Download III. The consequences of the war

SECONDARY EDUCATION 4
HISTORY
UNIT 6
WHAT CAUSED AND HOW DID
THE SECOND WORLD WAR DEVELOP?
A) Index
B) Concepts
C) Resources
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A\ INDEX
WHAT CAUSED AND HOW DID THE SECOND WORLD WAR DEVELOP?
I.
The failure of collective security and the path to war (1930-1939)
1.
2.
3.
4.
II.
The failure of the League of Nations
The alliance of the totalitarian states
The breakdown of the appeasement policy
The start of the conflict: the invasion of Poland
The World War II (1939- 1945)
1. The German offensive: lightning war (1939-1941)
2. The spread of the conflict (1941-1942)
3. Allied victories (1942-1945)
III.
The consequences of the war
1. The Human and economic loss
2. Peace treaties
3. The United Nations Organisation
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B\ CONCEPTS
I.
The failure of collective security and the path to war (1930-1939)
1. The failure of the League of Nations
During the 1920s it seemed that the League of Nations was succeeding, on the whole, in
keeping peace in the world, and the international atmosphere was one of hope. But perhaps
this was because during the twenties there was no serious threat of war involving one of the
big powers. During the thirties a few strong countries chose to reject the authority of the
League, and revealed that the League was powerless.
Japan was the first of these countries. In 1931 the Japanese troops stationed in Manchuria
(northern China) to protect the railway, claimed that they had been attacked, and took control
of the whole province. Japan declared Manchuria a separate country from China and gave it
the name of Manchukuo. Once they took over Manchuria they began to move into the rest of
China. The League of Nations condemned this, but Japan took no notice and left the League
in 1933.
In 1933 Hitler became Chancellor of Germany and immediately began to rearm and expand.
In 1933 Germany abandoned the League of Nations; in 1935 it organised a plebiscite in
the Saar and it was annexed to Germany; and in 1936 Hitler ordered his troops to occupy
the Rhineland (it was German territory but it was demilitarised in the Treaty of Versailles).
In 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia today) to expand its colonial territory. The League
of Nations established some economic sanctions, but Italy continued its occupation and in
1936 completed the conquest of Abyssinia declaring it part of the Italian Empire. Italy
resigned from the League at the end of 1937.
2. The alliance of the totalitarian states
By the mid-1930s it was becoming clear that Japan, Italy and Germany believed that they
were entitled to do whatever they thought was best for them, whether or not it meant using
force.
Soon Italy and Germany agreed to cooperate. In 1936 Hitler and Mussolini signed the
“Rome-Berlin Axis” to fight together in the Spanish Civil War helping Franco. Germany also
signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, to oppose Communism everywhere; Italy
signed a year later.
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3. The breakdown of the appeasement policy
Things were going so well that Hitler began to put pressure on his neighbours and
expanded in Europe. He justified his expansion by saying he was only asking for what was
rightfully German, for lands where the people spoke German. The Allies had accepted the
principle of national unity and the freedom of choice. The main European powers accepted
German demands to avoid war. This was a policy of appeasement.
In March 1938 German troops invaded Austria (this is called the Anschluss). The next step
was Czechoslovakia.
The Czech region of the Sudetenland had a significant German population. Hitler said the
Sudetenland should be part of Germany. The Czechs denied this option as the area was
essential to their own security. They asked for help from France and Britain and Germany
was supported by her allies. War seemed imminent. Chamberlain (the British Prime Minister)
called a conference at Munich, attended by Germany, France, Italy and Britain. They agreed
that the Sudetenland should be handed over to Germany. Hitler said ‘I have no more
territorial demands in Europe’.
In March 1939 Hitler’s troops invaded Czechoslovakia. The Second World War was about
to begin. In April 1939, following Hitler’s aggression, Mussolini sent troops into Albania.
4. The start of the conflict: the invasion of Poland
As soon as Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia it was obvious that Poland would be his next
target. Great Britain made an alliance with Poland to support her if she was invaded. France
already had such an alliance.
Hitler didn’t fear France or Great Britain. The only country which could interfere in Hitler’s
plan was the USSR. Germany and the USSR signed an agreement of non-aggression in
1939. Both countries would divide Poland and the USSR would obtain Finland and the Baltic
countries.
In September 1939 German forces invaded Poland. Britain and France stood by their
alliance with Poland and declared war on Germany.
The Second World War had begun. There were two sides in the war: the Axis powers
(Germany, Italy and Japan) and the Allies (Great Britain and France).
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II.
The Second World War (1939-1945)
1. The German offensive: the lighting war (“Blitzkrieg” 1939-1941)
Hitler’s armies smashed the Poles by using a new method of warfare- blitzkrieg (lightning
war). It depended upon close cooperation between the army and two other key weapons: the
tank and the aeroplane. By the end of September 1939 the Germans and Russians had
occupied Poland. After a five month pause they occupied Denmark and Norway (April
1940). In May attacks were made on Holland, Belgium and France, which were soon
defeated. Mussolini declared war in June, just before the fall of France. Stalin took this
opportunity to force the republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to become members of the
USSR.
This situation left Britain alone. Chamberlain resigned and Winston Churchill was named
Prime Minister. The British Royal Navy was too strong so Hitler tried to conquer Britain by
attacking it from the air (the Battle of Britain from June to September 1939). Hitler’s
Luftwaffe (air force) failed to destroy the Royal Air Force or to paralyse British cities by
bombing. Britain managed to withstand Hitler’s attacks because he could not invade by sea
without controlling the air. In the meantime, Mussolini invaded Egypt and Greece with the
help of the Germans. By the summer of 1941 Hitler was master of all Europe.
2. The spread of the conflict (1941-1942)
In this period the war became a world-wide conflict for several reasons:

