Unit 10: World War II and the Cold War 1930-1963

1930s: Militarism returns to Europe with a vengeance!!

Militarism On the Rise Faced with the Great Depression, people around the world gave their support to fascist and militaristic dictators who promised to rebuild the economy. Fascism An ultra-conservative philosophy that glorifies the military and considers the power of the nation more important than individual rights. Fascist dictators prohibit free speech and label all political opposition as treason. Fascists of the 1930s often gave speeches about returning the nation to former glory days of empire. Examples include Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and Franco in Spain.

Japanese Expansion 1930 - Japanese generals wiped out recent experiments with democracy and promised to rebuild the nation’s economy. 1931 - Japan, under the rule of Emperor Hirohito, invaded Manchuria to obtain land & resources for the island nation. 1937 - Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China & began to acquire other Pacific islands. The League of Nations failed to take action.

Italian Expansion In Italy, Benito Mussolini gathered support of conservatives and the military and established the Fascist Party. Soon he obtained dictatorial control over Italy & began to invade Africa in an attempt to rebuild a great Roman empire. 1935 - As Italian forces moved into Ethiopia, the League of Nations was unwilling to stop him.

German Expansion 1933 - Adolf Hitler obtained total control over Germany & began an aggressive foreign policy in Europe. 1936 - Hitler moved German troops into the Rhineland on the border of France in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. 1938 - Hitler annexed Austria & proclaimed the Sudetenland, in Czechoslovakia, part of the Third Reich (third German empire).

German Expansion 1938 - Britain & France signed the Munich Pact with Hitler. They would not interfere with the grab for Sudetenland if that would be the last aggressive move. This policy of giving into aggressive demands in order to keep the peace is known as appeasement. 1939 - After signing the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact with Russia, Germany invaded Poland. Two days later, Britain & France declared war.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: Germany & Soviet Union agreed not to fight & to divide Poland

Poland was divided, prompting Britain & France to declare war.

What Side Is Russia On? Joseph Stalin had taken control of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union. Stalin was a totalitarian dictator, meaning he wanted total control - even over how people felt and thought. Stalin was the political opposite of fascist dictators like Hitler & Mussolini, but his tactics - like using secret police to silence opposition - were the same. He was totalitarian, but not a fascist because fascists hate communism. It was only a matter of time before Germany & Russia were fighting.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in 1940: “We shall never surrender!” British Prime Minister Chamberlain in 1938: Munich Pact appeased Germany’s demand for Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. He declared it to be a “peace for our time.”

Isolationism After WWI After World War I, Americans wanted nothing more to do with war. At the Washington Naval Conference, the US, Britain and Japan agreed to limit the size of their navies to avoid conflict. The US and France signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928 to outlaw war except in self-defense. The US wanted to avoid war, but was not willing to join the League of Nations to enforce a “no war” policy.

From Isolation to Intervention 1935-1937 - Italy, Germany, & Japan become aggressive. Neutrality Acts forbade US companies from selling war materials or providing loans to countries at war. FDR was later able to add a “cash and carry” exception so that Britain & France could send ships to the US to purchase supplies. 1937 - FDR delivered his Quarantine Speech, arguing that the US should move away from its isolationist policy. Germany, Italy & Japan should be quarantined before the aggression spread.

From Isolation to Intervention 1939 - Germany invaded Poland. Britain & France declared war on Germany. Italy declared war on Britain & France. World war began again. 1940 - German blitzkrieg technique allowed Hitler to quickly take over Poland, Norway, Denmark & France. Hitler then set his sights on Britain. During the Battle of Britain, German planes bombed British cities for months, but Germans were unable to invade England.

Who can stop the blitzkrieg?!

With the Soviet Union neutralized (green), Germany & its allies control most of Europe by 1940 (blue). Only Britain remains (red).

From Isolation to Intervention Jan 1941 - FDR was less willing to remain neutral. In his State of the Union address, Roosevelt outlined Four Freedoms that all people have a right to: 1) freedom of speech, 2) freedom of religion, 3) freedom from want, 4) freedom from fear. Mar 1941 - End of neutrality. Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act to allow the US to sell war materials and lend money to nations at war. German U-boats began attacking US ships. Dec 7, 1941 - Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. US officially declared war. Within days, the US was at war with Japan, Germany & Italy. Roosevelt: US must be the “arsenal of democracy”

Pearl Harbor: “a day that will live in infamy”

Why Pearl Harbor?

