Download Chapter 31– World War II and Its Aftermath.

Chapter 31– World War II and Its Aftermath. (1931-1955).
(1) Aggression, Appeasement, and War.
(2) The Global Conflict: Axis Advances.
(3) The Global Conflict: Allied Successes.
(4) Toward Victory.
(5) From World War to Cold War.
Germany invades Poland.
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. World War II ends.
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1939.
1941.
1945.
(1) Aggression, Appeasement, and War.
Setting the Scene.
During the 1930s dictators undermine world peace in west that wants ‘no more war.’
Dictators Challenge World Peace.
Mussolini and Hitler see desire for peace as ‘weakness’ and respond with new aggression.
Japan on the Move.
1931. Japan seizes Manchuria. Then walks out of League of Nations.
1937. Japan overruns much of eastern China. Wants empire size of western powers.
Italy Invades Ethiopia.
1936. Italy conquers Ethiopia. Finally avenges loss to Ethiopians in 1896.
Haile Selassie, Ethiopian king, appeals to League of Nations. To no avail.
Hitler’s Challenge.
1936. German troops go into ‘demilitarized’ Rhineland. Violates Versailles treaty.
Western democracies adopt appeasement - giving into demands to keep peace.
Appeasement and Neutrality.
The western policy of appeasement develops for a number of reasons.
France has political divisions at home and cannot move against Hitler without Britain.
Britain has no desire to confront Hitler. Some feel terms of Versailles treaty were bad.
USA passes Neutrality Acts in mid-1930s to avoid getting involved in an European war.
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis is formalized for union to fight Soviet communism.
The Spanish Civil War.
1931. King in Spain is forced to abdicate. A republic is set up. Run by liberals.
1936. Elections bring in coalition of liberals, socialists, communists.
Francisco Franco, conservative general, leads revolt that touches off civil war.
Franco has Nationalists – Fascists and Conservatives with right-wing policies.
Republic has Loyalists – communists, socialists, supporters of democracy.
Hitler, Mussolini help Franco. Britain, France, USA are neutral.
1937. Germans bomb Guernica, small town, as ‘experiment’ of new planes.
1939. Franco wins. Sets up fascist dictatorship. Uses terror to maintain order.
German Aggression Continues.
1938. German troops enter Austria for Anschluss (union) of Austria with Germany.
Munich Conference. Germans get OK to occupy Sudetenland, Czechoslavakia.
Neville Chamberlain, British P.M., tells cheering crowd “peace for our times.”
Nazi-Soviet Pact.
1939. August. Germans and Soviets enter nonaggression pact (divide up Poland).
September. German forces invade Poland. Britain and France declare war!
Historians see World War II as an effort to revise 1919 peace settlement of hard feelings.
(2) Global Conflict: Axis Advances.
Setting the Scene.
The early years of World War I are marked by Axis victories.
Early Axis Gains.
1939. Nazis storm into Poland in blitzkrieg (‘lightning war’): planes, tanks, troops.
1940. Nazis roll over Norway and Denmark in March. Then Netherlands, Belgium.
Miracle of Dunkirk.
1940. May. Germans pour into France. Retreating British troops seem to be trapped.
British send all available boats across English Channel. Rescue 300,000 troops.
France Falls.
1940. June. Germans overrun France. Occupy north. Set up Vichy ‘puppet’ in south.
Africa and Balkans.
1940. September. Italy orders troops from Libya (its colony) to attack British in Egypt.
Germans send General Rommel, ‘Desert Fox,’ to help Italians versus British.
October. Italy invades Greece. Resistance. Need German help once again.
1941. Bulgaria and Hungary join Axis alliance. Axis control most of western Europe.
Technology of Modern Warfare.
Air power takes prominence. Luftwaffe, German air force, perfects bombing of cities.
Fast-moving tanks. Parachute troops. Detection: radar (planes); sonar (submarines).
Battle of Britain and the Blitz.
1940. June. France fell. Britain stands alone. Hitler thinks Britain will sue for peace.
Winston Churchill, new PM, rallies British to fight: “we will never surrender.”
Operation Sea Lion.
Hitler makes plans for invasion of Britain. He prepares with massive air attack.
The London Blitz.
1940. August 12. Germans bomb southern coast. Royal Air Force (RAF) retaliates.
Then tactical switch.. From south (military targets) to London (civilians).
September 7. German bombers start raids on London for 57 nights.
Hitler errs. British morale is up. Bombings stop. Germany attack Russia.
Operation Barbarossa.
1941. June. Hitler attacks Russia to get raw material ‘treasure’ of Ural Mountains.
Hitler also wants to crush communism in Europe and defeat his rival Stalin.
The German Advance.
1941. June. Germans (three million) pour into Russia. Catch Stalin unprepared.
By autumn the Germans smash deep. Poised to take Moscow and Leningrad.
Siege of Leningrad.
1941. September. 2 ½ year siege of Leningrad begins. One million Leningraders die.
December. Temps plunge (-4 degrees). Thousands of Germans freeze to death.
Stalin urges Britain to open a second front. But Churchill can not offer help.
Japan Attacks.
Japan has been trying to conquer China. Japan sees chance to grab European colonies.
The rich resources of SE Asia – oil, rubber, tin – would help in war against China.
Growing Tensions.
1940. Japan advances into French Indochina and Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
USA bans sale to Japan of war materials – iron, steel, oil. Japan is angry.
Attack on Pearl Harbor.
1941. December. General Tojo orders attack on Pearl Harbor. 2,400 Americans die.
FDR tells the nation that December 7 is “date which will live in infamy.