Hitler, confident of the victory over Britain, started the invasion of Russia (June
1941), breaking the non-aggression pact. Stalin was taken completely by surprise.
Many were happy (Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Ukrainians, etc). Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria became Hitler’s allies.

In the summer of 1941, when Japan sent troops to occupy French Indochina (the
French, now under German control, had to agree), the USA responded by cutting off
trade with Japan. This affected oil supplies that were vital to Japan. The Japanese
decided that their best chance was a surprise attack to destroy the American fleet in
Hawaii. The Japanese forced the USA into the war by attacking the American naval
base at Pearl Harbor (December 1941).
The Axis powers (especially Japan and Germany) seemed to be invincible.
3. Allied victories (1942-1945)
The Allies (Britain, the USA and the USSR) decided to make a common front against the
Axis powers. There was a turning point in the war in 1942 thanks to three important battles
in which the Axis forces were defeated:
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


In June the Americans repelled a Japanese attack on the Midway Islands in the
Pacific.
In October the Germans were stopped in their advance towards Egypt in the Battle of
El-Alamein.
In September the Germans penetrated into Russia as far as Stalingrad. The
Russians resisted and in February 1943 the German army there surrendered after
being surrounded.
From that moment, the combined forces of the USA, the USSR, Britain and her empire
managed to defeat the Axis powers repeatedly. From North Africa the British and Americans
invaded Sicily in July 1943 and Italy in September 1943. The King of Italy dismissed
Mussolini and the new Italian government ceased resisting the Allies and declared war
against Germany, though German troops held most of Italy.
On 6 June 1944 (D-Day) American and British armies landed on the coast of Normandy and
began a new Western Front. Hitler started having problems in his own army. On July 1944
Hitler suffered a bomb attack in the Führer’s headquarters, but Hitler received only minor
injuries.
Hitler had no intention of making peace. The Allies had announced their policy of
‘unconditional surrender’, which meant that Germany would have no rights to dictate peace
conditions. After the humiliation and harsh peace conditions they had suffered after losing
the First World War the Nazis used this as propaganda to scare the German population into
fighting on.
When Great Britain and the USA invaded Normandy, they liberated France, Belgium and
Holland. In the East, the Russians drove the Germans out and advanced on Berlin. By April
1945 the Allied armies were inside Germany. The Red Army entered Berlin. Hitler killed
himself on 30 April 1945. Two days earlier Mussolini had been caught by Italian resistance
fighters while trying to escape to Switzerland and shot. Germany surrendered in May 1945.
In Asia the war turned in the same way. In the Pacific the American troops were moving
closer to Japan as their superiority in ships and aircraft increased. The Japanese continued
to fight to the end, as they accepted death but not captivity. Some Japanese airmen, the
kamikaze (divine wind) suicide bombers crashed their bomb-laden planes into US ships.
They inflicted heavy losses on the Americans, but could not stop them. Finally, the
Americans were close enough to Japan to prepare a full-scale invasion.
To shorten the war and save the lives of American troops, President Harry S. Truman
decided to use the atomic bombs. Hiroshima was attacked on 6 August. The whole city
was destroyed by a single bomb; 100,000 people were killed and many more injured (some
by radiation which would kill them slowly over the next years). The Japanese government
hesitated. On 9 August the same thing happened to Nagasaki. On 14 August 1945 the
Japanese government decided to capitulate.
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III.
The consequences of the war
1. Human and economic loss
World War II was the most serious conflict in history and it had severe consequences. First,
more than 55 million people died. Human loss was especially severe in Russia (with 20
million deaths) and in Poland (6 million). A further 21 million had been uprooted from their
homes (taken to Germany as slave labourers, placed in concentration camps or forced to
flee before invading armies) leaving the problem of how to repatriate them. There was also
immense destruction of homes, industry and communications, both in Europe and Asia.
2. Peace treaties
The three main allies (Britain, USA and USSR) held meetings from 1943 to 1945. In these
three meetings (Teheran in 1943, Yalta and Potsdam in 1945) the allies decided the
following:






