Nationalism Grips Europe & Asia

 After WWI, the Versailles Treaty did not bring peace for all. Many countries dealt with anger, resentment, economic depression and struggles to survive.  Soviet Union (1922): Joseph Stalin took control of USSR in 1924. Wanted to create ultimate communist state and bring USSR into a world, industrial power. All economic activity turned over to the state. By 1937, USSR is 2 nd largest industrial power (after U.S.)

 Stalin eliminated anyone who threatened his power. The Great Purge saw people banished to Gulag labor camps, tortured, deported, killed. Germans, Poles, Koreans, and even some Americans were deported, sent to camps, or killed.

 By 1939, Stalin had established a TOTALITARIAN government that tried to exert COMPLETE control over its citizens. Individuals had no rights & the government suppressed all opposition.

 Italy: Unemployment rates and inflation very high after war. Strikes led to revolts, causing some to demand stronger leadership. Benito Mussolini appealed to wounded national pride of Italians and their fear of economic collapse & communism.  By 1921, Mussolini established the Fascist Party. In 1922, Mussolini and his “Black Shirts” marched on Rome, eventually becoming head of the Italian government.

 FASCISM stresses nationalism and places the interests of the state above those of individuals. Fascists believe power must rest with a single strong leader and a small group of devote party members. Fascists gain power by creating a totalitarian state and crushing all opposition.

The Nazis take over Germany

 After WWI, a democratic government was set up (Weimar Republic). Struggled to deal with economic depression, anger from Germans over the war-guilt clause and losing colonies overseas and border territories.  In 1919, a jobless, WWI soldier from Austria joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party). He was a powerful speaker and organizer & eventually became the Nazi leader. Adolf Hitler (Der Fuhrer) promised to pull Germany out of chaos.

 In Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), he laid out Nazi beliefs and the Nazi plan of action. Nazism was the German brand of fascism & was based on extreme nationalism.

 1. Unite all German-speaking people into a great German empire.

  2. Enforce racial purification at home. Germans formed a master race (especially blonde-haired, blue-eyed Aryans) that was destined to rule the world. All others (Jews, Slavs, nonwhites) were only fit to serve Aryans.

3. National expansion to gain more living space (so Germany could thrive). This should be accomplished by any means necessary.

 When the Great Depression hit the U.S., Germany was also hit hard. Germany had depended on U.S. for loan & investment money. By 1932, almost 6 million Germans were unemployed. Many of those men joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (SA, Brown Shirts).

 The German people turned to Hitler as their last hope. By mid 1932, the Nazis were the strongest political party and in Jan. of 1933, he was appointed chancellor (prime minister). He quickly dismantled the Weimar Republic and established the Third Reich (Third German Empire).

Aggression begins

 Japan: Nationalistic military leaders attempted to take control of Japan. Leaders believed in the need for more living space for growing population, so launched a surprise attack to seize control of Manchuria (a Chinese province) in 1931. The League of Nations condemned Japan, who simply quit the League and went about their business. After the successful invasion, the militarists took complete control of the Japanese government.

 1933- Hitler pulled Germany out of the League of Nations. 1935- he began to build up Germany’s military (violated the Treaty of Versailles). 1936- Hitler sent troops to take the Rhineland, a German region that had been demilitarized by the Treaty. The League of Nations did nothing to stop Hitler.

 Mussolini began to build a new Roman Empire by invading Ethiopia in Africa in fall of 1935. By May of 1936, Ethiopia had fallen to Italy, who received little more than a slap on the wrist from the League of Nations.

 Spain: In 1936, General Francisco Franco and a group of Spanish army officers rebelled against the Spanish republic, starting the Spanish Civil War. Franco was backed by Mussolini and Hitler (troops, tanks, weapons, planes). Many fought against Franco and hoped to end fascism. Many Americans (and African-Americans angry over the invasion of Ethiopia) formed the Abraham Lincoln Battalion to fight in Spain.

