Download World War II Background Information to read with PPP

WORLD HISORY II
Mrs. Bailey
World War II Power Point Presentation Notes and Background Information
Terms to identify:
 Demilitarized zone (DMZ) –
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Fascism – a political philosophy that arose in Italy in the 1920s, glorified the nation at the
expense of basic civil and human rights, usually advocating a dictatorial, one party
government. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party or Nazi Party was a form of
fascism which used aggressive action to ensure survival of the state and advocated racial
discrimination policies.
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Gestapo –
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Appeasement Policy –
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Axis Powers –
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Incendiary –
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Blitzkrieg
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Isolationism –
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Kamikaze –
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Allied Powers –
Refer to your notes from the WWI background information and review the Versailles Treaty of 1919
terms. How might these terms have contributed to a second world war?
Interpret the political cartoon on slide 5 titled “The League of Nations”. What statement does it make
about President Wilson’s postwar plans?
Adolf Hitler - In 1923 he wrote Mein Kampf, which translates to “My Struggle”, detailing the principles
of his political philosophy.
 Germany was superior to all other nations
 Jews posed a major threat to Germany
 All German-speaking people needed to be united under one rule
 Germany needed lebensraum or “living space” for all “true” Germans
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In January 1933, Hitler became Chancellor of Germany:
 Established Gestapo, secret police, who jailed, beat up, and/or killed political opponents
 September 1935 Nuremberg Laws, Nazi policy toward Jews, were passed
i. Designed to “protect” the “Aryan race” by legally distinguishing between Aryans and
Jews
ii. Legal discrimination against Jews
iii. Stripped of German Citizenship (right to vote, hold offices)
iv. Prohibit marriages between Aryans and Jews
Japan and the “Rape of Nanking” - As discussed in the WWI background/PP notes; by 1920 Japan was
under the control of the military. Increased industrialization led to the need to secure natural resources
and gain new markets and by the 1930s began empire building using aggressive military action to
dominate key regions in Asia.
 Invasion of Manchuria (region of China) – “The Rape of Nanking”
i. Invaded in 1931 due to iron and coal resources
ii. 1937 – took control of Nanking (capital of China at that time) and from December
1937 to March 1938 brutal and atrocious acts were committed against the citizens
1. Japanese soldiers raped as many as 80,000 women
2. Estimated 370,000 people died (notably women, children, elderly)
Benito Mussolini - came to power in Italy in October 1922 when about 30,000 fascists marched on
Rome and demanded the Italian king, Victor Emmanuel, turn the government over to Mussolini who:
 Abolished democracy
 Outlawed other political parties
 Jailed his opponents
 Censored the media
Ethiopia - By 1936 Italy had control of Ethiopia – The League of Nations condemned the attack but
claimed they were powerless to stop the situation
Rhineland – March 1936, Hitler’s troops retook the Rhineland
 France was terrified of another war, so did nothing
 Britain urged all to do whatever necessary to avoid full-scale armed conflict with Germany
 Policy of appeasement meant Hitler grew more aggressive over the next 3 years
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The Great Depression was also a factor of the inaction of other countries
Spanish Civil War – In July 1936, civil war broke out in Spain. Hitler and Mussolini supported General
Francisco Franco, a Nationalist, who after gaining power outlawed every political party but his own, the
Falange. Providing weapons to Spain allowed Hitler to test new weapons and military tactics, including
aircraft bombers.
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The Basque live in northern Spain and have culture, language, and traditions distinct from the
Spanish. On April 27, 1937 German bombers dropped 100,000 pounds of high explosive and
incendiary bombs on the village of Guernica, cultural capital of the Basque people. They also used
fighter planes with machine gun fire to mow down civilians destroying over ½ of the town and killing
or wounding 1/3 of the population. (Note: Idaho has a large Basque population and bi-annual
festival in Boise area)
New German Empire - Hitler wanted all German speaking people in Europe to be part of the new
German empire and specifically wanted Austria and Sudetenland (western Czechoslovakia). By March
1938 the Germans took control, known as “Anschluss”, but no consequences resulted.
