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World War II and Its Aftermath, 1931-1949 The West CHAPTER 26 An Uneasy Peace • 1918 peace settlements failed • Fostered political instability in central and eastern Europe • League of Nations proved too weak to serve as the basis for a new world order • Persistence of a framework of alliances within Europe • Created resentment in Italy and Japan The 1930s: Prelude to World War II • The Great Depression heightened international instability • Increased economic nationalism and territorial expansion • Japan, Italy and Germany pursued policies of militarization and imperial conquest • German invasion of Poland prompted declaration of war by France and Britain, September 3, 1939 Evaluating Appeasement • Britain assumed the initiative to respond to Nazi aggression with a policy of appeasement negotiation and conciliation • Belief that many German grievances were legitimate • Desire to strengthen Germany against the Soviet Union • Belief that resolving legitimate German grievances would weaken Nazi appeal A New Kind of Warfare • Technological and tactical advances in offensive warfare, since WWI • Use of air force and tanks to break swiftly through defensive lines • Blitzkrieg - by June 1940, Germany, with its allies and satellites, controlled most of continental Europe • British won the air war over Britain, preventing German land invasion The Invasion of the Soviet Union • Economic considerations caused by Italian military weakness delayed the invasion • German invasion was initially very successful, June-October 1941 • German supply and communication lines became overstretched • Soviet resistance and industrial output increased • Onset of the Russian winter proved fatal The Globalization of the War • Britain depended on manpower and resources from colonies and the Commonwealth to survive • The US, officially neutral, supplied both Britain and the Soviets, against Germany • Japanese occupation of much of South East Asia and the Pacific • December 1941 - US entered the war against Japan and Germany From Allied Defeat to Allied Victory • American and Soviet industrial supremacy pushed the balance in the Allies’ favor • Crucial defeats of Japan, at Midway, and of Germany, at Stalingrad • Allied offensive began to push back German gains, in Europe, and Japanese gains, in the Pacific • May 7 1945 - Germany surrendered • August 15 1945 - Japan surrendered The Other Wars • Formation of resistance and guerilla groups, against German occupation in Europe • German savagery against such resistance deterred all but a minority • Divisions, often between communists and anticommunists, weakened resistance • In Yugoslavia, German occupation and resistance activities led to a bloody civil war along ethnic and ideological lines The Home Fronts • Targeting of civilian areas by bombing raids, on both sides, led to huge noncombatant casualties • Nazi racial ideology shaped the experience of occupation - extreme brutality in Eastern Europe • Use of forced, foreign labor in Germany cushioned civilian morale Women’s Work • In Britain and the Soviet Union, women were fully mobilized into the war effort • Women fought in resistance movements and in the Soviet Army • Nazi ideology and use of forced labor prevented female mobilization, until 1944 • In the US, gender distinctions and the separation between soldiers and civilians were maintained What Are We Fighting For? • Institutionalized propaganda by governments in all combatant nations • Enlistment of artists, musicians, film and mass media to build morale and contribute to national myths • Emergence of a political consensus on the need for social democracy in Europe • Resistance to German rule enhanced the role of the individual in modern society Devastation, Death and Continuing War • Ca. 55 million people died in Europe, during WWII • Europe was physically and economically devastated • Refugees and forced deportations changed the ethnic map of Europe • Continued warfare in Eastern Europe over ethnic and ideological divisions Imperial Encounters • After WWII, nationalist movements across Asia resisted the reimposition of imperial government • Economic pressure forced Britain to dramatically reduce its empire • Proclamation of the state of Israel, 1948, led to Arab-Israeli conflict • Independence of India led to bloody conflicts among Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs From Hot to Cold War: Fraying Seams, 1943-1945 • Clashing interests and aims between the Allies even before the war’s end • US sought to establish a new global order, based upon international organizations and cooperation establishment of the UN, the IMF, and the World Bank • Yalta Conference, 1945 - guaranteed Soviet influence over Eastern Europe, and divided Germany and Berlin From Hot to Cold War: Torn in Two, 1945-1949 • Potsdam Conference, 1946 - division between Allies over treatment of Germany • Truman Doctrine, 1947 - policy of actively containing communist expansion • Marshall Plan, 1947 - US underwrote the economic reconstruction of Western Europe • April, 1949 - Formation of NATO • 1949-1955 - Formation of the Warsaw Pact The New Europe, the New West • Reshaped the dominant idea of the West into a commitment to democratic processes and values • Division of Europe into two hostile, military blocs • Geographical redefinition of the West, as the US and its allies • Beginning of the end of European imperial power