Social Studies 20-1 - Unit 4: Foreign Policy + Ultranationalism

Ultranationalism

An extreme form of nationalism that often features fanaticism, xenophobia, racism, and violence.

How does ultranationalism develop?

1. Social and economic crises
2. Emergence of a charismatic and authoritarian leader
3. National traditions
4. Myths that promote feelings of superiority

Fanaticism

A belief or behaviour involving uncritical zeal or obsessive enthusiasm.

=> Associated with ultranationalism

Roaring Twenties

- Period of indulgence and excess

- Suffragette movement

- Stock market went through great growth and expansion

Great Depression

- Caused by stock market crash in 1929

- Government responds by cutting budgets and reducing spending

- Increased global unemployment

Xenophobia

Prejudice against people defined as foreign.

=> "Us" vs. "them" mentality

Anti-elitism

Things should not be controlled or owned by the richest or best educated people.

Populism

A political approach to appeal to the ordinary people.

Fascism

A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, and regimenting all industry and commerce all while emphasizing an aggressive nationalism that is often racist.

Communism

A system of social organization in which all economic and social activity is controlled by a totalitarian state, dominated by a single and self-perpetuating political party.

Dictatorship

A form of government in which the leader has absolute power and authority.

Hitler

- Returned from trenches of WWI; banded with other patriotic Germans against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles

- Charismatic speaker

Autarky

Germany must be economically independent and self-sufficient.

Social Darwinism

The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle.

=> Unique racial characteristics that "nature" equipped to succeed

Nazi Party

- National Socialist German Worker's Party

- Not socialist in the sense of wanting equality, just wanted government control of industry and commerce

Volk

- All citizens should unselfishly serve the state

- Democracy abolished

- Individual rights sacrificed for the good of the state

Führer

Adolf Hitler's title as chancellor and head of state in Germany; a leader.

Neville Chamberlain

- Leader of the UK
- Desperate to avoid another war; appeasement

Totalitarian

A form of government in which one party holds absolute control.

=> More extreme than authoritarian

=> Individual rights are subjugated

Authoritarian

A government in which one leader or group of people holds absolute power.

=> Authority flows downward from a supreme national leader

Appeasement

Accepting demands in order to avoid conflict.

=> Giving Hitler what he wanted to avoid war

=> Letting Hitler violate the Treaty of Versailles; letting Hitler take over land

Lebensraum

- Nazi party expanding to get more "living space"

- Annexing territory with ethnic Germans

- Conquering territory with deportation and genocide before resettling with ethnic Germans; racial hygiene

Sudetenland

An area in western Czechoslovakia that was coveted by Hitler.

Munich Pact

An agreement signed by Germany, France, Britain, and Italy allowing Hitler to take the northern part of Czechoslovakia in exchange for promising it was the last piece of territory he would claim.

Non-aggression Pact

- Secret agreement between the USSR and Germany

- Germany agrees to stay out of the Baltic states if the USSR refrains from intervening in Germany's invasion of Poland

- Agree to divide Poland between both countries if Germany is successful in holding control of the region

Isolationism

A policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries.

=> The US

Neutrality Act

- US was being isolationist

- Congress passed this act to keep the US out of armed conflicts

Lend-lease System

- US to the UK

- US offered war supplies to the cash-strapped British army

- American solders came independent of the army as a whole

Propaganda

Information, especially of biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

=> The art of persuasion

=> Only appeals to emotion (pathos)

Card-Stacking

Propoganda that focuses on the best features and leaves out or lies about problems.

Testimonial

Propoganda where a well-known person endorses the product or service.

Glittering Generalities

Propoganda that uses words or ideas that evoke an emotional response.

Transfer

Propoganda that relates a product to something or someone we like.

Plain Folks

Propoganda that uses regular people to sell a product or service.

Bandwagon

Propoganda that asks people to "join the crowd" and take action because "everyone" is doing it.

Name-calling

Propoganda that connects a person, product, or idea to something negative.

