:02
    in on the target
  • 00:23:06
    target in sight target in sight
  • 00:23:16
    success of the mission all rests on this
  • 00:23:19
    moment
  • 00:23:22
    bombs away
  • 00:23:45
    success
  • 00:23:47
    36 thousand nine hundred pounds of bombs
  • 00:23:49
    hit the rail yard
  • 00:23:52
    fifty percent of the bombs fall in the
  • 00:23:54
    target area in 1942 that is precision
  • 00:23:58
    bombing a big improvement over nighttime
  • 00:24:01
    attacks this technology will ultimately
  • 00:24:06
    lead to today's gps-guided smart bombs
  • 00:24:10
    but now the direct hit rate is up to
  • 00:24:13
    ninety five percent tibbetts knows his
  • 00:24:19
    mission is a success we caught the
  • 00:24:22
    Germans by surprise they hadn't expected
  • 00:24:24
    a daytime attack but then shrapnel rips
  • 00:24:28
    the air the Germans open up their big
  • 00:24:36
    guns
  • 00:24:38
    88 millimeter anti-aircraft shells
  • 00:24:40
    explode around the plane
  • 00:24:46
    tibbetts goes into a steep climb
  • 00:24:48
    swinging away from the flak
  • 00:25:00
    they approved daylight bombing is
  • 00:25:03
    possible a feeling of elation took hold
  • 00:25:10
    of us as we wing back across the channel
  • 00:25:12
    we had braved the enemy in his own skies
  • 00:25:16
    and we're alive to tell about it
  • 00:25:22
    all sides bound industrial targets and
  • 00:25:25
    cities in World War two targeting Trade
  • 00:25:28
    and Industry means bombing in or near
  • 00:25:30
    population centers a grim fact of World
  • 00:25:33
    War two that sees ordinary families
  • 00:25:36
    killed in numbers undreamt of in earlier
  • 00:25:38
    conflicts Paul Tibbets will be famous
  • 00:25:43
    for another bombing run but it's three
  • 00:25:46
    years away he will drop the atomic bomb
  • 00:25:55
    on Hiroshima
  • 00:26:01
    for every b17 shot down American workers
  • 00:26:05
    produce two more overwhelm the enemy
  • 00:26:09
    overwhelm them with machines and
  • 00:26:11
    manpower
  • 00:26:14
    by 1943 10 million Americans have been
  • 00:26:17
    drafted
  • 00:26:28
    one is 18 year old Harold Baumgarten a
  • 00:26:32
    New Yorker from the Bronx
  • 00:26:35
    he'd been offered a tryout at Yankee
  • 00:26:37
    Stadium but before I could begin playing
  • 00:26:41
    for the team i was drafted on July tenth
  • 00:26:44
    1943 I entered the US Army
  • 00:26:52
    what they did is 18 or 19 year old
  • 00:26:55
    soldiers was far and away of greater
  • 00:27:00
    significance than anything they ever did
  • 00:27:02
    in the rest of their lives
  • 00:27:07
    william Dabney convinces his grandmother
  • 00:27:10
    to let him sign up at the age of 17 I
  • 00:27:13
    just wanted to follow my buddies during
  • 00:27:18
    a Revolutionary War sixth of all of
  • 00:27:20
    George Washington soldiers were black
  • 00:27:22
    men and every time in the course of our
  • 00:27:25
    first couple of hundred years that we
  • 00:27:27
    had a conflict and called upon all
  • 00:27:29
    citizens black citizens as well to serve
  • 00:27:32
    blacks stepped forward
  • 00:27:38
    despite the struggles of war old
  • 00:27:40
    prejudices remain platoons are
  • 00:27:43
    segregated the army played a significant
  • 00:27:47
    role because in many ways the army was
  • 00:27:49
    the first place that blacks and whites
  • 00:27:51
    began to have to stand together and
  • 00:27:55
    represent the same idea even though they
  • 00:27:59
    were in segregated berries like a world
  • 00:28:04
    war 2 changed the entire world but it
  • 00:28:06
    certainly transformed the American the
  • 00:28:08
    black American psyche in a way that led
  • 00:28:11
    to and made possible the civil rights
  • 00:28:13
    movement of the 50s and the 60s William
  • 00:28:17
    Dabney volunteers for the exciting
  • 00:28:19
    sounding special service
  • 00:28:24
    why
  • 00:28:28
    but all the training in the world cannot
  • 00:28:31
    prepare him for the horror that is to
  • 00:28:33
    come
