LEAD UP TO WWII…

Rise of Facism/Totalitarianism (1919 - 1939):

  • Treaty of Versailles

    • Army cut completely → to an embarrassing amount

    • Repatriations in the billions

    • “War Guilt” Clause 

    • Forbidden to enter Rhineland

    • Creation of the League of Nations to keep world peace. (early version of UN that does not succeed)

    • German loss of territory

  • A Weak League of Nations

    • Goals → Work out differences without fighting 

    • Unsuccessful….

      • US choose to not join

      • League could not force countries to do anything--could only make suggestions

      • No effective military force - not as many members as the US does

  • A Growing German Anger

    • Germans are dissatisfied with Germany's position after WWI.

      • Felt cheated by the Treaty of Versailles -- blame the Weimar Republic (the weak German gov.) for signing the treaty

    • Need to pay war debts - start to print more $ too fix economic problems → hyper-inflation → have to make a new currency after

  • The Dawes Plan

    • US wants Germany too recover - Germany recover from 1923 inflation due to the work of an international committee led by Charles Dawes and American Banker

  • Post-WWI Global Economies

    • From 1924 - 29, the German economy stabilized and grew

    • US + Japan → only world powers that we're not left bankrupt 

    • Many countries dependant on US economy and aid

  • Finances Collapse

    • US STOCK MARKET CRASH

      • Effects on Europe 

        • Decline in world trade

        • Dawes plan falls apart

  • GREAT DEPRESSION IN EUROPE - SAME THING AS US

    • Political Radicalization → rise in Communists + Fascists - more scared of communism - facism (invented by Mussolini)

RISE OF FACISM - ITALY

  • Characteristics of Facism

    • Cultural: Censorship/Indoctrination/Secret Police

    • Social: Supported by middle class/industries/and Military

    • Chief Ex: Italy/Spain/Germany

    • Basic Principles: Authoritarianism/state more important and individual/charismatic leader

    • Political:Nationalist/racism (Nazism)/One party rule

    • Etc.

  • Causes of Facism

(THINK FLAG)

  • Fear of Communism - upper class scared of Russian Revolution (peasants revolting), feared the working class

  • Lack of Strong Government - democratic gov in Italy?germany struggling, democracy seen as to slo/ineffective

  • Appeal o Nationalism - Italy/Germany embarrassed after WWI; wanted to rebuild strong nations

  • Great Depression - economic problems, (unemployment, inflation, hightaxes), Germany/Italy are especially weakened

MUSSOLINI MAKES A FRIEND: RISE OF HITLER

  • Mein Kampf

  • Writes (My STruggle) - basic book of Nazi goals and ideology

    • Extreme nationalism

    • Racism

      • Concept of a “master race” of Aryans (light skinned Europeans)

    • Anti-semitism

    • Germany needs a strong leader (Fuhrer)

    • Germany must expand to gain lebensraum (living space) for its people - its the “best space” - time for takeover

    • Russia is Hitlers goal - he hates Stalin

    • This leads to him taking Austria than Poland

EARLY WARNING SINGS OF FACISM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Powerful and continuing nationalism

DIssain for human rights

Identification of enemies as a unifying cause

Supremacy of the military

Rampant sexism

Controlled mass media

Obsession with national security

Religion + gov

Corporate power protected

Labor power suppressed

Etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • Road to Power

  • Nazis grow in power after Hitler leaves prison

    • 1 mill members -- vows to fix unemployment , treaty of versailles

  • Hilter is elected chancellor of Germany in 1933

  • Third Reich - Adoption of Swastika (Nazi symbol)

  • One party state - purges own party

  •  - Us getting never not doing much - going back too isolationism

  • Histler is leader of Germany

  • Military Gov Takeover

    • Democratic government blamed for impact of Great Depression

      • Gave the military control of the gov - military would slowly push out democratic gov

      • Emperor seen as god-like figurehead

      • Believed Japan could recover through foreign expansion that would restore nationalism

        • Emperor Hirohito - a figurehead

  • Japanese Aggression

    • In 1931, the Japanese invade the Chinese territory of Manchuria

      • Gateway too China, buffer too USSR

      • Raw materials for Japan

  • Invasion of Manchuria

    • League of Nations protested Japan's actions

      • Japan withdrew from the League in 1933

      • Refused to stop aggressive foreign expansion -- believed it was their right to have an empire

  • War between Japan and China

    • Started by border incident that quickly became full-scale war in 1937

    • Beijing and other northern cities (including capital of Nanking) quickly fell to the Japanese

      • Chinese civil war make it difficult for China to repel Japan's armies

  • Stimson Doctrine - 1932

    • US wouldn't recognize any territorial gains in China

    • 1937 - Japan launched a full-class war against China; took Peking; Shanghai and many other cities

  • Rape of Nanking (1937)

    • 6 weeks of massacre 

    • Japan has no rules when it comes to war

    • Japan captured city of Nanking in December 1937

      • 100k murdered - 20k - 80k women raped

________________________________________________________________

  • Aggression in Europe

    • September 1931 - Japan invades Manchuria

    • October 1935 - Italy attacks Ethiopia

    • March 1936 - 

  • Essential Questions:

    • Could the US have helped more to stem the tide of facism and totalitarianism?