(Japan & the Pacific Islands) Douglas MacArthur US Army Commander Pacific Theater (Japan & the Pacific Islands) Fighting was fierce in the Pacific. By 1942, Japan defeated the US in the Philippines. MacArthur retreated to regroup.

Battle at Midway, 1942 Major Turning Point: Japan Goes On Defensive!! With the American naval base on Midway Island at risk, Admiral Chester Nimitz had to defeat Japan. After breaking the Japanese code, Nimitz was able to deliver a surprise attack. Deploying from aircraft carriers, swift planes bombed the Japanese navy. Japan went on the defensive for the first time.

Soviets defeat Germany!! Stalingrad, 1943 Faced with winter conditions in Russia, unprepared German soldiers surrendered. Germans go on the defensive, and Soviets take the offensive for the first time since Hitler attacked Russia in the summer of 1941. Major Turning Point: Soviets defeat Germany!!

George Patton, 1943 Major Turning Point: US Defeats Axis Powers in Africa!! George Patton, 1943 US Army General European Theater (Africa, Europe & Russia) Germans surrendered in North Africa. Allied forces moved North toward Italy. “Old Blood & Guts”

Casablanca Conference Major Turning Point: No Negotiations!! Casablanca Conference Jan 1943 Roosevelt & Churchill met in Casablanca, Morocco to discuss strategy. They declared that the Allies will only accept unconditional surrender.

Allies Prepare for D-Day!! Major Turning Point: Allies Prepare for D-Day!! Tehran Conference Dec 1943 Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill (“the Big Three”) met in Tehran to discuss recent successes in Africa. They decided that it was time for a full-scale invasion of Europe. The Allies would now try to take back German-occupied France.

D-Day Invasion Major Turning Point: Allies Take Back France!! (Operation Overlord) Jun 1944 Allied forces cross the English Channel & land on the beaches of Normandy, France. Paris was liberated from the Germans by August. Major Turning Point: Allies Take Back France!!

Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight D Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, speaks with US paratroopers on June 5, 1944.

Battle of the Bulge Major Turning Point: Last German Offensive!! Jan 1945 As the Allies pushed the Germans out of France and toward the German heartland, Germany made one last attempt to break through Allied lines on the Western Front. The shape (not pictured) of the attempt to penetrate the Allied lines would give this battle its nickname.

V-E Day Major Turning Point: Germans Surrender!! May 8, 1945 About one month after Roosevelt’s death (and one week after Hitler’s suicide), Germany surrendered.

Truman & Stalin Collide!! Potsdam Conference Jul 1945 Germany was divided up into four zones: US, France, Britain & USSR. The three western powers agreed that they would soon give up control of their zone and establish an independent, democratic Germany. Stalin was not so easy-going. He wanted a buffer zone and was determined to keep control of all of Eastern Europe. So began the Cold War…. Major Turning Point: Truman & Stalin Collide!! The Big Three met in Germany to discuss the end of the war. The US now had a new president (Truman) and Britain a new prime minister.

Island Hopping Major Turning Point: 1943-1945 Success in the Pacific!! General MacArthur returns to the Pacific. MacArthur & Nimitz strategically “leapfrog” the Pacific Islands, taking some but leaving others, on their way toward Japan. This strategy allowed the US to bypass heavily fortified Japanese islands and maintain an element of surprise. Major Turning Point: Success in the Pacific!!

Victory on Japanese Home Turf!! Iwo Jima Feb 1945 First US attack on Japanese home territory. Some of the fiercest fighting in the Pacific. 18,000 Japanese fought until there was only 200 or so left to take prisoner. Major Turning Point: Victory on Japanese Home Turf!!

US Ready for Mainland Invasion!! Okinawa Jun 1945 Three-month battle over the Japanese island closest to the main island. 50,000 US and 100,000 Japanese casualties. Almost one-fourth of the civilian population died. US wanted to use Okinawa as a base for attack on the main island. Instead, the atomic bombings brought Japanese surrender. Major Turning Point: US Ready for Mainland Invasion!!

