Question

How did decisions by Germany and Japan in 1941 lead to their defeat in World War II? 

Answer 1

The United States had great military potential, but in December of 1941, it was still more potential than reality.  Immediately, the nation launched the greatest industrial expansion in human history. Within months, new orders for munitions, uniforms, and combat vehicles absorbed the remaining unemployed workers from the Great Depression.  Old factories were expanded and modernized, and giant new ones sprang up as if by magic.  For example, the Chrysler Tank Arsenal sprang up seemingly overnight to produce the tanks and armored vehicles that would become the spearheads of General George S. Patton's Third Army.

In the skies American dominance was clear.  Boeing built the great four-engine, strategic bomber fleets that destroyed entire cities.  By 1942, American factories were churning out tens of thousands of airplanes, more than Germany and Japan combined.  By 1944, assembly lines were producing almost 100,000 aircraft, a total greater than the combined output of Germany, Japan, and the British Empire.  Statistics for trucks, jeeps, landing ships, artillery pieces, and self-propelled guns were almost as dramatic.

Perhaps the most incredible numbers were put up at sea.  By the end of the war, the United States Navy was larger and more powerful than the navies of all other countries put together.  The shipyards in Philadelphia proved able to build an entire ship, from beginning to end, in a mere seventy-two hours, with tens of thousands of employees working around the clock, seven days a week.

In order to make the instruments of war, as well as uniforms and penicillin, the need for manpower was great.  Indeed, manpower became the wrong word.  As millions of men joined the Armed Forces and as industrial production soared, women became the obvious source of labor.  At first, women took non-defense jobs.  Soon, however, opportunities in shipyards and aircraft factories were open to women. 

The tanks, artillery, ships, and trucks churned out by the arsenal of democracy would be useful only if brave men could be found to take them into harm's way.  In this respect, the United States proved to be exceptionally fruitful. After Pearl Harbor, induction centers across the nation were swamped with volunteers who were anxious to take a swing at the brash Japanese.

The United States had great military potential, but in December of 1941, it was still more potential than reality.  Immediately, the nation launched the greatest industrial expansion in human history