    • Is isolationism a viable and beneficial policy to the US?

    • What responsibility should the US gov take for selling arms to other nations and not recognizing isolationism?

  • Two International Choices of America

    • Isolationism

      • Remain neutral in world conflicts

      • Avoid foreign relationships 

      • Stayed out of L.O.N.

    • Internationalism

      • Remain a player in world issues

      • Great powers = great responsibilities abroad

      • Trade between nations creates mutual prosperity and avoids war

  • Nye Committee - pushes us to Isolationism

    • Isolationist feelings grow stronger for 2 reasons

      • Many European nations defaulted on their debts of WWI during depression - publicized

      • Many believed that the manufacturing and scale of arms is what dragged US into WWI

    • Senator Nye of N.D. held hearings to investigate allegations

      • Findings showed just how much profit was made

  • WAR IS A PROFITABLE ENDEVOUR 

    • Money making bullets/tanks/etc.

  • Neutrality Acts of 1935 - 39

    • Neutrality Act (1935) - prohibited shipment of American Weapons to any belligerent nation

      • Against wishes of FDR (no difference between “the good guys and the bad guys”)

    • Neutrality Act (1936) - No Amer. loans to any belligerent nation, again, without distinguishing between good guys/bad guys

    • Neutrality Act (1937) - No US citizens too travel on ocean-going vessels of nations at war. Allowed scale of non-military goods, such as grain, which the US could sell too belligerent nations, but had too pay up front

    • Cash & Carry (1939) - Final Neutrality Act - permitted the scale of arms to European warring parties as long as they crossed the Atlantic on their own ships and paid for them at once in cash

Appeasement

  • Violating the Treaty of Versailles

    • 1935 - openly defies the treaty by rearming Rhineland - building up military

      • No reaction from Britain/France

    • Hitler starts speeding up his plans

  • Trying to Preserve Peace

    • Britain and France desperately try to keep peace

    • Do not want t o repeat WWI

    • Had struggling economics

    • What did France build along their border with Germany?

    • Policy of Appeasement - giving into the aggressor to keep peace

HITLER ON A RAMPAGE

  • Germany’s Expansions Plans

    • Treaty of Versailles did not allow Germany and Austria to unite

    • Histler sent his army into Austria in 1938 and annexed it - Anschluss

      • Bloodless invasion

      • What did Britain and France do in response - nothing.

  • Hitler’s Next Move

    • 3 million German-speaking people lived in the western territory of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland

  • Munich Conference

    • Germany demanded the Sudetenland - Czechs refused and asked for help 

    • Britain and France met with Germany and Italy

    • British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain believed peace would e preserved if they gave into Hitlers demands

  • Sudetenland

    • Hitler takes Sudetenland - than 6 months later he takes the rest of the country 

    • Brit + France do nothing

      • Now convinced that no one will declare war….

  • Axis Powers

    • Mussolini was impressed by Nazi Germany’s growing strength

    • An alliance was created 

  • Soviet Union

    • Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact - Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union promise to never attack each other 

      • Agreed to share territory - Poland

      • USSR to take Baltic countries (countries on the Baltic Sea)

      • Stalin buying time w/the agreement - time to prepare

  • War Begins - Naziz Take Europe

    • Naziforces invade Poland

      • Blitzkirieg - fast war (tanks fast, hitler designed - simultaneous attack of planes/airforce/etc. - uses a ton of artillery all at once)

      • Stalin also invades from east

    • France and England declare war

    • US declaration of neutrality (but not in thought)

    • Nazis will quickly over-run rest of Europe

      • France, Netherlands, Belgium, E. Europe, Scandinavia, etc.

  • Nazis Controlled Europe by 1941 - 42

(BACKGROUND AND HOW ISOLATIONISM WITH THE US PAID A PRICE)

______________________________________________________________

DESTROYERS FOR BASES AGREEMENT (SEPTEMBER - 1942) (LINK - YT)

THE U.S. PERSPECTIVE….

  • “Congress Reacts”

  • Congress authorized money to modernize army and navy (17 billion)

  • Us send destroyers too GB in exchange naval and air bases - Destroyers for Bases - 1940

    • An agreement between the US and UK 

FOUR FREEDOMS - January (1941)

  1. Freedom of speech

  2. Freedom of Religion

  3. Freedom of Economic Safety/Structure

  4. Freedom of Fear - cannot hurt thy neighbor

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • Lend-Lease Bill (1941)

    • Limitless amount of munitions sent to nations “vital to the defense of the US” - keep the war away!!

