The instability created in Europe by World War I set the stage for another international conflict World War II, which broke out two decades later and proved to be even more devastating. Rising to power in an unstable country, Germany, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party had ambitions of world domination. Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 drove Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany, and World War II had begun. Over the next six years, the conflict would take more lives and destroy more land and property around the globe than any previous war with estimated 45-60 million casualties (Stevenson). During World War II various codes were used by American soldiers to relay encrypted messages. The Axis powers, however, …show more content…
The use of the Navajo language to create a code during World War II was the idea of Philip Johnston, the son of William and Margaret Johnston who were Protestant missionaries to the Navajo (Holm 71). Johnston was born and raised in the reservation; he was also the one of very few Americans who could speak the Navajo language precisely (Aaseng 17). In February of 1942, Johnston was able to present the language to the commanders of the Marine Corps and the idea impressed them, so that they allowed Johnston to start a Navajo Code Talker Test Program. Later in April, Johnston and the Marine Corps commanders went to the reservation and recruited thirty men (Aaseng 23). The men that were recruited marked the start of the pilot program. Of the first thirty men who joined the program, only twenty-nine completed it and went to help the war effort. The two men that had dropped out were not qualified for service as code talkers for the Marine Corps (Paul 75). This group of the twenty-nine Navajo men came to be called the “original twenty-nine.” The Navajo men that were recruited often lacked birth certificates so it was impossible for the Marine Corps to verify ages, but after the war it was discovered that some recruits were as young as fifteen and some were as old as thirty- five (Paul 14). Once the Navajo men were given the task to create the code it was not an easy task. Each military word had to be given a code name and the code name had to be
Annotated Bibliography Throughout WWII, Navajo soldiers, through way of code, sent messages to the rest for the American troops. These Navajos endured many hardships during the war, which leads to the question: How did the Navajo Code Talkers Culture develop and change during WWII? The readers will understand that over 400 Native American Marines severed in the war in the pacific. The audience also finds that Navajos were not allowed to speak of their contributions during the war, until the 1960’s.
This investigation evaluates to what extent did the Navajo code talkers aid the American military during WWII? In order to assess the extent to which these soldiers assisted the American military during WWII, this investigation focuses on their involvement in transmitting military messages in their native tongue, and the events surrounding these transmissions. In addition, the contribution of other Native American code talkers is considered and compared to that of the Navajos specifically within the investigation.
In the documentary short subject titled “The Story of the Navajo Code Talkers” by producer Jordan Haddad explains a short history of events starting with Mr. Philip Johnston. Mr. Johnston, a civil engineer living in Los Angeles, heard about the U.S. codes being intercepted by the Japanese military and wanted to help aid the war effort. While living with his missionary parents on a reservation, Johnston asked Lt. Col. James Jones, a Signal Corps Communication Officer for permission to experiment with thirty Navajo men to begin a new cryptograph program. The men enlisted in the military and were stationed at Camp Pendleton, in San Diego, California. Upon completion of boot camp and initial cryptograph school, the new code talkers were sent
#Navajo Conflicts in Arizona and New Mexico fighting between the Navajo and the U.S. army which led to their expulsion
On September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland. This led to a widespread war across many nations. This war was later called World War II. Before Germany invaded Poland, both America and Germany were going through a Great Depression. In the war, there were two sides, The Allies,(including America and
of young Navajo men were enlisted under a TOP SECRET project to train them as Marine
Alas, their most notorious action was the use of Navajo code to communicate in WWI. Communication is key in war and essential, countries use secret codes to pass things along. That is why the Native Americans thought about using their language as code for the US. The National Museum of the United States Army mentions how many tribal languages were used,
For six agonizing years, the world was at a point of great strife. Considered a turning point of the century, World War II consisted of the Axis powers-Italy, Japan, and Germany-and the Allies-United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union. The war initially started when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, but the United States did not declare war until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. In order to put an end to any further bloodshed, the United States decided to drop the newly invented atomic bomb. The use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified due to the numerous lives spared, ending the merciless Japanese soldiers terrorization of Chinese innocents and American prisoners of war, as well as
The Navajo, having been placed in a situation where they were at the mercy of their captors, at times faced abuses from the very people intended to protect them. One memory notes severe abuse at the hands of ‘Mexican’ soldiers, as recalled “At night the Mexican soldiers took small children and babies from their mothers. The children would cry for their mothers, and the Mexican soldiers would kill the children who were crying and throw them in the ditch.” The accuracy of designating the soldiers as being ‘Mexican’ in this case is uncertain, as it is noted that in remembering these stories the Navajo at times confused the identities of their aggressors. (Long Walk Oral Histories pg1)
And for the Code Talkers, years and years later, when they could finally discuss the code, “Senator Jeff Bingaman . . . proposed the ‘Honoring the Navajo Code Talkers Act’ . . . the act called for recognition for the code talkers” (Nez 256). Both saved the day and both oppressor groups were largely grateful for their sacrifices and for their differences that made it possible.
The Navajo Code was used to communicate orders without the enemies knowing what was being said. Throughout the movie, we see discrimination and racism and the effects war has on the soldiers. After losing all his squad members and being sent to a hospital,
In the early hours of the 1st September 1939 German forces invaded Poland. 21 years after the end of World War I, the world had to face the beginning of another world war that should last 6 years. World War II was one of the most disastrous events in human history causing approximately 60 million deaths and destruction almost all over the globe (msn Encarta 2008). Winston Churchill wrote in the preface of his book about World War II (The Gathering Storm):
Although this idea had been successfully implemented during World War I using the Choctaw Indian's language, history generally credits Philip Johnston for the idea to use Navajos to transmit code
And yet, it was too complicated for the Japanese cryptographers to decode the messages. What is more, as Baker says, the codes used in WWII were incredibly complex, too complex to even be compared with any human language, yet Navajo was the one puzzle the Japanese could not solve. The paradox, then, is that it seems that Navajo must be similar to English, because otherwise the Code Talkers would not have been able to translate the messages
The Second World War began in September of 1939 and was between the Allies and the Axis. It began with Germany’s unprovoked attack and conquest of Poland, and involved Britain and France from the beginning. Its origins lay in German resentment at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the economic crisis of 1929-30, which favored the rise to power of Fascist dictators, the failure of the League of Nations to gain international acceptance for disarmament, and the policy of imperialism adopted by Germany, Italy and Japan as a means of acquiring raw materials and markets. As a part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to accept full responsibility for the First World War, which then led up to the outbreak of the Second. The