Chapter 20: World War II and the Cold WarPortents of Disaster

Economists predict disaster soon after signing of Versailles Treaty

Disruptions of food & coal supplyWeight of reparation payments

Poet William Butler Yeats points to cultural sickness of EuropeOnset of Depression ten years after treaty

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

ItalyMussolini & followers unsuccessfully seek electoral wins amidst post-war instabilityFascist thugs then attack a variety of nationalist enemies, declare a national emergency and “March on Rome”Mussolini wins 1924 election with fraudSupport from those who like society without turmoil

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

GermanyHitler was virulent racist before WWI

Adopted Mussolini model for party after war

Weimar government popular with no one

France reinvades after 1923 reparations default• Hitler attempts putsch to overthrow government• Failure leads to jail and manifesto Mein Kampf• Blames Jews for German misery

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

Germany [cont.]Nazi party gains votes, 1928-32

Hitler and Nazis asked to join ruling coalition in 1933

• Elitist parties believed they could control Hitler

Reichstag building burns but new elections leave Nazis short of a majority

• Declares national emergency and turns thugs loose to silence opponents and wins desired majority

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

Germany [cont.]Creation of totalitarian state includes

• propaganda and paramilitary organizations• Racial “science” and worship of pre-Christian

gods

Citizens were intimidated but also attracted to territorial expansion & return of German gloryGermany and Italy proclaim “axis” in 1936

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

JapanJapan was one of five great powers at Versailles

• Gross national income grew 40% 1914-1918• Advanced rapidly by leap-frogging technology• Successfully maintained “dual economy”

Food riots at end of war show vulnerability• “Need” colonies for numerous resources

Zaibatsu control economy by 1920s

Contest of the “Isms”: Fascism & Communism

Japan [cont.]Path to democracy undermined by political power of zaibatsuConstitution requires ministries of war and navy to be in hands of the militaryShinto emphasized divinity of emperor and importance of samuraiMilitary seeks to protect resource-poor nation

The Descent Toward War

1920s a time of peace (?)League of Nations serves as an annual forumNegotiated limits on navies at WashingtonLocarno modifies German debt paymentsPact of Paris (1928) outlaws warGreat Depression and relative ability of communist and fascist nations to survive while democracies struggle

The Descent Toward War

Steps toward war in the 1930sJapanese seize Manchuria (1931)

• Establish Manchuria as puppet state (1932)• Opposition at home silenced violently

Italy invades Ethiopia (1935)• League of Nations does not respond

Civil War in Spain (1936)Japan invades China proper (1937)

The Descent Toward War

Steps toward war in the 1930s [cont.]Germany rises under Hitler

• Withdraws from League of Nations (1933)• Saar region forced into pro-German stance

(1935)• Rearming of Germany begins (1935)• Militarization of Rhineland (1936)• Formal seizure of Austria (1938)• Takeover of Czechoslovakia (1938)• Invasion of Poland (1939)

The Descent Toward War

The Early Cost of War TechnologyNational budgets reflect militarization of the 1930s

• Germany, Japan and USSR spend about 1/4 of total national income on defense

• 1938 70% of the Japanese national budget goes to the military

Aircraft production skyrockets

World War II

The War in Europe, 1939-45“Phony War” to Spring, 1940--then blitzkieg of Germans into France

French fall followed by aerial assault on Britain

USSR-German non-aggression pact ended in 1941 with broad assault into Russia

Germany directs attack to oil fields, 1942

US neutral but implements Lend-Lease plan

World War II

The War in the Pacific, 1937-42Severity of war seen in Rape of Nanjing & the use of scorched earth tactics by Russia & China

Tripartite Pact forms “Axis Powers” (1940)

US stays neutral but helpful until December 7th

Churchill: Entry of US “seals” Axis fate

Japanese spread rapidly after Pearl Harbor

Japanese hopes fade--colonies can’t produce enough for Japan to prosper

World War II

Turning the tide, 1942-5Allied counter-offensive begins in 1942

“2nd Front” for Russia deferred by West

Role of “underground” symbolic not decisive

Bombing of German cities begins (1943)• Dresden hardest hit--necessity of attack debated

Allied invasion of Sicily (1943)

2nd front opened on D-Day, June 6, 1944

World War II

War in Asia & the Pacific, 1942-51st naval victory in Pacific--Midway IslandFire bombings of Japan begin (March, 1944)Atomic bombs end war amid controversy about necessity of their use

• 3 million Japanese die in the war• 1/4 of national assets were destroyed• Industrial production 10% of pre-war levels

World War II

Assessing the Results of War“Total War” meant 50 million dead including 30 million civilians

Japanese model taught Asian colonies that resistance was not futile

Technology in the WarVictory tied to ability of victors to produce more goods in their factories

World War II

Women and the WarMobilization of women in World War II varied by country

• Hitler & Mussolini offered women “emancipation from emancipation”

• “Rose the Riveter” symbol of women workers in US

Return of soldiers brought pressure on women to give up their factory jobs

• Laid groundwork for “new feminism”

World War II

Horrors of WarHolocaust and atomic warfare

• Genocide built on anti-Semitism to seek obliteration of a people

• Atomic bomb was a new, higher level of destructive power in world history

– Necessity of dropping the bombs remains controversial today.

– Racist? – Saved lives?

The Image of Humanity

World War challenged idea of West as region of progress through rationalism

GandhiFreudPicassoEliotWieselJapanese Peace Memorials

United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War

The United NationsGoal: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”

General assembly gives every nation a voice

Security Council can dispatch peace keepers

Other organizations provide variety of humanitarian services

Founded 1945 by 50 countries

United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War

ResettlementMillions of individuals, displaced by war, had to be returned to their home nations

• Surrendered/captured soldiers were far from home

• Civilians had followed armies, settled new lands or fled in the face of war

US developed GI Bill of Rights to ease return of soldiers to civilian life and to reward them for their service

United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War

Political Reconstruction: Japan & GermanyJapan

• Emperor remains power but no longer sacred• Colonial empire was dissolved• Land redistribution in Japan• Zaibatsu were dissolved• Promotion of worker rights• Restructured the educational system• Economic recovery aided by Korean War

United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War

Political Reconstruction: Japan & Germany

Germany• Divided into four regions of administration• Russian occupation harsher than that of others • Major war criminals tried at Nuremberg• Democracy promoted in western sectors• Berlin blockade marked opening of the Cold

War

United Nations, Postwar Recovery & Origins of Cold War

Economic Reconstruction & the Cold War

Despite devastation, some factories and much production knowledge remain intactTruman Doctrine and Marshall PlanWestern foreign policy goal of containmentFear on both sides leads to NATO and other economic & defensive alliances

Entering the Second Half of the 20th Century

World attracted to FDR idea of the Four Freedoms and the Atlantic Charter

Racism and imperialism a troubling legacy of Europe

Creation of United Nations offered hope