Between the Wars & WWII

  • Post War
    • Nationalism Movements
    • Pan-Africanism
    • India
    • Australia, Canada, and New Zealand
    • Middle East - Mandate System
    • Revolutions
    • Mexico
    • China
    • Democratic Nations Weakened
    • United States, Britain, France - exhausted from WW1, experience a great depression in 1930s
    • U.S. - becomes isolationist
    • Rise of Authoritarian Government (dictatorship
    • Communism - Russia, China
    • Fascism - Italy, Germany
    • Military Dictatorship - Japan
    • France
    • Experiences economic boom
      • War reparations from Germany
      • Money stops coming in when Hitler rises to power
        • World trade slows
        • Overproduction of goods
        • Unemployment goes up→inflation goes up ↔ great depression
    • France gets Alsace-Lorraine back, turns into huge industrial region (mainly coal)
    • New political party in France = Populist Party (Communism + socialist parties led by Leon Blum)
      • Secret Committee of Revolutionary Action - Backed by fascists of Germany
      • Secret organization of anarchists and revolutionaries in France during the late 19th century
      • Aimed to overthrow the French government and establish a new social order through violent actions such as bombings and assassinations
    • Locarno Pact - France signs military agreement with Germany, Poland, Belgium; vowed to protect Czechoslovakia and keep peace
      • Germany joins League of Nations
      • France sense of security
    • France signs Treaty of Neutral Assistance with Soviet Russia
      • If something happens to you, we will protect you and vice-versa
      • However, Germany sees this as a stab in the back and Locarno Pact becomes void→French start preparing for German attack and Maginot Line
      • Maginot Line - fortification that spread along the French/German border but became a military liability when the Germans attacked France in 1940
      • Germany simply walked around the Maginot Line
      • Stitzkrieg - Troops waited 8 months for an attack that never happened
    • British Empire starts to dissolve
    • By 1920s - British Empire begun to shrink
      • White Dominions became independent, ties to England in name only
      • Irish Republican Army launched Easter Uprising (1916) and declared independence from England
    • Nationalist movements sprung up across Africa, Middle-East, India
      • Pan-Africanism + Negritude Movement - Pushed for pride in African Heritage & unity towards independence
      • Fights against Mandate System saw rise in Pan-Arabism
      • Anti-western movement for independence
      • Arab lands promised to Arabs & Jews, taken by British
        • McMahon Correspondence - British promised Arab state in area of Palestine for revolt against Ottoman EmpireWhite Papers of 1939 - Palestine to be an Arab state, Jewish citizens must be protectedBalfour Declaration - British Promised Palestine to Jewish ZIonists
    • Mohandas Gandhi began pushing for greater equality for Indians in South Africa and against harsh laws in India
      • Self-Rule Movement fully began in 1916
    • 1920s saw expansion of suffrage in England
    • Representation of People Act - Gave universal male suffrage at age of 21 (removed property qualifications for voting as wellEqual Franchise Act of 1928 - Gave women’s suffrage to women over 21
    • George V died in 1936 and British Monarchy became turbulent, King Edward comes to power and is abdicated after 325 days→George VI takes throne
    • Labour Party - Great Depression brought rise of Socialist party in ParliamentThe Munich Government - Neville Chamberlain negotiates with Hitler to prevent war from happening
  • International Agreements for US
    • Washington Naval Conference - 3 treaties aimed at the pacific (Goal was to reduce Naval Warship)
    • Kellogg-Briand Pact - 15 counties said war isn’t instrument of national policy (they won’t use war to fix problems)
    • Never considered if war actually happened
    • Neutrality Acts (1935-1937) - Banned sale and transportation of war material to belligerents
    • US saw Germany struggling to make payments
    • Dawes Plan (1924) - Prevent future incidents to repay their loans
      • US loaned Germany money to pay Britain & France so they could repay loans
      • US loaned Germany money to pay for reparations so Britain and France could repay loans
    • US began restriction immigration
    • Immigration Act of 1924 - Barred entry to only those who were eligible for citizenship, Asians not eligible due to earlier laws
  • International Struggles for US
    • US saw expansion of US industry & politics in 1920s
    • Rapid consumer spending + buying on credit
