AP European HistoryApril 23 – 26 2019

Well, time for more meaningless testing. As I have not yet been tapped to administer a test, there’s a chance that this entire plan is meaningless.

Your 1920s-1930s unit test is due (whatever is your next day back to class). We actually started the next unit on Wednesday-Thursday as we delved into WWII.

We will continue in class (and homework review activities). On Wednesday this week I will stay after school for review if anyone is interested. Obviously, this is not mandatory. I will stay from 2:30 until 4.

Because of the uncertainty of testing, I am not sure how we will proceed so, I pulled last week’s stuff forward.

Please Bring Your Textbook all week. We will be using it for class materials and review purposes.

MONDAY (1st Period) and TUESDAY (2nd Period) [PP-12 | PP-15 | SP-5 | SP-9 | SP-14 | SP-17 | SP-19 | IS-10

Examine some of the military aspects of WWII in Europe (1943-1945)…..what kind of history teacher would I be without some military stuff about the war!? [PP-12,15 | SP-5,9,14,17,19 | IS-10

Materials Strategy/FormatPpt review sources and Textbook Lecture-Discussion L.CCR-2,3

Student Skill TypesChronological Reasoning (1, 2, 3)Comp/Context (4,5)Historical Evidence (6,7)

The Days following the Fall of Poland

The Germans began to shore up their Northern flank by invading Norway and Denmark. Denmark was quickly surrounded and Norway's defensive plans were revealed by a traitor, Vidkum Quisling. Sweden declared itself neutral (which was fine with Hitler). Meanwhile the Soviets invaded Finland and finally after much difficulty defeated them…..Finnish soldier on skis were tough to defeat. The Soviet weakness in the face of this may have motivated Hitler see Russia as an easy mark to defeat).

Also, beginning in 1939 the war at sea commenced (as you know from our discussions on U.S. ultimately entering the war. This is generally knows as the Battle of the Atlantic. It is notable for its absence of major ship vs. ship combat. The majority involved U-boat attacks and air attacks. The era of the capital battleship was about over.

The Invasion of the Benelux Countries and the Fall of France in 1940

After a period of relative inactivity on both sides that was called "sitzkrieg" or "Phony War" in the media, the Germans launched a major offensive. On the night of May 9-10, 1940, German forces attacked the Low Countries. Moving to their aid, French troops and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) were unable to prevent their fall. The Luftwaffe effectively "herded" refugees which chocked major roads slowing the Allies counter-attack. Meanwhile, the French has rather stupidly believed that an attack through the Ardennes was impossible and had shored up the most likely invasion route with the vaunted (and useless) Maginot Line.

On May 14, German panzers tore through the Ardennes and began driving to the English Channel. Despite their best efforts, the BEF, Belgian, and French forces were unable to halt the German advance. Six days later, German forces reached the coast, effectively cutting off the BEF as well as a large number of Allied troops. Turning north, German forces sought to capture the Channel ports before the Allies could evacuate. Large elements of the French army simply melted away in the face of the Nazi onslaught.

The Battle or sometimes called the "Miracle" at Dunkirk followed. Winston Churchill met with his chief of Staff and began planning to evacuate the BEF. The operation continued as the perimeter around the port began to shrink and the Royal Air Force battled to keep German aircraft away from the embarkation areas. Hitting its stride, the evacuation effort began to peak as 47,310 men were rescued on May 29, followed by 120,927 over the next two days. This occurred despite a heavy Luftwaffe attack on the evening of the 29th and the reduction of the Dunkirk pocket to a five-kilometer strip on the 31st. On June 1, 64,229 were taken off, with the British rearguard departing the next day.

With German air attacks intensifying, daylight operations were ended and the evacuation ships were limited to running at night. Between June 3 and 4, an additional 52,921 Allied troops were rescued from the beaches. With the Germans only three miles from the harbor, the final Allied ship departed at 3:40 AM on June 4. The two French divisions left defending the perimeter were ultimately forced to surrender. However, over 300,000 men were evacuated.

By June the situation in France was bleak. With the evacuation of the BEF, the French Army and remaining British troops were left to defend a long front from the Channel to Sedan with minimal forces and no reserves. This was compounded by the fact that much of their tanks and artillery had been lost during the fighting in May. On June 5, the Germans renewed their offensive and quickly broke through the French lines. Nine days later Paris fell, and the French government fled to Bordeaux. With the French in full retreat south, the British evacuated their remaining 215,000 troops. On June 25, the French surrendered, with the Germans requiring them to sign the documents at Compiègne in the same rail car that Germany had been compelled to sign the armistice ending WWI. German forces occupied much of northern and western France, while an independent, pro-German state (Vichy France) was formed in the southeast under the leadership of former WWI French hero Marshall Pètain. The remainder of the French army escaped to North Africa led by Charles De Gaulle who established a government in exile generally known as the Free French. More on this later.

The Battle of Britain and Operation Sea LionBy the Summer of 1940, Hitler was largely in command of Europe with one notable exception;

Britain. On 18 June 1940, Churchill gave a rousing speech to the British people, announcing: "... the Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin." Four days later, France surrendered to Germany and Hitler turned his attention to Britain.

German air superiority in the south of England was essential before Hitler could contemplate an invasion so Hermann Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe, was instructed that the RAF must be "beaten down to such an extent that it can no longer muster any power of attack worth mentioning against the German crossing". This was easy enough to understand and Hitler faced the same problem as had Napoleon.

