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Chapter 27
The Deepening of the
European Crisis:
World War II
Prelude to War (1933-1939)
Still weary from WWI, France & Britain refused to accept the
possibility of another war
– USSR treated as an outcast by the West
– United States had reverted back to its traditional isolationism
– Austria and Hungary were to weak to oppose Germany in Central Europe
This power vacuum in central Europe encouraged a revived &
militarized Germany to acquire living space that Hitler claimed the
Aryans needed
Role of Hitler
Hitler believed in Lebensraum (living space) – a nation’s power
depended on the amount of land it occupied
Hitler believed that the Bolshevik Revolution had left Russia weak &
now eastern Europe was open to occupation
– Russia could be settled by German peasants & the Slavic population
would serve as slave labor in building his Aryan state
– Germany had to prepare for an inevitable war w/ USSR
One thing that Hitler was sure of: he was the only one that could lead
this movement
– Health concerns caused him to rush
– impatience was his major undoing in the long-run
The Diplomatic Revolution (1933-1936)
Hitler became Chancellor of Germany on Jan 30, 1933
Germany appeared weak as a result of the Treaty of Versailles
The country was not w/o advantages though
– most populous country after the Soviet Union
– possessed great industrial capacity
– Hitler well aware Britain & France wanted to avoid another war
Hitler needed to avoid France’s interference in his plans
– Initially appeared as a man of peace in public speeches
– Only wanted to revise some unfair provisions that kept Germany from
claiming its proper place in European society
March 1935 – publicly announced German rearmament to Europe
– 3/9/35 – announced the formation of a new air force
– 3/16/35 – military draft would increase army from 100,000 to 550,000
Germany & Italy aided General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil
War in 1936
– Oct 1936 – the Rome-Berlin Axis was formed
– Nov 1936 – Japan added, making Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
The Anti-Comintern Pact – these nations would form a common front
against communism
The Path to War in Europe (1937-1939)
Nov 5, 1937 – Hitler holds secret conference for military leaders to
reveal his plans
– goal is conquest of living space in the east
– would likely lead to war w/ Britain & France
– 1st had to deal w/ Austria & Czechoslovakia to protect Germany’s flanks
May 1936 – Neville Chamberlain visited Hitler
– Chamberlain advocate of appeasement, believed survival of British Empire
depended on German appeasement
Nov 1937 – Chamberlain told Hitler that he would not oppose changes
in Central Europe if conducted peacefully
March 13, 1938 – formally annexed Austria after Austrian Nazis given
control of the govt & Nazi troops invited to help keep order
Munich Conference (9/1938) – high point of appeasement by the West
– Hitler given the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovakia w/ German pop.)
Hitler believed the West would not fight over Poland
– Aug 23, 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact signed
– Sept 1, 1939: Hitler invades Poland
– Sept 17: Soviets occupy eastern Poland
The Path to War in Asia
Japan’s rise to world power was swift
– defeated China in 1895 & Russia in 1905
– Took over Germany’s eastern & Pacific colonies in WWI
Population more than doubled 1870-1940 (30 mil. to 80 mil.)
– needed to be able to feed people
– Japan devastated economically & politically during depression
1924 – Japan had experienced growth of political democracy
– Depression stifled that growth
1931 – Japan takes control of Manchuria
– League of Nations condemned the action, Japan withdrew from League
1935 – Japan begins constructing a modern naval fleet
By 1936 – the armed forces exercised influence over the govt.