 Munich Conference – September 1938 – Germany, Italy, Britain, and France met and
produced an agreement giving Sudetenland to Germany with promised that German
aggression would come to an end. In March 1939, Hitler invaded and took the rest of
Czechoslovakia and fearing he would next set his sights on Poland, Britain and France
publicly promised to protect the country against Nazi aggression.
Non-Aggression Pact between Soviet Union and Germany/Acquire Poland - In August 1939 the Soviet
Union and Germany publicly agreed to a ten year nonaggression pact and secretly negotiated a deal
concerning Poland: Stalin would not act against Germany if it attacked Poland, then Germany and the
Soviet Union would divide Poland between them after the Germans seized the country. September 1,
1939 Germany invaded Poland and two days later Britain and France declare war on Germany. The
invasion reflected a new German military strategy known as blitzkrieg, using fast-moving planes and
tanks for an initial attack followed by a massive invasion of ground troops and Stalin’s Soviet troops
occupied the eastern half of Poland.
France and the Maginot Line and Dunkirk - From 1930 to 1934, France had constructed a series of
linked, heavily armed fortifications along its border with Germany known as the Maginot Line. In April
1940, Hitler launched a surprise attack on Denmark, Norway, and Holland then moved through southern
Belgium into France, bypassing Maginot Line and splitting the British and French forces. British troops
were trapped on the beaches of Dunkirk (across the channel from England) and an extraordinary boatlift
involving military and civilian crafts helped the British rescue troops, but not their equipment, from
Dunkirk.
U.S. Isolationism, Neutrality Acts, “Lend-Lease” Policy, and Atlantic Charter – The U.S. wanted to avoid
another world war and was busy with Great Depression issues in the 1930s and passed a series of
Neutrality Acts from 1935 to 1937 which forbid the U.S. from providing weapons or loans to nations at
war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized public wanted to stay isolated but also realized the U.S.
could not stand idly by and ignore the events in Europe. Americans wanted to find a way to help Britain
and France fight Germany while avoiding involvement. After the Nazis invaded Poland, FDR asked
Congress to revise the Neutrality Acts so the U.S. could sell weapons to the Allies. Passed by Congress in
March 1941, the “lend-lease” policy allowed the flow of military aid/supplies to Britain (who was nearly
bankrupt) and “any country whose defense was vital to the United States” without payment in return.
“If your neighbor’s house is on fire, you don’t sell him your hose—you lend it to him.” In August 1941,
Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill met secretly on a warship off the coast of Newfoundland
and agreed to a set of war aims called the Atlantic Charter:
 Collective security
 Free elections
 Self-determination
 Post-war disarmament
 Economic cooperation
Fall of France and “The Resistance” - In June 1940, Italians and Nazis declared war against France and
Great Britain. June 14th, Paris fell to the Germans and on June 22nd France surrendered to Germany.
French General Charles de Gaulle fled to London and set up a government-in-exile naming himself
leader of the “Free French,” and worked with guerrilla forces inside France to free the country from the
Germans, which is known as “The Resistance.”
Battle of Britain – In June 1940 the German Luftwaffe embarked on a sustained air campaign targeting
England’s biggest cities (hoping to disable the Royal Air Force then launch a land assault), which lasted
until May 1941. Many civilians died and hundreds of buildings were destroyed (is interesting to look
into the reports done by Edward R. Murrow – WSU has an integrity in journalism award/conference in
his name and some of the first person accounts of the air raids). Due to these factors, Britain prevailed:
 The development of radar allowed the British to know the number, speed, and direction of
incoming enemy warplanes. British antiaircraft guns inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe.
 The skill of the RAF in defending the country kept losses from being more severe. British
fighters ultimately managed to overcome their German counterparts.
