20TH CENTURY GLOBAL CONFLICT

Between the Wars World War I saw the end of the older, land-based empires Ottoman Russia Qing Due to internal and external factors political and social discontent technological and economic stagnation military defeats

Economic Upheaval Europe was slow to recover from war Germany suffered economic setbacks due to the conditions of the treaty US Great Depression spread to Europe and Asia to become global depression Government began to take a more active role in economy with programs such as the New Deal and fascist corporatism The Soviet Union attempted economic reform through the Five Year Plans

New Ideologies Governments used ideologies to mobilize all of their resources at home and in the colonies fascism nationalism communism Strategies included political speeches, art, and media to embed these messages in their populations

World War II Like the Great War, WWII was a “total war” – all resources were used for the purpose of waging war Experiments with democratic forms of government in Europe failed with the rise of Italian fascism under Mussolini and Hitler and the Nazis These new governments were attempting to address the economic crisis and regain a foothold in the global balance of power

The Drift Toward War The weakness of League of Nations and policy of appeasement led to Fascist aggression Japan invaded China Italy invaded Ethiopia Hitler took the Rhineland, Sudetenland, Austria After a period of civil war, Franco formed dictatorship in Spain

The War in Europe The war began with Hitler’s invasion of Poland on September 3, 1939 Germany employed the “blitzkrieg” The Allies could no longer stand by and declared war on Germany While Britain and France rearmed, Hitler took Denmark, Norway, Belgium and France The Battle of Britain in 1940 was unsuccessful for Germany but did much damage Nazi submarines inflicted losses on British and American shipping Germany will unsuccessfully attack Russia and fighting will extend into Africa because of colonial holdings

The War in Asia Japan was not rewarded for their efforts on the Allied side in WWI and sided with Germany in WWII Their military-industrial complex will quickly capture most of East Asia and Pacific islands Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 drawing the US into the war The US will quickly rebuild and began retaking the Pacific islands in order to attack the Japanese mainland

The War Ends The Axis powers begin running out of men and supplies US planned a joint major offensive at Normandy which will lead to the liberation of France and the retreat of Germany Russia attacks from the East Hitler commits suicide and Germany surrendered in May, 1945 The US dropped atomic bombs in Japan ending the war in Asia in August, 1945

Holocaust Jews were the largest single group targeted by Nazis Nuremburg Laws of 1935 stripped them of German citizenship Jews were persecuted, placed in ghettos, with violence against them (pogroms) Hitler’s Final Solution – mass murder to kill all the Jews in Europe (death camps, gas chambers) This led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1947