New Conflagrations: World War II and the

Chapter 36 Notes Origins of World War II 's war in China Global Conflict Begins

• Japanese invasion of begins in 1931 • condemned action – Japan simply withdrew from league • In 1937 Japan launched full-scale invasion of China The of

• Japanese invasion characterized war waged against civilians • Aerial bombing of • Widespread atrocities in Nanjing – 400,000 Chinese used for bayonet practice or massacred – 7,000 women raped Chinese Resistance Movement

• Japanese aggression spurs “United Front” policy between Chinese Communists and Nationalists – Guerilla warfare ties down half of the Japanese army • Continued clashes between Communists and Nationalists – Communists gain popular support, upper hand by end of the war Japanese Alliances

• Triple Pact with Germany and Italy signed in 1940 • Neutrality pact with Soviet Union in 1941 – Gave Japan a free hand East Asia Italian and German Aggression Italy after the Great War

• Italians felt slighted at the Paris Peace Conference • Italian losses high in World War I – Economy never recovered • Mussolini promised national glory, empire – Annexed Libya – Invaded Ethiopia (1935-1936) • League of Nations made some weak attempts to impose sanctions but few powerful countries cooperated • Killed 250,000 Ethiopians Germany after the Great War

• Deep resentment at Treaty of Versailles – Harsh terms: reparations, economic restrictions • Former Allies inclined not to object when Hitler violated terms of the treaty • Hitler blamed Jews, communists, liberals for losing the war and accepting the treaty Germany After 1933

• Hitler moved to ignore terms of peace settlement • Withdrew from League of Nations in 1933 • Rebuilt military, air force and reinstated draft • Took back the Rhineland in 1936 • Annexed Austria in 1938 • At each step, France and Britain did nothing to stop him Munich Conference • Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany meet • In 1938, Germany takes Sudetenland – 3 million Germans lived there – Allies follow policy of appeasement • Giving in to the demands of an aggressor to avoid conflict • Britain and France desperate to avoid war • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) promises “peace for our time” • Hitler promises to halt expansionist efforts • 1939, violating Munich agreement, Hitler seized most of Czechoslovakia

Russian-German Treaty of Non-Aggression- 1939 • Stalin gave Hitler a free hand in Poland – Assured him that Germany would not have to fight a 2 front war • Soviets now had time to build up strength while the rest of Europe was weakened by war • Both leaders put aside their political differences and used realpolotik

Total War: The World Under Fire : Germany conquers Europe The Attack on Poland September, 1939

• Hitler used the blitzkrieg strategy to quickly defeat Poland – Planes bombed Polish cities and military zones – Massive numbers of tanks and troops quickly destroyed any resistance left over • 3 weeks after Hitler invaded west Poland, Stalin occupied east Poland The Fall of France- June, 1940

• As soon as Hitler attacked Poland, France and Britain declared war on Germany – For 7 months neither side fought • In May, Nazi forces snuck by France’s Maginot Line and quickly defeated the allies – 300,000 allies escaped at Dunkirk to England – Hitler forces French to sign armistice agreement in same railroad car used for the armistice imposed on Germany in 1918 • By 1940 Germany occupies Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France The Summer, 1940 • Hitler began Operation Sea Lion – Plan was for the Luftwaffe to destroy the Royal Air Force and land 250,000 Nazi troops in England • Germans' strategy to defeat Britain solely through air attacks – Aerial bombing killed forty thousand British civilians – Royal Air Force prevented defeat • England had 2 secret weapons – Radar helped them see how many planes were coming – A Nazi code machine (Enigma) was smuggled into England to help crack Nazi codes • England resisted air raids for almost a year – England’s Prime minister, Winston Churchill kept British moral high

US Isolationism • After WW I, the US wanted nothing to do with European affairs • Began policy of isolationism – Completely stayed out of world affairs • Except for economic affairs • When WWII broke out, most Americans wanted to let Europe deal with their own problems – FDR knew that the US could not be an island of democracy in a sea of tyranny • Supported Britain’s struggle against the Nazis

Nazi Invasion of the Soviet Union

• By May of 1941, Hitler controlled almost all of Western and Central Europe – Nazis wanted Lebensraum (“living space”) • Eastern land on which to resettle Germans • In June of 1941, Hitler began Operation Barbarossa – Millions of Nazi troops invaded the Soviet Union on an 1800 mile long battlefront – Stalin caught off-guard, rapid advance – Captured Russian heartland; Leningrad under siege; troops outside Moscow Blitzkrieg Less Effective in Russia

