Dictatorships, A Sleeping Giant, and the World at War: World War II.
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Dictatorships, A Sleeping Giant, and the World at
War: World War II
The Great War and World War II
World War II is really a continuation of The Great War Failures of the Treaty of Versailles
War Guilt Clause Germans angry and look for someone to blame; want revenge
Reparation Payments Impossible to pay and contributed to economic difficulties in Europe (extreme inflation)
League of Nations powerless to act when nations acted aggressively; allowed Germany to rebuild its military
The situation in Europe was fragile opportunity for dictators
America = Isolationist policies
Totalitarian Regimes: Fascism and Communism
Totalitarian Dictatorships
Fascist Regimes Mussolini in Italy Hitler in Germany Franco in Spain
Communist Regimes Stalin in USSR
Benito Mussolini
Italy = divided, poor, betrayed after WWI
Mussolini began the fascist movement in 1922 restore Italy to greatness of Rome
March on Rome Mussolini named Prime Minister in 1922
Adolf Hitler
Weimar Republic, 1919 – 1933 German democratic
state after WWI Failed to provide for
the people Unemployment =
43% in 1932 Hyperinflation =
worthless $
Adolf Hitler
Rise to Power; Mein Kampf (1923) Excellent speaker/communicator Promised economic prosperity and regaining
of pre-WWI power/pride “Stab-in-the-Back” Theory Germany had
been defeated in WWI from within Jews, Communists, Weimar Republic =
scapegoats
Adolf Hitler
The National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) Restore Germany to greatness; rearmament in 1935 “Lebensraum” and unification of all German-speaking people
Racial Purity (Aryan race) - eliminate “undesirables” Economic recovery Captured 37% of parliamentary votes in 1932 majority
party
Legally appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1932
Established the Third Reich with himself as “Fuhrer” in 1933
Aggression in Europe
International Reaction to Aggression
Isolationist Policies Appeasement
Give up something small to avoid war Emboldens bullies/dictators Examples:
Manchuria – 1931 Ethiopia – 1935 Rhineland – 1936 Sudetenland and Munich Pact - 1938
Japan, 1919 - 1931 Treaty of Versailles left Japan with new
territories US, GB, France, Japan agreed to uneasy
“balance of power” in Pacific in 1920s Nationalistic government led by the military
(Hideki Tojo) Reduce Japanese dependence on foreign nations/resources Create a Japanese Empire in Asia
Needed access to natural resources invaded Manchuria (China) in 1931 world did nothing
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
American Foreign Policy, 1930 - 1941
1934: Powerful Isolationist Sentiment Nye Congressional Report – “Merchants of
Death” Entry into WWI had been for $ 67% of Americans believed entry into WWI
had been wrong Democratic goals not achieved Isolationist tradition broken for no gain; American
casualties To what extent did/does public opinion shape
policy decisions in the US? Advantages? Disadvantages? Totalitarian regimes?
Legislating Neutrality
Neutrality Act of 1935 No selling of weapons,
etc. and no loans to any nation at war
Warned Americans not to travel on ships of warring nations
FDR runs for re-election in 1936: How does this affect his foreign policy?
Aggression in Europe in 1935-6: Hitler remilitarized the
Rhineland Mussolini annexed
Ethiopia Spanish Civil War
Legislating Neutrality
Peak isolationism (1937) - 94% of Americans wanted to stay out
Neutrality Act of 1937 Required nations to
pay cash and carry away on their own ships; only non-war goods allowed
Aggression in Europe in 1938: Annexation of Austria Invasion of Sudetenland;
appeasement
Legislating Neutrality
1939 = FDR vs. Congress and the American public 86% of Americans believed the US should
only become involved if directly attacked 70% supported the Ludlow Amendment –
required a vote to go to war
Legislating Neutrality
Neutrality Act of 1939 (September) Any nation could buy
war goods if cash and carry was followed
Covert way of aiding Allies
1940: FDR runs for 3rd term; promises neutrality Requests $37 billion for
defense spending 1st peacetime draft
Aggression in Europe in 1939: Invasion of Poland Declaration of war by
GB and France Aggression in Europe in
1940: W. Europe and France
fall Battle of Britain GB
is the last “hold-out”
The United States in the Pacific
Japanese Aggression, 1937 – 1940
1937: Full invasion of China; captured Nanking by December “One of the great atrocities of modern times.” NY
Times reporter Tillman Durdin 250,000 – 300,000 Chinese civilians killed
US response: Officially neutral, but maintained trade relations with Chinese government
Panay Incident,1937 Japanese aircraft sank US gunboat in China while
evacuating Americans; 2 Americans die Private outrage, but public isolationism
Japanese Aggression, 1937 - 1940
Problem in 1939: China too big to simply overrun cut off China from foreign aid and gain access to new resources
Answer: European colonial holdings in SE Asia
European Colonial Holdings in SE Asia
Japanese Aggression, 1937 - 1940
September 1940: Tripartite Pact Axis Powers = Italy, Japan, Germany War with one = war with all
Japanese Invasion of French Indochina, July 1941
US Response: Economic Sanctions, 1940-41 Embargo on scrap iron, steel, and oil
desperate situation for Japan
US – Japanese Negotiations, 1941
US Navy = last threat to Japan in Pacific had to be neutralized before Japan could act
Japanese demands per Tojo (Sept-Oct.) End US aid to China Resume full trade Limit US naval presence in Pacific
US response per Sec. of State Cordell Hull Refused and insisted on 100% withdrawal
from China Attack is imminent by November, but where?
Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941
2400 Americans killed
200 planes destroyed
4 battleships sunk
Aircraft carriers, oil reserves and dry dock repair stations = undamaged
“A day that will live in infamy…” FDR
“The indecision was over…A crisis had come in a way which would unite our people.” Sec. of War Stimson
Two Views of Pearl Harbor
“Now it is impossible for us to lose the war; we now have an ally who has never been vanquished in 3,000 years.” Hitler
“The United States was in the war, up to the neck and in to the death. So we had won after all! England would live…I went to bed and slept the sleep of the saved and the thankful.”
Churchill
The Homefront Mobilizes: The Greatest Generation…
5 million volunteers after PH; 10 million draftees throughout the war; 16.4 million Americans served in the war effort
The Minority Experience in WWII Women – “Rosie the
Riveter” WAC’s, WAVES,
WASPS – women in noncombat military positions
Between 1941 and 1945, 6.5 million women entered the workforce (increase of 57%)
Expectation that the new jobs were temporary
The Minority Experience in WWII
African Americans Segregated military until 1948 Discriminatory hiring practices at home
A. Philip Randolph and the proposed march of 100,000 on Washington DC in 1941
Executive Order # 8802 – ended discriminatory hiring practices in government and defense jobs
Double “V” Campaign Victory over fascism in Europe and victory over
racism at home
The Minority Experience in WWII
Japanese Americans Nisei – 2nd generation Japanese Americans Loyalty questioned after PH 110,000
Japanese Americans sent to internment camps (Executive Order #9066 in Feb. 1942)
Upheld by Korematsu v. United States (1944) Japanese Americans lost $810 million - $2
billion in property and wealth
Japanese Internment Camps
Economic Mobilization & Production
Civilian Production military production America produced 40% of the world’s military
goods by 1944 West coast (California) growth Example: Liberty Ships – built in as little as 4
days from pre-fabricated parts Unemployment dropped to 4% and wages
rose standard of living improved
Liberty Ships
Economic Mobilization & Production
Increased Government Controls War Production Board
Coordinated and planned production Allocated necessary resources (rubber, gas)
Office of Price Administration Coordinated the rationing system Fixed prices to prevent inflation
Financing the War Raised income taxes – paid for 45% of total war costs Sold war bonds – US government borrowed $200
billion – 1/3 sold to American citizens
Two Views of American Entry Into the War
“We have just one year to cut Russia off from her military supplies…If we don’t succeed and the production potential of the United States joins up with the manpower potential of the Russians, the war will enter a phase in which we shall only be able to win it with difficulty.”
German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop (December 1941)
“If I am told to fight regardless of the consequences, I shall run wild for the first six months or a year, but I have utterly no confidence for the second or third year…I hope that you will endeavor to avoid a Japanese – American war.”
Admiral Yamamoto (September 1940)
The War in Europe
#1 priority for Allied Powers (US, GB, USSR): Defeat Hitler and demand unconditional surrender – Why? Uneasy alliance; different goals and strategies
Stalin begs for a 2nd front in Europe Germany invaded USSR in June 1941 violated Non-
Aggression Pact Massive Soviet losses – ex: Battle of Stalingrad in Winter
1942-43 Furthest east German Army reached; defeat meant first
German retreat of the war 1.1 million Soviet losses (1 American dead = 59 Soviet dead) Bought US and GB time to plan and build defenses
The War in Europe, 1939-1945
A Two-Front European War
WHERE to invade Europe? Stalin suspicious of delays
Operation Torch (GB’s Plan) North African campaign (Nov. 1942 – May 1943)
Led by Eisenhower German defeat at El Alamein (Nov. 1942) prevented
German control of the Middle East Italian Campaign (June 1943 – March 1945)
Led by George S. Patton Sicily captured and Mussolini stripped of power in July
1943 Nazi occupation of Italy bloody battles and little
progress until end of the war
Operation Overlord
Tehran Conference (December 1943) Stalin, FDR, and Churchill meet to discuss strategy
plans to invade western Europe; early UN support Operation Overlord (US plan)
Invasion through Normandy, France on June 6, 1944; planned by Eisenhower
Largest amphibious military operation in history 6,483 ships, 1500 tanks, 200,000 men 3 phases: bombing, paratroopers, invasion A gamble – location? Weather? German reaction
time? 1465 American deaths – not as high as feared
D-Day
“Carnage means nothing without knowing what we buy with those lives.”
Nancy Gibbs in Time Magazine May 31, 2004
D-Day
D-Day
“Boys were turned into men. Some would be very brave men; others would soon be dead men, but any who survived would be frightened men. Some wet their pants, others cried unashamedly. Many just had to find within themselves the strength to get the job done. Discipline and training took over.” US infantryman Bob Slaughter recalls Omaha Beach
“Two kinds of men are staying on this beach. The dead and those who are going to die. Get up! Move in! Move in and die!” Colonel George Taylor to his men, Omaha Beach
“Every man who stepped foot on Omaha Beach that day was a hero.” U.S. General Omar Bradley
Advance Through Europe
D-day = beginning of the end for Hitler Paris liberated on August 25, 1944 Fire-bombing of German cities and industries;
Dresden in 1945 (135,000 civilian deaths) US and GB advance from the west; USSR advancing
from the east Set up for Cold War era Europe Battle of the Bulge – December 1944 in Belgium
Hitler’s last offensive; failed to stop Allies and cost Germany its last reserve troops and supplies
Wartime Politics
Yalta Conference – February 1945 – “Big Three” Soviet support of the United Nations (April 1945) Soviet promise to join war against Japan Continued Soviet domination of eastern Europe
Cold War Set-Up
V-E Day
Full invasion of Germany: March 1945 Compare to WWI? Significance? Liberation of the Death Camps
US/Soviet meeting at the Elbe River: April 25, 1945
Hitler’s Suicide: April 30, 1945 Unconditional surrender: May 8, 1945 A good war? A just war? A necessary war? Is
there such a thing?
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