A Second Global Conflict

An End to the European World Order

The German people grew increasingly dissatisfied with their government (Weimar Republic)

The people were angered by their signing of the Versailles treaty, civil war, but most importantly the hyperinflation of the 1920’s.

Steps to War (#1)

As social discontent and political turmoil increased, the National Socialist party grew in popularity.

The first and most important promise made by Hitler and the Nazis was to bring jobs back to Germany and put people to work. A majority of these jobs, as it turns out, would be focus on rearmament and military build-up (another promise of Hitler’s).

Additionally, the Nazis vowed to retake German lands lost during WWI and take revenge on Germany’s domestic enemies (minorities like Jews, Slavic peoples, Poles, Russians, communists, gypsies, blacks, the disabled, etc…)

Nazi Rise and promises (#2)

Unemployment in Germany

Total January 1933 - 6 million January 1934 -3.3million January 1935 -2.9 million January 1936 -2.5 million January 1937 -1.8 million January 1938 -1.0 million January 1939 -302,000

German propaganda was a master of deception. Records were tampered with to reflect massive employment.

For example, women were no longer included in the statistics. The unemployed took whatever work they were offered, or were labeled as “work-shy” and placed in a concentration camp.

The “Employment Miracle”

There is no doubt, however, that work was created by Hitler and the Nazis.

Ditches were dug for irrigation, roads constructed for the autobahn, and weapons mass produced.

The “Employment Miracle”

When the Japanese invade and capture Manchuria in 1931, it is the first real violation to the League of Nations. The League’s response was pathetic. The merely issued a stern “warning” to Japan, to which Japan’s response was to quit the League.

In reality, the member nations of the League were too weak at that time to go to war.

Mussolini will follow Japan’s lead and take the African kingdom of Ethiopia.

Hitler will militarize the Rhineland in 1936, annex Austria in 1938, and take Czechoslovakia in the same year. Meanwhile, the League continued to do nothing.

Aggressors on the March (#3)

Aggressors on the March (Japan)

Aggressors on the March (Nazis)

Both nations used the now infamous policy of appeasement. That is giving into an aggressor in hopes that they will be satisfied and you can avoid war.

Hitler invited British and French representatives to Munich for the infamous Munich Conference. He convinced these leaders that Czechoslovakia would be his “last territorial demand”.

In Britain, many voters would not vote for Winston Churchill because of his strong military stance against Germany. The citizens simply were not ready for another war. Churchill was increasingly critical of the appeasement policy.

British and French Reaction (#7)

“At Munich, we had the choice between dishonor and war. We chose dishonor, we will now receive war.”

“Appeasement is like feeding a crocodile, hoping he will eat you last.”

Churchill on appeasement

Hitler and Mussolini’s send aid to the fascist forces of Spain (lead by Francisco Franco) aiming to establishing another ally in Western Europe.

It also served as a training ground for their pilots as they prepped for further military conflicts.

Fascism’s spread in Europe (#4)

This painting was created by Picasso in just three months after the bombing of the Spanish village of Guernica by German and Italian air forces who were

supporting Francisco Franco’s fascist army in the Spanish Civil War.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso

WWII was provoked by the aggressive actions of both Nazi Germany and militarized Japan. (#6)

Along with that, the failure of western democracies to challenge this aggression only fed into further expansion from Japan and Germany. (#6)

The war began officially on September 1, 1939, with the German invasion of Poland. (#5)

WWII Begins (#5 and #6)

The Nazi invasion of Poland introduced the world to Hitler’s preferred method of attack, the blitzkrieg.

Blitzkrieg means "lightning war". Blitzkrieg was first used by the Germans in WWII and was a tactic based on speed and surprise.

A military force based around light tank units and armored vehicles supported by planes and infantry (foot soldiers) was essential to the method.

Blitzkrieg (#11)

First, in 1931, they seized the northeastern Chinese province of Manchuria for its valuable coal and iron reserves.

In 1937, the launched a full-out invasion into the Chinese mainland, attacking several eastern coastal cities like Shanghai and Nanking.

The Nationalist forces retreated to the interior leaving many of the civilians to the mercy of the Japanese.

Brutal tactics of torture, rape, and mass killings ensued.

Japanese escalation in East Asia (#8)

Japanese Brutality

Chinese civilians were beheaded by the thousands.

