HIST 2112 Final Review, Fall 2017 GGC

Isolationism

From 1919 until around 1939, a strong American desire to stay out of world affairs

Hitler's rise in the 1930s

Made Jews a target by 1935, took over Austria and Czechoslovakia by 1938

Munich

Conference in Germany where Great Britain and France told Hitler that taking Czechoslovakia was okay as long as he would not take Poland; known as appeasement

Poland

When Hitler took this country in 1939, World War II started

Winston Churchill

Wartime leader of Great Britain; did not know the meaning of the word appeasement [although you might want to look it up]; did not trust Stalin throughout World War II

France

Fell to Hitler in 1940; this meant that the entire continent of Europe [at least the Western side] was under Nazi Germany's control

Battle of Britain

Hitler's unsuccessful attempt to invade Great Britain from France across the English Channel; pounded London with bombing campaigns but the British withstood the attack and defender their country; August 1940; significant: Hitler's first loss

Non-Aggression Pact

Stalin and Hitler signed defense treaty in 1939; but, by 1941, Hitler's Germany invaded Stalin's Soviet Union, making the Soviets and British instant allies

Pearl Harbor

Japanese attack on U.S. naval base in Hawaii, killing over 2,400 Americans...Dec. 7th, 1941; brought U.S. into World War II

Philippines

American colony lost to Japanese right after Pearl Harbor; only regained in 1944

Battle of Midway

June 1942; point in Pacific Ocean where U.S. started to turn the tide against the Japanese and began the long haul of pushing the Japanese back to Asia

Second front

Stalin's desire to have the U.S. and the British attack Hitler in Western Europe, somehow, so that not all of Hitler's armies would be focused on the Soviet Union

D-Day

June 6th, 1944; massive amphibious invasion of France...one of three most important points of World War II (Battle of Britain and Hiroshima other two); horrific casualties but major victory that allowed Allies (US and British) to enter European continent; regained Paris by late August as a result

Battle of the Bulge

Hitler's last counterattack in January/February 1945; ultimately failed and he was toast by March, although we waited out for Stalin to make more progress in the east before getting to Berlin, the capital of Germany

V-E Day

May 8th, 1945

Iwo Jima / Okinawa

Two Japanese islands, far from the mainland, that took the U.S. Marines four months to conquer; indicator that invading Japan would be a brutal exercise that might result in 500,000 American casualties and would take until 1947

Manhattan Project

Secret [not to Stalin] U.S. government project to build an atomic bomb; started in 1942; at Los Alamos, NM and Oak Ridge, TN [where the material was being produced]; exploded first bomb in July 1945

Harry Truman

Became President in April 1945, when FDR died; made decision to drop atomic bombs based solely on saving American soldiers' lives

Hiroshima / Nagasaki

Cities where U.S. dropped atomic bombs in August of 1945 (the 6th and 9th of August respectively)

V-J Day

August 15th, 1945

Soviet entry into the Pacific war

August 8th, 1945 [opportunistic]

Holocaust

Hitler's systematic attempt to wipe out Jewish people [6M people in Europe] along with 6M others he did not believe deserved to be a part of the master race

Cold War

Long-term conflict between U.S. and the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1945 until 1989; not an actual war

Containment

U.S. strategy in Europe from 1946 on...keep Soviets out of Western Europe, accepting their control over Eastern Europe

NATO

1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization; military compact between U.S. and Western European countries -- if one attacked by USSR, all were attacked...one part of containment...

Marshall Plan

1948 -- Economic boost to Western Europe; inoculate against communism spreading by rebuilding W. European economies; other part of containment...

Germany

Country at middle of Cold War; western part controlled by U.S, U.K. and France at end of WW2 and eastern part controlled by USSR...US and USSR could not agree on how to unify Germany...by 1949: West Germany and East Germany were two new official countries

Berlin Crisis

In 1948, Stalin prevented food from resupplying American soldiers in Berlin; Truman responded with airlift of food, defusing crisis...(did not cover)

Berlin Wall

Much later (1959-1960): to stop immigration from East Germany to West Germany (richer, freer), communists built wall to keep people in...became symbol of Cold War...(did not cover)

Mao Zedong

Leader of communist China; took over in 1949, making China a communist country; this made Harry Truman look bad, Republicans saying that he had "lost China"