  • 00:28:37
    jun 1944 southern england becomes a
  • 00:28:42
    massive army camp of 3 million Allied
  • 00:28:45
    troops over a million and a half tons of
  • 00:28:48
    equipment are shipped and flown from
  • 00:28:50
    America the goal is to retake Europe
  • 00:28:53
    from the Germans general dwight d
  • 00:28:55
    eisenhower takes command of the biggest
  • 00:28:58
    amphibious military operation in history
  • 00:29:00
    codenamed Operation Overlord to the
  • 00:29:05
    world the Normandy landings are simply
  • 00:29:07
    known as d-day every material factor of
  • 00:29:14
    war is catered for a medical corps alone
  • 00:29:16
    stockpiles tens of thousands of tons of
  • 00:29:19
    medical supplies bandages morphine
  • 00:29:22
    surgical instruments bedpans oxygen
  • 00:29:25
    tents and x-ray machines there are
  • 00:29:28
    prosthetic limbs and even eyeballs in
  • 00:29:31
    five sizes and four colors
  • 00:29:34
    by 1944 an American combatant could
  • 00:29:38
    drawn four tons of supplies versus a
  • 00:29:41
    Japanese combatant who had just two
  • 00:29:43
    pounds no one had ever produced so much
  • 00:29:48
    in such a short time and this is what
  • 00:29:51
    really um shocked both the Japanese and
  • 00:29:55
    the Germans blood is so crucial the u.s.
  • 00:29:59
    develops a system of blood banks on an
  • 00:30:01
    industrial scale in the six months
  • 00:30:05
    leading up to d-day americans donate a
  • 00:30:07
    pint of blood every two seconds the
  • 00:30:10
    blood is turned into plasma so it can be
  • 00:30:13
    used on the battlefield it is bottled
  • 00:30:17
    but in ice and packed in cans
  • 00:30:23
    but all these supplies are useless
  • 00:30:26
    without men prepared to die d-day is
  • 00:30:31
    coming june fifth 1944 American industry
  • 00:30:38
    gives the military the means to retake
  • 00:30:40
    Europe now the nation must sacrifice its
  • 00:30:43
    sons over 5.4 million u.s. soldiers will
  • 00:30:48
    invade Europe in World War two that's 40
  • 00:30:51
    times the number of US combat troops
  • 00:30:53
    originally invaded Iraq
  • 00:30:57
    this is the night before the biggest
  • 00:30:58
    single amphibious landing the world has
  • 00:31:00
    ever seen
  • 00:31:02
    d-day Harold Baumgarten has come a long
  • 00:31:09
    way since enlisting a year ago many of
  • 00:31:13
    us had our head shape so that our hair
  • 00:31:16
    could not be grabbed during hand-to-hand
  • 00:31:18
    combat
  • 00:31:20
    many of these men at less than 12 hours
  • 00:31:23
    to live I did not expect to come back
  • 00:31:26
    alive I wrote such to my sister to get
  • 00:31:30
    the mail before my parents and break the
  • 00:31:33
    news gently to them when she received
  • 00:31:34
    the telegram you know we were brought up
  • 00:31:40
    on good guys and bad guys we go back we
  • 00:31:44
    talk about our our westerns that way you
  • 00:31:48
    know Hitler was a clear and I think when
  • 00:31:52
    you have a really clear enemy you've won
  • 00:31:54
    the hearts and minds there is that
  • 00:31:58
    commitment of sacrifice eve of battle
  • 00:32:02
    rituals include Mohican haircuts and war
  • 00:32:05
    paint preparations are mentals as well
  • 00:32:08
    as material dog tags are taped together
  • 00:32:13
    so they don't rattle stealth and mean
  • 00:32:16
    you live or die one officer tells his
  • 00:32:20
    men what they can expect look to the
  • 00:32:24
    right of you look to the left of you
  • 00:32:27
    there's only going to be one of you left
  • 00:32:30
    after the first week
  • 00:32:32
    william Dabney now knows what his
  • 00:32:35
    special service mission is he has to
  • 00:32:39
    drag a barrage balloon ashore while
  • 00:32:41
    under heavy fire it's a tactic designed
  • 00:32:45
    to block German aircraft from strafing
  • 00:32:47
    Allied troops his chances are slim that
  • 00:32:52
    he is determined to survive I will
  • 00:32:56
    return I will come back to the USA I'm
  • 00:33:00