 In 1939, Franco had won the war and became Spain’s fascist dictator. He had forged a close relationship with Hitler of Germany and Mussolni of Italy- all of which signed a formal alliance know was the Rome-Berlin Axis.

U.S. Response

 Americans stick to isolationist policies after international conflicts arise in Europe during mid 1930s. In 1935, Congress passed a series of Neutrality Acts to outlaw arms sales or loans to nations at war or those involved in civil war.

 1937- Japan launches new attack on China. Because there was no declaration of war, FDR found a way around the act. U.S. send arms and supplies to China. FDR asks that “peace-loving” nations work to isolate aggressor nations. In the face of criticism by isolationists, FDR stops pressing the issue of getting involved.

War in Europe

 Hitler’s plan was to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich. March 12, 1938- German troops marched into Austria unopposed and the next day announced the two countries were now unified (the Anschluss). 

 After obtaining control of Austria, Hitler turned to the Sudetenland (where millions of German-speaking people lived under the rule of Czechoslovakia). Hitler said the Czechs were abusing the Germans in that area and began to move troops towards the border.  Hitler met with French premier Edouard Daladier & British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlin to tell them this would be his last territorial acquisition. Both men wanted to avoid war, so they signed the Munich Agreement on Sept. 30, 1938 and allowed Germany to take over the Sudetenland.

 Chamberlin’s rival in Great Britain, Winston Churchill, looked down upon this move and said it was simply a policy of appeasement (practice of giving up principles in order to pacify an aggressor).

 As many feared, Hitler was not finished expanding. March 15, 1939- German troops poured into the remaining areas of Czechoslovakia and by midnight, it had fallen into German hands.

 Hitler turned his attention to Poland, claiming many German-speaking people were being abused and mistreated. As Hitler prepared to invade, many warned that doing so may draw Russia into action against this. A surprise move was made by Stalin- Germany and the Soviet Union signed a nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939. Both agreed never to attack each other and SECRETLY to divide Poland between them.

 Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 was it’s first test of the blitzkrieg (lightning war). The German Luftwaffe (air force) roared above, dropping bombs on military bases, RRs, airfields, cities, tanks rolled into the country. A blitzkrieg is used to take the enemy by surprise and quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force and advance military weaponry.

 Two days later (September 3), France and Great Britain declared war on Germany.  Within three weeks, the fighting in Poland was over and it had fallen to Germany. France, GB, and their Allies had not had time to mount a defense. Germany had taken nearly 2/3 of what had been Poland while Russia invaded from the east and claimed territory as well.

War Begins- The Fall of France

 After Poland fell, France and GB kept troops along the eastern border of France/Germany (Maginot Line). A “phony war” ensued as each side waiting for something to happen (from blitzkrieg to sitzkrieg).  In late 1939, the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states & Finland. In April of 1940, in order to “protect freedom”, Hitler invaded Denmark and Norway, then the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg (all fell to Germany by the end of May, 1940).

 Fall of France (1940): German army marched into France by going through the “impassable” Ardennes forest, bypassing the Maginot Line, and then marched towards Paris. British, French, & Belgian troops were trapped by the Germans on the beaches of Dunkirk- nearly 330,000 fled across the English Channel for safety. A few days later, Italy entered the war on the side of Germany & invaded France from the south as Germany closed in on Paris from the north.

 June 22, 1940 @ Compiegne- French officers surrendered to Hitler. Germany occupied northern France and set up a puppet government in Vichy (southern France).

 Charles de Gaulle, a French general, fled to England and set up a government-in-exile. France had lost the battle, but not the war.

The Battle of Britain: Operation Sealion

 May 10, 1940: Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlin as Prime Minister of GB.  Summer, 1940: On French coast, Germany prepared for an air & sea invasion (Navy, U-boats) of Britain. The German Luftwaffe (air force) was sent on bomb runs over GB. Goal was to gain total control of skies and to destroy GB’s Royal Air Force (RAF).