NSC-68

A 1950 document that suggested that, beyond Europe, the U.S. would fight communism anywhere it popped up...this explains the Korean and Vietnam Wars, as well as the coups the CIA supported

Korean War

1950-1953; North Korea (communist) invaded South Korean (not communist); the U.S. went to help out, pushed North Korea to the edge of their border by late 1950, but, unfortunately, that border belonged to China...they got in the war and pushed the U.S. back to the border between South and North Korea; war did not change much after that and ended in 1953...no peace treaty and there is still a demilitarized zone today between North and South Korea...overshadowed war due to Vietnam War

Dwight Eisenhower

Republican President, 1953-1961: gave nuclear weapons to Great Britain and France to reduce military costs of protecting them from Soviets...made use of CIA for Cold War purposes; created massive government program [interstate highways] but with military angle, in case of Cold War nuclear disaster...

Vietnam, 1956-1964

U.S. wanted to contain communist leader Ho Chi Minh: so U.S. created new country, South Vietnam, out of thin air; South led by Diem...brutal but effective leader...in 1960, North Vietnam (led by Ho Chi Minh) attacked South Vietnam, but quietly, by infiltrating countryside through Ho Chi Minh trail...Diem was doing okay, with U.S. help (John F Kennedy had sent 10,000 U.S. soldiers to "advise"), but was overthrown by his own generals and the U.S. ambassador in late 1963...killed and no effective leader for South Vietnam ever followed...

Vietnam, 1964-1975

After Diem's death, U.S. [now led by Lyndon B. Johnson] had to fight North Vietnam since there was no South Vietnam left [disintegrated after Diem's death]...550,000 U.S. troops won battles but did not gain control of population...U.S. turned against war by 1968...Richard Nixon promised to end war, but escalated bombing of North Vietnam; North Vietnam finally gave up in 1973...but after Paris Peace Accords, North Vietnam attacked once again...the U.S., dealing with Watergate, did not go back...communists took over in 1975 creating one unified communist Vietnam...

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Unanimous Supreme Court decision overturning Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) declaring that segregation was unconstitutional, esp. in the public schools...major victory for the NAACP...a year later, in 1955, Supreme Court said that the South had to integrate "with all deliberate speed"

Montgomery, AL

birthplace of civil rights movement; Rosa Parks, an African-American lady who worked for the NAACP, refused to give up her set for a white person...arrested and sparked a mass movement...African-Americans met at a young minister's church, Martin Luther King, Jr., and started a bus boycott...a year later, in Dec. 1956, the buses were desegregated

Citizens' Councils

Groups of whites resisting integration and putting pressure on white politicians to keep segregation

Little Rock

Gov. Orval Faubus tried to physically stop integration of Central High School in the fall of 1957...President Eisenhower had to send federal troops to uphold judge's order for integration...in 1958, Faubus closed all public schools in response...

Birmingham, AL

In 1963, after six years of protests, sit-ins, King planned to use Birmingham's police chief Bull Connor, a well-known segregationist...Connor responded to the peaceful demonstration with an excessive amount of force (water hoses, police dogs) that were captured by network television news...it was a stunning indictment of racism in the South...(did not cover)

March on Washington

August 1963 -- a few months after Birmingham...200,000 attended...MLK, Jr.'s famous "I have a Dream" speech...meant to put pressure on Kennedy to act...

Civil Rights Act of 1964

It was left up to a white Southerner, Lydon B. Johnson, to sign civil rights legislation...with Martin Luther King Jr. in the Oval Office, Johnson signed this law which allowed African-Americans the ability to not only sue against racial discrimination but pledged that the federal government would work to weaken discrimination...major achievement

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A year later, Johnson signed another major piece of civil rights legislation, making the federal government the guarantor of fair elections throughout the South that would allow African-Americans to vote...