The air attacks began in mid-July and, initially, the Luftwaffe concentrated on attacking shipping in the English Channel and attacking coastal towns and defenses. From 12 August, Goering shifted his focus to the destruction of the RAF, attacking airfields and radar bases. Convinced that Fighter Command was now close to defeat, he also tried to force air battles between fighter planes to definitively break British strength.

However, Goering grew frustrated by the large number of British planes that were still fighting off his attacks. On 4 September, the Luftwaffe switched tactics again and, on Hitler's orders, set about destroying London and other major cities. This was one of Hitler's great blunders. Eleven days later, on what became known as 'Battle of Britain Day', the RAF savaged the huge incoming Luftwaffe formations in the skies above London and the south coast. It was now clear to Hitler that his air force had failed to gain air superiority so, on 17 September, he postponed Operation Sea Lion, his plans to invade Britain. His attention was now focused on the invasion of the Soviet Union, although the Luftwaffe continued to bomb Britain until the end of the war.

It's difficult to establish an exact figure of how many aircraft were shot down in the Battle of Britain, partly because both sides tended to exaggerate their successes and downplay their losses. However, it's estimated that between 10 July and the end of October 1940, the RAF lost around 1,023 aircraft whilst the Luftwaffe lost 1,887.

Operation Barbarossa: The Invasion of the Soviet Union As you will remember, Hitler had always planned to attack the Russians. His whole concept of lebensraum

centered upon this. The actual plans for the attack on Russia had been around since 1940. Germany amassed 117 army divisions for the attack excluding Rumanian and Hungarian units. In total,

Russia amassed 132 army divisions for the defense of the ‘motherland’, including 34 tank divisions. The final plan which Hitler codenamed Barbarossa. This plan was constructed in December 1940. For

Hitler, the primary military activity would take place in the north. Hence Leningrad became a vital target as did Moscow. His drive in the south was confined to the occupation of the Ukraine to the west of Kiev.

The attack started at 03.00, Sunday morning June 22nd 1941. In total the Germans and her allies used 3 million soldiers, 3580 tanks, 7184 artillery guns, 1830 planes  and, proving that modern warfare was still not so modern, 750,000 horses.

The success of the attack was a shock for Hitler as well as Stalin, albeit for different reasons. By the second week 300,000 Russians had been captured, 2,500 tanks, 1,400 artillery guns and 250 aircraft captured or destroyed. This was only in the territory attacked by Army Group Centre. To any military observer, the Russian Army was on the verge of a total collapse and Moscow seemed destined to fall.

In fact, the German advance had been so fast that it had compromised the whole army’s supply and communication lines. The Army Group Center paused on the Desna but it was still thought that it was only catching its breath before moving inexorably on. Had this been the case, there was little doubt that the course of history would have changed. But once again the "genius" Hitler had other plans.

The mechanized sweeps north and south had the same massive success as the initial assault on June 22nd. Masses of Russian prisoners were captured and vast quantities of Russian equipment was destroyed. But the orders of Hitler had one dire effect – loss of time. The delay was such that the impact of the winter occurred before the Germans had reached the objectives set by Hitler. Very few in the German Army were equipped to cope with the cold and the army, so used to advancing, found itself very much affected by the freezing temperatures. A war of movement as seen so much in June/July 1941 became an attack blighted by freezing weather that would hinder any army let alone one so ill-prepared for such weather conditions.

Battle of Stalingrad (July 17, 1942-Feb. 2, 1943), was the successful Soviet defense of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd). Russians consider it to be the greatest battle of their Great Patriotic War, and most historians consider it to be the greatest battle of the entire conflict. It stopped the German advance into the Soviet Union and marked the turning of the tide of war in favor of the Allies. The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the bloodiest battles in history, with combined military and civilian casualties of nearly 2 million. It essentially sapped the strength of the Nazi Army and was the major turning point of WWII. The

Soviet victory at Stalingrad was a great humiliation for Hitler, who had elevated the battle’s importance in German opinion. He now became more distrustful than ever of his generals. Stalin, on the other hand, gained confidence in his military, which followed up Stalingrad with a westward drive and remained largely on the offensive for the rest of the war.

In the days following the Nazi withdrawal from Stalingrad the most epic armored battle ever fought occurred near Kursk in 1942-43. The battle involved thousands of tanks and over 2 million men. Though tactically a draw, Nazi losses forced a withdrawal from Soviet territory. Kursk and Stalingrad were the beginnings of the end for the so-called Thousand Year Reich.

Operation Torch and the Fall of Italy In 1942 the U.S. along with British forces planned to hit the "soft underbelly of the Axis." The Allies

decided to occupy Vichy French controlled North Africa thus denying the territory to the Axis forces. Churchill and his Combined Operations planners were closely involved with the Americans in working out the details of Operation Torch. There were many differences of opinion about timing, landing locations and the perceived reaction of the Vichy French forces to American as opposed to British forces. Churchill, however, accepted that TORCH was an American run project and he telegraphed President Roosevelt; 'In the whole of TORCH, military and political, I certainly consider myself your lieutenant, asking only to put my viewpoint plainly before you."

Apart from all the usual operational hazards there were other considerations for him to deal with. Would the Vichy French, whose territories the Allied force would invade, co-operate or resist?.... and what of the neutral Spain immediately north of Gibraltar? If it sided with Germany it could unleash its fury against the exposed airstrip and crowded anchorage at Gibraltar. I am sure also in the minds of the British was the fact that Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower had never commanded such an invasion.

The invasion was a success with little casualties. However once ashore and moving across North Africa the allies were faced with the best division and general in the German army; the Afrika Korps and Erwin Rommel. To counter him, the U.S. 3rd Army was led by General George Patton, a man who had read many of Rommel's books on tactics.