 August 15, 1940- 2,000 planes flew over GB  RAF uses new radar technology to plot flight pattern of German planes and attack. Sept. 15, 1940- RAF shot down 185+ German planes (RAF lost 26).

   German planes fly over GB night after night through the fall. At first, targets were airfields and aircrafts, but later also includes cities (London, Rotterdam). RAF also begins to attack German cities (Berlin, Hanover, Ruhr Valley) and industrial areas (oil plants, blast furnaces, RRs, roads).

In Oct. of 1940, Hitler called off the invasion of GB indefinitely. Even though abandoned plan, German planes still attacked cities at night (the Blitz) to try to disrupt production & break morale.

The Holocaust Begins

 Holocaust is a Greek word meaning sacrifice or consumed by fire. Today it is used to define the systematic persecution and murder of nearly 11 million people by the Nazi regime and its collaborators.  April 7, 1933: After taking power, Hitler ordered that all “non-Aryans” be removed from government jobs. This included Jews, Gypsies, & Slavs.

 Anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews) had a long history in Europe as many people blamed problems and failures on Jews. Hitler found support from Germans on his belief that Jews were to blame for the economic problems, struggles, and failures of the nation.  As the Nazis tightened their hold on Germany, their persecution of Jews increased.

 1935- Nuremberg Laws passed. Stripped Jews of German citizenship, jobs, property. Required them to wear yellow Star of David so they could be identified. Faced harassment, humiliation, & physical harm.  Nov. 9-10, 1938- Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass): Nazi storm troopers attack Jewish homes, businesses, & synagogues around Germany. Windows smashed, synagogues burned. Nearly 30,000 Jews arrested, 100 were killed.

Persecution continues

 Jews fleeing (or being forced to emigrate) Germany had trouble finding nations who would accept them. Jewish refugees had already flooded France (40k) & Great Britain (80k) and they were unwilling to accept any more (GB did allow some to settle in Palestine/Israel). U.S. was also closed to admitting any more Jewish refugees (100k- Albert Einstein).

 The St. Louis: A German ocean liner left Germany with intentions to take refugees to Cuba. When they arrived, they were denied entrance. The ship sailed along the coast of FL, close enough to Miami to see city lights, but the Coast Guard followed closely and would not let anyone disembark in the U.S. The St. Louis had to turn around & head back to Europe. 278 of the 943 passengers died in the Holocaust.

America Moves Towards War

 Neutrality Acts of 1935- no sales of arms & no loans to warring nations.

 Neutrality Act of 1939- FDR & Congress back “cash-and-carry” provision. Warring nations could buy arms if paid in cash and transported w/ own ships (aimed to help France & GB).  Acts may have come too late.  France fell in 1940, GB was under siege with U.S. helping in all ways but joining the war (rifles, machine guns, destroyers).

  Sept. 27, 1940- Germany, Italy, & Japan signed mutual defense treaty (Tripartite Pact) and officially formed the Axis Powers. Purpose was to keep U.S. out of war. Each nation would help defend the others, so if U.S. declared war on any of the three, the others would also join and U.S. would face a two ocean war.

Nazi victories through the late 30s and early 40s begin to change U.S. thinking. Congress boosted defense spending and passed the Selective Training and Service Act (16 million men registered in the 1st U.S. peacetime military draft. 1 million were drafted and would serve in the Western Hemisphere.

 FDR elected to a 3 rd term in 1940. Ran on premise of keeping U.S. out of war, although shortly after winning he told Americans that a peace with Hitler was impossible. He warned that if GB fell to Germany, the U.S. would have to help defeat the Axis threat.

 Lend-Lease Act, March 1941: When GB ran out of money, FDR pushed a plan for GB to lend (or lease) arms & supplies. This policy was for “any country whose defense was vital to the U.S.” Compared to lending your garden hose to a neighbor whose house is one fire- must do so to prevent fire from spreading to your property.