 Since most German attacks took place at night, the British government imposed a total blackout
to ensure the Luftwaffe could not use lights from England’s buildings to help them locate targets
to bomb. Civilians used thick black curtains or black paint to lightproof their windows and cities
refrained from using street lights at night. In addition, the government set up several public air
raid shelters that saved countless lives.
The German Luftwaffe lost 1733 aircraft and the RAF lost 915. Between September 1940 and May 1941,
Germany dropped more than 35,000 tons of bombs. London was attacked 19 times with over 18,800
tons of bombs. Britain would not be subdued by bombing alone, so Hitler changed his focus to Eastern
Europe and the Mediterranean.
German invades Russia and Operation Barbarossa – In June 1941, Hitler broke his treaty with Stalin and
military strategists predicted the Soviet army would be defeated in less than two months. The campaign
was one of the deadliest in history and lasted four years as the Germans attempted to destroy the
Soviets. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union, Winston Churchill announced, “All who resist Nazi
domination shall have our aid.”
Japanese Aggression and the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere – European powers were too busy
to protect their colonies in East Asia and Japan took advantage of this and continued their policy of
imperialist expansion. In 1940 Japan launched an initiative known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere claiming it would free the region from European domination, but really wished to install its own
colonial rule in the place of the Europeans. President Roosevelt had been alarmed by Japanese
expansion in East Asia and the Pacific and had taken moves to slow Japan’s efforts. In 1940, he ended
sales of steel and scrap iron to Japan and after Japan conquered French Indochina in 1941, he cut off oil
shipments to Japan and froze Japanese assets in U.S. banks. Japanese and American diplomats held
meetings in 1941 to try and find a way to avoid conflict. Behind the scenes, Japan was already planning
an attack and the U.S. had been busy working against the Japanese in China (this would be an excellent
research area!!!) General Hideki Tojo became Japanese Prime Minister in October 1940 and in late
November; Japan began moving a fleet across the Pacific towards Hawaii.
Pearl Harbor – December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy” – Japan launched a surprise attack
on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (at the time the base held nearly the entire U.S. Pacific
fleet – not a very smart strategic move on the part of the U.S.). Two hours into the attack, 18 American
ships had been sunk (including 8 battleships), which decimated America’s naval capabilities. The attack
left over 2400 Americans dead and another 1000 wounded.
U.S. Declares War on Japan – Since Japan was a member of the Tripartite Pact, Germany declared war
on the U.S.; America reciprocated and declared war on Germany on December 11th. Churchill rejoiced,
“To have the United States at our side was to me the greatest joy. Now at this very moment I knew the
United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all!...Hitler’s fate
was sealed. Mussolini’s fate was sealed. As for the Japanese, they would be ground to powder.”
Battle of Midway – After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. began an “island-hopping” campaign to
strike back against Japan. General Douglas MacArthur led the ground troops and Admiral Chester
Nimitz commanded the naval forces. In the summer of 1942 Japan had intended to draw American
ships to the island of Midway for an ambush, but the U.S. decoded secret messages revealing the
Japanese plan and plotted an ambush of their own. Both sides suffered heavy losses but the Japanese
lost four aircraft carriers, Japanese fleet retreated, and the result was a decisive American victory and
the U.S. went on the offensive and began to act more aggressively to secure island after island in the
Pacific.
Battle of Stalingrad – Hitler ordered his troops to attack Stalingrad in August 1942. In November the
Soviets counterattacked and surrounded the German army. Supplies ran low and the harsh Russian
winter set in causing the German army to suffer and losing thousands of troops to the cold and
starvation. The Germans were forced to surrender in January 1943 as they ran out of ammunition. The
human toll of this siege was enormous (an estimated 500,000 Soviets died and 150,000 Germans). The
battle marked a turning point in the war on the eastern front. Now Axis armies were on the defensive
and Soviet troops pushed them back toward Germany.
