World War II
I. Causes of World War II
· Many historians designate nationalism, militarism, imperialism, and alliances as causes for World War I
· Unfortunately, all these causes were only strengthened after the war
o Nationalism thrived as winners' pride in their countries increased and losers sought to maintain their country's autonomy.
o Militarism grew as winners planned to maintain their military superiority; losers rebuilt their countries so they could "do better next time"
o Imperialism continued to be a powerful force as both winners and losers desperately needed the wealth and resources of overseas territories to rebuild their economic systems
o Alliances were important as winners and losers both sought enough strength through diplomatic ties with other countries to avoid having to fight another war
· World War I had simply proved how vital nationalim, militarism, imperialism and alliances were
o Throw into the mix national leaders who, confident in their alliances, were willing to use their military to gain more territory to ensure not only the survival but dominance of their own country, and you have aggression
o In other words, you have World War II
· Prelude--Rise of the Axis Powers
o Japan
§ Hirohito, the Emperor of Japan, used his militaristic society to begin the aggression by invading Manchuria in 1931 to gain land and resources
§ The war expanded into China in 1937 and into other parts of east Asia by 1941
§ In order to take the territory it coveted for its the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Japan had to strike a pre-emptive blow at the only force which could inhibit its plan
§ the United States Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
§ at the same time, the Japanese military attacked U.S. and British territories across the Pacific and Asia
o Italy
§ Mussolini, the Fascist leader ("Il Duce") of Italy, built up the military, creating jobs for the unemployed as well as weapons
§ He attacked Ethiopia in northeast Africa in 1935
§ Italy had sought to control this territory in the late nineteenth century but had been forestalled
§ Mussolini's chief ally was Hitler of Germany
o Germany
§ Hitler was the most methodical aggressor of all
§ As head of the National Socialist (Nazi) party, he was elected chancellor of Germany in 1933
§ Under the guise of rebuilding the country, he brought all areas of government under Nazi control, making political opposition impossible-and dangerous
§ Hitler was aggressive against segments of his own people as well as against other nations
§ Relying on the democracies' (France, England, the United States) desire for peace, Hitler broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by rearming his nation and refortifying the buffer zone (the Rhineland) established between his country and France
§ He sought to make all the territory he controlled contiguous by seizing the Polish Corridor
§ He also sought to gather all peoples of Germanic descent under his control, including Austria and an area in western Czechoslovakia called the Sudetenland
§ Munich Accords of 1938
§ Britain, France, and Germany meet in Munich in 1938 to discuss German claims to the Sudetenland (part of Czechoslovkia)
§ The parties reached an agreement whereby Germany would get the Sudetenland in return for its pledge to forego any more agression
§ British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain claimed that the treaty would guarantee "peace in our time"--one of the most infamous statements in history
§ After stating in the Munich Accords in 1938 that he had no further territorial claims to make in Europe, Hitler annexes Austria (most Austrians went willingly) and invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia in March of 1939
§ His assumption that the democratic countries would not oppose his territorial ambitions was valid
II. World War Begins
· Invasion of Poland
o Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939
o It launched a new form of warfare called the "blitzkrieg" (or lightning war)
§ This form combined air power with tanks and mechanized troops to strike swiftly before defenders could react
o within a few weeks, Germany had taken control of the western half of Poland
o Hitler and Stalin sign a non-agression pact which gives Germany western Poland and the Soviet Union receives the eastern half of Poland
· However, when Germany invaded Poland, France and England did declare war on Germany; however, little fighting took place for six months (the Sitzkrieg)
· Germany attacks western Europe
o By the spring of 1940, Hitler had established his preferred pattern for taking territory
§ invade a country every six months
§ March and September were the optimum starting dates because of weather conditions
o In 1940 however, his spring plans were delayed by heavy rains, which made moving heavy equipment over dirt roads difficult
o To compensate for the delay, Hitler invaded both Denmark and Norway in April
§ he invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in May
§ in June, he took northern France; the southern part of the country formed a collaborative government at Vichy
§ The same month, he started air strikes against England in preparation for taking that country (called the Blitz)
· Choosing sides (or not)
o As Germany expanded its borders, the world drew up sides
o The Axis
§ Italy and Germany had become allied through the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1935
§ in 1937, Japan joined the Axis Powers to form the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
o The Allies
§ France and England led the opposing Allied Powers
§ but the French were only involved if they had left the country to join the British forces or if they worked with the underground resistance movement
§ the resistance created chaotic conditions for the Germans occupying their country
§ The United States
§ United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt had given British Prime Minister Winston Churchill a pledge to support the English war efforts with materials and munitions
