Download Europe in 1939, Eve of World War II

Chapter 26
The Crisis Deepens: World War II
Europe in 1939, Eve of World War II
1. The announcement by Adolf Hitler in March 1935 of the creation of a new German air force and the introduction of a draft, both contravention of the
Versailles treaty, brought condemnation from France, Britain, and Italy but none took concrete action. Emboldened, German troops were sent into
the demilitarized Rhineland in March 1936. Britain viewed this simply as the reoccupation of German territory and without British support France
chose not to act.
2. In July 1934 Austrian Nazis tried to overthrow the Austrian government by murdering the chancellor. They were unable to take power, however,
when Mussolini threatened to use force to stop German troop movement intended to aid the insurrectionists. Hitler was more successful in March
1938 when threats of invasion forced the chancellor to put Austrian Nazis in charge of the government. The new government invited Germany to
send troops to maintain law and order.
3. Italy, under Benito Mussolini, embarked on imperialist expansion with the invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935. Roundly condemned by Britain
and France, Mussolini drew closer to Hitler. This relationship was solidified by their joint support of Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (19361939). In 1936 Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement recognizing common economic and political interests. The Rome-Berlin Axis was born.
4. The weakness demonstrated by the European states convinced Hitler he could move on Czechoslovakia with impunity. His initial demand in
1938 was autonomy for the Sudetenland, a mountainous area on the northwestern border containing about three million ethnic Germans. The region
contained Czechoslovakia's most important frontier defenses and industrial resources. On September 15, 1938, Hitler increased his demand to
cession of the Sudetenland to Germany. Two weeks later a hastily arranged conference at Munich gave in to Hitler. Under the pretext of quelling
internal disorder, Germany occupied the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. Slovakia was declared independent and became a
puppet state of Germany.
5. The German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 sent the predominantly German people of Memel into a frenzy, forcing the Lithuanian
foreign minister to surrender the territory to Germany.
6. Annoyed by the occupation of Prague, Mussolini struck out with his own aggression in April 1939 by transforming the Italian protectorate over
Albania into full annexation into the Italian Empire.
7. German demands for the return of Danzig led Britain to openly declare protection of Poland. On September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded.
Questions:
1. What drove Hitler's quest for territory?
2. Why and how did Italy and Germany form an alliance.
Europe in 1939, Eve of World War II
 Dictatorial Regimes
 Birth of Fascism
 Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)
 Fascio di Combattimento (League of Combat),
1919
 Support from middle class industrialists and
large landowners
 Growth of the socialist
 Mussolini appointed prime minister, October
29,1922
 Fascist government
 Fascist organizations
 Role of women in the Fascist society
 Lateran Accords, February 1919
 Nazi Germany
Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
 Vienna
 Munich
 German Workers’ Party
 National Socialist German Workers’ Party , 1921
 Sturmabteilung (SA), Storm Troops
 Munich Beer Hall Putsch, November 1923

Mein Kampf, My Struggle
Becomes chancellor, January 30, 1933
Reichstag fire, February 27, 1933
Enabling Act, March 23, 1933
Gleichschaltung
President Paul von Hindenburg dies, August 2, 1934

The Nazi State, 1933-1939
 Mass demonstrations and spectacles to create
collective fellowship
 Economics
 Heinrich Himmler and the SS
 Churches, schools, and universities brought under
Nazi
 control
 Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth) and Bund deutscher
Mädel (League of German Maidens)
 Impact on women
 Aryan racial state
 Nuremberg laws, September 1935
 Kristallnacht, November 9-10, 1938
 Restrictions on Jews
 Stalinist Era in the Soviet Union
First Five Year Plan
Social and political costs of industrialization
Rapid collectivization of agriculture
 Famine of 1932-1933; 10 million peasants died
Political control
 Stalin dictatorship established, 1929
 Political purge, 1936-1938; 8 million arrested
 Spain
Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939
 Rise of Militarist Japan
