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APWH Chapter 36 New Conflagrations: World War II and the Cold War Periodization 6: “Accelerating Global Change and Realignments” – c. 1900 to the present (Chapters 33-38) THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE • From the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the late summer of 1945, the people of the world suffered through fourteen years of horrible war and devastating deprivation. To an even greater extent than the Great War, the World War II was truly a global conflict. Unfortunately, the number of dead and wounded would also be much greater in the second confrontation. Civilians also suffered to a much greater extent. THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE • Relations between imperialist nations and their colonies were strained, finally, to the breaking point. Gender relations were transformed once again by international warfare. To the horror of many, the end of World War II led directly into the uncertainty of the cold war and the ever-present nightmare of the atomic age. The United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies faced off in a fundamental struggle to shape the postwar world. It was a contest based on power politics, competing social and economic systems, and differing political ideologies that lasted over fifty years and touched every corner of the globe. THEMES • Between 1931 and 1945, a global struggle occurred between revisionist powers, who sought to revise or reorder the global structure established after the end of World War I, and those powers who sought to preserve and maintain the status quo. Conflict between these two positions led to all-out war by 1931 between Japan and China, a conflict that became global by1941, with two opposing alliances, the Axis and Allied powers, engaged in a total struggle for global dominance. Characteristics of the conflict included notions of racial superiority that motivated brutal warfare and occupation campaigns directed against civilians, who died in far higher numbers than did combatants. THEMES • Unprecedented demands led to the rapid expansion of state power and authority over all areas of society, as each side pressed its peoples for ever greater levels of sacrifice and commitment in pursuit of victory. Women and minority groups experienced immense challenges and suffering throughout the war, either as recruits into the armed forces or munitions industries, or as targets of state-directed policies of genocide and sexual domination. Despite these challenges and privations, and the temporary nature of women’s economic empowerment, the human spirit endured. THEMES (continued) • Ultimately World War II became a war of numbers, as the greater resources of continental states such as the United States and the Soviet Union proved too much for the smaller Axis powers. These two nations would emerge as superpowers after the conflict, and their competition for control of global resources and ideological supremacy would generate the decades-long standoff known as the cold war. This rivalry gave rise to a new set of global relationships and encouraged the formation of military and political alliances. THEMES (continued) • The cold war encouraged military confrontation by proxy, particularly as local conflicts became integrated into the wider bipolar struggle. Korea and Cuba are the most obvious examples of these proxy wars. By the late 1960s, however, despite challenges to their authority from both allies and enemies, the U.S. and Soviet Union entered into a period of détente, prompting a new spirit of cooperation. SOURCES The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere • http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/papers/coprospr.htm • http://brian.hoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/HST263/20.WorldWarII.html World War II • http://www.history.com/content/worldwartwo (World War II by the History Channel) • http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WW.htm (Second World War --by category) • http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/ (Archival Material) • http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/wwii.asp (Documents) • http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm (Timeline) • http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/w2frm.htm (Eyewitness Accounts) • http://www.library.northwestern.edu/govinfo/collections/wwii-posters/ (Propaganda Posters) • http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/ww2.htm (a plethora of links) • http://www.fsu.edu/~ww2/ (The Institute on WWII and the Human Experience) • http://www.ushmm.org/ (The Smithsonian’s Holocaust Museum) • http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series-list.jsp?cat=WR26 (The National Archives – WWII Documents) • http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ (PBS’s The Perilous Fight: America’s WWII in Color) SOURCES Truman Doctrine • http://www.trumanlibrary.org/teacher/doctrine.htm • http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/harrystrumantrumandoctrine.html • http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=81 Marshall Plan • http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=82 • http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/marshall/ • http://www.hpol.org/marshall/ Soviet Council for Mutual Economic Aid (COMECON) • http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/germany_east/gx_appnb.html • http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=206630 North Atlantic Treaty Organization • http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=217811 • http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/cwr/102468.htm Warsaw Pact • http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=225503 • http://memory.loc.gov/frd/cs/soviet_union/su_appnc.html SOURCES The Cold War • http://www.coldwar.org/ • http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm • http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ColdWar.htm http://www.archives.gov/research/cold-war/ • http://www.thecorner.org/hist/europe/coldwar.htm • http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/coldwar.html • http://www.wilsoncenter.org/coldwarfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.flash • http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=topics.home&topic_id=1409 • http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/coldwar.htm • http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/JFK+in+History/The+Cold+War.ht m WORLD WAR II FROM THE SOVIET PERSPECTIVE • Approaching