North Africa – In 1940 Mussolini had his North African army move against the British in Egypt, but the
Italians were not successful. Hitler then sent General Erwin Rommel to command a new tank corps and
take Egypt from the British. On November 4, 1942, after months of fighting the British Army stopped
the Germans at El Alamein in Egypt. By March 1943, the Allies had North Africa under their control and
began to plan for an invasion of Sicily in order to regain control of the Mediterranean and force Hitler to
send his troops to the western front to ease the fighting on the eastern front for the Soviets. Basing
their operations in North Africa, the Allies invaded and captured Sicily in the summer of 1943, forcing
Mussolini out of power.
Italy Surrenders – In 1943, Mussolini was removed from office by the Fascist Grand Council and sent to
prison, where he was rescued by Hitler and set up as head of an Italian government in German-occupied
northern Italy. On June 4, 1944, the Allies entered Rome, continued pushing north, and gained control
of all of Italy by April 1945. While attempting to escape to Switzerland, Mussolini was captured by
partisans and executed. With the Soviets on the verge of a victory in the east and Italy’s surrender in
the west, the Allies began to prepare for an invasion of France hoping if they secured France, they could
push forward into Germany from two fronts.
“Operation Overlord” - The D-Day Invasion – June 6, 1944 – British and American forces landed on the
beaches of Normandy in what would be the greatest naval invasion in history. Within a hundred days,
more than two million troops and half-million vehicles were making their way inland. By late July, the
Allies, led by General George Patton, had rushed past the German defenses. The invasion was
successful at the estimated cost of 10,000 Allied casualties and German losses estimated at 4000 to
9000.
Liberation of Paris – Late August 1944, the Allies entered Paris and by September had successfully
liberated all of France.
Battle of the Bulge – Allies turned their attention to invading Germany with British and American troops
coming from the west and the Soviet army advancing from the east. In December 1944 the Germans
launched a counterattack and tried to split the Allied forces. Over a million soldiers fought in this battle,
making it the largest land battle of the war. The fighting lasted over a month and in the end, the
Germans were forced to retreat.
Firebombing of Dresden February 1945 – As the Allies tried to end the war in Europe, U.S. and British
planes began to bomb communication centers in eastern Germany in order to aid the Soviet advance on
Berlin, resulting in the destruction of dozens of cities including Dresden. Dresden was a cultural center
with no significant military or industrial areas and the destruction of the city remains controversial today
as people still argue over necessity of it. Some claim it was militarily necessary because Soviet forces
were less than 20 miles from the city to the east and U.S. troops were about 40 miles to the west. Some
claim it was a war crime. Those who defend it state the bombing was not unprecedented or
unprovoked since German planes and rockets had killed thousands of civilians in England alone and
Dresden was a rail base for facilitating the transport of German soldiers to the eastern front. Regardless
of whether it was right or wrong, bomb after bomb fell and when the flames died down there was
virtually nothing left of the city with statistics showing 24,866 of 28,410 houses were destroyed and the
estimated number killed is ranges from 25,000 to 135,000. A nine year old survivor of the bombing
described his experience:
“We saw terrible things: cremated adults shrunk to the size of small children, pieces of arms
and legs, dead people, whole families burnt to death, burning people ran to and fro, burnt coaches filled
with civilian refugees, dead rescuers and soldiers, many were calling and looking for their children and
families, and fire everywhere, everywhere fire, and all the time the hot wind of the firestorm threw
people back into the burning houses they were trying to escape from.”
May 7, 1945 – Germany surrenders – Hitler committed suicide in April of 1945 when it became evident
Germany would soon be in Allied hands. Berlin was surrounded and the Nazis surrendered on May 7,
1945 to General Dwight Eisenhower.