With North Africa secured and Sicily—the stepping stone to Italy—conquered, the Allied forces launched their invasion of Italy on 3 September 1943.  It began with British forces skipping across the Strait of Messina to Calabria.  A few days later, more British and American forces landed several hundred miles to the north at Salerno.  Their plan was simple: the northern forces would throw a net across the Italian peninsula while the British army chased the Germans into it from the south.

Allied commanders expected a relatively easy campaign.  A secret agreement with the new Italian government led by Pietro Badoglio, signed 3 September, would neutralize the Italian forces, leaving only German divisions offering resistance.  But things proved more difficult than anticipated.  The Germans immediately seized Italian military installations upon hearing of their capitulation, imprisoned their hapless former allies, and fired on their clueless ships. German defenses were, consequently, more secure than the Allies expected when they made their landings.  And by the time the Allies threw their net, the German had moved beyond it to the north and had established a defensive line, known as the Gustav Line, about 75 miles north of Naples. January 1944, the Allies tried to break the deadlock by landing at Anzio, 50 miles above the Gustav line and 30 miles below Rome. It should have been a great success.  The landing was preceded by a diversionary strike against the Gustav Line at Casino.  In response, German troops stationed at Rome were dispatched to beef up the line leaving Anzio virtually undefended.  The Allies hoped that once the landing was successfully made, the Germans would have to send these and several other divisions from the Gustav line back north, thus softening the line for a major Allied push. But the American commanders at Anzio, Major Generals Mark Clark and John Lucas, proceeded too slowly and thus failed to take advantage of the momentary weakness in the German lines.  As a result, German troops were quickly redeployed and the opportunity for a quick strike against them was lost.

By February, the Allies made several attempts to break through at Casino.  In the first phase of this newest campaign, Allied bombers destroyed the ancient monastery on top of Monte Casino in the mistaken belief that it served as a German observation tower.  The Allies were wrong and their misguided attack alienated Catholics around the world.

Allied bombers soon found more appropriate targets among German units deployed lower on the mountain. But through February and March, the frequent air assaults failed to dislodge these defenses or enable a push through the German lines. By May, the Allies enjoyed a 3:1 advantage; and they smashed through the

depleted German lines and rushed north liberating Rome and all the territory in between. Soon the German forces began to withdraw. The Soviet threat to the east was growing and by summer of 1944 the Allies would launch the greatest amphibious invasion in history, The D-Day Invasion at Normandy June 6, 1944.

The D-day Landings at Normandy (This is the most important topic!!!!) Codenamed Operation Overlord, planning for the invasion began in 1943. In November of that year,

planning passed to General Dwight D. Eisenhower who was promoted to Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) and given command of all Allied forces in Europe. Moving forward, Eisenhower adopted a plan begun by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC). The plan called for landings by three divisions and two airborne brigades in Normandy. This area was chosen due to its proximity to England, which facilitated air support and transport, as well as its favorable geography.

As the Allies required a full moon and a spring tide, possible dates for the invasion were limited. Eisenhower first planned to move forward on June 5, but was forced to delay due to poor weather and high seas. Faced with the possibility of recalling the invasion force to port, he received a favorable weather report for June 6. After some debate, orders were issued to launch the invasion on June 6. Due to the poor conditions, the Germans believed that no invasion would occur in early June. As a result, Rommel returned to Germany and many officers left their units to attend war games. This was one of several strokes of luck that the Allies had in the name couple of days.

The assault on the beaches began shortly after midnight with Allied bombers pounding German positions across Normandy. Additionally, parachute drops confused German reaction time (though in really the drops were nearly disastrous for the Allies). This was followed by a heavy naval bombardment. In the early morning hours, waves of troops began hitting the beaches. To the east, the British and Canadians came ashore on Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches. After overcoming initial resistance, they were able to move inland, though only the Canadians were able to reach their D-Day objectives.

Anyone who has ever watched the opening 20 minues of the film Saving Private Ryan knows what happened next! On the American beaches to the west, the situation was very different. At Omaha Beach, US troops quickly became pinned down by heavy fire from the veteran German troops as the pre-invasion bombing had fallen inland and failed to destroy the German fortifications. After suffering 2,400 casualties, the most of any beach on D-Day, small groups of US soldiers were able to break through the defenses opening the way for successive waves. On Utah Beach, US troops suffered only 197 casualties, the lightest of any beach, when they were accidentally landed in the wrong spot. Quickly moving inland, they linked up with elements of the 101st Airborne and began moving towards their objectives. By the next month German forces had fallen back east of Paris. In August 1944 Paris was liberated.

Hitler's Last Gasp: The Battle of the Bulge 1945 In the east the Germans had fallen back through Eastern Europe as the Red Army was now almost in

German territory. Old men and pre-teen boys were being pressed into service. In the west, Hitler rolled the dice on a final gambit. The Ardennes campaign or the Battle of the Bulge was a major surprise German offensive launched through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region on the Western Front. Though initially successful, the battle ended up being a decisive Allied victory, depleting an already weakened German army as both valuable reserves and equipment were lost. The Germans had at first been on an even footing tactically because of poor conditions, the Allies could not utilize airpower. However, almost miraculously the snow stopped and the clouds opened. Airpower helped to destroy the German offense.

May 1945 Hitler had committed suicide and it was decided that Admiral Donitz would serve as head of state for the purpose of surrender. The War in Europe V-E Day came on May 8th 1945. And one might say that a couple of months later the Cold War started. More on this later.