the war and its aftermath from the Soviet perspective gives a fresh and invigorating feel to the topic. The role of the Soviet Union in the interwar years, during World War II, and in the early stages of the cold war, is a topic that really needs to be discussed. Even now, in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, many people are still operating within the framework of a definite cold war mentality. Granted, the Soviets were as guilty as the United States, if not more so, of generating propaganda that reduced the international economic and political world into a struggle of good versus evil. WORLD WAR II FROM THE SOVIET PERSPECTIVE (continued) • To make the situation even more complicated, the American propagandistic portrayal of Stalin alternated radically in the years before and after World War II. The fact that Stalin could be Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” twice (in 1939 and 1942) speaks volumes about the confused image presented in the United States. It is important to understand the extraordinary Soviet sacrifice and loss of life in World War II and the Allies’ belated moves to open a second front in Europe if you are going to comprehend both the nature of World War II and the Russian paranoia that played such a role in the origins of the cold war. THE GRAND ALLIANCE AND THE WIDENING GULF BETWEEN THE U.S. AND THE SOVIET UNION • It is important to make sure to understand that many of the origins of the cold war can be found in the dying days of World War II. What problems were tearing apart the Grand Alliance? Was it an alliance doomed from the very beginning? Did the roots of this split really go back to the Russian revolution and the Treaty of Versailles? THE GRAND ALLIANCE AND THE WIDENING GULF BETWEEN THE U.S. AND THE SOVIET UNION (continued) • A couple of quotes can help us gain an appreciation of the delicate nature of the Grand Alliance and the widening gulf between the Soviet Union and the United States. Winston Churchill’s great quote about saying something nice about the devil in the House of Commons if Hitler invaded Hell helps to show the students what a marriage of convenience the alliance was in the first place. Finally, as Hitler waited out the end in the bunker in Berlin, he pointed out in his last political musings that the United States and the Soviet Union would come out of the war as superpowers and thus be driven by historical forces to a trial of strength. THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC • It is almost impossible to over-emphasize the scope and scale of World War II. Many people only focus on Europe and the Nazis. While these topics certainly deserve attention, the war in the Pacific should not be overlooked. It was, if anything, more brutally racist on both sides than were the European conflicts. All too often, people see the attack on Pearl Harbor as merely senseless and unprovoked without understanding the background. • Explore the reasons for and development of the Japanese drive to dominate Asia and the Pacific can be an enlightening topic—especially when framed in the context of European and American imperialist aspirations and practices. THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC (continued) • Re-examining the Meiji restoration and the rise of militarism in Japan before moving on to the long-standing conflicts between the Japanese and the western powers over China and the rest of Asia. While it cannot excuse them, this might help you understand actions like Pearl Harbor and the Rape of Nanjing, as well as clarifying why the war in the Pacific took on the harsh racial overtones that led to the Bataan Death March and the internment of Japanese-Americans. A source like John Dower’s War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War is a good place to start, for it shows that racist ideas shaped both sides’ perceptions of the conflict. THE EMERGENCE OF GENOCIDAL POLICIES AND ACTIONS • The emergence of genocidal policies and actions during World War II is a harrowing but necessary topic. Examine the various historical arguments behind Nazi Germany’s and imperial Japan’s occupation policies in China and European Russia, and then in a comparative way chart the course of the development of these policies during the war. THE EMERGENCE OF GENOCIDAL POLICIES AND ACTIONS (continued) • Much historiographical debate still surrounds these issues, but it is important to emphasize to students that both policies emerged (at least partially) gradually, in response to contingent circumstances, rather than part of some grand nefarious scheme. Thinking about the “final solution” or Japanese actions in China in this way also helps students understand why genocide has become increasingly prevalent in world history since World War II. THE DECISION TO DROP THE ATOMIC BOMB AND WORLD REACTION • The decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an important, if unpleasant, topic. Certainly the Japanese, especially in the infamous Rape of Nanjing, had been guilty of unspeakable atrocities. The war in the Pacific was brutal and racist on all sides. Still, it is important for people, especially Americans, to grapple with this issue. THE DECISION TO DROP THE ATOMIC BOMB AND WORLD REACTION (cont.) • Most Americans don’t understand that the United States, even today, is associated with this event in the minds of millions of people around the world. First, ask yourself why the bomb was dropped in the first place. What were the obvious reasons? After Okinawa, what were the military concerns? Could the bomb have been meant as a display for someone else’s benefit? Were there other reasons that dealt far more with hate and revenge than national policy? THE DECISION TO DROP THE ATOMIC BOMB AND WORLD REACTION (cont.) • Second, consider the issue of world reaction to the atomic bombing. Start by looking at this line from the Hermann Hagedorn poem The Bomb That Fell on America, “The bomb that fell on Hiroshima fell on America too.” What did Hagedorn mean by that line? Why does the legacy of that decision still haunt the United States today? The Crazy Iris and Other Stories of the Atomic Aftermath collection, edited by Kenzaburo Oe, would make a great supplement, as does Hiroshima by John Hershey. THE HOLOCAUST • No subject is more likely to profoundly move students of history than a discussion of the Holocaust. There are many great sources: from books such as Elie Wiesel’s Night and Art Spiegelman’s Maus to films such as Schindler’s List and Sophie’s Choice (both also great books). • How are human beings capable of such hate