V-E Day – May 8, 1945 – Allied Powers celebrated V-E Day: Victory in Europe Day. Tom Fletcher, a
civilian living in England at the time described V-E Day,
“On the 7th May 1945 Germany surrendered and the 8th May was declared V-E day…The whole
world seemed to go crazy with dancing, singing, and parties in the street and celebration drinks. As a
group of maturing teenagers we planned a ‘pub crawl’ that evening and off we went to the centre of
Bristol. Although the dancing, singing, bonfires, and kissing and hugging of complete strangers carried
on, unfortunately the pubs ran out of beer! By about 9:30 PM every pub was dry, cleared out of
anything drinkable but the fun continued dancing around the bonfires.”
Pacific War 1944-1945 – General Douglas MacArthur led Allied forces in the Pacific and had regained
control of the Philippines by spring 1945. Japanese used “kamikaze” aircraft loaded with explosives
flown directly into U.S. ships. An estimated 5000 kamikaze fighters killed themselves by dive bombing
into Allied aircraft (carriers and battleships) and more than 5000 Allied naval personnel died as a result.
In the spring of 1945, U.S. Marines gained control of the islands Iwo Jima and Okinawa. At Iwo Jima
more than 100,000 U.S. troops fought to take the island from a heavily entrenched and fortified
Japanese force of 25,000, who nearly all died. At Okinawa nearly 100,000 Japanese defended the island
against some 180,000 U.S. troops. After 3 months, the U.S. finally took Okinawa at the cost of almost
50,000 casualties. The Japanese lost all but 7000 or so soldiers who surrendered to the Americans. The
Allies could now use Okinawa, less than 400 miles from Japan, as a staging ground for a land invasion of
Japan.
Birth of the Atomic Bomb – “The Manhattan Project” – Japan had demonstrated a “fight-to-the death”
attitude and unwillingness to surrender, no matter the costs, so the Allies knew using ground troops to
subdue Japan would be difficult and result in huge losses with some estimates of nearly a million Allied
soldiers dying in the operation. President Roosevelt had approved a program called the “Manhattan
Project” with the goal of building an atomic bomb. On June 16, 1945 the first successful test of an
atomic bomb took place in the New Mexico desert and Truman chose to use the weapon against Japan
in order to bring a quick end to the war and avoid the casualties the U.S. would suffer in a ground
assault. On August 6, 1945 the U.S. bomber Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of
Hiroshima. On August 9th, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki (several possible
interesting things to research here…German scientists who helped make the atomic bombs, Hanford
connection in Washington state, why were these two cities chosen, what were the short and long term
effects of the weapon, who flew the planes, and more!) The bomb destroyed 90% of Hiroshima and
when it exploded the temperature at ground zero rose to 7000 degrees Fahrenheit. The blast killed
70,000 people instantly and an additional 70,000 were dead by the end of the year due to burns,
radiation, and other injuries. Nearly all the victims were civilians.
Japan Surrenders – September 2, 1945 – Japan formally surrendered aboard the U.S. battleship
Missouri and within two weeks U.S. troops had occupied the country and World War II was officially
over.
Total War – World War II involved the concept of “total war” in which opponents try not to just defeat
each other’s army on the battlefield but also to destroy the other country’s ability to wage war at all,
which included attacking or undermining an opponent’s economy, industries, manpower reserves, and
morale. In total war, an entire society mobilizes, not just the military.
 Mobilizing the Economy – To effectively engage in total warfare a country depends on its ability
to fully mobilize all sectors of its economy, which often involved a central government bureau
controlling a shift from consumer to war production. Britain’s success at increasing war
production allowed them to catch up to Germany, who had been rearming for years before the
start of the war. The U.S. created the Office of War Mobilization, which supervised the
country’s production and offered financial incentives to encourage manufacturers to meet
certain benchmarks.