The War in the PacificWhile the war in the Pacific did not have as great an impact on European history it was still important

especially to Britain, France, and Holland. As the Japanese war machine surges across the Pacific some of its first objectives were in French Indochina (Vietnam and Laos), Indonesia (Batavia was a Dutch colony) and especially Britain holdings in the Region (Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.

However, unlike the Nazi blitz across Europe the Japanese suffered reverses very early on. Japanese admiral Yamamoto, the planner of the Pearl Harbor attack, said that he would run wild winning victories but if the US had not surrendered after six months, that he had no real hopes of victory. While the US fleet was bloodied at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines had fallen taking thousands of US prisoners, in less than six months the US fleet stopped the Japanese fleet plans to invade New Guinea (a stepping stone to Australia). The Battle of Coral Sea (May 1941) was the first naval battle featuring only carrier-based aircraft. The next month the Japanese fleet was smashed at the Battle of Midway where four aircraft carriers were sunk for the loss of one US carrier. This turned the momentum against Japan and the bloody Battle of Guadalcanal was the first Marine/Army victory retaking an occupied Japanese island. The U.S. strategy in the Pacific, island hopping, was designed to bring Japan into direct bombing range after the U.S. took and the reinforced bases. The bloody battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa made some realize that an invasion of Japan would be apocalyptic……that invasion never occurred.

ConclusionReview Activity. Working with a partner complete the 1 st 50 questions of the formative MC review activity!

Homework (Due next day in class)Go to the following link and answer the guided questions belowhttps://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/an-introductory-history-of-the-holocaust

The questions start with the background section and some of this should be familiar.1. How did Hitler link the embarrassment of the Versailles Treaty to Germany’s Jewish population?2. How did the Nazis use political unrest and propaganda to stir up anger against Jews?3. What event enabled the Nazi Party and Hitler to gain full power in Germany?4. What were the functions of the Gestapo and the Waffen SS (Schutzstaffel)?5. Explain how the Nazis subverted “race theory” and traditional anti-Semitic views as a basis of the

Holocaust.6. What was the purpose of the Nuremburg Laws? What obstacles prevented more Jews from escaping

the coming Holocaust? Be sure to cite the Evian Conference.7. What was the excused used to begin Kristallnacht November 2-3 1938? How could one argue that this

event was the formal commencement of the Holocaust?8. What role did Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union play in escalating the Holocaust? Enacted at the

Wannsee Conference, what was the official name of Hitler’s genocidal efforts? 9. After the war ended many Germans claimed that they had no idea about Hitler’s Final Solution. List

TWO and EXPLAIN two pieces of evidence that would make this hard to believe.10. What famous effort to fight an insurance against the Nazis developed September 1942? 11. What were DP camps and, when finally released from these, where did most Jews immigrate?12. Based upon the chart, which nation had the highest number of Jews killed? How might one account for

the existence of African victims?

WEDNESDAY (Period 1) THURSDAY (Period 2) Examine the origins of the Cold War Period (1945 – 1991) [PP-12 | PP-15 | SP-5 | SP-9 | SP-14 | SP-17 |

SP-19 | IS-10 Review activity

Materials Strategy/FormatPPT and Textbook Lecture and Discussion L.CCR-2,3

Student Skill TypesChronological Reasoning (1, 2, 3)Comp/Context (4,5)Historical Evidence (6,7) Synthesis 8,9

Introduction As you have seen starting with WWI U.S. and European History have really started to blend together. Now

as we enter our last area of discussion, we will see that Europeans were inexorably linked to events in the U.S. The man residing in the White House was not only making policy for his country but to a large degree for Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America as well. We are about to enter a period of history that is very long and often times confusing. The term implies that the major powers never fought i.e. a “hot war.” However this was not true for the U.S. (Korea and Vietnam). Because of decolonization a new wave of nations arrived on the scene and the bipolarity of the Cold War years attempted to force these new states (and the rest of the world) to choose between domination by the Soviets or the Americans. While that was not the U.S. plan, it became the perception of the younger generation of the late 1950s and 1960s.

In Europe the specter of war was ever present as Cold War tensions were a scary roller coaster ride. Also as you have seen, the major imperial powers were now losing their grip. The British saw the independence of India and the creation of a new form of empire, the commonwealth whereby the former colonies were now more like trade partners. For France the lose of colonies like Algeria and Indochina collapsed the Fourth French Republic. Generally decolonization for Britain was peaceful but the same was not true for the French.

There is a great tragedy about the Cold War because tensions developed between the Democratic West and the Communist East really before the Second World War ended. Winston Churchill said, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill expressed his belief that world peace was nearer the grasp of statesmen than at any time in history. "It would be a great tragedy," he said, "if they, through inertia or carelessness, let it slip from their grasp. History would never forgive them if it did."

Peace did slip through their grasp. World War II was followed by a Cold War that pitted the United States and its Allies against the Soviet Union and its supporters. It was called a Cold War, but it would flare into violence in Korea and Vietnam and in many smaller conflicts. The period from 1946 to 1991 was punctuated by a series of East-West confrontations over Germany, Poland, Greece, Czechoslovakia, China, Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and many other hot spots

The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences The first blush of tensions occurred at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences 1944 – 1945. At the Yalta

Conference meetings between Stalin, FDR, and Churchill tried to organize the war effort but most importantly the post-war world. The dynamic between the three men shaped events. Churchill far more realistically did not trust Stalin and believed that he had plans to occupy Europe himself. FDR while he truly liked Churchill also did not fully trust that Britain was ready to abandon their empire and allow its people to determine their own fate. Stalin did not trust the western powers at all and sought to protect the Soviet Union from capitalist influences. To some degree all three had sound reasons for worry.