A toddler orphaned in Shanghai after Japanese bombing

In 1936, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact to hopefully neutralize the Soviet Union and stop communism.

By 1940, Italy has joined, creating the Tri-Partite pact.

They were known as the Axis Powers.

The Axis Powers (#9)

One power that did stand in Hitler’s way was the Soviet Union, strengthened through the brutal policies of Stalin.

Stalin knew of Hitler’s ambitious plans in eastern Europe and felt like the best solution for them to gain time in preparing for war was to sign this non-aggression pact.

The terms of the agreement were that neither side was to attack the other and the secret terms were that they would split the nation of Poland (a nation they had both lost land to after WWI) amongst themselves.

The non-aggression pact (#10)

In the early years of WWII, Hitler’s blitzkrieg method was extremely successful.

The Nazis used this method to take Poland, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, and most importantly France, all by the summer of 1940.

Given the alliances Germany had at the time with Spain and Russia, Britain was about the only democratic nation left in Europe for the Nazis to conquer.

German blitz (#11)

With most of the major European powers conquered by Germany or allied with them, only Britain stood in Hitler’s path of expansion.

Since it was an island, his blitzkrieg method was useless. He would have to attack by air.

Battle of Britain

The Battle of France is over. The Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization… The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war… Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour'. ◦ Winston Churchill, speaking in

the House of Common (11 June 1940).

Battle of Britain

Despite constant bombardment from summer of 1940 to spring of 1941, the British were able to win the Battle due to:◦ A) Radar technology◦ B) Better planes◦ C) Unwavering

commitment to persevere.

We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.◦ Winston Churchill

Battle of Britain (#12)

With failure at the Battle of Britain, Hitler found himself in a difficult situation. He desperately needed land and resources for his growing empire.

To achieve this, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June of 1941. He hoped to take all of the Soviet oil fields and farmland.

In doing this, he broke the non-aggression pact with Stalin and brought the Soviet Union fully into the war on the Allies side.

Operation Barbarossa

As the Nazis marched into the Soviet Union, the Russians purposefully retreated, using the scorched-earth policy that had been so effective in the past.

Once the Germans reached Stalingrad (a valuable port city), they unleashed wave after wave of soldiers on the city. Stalin responded in kind.

What resulted was the deadliest battle in human history (almost 2 million dead).

As winter approached, Hitler was forced to abandon his campaign and leave Russia.

This was the turning point of the war in Europe.

Operation Barbarossa (#13)

Stalingrad

Once Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, Jewish persecution began in earnest and escalated until the end of WWII (1945)

Jewish persecution

Jewish persecution under the Nazis (#14)

As Jewish persecution increased in Nazi territory, restrictions were placed on Jewish travel.

Additionally, western powers had strict immigrant quotas in order to protect their fledgling economies.

As a result, very few Jews were able to escape the persecution of the Nazis, unless they were exceptionally affluent.

Additionally, western powers failed to bomb railway lines leading to major concentration camps which could have slowed down the mass killings.

Western indifference (#15)

#16 (p.716-719)

European Theater European Theater

#16 (p.716-719)

Pacific Theater Pacific Theater (Hiroshima in 1946, eight months after bombing)

#16 (p.716-719)

Atomic Bomb Diagram (Little Man and Fat Boy)

Nagasaki A-bomb cloud (August 9, 1945)

The United Nations is an international organization created after WWII with the aim of providing a forum to negotiate disputes.

It is the successor to the League of Nations.

It has proven time and again to be a vital organization in shaping international policy and levying economic sanctions in order to avoid all-out war.

It was actually created before the war’s end, on June 26, 1945.

The United Nations (#17)

At the Tehran conference, the Allies agreed on the invasion of Nazi-occupied France. (#18)

The focus on the western front allowed the Soviets to push through Eastern Europe largely unopposed. (#18)

At the Yalta Conference in 1945, the United Nations was formed and the “big three” of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin agreed to divide Germany into four occupation zones after the war (one for each of the Allies). (#19)

The Conferences (#18-19)

After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan would surrender on September 2, 1945 (officially ending WWII).

This date is known as V-J Day, or Victory in Japan Day. All of Japan’s wartime gains were stripped away. In

addition, the U.S. began an occupation of Japan and focused on rebuilding the infrastructure and economy of that nation.

