World War II

A Fight Over Global Empires: Political, Economic and Racial

Ideologies

Failures of the Treaty of Versailles

1. Though the U.S. delegation to Versailles signed the Treaty, President Wilson could not get the Republican Congress to ratify it

2. Germany was forced to admit fault for WWI and was forced to pay cash reparations of $30 billion – an amount they could not pay

3. The British transferred former German colonies in Asia to Japan; the French took the valuable Saar coal mines from Germany (541)

Why did the League of Nations Fail?

• The Republican Senate (led by Massachusetts Henry Cabot Lodge) sought to block its passage and to humiliate the Democrat, Wilson

• Wilson almost died of a stroke and lost his full mental faculties– When the amended Treaty was presented to the Senate,

Wilson asked everyone to vote against it, even though it had most provisions he wanted

• Most importantly, the U.S. did not participate• It would have required U.S. leadership to use the League

to help bring peaceful negotiations to Europe

Why did the League of Nations Fail, (Part II)

• It was ineffective• Japan simply quit the League when after its

1931 invasion of Manchuria was condemned• It was powerless to prevent the rearmament

of Germany and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia

2 Theories of State Organization

1. People are rational and capable of self-government– The American Revolution– The French Revolution– The Haitian Revolution

OR

2. A strong leader is required to dictate policy, avert chaos and indecision

Rise of Nationalism

• Aggressive Nationalism began in the 1800s– Rather than a broad definition of human allegiance

such as a medieval united Christendom

– Benedict Arnold: Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism• Definition of the nation: an imagined political community

– imagined as inherently limited and sovereign

• Communities are distinguished by the style in which they are imagined

Definition of Fascism

• Authoritarian• Totalitarian• Belief in the supremacy of one national or

ethnic group• Contempt for democracy– Insistence on obedience to a powerful leader

Definition of a Demagogue

• A political leader who seeks support by appealing to popular desires and prejudices rather than by using rational argument

Definition of Liberalism

• As formulated by John Locke:– The state should not protect existing patterns of wealth and

privilege– Consent of the governed– Strictly Limited Government

• Government as threat• Best when governs less

• F.A. Hayek wrote The Road to Serfdom in 1944– Written against John Maynard Keynes– Told Americans to reclaim the notion of liberalism– His ideas were used most during the Republican years from

Ronald Reagan and forward (1980 +)

Did the New Deal Ultimately Benefit the U.S. Economy During its Time?

• The New Deal did employ millions of Americans at a time where there were no other options– This left a legacy of governmental assistance in

hard times• The book suggests there was more rhetoric

than reality to some of FDR’s programs (592-3)

Did the New Deal Ultimately Benefit the U.S. Economy During its Time?

• Had its most lasting effects during and after World War II– WWII solidified reforms of the 1930s

• During WWII, there was an increased role for government to regulate the economy– State support for unionization– Agricultural subsidies– Progressive Tax Policies– Government money to develop the West and SW– Affirmed FDR’s central idea: that a powerful state would

enhance the pursuit of liberty and equality (601)

Eleanor Roosevelt

• An activist First Lady– Inspected Hospitals

• Stood by many Civil Rights issues and attended integrated social functions

• A delegate to the first General Assembly meeting of the U.N.

• Guided the drafting of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1948– Sets forth “inalienable” human rights and freedoms as

cornerstones of international law

Eleanor RooseveltBorn 1884Died 1962

Chairwoman of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women

U.S. Delegate to the U.N. General Assembly

Chairman of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights

U.S. Representation to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights

First Lady of the U.S.