• Soviets drew on tremendous reserves: 360 Soviet divisions against 150 German • Hitler underestimated Soviet industrial capacity • Stalin quickly moved Soviet industry east to the Ural Mountain • Russian winter caught German troops ill- prepared

High Tide of Axis Expansion in Europe

Battles in Asia and the Pacific U.S. Support Allies Before Pearl Harbor

• Roosevelt sold and then "loaned" arms and war material to the British – “lend-lease” program: US lends war goods to Allies, leases naval bases in return • Later supplied the Soviets and the Chinese – US gave 11 billion in aid to the USSR despite hating Communism

Japanese Expansion • Continued into southeast Asia – Indochina, 1940-1941 • US freezes Japanese assets in US – The US refused to sell materials to Japan because of its Chinese atrocities and expansion in SE Asia – US places embargo on oil shipments to Japan • Japanese Defense Minister Tojo Hideki (1884-1948) plans for war with US

Pearl Harbor- December 7, 1941

• FDR: “A date which will live in infamy” • Destroyed US Navy in the Pacific • Hitler, Mussolini declare war on the US on December 11 • US joins Great Britain and the USSR

Japanese Victories

• Japan advanced swiftly in the Pacific and southeast Asia • Conquered Philippines, , Indochina, Burma, Singapore • Slogan "Asia for Asians" masked Japanese imperialism against fellow Asians • Establishes “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” Defeat of the Impact of USSR and U.S. entry in 1941

• Brought vital personnel and industry to Allies • US joining the war turned the tide – Shipbuilding, automotive production especially important – German subs sank 2,452 merchants ships, but U.S. shipyards built more • The US stopped Japanese expansion at the Soviet Turning Point

• Poor treatment of conquered Russians led to massive Russian resistance – Nazis treated Russians as untermenschen • Subhuman – This policy made Stalin a hero to the Russian resistance • Hitler’s desire to take the city of Stalingrad was a bad mistake – Was the turning point for the Soviets

Allied Victories Came After 1943

• Russians defeated the Germans at Stalingrad, pushed them back • British, US forces attack in North Africa, Italy • D-Day: June 6, 1944, British and US forces land in France • Round-the-clock strategic bombing by United States and Britain leveled German cities – Dresden, February 1945: 135,000 Germans killed in shelters • 30 April 1945 Hitler commits suicide, 8 May Germany surrenders

US Propaganda

• Meant to keep moral up • Used to make the enemy look bad • Used to make allies look good

Turning the Tide in the Pacific

• US code breaking operation Magic discovers Japanese plans – Battle of Midway (4 June 1942) • US takes the offensive, engages in island- hopping strategy • Iwo Jima and Okinawa – Japanese kamikaze suicide bombers – Savage two-month battle for Okinawa Japanese Surrender

• US firebombs , March 1945 – 100,000 killed – 25% of buildings destroyed • Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945 • Emperor Hirohito (1901- 1989) surrenders unconditionally September 2, 1945 The Atomic Bomb What started it?

• In 1938, German scientists discover fission • Many German scientists (especially Jewish) fled to America – These scientists, led by Albert Einstein wanted America to develop an atomic bomb first The Project

• In 1942 the military began the top secret project to create a nuclear bomb – The head scientist was Robert Oppenheimer • Chicago, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos were the main sites of the project – Produced plutonium and Uranium • Lewiston got to store the really toxic stuff Operation Trinity Is A Success • In July 1944, 230 miles south of Los Alamos, the first atomic bomb was tested • It had the explosive power of 24 million pounds of TNT • After the successful test, Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad Gita – I am become death, the destroyer of worlds Truman Make the Decision • After the success of operation Trinity, Truman had to decide whether to use it on Japan (Germany had already surrendered) – The scientists did not want him to use it • They said it would open up a Pandora’s Box leading to a nuclear holocaust – The military wanted to bomb Japan • They said it was the only way to quickly end the war • After warning Japan of a terrible destruction that would befall them if they did not surrender, he decided to use it (twice) Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• On August 6th, the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima • On August 9th, the city of Nagasaki was destroyed • Japan surrendered weeks later • Fat Man and Little Boy (code names for the bombs) killed 140,000 instantly and another 200,000 to 400,000 people shortly after

Albert Einstein discussing the increasingly sophisticated weapons being developed during the new atomic age

“I'm not sure what weapons will be used in World War III,but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Hiroshima after the Bomb Life During Wartime Occupation, Collaboration, and Resistance Patterns of Occupation Varied