Once the war ended, it was clear that the U.S. and Soviet Union had emerged as the two dominant world powers. Both had plans for a post-war world that were very different. These differences laid the foundation for the Cold War from 1945 to 1991.

Japan’s Defeat and Superpowers Emerge (#20)

This iconic picture was taken on August 14, 1945, after the Japanese government had unofficially surrendered to Allied forces. The official terms of

surrender were not signed until September 2nd.

Times Square Kiss

Groups that supported the British in WWII included the Indian communists, who were opposed to growing fascist movement in India, and the Muslim League, who wanted a separate Muslim state in the subcontinent.

The National Congress Party, spearheaded by Gandhi, refused to throw their support behind the British due to the failure of Britain to fulfill its post-WWI promises.

Indian Nationalism (Again) #21

After WWII, the British handed India its promise of self-rule. They were in no position to rule over the subcontinent any longer with a faltering economy and stiff resistance in India.

The subcontinent was eventually divided into two nations in 1947, one Muslim(Pakistan) and one secular (India).

Britain withdrew its forces and handed over rule to the Indian Congress party to govern India and to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who became the first president of Pakistan.

Read 3rd paragraph on left-side of p.723 Actually, it was this violence that played an important role

in the assassination of Gandhi in the following year.

Indian independence (Yay!!, but no so fast) #22

Partition of India Partiiton of India

The Largest Human Migration in History

The Largest Human Migration in History

The Largest Human Migration in History

The Largest Human Migration in History

The Largest Human Migration in History

As with India, WWII had huge impacts for the continent of Africa. By the mid-1960s, nearly every African colony had been granted independence.

For the country of South Africa, that came in 1961, when the colony was granted complete self-rule by the British.

Unlike the rest of Africa, South Africa had a unique racial make-up that led to high degrees of racial tension and persecution.

African Nationalism

In a nation of 23 million inhabitants the East-Indian population numbered 3.5 million, while 4.5 million belonged to the white settler population. The rest of the population consisted of the native black population.

Despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of citizens were black South Africans, the white minority (equally divided between English decent and Dutch descent) had firm control of the political and economic landscape of South Africa.

How did this happen?

The South African Problem (#23)

The treatment of the Boer population at the hands of the British in the Boer war contributed to the concessions made by the British in favor of the Afrikaner population at the war’s end.

Boer women and children had died by the tens of thousands in British concentration camps. Haunted by guilt, the British decided to turn over internal political control to the Afrikaner population.

Unfortunately, this meant handing over control of the black majority to an openly racist supremacist Afrikaner minority.

The South African Problem (#24)

Afrikaner racism was far more explicit and elaborate than that of any other colony in the world.

Misguided by their interpretation of Bible scriptures (particularly the Tower of Babel story from Genesis 11), they had developed a theology that supported or even required a strict separation of the races.

When the Afrikaner National Party emerged in 1948 as the majority political party, they quickly moved to create thousands of laws to enforce strict segregation. This system was known as apartheid, or “apartness” in the Afrikaans language.

Read on p. 727

The South African Problem (#24 and 25)

Apartheid

Homelands for the black population

Apartheid checkpoint

Apartheid

Apartheid beach Protest from the 1960’s against apartheid

Government response to organized meetings of the black majority

Apartheid

Whites dominated the land, wealth, health care system, and education

Chart showing the effects of the Apartheid system

The last time we spoke about Palestine in chapter 28, the British had promised Arabs that they could keep their lands and have self-rule in return for their help in WWI. They also told the Jewish community throughout Europe, that they would create a homeland for them out of those Arab lands in Palestine, reestablishing the state of Israel. They did neither of those things.

Change came for good after WWII due to Hitler’s campaign of genocide against Europe’s Jewish population.

This provided powerful support for the Zionist movement worldwide, except among Arabs.

Creation of Israel (#26)

In 1948, the international community (mainly the United Nations) decided to partition the Palestinian area into Jewish and Arab countries. Israel was established in 1948 as a result.

Almost immediately, the Arab states in the region of Palestine declared all-out war on the new nation of Israel.

Though heavily outnumbered, the Jewish forces were able to not only protect their new nation, but even expanded into Arab controlled territory. They were greatly aided by western powers who financially supported the Jews in this war to ensure that this partition would be permanent.

Obviously, tensions and hostilities remain to this day.

Creation of Israel (#28)

Jewish Celebration over the creation of Israel

Arab-Israeli War