 Rationing and Victory Gardens – Civilians on the home front contributed to the war effort by
giving up many of the conveniences and goods they had grown accustomed to having in
unlimited supply. Governments rationed gasoline, coffee, meat, sugar, and other goods one
could purchase. Government issued ration books with tear out coupons determined how much
of a particular good each citizen would receive. As the war went on and shortages increased,
many people found they had to wait in line for hours to receive their government allotted
portion of rationed items. Many grew their own fruits and vegetables in backyard “Victory
Gardens.” Others carpooled or rode bikes to reduce gasoline consumption. Many donated
metal and bought war bonds (children would buy war stamps) to support the government
financially. Colorful posters created by the government helped encourage these domestic war
efforts. While rationing might have been inconvenient, but it provided a sense of purpose and
helped keep morale up by helping people feel they were making valuable contributions.
 Women in the Work Force – Women filled the jobs as the men went off to war, primarily
working in factories manufacturing things like planes, ships, guns, tanks, and other vehicles. In
the U.S. alone, nearly 5 million women entered the work force.
 Propaganda – Realizing the importance morale played in the war effort; governments worked to
control the spread of information and used different types of propaganda to raise their own
citizens’ morale and to damage the morale of enemy countries. Although propaganda often
sought to encourage nationalism, both sides also attempted to dehumanize and create hatred
against the enemy. Propaganda most often appeared in the form of leaflets and posters, but
also appeared in short films or radio broadcasts. One of the most famous radio propagandists of
World War II was “Tokyo Rose”, a Japanese American expatriate named Iva Toguri whose
broadcasts attempted to undermine the morale of U.S. soldiers in the Pacific. After the war, she
was taken into custody by U.S. troops and became just the 7th person to be convicted of treason
in America.
 Military Tactics – The demands of total war led to shifts in military tactics. Rather than
targeting opposing armies, factories, and military bases, armies in WWII increasingly began to go
after civilian targets in order to undermine enemy morale, decrease the enemy’s labor force,
and deplete enemy resources (examples include Battle of Britain, firebombing of Dresden, and
atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The targeting of civilians went to new and
frightening levels.
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Civilian Deaths – See the chart on slide 52.
The Holocaust – “Holocaust” is a word of Greek origin meaning “sacrifice by fire.” Genocide was an
element of the Holocaust, but the Holocaust involved much more than genocide. According to the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, “The Holocaust was the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored
persecution and murder of approximately six million Jews (and others) by the Nazi regime and its
collaborators…The Nazis, who came to power in Germany in January 1933, believed that Germans were
“racially superior” and that the Jews, deemed ‘inferior’, were ‘life unworthy of life.’” We’ll cover this in
greater detail later.
The Nuremberg Military Tribunal – The victorious Allies agreed to establish an international tribunal to
try Germany’s leaders for complicity n the deaths of twelve million people. In October 1945, the
International Military Tribunal met in Nuremberg where its prosecutors indicted 22 principal Nazi
leaders on crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Other lesser cases would be
handled in national courts. Twelve defendants received death sentences, three defendants received life
in prison, and four received sentences of up to 20 years, and 3 were acquitted.
The Yalta Conference – In February 1945, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin met at the Black Sea resort
town of Yalta to make decisions about the postwar status of Germany and Poland. The “Big Three”
agreed to divide Germany into four zones of occupation, each of which would be occupied and
administered by one of four Allied nations: Great Britain, the USSR, the U.S., and France. A consensus
was reached that Poland would be more difficult because Stalin wanted to keep Russia’s border with the
country safe by installing a communist-led government, thus keeping Poland firmly under Soviet control.
Stalin eventually relented and agreed in principle to let the Poles elect their own government, but the
issue of Polish sovereignty was far from settled. The Big Three also agreed to hold war crimes trials and
to create a new international peacekeeping organization to be known as the United Nations.
The Potsdam Conference – In July 1945 in Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin in Germany, Allied leaders met to
set more terms governing Germany’s future, including provisions for outlawing Nazism and the National
Socialist Party, dismantling the German military, reorganizing the German economy, and instituting
representative government.