Takeover of Manchuria, 1931
Conscription law, 1938
Imperial Rule Assistance Association, 1940
 Road to War
 Germany
Versailles Treaty limited the army to 100,000 , no air
force, and limited navy
 Creation of a new air force and expand the army
by conscription to 500,000, 1935
Rome-Berlin Axis, October 1936
Occupation of the demilitarized Rhineland, March 7,
1937
Annexation of Austria, March 13, 1938
Demand the cession of the Sudetenland, September
15, 1938
 Munich Conference, September 29, 1938
 German dismemberment of Czechoslovakia
Nonaggression pact with the Soviet Union, August
23,1939
 Japan
Mukden Incident, September 1931
Seizure of Manchuria
 United States refuses to recognize
Clash at Marco Polo Bridge, July, 1937
Japanese New Order in East Asia
Demands right to occupy airfield and exploit economic
resources of Indochina, summer 1942
 United States warns of economic sanctions
Europe in 1939, Eve of World War II
1. The announcement by Adolf Hitler in March 1935 of the creation of a new German air force and the introduction of a draft, both contravention of the
Versailles treaty, brought condemnation from France, Britain, and Italy but none took concrete action. Emboldened, German troops were sent into
the demilitarized Rhineland in March 1936. Britain viewed this simply as the reoccupation of German territory and without British support France
chose not to act.
2. In July 1934 Austrian Nazis tried to overthrow the Austrian government by murdering the chancellor. They were unable to take power, however,
when Mussolini threatened to use force to stop German troop movement intended to aid the insurrectionists. Hitler was more successful in March
1938 when threats of invasion forced the chancellor to put Austrian Nazis in charge of the government. The new government invited Germany to
send troops to maintain law and order.
3. Italy, under Benito Mussolini, embarked on imperialist expansion with the invasion of Ethiopia in October 1935. Roundly condemned by Britain
and France, Mussolini drew closer to Hitler. This relationship was solidified by their joint support of Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War (19361939). In 1936 Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement recognizing common economic and political interests. The Rome-Berlin Axis was born.
4. The weakness demonstrated by the European states convinced Hitler he could move on Czechoslovakia with impunity. His initial demand in
1938 was autonomy for the Sudetenland, a mountainous area on the northwestern border containing about three million ethnic Germans. The region
contained Czechoslovakia's most important frontier defenses and industrial resources. On September 15, 1938, Hitler increased his demand to
cession of the Sudetenland to Germany. Two weeks later a hastily arranged conference at Munich gave in to Hitler. Under the pretext of quelling
internal disorder, Germany occupied the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939. Slovakia was declared independent and became a
puppet state of Germany.
5. The German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 sent the predominantly German people of Memel into a frenzy, forcing the Lithuanian
foreign minister to surrender the territory to Germany.
6. Annoyed by the occupation of Prague, Mussolini struck out with his own aggression in April 1939 by transforming the Italian protectorate over
Albania into full annexation into the Italian Empire.
7. German demands for the return of Danzig led Britain to openly declare protection of Poland. On September 1, 1939, Poland was invaded.
Questions:
1. What drove Hitler's quest for territory?
2. Why and how did Italy and Germany form an alliance.
World War II in Europe
WWII in Asia and Pacific
 Course of World War II
 Europe
Germany invades Poland, September 1, 1939
 Britain and France declare war on Germany,
September 3, 1939
“Phony war”, winter 1939-1940
Blitzkrieg against Denmark and Norway, April 9, 1940
Attack on Netherlands, Belgium, and France, May 10,
1940
 Evacuation of Dunkirk
 Surrender of France, June 22, 1940
Battle Britain, Fall 1940
German Mediterranean strategy
Germany invaded the Soviet Union, June 22, 1941
World War II in Asia and the Pacific
1. The population of Japan had exploded from 30 million in 1870 to 80 million in 1937. The ability to feed the people and purchase raw materials
depended on the manufacturing of industrial goods and textiles. When Western nations hit by the depression sought to protect their economies by
erecting tariff barriers, Japan's economy was devastated. This, in turn, affected democratic growth.
2. Patriotic societies allied with the army and navy to push for expansion at the expense of China and Russia. The navy especially cast its eyes on
oil rich British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies.
3. Japan had controlled Manchuria (Manchuko) since its victory over Russia in 1905. Chinese nationalism, however, threatened Japan's warlord
puppets. In response, junior army officers in 1931 blew up the tracks of a Japanese owned railroad at Mukden. Citing the need for self-defense,
Manchuria was occupied. The following year, Japan proclaimed Manchuko an independent state with a Manchu puppet as emperor. Manchuria's
valuable raw materials had been guaranteed. When the League of Nations condemned Japan in 1933, it withdrew from the League. In July 1937
Japan invaded northern China. Two years later, from May to September 1939, an undeclared war was fought with the Russians on the Mongolian
border.
4. Following the German defeat of France in June 1940, Japanese troops pushed into northern French Indochina. By July 1941 the occupation was
completed when southern Indochina was seized. The United States responded by cutting off supplies of vital scrap iron and oil to Japan. This
action led the army to press for the occupation of the oil rich Dutch East Indies and Malaya. However, the military leaders feared this would provoke
the United States. Therefore, a preemptive strike was determined. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This was quickly
followed in succession by the capture of Singapore, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and northern Burma between February and May 1942.
5. The tide of battle turned on May 7-8, 1942, at the battle of the Coral Sea when naval and air power stopped the Japanese advance and also
relieved Australia from the pressure of Japan. The following month Japanese hopes of annihilating the rest of the American Pacific fleet were
dashed at the battle of Midway in which Japan lost four aircraft carriers. At this point the war became a defensive one for the Japanese. The
Americans initiated two island hoping campaigns. The first sought the recapture of the Philippines which was accomplished by June 1945. The
second struck out across the South Pacific beginning at the Gilbert Islands (Tarawa, November 1943). The two offensives converged at Okinawa in
April 1945. From Okinawa American bombers could strike Japan.
Questions:
1. Why did Japan need an economic hegemony over Asia?
2. What was the strategy of Japan in fighting the war against the United States? What was the strategy of the US? Why was one more successful
than the other?
World War II in Asia and the Pacific
 Japan
Attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, December 7,
1941
 Germany declared war in the U.S., December 11,
1941
Great East-Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
 Turning Point of the War
 United States program of Lend-Lease
 Agreement to fight until unconditional surrender of the Axis
 German success in 1942 in Africa and Soviet Union
Allies invade French North Africa, victory in May 1943
Battle of Stalingrad, November 1942-February 1943
 Battle of the Coral Sea, May 7-8, 1942
 Battle of Midway, June 4, 1942
 Solomon Islands, November 1942
 Last Years of the War
 Tank Battle of Kursk, Soviet Union, July 5-12, 1943
 Invasion of Italy, September 1943
Rome falls June 4, 1944
 D-Day invasion of France, June 6, 1944
 Russians enters Berlin, April 1945
 Hitler’s suicide, April 30, 1945
 Surrender of Germany, May 7, 1945
 Difficulty of invading the Japanese homeland
Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
Nagasaki, August 14, 1945
 Human losses in the war: 17 million military dead, 18
million civilians dead
 The New Order
 German racial considerations
Resettlement plans of the East
Slave labor
The Holocaust
 The Final Solution
 Einsatzgrupen
 Extermination camps
 The other Holocaust
 Asia
Economic utilization of occupied territories by the
Japanese
Power of military authorities in occupied territories
 The Home Front
 Mobilization of people
Soviets dismantled factories and shipped them to the
interior
Soviet women in the factories and as combatants
United States, the “arsenal of democracy”
 Women in the factories
 Migration of blacks from the south to the North and
West
 Racial difficulties
 Japanese Americans
German failure to cut production of consumer goods
until 1944
German reluctance to use women as laborers
Japan fully mobilized society for war
 Did not use women for labor
 Bombing of Cities
Guilio Douhert, 1930
Lufwaffe raids on Britain
General Arthur Harris, 1942
 Attack on Cologne, May 31, 1942
 American bombing by day, British bombing by
night
 Firebombs
» Hamburg, August 1943; Dresden, February
1945
 German failure to cut production of consumer goods
until 1944
 German reluctance to use women as laborers
 Japanese cities bombed
 People’s Volunteer Corps
The Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990
1. In a speech at Westminister College in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill proclaimed that "... an iron curtain has descended across the
continent."
2. At Yalta in February 1945 it was agreed that Germany, Austria, and Berlin would be divided into four zones of occupation. While the Western leaders wanted
Eastern European states to be independent, autonomous, and democratic, Stalin feared that such conditions could mean an unfriendly attitude toward the Soviet
Union. Nevertheless, rather than risk confrontation, Stalin signed the Declaration on Liberated Europe promising self-determination and free democratic elections.
By 1948 the Soviets had established loyal governments in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia, though communist, remained
unallied to either East or West.
3 .As disagreements over the economic and political future of Germany became heated, the Western Allies proceeded in 1948 with uniting their sectors. In the
summer, Russia sought to drive the West out of Berlin (located in the Russian sector) by closing railroads and highways. The Berlin Blockade failed and access
was reestablished in May 1949. The split of Germany became formal in September 1949 when a constitution was granted to the western German Federated
Republic. In October, the eastern German Democratic Republic was granted its own constitution by the Soviets. In both cases, outside troops remained while in
Austria troops were withdrawn.
4. In March 1948 Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, and Britain signed the Treaty of Brussels that provided for cooperation in economic and military
matters. In April 1949 these states were joined by Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and Iceland in signing an agreement with the United States and Canada
forming the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). A few years later, West Germany, Greece, and Turkey joined the alliance. The United States agreed both
to supply equipment for European rearmament and to guarantee Western Europe against invasion. The alliance was somewhat weakened when France, protesting
the influence of the United States in Europe, withdrew in 1969. However, France still remained a western ally.
5 .In 1953, workers revolted in East Germany over the nationalization of industry. The Soviets responded with tanks. Such a steady flight of people to West
Germany ensued that East Germany built the Berlin Wall in August 1961.
6. The Warsaw Pact was created in May 1955 as a formal military alliance. It included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, and the Soviet Union. Earlier in the year, Soviet occupation forces were withdrawn from Austria after it pledged to be a neutral state.
7. In October 1956 the Polish Communist Party refused to fill the vacant office of prime minister with a Soviet selected successor. Instead, they selected Wladyslaw
Gomulka who declared Poland had a right to follow its own socialist path. Nevertheless, rather than provoke the Soviets, Poland promised to remain loyal to the
Warsaw Pact. With this, Poland was allowed to pursue its own socialism.
8. Drawing energy from Poland, Hungary attempted an independent road when the new head of government, Imry Nagy, declared it a free state on November 1,
1956. Since the promise of free elections could potentially doom communist rule, Russia sent tanks into Budapest on November 4. Soviet authority was
reestablished.
9. In January 1968 Alexander Dubcek was elected first secretary of the Czechoslovakian Communist Party and introduced reforms that included freedom of speech
and the press. However, he went too far when suggesting neutrality and withdrawal from the Soviet bloc. In August the Soviet army crushed the reform movement.
10. At Gadansk, Poland, an independent labor movement called Solidarity began to make revolutionary demands for the workers in 1980. Despite arrests,
outlawing the union, and military rule, Solidarity triumphed and parliamentary elections were held in 1988.
The Cold War in Europe, 1945-1990
Question:
1. What were the future implications of Soviet gains after the war?
 Emergence of the Cold War
 Conference at Tehran, November 1943
Future course of the war, invasion of the continent for
1944
Agreement for the partition of postwar Germany
 Declaration on Liberated Europe
 Conference at Yalta, February 1945
Soviet military assistance for the war against Japan
Creation of a United Nations
German unconditional surrender
Free elections in Eastern Europe
 Conference at Potsdam, July 1945
Truman replaces Roosevelt
Stalin refuses to allow free elections in Eastern
Europe