Detroit Riots

Just a few weeks after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, racial riots erupted in Detroit; without condoning violence, an explanation of the origins has to do with deindustrialization, automation and how these things had a greater impact on the economic prospects of African-American males given their lack of seniority in companies like GM, Ford, and Chrysler

Great Society

Lyndon B. Johnson's major program...this was the equivalent [but actually larger and more significant] of the New Deal...it was meant to continue the cradle-to-grave government protection that the New Deal had started: Medicare (healthcare for seniors), Medicaid (healthcare for the very poor), funding for education, Food Stamps (a pilot program had started under JFK), and community grants which ended soon due to large amounts of corruption

Busing

A practical way to bring about integration in public schools when there was already residential segregation...in 1968, Charlotte started a program that would last 'til the 1990s [many other Southern cities actually did this; fewer in the North] where students were bused to achieve integration of Charlotte's public schools...Supreme Court said this was okay in 1971; but in 1974, the Supreme Court said that Detroit program that included the suburbs in its busing program was unconstitutional...this made "white flight" okay -- if you could get your kids to the suburbs, they would be safe from bussing

Nixon and Race

As on many things, Nixon was a contradiction...he was first President to institute affirmative action, but, politically, he created the Southern Strategy, an attempt to woo Southern whites to the Republican Party by opposing things like busing...it also helped with many Northern whites...

Jimmy Carter

Brought Israel and Egypt to a peace treaty; struggled with Iranian hostage crisis from 1979 to the end of his Presidency in 1981

Bay of Pigs

Failed 1961 U.S.-supported mission to overthrow Castro in Cuba...mission started under Eisenhower...by time of execution, JFK was President, had second thoughts and did not provide air cover...(did not cover)

Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1962, Soviets put nuclear missiles in Cuba...the U.S. public found out in October...ten tense days followed...best moment for JFK...responded with blockade of Cuba...after the U.S. secretly agreeing to take our nuclear missiles out of Turkey, the Soviets took their missiles out of Cuba; Castro's safety was also guaranteed from further CIA efforts...

Reagan's Conservatism

Wanted to end Great Society/New Deal but did not achieve that given a Democratic Congress...increased military spending [see end of Cold War below] and cut taxes, lowering the top rates from 70% to 28%...tripled national debt...

Bill Clinton

Attempted to enlarge the cradle-to-grave system of New Deal/Great Society through national healthcare but failed...then swung to center for 1996 election and worked with new Republican Congress to end AFDC, a program known as "welfare," that had been around since New Deal...Budget surplus in 1999/2000...last time...

George W. Bush

A Republican but added prescription drug benefits to Medicare in 2003 to gain senior vote for 2004...further adding to cradle-to-grave government created by New Deal and Great Society

Barack Obama

After 2008 housing and financial crash, he created the stimulus ($700B of government spending)...but signature achievement was national healthcare through the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obamacare)...has almost doubled national debt

End of Cold War

It ended in November/December 1989 when Eastern European people overthrew their communist governments; Soviet Union, led by Gorbachev, did nothing...Berlin Wall crumbling was symbolic of end of Cold War; explanations: 1) Reagan pushed them to the brink through increased defense spending 2) Gorbachev was a political reformer 3) Soviet oil revenues plummeted in the 1980s, weakening Soviet Union...

Rise of Al-Qaeda

In 1990s, Osama bin Laden, from wealthy Saudi family, created al-Qaeda, meant to get U.S. out of Middle East...Struck at U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, U.S.S. Cole in 2000, and then World Trade Center in Sep. 2001 (9/11)...WTC had been hit by another Islamic extremist in 1993 but the bomb had malfunctioned...George W. Bush started war in Afghanistan in Oct. 2001, coming close to capturing bin Laden in Dec. 2001 but missing him for another decade 'til he was killed in Pakistan in the spring of 2011

The Iraq War

In 2003, George W Bush invaded Iraq...took away from Aghanistan War...legacy of Cold War...Saddam was brutal but not al-Qaeda...taking out Saddam was easy but, by 2004/2005, extremists came to Iraq and formed al-Qaeda in Iraq, which had become ISIS by 2011...

Right to privacy

A line of Supreme Court reasoning in important cases having to do with the culture wars

1919

It all seemed to fall apart: communists (Red Scare), labor strikes, racial violence...economy was not great for a bit...

Return to Normalcy

The winning campaign slogan of 1920 promising a return to the old America: impossible given immigration and urbanization...

Scopes Trial

Reflecting divide among Protestant Christians over the Biblical account of creation, a trial in TN to see if anti-evolution laws could stand up in court...

1920s economy

Booming; radios, cars, and houses...poverty would shortly end...

Causes of Great Depression

Structural changes, overproduction/saturation, Germany loans, decline in cars and homes starting in 1926

The New Deal

FDR's attempt (1933-38) to end the Great Depression by having the gov.'t spend money and throwing everything he had at the Depression (for specific programs, check notes...)