V-J Day - Japanese Surrender The Bomb Aug 1945 While at the Potsdam Conference, Truman learned about the first successful testing of the atomic bomb by the Manhattan Project that had been set up by FDR under J. Robert Oppenheimer. Truman authorized the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki in an attempt to avoid an invasion of Japan. Major Turning Point: V-J Day - Japanese Surrender

Hiroshima Before After

Nagasaki Before After

Allied Powers Axis Powers Allied-controlled territory Axis-controlled territory

Allied Powers Axis Powers Allied-controlled territory Axis-controlled territory

Allied Powers Axis Powers Allied-controlled territory Axis-controlled territory

Allied Powers Axis Powers Allied-controlled territory Axis-controlled territory

WWII Casualty Percentages

Effects of the War at Home During WWII, the power of the federal government that had been developed in the New Deal became even stronger. The Selective Services Act was signed by FDR in 1940, becoming the first peacetime conscription (draft) in US history.

War Productions Board Federal government agency in charge of changing America’s consumer economy into a war economy. By the end of the war, America would be the leading industrial nation in the world. The Great Depression was over.

Effects of the War at Home War Production Board In 1939, the US was using horses to pull heavy artillery. From 1942 to 1945 Americans built 17 aircraft carriers, 297,000 aircraft, 193,000 artillery pieces, 86,000 tanks, and 2,000,000 army trucks. American industrial production doubled. In 1941, three million cars were made. Only 139 more would be made during the war. Instead, GM made airplane engines, guns, trucks and tanks. An average Ford car at the time had 15,000 parts. A B-24 bomber had 1,550,000 and one came off the Ford line every 63 minutes! By the end of the war, more than half of all industrial production in the world took place in the US.

Effects of the War at Home Rationing - to have enough supplies for the soldiers, products in the US were rationed. Americans could not buy as much as they wanted. When the stamps ran out, that was it! Meat, coffee, butter, cheese, sugar, gas, nylon, rubber, tin foil, bobby pins, shoes, gum, zippers, matches, cigarettes Children gathered scrap metal, tin cans, textiles, tires for the war effort. Taxes increased and individuals & companies purchased war bonds to finance the war.

Effects of the War at Home Eight million women entered the workforce to build war supplies, symbolized by Rosie the Riveter. For the first time, many women left their home towns, lived on their own, & earned good money. To serve in the military, women joined the Women’s Auxiliary Corps (WACs) and female units of the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines.

Japanese Internment Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the War Department to identify “military areas” and then exclude anyone from those areas they felt to be a danger to national security. Japanese American citizens living on the West Coast were rounded up and moved to camps in Arizona, Colorado, Utah & Wyoming. Thousands of German & Italian non-citizens were also rounded up and deported, but German or Italian citizens were not interned. 110,000 Japanese Americans were held in 10 internment camps from 1942 to 1945.

Korematsu v. US (1944): Fred Korematsu sued the federal government over being forced to go to the camps. The internment was ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court in the interest of national security.

Japanese Internment “The Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are undiluted.” - Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt “If all of the Japs were removed tomorrow, we’d never miss them…because the white farmers can take over and produce everything the Jap grows. And we don’t want them back when the war ends, either.” - Head of the California Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association All Japanese American citizens with 1/16th Japanese blood or more were given one week to settle their affairs before evacuation.

“Double V” “The ‘V for Victory’ sign is being displayed prominently in so-called democratic countries which are fighting for victory over aggression, slavery and tyranny. If this V sign means that to those now engaged in this great conflict, then let we colored Americans adopt the double VV for a double victory. The first V for victory over our enemies from without, the second V for victory over our enemies from within. For surely those who perpetrate these ugly prejudices here are seeking to destroy our democratic form of government just as surely as the Axis forces.” - James Thompson

The Great Migration In the early 20th Century, almost one million African Americans migrate to Northern cities in search of opportunity.

African Americans and Latinos also benefited from the opening of jobs during the war. Many, however, faced brutal racism, violence, and segregation as they took advantage of these new opportunities. Race riots began to break out Northern & Southern cities.

Tuskegee Airmen - African American fighter squadron that escorted & protected bombers from enemy pilots. Never lost a single bomber!

Effects of War at Home G.I. Bill - Veterans received money from the federal government for college and loans for new homes in return for their service. As a result, the US would experience an economic boom and rise in the middle class in the 1950s. Levittown - With so many new home buyers, William Levitt devised a way to mass-produce new cheap homes. Suburbs, nicknamed “Levittowns” sprang up across the country. Baby boomers - A whole generation of babies were born upon return of the veterans! Families who could take advantage of the economic prosperity were promised the American Dream.