    • Harlem Renaissance - celebration of African American culture
    • 18th Amendment - Prohibited production, transportation, of sale of alcohol in US (1919-1933)
    • 1929 stock market crash signaled start of Great Depression
    • Massive unemployment in US
    • President Franklin Roosevelt tried to fix the economic crisis with his New Deal
      • Provided Public Works to get people employed
      • Won’t be until US gets involved in WWII and it is fixed
  • Success & Failures of the League of Nations
    • Founded in 1920, first worldwide intergovernmental organization with the mission of maintaining world peace
    • Started with 42 nations, reached 58 nations at its height
    • USSR joined 1936, kicked out in 1939 for invading Finland
    • Central and South American nations joined, left by 1930s
    • Germany, Japan, Italy quit when Sanctions applied
  • Germany and Hitler’s invasion of Poland sparked start of WW2
  • Japan Upset After WW1
    • Washington Naval Conference (1922)
    • Limit size of Navy
    • Eliminates imperialism of CHina
    • Racial injustice
    • Immigration
    • Growing tension between U.S. & Japan
    • Treaty of Versailles
    • Wanted German islands in Pacific
    • Earthquake in 1923
    • 100,000 killed + crushed economy
    • Constitutional Monarchy - emperor as “figurehead”
    • Parliament - Diet
    • Hirohito
    • Zaibatsu - rich military families that wanted to continue imperializing
    • 1931 - invasion of Manchuria
    • Goes against Washington Naval Conference which says that there is no more imperialization of China
    • Assert dominance
    • Hideki Tojo - military dictator
    • 2nd Sino-Japanese war
      • Rape of Nanjing
      • Japan successfully captures Nanjing
    • Tojo elected as Prime Minister of Japan
    • Responsible for bombing of Pearl Harbor
  • Totalitarianism
    • Totalitarian State - Any government in which one party dictatorship regulates every aspect of citizens lives
    • Leader complete control over political, economic, social lives of citizens
  • Rise of Fascism: Spain
    • After WW1→Industrial class + military wanted to remove corrupt government - unsuccessful
    • By 1931 - Second Spanish Republic started by leftist socialists & liberals
      • Monarch and King Alfonso XIII fled country
    • Francisco Franco
    • Conservative general led 1936 revolt which turns into civil war
    • Nationalists (fascists), Right Wing, Hitler, Mussolini vs. Republicans
    • Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
    • Dress rehearsal for WWII, German air raid of Guernica
      • German air raid showed Hitler’s power of modern warfare with bombing
      • 1939 - Franco wins + sets off fascist dictatorship
      • Spain eventually sits out of WWII
  • Beginning of WWII
    • Western Democracy on decline | Fascism/communism on the rise
    • Appeasement - giving in
    • West gave into Hitler/Mussolini demands
    • Liebestraum - territory which Hitler thinks he needs to create a powerful nation
    • Hitler breaks Treaty of Versailles and militarizes the Rhineland
      • West does nothing
    • Enchleusse - joins Austria with Germany
      • West does nothing
    • Hitler wants Czechoslovakia→West does nothing
      • Neville Chamberlain (Britain prime minister) wants Hitler at Munich Conference
      • Chamberlain gives a sliver of Czechoslovakia to Hitler called to Sudetenland
  • West Stays Out
    • Appeasement/Pacifism
    • France - Popular Front = socialists + communist + anarchist + republicansBritain - No war, Treaty of Versailles unfairUnited States - Neutrality Act
      • Can’t send arms to any nation
    • 1939 - Nazi-Soveit Non-Pyganoism Pact
      • Hitler avoids 2 front war
      • Stalin has time to mobilize
  • Start of WWII
    • September 1, 1939 - Hitler begins invasion of Poland→Start of WWII and Hitler & Stalin divide Poland
    • Hitler uses blitzkrieg in attacks on other tanks→ quick attacks with use of tanks and luftwaffe (German air force)
    • GB & France declare war on Germany
    • Hitler invades France in 1940 after 8 months of France
    • Maginot Line - defensive network built to protect French eastern border from invasions
    • Germany follows invasion by creating occupation zones in France
    • Northern France demobilized, Southern France becomes puppet state controlled by Germans known as Vichy France
    • France falls→Britain stands alone in Europe, Hitler begins attacking British cities with luftwaffe
    • Hitler begins Operation Sea Lion (planned takeover of Britain)
    • Battle of Britain begins in 1940, including the London Blitz (50 nights of constant bombing on London)