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propoganda

- Headed by Joseph Goebbels

- Ensure that the Nazi message was spread throughout all media

Ministry of Information

- Increased support for the war effort in Britain

- Resistance, victory, work on the home front, protection of youth, doing your part

- Battle between good and evil

Causes of WWII

MR. FING

Militarism

Rise of Dictatorships

Failure of Appeasement

Imperialism

Nationalism

Germany's invasion of Poland (Immidiate)

Axis Powers

Germany, Italy, Japan

Allied Powers

Britain, France, USSR, US, Canada

Blitzkreig

- "Lightning wars"

- Mobilizing forces in the air and on the ground to surprise and overwhelm the enemy

Phoney War

- First 8 months of WWII

- Very little fighting occurs

Sitzkreig

- "Sitting war"

- British Press' name for the Phoney War

Twilight War

Winston Churchill's name for the Phoney War.

Germany's Invasion of France

- Invades France through Belgium and Netherlands

- Paris captured; France surrenders

- Germany now controls Northern France; establishes a Vichy government in Southern France

Vichy Government

- Southern France

- Puppet government

- Largely controlled by French Nazi sympathizers

Charles de Gaulle

- French general

- Flees to London and leads the French resistance from exile

Dunkirk

Where British forces were stationed in France; ordered to make their way north and evacuate

Third Reich

The Third German Empire, established by Adolf Hitler in the 1930s.

Battle of Britain

A military campaign that pitted the Royal Air Force against the Luftwaffe.

=> First military campaign fought entirely by air force

=> War of attrition; British hoped for peace settlements

Luftwaffe

Germany's air force.

Blitz

A long series of night raids during WWII.

Embargo

An official ban on trade.

=> Used to prevent Japanese expansionism

Japanese Ultranationalism

- Japan wanted to convince other Asian nations that Asian people should be ruled by Asians, not by colonists

- Surrender is shameful; drives decision making

Pearl Harbour

- Response to embargo

- Japan attacks American naval base at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii

- America declares war on Japan and its allies, including the Germans

Pacific Front

- Fought by American and Australian forces

- Hold back Japanese expansionism

Island Hopping

Americans and Australians work to target important islands instead of fighting for every single one.

=> Allows them to get closer to Japan

North African Front

- Germans in control after early victories

- Allies send in two different forces to trap the Germans (divide and conquer)

- German forces defeated

Stalingrad

- Major industrial centre in the area of the USSR

- Hitler wants total control of the region, but Stalin refuses to back down

- Germany eventually surrenders

D-Day Invasion

- Allies from Great Britain, the US, and Canada invade Normandy

- Largest land and sea (amphibious) attack in history

Manhattan Project

- Secret American research project headed by Oppenheimer investigating the possibility of atomic weapons

- Americans interested in securing Japanese surrender

- Bombs eventually dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Battle of the Bulge

A battle where Germans break through weak American lines; eventually forced to retreat.

Victory over Japan Day

September 2, 1945

=> Japan surrenders; becomes constitutional monarchy where majority of constitution is written by Americans

Genocide

The deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

=> Systematic and state sponsored

10 Stages of Genocide

1. Classification
2. Symbolization
3. Discrimination
4. Dehumanization
5. Organization
6. Polarization
7. Preparation
8. Persecution
9. Extermination
10. Denial

Classification

Groups in a position of power will categorize according to ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality, employing an us vs them mentality

Symbolization

People are identified as the group intended to be singled out, using certain colours or symbolic items of clothing

Discrimination

A dominant group uses laws, customs, and political power to deny the rights of other groups. This can look like denying citizenship or civil rights

Dehumanization

The diminished value of the discriminated group is communicated through propaganda. Parallels are drawn with animals, insects, or disease.

Organization

A state, its army, or its militia design genocidal killing plans.

Polarization

Propaganda is used to amplify the differences between groups. Interactions between groups are prohibited, and moderate members of the group in power are eliminated.