Japan gained influence over Manchuria & China and began looking
West
– after Germany signed the Non-Aggression Pact w/ USSR, Japan had to
change it’s plan; looked South & East
July 1941 – Japan’s move south into Indochina caused America to
respond by placing an embargo on scrap iron & oil
The Course of World War II
“When starting and waging a war it is not right that matters, but
victory.” – Adolph Hitler (9 days before invading Poland)
Through the use of blitzkrieg (lightening war) Hitler shocked Europe
with his army’s efficiency
9/1/39 – Germany invades Poland
9/3/39 – France & Great Britain declare war on Germany
9/28/39 – Germany & Soviet Union officially divided Poland
Afraid of another war of attrition, GB & France refused to go on
offensive
– 1930-35, France had built a wall of fortifications along border w/ Germany
(Maginot Line)
4/9/40 – Hitler invades Denmark & Norway
5/10/40 – attacked Netherlands, Belgium, & France
– Main assault on Luxembourg unexpected
– Bypassed the Maginot line, cut French & British forces in half
– The entire British army & French troops escape at Dunkirk (330,000)
The Problem of Britain
5/10/40 – Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as PM of
Britain
Churchill was able to rally the British & would not accept Nazi
aggression in the East
Hitler realized that he could only invade Britain by water if he
controlled the air
Aug 1940 - Hitler launched Luftwaffe attacks on British Navy & Air
Force bases
– In September 1940, Hitler changed tactics & targeted British cities in
retaliation for an attack on Berlin
– Allowed Britain to rebuild its air force & repel further German attacks
– By the end of Sept, Germany had lost the Battle of Britain & postponed
invasion of Britain
Forced Hitler to switch to Mediterranean strategy
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Capture Egypt & Suez Canal and close the sea to British ships
Would cut off British supply of oil
Initially allowed Italians to handle this, but eventually sent Nazi forces
Regardless, his primary concerns lay elsewhere
Invasion of the Soviet Union
July 1940 – Hitler tells his generals to prepare for an invasion of the
Soviet Union
– Hitler felt Britain was only in the war because it expected Soviet help
– If Soviet Union crushed, Britain would press for peace
Hitler also convinced himself that the Jewish-Bolshevik leadership &
pitiful army could be easily routed
Scheduled for spring 1941, Italian failure to capture Greece exposed
Hitler’s flank to British air strikes
– Had to gain the cooperation of Hungary, Bulgaria & Romania and capture
Yugoslavia & Greece in April
Set his sights east & invaded the USSR on June 22, 1941
– Believed the Soviets could be defeated before the winter set in
– By November, one German army swept through the Ukraine while
another was besieging Leningrad, & 3rd army approached Moscow
An early winter & unexpected resistance halted the Nazi advance (1st
time the Nazi forces had been stopped)
Dec 1941 – Stalin staged a counterattack
– by that time, Hitler’s decisions (including declaration of war on U.S.)
spelled his eventual defeat
The War in Asia
By summer 1941, most of SE Asia was under Japanese influence
Dec 7, 1941 – Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
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sank or damaged 21 U.S. ships
(U.S.S. Arizona was the 1st to sink)
destroyed 188 planes
killed more than 2400 people
injured 1100 people
this crippled the U.S. Pacific fleet
Dec 8 – U.S. declares war on Japan
Dec 11 – Germany declares war on the U.S.
Importance of Pearl Harbor
allowed FDR to overcome the strong American isolationist sentiment
made the war truly a world-wide war
Japanese miscalculation of US strength
– saw the U.S. as “soft,” too much materialistic indulgence
– thought the attack on Pearl Harbor would destroy the Pacific fleet &
persuade FDR to accept Japanese dominance in Pacific
– only served to wake a “sleeping giant”
The Turning Point of the War
Entry of the US created an alliance that ultimately defeated the Axis
Powers
The Allies (US, GB, & USSR) all had to overcome suspicions of each
other
– German declaration of war on US convinced FDR that Germany should be
first priority, US increased aid (vehicles & weapons) to allies
– 1943 – Allies agree to principle of unconditional surrender of Axis powers
early 1942, looked as though Germany would prevail in Europe
– German Afrika Korps (led by Gen. Erwin Rommel) broke through British
defenses in Egypt advanced on Alexandria
Summer 1942 - British forces stopped Rommel at El Alamein
Nov 1942 – British & US forces invade French N. Africa forcing German
& Italian occupiers to surrender by May 1943
On Eastern front, Stalingrad proved to be the turning point in the war
– Nov 1942 – Feb 1943: German forces stopped, encircled & forced to
surrender
– Entire German 6th Army (300,000) lost, Germany back to starting point of
June 1942, & Hitler realized Germany could not win in USSR
Battle of Midway (June 4, 1942)
US Naval forces stopped Japanese advance, saved Australia at Battle of
the Coral Sea (May 1942)
Midway - turning point in Pacific Theater
Americans destroyed all four Japanese carriers attacking the island
established US military superiority in the Pacific
The Last Years of the War
By 1943, the tide had turned against the Axis powers, but it would take a
long time to achieve their unconditional surrender
May 1943 - Italian forces surrender at Tunisia, Allied forces move into Italy
in Sept.