    • Despite failure in GB, Hitler has control of most of continental Europe and next focused on North Africa
    • Erwin Rommel plans to seize Suez Canal and cut off British control→ defending North Africa vital to allies
    • Summer 1941, Hitler initiates next phase of conquest into Soviet Union through Operation Barbarossa to taken control of USSR’s natural resources + destroy communism
    • With this invasion, pact between Hitler & Stalin ends
      • Stalin is still greatly unprepared for war and lacked military leadership from Great Purge
    • Instead of going straight to Moscow, Hitler focuses on natural resources in Ukraine→winter begins and Stalin has time to reinforce his troops
      • Through use of scorched earth policy, Soviets withstand long battles
      • German lack resources to survive winters
      • By 1942, Hitler fails to conquer Moscow, Stalingrad, Or leningrad in Soviet Union
    • Hitler used invasion of Eastern Europe to increase his Final Solution
    • Hitler took resources from battlefront to aid transportation of imprisonment of Jews, communists, other victims
    • Soviets begin pressuring GB & US to invade Western Europe and relieve pressure
  • United States
    • Neutral (1935)
    • Land-Lease (1948)
    • Military and
    • No aid to Japan
      • Precursor to Pearl Harbor (Coral Sea Midway in 1492-1943)
    • U.S. enters War
    • Nationalism
    • Total war (mass production, war propaganda, recruitment, gender roles
  • Tehran Conference (1943- Iran) - Stalin, FDR, Winston
    • Europe 1st - then Pacific
    • Stalin wants US & GB to invade on Western Front
    • Need time to mobilize (trust issues involved)
    • D-Day - France is liberated
    • Germans gaining to launch final offensive - Battle of the Bulge through Ardennes Forest & take France again
    • Allies launch Battle for Berlin & Nazi Germany surrenders on May 7th, 1945 (V-E Day)
  • Yalta Conference (1945) - Ukraine
    • Soviet Union says “we need 3 months following Germany’s surrender”
    • Time to mobilize along with trust issues
    • Germany split into 4 different zones
      • US/GB/France/Soviet
      • Self-determination in Eastern Europe
  • WWII: Pacific
    • Most of the war in the Pacific was fought between Japan and the U.S.
    • U.S. used “Island Hopping” campaign to take over Pacific Island by Island
    • Japanese spent most of early 1940’s quickly expanded in the Pacific
    • Japan planned to capture Midway as a base to launch another attack on Pearl Harbor
      • Battle of Midway in 1942
    • August 1942, first major offensive led by U.S. against Japanese in Battle of Guadalcanal
    • Goal to break supply + communication routes for Japanese
    • March 1945, US won Battle of Iwo Jima, providing Us airfields to launch aerial attacks on Japanese main islands
    • April 1945, the Battle of Okinawa successful amphibious assault led by US firebombing and kamikaze attacks by Japan
  • WWII: Europe
    • All of Western Europe liberated by March of 1945 all the way to German border
    • Germans launched final offensive and surprise attack in Battle of the Bulge (January 1945) in Ardennes Forest
    • The Big Three (FDR, Winston Churchill, Stalin) met for final time at Yalta Conference (February 1945)
    • Soviets enter war in Pacific 3 months after German surrender
    • Germany & Berlin divided into 4 zones controlled by Soviet Union, GB, US, France
    • Self determination for occupied regions especially eastern Europe
    • Soviet Union achieve final victory over Germans with success of Battle for Berlin (April 1945)
    • Russia had greater army
    • By April, many of major leaders of WW1 dead→Mussolini executed, Hitler suicide, FDR stroke
    • By May 7, Germany surrenders and VE Day is announced
  • WWII
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    • Allies met for final time at Potsdam Conference in July 1945→Stalin, Truman (FDR death), Atlee (Churchill replaced)
    • Nuremberg Trials for war crimes by Nazi leaders
    • US gave Japan ultimatum to surrender or “meet prompt & utter destruction”
    • Stalin begins breaking from GB & Us to promote spread of communism
    • US responds with idea of containment to halt spread of communism
      • Inform Stalin of atom bomb
    • Japanese refused to surrender, US pushed forward with their plans to invade homelands
    • First nuclear test completed in Los Alamos in July 1945→Trinity Test of the Manhattan Project
    • Seen as option to not have to invade
    • On August 6, 1945 US dropped “Little Boy” on Hiroshima
    • August 9, 1945 US dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki
    • By August 15th, the Japanese surrendered→VJ Day & End of WWII