It was agreed that the USSR would obtain Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as
parts of Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia and Finland. The USSR would also have
the strongest influence in all the countries in Eastern and Central Europe, except
Greece. In practice, this meant that the USSR later occupied and controlled these
states.
Poland obtained eastern Germany (Prussia) in compensation.
Germany and Austria would be occupied by the Allies, including France, and divided
temporarily into four zones, with Berlin split into four sectors. For major issues,
Germany would be governed by a council of the four occupying powers.
The Balkan states were unified creating a new country: Yugoslavia.
Japan lost its colonies in the Pacific and China. It was temporarily occupied by the
USA.
The League of Nations was replaced by the United Nations Organisation (UNO)
World War II had other long-term effects that would influence world events for the
remainder of the century. First, European domination of the world, already in decline before
the war, was now seen to be over. The USA and the USSR became the leading states.
Soon, these two countries would intensify their suspicions and distrust, which became known
as the Cold War. The rivalry of these two super-powers was the most important feature of
international relations from 1947 to 1991.
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3. The United Nations Organisation
The United Nations Organisation (UNO) was formed in 1945 to replace the League of
Nations. The United Nations Charter, drawn up in San Francisco includes the main aims of
the UN:
 To defend human rights
 To promote and preserve peace
 To remove the causes of conflict by encouraging economic, social, educational and
cultural progress throughout the world, especially in under-developed nations.
The UN has five main institutions:
a) The General Assembly: includes representatives of every member state and each
member has one vote. It meets once a year, but special sessions can be called in
times of crisis. Its main function is to debate and make proposals about international
problems. Decisions are taken by a simple majority and for extremely important
issues a two-thirds majority is needed.
b) The Security Council: is made up of fifteen members, five of them permanent
(China, France, Britain, USA and the USSR- nowadays Russia-) and the other ten
elected by the General Assembly for two years. Its function is to deal with crises as
they arise, by whatever action seems appropriate (economic, political or military).
Decisions require at least nine of the fifteen members to vote in favour, but these
must include all five permanent members, as they can veto a decision. If a Council’s
proposal is vetoed, the Assembly can meet within 24 hours and decide what actions
to take (by a two-thirds majority)
c) The Secretariat: looks after the administrative work. It is headed by the SecretaryGeneral appointed for a five-year term by the Assembly on the recommendation of the
Security Council.
d) The International Court of Justice at the Hague: has fifteen judges, all of different
nationalities. It deals with conflicts between the member states.
e) The Economic and Social Council: has 27 members elected by the Assembly. It
organises projects concerned with health, education and other social and economic
matters. It supervises and co-ordinates specialised agencies such as the ILO
(International Labour Organisation), the WHO (World Health Organisation) and
UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).
The UN has played an important role in a number of international crises by arranging
cease-fires, negotiations and peace-keeping forces. Its successes in non-political work
(such as care of refugees, protection of human rights, etc) has been enormous. On the other
hand, the UN was unable to solve many of the most important problems in international
relations, particularly those caused by the Cold War.
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C\ RESOURCES

Julio Aróstegui: La Europa de las grandes guerras (1914-1945), Madrid, Anaya, 1994.

Trevor Cairns: The Twentieth Century, Cambridge, 1990

Eric J. Hobsbawn: Historia del siglo XX, 1914-1991, Crítica, 1997

Gabriel Jackson: Civilización y barbarie en la Europa del siglo XX, Planeta, 1997.

N. Lowe: Mastering Modern World History, The Macmillan Press Ltd, 1982.

Pierre Renouvin: Historia de las Relaciones Internacionales. Siglos XIX y XX, Akal,
1990.
Sistema Educativo SEK – Aula Inteligente
History, 4th Secondary Unit 6
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