In 1945 following Germany’s surrender the Potsdam Meeting was held. FDR had died and Truman replaced him. Churchill while at the initial meeting was defeated in his re-election and was replaced by the new Prime Minister Clement Atlee. Only Stalin remained. Truman did not trust Stalin and tensions were palpable.

One source of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union was the fate of Eastern Europe and especially Poland. The United States was committed to free and democratic elections in Eastern Europe, while the Soviet Union wanted a buffer zone of friendly countries in Eastern Europe to protect it from future attacks from the West. This zone would ultimately exist until 1988-89 against the will of the eastern European states. Even before World War II ended, the Soviet Union had annexed the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and parts of Czechoslovakia, Finland, Poland, and Romania. Albania established a Communist government in 1944, and Yugoslavia formed one in 1945. In 1946, the Soviet Union organized Communist governments in Bulgaria and Romania, and in Hungary and Poland in 1947. Communists took over Czechoslovakia in a coup d'etat in 1948.

Another source of East-West tension was control of nuclear weapons. In 1946, the Soviet Union rejected a U.S. proposal for an international agency to control nuclear energy production and research. The Soviets were convinced that the United States was trying to preserve its monopoly on nuclear weapons.

A third source of conflict was post-war economic development assistance. The United States refused a Soviet request for massive reconstruction loans. In response, the Soviets called for substantial reparations from Germany. The U.S. was against this and of course saw this as one cause of WWI.

The Truman Doctrine So, by 1946 with WWII not even a year old the first shot in the ideological war had begun. Winston

Churchill had been invited to give the commencement address at Westminster College in Missouri, the home state of President Truman. In the speech Winston Churchill announced that "an iron curtain has descended across" Europe. On one side was the Communist bloc; on the other side were non-Communist nations. This was like a call to arms for the young graduates in the crowd. Sadly most of these young people would live their whole lives with specter of World War III.

Another cornerstone of action was a telegram from George Kennan. He wrote a 8,000-word telegram from George Kennan, an Embassy official.   This has become known as 'the Long Telegram', and it said exactly what the American government wanted it to. 

 Kennan hated Communism and the Soviet government.   However, he had lived in Moscow since 1933 and knew what he was talking about.   His telegram was re-written as a paper entitled: The Sources of Soviet Conduct, and read by many Americans.   It formed the basis of American policy towards Russia for the next quarter of a century. As an expert on Russian History his views were taken very seriously. To President Truman and many in the State Department believed that Stalin had merely replaced Hitler as a threat to world peace. With this in mind the U.S. made an important policy shift. Isolationism was now dead forever.

By February 1947, Britain informed the United States that it could not longer afford to provide aid to Greece and Turkey. The situation seemed urgent. The Greek monarchy was threatened by Communist guerrilla warfare, and the Soviet Union was seeking to control the Dardenelles in Turkey, a water route to the Mediterranean. The U.S. government feared that the loss of Greece and Turkey to communism would open Western Europe and Africa to Soviet influence. The U.S government also worried that if the Soviet Union gained control over the Eastern Mediterranean, it could stop the flow of Middle Eastern oil. This was the first time in a long history of U.S. fears over oil.

President Truman responded decisively. He asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey. This was an unprecedented amount of foreign aid during peacetime. He also declared that it was the policy of the United States "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."

Truman's overarching message described two ways of life that were engaged in a life-or-death struggle, one free and the other totalitarian. The United States would help free people to maintain their free institutions and their territorial integrity against movements that sought to impose totalitarian regimes.

The Truman Doctrine committed the United States to providing aid to countries resisting communist aggression or subversion and provided the first step toward what would become known as the Containment Policy This idea was supported by Dean Acheson who became Truman’s Secretary of State in his second term. It was based upon a fairly valid assumption: Communism was like a virus that infected states especially those that were poor. The Containment Policy would adopt two approaches. One approach was military; the other was economic. In 1947, U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall who had been the head of the military during WWII proposed a program to funnel American economic aid to Europe. Faced with a rapid growth in the size of Communist parties, especially in France and Italy, the U.S. proposed a program of direct economic aid

The Marshall Plan Marshall a meeting in Paris to discuss the proposal with world leaders. He called on Europeans to

collectively agree on what kind of assistance they needed. Even the Soviet Union was invited to participate in the planning.

The Soviet delegation abruptly quit the summit in Paris to discuss the Marshall offer. When two Soviet satellites--Czechoslovakia and Poland--indicated that they wanted to take part in the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union said no. The Soviet refusal to participate made it easier to secure congressional passage for the plan. When the Czechoslovakian government was overthrown in a Communist coup, congressional passage was assured.

It is doubtful that the U.S. could now perform such a huge task. The Marshall Plan committed more than 10 percent of the federal budget and almost 3 percent of the United States' gross national product to rebuilding Western Europe. Over the next 40 months, Congress authorized $12.5 billion in aid to restore Western Europe's economic health and to halt the spread of communism. Marshall's plan actually cost the

United States very little, since it was largely paid for by European purchases of American coal, agricultural crops, and machinery

The First Chance for World War III: Berlin 1949 The Soviet Union was now set to challenge the will of the Allied powers. At the end of the war Berlin was

divided into zones of control as agreed upon at Yalta. There was supposed to be free movement between all sectors. In 1947, the United States, British, French, and Soviet officials met in Moscow to discuss the future of Germany. The participants were unable to agree about whether to end the occupation of Germany or to reunify the country. The conference's failure led the Western Allies to unify their German occupation zones in June 1948 and to establish West Germany.