The “Big Three” Roosevelt Stalin Churchill 1. Casablanca 2. Tehran As the war came to a halt, The US and Soviets no longer had a common enemy. The enemy’s enemy was no longer our friend. Tensions over communism and the totalitarian rule of Stalin rose with the end of the war. 3. Potsdam

Iron Curtain - Stalin established dominance over Eastern Europe and tightened security. Churchill claimed that Stalin was building an “iron curtain” to hide and protect his rule.

Democracy v. Totalitarianism Capitalism v. Communism A Cold War emerged, so called because the US and Soviets never fought each other directly. Democracy v. Totalitarianism Capitalism v. Communism Truman Doctrine - U.S. foreign policy after WWII. The U.S. would work to prevent further expansion of communism. This policy is also called “containment.” Marshall Plan - Economic policy of containment. Lend $12.5 billion to help rebuild Western Europe so people would not be tempted to join the communists.

The city of Berlin, deep within Soviet territory, had been divided up like Germany. Stalin tried to block Western access to the city hoping that the US would hand over all of Berlin. Truman refused and ordered supplies to be dropped on Western Berlin for over a year until Stalin lifted the blockade. Berlin Airlift 1948-1949

Arms Race US v. USSR 1945 - US atomic weapons 1949 - Soviet atomic weapons 1949 - Communist revolution in China 1950-1954 - US defense spending triples 1952 - US Hydrogen bomb

By 1950, two major countries with large populations have communist governments. The US government hoped to prevent more countries from following. 1945 - Stalin lowered his “iron curtain” over Eastern Europe 1949 - Chairman Mao led communist revolution in China

Identify hotspots of communism during the 1950s and 60s.

Korean War Japan withdrew from Korea after surrendering in 1945. Korea was split between the North, influenced by the Soviets and Chinese, and the South, influenced by the US and Western powers. In 1950, North Koreans crossed the dividing line at the 38th Parallel in an effort to reunite the country. Without declaring war, Truman sent troops to Korea. He claimed that the troops were part of a UN police action, not war.

Korean War General MacArthur fought the North Koreans back across the 38th Parallel, but did not stop there. American troops pushed north toward China. As China prepared to enter the war, Truman decided that the US could not afford a war with China. Truman fired MacArthur for speaking out publicly against his decision. The US and North Korea remained in a stalemate for three years. In 1953, Eisenhower was elected president, Stalin died, and a cease-fire was arranged with Korea.

Eisenhower’s Cold War Eisenhower Doctrine - The US would use force to stop the spread of communism. The US would also aid groups in the Middle East who were trying to fight off Soviet influence. Central Intelligence Agency - Established to gather secret information and carry out covert operations around the world. Dwight D. Eisenhower WWII D-Day Commander President 1953-1960

Eisenhower’s Cold War U-2 Incident Eisenhower had almost cooled relations with the Soviets enough to meet with their leader Khrushchev, when an American spy plane was shot down in Soviet airspace. Eisenhower denied it was part of a spy operation before realizing that the Soviets had captured the pilot alive.

Bay of Pigs Invasion In 1959, Fidel Castro led a revolution against a corrupt regime in Cuba and turned to the Soviets for help. Eisenhower and the CIA planned an invasion to topple the new Cuban government. In 1960, the new US president was encouraged to follow through with the Bay of Pigs Invasion. It turned out to be a military and public relations disaster for Kennedy.

Berlin Wall 1961 - After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, relations were strained even more between the Western powers and the Soviet Union. As East Berliners began to migrate to the more prosperous West Berlin, Soviet leader Khrushchev demanded again that the US give up West Berlin. Kennedy refused. The Soviets built a concrete wall through the city, which became a symbol that the Soviets had to force its own citizens to stay.

Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 - Aerial surveillance revealed that there was a Soviet missile base in Cuba, 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Kennedy blockaded ships from entering Cuba and demanded removal of the missiles. As Soviet ships approached the blockade, Americans spent 13 days under the threat of nuclear war. In the end, a deal was made and the missiles were removed. A “hot line” was set up between DC and Moscow to improve communication.