§ However, the United States was not an official participant in the conflict
§ An unexpected power joined the Allied camp when Hitler invaded Russia in 1941
§ In 1939, the Hitler-Stalin Pact had cleared the way for Germany to invade western Poland as Russia invaded the same country from the east
§ In spite of the diametrically opposed ideologies of the Nazis and the Communists of Russia, the leaders of the two countries agreed to partition Poland
§ Later, when Hitler invaded Russia, his former ally quickly joined the Allied forces
III. The War Spreads
· The Eastern Front
o In June, 1941, Hitler launched operation Barbarossa--the invasion of the Soviet Union
o At first, the Germans made incredible headway--by October, the Germans stood outside of the gates of Moscow and had Leningrad nearly encircled
o Soviet Resistance
§ Scorched earth
§ removal of factories
§ Stalingrad
o Hitler committed the bulk (over 80%) of the German military to defeating the Soviet Union
· North Africa
o The war being fought in Europe spread to North Africa in 1941
§ Hitler attempted to get his Axis ally, Italy, to drive westward from Tripoli to seize the Suez Canal (a vital transportation link) and the oil-rich fields of the Middle East
§ When Italy could not do it alone, German troops were added
o The British eventually blocked the move
· The Pacific and the United States
o The war spread to the Pacific Ocean when Japan, without a formal declaration of war, bombed the U.S. Pacific Fleet home port of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on 7 December 1941
o Japanese quickly captured much of the Pacific and Asia
o American war effort at the beginning
o When the U.S. entered the war in 1942, the situation for the Allies looked very grim
§ Japanese advances in the Pacific
§ German advances in Soviet Union and Africa
o U.S. forced to split its forces
§ The American forces, both naval and land, were to fight a holding war against Japan
§ other American forces joined the English and Free French fighting in Europe and North Africa
o However, within six months of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American forces were beginning to push the Japanese out of the territory they had conquered as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
o Naval engagements and battles and the struggles of the the U.S. Army and Marines against seemingly insurmountable odds on Pacific islands gradually put the U.S. forces on Japan's doorstep
· The Tide turns in Europe
o In the Soviet Union, German forces found themselves unable to push further
§ However, Hitler ordered his troops to hold on to every mile of territory they had taken
§ The Soviet forces counterattacked at Stalingrad and wiped out a huge German army
§ by the end of 1943, the Soviets had begun their drive to force Germany out of their country
o In North Africa, British forces held the Italians and their German reinforcements back from the Suez Canal
§ U.S. soldiers landed west of the Axis forces, which were then squeezed into surrender
o In Western Europe, the war developed many facets
§ To relieve German pressure on the Russians, the Allied forces (predominantly consisting if U.S. forces) opened a second front in Italy
§ About the time Rome was taken, Allied forces established a beachhead at Normandy in northern France on 6 June 1944 (D-Day)
o Caught in the giant pincher consisting of Allied forces pushing westward from France, northward from Italy, and eastward from Russia, Germany was forced to surrender
o The war ended in Europe on May 8, 1945 (V-E Day)
· The end in the Pacific
o The war in the Pacific continued until late summer of 1945
o The United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6th; a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9th
o Fearing further massive destruction, Japan asked for terms of surrender--they surrendered on August 14th, 1945 (V-J Day).
o Japan signed the surrender on September 2, 1945
· The destruction, while reminiscent of World War I, was much worse. Over 50 million people had died as a direct result of conflicts around the globe
· The war was finally over-or was it?
IV. The Holocaust and the Atomic Bomb
· The Holocaust
o Hitler's antisemitism was a product of 19th century racial theories, rather than a result of Christian antagonism to the Jews
o The deportation of Jews began only in 1941, when the six killing camps were started, all of them in Poland
o Before that, many German Jews had fled Germany, some 50,000 in 1935 alone
o By 1938, 1.3 million German Jews had emigrated, most to neighboring countries, meaning that by the start of the war, there were only 200,000 Jews left in Germany
o Of the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust
§ some 3.5 million were Russian
§ 1.5 million Polish
§ 200,000 were German
§ the remaining 800,000 killed were throughout Western Europe (many were Jews who had earlier fled Germany)
o Most camps in Germany were labor camps, like Dachau, where conditions were so appalling that thousands died of starvation and disease, but none of these concetration camps were designed specifically to exterminate large numbers of people
o The death factories were all in Poland, and even then, the largest number of Jews were killed by mobile SS killing operations launched by Himmler in the Soviet Union
o In addition to the murder of 6 million Jews, the Germans also exterminated other undesirables--Gypsys, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gays and Lesbians, and those deemed mentally unfit
o Who was responsible?
§ Hitler and his henchmen
§ the role of the German people
§ the role of other Europeans
· The Atomic Bomb
o Initially created to defeat Germany--but Germany surrendered before bomb was completed
o An invasion of Japan was expected to cost the lives of millions, including an estimated 300-500,000 American soldiers
o Soviet expansion in Asia
o The human costs of dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
o The moral issues