Berlin Blockade Outraged by Western plans to create an independent West Germany, Soviet forces imposed a blockade

cutting off rail, highway, and water traffic between West Germany and West Berlin. A day later, an airlift began called Operation Vittles. Transport planes began flying in food and supplies for West Berlin's two million residents. By September, the airlift was carrying 4,500 tons of supplies a day. Over the next 11 months, 277,000 flights brought in 2.5 million tons of supplies until the Soviet Union lifted the blockade.

Why would the Soviets not shoot down the planes? First, they were unarmed and second, Truman very publicly deployed nuclear capable B-29 bombers to Britain, easy flying range to Moscow or Leningrad.

NATO In April 1949, a month before the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade, the United States, Canada,

Iceland and nine European nations formed NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization). Member states pledged mutual assistance against an armed attack and cooperation in military training and strategic planning.

The U.S. stationed troops in Western Europe, assuring its Allies that it would use its nuclear deterrent to protect Western Europeans against a Soviet attack. The admission of West Germany into NATO in 1955 led the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites to form a competing military alliance called the Warsaw Pact. To a degree the world was now bipolar as it had been just before WWI. It would largely stay this way until the 1970s when Nixon and Kissinger went to China and developed closer relations.

The Arms Race In September 1949, President Truman announced that the Soviet Union had successfully detonated an

atomic bomb. Four months later, President Truman advised the Atomic Energy Commission to proceed with the development of a hydrogen bomb.

U.S. government officials had predicted that it would take the Soviet Union as long as a decade to develop an atomic bomb. The speed with which the Soviets produced a bomb led to charges that development of the device was a product of Soviet espionage. The United States set off its first hydrogen bomb in 1953, and the Soviet Union tested its first bomb in 1955.

HomeworkDue Saturday March 27

AP Euro Practice Testhttp://www.quia.com/quiz/4775464.html

FRIDAY (Period 2) MONDAY (Period 1) Bell/Recap work from yesterday's notes and reading Examine events of the Cold War 1950s – 1963SP-19 | IS-10[PP-12 | PP-15 | SP-5 | SP-9 | SP-14

Materials Strategy/FormatPPT and video Lecture and Discussion L.CCR-2,3

Student Skill TypesChronological Reasoning (1, 2, 3)Comp/Context (4,5)Historical Evidence (6,7) Synthesis 8,9

Introduction Last week we saw the earliest phase of the Cold War develop from the wartime Yalta and Potsdam

conferences. You should be very familiar with the following terms:Truman Doctrine, Containment, The Marshall Plan, "The Iron Curtain", Berlin Crisis of 1949, NATO, and the Warsaw Pact. Additionally you should know the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats/Labour Party

As you saw in the reading section, in March 1953, Joseph Stalin, who had ruled the Soviet Union since 1928, died at the age of 73. Nikita Khrushchev then became first secretary of the Communist Party. Stalin's death led to a temporary thaw in Cold War tensions. In 1955, Austria regained its sovereignty and became an independent, neutral nation after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country. The next year, Khrushchev in the “Secret Speech” denounced Stalin and his policies at the 20th Communist Party conference. After a summit between President Eisenhower and the new Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in Geneva, the Soviets announced plans to reduce its armed forces by more than 600,000 troops. In early 1956, Khrushchev called for "peaceful coexistence" between the East and West. This was sometimes called the “spirit of Geneva.” Ike even took it a step further suggesting a policy called “open skies” that would allow over flights by inspectors to monitor weapons programs. As it turns out Ike decided to do this unilaterally (See the U-2 incident). The thaw was all too brief.

Escalation and Danger ReturnSigns of Resistance in the Eastern Bloc 1956 -1968

The Hungarian Uprising in 1956

By 1956 the world was again on the brink of war in several locations. In Europe, Polish workers rioted to protest economic conditions under the Communist regime. Poles also demanded removal of Soviet officers from the Polish army. More than a hundred demonstrators were killed as authorities moved to suppress the riots. Worse still in Hungary, university students expressed solidarity with the Polish rebels. More than 100,000 workers and students demanded a democratic government and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. Sixteen Soviet divisions and 2,000 tanks crushed the Hungarian revolution after Hungary's Premier Imre Nagy promised Hungarians free elections and an end to one-party rule and denounced the Warsaw Pact. Soviet authorities feared that their intermediate ballistic missiles could only reach targets in Southern Europe if launched from bases in Hungary. Some 200,000 Hungarians fled the country after the suppression of the uprising. Pressure was intense upon Eisenhower to act militarily but ultimately the U.S. did nothing of substance. The policy of brinkmanship at least in Europe was a dead issue.

In the Middle East the specter of war for oil began. The U.S. had long maintained good relations with Saudi Arabia giving them a 50-50 split on all profits. In Iran the British (BP) controlled 90% of oil revenue. When a new prime minister was elected, Muhammad Mossadegh, he nationalized the oil industry. Britain had already sought a joint intervention with the Truman Administration who refused. However, Secretary of State Dulles and his brother Allen Dulles head of the CIA were convinced that Mossadegh was a secret communist. They launched Operation Ajax along with the British intelligence. Mossadegh was overthrown ironically with the help of the same Muslim clerics who today condemn U.S. involvement in Iranian affairs.