 June 1941- Hitler broke nonaggression pact (1939) he had made with Soviet Union. Germany invaded the Soviet Union (Operation Barbarossa) in order to destroy the Communist threat and to seize land. During the operation, Einsatzgruppen (special units) mass murdered male Jews, Communist leaders, Gypsies & built holding units for more.

 FDR began to send lend-lease supplies to the Soviet Union

 German Wolf Packs: To prevent delivery of lend-lease goods, Hitler deployed U-boats to attack supply ships. Throughout 1941, night groups of submarines would patrol the North Atlantic for convoys. These wolf packs sunk nearly 350,000 tons of shipments in a single month.

FDR Plans for War

 FDR and Winston Churchill met secretly to sign the Atlantic Charter, a declaration of war aims:  Collective security, disarmament, self-determination, economic cooperation, freedom of the seas  Basis for

United Nations-

common purpose of the Allies (those fighting vs. the Axis Powers).

 As German U-boats begin to fire on U.S. ships in the Atlantic (1941), FDR orders Navy commanders to shoot on sight. U boats sink several ships and cause many American lives. FDR announces that the U.S. has been attacked and it was clear who fire first. Congress then allows U.S. MERCHANT ships to carry weapons. U.S. in UNDECLARED naval war with Germany.

Japan Prepares to Attack the U.S.

 Germany’s European victories led to expansion opportunities for Japan.

 Hideki Tojo (leader of Kwantung Army) invaded China and found opportunity to take over British, French, and Dutch colonies that were unprotected in East Asia.  1941- Japanese take over French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos). This caused U.S. to cut off trade with Japan (oil). Japanese leaders declare that they must either persuade U.S. to life the embargo or seize oil fields in Dutch East Indies. For Japan, this meant WAR.

  Tojo promises Emperor Hirohito to try and preserve peace with America. Nov. 5th, 1941 Tojo orders Japanese navy to prepare for an attack on the U.S.

U.S. military had broken Japanese communication codes and figured out that an attack was being planned. FDR sent out a “war warning” to U.S. military commanders in the Pacific. If war could not be avoided, “the U.S. desires that Japan commit the first overt act.” Focus was on diplomatic messages, not naval messages.

 Peace talks go on between U.S. and Japan for nearly a month. Dec. 6, 1941 FDR got a decoded message meant for the Japanese peace envoy that said to reject all peace proposals and destroy all official documents. “This means war.”

Pearl Harbor

    Early AM, Dec. 7 th , 1941: From six aircraft carriers (387 planes on board) in the Pacific, Japanese dive-bombers flew towards Pearl Harbor, the largest U.S. naval base. When the island of Oahu was in sight, the planes split into two groups. Newly in stalled RADAR detected the planes, but mistook them for American planes due to return to the base. A Japanese submarine was spotted trying to sneak into the harbor, but a U.S. destroyer fired on it. It was reported, and ignored.

At 7:55 am, the first bombs and torpedoes were dropped. One group flew over land and the other over sea. By 10:00, the U.S. had sustained 21 sunken or damaged ships, 300 aircraft damaged or destroyed, and around 3,700 casualties. Reactions in DC ranged from outrage to panic. FDR addressed Congress the next day. Congress approved the request for a declaration of war against Japan. On Dec. 11 th , 1941- Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S.

Mobilizing for War

 “Remember Pearl Harbor!” 5 million volunteered for military service, but not enough for two-ocean war. Selective Service System provided 10 million more.  Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps- nurses, ambulance drivers, pilots  Minorities faced discrimination in military. Many served in segregated units and did not see combat until 1943. Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Native Americans, & Asian-Americans all served.

 Factories converted for wartime production (autos to planes, tanks, ships, command cars; mechanical pencils to bomb parts; bedspreads to mosquito netting; soft-drinks to filling shells with explosives) AND shipyards/defense plants expanded.

 Industries find new workers in women and minority groups.

 Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD)- formed in 1941 to bring scientists into war effort. Saw introduction of RADAR, sonar, DDT (fight off insects), penicillin, and ATOMIC BOMB.  Albert Einstein warned FDR about progress Germans were making in splitting uranium atoms (enormous energy->enormous destruction). Manhattan Project was the codename of the research work across the country to build an atomic bomb (1942).

The War for Europe & N. Africa

 Battle of the Atlantic: Germans aim to prevent food, war materials from reaching GB & Soviet Union. Early 1942- Germans sank 87 ships using wolf pack technique. Allies respond by sending planes with RADAR to follow convoys & increasing shipbuilding. Mid-1943, Allies take control of Atlantic.

 Battle of Stalingrad: Summer 1942 Germans want to capture oil-rich lands and take over Stalingrad. Luftwaffe was launched over the city and Germans pressed forward, house by house. Winter set in & Soviets counterattacked. Surrounded by Soviets, Germans dug in and tried to fight through winter. Germans surrendered Jan. 31, 1943. Soviets lost 1.1 million men, but turned the tide on the Eastern front and began to push west into Europe.

 North Africa: Stalin pressured GB & U.S. to open another front in Europe to divert Hitler’s troops from the Soviet Union. Operation Torch was launched- invasion into Axis-controlled North Africa.  U.S. led by Dwight D. Eisenhower. Allies landed in Casablanca, Oran, Algiers in Nov. 1942. Spread East chasing Afrika Korps (led by Desert Fox- Gen. Erwin Rommel). Last of Afrika Korps surrendered in May 1943.

 Italy- Allies took Sicily in summer 1943. Italian gov. forced Benito Mussolini to resign & arrested him. After this, Allies fight Axis troops about 40 mi. from Rome as Hitler resists Allies freeing Italy. Battle lasted 4 months (Feb May 1944, “Bloody Anzio”) and throughout year after, resistance to Allies was strong. Not until 1945 when Germany was close to collapse did Italy fall.

 Tuskegee Airmen (all-black 99th Pursuit Squadron) fought in Italy successfully vs. German forces. Mexican Americans & Japanese Americans also fought in Italy. All won many medals of honor.

The U.S. Homefront

 Economy: As defense industries boomed, unemployment fell & wages rose. Farmers prospered b/c of good weather & rising crop prices (led to higher income). Women experienced employment gains (bus drivers, defense plants).

 Society: Families adjusted to life without fathers or brothers (many fought in war) & mothers who had to work. Marriages increased. GI Bill passed in 1944- was to help servicemen return to civilian life. Provided education and training for veterans (college, technical schools), along with federal loans to buy homes, farms, or start businesses.

 Discrimination: Many blacks left the South during the war and found better jobs in Midwest and North. Many move into already overcrowded cities, causing racial tensions to rise. Race riots broke out throughout the U.S. in 1943 (Detroit, Mobile, Philadelphia, NY, Los Angeles).  Anti Mexican “zoot-suit” riots took place in LA in 1943 as servicemen and civilians mobbed Mexican neighborhoods

 

Japanese Internment

After Pearl Harbor, panic-stricken Americans feared that the Japanese would attack the U.S. mainland. Fear and prejudice swept across the U.S., especially on the West coast. Feb. 1942- FDR signed an order requiring removal of people of Japanese ancestry from CA and parts of Washington, Oregon, and AZ. This was seen as necessary for national security. Army rounded up around 110,000 Japanese Americans and sent to remote internment camps (relocation centers/prison camps).  2/3 of those sent were Nisei (born in U.S. to parents who emigrated from Japan). Many had already joined Army and fought in WWII.  Families forced to sell homes, belongings, businesses for very little $

 1944- Korematsu v. U.S: Supreme Court ruled that internment was justified on basis of “military necessity.”  1965- Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) created after WWII to help compensate those sent to camps. Congress spent $38 million to do so (less than 1/10 of actual losses). Addressed again in 1978, 1988, and 1990.

War in the Pacific

 Japan advances  Hong Kong  French Indochina  Malaya, Burma, Thailand  most of China  much of Pacific islands  Doolittle’s Raid: Spring 1942, Allies launch successful air-raid attack on Tokyo.