• Japanese conquests: puppet governments, independent allies, or military control • German conquests: racially "superior" people given greater autonomy – In northern Europe, civilian governments under German supervision – In eastern Europe, conquered territories taken over by military Exploitation

• Both Japan and Germany exploited conquered states, resources, and peoples • Slave labor conscripted from conquered populations to work in factories • Labor conscripted from Poles, Soviets, Balkans, also Chinese and Koreans Collaboration

• Many local people accepted, even collaborated with occupying forces • In Asia, Japanese domination not much different from European domination • Others aided conquerors to gain power in new administration • Anticommunism led some in western Europe to join the Nazi SS troops Resistance

• Resistance to occupation took many forms • Active resistance – Sabotage, assaults, assassination • Passive resistance as well – Intelligence gathering, refusing to submit • Resistance in Japan and Germany was dangerous and rare Occupation

• Occupation forces responded to resistance with atrocities • Brutal reprisals to acts of resistance by both Germans and Japanese • Despite retaliation, resistance movements grew throughout the war Anti-Semitism

• Long history of anti-Semitism created tolerance of Nazi's anti-Jewish measures • At first Nazis encouraged Jewish emigration • Many Jews were unable to leave after Nazis took their wealth • Nazi conquest of Europe brought more Jews under their control The “Final Solution"

• Began with slaughter of Jews, Roma, and other undesirables in Soviet Union • By end of 1941, German special killing units had killed 1.4 million Jews • By 1942 Nazis decided to evacuate all European Jews to camps in east Poland • In Auschwitz alone at least one million Jews perished • Altogether, about 5.7 million Jews perished in the Holocaust Jewish Resistance • Will to resist sapped by prolonged starvation, disease • Uprising of Warsaw ghetto, 1943 – Sixty thousand Jews rose up against Germans Women and the War Women in the War

• Over half a million British, 350,000 American women joined auxiliary services • Soviet and Chinese women took up arms and joined resistance groups • Jewish women and girls suffered as much as men and boys Women's Social Roles

• Changed dramatically during the war • By taking jobs or heading families, women gained independence and confidence • Changes expected to be temporary, would return to traditional role after war "Comfort Women"

• Japanese armies forcibly recruited three hundred thousand women to serve in military • 80 percent of comfort women came from • A comfort woman had to service between twenty and thirty men each day • Many were massacred by Japanese soldiers; survivors experienced deep shame The Cold War: 1945-1991

Soviet Union Western Block Eastern Block Conferences to End WWII

• Atlantic Charter- August 1941 – FDR and Churchill pledge democracy to post war world • Yalta- February 1945 – FDR, Stalin and Churchill met before collapse of Germany to discuss post war Europe • Stalin promised free elections throughout Eastern Europe • Potsdam- July 1945 – Allies met after European war to discuss division of Germany and reparations Destruction of WWII

• Death and damage was unprecedented – 60 million dead – Hundreds of billions of dollars of property damage – 50 million displaced people Nuremburg War Trials

• 22 Nazi leaders charged with crimes against humanity • 12 were sentenced to death • First time that ‘following orders’ was indefensible The Creation of the • 50 nations created the international body based in New City • The goal was to save the world from the ‘scourge of war’ • Each member nation had a vote in the General Assembly – The power of action rested with 11 member security council • There are 5 permanent members on the Security Council – US, USSR, Britain, France, and China – Any one of the 5 permanent members can veto any UN action The Beginning of the Cold War

• After WWII the US wanted Europe to hold free elections and try and prevent the spread of communism – The USSR wanted to encourage communism in Europe and create a ‘buffer zone’ to stop any threats from the west • The US helped Western Europe and the Soviets took control of Eastern Europe An Iron Curtain Descends Across Europe • At the Yalta Conference in 1945 Britain, US, and USSR agreed to help rebuild Europe after the war – Once the war was over and Europe was stabilized the USSR’s military refused to leave Eastern Europe – Stalin put communist leaders in charge of Eastern Europe and use the Soviet military to control the populations • In 1946, Winston Churchill stated that an iron curtain had descended across the continent – It divided the free west from the Soviet controlled east The Truman Doctrine

• United States would support "free peoples resisting subjugation" – Perception of world divided between so-called free and enslaved peoples • Interventionist policy, dedicated to "containment" of communism • Doing whatever it takes to stop the spread of communism • Gave aid to Greece and Turkey immediately after WWII The

• When Czechoslovakia was taken over by the communists in 1948, congress passed the Marshall Plan – The Plan gave 12.5 billion dollars to European countries that needed money • Countries in western Europe accepted it gratefully – The money stopped the spread of communism in western Europe • Countries under the control of the USSR had to refuse the money – Soviets created Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) for its satellite nations Occupied Germany, 1945-1949 The Berlin Airlift