A much more dangerous situation occurred during the Suez Crisis in 1956. In 1956, the Suez Canal became the focus of a major world conflict. The canal represents the only direct means of travel from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, making it vital to the flow of trade between Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the U.S. Normally, free passage was granted to all who used the canal, but Britain and France desired control of it, not only for commercial shipping, but also for colonial interests. The Egyptian government had just been taken over by General Gamal Abdel Nasser, who felt the canal should be under Egyptian control. Further exacerbating tensions was the fact that he made a statement that Israeli shipping

would be disallowed. The United States and Britain had promised to give aid to Egypt in the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the Nile. This aid was retracted however, and in retaliation Nasser nationalized the canal. He intended to use the funds raised from the operation of the canal to pay for the Dam. When the U.S. would not allow funding for the Aswan Dam through the IMF (International Monetary Fund) Nassar turned to the Soviets for help.

Angry British and French politicians joined forces with Israel, a long time enemy of Egypt, in an attack against Nasser. The Israeli army marched toward the canal on October 29, 1956. Britain and France reinforced the Israelis, and the joint effort defeated the Egyptian army quickly. Within ten days, British and French forces had completely occupied the Suez region. Egypt responded by sinking 40 ships in the canal, blocking all passage. The Soviet Union indicated that they may use military aid to Nassar and even implied attacking Britain itself. The United Nations sought to resolve the conflict and pressured the two European powers to back down. The rest of the world shunned Britain and France for their actions in the crisis, and soon the UN salvage team moved in to clear the canal. Britain and France backed down, and control of the canal was given back to Egypt in March 1957. The Egyptian government was allowed to maintain control of the canal as long as they permitted all vessels of all nations’ free passage through it. The U.S. temporarily gained some credit in the Middle East because they came out against both the Israelis and the imperial powers Britain and France (both of whom were members of NATO).

The U-2 Incident and Eisenhower’s Parting Advice in 1960 Anxious to avoid a surprise nuclear attack, President Eisenhower was growing increasingly nervous over

rapid Soviet technological achievements. By 1954, the Soviets had demonstrated a hydrogen bomb as well as the means to deliver it with their long-range jet-powered bomber. Could a Soviet ICBM be far behind?

Urged on by his advisors in the National Science Foundation, Eisenhower could not wait another five or six years for the advent of photographic spy satellites to settle the “bomber gap” and other national security issues. He needed answers about Soviet intentions and technological capabilities right now. Moreover, since, typical intelligence tradecraft was ineffective against the communist bloc, and no other means were readily available, a high-flying reconnaissance plane was Eisenhower’s only hope. What the President needed in the era before spy satellites was a good aircraft. Thus, the U-2 project was born.

In a highly secretive program final performance design specifications would allow the U-2 to sustain 2.5gs with a maximum speed of Mach 0.8 or 460 knots at a service altitude of 70,600 feet with an absolute maximum altitude of 73,000 carrying a payload of 450 lbs (pilot, fuel, and cameras).It was believed that the So, in the early summer of 1955, Lockheed chose deserted Groom Lake (later known as Area 51) in Southern Nevada as the U2 flight testing site. It was believed that the Soviets could not shot down this plane. But, on the morning of May 1, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down. He had been on a top secret mission: to over fly and photograph denied territory from his U2 spy plane deep inside Russia. His fate and that of the entire U2 program remained a mystery for days. Then Powers was put on TV in the Soviet Union as a spy. He was not executed and was secretly exchanged for captured Soviet spies. But the incident intensified the Cold War for the next President.

The 1960s and the Cold WarThe Berlin Crisis of 1961

In early 1960 JFK meet with Soviet Premiere Khrushchev in Geneva early in his Presidency and it did not go well. We now know that that JFK was in terrible pain from a back problem and was on meds that kept him pretty messed up. The Soviet leader got the impression that he was a weak leader. This may have stimulated the Soviet decision to press the western powers on the issue of Berlin.

During the 1950s a steady outflow of refugees from the Soviet occupation zone to the West consisted primarily of young people of working age. By 1950 some 1.6 million had migrated to the western zones. Between 1950 and 1961, the refugee flow continued at a rate of 100,000 to 200,000 annually. Workers were attracted by the economic opportunities open to them in West Germany, and in the early 1950s, they and their families formed the majority of emigrants. By the late 1950s, a growing proportion of those leaving were professional people and students whose skills were sorely needed for internal development. In

1959 about 144,000 persons fled; in 1960 the figure rose to 199,000; and in the first seven months of 1961, about 207,000 left the country.

In November 1958, Soviet Premier Khrushchev issued an ultimatum giving the Western powers six months to agree to withdraw from Berlin and make it a free, demilitarized city. At the end of that period, Khrushchev declared, the Soviet Union would turn over to East Germany complete control of all lines of communication with West Berlin; the western powers then would have access to West Berlin only by permission of the East German government. The United States, Great Britain, and France replied to this ultimatum by firmly asserting their determination to remain in West Berlin and to maintain their legal right of free access to that city.

In 1959 the Soviet Union withdrew its deadline and instead met with the Western powers in a Big Four foreign ministers' conference. Although the three-month-long sessions failed to reach any important agreements, they did open the door to further negotiations and led to Premier Khrushchev's visit to the United States in September of 1959. At the end of this visit, Khrushchev and President Eisenhower stated jointly that the most important issue in the world was general disarmament and that the problem of Berlin and "all outstanding international questions should be settled, not by the application of force, but by peaceful means through negotiations."

The communist Eastern German government pushed the Soviets to act. During the spring and early summer, the East German regime procured and stockpiled building materials for the erection of the Berlin Wall. Although this extensive activity was widely known, few outside the small circle of Soviet and East German planners believed that East Germany would be sealed off. Approximately 32,000 combat and engineer troops were used in building the Wall. Once their efforts were completed, the Border Police assumed the functions of manning and improving the barrier. The Soviet Army was present to discourage interference by the West and presumably to assist in the event of large-scale riots.

