Download Chapter 19 The Cold War

Chapter 19
The Cold War
Section 1
Healing the
Wounds of War
The Occupation of Germany
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{To discuss how to handle post war Germany, Allied
leaders met in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945 at the
Potsdam Conference}
President Truman met with Joseph Stalin and Winston
Churchill, who at the conference was replaced by Clement
Attlee, and together they divided Germany into four
occupation zones
The British, French and Americans took the western parts
of Germany and the Soviet Union took the eastern part.
Their goal was to crush the Nazi Party and reestablish a
government, rebuild German industry and return refugees
to their homes
The Occupation of Japan
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The U.S. occupied post war Japan from 1945 to 1952.
Although Emperor Hirohito remained in his palace, he had
no power. Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur, his
people and a new Japanese congress ran the country
Under MacArthur Japan began the demobilization of
millions of Japanese troops and established its own
constitution in 1947.
The new constitution, set up a democratic system, gave
women the right to vote, granted freedom of religion and
stated that Japan can never become a military power
again
Japan also set up new economic reforms like giving land t
farmers, allowing labor unions to organize and breaking up
the {Zaibatsu- huge corporations run by single families
that had monopolies in Japan}
In Japan, the Emperor was actually seen as a deity, or a god, and had been
since the beginning. {So the first time in history the Japanese public had ever
heard the voice of their Emperor over the radio it was of him not only admitting
defeat and surrender but admitting that he was a mortal man and not a god.}
Can you imagine the devastation this set upon the Japanese people. Their
entire belief system was put into question. They began to question their faith
and wonder what other parts of their religion or culture were based upon lies?
Japanese POW’s
reaction to the
Emperor’s public
surrender broadcast
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The War Crimes Trials
The Nuremburg
Trials
The Allied powers agreed that all the German and Japanese
war criminals and military leaders should be punished
The German war crime trials were held in Nuremburg,
Germany and were appropriately called the {Nuremburg
Trials
The trials began in November 1945 where the testimonies of
witnesses gave the horrific accounts of Nazi atrocities.}
In September of 1946 Nazi leaders were charged with
planning the war, committing war crimes, crimes against
humanity and conspiracy to commit those crimes
12 Nazi leaders were sentenced to death, 7 received jail
time, 3 were acquitted and many others were fined and
barred from public offices
Many others like {Adolph Eichmann, the founder of the
Jewish extermination program, avoided immediate
prosecution by hiding their identities and fleeing to Latin
The War Crimes Trials
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Trials in
Tokyo
In Tokyo, MacArthur created the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East in 1946, to try war criminals from
the wars in the Pacific
The court prosecuted more than 20 Japanese military
leaders between May 1946 and November 1948
7 people were sentenced to death including Hideki Tojo,
Japan’s premier during the war
Despite protests from Americans that more Japanese and
German officials should have been punished, the courts
tried to follow legal procedures rather than act on anger
The trials did set the standard that all can be tried for their
actions and that “I was just following orders” were not
grounds for leniency
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The Founding of the United
Nations
In Washington DC, 1944, {delegates from the U.S., G.B., the
Soviet Union and China met and came up with a postwar
international organization called the United Nations}
In April 1945, leaders form 50 nations met in San Francisco
to create the Charter of the UN
The charter created a National Assembly and a Security
Council
The Security Council deals with military and political
problems and has the power to veto any action proposed by
the National Assembly
On October 24 1945 the United Nations became official and
established its headquarters in NYC
Trygve Lie of Norway served as the first secretary-general
of the UN and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt served as
one of the first US delegates to the UN
The Founding of Israel
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One of the first issues the UN had to deal with was Palestine, a
Mediterranean region occupied by both Arabs and Jews
Rather than return to Europe after the end of WWII, many Jews
moved to Palestine despite Arab protests
Britain, who ruled Palestine since WWI, was unable to resolve
the conflict and turned it over to the UN in 1947
The UN divided the nation up into 2 states, one for the Jews
and one for the Arabs, but the Arabs rejected the proposal
{Zionism was the movement seeking a home for the Jewish
people in Palestine.}
Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion and other Jewish leaders
promptly proclaimed the new state of Israel promptly after the
British forces withdrew from Palestine
They had the support of both the US and the Soviet Union
These displaced 4-year old Jewish
refugees from Europe, were bound for
Palestine (on board the Exodus) and
photographed by a Red Cross
Photographer: Werner Bischof
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The Arab-Israeli War
The Arabs responded with violence, refusing to recognize Israel.
The Palestine Arabs rallied forces from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and
Transjordan to attack Israel.
Outnumbered, but backed with all the money from the American Jewish
community the Israeli soldiers were able to hold on
In an attempt to end the war the UN sent a mediator, Ralph Bunche, to
the Middle East. {He eventually was able to get both sides to accept
an armistice
For this Ralph Bunche became the first African American to win a
Nobel Peace Prize}
The agreement gave Israel more territory but divided Jerusalem into
Arab and Israeli zones
It gave Egypt control of the Gaza Strip and gave Jordan the West Bank
of the Jordan River
The Arab countries still refused to recognize Israel
However the issue of the Palestine Arabs still residing in Israel was left
unresolved