IB History WWII

Problems in Europe Post-WWI

• Only Japan & US were in better shape after WWI

• New democracies formed after WWI

  • Not in good shape

  • France had 40 gov. changes between 1919-1939

• People were dissatisfied with their governments and ready for change

Weimar Republic

• Germany printed more money to pay off their $33B debt

• Hyperinflation

• Burdened by the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles

• Forced Germany to take full responsibility for WWI

• Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies

• Germany lost much territory

  • Alsace-Lorraine went to France

• Restricted German military

• League of Nations formed

Dawes Plan

• 1924

• The US restructured Germany’s reparation payments

• US loaned $200mil to Germany

• Reichsmark (new currency) introduced

Ruhr Crisis

• 1923

• Germany missed a timber delivery in Ruhr Valley

• France and Belgium seized it to extract resources themselves

Locarno & Locarno Spring

• Locarno Treaty signed in 1925 between Germany, France, & Belgium

  • Pledged not to invade each other

  • Rhineland returned to Germany & Allied troops stopped monitoring disarmament

• Germany allowed into League of Nations

• Germany independent again by 1936

Mussolini

• Fascism

  • Fear of communism, disappointed over Italy’s lack of territory gained at TOV

• Takes power through coup

  • Blackshirts

• Abolished all parties except his own

  • OURA - secret police

• Mussolini and Hitler (& later Japan) formed an alliance

• Wanted to restore the Roman Empire

Fascism

A political movement that promotes an extreme form of nationalism, a denial of individual rights, & a dictatorial one-party rule

Hirohito

• Emperor of Japan

  • Has no real power - all Prime Minister Tojo (a war hawk)

• Militarism takes off after Depression in Japan

• Leaders tried to solve all problems by conquest

  • Promised to solve economic problems by invading Manchuria

Abyssinia

• Mussolini began conquering Africa to have more power in Europe

• Invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935

• LON voted to impose a sanction on Italy but it as ineffective

• France & UK could not stop Italy without a war so they simply gave up

Manchuria

• Despite being the largest industrial force in Asia, Japan had little natural resources and needed resources from China

  • Relied on trade with US for exports

• Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 for resources

  • China was too weak to win

• Japan left the LON

Hitler

• Hitler and Nazi Party establish a totalitarian dictatorship in the 1930s

• Brings Germany out of Depression

• Wanted to retake German land lost to TOV

Nazi Party

• Originally the National Socialist German Workers Party

• Hitler named president of Nazi Party in 1921

Nazism

• Believed in racial hierarchy

  • Antisemitism

• Totalitarianism

• Expansion (lebensraum)

Lebensraum

• “Living space”

• Germany wanted to expand into Eastern Europe

• Displaced and murdered millions of Jewish, Polish, & Slavic people

Beer Hall Putsch

• 1923

• Failed coup led by Hitler where Nazis tried to take control of the Munich government

• 16 Nazis & 3 police die

• Hitler is sent to prison, where he then wrote Mein Kampf

Hitler’s Rise to Power

• Kills & arrests opponents

• In 1933, Reichstag votes to give Hitler full power

• Makes deals with Army’s top generals

The Axis

• Hitler & Mussolini form an alliance

• Japan joins a month later

American Isolationism

Political rulers should avoid entangling alliances with other nations & avoid all wars

Anschluss

• “Union”

• In 1938, Hitler invades Austria & ends its independence

  • France & Britain do nothing

• Tries to invade Czechoslavakia

  • 3mil Germans live in Sudetenland (West Czechoslovakia)

  • Czechoslovakia refuses and asks for help

1938 Munich Conference

• Germany, UK, France, & Italy meet to discuss fate of Czechoslovakia

• Munich Pact

  • Hitler gets Sudetenland if he stops there & he agrees

• In 1939 Hitler annexes Czechoslovakia and threatens Poland

Appeasement

Diplomatic strategy of making concessions to Nazi Germany to avoid another global conflict

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

• AKA Russo-German non-aggression pact

• France and UK wanted to ally with Russia but Russia wasn’t interested

  • Feels betrayed after TOV

• Stalin and Hitler sign a 10-year pledge of peace between Russia & Germany

• Poland is secretly divided into a buffer zone

Totalitarianism

A government that takes total state-centralized control of all aspects of public & private life. Usually led by a dictator who assumed total power & violently rids the nation of opposition

