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WORLD WAR II WAR AIMS GERMANY – Lebensraum “living space in Eastern Europe” – European and world domination – Genocide “Final Solution” ITALY – Control Adriatic, E. Mediterranean – Restore glory that was Rome – Domination over North Africa WAR AIMS BRITAIN – Preserve empire – Defeat Hitler – Protect British global dominance FRANCE – Regain sovereignty – Defeat Hitler – Preserve empire – Restore French honor WAR AIMS USSR – Defend homeland – Defeat Hitler – Expand Soviet power – Expand communism UNITED STATES (Changed as war progressed) – Keep out of war (till Pearl Harbor) – Defeat Hitler – Unconditional surrender – Help Eur. preserve empire – Leadership of “Free World” WWII IN EUROPE Compare with WWI (see chart) Role of the Soviet Union – “spoiler” “savior” – invaded by Hitler, 1941 1942-43 – Stalingrad, turning point in Europe 1943 – unconditional surrender 1944 – D-Day, June 6 V-E Day, May 8, 2004 HOLOCAUST The Final Solution Who authorized? What plans? – Jan. 20, 1942 – Wannsee Protocol – Planned “to cleanse German living space of Jews in a legal manner” – Hitler to Himmler – “Exterminate Jews as partisans.” What did Germans know and when did they know it? What did Am, British know, when did they know it, and what did they do about it? We Will Never Speak About It in Public “We do not want, in the end, because we destroyed a bacillus, to be infected by this bacillus and to die. I will never stand by and watch while even a small rotten spot develops or takes hold. Whatever it may form we will together burn it away. All in all, however, we can say that we have carried out this most difficult of task in a spirit of love for our people. And we have suffered no harm to our inner being, our soul, our character...” Heinrich Himmler The area beneath this lamp was the site of Hitler’s bunker and his final days. The Reichstag Today The Russians Liberating Berlin, 1945 Memorials to Victims of the Holocaust WAR AIMS – Japan Pacific War (15 year war) 1931-1945 Older vision – Cooperate with West – US the strength, can’t preemptively strike – US leading trade partner – After Depression, less popular – No fear from USSR after German invasion Newer vision – Future belongs to Germany and Japan – Anti-Western attitudes – ABCDFR encirclement. – “Asia for the Asians” – Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere – 1931 - Manchuria Pearl Harbor – The USS Arizona Memorial and The Missouri Battleship August 15, 2003 USS ARIZONA The USS Arizona Memorial Today Tomb for the USS Arizona victims Arizona Memorial – Oil still seeps out of the hulk. WHY PEARL HARBOR? “I heard it on the radio” “My blood boiled at the news” 1. 2. 3. 4. THE PACIFIC THEATER MIDWAY FATAL MISCALCULATIONS Germany will win war in Europe. America won’t fight in Asia over China. Belief in own hype—see RGH #72, p. 301 “I am a patriot” War with China – 1937 “Quagmire PACIFIC WAR Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 1942 – Battle of Midway Island-hopping – MacArthur Kami-kazes “The Imperial Way” Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Why? – “ultimate terror weapon” – “An End and a Beginning” NAGASAKI JAPAN AND THE PACIFIC WAR TOTAL WAR COLONIAL WAR RACE WAR BRUTAL AND DEVASTATING WAR UNRESOLVED WAR – 15 YEAR WAR – recognizes J. aggression, liberal view – Greater East Asian War – what J. called war during war, conservative view – Pacific War – encouraged by US b/c includes allies. A Hiroshima Maiden’s Tale “My clothes were burnt and so were my skin. I was in rags. I had braided my hair, but now it was like a lion’s mane. There were people, barely breathing, trying to push their intestines back in. People with their legs wrenched off. Without heads. Or with faces burned and swollen out of shape. The scene I saw was a living hell.” - Yamaoka Michiko