 Battle of Coral Sea  May 1942- US + Australians stop Japanese forces from closing in on Australia.

Battle of Midway

 NW of Hawaii  June 3, 1942  Scout planes find Japanese fleet  Torpedo planes & dive bombers sent to attack ○ Japanese planes STILL ON ships  = turning point in Pacific War.   ISLAND HOPPING!

 Aug. 1942  Guadalcanal (Solomon Islands) ○ ○  Japanese abandon 6 months later. = “Island of Death”  hand-to-hand combat, guerilla fighting.  Oct. 1944  MacArthur- take back control of Philippines ○ Battle of Leyte Gulf   Kamikazes (suicide planes) tactics

Hitler’s “Final Solution”

 Reinhard Heydrich  = policy of genocide   deliberate & systematic killing of an entire population  preservation of strength, purity of “master race  Jews + other “enemies of the state” = condemned to slavery and death.

○ Communists, Socialists, liberals, gypsies, freemasons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, mentally deficient, mentally ill, physically disabled, incurably ill

Poland

 Jews into ghettos  over-crowded, miserable, segregated areas  sealed off by barbed wire and stone walls  Harsh conditions  Forced work in German factories  Resistance groups  Teach children, theater and music groups, Jewish newspapers.

 Concentration Camps:  imprison political opponents, protestors  Turned over to SS  “undesirables” use as warehouse for  Trains or trucks into camps ○ separated from family.

 Hunger, humiliation, work, death.  Prisoners into wooden barracks (up to 1,000 in each)  Sleep, eat alongside rats and fleas.  Worked from dawn till dusk  Fed very little  Too weak to work  beating, death

Wannsee Conference

 Agreement on new phase of the final solution  = not only slaughter, starve, shoot, or hang until death   use of poison gas, poison injection

 Gas chambers to kill 12,000 people/day.  Work or death   Bodies buried in huge pits (work done by camp inmates)  stench for miles & evidence  crematoriums (ovens) to burn the dead  Experiments on prisoners  Study deadly germs, effects of diseases, sterilization methods

 Camps:  Treblinka  Chelmo  Aushwitz-Birkenau  Sobibor  Dachau  Belzek, Majdanek (extermination)  Bergen-Belsen  Ravensbruck  Sachsenhausen  Buchenwald (concentration/labor)

The Allies Liberate Europe

 Operation Overlord = invasion of France  in W. Europe freedom  General Dwight D. (Ike) Eisenhower  Operation Neptune= attack on Northern France @ Normandy  US, GB, Canada   Phantom Army attack @ Calais Germany army rerouted  "You are about to embark upon the great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months.“ – Gen. Eisenhower

 June 6 th , 1944   Airborne assault behind German lines Amphibious landing ○ ○ U.S. 1 st Army to Utah, Omaha Beaches GB 2 nd Army to Gold, Juno, Sword Beaches  Brutal retaliation by Germans   barbed wire, mines, bunkers with machine guns, artillery Allies hold on  1 million troops into France (supplies, vehicles) by end of month

Liberation of France

 July – August 1944 ○ General Omar Bradley ○ Gen. Patton ○ French resistance forces + American troops = liberation of Paris, France  September - Allies freed France, Belgium, and Luxembourg

The Last Offensive



Battle of the Bulge



Oct. ’44

 US liberation of W. German cities   last-gasp offensive surge by Hitler ○ Why? Capture Belgian port of Antwerp  Dec. ‘44  German tanks 60 miles through US defense ○  bulge in the defensive line

 German troops  west   SS troopers to herd people, soldiers into fields to shoot Battle through early 45  Germans pushed back   German massive loss of men, planes, tanks, guns No recovery = Retreat continues

The War Ends

 GB/US push from west  Soviets push from east- Poland through to Berlin  April 25- into Berlin  April 29- 30 ○ Marriage to Eva Braun ○ Last address to German people (Jews started war, Generals lost it) ○ Death

