CHAPTER 30: World War II

Threats to World Peace

A. The League of Nations

1. Had to deal with aftershocks of World War I

a. Compiled mixed record: resolved some small-power disputes; helpless against large powers

2. Had strong humanitarian, scientific, cultural record

B. France Seeks Security

1. British concerned with Empire, U.S. isolated, left France to lead postwar Europe

2. Kellogg-Briand Pact proposed more universal policy, 62 nations signed to outlaw war

C. Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

1. China called for League assistance, League condemned Japan, with no punishment

2. Japan attacked Shanghai, pushed inland

3. Japan proclaimed New Order in East Asia; planned to dominate area

D. Italy’s Conquest

1. Ethiopia called for League of Nations to act on it’s behalf

2. League had no power to enforce and national powers did not want war

3. Italy and Japan felt acts of aggression had no consequences

E. The Spanish Tragedy

1. Republic battered from both left and right

a. Franco led army against legal government, backed by Mussolini, Germans

b. Republic backed by many groups, Soviet Union

2. Franco used USSR role to allege communist domination

3. Madrid fell, March 1939, tragedy cost 700,000 lives

Hitler’s Aggressions

A. The Rhineland and the Axis

1. Hitler negated Versailles Treaty, rearmed, with great trepidation reoccupied Rhineland

2. Axis alliance formed

B. Appeasement and Weakness

1. Neville Chamberlain became U.K. prime minister, 1937

a. Reversed offensive strategy, backed defensive strategy

2. Wanted to make positive opening to Germans

3. Countries began to approach Hitler for alliances, deals

C. Toward Austria and the Sudetenland

1. Pressured Austrians to capitulate in 1938, sent forces into Austria, silenced opponents

2. Hitler approved new chancellor, held plebiscite, 99.75% approved union

3. Hitler moved to take Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland

a. German-inhabited, economically depressed region, site of Czech fortifications

4. September 1938, in note to Chamberlain, Hitler demanded self-determination for area

a. Chamberlain, French caved in to Germans despite Hitler’s lying, increasing demands

D. Munich and Democratic Betrayal

1. Chamberlain flew to Munich for meeting with Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, French premier

2. Munich conference gave Hitler all demands, Chamberlain claimed “Peace in our time”

a. Czechs forced to go under German protection,

b. Mussolini, to keep up, took Albania

3. Britain responded by ending appeasement policy, instituting first peacetime draft

E. The Nazi-Soviet Pact

1. Poland, Danzig Corridor, Hitler’s next target

a. British, French gave symbolic support to Poles

b. Poles refused to give in to Hitler’s demands

2. Stalin had to choose between Nazis, democratic powers

3. Soviets allied with Nazis, Nonaggression Pact

Axis Gains

A. A New Way of War

1. New weapons, techniques revolutionized warfare

a. Advances continued through war: radar, jet planes, nuclear weapons

2. Atomic weapons changed nature of war

B. Blitzkrieg and Sitzkrieg

1. Nazis staged incident, invaded Poland September 1, British declared war September 3

a. Blitzkrieg crushed Poland in 2 weeks

2. No movement on Western front between Siegfried line, Maginot line, Sitzkrieg

C. “Blood, Toil, Tears, and Sweat”

1. Nazis took West Europe in six weeks, April/May 1940

a. One of history’s most successful campaigns Denmark/Norway/Holland/Belgium/Luxembourg fell

2. Chamberlain replaced by Winston Churchill

a. Faced possible loss of army at Dunkirk

b. Refused to show dismay, knew odds were bad

c. Had only fighter planes, radar to defend island

3. 335,000 men rescued after being trapped at Dunkirk

a. Hitler did not deliver death blow, saved by Royal Air Force (RAF), small craft

4. Fall of France became inevitable

a. Paris capitulated June 1941, Vichy regime created

b. Charles de Gaulle went to London to lead Free French Government

5. Only Britain remained to oppose Hitler

a. Nazis planned cross-Channel assault, Battle of Britain spread terror in cities

D. The United States Enters the War

1. Americans began to take Axis threat seriously

a. Passed Lend-Lease Act of 1941

b. Installed peacetime draft, rearmed

c. Churchill, Roosevelt issued Atlantic Charter

Soviet Union and the United States

A. Mastery of Europe

1. Hitler strengthened position in Balkans

a. Hampered by Mussolini’s failure in Greece, had to rescue him/overrun Yugoslavia

2. Delay to help ally set Russian invasion back

a. Spent supplies, diverted good troops

3. By spring of 1941, Germany controlled most of Europe

B. War with the Soviet Union

1. Tension and mistrust marked Nazi-Soviet Pact

a. Stalin had assumed “imperialists” would exhaust each other in Western war

2. Invasion launched June 1941 on 1800 mile-long front

a. Besieged Leningrad, reached Moscow, moved toward Caucasus for resources

b. Offensive halted by early winter 1941

c. Soviets restocked with allied Lend-Lease help, supplies from east of Urals

C. The United States Enters the War

1. Pear Harbor attack brought U.S. into war

a. After Tokyo’s atrocities in China, U.S. had struck back with economic penalties

b. Japanese launched successful surprise attack

2. U.S. declared war on Japan December 8, 1941

a. Four days later, Germany declared war on U.S.

b. 26 nations united to fight Axis in January

The Holocaust

A. The Holocaust

1. Concentration camps operated in Belsen, Buchenwald, Dachau, Auschwitz

a. Exploitation of prisoners as laborers

b. Inadequate food, torture, medical experimentation, executions

2. “Final Solution” to Jewish question handled by Himmler, Heydrich

a. Many killed in gas chambers

b. Millions more died from starvation

c. Others executed by mobile death squads that moved with armies

d. 6 million Jews; 6 million non-Jews perished in Nazi-occupied areas

End of the War

A. Axis Collapse

1. D-Day second front opened June 6, 1944

a. Paris liberated in August, drive forward limited only by Battle of the Bulge in December

b. Allies controlled skies, devastated Germany

2. Allies met at Yalta to plan peace arrangements

a. Mussolini killed by partisans, Hitler committed suicide as Russians took Berlin

b. Victory in Europe Day (V-E Day), May 8, 1945

B. The Atomic Bomb

1. Americans advanced toward Japan, 1943

a. With allies, defeated Japanese fleet at battle of Leyte Gulf (1944), greatest naval engagement in history

2. Allies learned nature of Japanese occupation of Co-Prosperity Sphere

a. More than one hundred thousand women forced to become “comfort women” for Japanese soldiers

b. American prisoners of war received brutal treatment on Bataan Death March in the Philippines

c. Japanese used prisoners for unconscionable medical experiments

3. Allies closed in to invade Japan in 1945

a. Took Iwo Jima, Okinawa; used bases to bomb Japanese cities

b. Kamikaze pilots flew suicide missions to hit American ships

4. Japan refused to surrender

a. US dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima, August 6, 1945 = Damage covered 3 square miles, estimated 60,000 died, 100,000 wounded

b. Second bomb dropped on Nagasaki, August 9, 1945

5. Japan sued for peace; signed surrender on battleship Missouri, September 2, 1945

C. Costs of War

1. Unprecedented millions killed in war, aftermath

a. Germany lost 4.2 million, Allies lost 1.5 million, USSR lost 25 million

b. Yugoslavia had highest per capita deaths, 1 in 10

c. Asian population dropped by 55 million, 1940-1950

2. War stopped German, Italian, Japanese aggression