• When the US, Britain, and France moved to unify the occupied zones of West Germany in 1948 the USSR cut off all supplies to West Berlin in an attempt to take control of the city • The US responded by organizing a massive airlift to supply the starving West Berliners

• During the airlift planes took off from West Germany every 3 minutes for 11 months • 227,000 flights dropped 4.6 billion pounds of supplies to the West Berliners • After 11 months, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade and allowed trains and trucks into the city Alliances in Europe

• Fearing a Soviet attack on Western Europe the US and Western Europe organized a formal alliance in 1949 called NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization • 6 years later the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe organized the Warsaw Pact Construction of the Berlin Wall

• 1949-1961: 3.5 million East Germans flee to west – Especially younger, highly skilled workers • Built in August of 1961 after the US refused to leave West Berlin – Built to keep East Germans out of the West • Symbol of the Cold War

The Globalization of the Cold War China After WWII

• After the , the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek battled the Communists under Mao Zedong for control of China – Nationalists had forced the Communists to retreat in 1933 in the Long March – After WWII the Communists promising land reform to gain peasant support gained the upper hand • Outmaneuvered, the nationalists under Jiang Jieshi fled to in 1948 • Mao Zedong proclaimed People's Republic of China, 1949 Sino-Soviet Relations

• Both communist – Shared common enemy, the United States • Alarmed by U.S. support of Japan, , and Taiwan • Beijing accepted direction from Moscow in early 1950s The Korean War • At the end of WWII the Soviets occupied Korea north of the 38th parallel and the US occupied the south • When the US left the Soviets gave communist North Korea weapons to attack South Korea in 1950 • Because Taiwan was given a seat on the Security Council and the USSR was boycotting the UN for that action, the UN was able to pass a resolution to defend the South Koreans • North Korea invades in 1950, captures • US lands, drives North Koreans back to 38th parallel, then goes on to capture Pyongyang • Chinese invade, push USA back to 38th • An armistice was signed in 1953 after President Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons against the Chinese who were helping the North Koreans • The war left over 54,000 US troops dead and 5 million Koreans & Chinese dead • No peace treaty signed, continued tensions

Cracks in the Soviet-Chinese Alliance

• USSR gave more economic support to noncommunist countries • Both nations openly competed for influence in Africa and Asia • Rift between the two nations was public by the end, 1964 Nuclear Arms Race and Massive Retaliation

• Terrifying proliferation of nuclear weapons by both sides • NATO and Warsaw Treaty Organization amassed huge weapons stockpiles • By 1960s USSR reached military parity with United States • By 1970 both superpowers acquired MAD, "mutually assured destruction“ – Promised to completely destroy the other if they were attacked Cuba • Fidel Castro starts 1959 revolution • Cancels promised elections, expropriates foreign properties, kills or exiles political enemies • US imposes trade embargo • Soviets step in with massive aid, gain foothold off US shores The Bay of Pigs

• Castro declares undying allegiance to Soviet foreign policy, 1960 • Kennedy and CIA send 1,500 Cubans into Bay of Pigs to spur revolution • American Air support does not appear, force destroyed in 3 days • Defeat was a major US embarrassment Cuban Missile Crisis

• Khrushchev puts nuclear missiles in Cuba in an attempt to gain the upper hand on the US • Using a naval blockade, Kennedy forced the missiles out – Policy of Brinkmanship • Willingness to go to the edge of war to make the other side back down Dissent, Intervention, and Rapprochement Khrushchev Replaces Stalin

• Shortly after coming to power Khrushchev begins policy of Destalinization – Ending the terror but not the absolute control of the Soviet Government – Millions of political prisoners released from work camps – Brief "thaw" in soviet culture from 1956 to 1964, easing censorship Soviet Intervention

• Rebellions squashed – Hungary, 1956 – Prague Spring, 1968 Brezhnev Replaces Khrushchev

• Khrushchev’s failure in the Cuban Missile Crisis led to his removal from office • Eventually Leonid Brezhnev became leader of the USSR Stagnation Under Brezhnev

• Under Brezhnev, the Soviet economy remained stagnant – 3% of the Soviet land allocated to Soviet citizens for ‘private use after work hours’ produced 30% of the food in the USSR Superpowers and Détente

• Nixon and Brezhnev started a détente in the 1970s – A cooling off period between 2 hostile powers • Talks led to SALT initiative being signed in 1972 – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks