Download Goal 10: WWII and the Beginning of the Cold War (1930

Goal 10: WWII and the Beginning of
the Cold War (1930-1963)
The learner will analyze the U.S. involvement in
WWII and the war’s influence on international
affairs in the following decades.
The Coming of War (Ch. 19)
Dictators & War
• A Bitter Peace Unravels
– “A war to end all wars” left many nations
angered and resentful after the Treaty of
Versailles.
• Britain, France, U.S. made most of the
decisions
• Germany and Russia were not present
• Italy and Japan (allies) had expected more land
for their sacrifices.
• Totalitarianism- a theory of
government in which a single party or
leader controls the economic, social,
and cultural lives of its people.
Repression in the Soviet Union &
Italy
• In Russia- Lenin created the
beginnings of a totalitarian system
of control to maintain power. His
programs resulted in civil war,
starvation, famine, and death of
millions of Russians.
• Joseph Stalin replaces Lenin
(1924)
– Stalin’s efforts to transform the
Soviet Union into an industrial
power resulted in the deaths of 10
million people.
– The Great Terror- Stalin purged the
Russia of real or suspected traitors,
which resulted in 1 million deaths
or imprisonments
• In Italy- Benito Mussolini
became the head of the fascist
party. Mussolini outlawed
political parties, took over the
press, created a secret police,
and organized youth groups to
indoctrinate the young.
• Fascism – Believe in a strong
sense of nationalism and the idea
of making Italy great once again.
– Black Shirts- followers
Aggressive Leader in Germany
• Adolf Hitler was the son of an
Austrian civil servant, a failed artist, a
wounded & decorated WWI soldier,
after the war he joined the Nazi Party.
• A failed attempt to overthrow the
government resulted in Hitler being
imprisoned, where he wrote Mein
Kampf (My Struggle).
– Nazi bible and a German best seller.
Hitler’s ideology of extreme
nationalism, racism, and anti-Semitism.
• Hitler believed that Jews were
inferior and that Germans belonged
to a superior master race of Aryans,
or light-skinned northern Europeans.
• In Jan. 1933 he was appointed Chancellor of Germany,
later becoming president.
• Secret police to control opposition, state controlled press
and educational system to indoctrinate the young.
• Late 1930s, Hitler’s economic policies, including
rearmament and massive public works projects and ended
the depression in Germany.
– The majority of Germans loved the Nazi rule.
Dictators Turn to Aggression
• In 1931, Japan attacks Manchuria and
the U.N. did not respond, which gave
dictators around the world confidence
that there would be no repercussions
for their actions.
• With a stronger military, in 1936
Hitler ordered troops to occupy the
demilitarized Rhineland, a region the
Treaty of Versailles forbade German
troops from entering.Yet again, the
League of Nations took no action.
• Italy had dreams of an empire.
Mussolini used his modern military to
conquer Ethiopia in 1935.
• Ethiopia appealed to the League of
Nations for help, but by 1936
Mussolini fully controlled Ethiopia.
Aggression Goes Unchecked
• Appeasement – Giving in to an aggressor’s demands in hopes of keeping
the peace.
• Britain and France were weak, which encouraged Hitler to continue
to break the Treaty of Versailles.
• U.S.- Isolationists
• 1938 Germany brought Austria into his Reich, called Anschluss, and
Sudetenland, a portion of Czechoslovakia
Munich Pact
From Isolation to Involvement
Roosevelt opposes Aggression
• Americans were still favoring a policy
of isolation during this time period,
but FDR warned that no part of the
world was truly isolated from the rest
of the world in his “Quarantine”
speech.
• FDR was widely criticized for his
views on isolation and backed away
from his stance on intervention in
Europe.
War Erupts in Europe
• March 12, 1938 – Germany takes
the rest of Czechoslovakia.
– The US and world do nothing.
• Germany wants to invade Poland
– Britain and France vow not to let
Germany take any
more countries.
– Hitler was concerned more with the
Soviet Union than Britain or France.
• Signs a Non-Aggression Pact with
Soviets.
• In 1939 Germany and the USSR
conquered and divided Poland.
• Blitzkreig- “lightning war,” it was a
sudden attack that hit Poland from 3
directions,
• Britain and France declared war on
Germany but defensively waited for
Hitler to attack.
• Allied Powers: France and Great Britain, later
Soviet Union, United States, and China
• Axis Powers: Germany and Japan
• Hitler conquered Norway, Denmark, the
Netherlands, and Belgium.
– For protection France relied on the Ardennes
forest and a string of defenses called the Maginot
Line. The French thought the Germans would
avoid these defenses and invade through
Belgium, as they did in WWI.
• Hitler surprised the French by cutting through
the Ardennes with his panzers, pinning the
Allies to the sea, and pushing them off mainland
Europe.
– In less than a month the French were defeated.
• Hitler then plan to invade Britain, but first he
needed to control the skies.
– Hitler conducted
days of continuous
bombing, but the British held on.
– Hitler decided to postpone the invasion of
Britain.
– First loss suffered by Hitler and his war machine.
Americans Debate Involvement
• Congress passed the Neutrality Acts of
1935, 1936, and 1937; which were
developed to ensure that the US did not
become entangled in European affairs.
• FDR slowly getting his way because in
1939 the US adopts a “Cash & Carry”
policy.
– US could sell goods to other nations as long as
they carried them on their ships.
– Policy does not work, so FDR just sends the
goods directly to the Allies.
• Tripartite Pact- Germany, Italy, Japan
signed & became allies.
• Many Americans are convinced that they at
least need to be ready to defend
themselves.
– The U.S. had the first peacetime draft.
American takes steps toward war
• Britain ran out of money to continue
with “Cash and Carry,” so Congress
approved the Lend - Lease Act. FDR
was now authorized to lend and
lease “defense articles” to those
necessary in the interest of the
defense of the U.S.
• Atlantic Charter- FDR and
Winston Churchill met on a
battleship to agree on certain
principles for building a lasting peace
and establishing free governments in
the world. Germany fired on US
ships transporting “goods” to Britain.
• FDR orders the navy to attack
German U-boats on sight. In June
1941, Germany had gone to war
against the Soviet Union.
America Enters the War
Japan Attacks the U.S.
• As Japan began to move into Indochina, in July 1940- U.S. placed embargo on
important naval and aviation supplies to Japan. (oil, iron ore, fuel steel, and
rubber.)
• Embargo was not very effective, Japan obtained such resources from land that
had been taken over.
• General
• Nov. 1941 the U.S. intercepts the Hull Notes saying Japan will attack.
• On Dec. 7th, 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
• U.S. fleet caught unprepared.
– 2,400 sailors died, 1,200 wounded, 18 ships sunk, 160 aircraft damaged, 200
destroyed.
– Only the aircraft carriers and seven heavy cruiser survived because they were out to
sea at the time of the attack.
• On Dec. 8th 1941 the U.S. declares war on Japan.
– In return, Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S. because of the Tripartite Pact.
• With the Japanese attack on the U.S., WWII became a global war.