June 4 1943 – Allies take Rome
D-Day (June 6, 1944)
In 1943, Churchill & FDR devised a plan to open a second front in the
European theater
General Eisenhower assembled a force of 176,000 soldiers, 600
warships, and 10,000 aircraft in England for Operation Overlord
– Within 3 months, Allies landed 2,000,000 men & 500,000 vehicles
Commanded by General Dwight Eisenhower, the Allies began the
offensive that took them across France and Germany
By early August, U.S. Gen. George Patton led the 3rd Armored tank
division across northern France to Germany
Last (& unsuccessful) attempt at a German offensive was at the Battle of
the Bulge
– Slowed but did not stop Allied advance
In January, 1945 Hitler had moved into an armored bunker in Berlin
by April 1945 – US, British, & Soviet forces all in Germany
– Hitler blamed Jews for the war to the end of his days
April 12, 1945 – FDR dies, Harry S. Truman becomes President
April 28, 1945 – Mussolini shot & hung in Italy
April 30, 1945 – Hitler commits suicide
May 7, 1945 – Germany surrenders, ends WWII in Europe (V-E Day)
In the Pacific, the “island hopping” campaign successful but as US Navy
nears Japan, Japanese resolve becomes more clear
– May ’45 Iwo Jima, June ’45 Okinawa (major US victories)
– code of Bushido (revived from feudal days) will not allow the Japanese to
surrender, the country was willing to fight to the last man, woman & child
– Truman sought a way to end the war quickly w/ as little loss of life on both
sides as possible, turns to new invention the atomic bomb
– August 6, 1945 - Hiroshima bombed (160,000 killed or inj.)
– August 9, 1945 - Nagasaki bombed (120,000 killed or inj.)
August 14, 1945 – Japan surrenders, ends WWII (V-J Day)
The Holocaust
the Nazi Order’s attempt to exterminate the entire Jewish population of
Europe was the most terrifying aspect of Hitler’s reign.
1933-39 – Nazi policy to “encourage” Jewish emigration
– Hitler also gave a warning about the possibility of another world war & the
extermination of the Jewish people
September 1939 – Nazi policy changes to the Madagascar Plan
– Jews would be mass shipped to the island of Madagascar
– war contingencies made this plan impractical, more drastic measures were
taken
Heinrich Himmler and the SS were given charge of the Final Solution to
the Jewish problem
– Reinhard Heydrich was given administrative responsibility for the Final
Solution
– Heydrich organized Einsatzgruppen to round up all Polish Jews &
concentrate them in ghettos in certain Polish cities
June 1941 – Einsatzgruppen become mobile killing units
– These SS death squads followed the army’s advance into Russia
– went into villages, round up the Jews, execute them & bury them in mass
graves
Jewish Death Camps
Even though an estimated 1 million were killed by the Einsatzgruppen,
this approach to the Final Solution was inadequate
A more systematic method was developed
– Jews in German controlled territory would be rounded up & sent to camps in
Poland for extermination
6 special camps designed specifically for extermination – Auschwitz,
Cheimno, Treblinka, Sobibor, Maidanek, & Belzec
Heads of the camps were assisted by members of the T-4 program
– T-4 had been charged w/ extermination of mentally & physically deformed
earlier in Hitler’s reign
– the camps would use Zyklon B (hydrogen cyanide) to kill the prisoners then
the bodies would be placed in furnaces to be cremated.