      • 50 Billion sent overseas by end of the war

      • Abandonment of neutrality 

  • Atlantic Charter - August 1941

Pearl Harbour → Surprise Attack

  • Deterioration of the US/Japan Relations - due to Japan's aggression

    • 1931 - Japan invaded Manchuria and China

    • Goes into mainland of China during the following Years

    • June 1939 - FDR moves naval fleet to Hawaii - makes Japan nervous

    • Oct 1940 - US cracks Jap. codes - learns Japanese plans for South East Asia (still no idea about Pearl Harbour attack yet)

    • 1941 - Japan take French Indochina

      • US places an embargo on oil exports to Japan and freezes assets

      • Japan makes plans to continue expanding

  • Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

    • The Japanese mastermind was him

    • Had studied at the Naval War College and Harvard University

    • Knows a lot about America and comes up with a strategy too attack Pearl Harbour without Americans knowing (got strategy from studying in America)

  • Japan Bombs Pearl Harbour on December 7. 1941

    • US Immediately declares war against Japan and its allies

    • Other simultaneous attacks → Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, Philippines, Wake Island, and Midway Island

  • Why Pearl Harbour?

    • 8 months earlier FDR had transferred the US fleet to Pearl Harbour as presumed deterrent to Japanese aggression

    • In November, US Secretary of State Hull met with Japanese diplomats in Washington to see if agreements would be reached regarding Japanese aggressions in China and oil embargoes

  • Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox

    • Within minutes of the attack Knox was heard to exclaim - “it must be a mistake. They must mean the Philippines” (state of shock so confused)

    • FDR is spinning mad and just so angry

      • Feel so betrayed by Japan and declares war 

  • Two Mistakes made by the Japanese:

    • Don't target oil fields (they have to be quick don't have enough oil too lug around)

    • Don’t target aircraft carriers out at seas either 

Japanese-Americans & World War II

  • Anti-Japanese hysteria

    • After Pearl Harbour the lives of thousands of J.A’s change forever

    • Understandably - anger/hatred through the Japanese (widespread)

    • This hatred saw little distinction between the Japanese who were at war with the US and those living in the US as citizens/resident aliens

(Propaganda modeled on stereotypes [yellow skin/red skin - colors associated with minority groups])

  • West Coast Japanese

    • 126k people of Japanese ancestry living in CA, OR, and WA

    • Many “nisei” - American born, first generation children of immigrant parents (problems with nisei being incarcerated)

  • Spies?

    • Despite early rumors of sabotage and espionage, not a single person of Japanese ancestry was ever convicted of attempting to help Japan in the war against the US

    • More Germans would be spies (never incarcerated German Americans)

  • American perceptions:

    • Japanese could:

      • See in the dark 

      • Kill for pleasure of killing

      • Always wore glasses

      • We're at home in trees

      • 73% treacherous

      • 46% warlike

  • Executive Order 9066

    • February (1942) - FDR issued the exec order to remove all persons of Japanese ancestry from the Pacific Military region

    • The order was issued because of “military necessity”

    • General John L Dewitt - placed in charge (famous quote: “A Jap’s a Jap. It doesn't matter whether they're citizens or aliens. The racial strains are undiluted.”)

  • Evacuation Process (QUICK/SWIFT)

    • Within weeks, all people of Japanese ancestry--whether citizens or enemy aliens, young or old, rich or poor--were ordered to “assembly centers” near their homes. 

    • Soon, they were sent to permanent “relocation centers” outside the restricted military zones.

  • American Civil Liberties Union

    • “The worst single wholesale violation of civil liberties of American citizens in our history”

    • Very very influential lobbyist legal group that want to protect civil rights and make sure they don't get violated - a lot of pro-bono cases because people wouldn’t be able to afford services

  • (10 Permanent Camps in isolated parts of the American West)

  • Evac. began - March 25 1942 → August 12 1942 (all Japanese captured)

  • Loyalty Questionnaire

    • US War Department and the War Relocation Authority (WRA) - tested the loyalty of all of the people of Japanese Ancestry to see if they were loyal to the US

    • Question 27: asked if nisei men were willing to serve on combat/duty wherever ordered and asked everyone else if they would be willing to serve in other ways, such as serving in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps

      • Made ppl nervous - had to join the war now?

    • Question 28: asked if individuals would swear unqualified allegiance to the emperor of Japan

      • People concerned about being stateless

    • Many joined to prove loyalty - many will die (in incredible numbers just to prove loyalty)

  • Korematsu vs. US (1944)

    • In defiance of EO 9066 Fred Korematsu, and American citizen of Japanese ancestry refused too go

    • He appealed his conviction to the SC

      • Justice?

        • The SC upheld korematsu conviction (6-3) in 1944

        • In 2018 - the SC finally overruled the decision

        • Karematsu died in 2005

  • 442nd REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM

    • The most decorated unit for its size and length of service, in the entire history of the US Military

    • Nearly 14k men served - 4k men initially came (April 1943) - had too be replaced 3.5 times 

    • Earned almost 10k purple hearts

  • Civil Liberties Act of 1988

    • Reparation checks of 20k dollars too victims of WWII

    • Presidential letter - apology