Preparation

Victims are identified, separated, and forced to wear symbols. Deportations, isolation, and forcible starvation occurs. Death lists are drawn up.

Persecution

Victims are identified and isolated based on ethnic or religious identity. In state sponsored genocide, members of victim groups may be forced to wear identifying symbols. Property is expropriated.

Extermination

The massacres begin. The perpetrators see their actions as “extermination”, because they have dehumanized their victims. Bystanders have been desensitized to the violence.

Denial

Perpetrators of the genocide deny having committed their crimes. Victims are often blamed, evidence hidden, and witnesses intimidated.

Anti-semitism

Hostility or prejudice against the Jewish people and faith.

=> Jewish people live everywhere, including Poland and the USSR

Socialism

A system in which society, usually in the form of the government, owns and controls the means of production.

Scapegoat

One who bears the blame for others.

=> Jewish people

Pogroms

State-sanctioned massacres and attacks in the Russian empire.

Racial Science

Scientific theories dividing humans into a handful of groups to provide a biological explanation for their differences and inequality.

Kristallnacht

- Wave of violent anti-semetic pogroms that took place on November 9th (anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, an important date in the Nazi calendar) and 10th, 1938

- Nazi officials claim this was in response to the assassination of a German embassy official who was shot by a Jewish boy

Joseph Goebbels

- Propoganda minister

- "World Jewry" had conspired to commit the assassination

- Although no official demonstrations were sanctioned, they would "not be hampered"

Jewish Question

This referred to the problem that the Germans had with the Jews; the answer was destruction.

1. Expulsion (get them out)

2. Containment (ghettos)

3. "Final Solution" (annihilation)

Ghettos

A provisional measure used to control and segregate Jews while the "Final Solution" was explored.

Closed Ghetto

A ghetto completely isolated by walls or barbed wire fencing.

Open Ghetto

A ghetto with no walls or fences, but there were still restrictions on movement.

Destruction Ghetto

Ghettos that were tightly sealed and only in exsistence for two to six weeks; these ghettos were used to either execute Jewish people or hold them until relocating the citizens to concentration camps.

The Final Solution

- A euphemism used for the deliberate, planned mass murder of Europe's Jewish population

- First tried emigration and relocation

- Began to systematically eliminate Nazi Germany's enemies in newly-conquered territory including the Jewish people

Concentration Camps

- A holding facility for political prisoners and those accused of socially deviant behaviour

- Camps were used for detention, forced-labour, and execution

Liberation

- Allied and Soviet troops moved across Europe

- Encountered concentration camps, mass graves, and numerous other sites of Nazi crimes

- Soviet forces were the first to discover the camps

- Documented the liberation; there was an understanding that these camps would be used as evidence against Nazi officials

Aftermath of the Holocaust

- Six million displaced persons were relocated and repatriated; many were hesitant to return home to the countries that murdered their families

- Displaced persons camps; Allied forced found new homes for displaced people in Israel and the US

Jewish Diaspora

- Ethnic nation

- Dispersion or spread of people from their original homeland

- Israel is considered a Jewish nation-state

The Holocaust

The Nazi program of exterminating Jews under Hitler.

Indoctrination

Teaching someone to accept an idea or principle without question.

The United Nations

- 50 countries gather in San Francisco to ratify the United Nations Charter

- Peacekeeping force

- Wider range of diplomatic and economic sanctions

Nuremberg Laws

- Stripped Jewish people of German citizenship - Prevented marriage between Jews and those with "German or related blood"

Identity Cards

- Jewish cards stamped with a large letter J

- This made it easier for police to identify Jewish people

- Jewish people were eventually labelled with yellow Stars of David to visually separate them from other Germans

Nuremberg Trials

- Post-war trials

- Held Nazi officials accountable for crimes under laws that did not exist when the crimes were comitted

- "Crimes against humanity"

Fourth Geneva Convention

The meeting where laws discussing how nations are obligated to treat civilians during war were set out.

=> Nuremberg Trials