As the confrontation over Berlin escalated, on 25 July President Kennedy requested an increase in the Army's total authorized strength from 875,000 to approximately 1 million men, along with increase of 29,000 and 63,000 men in the active duty strength of the Navy and the Air Force. Additionally, he ordered that draft calls be doubled, and asked the Congress for authority to order to active duty certain ready reserve units and individual reservists. He also requested new funds to identify and mark space in existing structures that could be used for fall-out shelters in case of attack, to stock those shelters with food, water, first-aid kits and other minimum essentials for survival, and to improve air-raid warning and fallout detection systems.

In the end however, JFK’s reaction did not stop the Berlin Wall from going up. Kennedy went to Berlin and made his famous speech (“Eich bin ein Berliner”). Though intending this final phrase to mean "I am a Berliner," in one of the memorably humorous footnotes to Cold War history, Kennedy's words would be more accurately translated as "I am a donut" since a "Berliner" is a popular German pastry. The U.S. did pledge once again to defend West Berlin and the West Germany as millions more in aid were allocated.

ConclusionWhile the Cuban Missile Crisis was more an American History issue, in reality it was global in scope because if it had ended in war, there can be little doubt that a nuclear exchange would have resulted.The Cuban Missile Crisis

While it might be seen as more of a US History event, the crisis was a global event because it could have plunged the world into nuclear holocaust. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted.

In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In late April 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack by the U.S. Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable.

Consequently, he approved of Khrushchev's plan to place missiles on the island. In the summer of 1962 the Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build its missile installations in Cuba.

the crisis began on October 15, 1962 when reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Early the next day, President John Kennedy was informed of the missile installations. Kennedy immediately organized the EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors to handle the crisis. After seven days of guarded and intense debate within the upper echelons of government, Kennedy concluded to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. He wished to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons on the island. On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery of the missile installations to the public and his decision to quarantine the island. He also proclaimed that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets remove all of their offensive weapons from Cuba.

During the public phase of the Crisis, tensions began to build on both sides. Kennedy eventually ordered low-level reconnaissance missions once every two hours. On the 25th Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and raised military readiness to DEFCON 2. Then on the 26th EX-COMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter. He proposed removing Soviet missiles and personnel if the U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. October 27 was the worst day of the crisis. A U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to tell him of the U.S. agreement with the first.

Tensions finally began to ease on October 28 when Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28 agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers be removed from Cuba, and specifying the exact form and conditions of United States assurances not to invade Cuba.

The Paris Protests and the Prague Spring 1968 While tensions abated following the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crisis of 1961-1962 with the deposing of

Khrushchev and the rise of Brezhnev, a sudden escalation also occurred in 1968. This was a pivotal year in U.S. History with the rise of student protests and Vietnam, but it was also a “red letter” date in Europe.

“In May ’68 was the largest mass movement in French history, the biggest strike in the history of the French workers’ movement, and the only “general” insurrection the overdeveloped world has known since World War II (Christopher J. Grundy).” It was ironic because Political stability nurtured feelings of safety and stability within French society which were enhanced by Georges Pompidou who remained in the office of prime minister for six years, the longest time in office for any French prime minister. The people of France could now turn their attention from the fluctuating nature of politics to the challenges of economic growth and the fruits of prosperity. Despite Pompidou being an extremely able prime minister, the president, Charles de Gaulle, dominated French politics, reveling in his chosen role as elective monarch and intervening at will in domestic and international policy. One source of the uprisings similar to those in the U.S. was the unwillingness of President de Gaulle to accept progressive reform and the fact that student numbers quadrupled between 1950 and 1968-69 combine to make a strong argument against the universities inability to control and satisfy their students. This brought with it a new set of problems, because student with a middle- class background, due to the lack of university education in their families, could not expect to receive advice on such significant decisions as the type of degree to read at university. Development in the technological and economic fields opened up a whole new vista of job opportunities and increased the variety of professional activities, of which there were now a whole range of courses that were completely unknown only ten years previously, such as psychology. A typical student in 1968 therefore had to make a far more complex decision than his father for example, and one for which the social peer-group of the prospective student could not adequately prepare him/her for.

In Czechoslovakia, Antonin Novotny, the Stalinist ruler of Czechoslovakia, is succeeded as first secretary by Alexander Dubcek, a Slovak who supports liberal reforms. In the first few months of his rule, Dubcek introduced a series of far-reaching political and economic reforms, including increased freedom of speech and the rehabilitation of political dissidents. Dubcek’s effort to establish “communism with a human face” was celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom became known as the Prague Spring.

But on August 20, 1968, Soviet Chairman Brezhnev answered Dubcek’s reforms with invasion of Czechoslovakia by 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops. Prague was not eager to give way, but scattered student resistance was no match for Soviet tanks. Dubcek’s reforms were repealed, and the leader himself was replaced with the staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, who re-established an authoritarian Communist regime in the country. This was also referred to as the Brezhnev Doctrine. No serious efforts were made again to topple Soviet control. Interesting Dubcek survived the incident and became the first Preisent of a free Czechoslovakia in 1989.

HomeworkComplete your Unit Test Covering WWII and the Cold War Up to 1970. This will be on the quia website. It will only be multiple choice. Because of block scheduling and Seniors leaving. This will be your last actual exam. Though there will be other assignments next week. This quiz will not available until Tuesday April 23

A Review of World War II and the Early Cold Warhttp://www.quia.com/quiz/7246585.html