– some inmates subjected to cruel “medical” experiments
By spring 1942, the death camps were working
– immediate priority given to Poland
– by summer ’42, Jews were being shipped in from France, Belgium, &
Netherlands; in ’43 – Italy, Greece, Denmark
– The Final Solution had priority over anything on the Nazi railways
30% of Jews that were sent to Auschwitz went to a labor camp, the rest
were sent to the gas chambers
Records state that 5-6 million Jews were killed (3 million in camps)
– Nearly 90% of Jewish pop of Poland, Germany & Baltic countries killed
– Holocaust responsible for death of 2 out of 3 European Jews
The Home Front
Great Britain
55% of people in armed forces or civilian “war work”
By 1944, women held 50% of civil service positions
Food was rationed and people began growing their own food
Govt became more involved in regulating business to help increase
manufacture of war materials
Soviet Union
Only country to use women on the front line as soldiers
Stalin simply created a system of “supercentralization”
– He controlled all political & military affairs
As Germans advanced, Soviet factories dismantled & shipped to the east.
– Machines would be placed on bare ground & walls went up around them
WWII created a second industrial revolution
– 55% of nat’l income went to war production, severe shortages of food and
housing
German victory in West lost 47% of Soviet grain-producing land
Stalin knew that people would not fight for the Communist party but would
fight to save “Mother Russia” , a patriotic propaganda campaign ensued
United States
Different situation at home because no threat of war on home territory
Women did get more involved in the workplace but 71% stayed at
home
At high point of production, U.S. producing 6 ships a day & $6 billion in
equipment per month
Over 1 million African-Americans moved into Northern cities
– Caused racial tension, 1 million African Am. Soldiers enlisted only to be
segregated in their own units
100,000 Japanese Americans placed in internment camps in
California (65% were born & raised in United States)
Germany
Hitler was aware that the home front was very important
– Blamed loss of WWI on collapse of home front morale
Refused to convert production from consumer goods to armaments
As the tide turned against the Nazi party, Hitler still refused drastic
cuts in production of consumer goods until 1944 (too little, too late)
Women got slightly more involved in the labor force from 1939-44
– Number of women in labor force only increased 300,000
Costs of World War II
Economic – estimated $1 trillion ($1,000,000,000,000)
– (U.S. spent $341 billion)
Lives – more than 60 million people died
– 25 million from military
– 30 million civilians
– 10-12 million died in the Holocaust
(6 million Jews)
Balance of power
– Britain, France, Germany, & Japan ceased to be world powers
This left only America & Soviet Union to compete for
dominance
This competition for power would lead to the Cold War,
which would last for almost 40 years
Aftermath: The Cold War
Yalta Conference
By February 1945, the defeat of Germany was a forgone conclusion
FDR pushed for the formation of the United Nations
– First meeting set in San Francisco in April 1945
German reparations set at $20 billion
Issue of a provisional govt. in Poland was a sticking point between
U.S. & USSR
Potsdam Conference (July 1945)
Stalin sought safety from the West & distrusted even war-time allies
Truman demanded free elections in Eastern Europe, Stalin refused
because he could not allow “anti-soviet” govts. so close to USSR
1946 – Winston Churchill coins the term “Iron Curtain” when
concerning Soviet influence in Eastern Europe
The victory by the Allies in WWII was not followed by peace but a cold
war (a war of words w/ the threat of military action)
The Cold War stemmed from military, political, & ideological
differences between the United States & Soviet Union and lasted
nearly 40 years