12. The Second World War and Contemporary Europe · Barbarossa (1941) • Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (1941) Turning of the Tide

12. The Second World War and Contemporary Europe

12.1 The Causes and Course of the Second World War 12.2 Postwar Europe 12.3 Science, Philosophy, the Arts and Religion 12.4 Social and Political Developments

12.1 The Causes and Course of the Second World War

Precursors • Japanese Invasion

of China (1937) • Molotov-

Ribbentrop Pact (1939)

• Invasion of Poland (1939)

War in the West • Invasion of

Norway • Sitzkrieg • Invasion of France

(1940)

The War Expands • Rommel in Africa • Operation

Barbarossa (1941) • Japanese attack

on Pearl Harbor (1941)

Turning of the Tide • Japanese “Victory

Disease” • German Offensive

(1942)

Turning of the Tide

• Battle of Midway (1942)

• Battle of Stalingrad (1942)

Pacific Theater • Island Hopping • Battles of Iwo Jima

and Okinawa (1945) • Bombing Campaign • “Operation

Downfall”

12.2 Postwar Europe

War Conferences • Atlantic Charter

(1941) • Yalta Conference

(1945) • Potsdam Conference

(1945)

Toward the Cold War • Division of Germany • Marshall Plan/Truman

Doctrine – “Containment”

Toward the Cold War • Division of Germany • Marshall Plan/Truman

Doctrine • Blockade of Berlin/

Berlin Airlift (1948)

Toward the Brink • De-Stalinization • John F. Kennedy vs.

Nikita Khrushchev • Berlin Wall (1961) • Cuban Missile Crisis

12.3 Science, Philosophy, the Arts and Religion

Science • Atomic Energy • Three Mile Island/

Chernobyl • OPEC Oil Crisis

Arts • Theater of the Absurd – Waiting for Godot

• “Youth Culture” • “Youth Revolt” - 1968

Religion • Second Vatican Council • Birth Control

12.4 Social and Political Developments

Social Developments • Birth Control • “Youth Revolt” • Green Parties • Nuclear

Disarmament

Political Developments • Decolonization • Hungarian Uprising

(1956)

Political Developments • Prague Spring (1968) • Détente (1970-1980)

Détente – European Style • Willy Brandt and the

SPD • Ostpolitik

Return to the Cold? • Mikhail Gorbachev • Ronald Reagan • Arms Race/SDI

Collapse of the Iron Curtain • Fall of the Berlin Wall • Fall of the Soviet

Union – Boris Yeltsin