and of committing such atrocities? What does the Holocaust say about the balance of good and evil in human nature? Why didn’t anyone do something to stop this tragedy? THE HOLOCAUST (continued) • Walter Laqueur’s The Terrible Secret is a great source. Rather than looking at it as a mere recounting of horror stories, instead, center on the more profound implications of this dark chapter in human history. • The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum maintains an excellent website that includes tools and suggestions for educators on this topic: http://www.ushmm.org. ACTIONS AGAINST WOMEN IN THE WAR • Actions taken against women during World War II are also a disturbing but important topic for discussion. After an examination of the plight of groups of Asian women forcibly coerced to serve the Japanese military as “comfort women,” consider why, in the aftermath of the war, the newly-formed United Nations declared rape a war crime. What, if anything, does this suggest about longer-term trends in world history pertaining to women’s power and status? Has this criminalization helped deter more recent attacks against women in places like the Sudan or the Balkans? Why or why not? THE FILMS OF WORLD WAR II • If World War I is a great topic of study because of the wealth of literate and despair-laden letters and poems, then World War II is equally exciting because of the mass of films available for viewing. ▫ Nazi propaganda films, ranging from the brilliant and controversial Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will and Olympia to the more scurrilous The Wandering Jew and Life Unworthy of Life, are sure to inspire discussion. ▫ Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series, complete with animation from Walt Disney, shows the students how Americans made use of propaganda. ▫ The Battle of Russia from the Why We Fight series is probably better than 95 percent of the movies ever made. THE FILMS OF WORLD WAR II (cont.) ▫ The extraordinary Grand Illusion perfectly sums up the disillusionment and pacifism of the interwar years. ▫ Sections from Charlie Chaplain’s The Great Dictator are alternately hysterical and horrifying. Consider why Chaplain’s career was almost destroyed by making the film. ▫ Popular films such as Casablanca, How Proudly We Serve, North Star, and Mrs. Miniver display the propagandistic role that Hollywood-type movies played. ▫ The Best Years of Our Lives can show the difficulty of the soldiers returning from the war and can provide images that could pertain to almost any veteran coming home from any war. THE FILMS OF WORLD WAR II (cont.) • If you watch one of these movies or a part of one of these movies, and determine what the message is in the film. What were the goals of the propagandists? How successful were they? Do nations still use film to accomplish the same goals today? All these films, as well as countless others, give the students something to think about and allow you an opportunity to alter a traditional approach. WAS IT REALLY A “GOOD WAR”? • More than any other recent conflict, World War II has been seen as a “good war,” in which good and evil are easily identified, and the good guys won. However accurate this perspective may be, in many ways it has directed our attention away from some of the more ambivalent effects of the war, particularly on American society. WAS IT REALLY A “GOOD WAR”? (continued) • Sources like Michael Adams’s The Best War Ever: America and World War II, challenge this traditional perspective. Consider: what are the merits and liabilities of the “good war” approach, and how does this mythology ideas in general serve as a source of historical memory? THE ANXIETY OF THE NUCLEAR AGE: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS • It is hard to overstate to people who didn’t live through it the anxiety of growing up in the nuclear age. For all the complexity of your own lives, people who were born during the last twenty years have never to live through long stretches with the fear of being vaporized. It created an otherworldly experience. THE ANXIETY OF THE NUCLEAR AGE: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (CONT.) • The Cuban missile crisis illustrates a time in history when the fate of the world was being determined on a second-by-second basis—and the world could follow along via radio and television. Compare your experience with terrorism to your parents’ or grandparents’ experience in the Cuban missile crisis. In the worst case scenario, no one in the entire world stood to benefit (or even survive). THE ANXIETY OF THE NUCLEAR AGE: THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (CONT.) • How would other nations living in the shadow of the missile crisis view the Americans and Soviets? How does this help explain the move toward nonalignment and independence in the rest of the world? This subject is pertinent because recent Russian reports indicate that the situation in Cuba was even more dangerous than the Americans feared at the time. The notion that “rogue nations” might be able to hold the world hostage certainly links back to this crisis. MENTAL CALISTHENICS • Explain the relationship between each of the following pairs in fifty words or less. How does one lead to or foster the other? Be specific in your response. ▫ ▫ ▫ ▫ Treaty of Versailles and the Munich Conference “Asia for Asians” and comfort women Stalingrad and the Warsaw Pact Reparations and the Marshall Plan MENTAL CALISTHENICS • Explain, in fifty words or less, the relationship between the following pairs. How does one lead to or foster the other? Be as specific as possible in your response. ▫ ▫ ▫ ▫ ▫ Yalta conference and the Berlin Wall Truman Doctrine and the Hungarian revolution NATO and the Cuban missile crisis MAD and sputnik Domino theory and Joseph McCarthy MENTAL CALISTHENICS (continued) • Pretend that you are a member of a team of American military advisors sent to South Vietnam in 1965. Your task is to draft a resolution to President Lyndon Johnson arguing that the United States should continue to support the government of South Vietnam against the communists of North Vietnam. Make use of the history of the cold war to support your argument without going beyond the relevant time frame. MENTAL CALISTHENICS (continued) • Pretend that you are a student activist in 1967 who opposes American military action in Vietnam. Your job is to draft a resolution that argues why the United States should not be fighting in southeast Asia. Your argument can include moral and political principles but should also be based on recent history in the region.