Introduction
The Second World War (WW II) was a worldwide Confrontation that comprised more than 30 countries, including major powers. This war continued from the year 1939 until 1945: major powers had created two divergent armed coalitions, with the first being the Allies and the second being known as the Axis (Boldyrev, 2019). The Allies powers consisted of Britain, the Soviet Union, and France, while the axis powers were Germany, Japan, as well as Italy. As the confrontation, progressed, other countries joined the warfare on either side. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak of this fighting, among them rising tensions in Europe after World War 1 and Germany’s invasion of Poland (Boldyrev, 2019). As the fighting continued, there arose the need to produce equipment to sustain the war: this came to be called wartime production. It involved the manufacture of war equipment needed during this time. Items produced were arms, ammunition, petroleum products, rubber, paper, and plastic (Salavrakos, 2017). This paper examines how government, citizens, and businesses worked together to promote the manufacturing of war tools during World War II, as well as the effects caused by the conflict.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt came up with the idea of establishing a wartime organization to control the economy. He asked for the establishment of the War Production Board. The purpose of this board was to transition industries from producing non-combat products, which comprised automobiles, small appliances, and toys, to wartime manufacturing of combat tools such as guns. The board mentioned above was dissolved after Japan’s defeat in 1945 and replaced by the Civilian Production Administration (Romero, 2018). The U.S. industries supplied almost all military apparatus needed by the allies during the confrontation. American industries transformed drastically: thus, companies producing war equipment expanded. The government rewarded companies that met production targets. Car manufacturing companies produced more cars in the U.S. The Packard industry, for example, made Rolls-Royce engines for the Air force in Britain (Salavrakos, 2017). In addition, automobile companies also built tanks and aircraft machines.
American production doubled that of Japan, which was producing wartime equipment for the axis powers. This greatly favored the allied powers during the Second World War. Citizens provided the labor required to meet the demands of these industries. Women took occupations in wartime companies as more men joined the war as soldiers (Wollney & Sternadori, 2019). Industrial workers adopted more productive jobs in industries rather than engaging in less productive activities such as agriculture. Ordinary residents were also required to limit certain products so as to generate more tax revenue for their countries (Romero, 2018). Government war bonds were sold to individuals and financial institutions. These measures ensured that the concerned nations maintained revenue and controlled inflation. Other ethnic groups in America, such as the African Americans and Latin Americans, got more jobs working in these industries, an occurrence that had never happened before.
World War II’s Effects on Governments, Ordinary Citizens, and Businesses
World War II was a wide-reaching battle that had several effects on governments, civilians, and industries. Concerning businesses, industries shifted from peacetime production to wartime production (Salavrakos, 2017). Citizens had to limit their consumption of these commodities as the manufacturing of the above tools increased. Wartime production shielded the United States’ factories from bombings, unlike in the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. Moreover, it created numerous jobs, thus reducing the rate of unemployment in the United States. More people were recruited to work in producing war equipment (Romero, 2018). Nonetheless, manufacturing the above products destroyed economies in other countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom.
On the side of the governments, most countries spent a considerable amount of money on buying war equipment and paying soldiers. The U.S., on the other hand, gained economically as it sold almost all equipment needed during the conflict, thus boosting the country’s economy, which had deteriorated during the great depression (Romero, 2018). On their part, citizens, especially women and minority groups, took up jobs in industries. On the other hand, men were mostly enlisted in the army as soldiers and were taken to the battleground to fight. This altered women’s traditional role as home keepers (Wollney & Sternadori, 2019). People also moved from rural to urban areas to work in the war production industries.
The industries mentioned above employed a huge portion of the workforce population, which caused other non-war production industries, such as agriculture, to experience a shortage of labor. This is because citizens preferred working in the expanding wartime production sector where they were assured of job security (Wollney, & Sternadori, 2019). In addition, children were encouraged to provide labor on these farms. The Second World War also led to the division of the world into two blocs: the capitalists, led by the U.S., as well as the communists, led by the Soviet Union (Salavrakos, 2017). These opposing alliances had different ideological philosophies for reviving the failing economies after the war. There was a rise in civil rights movements aimed at addressing inequalities in the workplace as African Americans and Latin Americans faced discrimination while working in the industries during and after the war.
Conclusion
In conclusion, wartime production saw cooperation between the government, businesses, and citizens to achieve its purpose. The U.S government formed the Wartime Production Board, which successfully transitioned peacetime industries into wartime industries. These manufacturing companies were in charge of producing arms and all sorts of war artillery as these tools were produced on a large scale. On the other hand, citizens worked in these industries to generate what was needed. America’s wartime production exceeded that one of Japan.
References
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Romero S., F. (2018). A civil war of words: The cultural impact of the Great War in Catalonia, Spain, Europe, and Latin America.First World War Studies, 9(2), 261-263. Web.
Salavrakos, I. (2017). A re-assessment of the German armaments production during World War II. Scientia Militaria, 44(2), 113-145. Web.
Wollney, E., & Sternadori, M. (2019). Feminine, competent, submissive: A multimodal analysis of depictions of women in U.S. wartime persuasive messages during World War I and World War II.Visual Communication Quarterly, 26(1), 3-21. Web.