(3) Global Conflict: Allied Successes.
Setting the Scene.
In 1941 and 1942 the tide of war begins to turn as Allied forces win key victories.
Occupied Lands.
Germans in Europe and Japan in Asia and Pacific set out to build ‘new order.’
Nazi Europe.
Hitler’s new order grows out of his racial obsession favoring Aryans, his master race.
Slavs of eastern Europe are ‘inferior’ and shoved aside for ‘living space’ for Germans.
Occupied lands (to the Nazis) are an economic resource to be plundered and looted.
Conquered nations are stripped of artworks, factories, and other resources.
Slavs and others are transported as slave laborers to German war industries.
Nazi Genocide.
Hitler’s most savage policy is genocide or killing all people judged ‘racially inferior.”
1941. Hitler devises ‘final solution of Jewish problem.’ Genocide of all European Jews.
Death camps are built in Poland at Auschwitz, Sobibor, and Treblinka.
1945. Nazis had massacred six million Jews in what becomes known as Holocaust.
Co-Prosperity Sphere.
Japan expands across Asia under mantle of anti-imperialism. ‘Asia for Asians’ is slogan.
Japan creates Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. But Japan really wants empire.
Allied War Effort.
1942. Big Three – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin – agree to finish war in Europe first.
Distrust:
Churchill thinks Stalin wants to dominate Europe.
Roosevelt feels Churchill wants to expand British imperial power.
Stalin believes western powers want to destroy communism.
Total War.
Pressure of war leads democracies to limit rights of citizens, censorship, propaganda,
In USA (Canada) people of Japanese descent are interned into camps as security risks.
Some 40 years later internees get reparations or payments for damages due to prison.
Women Help Win the War.
Millions of women replace men in essential jobs. Building ships, planes, munitions.
British and American women serve in armed forces in auxiliary roles. Drivers. Decoders.
Turning Points.
During 1942 and 1943 Allies win several victories that turn the tide of battle.
El Alamein.
1942. British general Montgomery stops Rommel in Egypt at Battle of El Alamein.
1943. American general Eisenhower combines with British to trap Rommel’s army.
Invasion of Italy.
1943. July. Allies land in Sicily and then southern Italy. Defeat Italians in a month.
Italians overthrow Mussolini. But Hitler rescues Il Duce. 18 months more.
Red Army Resists.
1941. Germans are stalled outside of Moscow and Leningrad.
1943. Germans surrender at Stalingrad. 300,000 Germans killed, wounded, or captured.
After Stalingrad Red Army takes offensive. Drives Germans out of Russia entirely.
Invasion of France.
1944. June 6. D-Day. Invasion of Normandy. Eisenhower is supreme Allied commander.
176,000 Allied troops cross English Channel. Paratroopers. Then landing crafts.
August 25. Allies enter Paris. Within a month all France is free.
(4) Toward Victory.
Setting the Scene.
Continued Allied successes lead to victory over Germany and Japan in 1945.
War in the Pacific.
1942. Japan is on victory streak in SE Asia and the Pacific islands.
Controls Philippines. Bataan Death March. Kills Americans, 10,000 Filipinos.
Streak snaps. USA wins. Battle of Coral Sea (May). Battle of Midway (June).
After Midway USA takes offensive. MacArthur leads ‘island-hop’ campaign.
1944. MacArthur begins to retake Philippines. Admiral Nimitz blockades Japan.
The Nazis Defeated.
1944. Battle of Bulge (December). Germans launch counterattack. Slows Allies.
1945. Italian guerrillas capture Mussolini and execute him (hanging upside down).
Hitler commits suicide in bunker. His 1,000-year Reich lasted 12 years.
Defeat of Japan.
Americans estimate invasion of Japan would cost more than a million lives. Kamikaze.
1945. USA drops Atomic bombs on Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9).
Hirohito intervenes (August 10). Sign peace treaty on Missouri (September 2).
Looking Ahead.
Americans occupy Japan. Allies divide Germany into four zones of occupation.
(5) From World War to Cold War.
Setting the Scene.
USA and USSR emerge as superpowers. France, Britain are drained. Germany loser.
Holocaust Horrors.
Walking skeletons stumble out of Auschwitz. Six million Jews were exterminated.
War Crime Trials.
Allies try 177 Germans, Austrians for war crimes at Nuremberg. 142 are found quilty.
The United Nations.
1945. Delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco to draft UN Charter.
Each nation has one vote in General Assembly. Five nations vote in Security Council.
The Alliance Breaks Apart.
1945. Start of Cold War, state of tension and hostility (without arms) between rivals.
USSR wants to spread communism and create buffer zone against Germany.
Churchill description of Soviet control as “iron curtain” becomes symbol.
1948. USSR has put pro-Soviet communist governments throughout eastern Europe.
New Conflicts Develop.
USA sees communism as an evil moving across Europe and abandons isolationism.
Truman Doctrine.
1947. USA supports nations (Greece and Turkey) resisting Soviet expansion.
Concept of containment means limiting communism in areas already in USSR.
Marshall Plan.
1947. USA offers food and economic assistance to Europe so countries can rebuild.
USA aid is also offered to Soviet Union and its satellites. Stalin rejects offer!
Berlin Airlift.
1948. USSR tries to blockade Allies out of Berlin. Allies fly supplies in for a year.
Military Alliances.
1949. USA. 9 Western European countries. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO.
1955. USSR. 7 satellite Eastern European countries. Warsaw Pact.
Looking Ahead.
The Cold War will last for 40 years. New weapons raise specter of global destruction.