    not looking forward to getting shot or
  • 00:33:02
    killed I'm looking forward to going home
  • 00:33:12
    more than 70,000 american troops are
  • 00:33:15
    about to invade german-held france over
  • 00:33:19
    a thousand will die on the first day
  • 00:33:21
    june sixth nineteen forty four d-day
  • 00:33:29
    over five thousand ships and ten
  • 00:33:32
    thousand aircraft are involved in the
  • 00:33:34
    first wave alone five beaches will be
  • 00:33:40
    stormed the most infamous is codenamed
  • 00:33:43
    Omaha Beach think about Omaha Beach from
  • 00:33:50
    the standpoint of the young man the ramp
  • 00:33:55
    is about to drop and the sights and the
  • 00:33:58
    sounds all around provide the context of
  • 00:34:03
    held the first troops on Omaha Beach
  • 00:34:12
    meet ferocious German resistance
  • 00:34:22
    rocket launchers mortars and 85
  • 00:34:25
    machine-gun nests tear into the
  • 00:34:27
    Americans
  • 00:34:47
    there were meant to be 32 tanks with
  • 00:34:49
    them 27 sink the men are left with
  • 00:34:54
    virtually no cover on the beach
  • 00:35:02
    william Dabney is totally exposed
  • 00:35:06
    tethered to his barrage balloon he's
  • 00:35:09
    defenseless when it's shot down he has
  • 00:35:12
    his chance
  • 00:35:24
    like every other soldier on Omaha Beach
  • 00:35:27
    black or white davines mission now is to
  • 00:35:30
    survive
  • 00:35:34
    there wasn't any segregation there
  • 00:35:43
    Harold Baumgarten he's thrown straight
  • 00:35:46
    into the carnage so they were men with
  • 00:35:50
    guts hanging out of their wounds and
  • 00:35:52
    body parts lying along their path
  • 00:35:57
    some men were simply overwhelmed by the
  • 00:36:00
    hell they met
  • 00:36:11
    by 9am almost 5,000 men are ashore there
  • 00:36:16
    are more than 2,000 u.s. casualties on
  • 00:36:18
    Omaha Beach alone
  • 00:36:27
    william Dabney survives is later awarded
  • 00:36:33
    the Legion of Honor
  • 00:36:41
    Operation Overlord is a logistical
  • 00:36:44
    miracle but the cost is staggering
  • 00:36:46
    nearly one hundred and twenty-six
  • 00:36:48
    thousand Americans are killed wounded or
  • 00:36:51
    go missing during the Battle of Normandy
  • 00:37:00
    Harold Baumgarten is hit five times
  • 00:37:05
    after losing blood for over 30 hours
  • 00:37:08
    Baumgarten is brought back from the dead
  • 00:37:10
    by a plasma transfusion then injections
  • 00:37:13
    of penicillin and morphine the very
  • 00:37:16
    supplies america has mass produced to
  • 00:37:19
    keep its men alive
  • 00:37:22
    d-day is key to Hitler's defeat within a
  • 00:37:27
    month the Allies have landed more than
  • 00:37:29
    eight hundred and seventy seven thousand
  • 00:37:31
    troops 112,000 vehicles and five hundred
  • 00:37:35
    and seventy three thousand tons of
  • 00:37:37
    supplies u.s. bombing destroys German
  • 00:37:41
    oil reserves and transportation American
  • 00:37:48
    machinery and men powers the drive to
  • 00:37:50
    Berlin and Victory in Europe
  • 00:37:55
    but men are still dying fighting the
  • 00:37:58
    Japanese
  • 00:38:03
    America turns to technology once again a
  • 00:38:08
    weapon to end the war a weapon to change
  • 00:38:13
    the world
  • 00:38:21
    the Alamogordo desert New Mexico July
  • 00:38:26
    sixteenth 1945 527 am in three minutes
  • 00:38:34
    American technology will change the
  • 00:38:36
    world forever
  • 00:38:41
    robert oppenheimer the theoretical
  • 00:38:45
    physicist who loves poetry as much as
  • 00:38:47
    science
  • 00:38:49
    the FBI would track his every move
  • 00:38:52
    worried that he's a communist get
  • 00:38:56
    Oppenheimer lead the biggest scientific
  • 00:38:58
    test in history the top secret Manhattan
  • 00:39:02
    Project theoretically fish in physics
  • 00:39:07
    that enable enormous amounts of
  • 00:39:09
    explosive energy we released from a
  • 00:39:12
    single device the atomic bomb
  • 00:39:18
    the bomb is the most technologically
