Unit 4 Summary

Interwar Period

• US

  • “Roaring Twenties” - period of economic growth/indulgence/excess

    • 1929 - Stock Market Crash that caused a huge recession

    • Response to recession was decreased spending/production and more job cuts (made things worse)

  • Pursing isolationism

• Great Depression

  • Most nations had decreased nationalism after the war → lots of blame on others which eventually led to increases in nationalism

  • Xenophobia - Prejudice against people from other countries

  • Emergence of Ultranationalism

    • Extreme nationalism that supports hostility towards others that emerges after a social/economic crisis and a charismatic leader comes to power

      • Large emphasis on national myths that support superiority

      • Can lead to extremism/fascism (eg. Nazi Germany, Japan, Italy)

• Ultranationalism Factors

  • Economic/Social crisis

  • Charismatic/Authoritarian leader

  • National traditions emphasized

  • National myths that promote superiority

  • Political ideologies that support extremism

• Aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles

  • German resentment towards West b/c of economic crisis caused by sanctions

    • Rise of ultranationalism in Germany

  • Adolf Hitler creates Nazi Party

• Hitler

  • Blamed Jewish/communist Germany minorities for social crisis (scapegoating)

  • Believed in an ethnically pure Germany

  • Wanted to gain power thought election before installing self as dictator

    • Formed minority gov (1932) → Appointed Chancellor - mini president (1933) → Declared self as Fuhrer (dictator) when President Hindenburg died (1934)

    • Was able to become dictator b/c of new democracy in Germany that didn’t have checks/balances

• Violating Treaty of Versailles (ToV)

  • Hitler slowly began violating the ToV

    • Expansion of army/conscription, development of new forces

    • Lebensraum - Idea of ethnic Germans deserving a state for exclusively ethnically pure Germans

      • Annexed territory with ethnic Germans

      • Conquered territory with other ethnicities and deported minorities/genocide of original people

• Appeasement

  • Foreign policy of pacifying a country in hopes of preventing war

  • DID NOT WORK

  • World leaders (eg. Neville Chamberlain) were desperate to avoid war so appeased Germany

  • Landmarks of Appeasement

    • Leaving the League of Nations/Arming in secret (1933)

    • Angle-German Naval Agreement (1935)

    • Abyssinian Crisis (1935)

    • Remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)

    • Anschluss (1938)

    • Munich Agreement/Sudetenland (1938)

    • Invasion of Poland (Sept. 1, 1939) - Start of WWII

• Causes of WWII

  • MR FING

    • MR FIN - underlying

      • Militarism

      • Rise of dictatorships

      • Failure of Appeasement

      • Imperialism

      • Nationalism

    • G - immediate

      • Germany’s invasion of Poland

WWII

• Beginnings of the War

  • Invasion of Poland - UK/France declared war on Germany

  • Non-aggression pact between USSR and Germany → Kept USSR out of war until Germany violated/invaded USSR

  • US practicing isolationism → “Neutrality Acts”

    • Lend-lease system with UK

  • Canada waited a week to demonstrate independence

• Alliances

  • Allied Powers - UK, US, Canada, (USSR - initially had non-aggression pact that prevented action), (France - invaded and conquered for most of war)

  • Axis Powers - Germany, Italy, Japan

  • Global affair that involved 70+ nations w/ 55 million casualties, $4T in damages

    • Fought on multiple fronts

• Early War

  • Blitzkrieg - “Lightning War” German tactic of attempting to overwhelm UK (Britain) with ariel attacks

    • Battle for Britain - Attempt to decrease British patriotism but had opposite effect

      • RAF vs Luftwaffe - first major military campaign fought in the air

      • “The Blitz” - July 10 - Oct 31 1940

    • “Phony War” - Little actual action in terms of battles, action occurred economically

  • Invasion of France (1940)

    • Vichy Government - Puppet government of Nazis in Southern France after the German takeover

    • Charles de Gaulle - French general who had to flee to London who tried to lead resistance forces from exile

    • Dunkirk

      • Evacuation of British forces in France that hindered Allied operations

      • Large participation from civilians to evacuate troops’

      • Major Axis victory

• War Fronts

  • Eastern Europe - Germany vs USSR

  • Western Europe - Germany vs UK, US, Fr, etc

  • Pacific Theater/Front - Japan vs US, Australia

  • North Africa - Germany, Italy vs France, UK

• Pearl Harbor

  • US attempting to stop Japanese expansionism by stopping trade of oil, steel, rubber

  • Japanese retaliation of bombing military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

  • Pulls US into the war (no more lend-lease, actual fighting)

• Stalingrad

  • Major industrial center in USSR → Wanted by Hitler but Soviets didn’t back down

    • Siege lasted 6 months before Hitler’s surrender

Ending the War

• D-Day

  • Amphibious operation from Allies to take back France

    • Normandy, France divided into 5 beaches

  • Key factor in liberation of France, Belgium, Luxembourg

• Timeline to the End of the War

  • 1944 - Battle of the Bulge

    • Germans trying to break American line but defeated

  • 1945

    • Allied invasion of Germany to take Berlin

    • Hitler commits suicide

    • Concentration camps liberated

    • Victory in Europe Day - May 8, 1945 - Official end of the war

• Atomic Warfare

  • Japan didn’t surrender with Europe → Manhattan Project to develop atomic bombs

    • Japan warned in July 1945 but culture that associated shame with surrender prevented surrender

  • August 6/9

    • Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima/Nagasaki

  • Led to Japanese surrender (Aug 14/15 1945) with documents signed Sept 2 (Victory over Japan Day)

  • Japan becomes constitutional monarchy

• Consequences of WWII

  • 6 million displaced/didn’t want to return to home country

  • Decreased power in Europe → increased power in US/USSR (leads to Cold War)

  • Decolonization - colonies pursue self-determination

• “Germany Problem'“

  • June 1945 - Berlin Declaration

    • Stripped Germany of autonomy

  • July/August 1945 - Postdam Conferences

    • Allied division of Germany into blocks

    • Establishment of East/West Berlin (divided between USSR and US)

      • Berlin Wall built to keep sections separate

• Nuremberg Trials (Nov 1945 - Oct 1946)

  • Trials to hold Nazis accountable for crimes that weren’t necessarily written in laws as crimes

    • Crimes against humanity

  • Contributed to 4th Geneva Convention for treatment of civilians during wartime

• United Nations

  • Better League of Nations → peace-keeping force, wider range of diplomatic/economic sanctions

  • More effective b/c 193 countries

  • Developed w/ Harry S Truman (US President)

    • Not very nationalistic → collective good of humanity vs nation → start of internationalism

Propaganda

• Systematic attempt to spread specific opinions/beliefs with a biased perspective

• Types

  • Glittering Generalities

  • Testimonial

  • Card Stacking

  • Transfer

  • Plains Folk Appeal

  • Bandwagon Effect

  • Name-Calling

• Nazi Propaganda - took advantage of stereotypes against Jewish people

  • Ministry of Public Enlightenment & Propaganda

    • Disseminated all types of media to desensitize Germans to measures taken by Nazis against Jewish/minorities

• British Propaganda - Focused on idea of resistance/victory/doing your part

  • Ministry of Information

Genocide

• Deliberate, state-supported extermination of a race/class/group by another

  • Holocaust - Genocide of Jewish population in Europe

  • Typically occurs with authoritarian governments → planned/publicized

• Stages of Genocide

  • Classification

  • Symbolization

  • Discrimination

  • Dehumanization

  • Organization

  • Polarization

  • Preparation

  • Persecution

  • Extermination

  • Denial