Passed out the corrected test….surprisingly 9 did really well….2 did fair…..and 1 was asleep at the wheel……reminded everyone to save tests for review for the final……

World War 2 began and the Middle East become important to especially Germany……the oil…Germany did not have its own reserves and was always looking for a source……

The US realized that the Middle East would be a strategic region…..but showed little interests in involving itself so they made sure the England had all they needed to help in the Fight against Rommel who was making a noise that they could not ignore…..the answer was the Lend/Lease” program…..this was aid that the US government gave to its allies during the war……most of which went to Britain and the USSR……

In the Middle East the program was called the Persian Corridor….it was mostly a transportation network for sending air to the USSR through Iran……(see handout)…..Iran was also important to the US for its huge oil reserves….(it seems to always come down to the oil)……

Source: The Persian Corridor and Aid to Russia

Then there was the US and Saudi Arabia relationship…..once again oil was the driving force of such relations…..this caused a bit of a problem with the UK who thought the US was trying to edge the UK out of the country with the use of monetary fare and other techniques….the two allies resolved their differences by agreeing to honor the others oil leases in Saudi Arabia…..

Next area of work was Turkey….the US spent considerable time and effort to keep Turkey neutral in WW2….why?  1–If Turkey came in the war on the side of the allies then they would be responsible for honoring treaties of protection and 2–if Turkey came in on the side of Germany then the straits would be vulnerable to closing and restricting the flow of supplies to the USSR….Turkey used this concern to pad their coffers considerably…..

Source: World War II — Turkey

(Pause for discussion)

Finally the region known as North Africa…..the UK had its hands full trying to keep Rommel from gaining access to the Suez Canal and finally in 1942 US troops landed in Morocco and Algeria…..to push the Nazis into Tunisia and final defeat…..then North Africa became the staging ground for the next step of the war…the invasion of Italy through the island of Sicily…..

Source: North African Campaign

The wider aspirations of the US was to defeat the Axis powers……the US government was also concerned with the rise of a more nationalistic feelings of the people which would manifest itself large in the years after the end of the war…..

Discuss the covered material……..passed out the hand out for Friday’s lecture…..

Informed students that I would be available to discuss grades or anything else that pertains to the course subject…..