TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 36.1 - Origins of WWII
- 36.2 - Total War
- 36.3 - Life during Wartime
- 36.4 - The Cold War
- 36.4(B) - The Cold War Continued
36.1 - Origins of WWII
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Unit 7: Learning Objective F
Explain the causes and consequences of World War II.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS
KC-6.2.IV.B.ii - The causes of World War II included the unsustainable peace settlement after World War I, the global economic crisis engendered by the Great Depression, continued imperialist aspirations, and especially the rise to power of fascist and totalitarian regimes that resulted in the aggressive militarism of Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.
Basic Features of a Totalitarian Government
- A single-party dictatorship
- The dictator rules absolutely attempting to control every aspect of life
- State control of the economy
- Use of police spies and terror to enforce the will of the state
- Strict censorship and government monopoly of the media
- Use of schools and media to indoctrinate and mobilize citizens
- Unquestioning obedience to a single leader
Fascism
- Fascists focused on violence, action, discipline, and loyalty to the state
- Individuals are not important, only the state
- Rooted in extreme nationalism
- Tend to use racist policies
- Anti-democratic
- Emphasized emotion and the need for the citizen to serve the state
- Fascism focused on foreign expansion
- Believed in Darwin’s theory of the “survival of the fittest”
- Fascists glorified warfare
- Work with traditional sources of power (i.e., the wealthy)
Paris Peace Conference - June 1919
- Woodrow Wilson - USA
- Georges Clemenceau - France
- David Lloyd George - Great Britain
Failure of the League of Nations
ITALY
- Benito Mussolini
- Ethiopia: Haile Selassie
- Treaty of London - Secret treaty with Britain from WWI was not recognized
36.2 - Total War
KC-6.2.IV.A.ii - World War II was a total war. Governments used a variety of strategies, including political propaganda, art, media, and intensified forms of nationalism, to mobilize populations (both in the home countries and the colonies or former colonies) for the purpose of waging war. Governments used ideologies, including fascism and communism to mobilize all of their state’s resources for war and, in the case of totalitarian states, to repress basic freedoms and dominate many aspects of daily life during the course of the conflicts and beyond.
PROPAGANDA
- Meant to influence the attitudes and opinions of a community
- Oftentimes spreading inaccurate or biased information
- Enemy crudely depicted (sometimes dehumanized)
- Facts are often misrepresented
GUERNICA
WESTERN DEMOCRACIES MOBILIZING FOR WAR
KC-6.1.III.C.ii - New military technology and new tactics, including the atomic bomb, fire-bombing, and the waging of “total war” led to increased levels of wartime casualties.
Mobilization - the process taken by a country and government to prepare and organize for war by assembling and producing resources and making both troops and supplies ready for battle.
The United States Mobilization under FDR
1. Massive wave of patriotism struck the U.S.
- People volunteered for military service and the Red Cross
- All branches of the military grew tremendously
2. Women's Army Corps (WAC) was formed in 1943
- Provided clerical workers, truck drivers, instructors, and lab technicians to the Army
American Industry
War Production Board (WPD) was set up to convert from peacetime industry to wartime industry
- US produced a massive amount of arms, ammunition, ships, tanks, jeeps, and airplanes
- Massive increase in defense spending
- African Americans and Women had more job opportunities
- The War Industry ended the Great Depression by creating jobs for almost everyone who wanted to go to work
Office of War Mobilization
- Regulated production of civilian goods
- Established production contracts
- Negotiated with organized labor
- Controlled inflation
- Selective Service Act
36.3 - Life during Wartime
KC-6.2.III.C. - The rise of extremist groups in power led to the annihilation of specific populations, notably in the Holocaust during World War II, and to other atrocities, acts of genocide, or ethnic violence.
Overview of the Holocaust
ELI WIESEL AND OPRAH WINFREY - AUSCHWITZ
36.4 - The Cold War
LEARNING OBJECTIVE
Unit 8: Learning Objective A
Explain the historical context of the Cold War after 1945.
Unit 8: Learning Objective B
Explain the causes and effects of the ideological struggle of the Cold War.
6.1.III.C. - New military technology and new tactics and the waging of “total war” led to increased levels of wartime casualties.
KC-6.2.IV.C.i - Technological and economic gains experienced during World War II by the victorious nations shifted the global balance of power.
KC-6.2IV.C. - The global balance of economic and political power shifted after the end of World War II and rapidly evolved into the Cold War. The democracy of the United States and the authoritarian communist Soviet Union emerged as superpowers, which led to ideological conflict and a power struggle between capitalism and communism across the globe.
KC-6.2.IV.D - The Cold War produced new military alliances, including NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and and led to nuclear proliferation and proxy wars between and within postcolonial states in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Proxy wars:
- Korean War
- Angolan Civil War
- Sandinista-Contras conflict in Nicaragua
6.3.II.A: New international organizations formed to maintain world peace and to facilitate international cooperation.
- The United Nations
The End of World War II
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Nearly 200,000 people died
- August 14, 1945 Emperor Hirohito forced Japanese government to surrender
Decolonization
- Changing attitudes
- Populations rose up against their oppressors
- Too costly
- The French held on to Vietnam (1954) and Algeria (1962)
The United Nations
- Encouraged all countries to work together on matters of equal rights and cooperation on economic, cultural, and humanitarian problems
UN General Assembly
- Each country receives 1 vote
UN Security Council
- 11 Members (5 Permanent: USA, USSR, France, Great Britain, China)
Iron Curtain
- "Satellite Nations"
- Buffer zone
- Iron curtain split Europe into pro-Democratic Western Europe and pro-Communist Eastern Europe
Containment
- Preventing the spread of communism
- Developed by George Kennan
Truman Doctrine
- Political approach to fighting communism
- Response to a communist uprising in Greece and Turkey
- US would provide aid to anti-communist governments
Marshall Plan
- Economic approach to fighting communism
- Secretary of State George C. Marshall
- Any further collapse of European economy = threat to U.S.
- Economic aid to countries rebuilding from WWII
- Capitalistic Democracy
- Soviets refused Marshall Plan money
Germany
- Germany divided into four zones
- Berlin also divided into four zones
- West Germany / East Germany
- West Berlin / East Berlin
Berlin Airlift
NATO vs. Warsaw Pact
36.4(B) - The Cold War Continued
Cuba
- Fidel Castro’s alliance with the Soviet Union made Cuba the central focal point of the Cold War in the Western Hemisphere
- Castro supplied military aid to revolutions in Africa and Latin America
- During this period, the CIA made attempts to assassinate Castro
Bay of Pigs
- In April 1961, the US tried and failed to overthrow Castro
- They sent 1400 anti-Castro exiles into the Bay of Pigs hoping to rally the Cubans to overthrow Castro
- At the last moment, US President John F. Kennedy barred any American military support and the invasion failed
Cuban Missile Crisis