Dictatorships, A Sleeping Giant, and the World at War: World War II.

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?