  • 00:39:21
    advanced weapon in the world if nobody
  • 00:39:24
    is sure whether it will work even many
  • 00:39:28
    of the people who worked on the bomb
  • 00:39:30
    itself were skeptical that the bomb
  • 00:39:33
    would actually work no one had ever done
  • 00:39:36
    anything like this
  • 00:39:43
    the use of bombing escalates on all
  • 00:39:45
    sides in World War two but whole cities
  • 00:39:48
    of civilians are being hit
  • 00:39:52
    now the US military hope a single bomb
  • 00:39:55
    can destroy an entire city
  • 00:39:58
    wreaking that kind of mass destruction
  • 00:40:00
    that something new in the history of
  • 00:40:02
    warfare the atomic bomb was putting
  • 00:40:05
    phatak punctuation to that decision but
  • 00:40:08
    the decision was way before 19 in august
  • 00:40:11
    of 1945 if this test works there are
  • 00:40:15
    more atomic bombs to use on the Japanese
  • 00:40:17
    hopes of ending the war deputy
  • 00:40:22
    commanding general of the Manhattan
  • 00:40:24
    Project Thomas Farrow watches
  • 00:40:27
    Oppenheimer dr. Oppenheimer grew denser
  • 00:40:30
    as the last seconds ticked off he's
  • 00:40:34
    scarcely breathed he stared directly
  • 00:40:36
    ahead
  • 00:40:47
    Heather
  • 00:40:55
    one
  • 00:41:09
    the temperature generated at the center
  • 00:41:11
    of the explosion is 10,000 times greater
  • 00:41:14
    than the surface of the sun
  • 00:41:18
    the heat turns the deserts and a glass
  • 00:41:24
    the explosion is more massive than even
  • 00:41:27
    Oppenheimer expects when it went off in
  • 00:41:30
    the New Mexico dawn that first atomic
  • 00:41:33
    bomb we thought of Alfred Nobel and his
  • 00:41:36
    hope his vain hope that dynamite would
  • 00:41:39
    put an end to Wars
  • 00:41:43
    even the scientists themselves recognize
  • 00:41:46
    the gravity of that moment and of course
  • 00:41:48
    Oppenheimer famously said I become death
  • 00:41:52
    the destroyer of worlds quoting the
  • 00:41:54
    Bhagavad Gita and recognizing that man
  • 00:41:58
    had really reached a turning point where
  • 00:42:00
    they the power available to us was
  • 00:42:02
    almost limitless when atomic bombs are
  • 00:42:07
    dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki an
  • 00:42:09
    estimated 120,000 people died instantly
  • 00:42:13
    the days months and years that follow up
  • 00:42:17
    to 80,000 more die slowly a day after
  • 00:42:22
    the second bomb is dropped the Japanese
  • 00:42:24
    surrender
  • 00:42:33
    America's technical innovation is
  • 00:42:36
    decisive in winning the bloodiest war in
  • 00:42:38
    history
  • 00:42:46
    having survived the Depression and World
  • 00:42:48
    War 2 the greatest generation comes home
  • 00:42:53
    they'd been through it all and they
  • 00:42:56
    wanted one thing they wanted a better
  • 00:42:58
    life for their families than they have
  • 00:43:00
    and that's what they dedicated
  • 00:43:01
    themselves to America's distance from
  • 00:43:05
    battle leaves its infrastructure intact
  • 00:43:07
    its economy vibrant it produces twice as
  • 00:43:12
    much oil as the rest of the world
  • 00:43:13
    combined it has half the world's
  • 00:43:17
    manufacturing capacity and two-thirds of
  • 00:43:20
    its gold stocks and they had no real
  • 00:43:23
    competition in the world because Europe
  • 00:43:25
    was devastated Asia was devastated and
  • 00:43:27
    America could be the Colossus that it
  • 00:43:30
    became world war two transforms the USA
  • 00:43:34
    in only four years Americans make twice
  • 00:43:38
    as much money as they did before the war
  • 00:43:41
    they have 50 million babies in 15 years
  • 00:43:45
    there are 20 million new jobs in 25
  • 00:43:48
    years
  • 00:43:51
    becomes a super
  • 00:43:58
    you
Tags
  • World War II
  • Pearl Harbor
  • American Economy
  • Women in Workforce
  • B-17 Bomber
  • Atomic Bomb
  • Manhattan Project
  • Military Production
  • Greatest Generation
  • Superpower