Summary
During the 1930s, as the world faced a crippling economic depression following the fancy-free "Roaring Twenties," several dictators began their rise to power around the world. Men like Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Francisco Franco, Joseph Stalin, and the warlords of Japan pushed political boundaries and physical borders until whole countries either were invaded or annexed to the Axis powers. The United States, believing it was safe from this kind of invasion, established an isolationist policy that allowed it to remain neutral. The inaction of the U.S. government would not last for long, though, as the shock and outrage of the attack on Hawaii's Pearl Harbor plunged the United States into the greatest war in history, one whose effects are still felt today. In this war's aftermath, America, alongside its allies, emerged in a position of greater power than it had ever known before. In World War II: 1939-1945, read about the all-encompassing world war that created America's "Greatest Generation."