Divided Germany 1945-1949 – A divided Germany would become one of the first ideological
battlegrounds in the Cold War struggle between American capitalism and Soviet communism. The
American, French, and British zones united and formed the democratically governed nation of West
Germany and the Soviet zone became East Germany, a communist nation under the control of the USSR.
U.S. Occupation of Japan – In September 1945, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General
Douglas MacArthur, moved into the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and remained there for the next five years to
oversee the American occupation of Japan. Japan had been devastated by the war, and MacArthur
supervised the reconstruction of the country’s infrastructure as well as the creation of a new
government based on democratic principles.
The Marshall Plan – After WWII, many Western Europe nations were in ruins as the war had damaged
physical infrastructures and destroyed economies. A large segment of the European population
remained homeless and lacked food. In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a
comprehensive plan to save Western Europe from starvation and reconstruct their economies. The
“European Recovery Program” or “Marshall Plan” was designed to help nations rebuild and also
provided for former enemy nations to receive aid from the United States. Even the Soviet Union and
Soviet bloc nations were initially invited to share in the financial aid from the plan. Requirements for
use of the money were simple – European countries had to use the money to purchase American-made
goods which would be shipped in American vessels. Any material purchased had to be used only for
rebuilding and not for military purposes. The Marshall Plan became an international success. Sixteen
nations used the aid to rebuild, receiving a total of some $13 billion dollars. The plan also ended up
providing a political benefit: after its implementation, no European nation fell to the communists.
The United Nations – Although the League of Nations had failed to prevent armed conflict in the years
leading to WWII, world leaders after the war still recognized the need for an international organization
dedicated to maintaining peace. To achieve that goal, the United Nations was created. Franklin
Roosevelt was the “principal architect” of the United Nations and had even coined the phrase “united
nations” to describe the 26 nations that allied together to fight the Axis Powers during WWII. Roosevelt
died prior to the first meeting of the UN. His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, became a member of the first UN
delegation, which met in the summer and fall of 1945 in San Francisco. The purposes of the UN included
keeping the peace, encouraging respect for human rights, creating conditions under which justice and
respect for international laws and treaties could be achieved, and promoting social progress and better
standards of living throughout the world. Though the UN has proved much more successful than the
League of Nations, it has not always been able to act with the authority it would like. The organization
has accomplished much with its humanitarian efforts and has enjoyed some peacekeeping successes;
however, it has not been able to prevent large-scale armed conflicts (such as the Vietnam War) nor had
it always been able to keep “superpower” nations (such as the U.S., Russia, and China) from taking
unilateral action when they disagree with UN positions on an issue.
The Postwar World Order – Of all the Allied nations, the U.S. emerged strongest from WWII. Other than
Pearl Harbor, no fighting had taken place on American soil; this meant that, unlike its European allies,
the U.S. would not have to rebuild its infrastructure. The war not only pulled the U.S. economy out of
the Great Depression, but made the U.S. the preeminent economic power in the world. Britain and
France were not as fortunate as the war had not only wreaked physical and economic devastation on
them, but ended up costing them their overseas colonies. Neither would be a dominant world power
after 1945. Although the Soviet Union had suffered greatly during the war, it emerged in a much
stronger position than Britain and France. The Soviets used the threat of their military might to install
communist-led government in the eastern European countries along Russia’s western border, turning
them into “satellite” nations. Also, despite U.S. efforts to keep the technology behind the atomic bomb
secret, Soviet scientists—aided by information gained from espionage—developed a nuclear bomb by
1949. As the world’s only two nuclear-armed nations, the U.S. and Russia emerged as “superpowers” by
the start of the 1950s. The United States and the Soviet Union had fought together as Allies during the
war, but ideological differences became a major point of contention after. The struggle between
communism and capitalism would dominate international politics for the next 40 years as America and
the USSR engaged in a “Cold War.” Though the countries never engaged in armed combat—primarily
because of the devastating consequences of starting a nuclear war—they battled each other indirectly,
trying to extend their own global influence while counteracting that of the other.