US Waves

• Women Accepted for Volunteer & Emergency Service

• 27k members

• Not combat positions

• Didn’t accept WOC until 1944

• Payed women less than white men

SPARS

• US Coast Guard Women’s Reserves

• Began accepting women in 1942

US WAC

• Women’s Army Corps

• 150k women

• First women to serve in army not as nurses

• Not on front lines, but flew through war zones

WASP

• Women’s Airforce Service Pilots

• Non-combatant

• over 1k women

• Over 50% of all US aircraft ferrying was done by WASP

• Records sealed for 35 years after WWII

Tuskegee Airman

• African-American pilots

• Flew over 15k missions

• Government as reluctant to create this unit

• Many Black soldiers were dishonorably discharged to avoid being given benefits & recognition

Navajo Code Talkers

• Navajo men in US Marines

• First bilingual Native Americans to be officially recruited into the US military

• Used secret codes based on native language to relay messages on the radio

• Also used in Korean & Vietnam wars

Holodomor

• Ukrainian genocide

• Hunger after Stalin initiated the confiscation of property

• Some Ukrainians rebelled, & Stalin retaliated by forcefully starving

• 3.9mil died

  • 30mil of starvation

The Holocaust

• Hitler played into centuries of antisemitism

• Systematically dispossessed, removed, imprisoned, & murdered 6mil Jews (largest target)

• Murdered 6mil others

  • LGBTQ, disabled, Gypsies, Catholic Poles, communists

• Eugenics

Massacre of Nanjing

• Rape of Nanjing

• When China withdrew its military from Nanjing during 2nd Sino-Japanese war, Japanese military invaded

  • Civilian town

• Soldiers were ordered to rape & kill civilians en masse

  • 300k+ murdered

  • Wanted to bring back samurai culture

• Generals were tried & found guilty, but Japan didn’t acknowledge it until 2015

Japanese Internment

• Suspending writ of habeas corpus

  • Arbitrary detention

• 110k Japanese-Americans (60% US citizens) forced to leave their homes on the west cost

• Forced to sell properties quickly & lost their life savings

• Minimal belongings

• Terrible living conditions & harsh seasons

• Surrounded by barbed wire & armed guards

D-Day

• Largest invasion fleet in history

• Was purposely delayed to avoid Stalin’s involvement

• 5 Beaches in Normandy, France

• Over 10k Allied casualties

• Marked successful return of Allied forces in continental EU

  • France was liberated months later

Battle of Iwo Jima

• Deadliest Marine battle

• Nearly all Japanese forces on island were killed

• US struggled because of the terrain

• PR

  • Flag raising led to public morale boost

Schlieffen Plan

• Avoid 2-front war against France & Russia

• Wanted to defeat France quickly in order to focus resources on Russia

Germany Invades Russia

• Intentionally tries to take Russian cities

  • Leningrad & Moscow

• Germany almost won, but wasn’t prepared for the cold

  • Nazis never reached Moscow

• Stalin didn’t expect the betrayal

Germany’s Defeat

• Allies & Soviets close in on Germany from multiple sides

• Hitler commits suicide 2 days after Mussolini is killed

• The remaining high command in Germany surrendered

• Stalin was the only leader to stay in power after WWII

Big Three Conferences of 1945

• Tehran Conference

  • Strategized Western invasion (Normandy)

• Yalta Conference

  • Demanded Germany’s unconditional surrender

• Potsdam Conference

  • Military occupation of Germany & its restructuring

Atomic Bombs

• Truman wanted Hirohito to step down and withdraw from WWII or else Japan would be bombed, but Hirohito refused

• 8/6/1945 - dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima

  • 150k killed

• Dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki when Hirohito still refused

  • It took Hirojito time to realize how bad the damage was because phone lines were down

• The US wanted Japan to surrender to them, not Russia

Bipolarity after WWII

Global power was split between 2 superpowers (Russia & US)

Creation of Israel

• UN & UK partitioned Palestine & created Israel

• Arabs & Israelis fought until Israel gained statehood

• Allowed Europe to get rid of much of its Jewish population while simultaneously attempting to westernize the Middle East