Liberation of the Camps

 Soviets across Poland  liberation of camps  SS guards burn, bury evidence of crimes  = kill remaining Jews before abandon camps  Allies stunned by camps

 May 8 th , 1945- IKE accept surrender of Third Reich  = V-E Day

The Allies Overwhelm

 Feb, 1945  Iwo Jima needed as base to launch planes into Japan ○ 6k Marines die in victory ○ Fought 20k Japanese troops  April, 1945  Marines into Okinawa ○ Vs. kamikazes attacks  1,900 planes sunk 30 ships, killed 5,000 men ○ On shore fighting = ferocious and deadly.  7,600k Americans dead; Japan 110k+  Highest casualty #s in war

Invasion

 Iwo Jima + Okinawa  plans for invasion

The Atomic Bomb

 ‘39- Einstein alerted US to German research on nuclear fission  ‘40- FDR approves $$, workers to Manhattan Project  Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer @ Los Alamos, NM  July 16, ‘45- first test in desert ○ ○ “A few people laughed, a few people cried, most people were silent.” -Oppenheimer “We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world.” -Truman

To Use or Not To Use

 Unknown death capability, preferable to an invasion  Soldiers + civilians would fight like “savages, ruthless, merciless, and fanatic.” ○ 250k Allied casualties, 100k POW deaths  Truman would always use @ 1 st opportunity ○ Logical next step after air raids over Japan  Cities chosen- Hiroshima & Nagasaki  Port city (400k people), war industries, HQ of Second Gen. Army, homeland defense center/shipbuilding, torpedo-factories

 July 25- Truman give OK to drop bomb  Aug. 3 deadline for Japanese surrender  July 26- Request for surrender @ Potsdam  Or face destruction  Aug. 4  Enola Gay drops “Little Boy” “It’s like bubbling molasses down there. . . The mushroom is spreading out. . . Fires are springing up everywhere. . . It’s like a peep into hell.” –tail gunner of the Enola Gay  Shock wave, firestorms, cyclonic winds, radioactive rain, burns  80k/140k killed, 70k buildings down, 4 sq. mi. of city to rubble

Response after Little Boy

 In US, hope for end to war  SU enter war  Still no surrender. . .

 Aug. 9 “Fat Man” dropped  Hirohito urges surrender  Aug. 14- Japan accepts surrender  = V-J Day  September 2- formal surrender of Japan to MacArthur on board battleship

Missouri

The Post-war World



Yalta Conference

 Feb. 1945- FDR + Churchill + Stalin  Post-war world?

○ Stalin = harsh approach (Germany divided into zones)  Why?

○ FDR = mediator b/t Stalin and Churchill ○ FDR willing to concede:  1. Need Soviet Union to join war vs. Japan  2. Ensure Stalin’s support for the United Nations

Potsdam Conference

 July – August, ’45  Truman, Stalin, Churchill/Attlee  Follow-up to Yalta  Truman- reparations ONLY from your zone  4 zones of occupation  Disarmament/demilitarization of Germany  Democratic society, free elections  War trials  Polish borders shift

Nuremburg War Trials

 Discovery of Nazi death camps  leaders on trial  24 Nazi crimes against humanity, crimes against the peace, war crimes.  Trials in Nuremberg  Defendants = Nazi party officials, government ministers, military leaders, powerful industrialists. ○ 12 of 24 sentenced to death, remaining to prison. ○ Lesser trials- 200 guilty of war crimes  Trials  principle that individuals are responsible for own actions

Occupation of Japan

   Gen. Douglas MacArthur over occupation and rebuilding (7 years) Japanese leaders arrested, put on trial in Japan or in wartime occupied areas (China, Philippines)  Hideki Tojo, prison guards  7 sentenced to death Rebuilt Japan’s   Economy  free market practices Government  new constitution, women’s suffrage, guarantee of basic freedoms, ○ Emperor Hirohito remain in power ○ MacArthur heralded