By mid-1940, almost all of Western Europe had fallen to the Nazis. When France surrendered to the Germans in June 1940, the Nazis seemed unstoppable.
All that stood between the German conquerors and the island nation of Britain was the narrow English Channel.
Hitler’s successes encouraged Japanese forces to move from China into Southeast Asia. The U.S. protested but took no military action.
Most people in the U.S. favored the Allied cause but didn’t want to go to war. They saw it as an issue among European nations and felt protected by the oceans that separate the U.S. from Europe and Asia. President Roosevelt gave economic aid to the Allies, but he could do little more. Britain now stood as the leader of the free world against the Axis threat.
