Download Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

Chapter 20: World War II and the Cold War
Portents of Disaster
Economists predict disaster soon after
signing of Versailles Treaty
Disruptions of food & coal supply
Weight of reparation payments
Poet William Butler Yeats points to
cultural sickness of Europe
Onset of Depression ten years after
treaty
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Italy
Mussolini & followers unsuccessfully seek
electoral wins amidst post-war instability
Fascist thugs then attack a variety of
nationalist enemies, declare a national
emergency and “March on Rome”
Mussolini wins 1924 election with fraud
Support from those who like society
without turmoil
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Germany
Hitler was virulent racist before WWI
Adopted Mussolini model for party after war
Weimar government popular with no one
France reinvades after 1923 reparations default
• Hitler attempts putsch to overthrow government
• Failure leads to jail and manifesto Mein Kampf
• Blames Jews for German misery
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Germany [cont.]
Nazi party gains votes, 1928-32
Hitler and Nazis asked to join ruling coalition in
1933
• Elitist parties believed they could control Hitler
Reichstag building burns but new elections leave
Nazis short of a majority
• Declares national emergency and turns thugs loose to
silence opponents and wins desired majority
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Germany [cont.]
Creation of totalitarian state includes
• propaganda and paramilitary organizations
• Racial “science” and worship of pre-Christian
gods
Citizens were intimidated but also attracted
to territorial expansion & return of German
glory
Germany and Italy proclaim “axis” in 1936
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Japan
Japan was one of five great powers at Versailles
• Gross national income grew 40% 1914-1918
• Advanced rapidly by leap-frogging technology
• Successfully maintained “dual economy”
Food riots at end of war show vulnerability
• “Need” colonies for numerous resources
Zaibatsu control economy by 1920s
Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism
Japan [cont.]
Path to democracy undermined by political
power of zaibatsu
Constitution requires ministries of war and
navy to be in hands of the military
Shinto emphasized divinity of emperor and
importance of samurai
Military seeks to protect resource-poor
nation
The Descent Toward War
1920s a time of peace (?)
League of Nations serves as an annual
forum
Negotiated limits on navies at Washington
Locarno modifies German debt payments
Pact of Paris (1928) outlaws war
Great Depression and relative ability of
communist and fascist nations to survive
while democracies struggle
The Descent Toward War
Steps toward war in the 1930s
Japanese seize Manchuria (1931)
• Establish Manchuria as puppet state (1932)
• Opposition at home silenced violently
Italy invades Ethiopia (1935)
• League of Nations does not respond
Civil War in Spain (1936)
Japan invades China proper (1937)
The Descent Toward War
Steps toward war in the 1930s [cont.]
Germany rises under Hitler
• Withdraws from League of Nations (1933)
• Saar region forced into pro-German stance
(1935)
• Rearming of Germany begins (1935)
• Militarization of Rhineland (1936)
• Formal seizure of Austria (1938)
• Takeover of Czechoslovakia (1938)
• Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Descent Toward War
The Early Cost of War Technology
National budgets reflect militarization of the
1930s
• Germany, Japan and USSR spend about 1/4 of
total national income on defense
• 1938 70% of the Japanese national budget
goes to the military
Aircraft production skyrockets
World War II
The War in Europe, 1939-45
“Phony War” to Spring, 1940--then blitzkieg of
Germans into France
French fall followed by aerial assault on Britain
USSR-German non-aggression pact ended in
1941 with broad assault into Russia
Germany directs attack to oil fields, 1942
US neutral but implements Lend-Lease plan
World War II
The War in the Pacific, 1937-42
Severity of war seen in Rape of Nanjing & the use
of scorched earth tactics by Russia & China
Tripartite Pact forms “Axis Powers” (1940)
US stays neutral but helpful until December 7th
Churchill: Entry of US “seals” Axis fate
Japanese spread rapidly after Pearl Harbor
Japanese hopes fade--colonies can’t produce
enough for Japan to prosper
World War II
Turning the tide, 1942-5
Allied counter-offensive begins in 1942
“2nd Front” for Russia deferred by West
Role of “underground” symbolic not decisive
Bombing of German cities begins (1943)
• Dresden hardest hit--necessity of attack debated
Allied invasion of Sicily (1943)
2nd front opened on D-Day, June 6, 1944
World War II
War in Asia & the Pacific, 1942-5
1st naval victory in Pacific--Midway Island
Fire bombings of Japan begin (March,
1944)
Atomic bombs end war amid controversy
about necessity of their use
• 3 million Japanese die in the war
• 1/4 of national assets were destroyed
• Industrial production 10% of pre-war levels
World War II
Assessing the Results of War
“Total War” meant 50 million dead
including 30 million civilians
Japanese model taught Asian colonies that
resistance was not futile
Technology in the War
Victory tied to ability of victors to produce
more goods in their factories
World War II
Women and the War
Mobilization of women in World War II
varied by country
• Hitler & Mussolini offered women
“emancipation from emancipation”
• “Rose the Riveter” symbol of women workers in
US
Return of soldiers brought pressure on
women to give up their factory jobs
• Laid groundwork for “new feminism”
World War II
Horrors of War
Holocaust and atomic warfare
• Genocide built on anti-Semitism to seek
obliteration of a people
• Atomic bomb was a new, higher level of
destructive power in world history
– Necessity of dropping the bombs remains
controversial today.
– Racist?
– Saved lives?
The Image of Humanity
World War challenged idea of West as
region of progress through rationalism
Gandhi
Freud
Picasso
Eliot
Wiesel
Japanese Peace Memorials
United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War
The United Nations
Goal: “to save succeeding generations from the
scourge of war”
General assembly gives every nation a voice
Security Council can dispatch peace keepers
Other organizations provide variety of
humanitarian services
Founded 1945 by 50 countries
United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War
Resettlement
Millions of individuals, displaced by war,
had to be returned to their home nations
• Surrendered/captured soldiers were far from
home
• Civilians had followed armies, settled new
lands or fled in the face of war
US developed GI Bill of Rights to ease
return of soldiers to civilian life and to
reward them for their service
United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War
Political Reconstruction: Japan & Germany
Japan
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Emperor remains power but no longer sacred
Colonial empire was dissolved
Land redistribution in Japan
Zaibatsu were dissolved
Promotion of worker rights
Restructured the educational system
Economic recovery aided by Korean War
United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War
Political Reconstruction: Japan &
Germany
Germany
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Divided into four regions of administration
Russian occupation harsher than that of others
Major war criminals tried at Nuremberg
Democracy promoted in western sectors
Berlin blockade marked opening of the Cold
War
United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War
Economic Reconstruction & the Cold
War
Despite devastation, some factories and
much production knowledge remain intact
Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
Western foreign policy goal of containment
Fear on both sides leads to NATO and
other economic & defensive alliances
Entering the Second Half of the 20th Century
World attracted to FDR idea of the Four
Freedoms and the Atlantic Charter
Racism and imperialism a troubling
legacy of Europe
Creation of United Nations offered hope