First Lady of New York

Japan’s Empire by Overseas Conquest

• 1920s: Japanese government became more democratic– 1922: Signed an international treaty agreeing to respect China’s

borders– 1928: Signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war

• 1929: Great Depression -- people blamed the government– Military leaders, therefore, gained control of the state and made the

emperor the symbol of state power

• 1931: Japanese army seized Manchuria, despite objections from the Japanese parliament– Japanese businesses had invested in Manchuria’s iron and coal

mines– Japanese engineers and technicians began arriving in large numbers

to build mines and factories– Violated the League of Nations Charter and Kellogg-Briand Pact– The U.S. did not acknowledge Japan’s acquisition

Japan’s Empire by Overseas Conquest

• Japan’s militarists were extreme nationalists• They wanted to solve the country’s economic

problems through foreign expansion• Pacific empire included a conquered China:– Raw materials– Markets– Room for expansion

European Aggressors

• The League of Nations failed to stop the Japanese

• This encouraged European fascists to plan aggressive expansion of their own

• Italian leader, Mussolini, wanted to build a colonial empire in Africa like Britain and France

Adolf Hitler• Like the military government of Japan, Hitler

rose to power after the Crash of 1929 and during the Great Depression

• As WWI veteran, had witnessed mass death as a normal part of life

Adolf Hitler

• 1933: Hitler became Chancellor of the Nazi Party – Denounced the Treaty of Versailles and withdrew from

the League of Nations– Created economic expansion through military buildup– Was anticommunist and asserted an international

Jewish-Communist Conspiracy• Insofar as Hitler wanted to halt Soviet expansion, the

Western powers initially stalled in their opposition• For example, William Hearst supported Hitler’s anti-

communism

Mussolini’s Rise to Power in Italy

• 1933: Benito Mussolini began his militaristic empire– 1935: Mussolini’s armies took over Ethiopia– Was anticommunist

• Italy’s returning WWI veterans were ripe for revolution because of high unemployment

• Mussolini rose to power guaranteeing jobs and paid vacations

Mussolini in Africa• Ethiopia was one of Africa’s three independent

nations• Mussolini attacked Ethiopia following a failed

colony in the 1890s– Democracies in the League of Nations protested and

passed economic sanctions against Mussolini– This made Mussolini get closer to Hitler

• Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, appealed to the League of Nations for help– The League condemned the attack, but did nothing– Controlling the Suez canal, Britain let Italian ships

through in order to keep the peace

Benito Mussolini27th Prime Minister of ItalyTerm of Office: October 1922-July 1943

Haile Selassie IEmperor of Ethiopia1930-1974

Francisco Franco: Dictator from 1939-1975

• 1931: Spain went from monarchy to a republic – Great Depression

• 1936: Hitler and Mussolini helped Franco overthrow the Spanish Republic– The Soviet Union helped the

Republic• Franco was anticommunist and

religious• Therefore, Firestone supported Franco

Francisco FrancoDictator of Spain from 1939-1975

In 1936, Germany, Italy and Japan created an alliance that came to be called the Axis Powers

United States Isolationism

• Many Americans supported isolationism, the belief that political ties to other countries should be avoided

• Isolationists argued that entry into World War I had been a costly error

• Congress passed three Neutrality Acts: – 1935, 1936, 1937– Cannot sell arms to any nation at war– Cannot loan money to any nation at war– American cannot travel on a ship of a nation at war– These laws banned loans and the sale of arms to nations at

war (606)

A War Not So Far Away

• 1937: Japan invaded Shanghai, Nanjing, Shandong, Beijing demanding subservience to Tokyo– Supposedly a “East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere” that would

liberate Asian nations from Western colonialism• U.S. accelerated military buildup in the Pacific• U.S. extended assistance to China• U.S. stopped sales of arms, aviation fuel and iron to Japan

(609)

– Japan therefore invaded French Indochina for resources it could not buy from the U.S.

– Japan still faced a shortage of oil and could not win a prolonged war

The Nazi Surge

• 1938: Hitler annexed Austria • 1938: French and British met with Hitler and allowed his

annexation of part of Czechoslovakia on the condition that he would stop his territorial advancement

• 1939: Germany took all of Czechoslovakia• 1939: Germany signed a non-aggression pact with the

USSR– They secretly agreed to divide up Poland and the Baltic States

• 1939: On September 1, Germany took over Poland and Britain and France declared war

The Nazi Surge

• 1940: German “blitzkrieg”– Took Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium,

Luxembourg, France• 1940: In June, Italy declared war on the Allies• 1940: In September, Japan joined Germany

and Italy (Axis Powers)

U.S. Response to the Nazi Surge

• 1938: FDR began naval rearmament• 1940: Congress passed the Selective Training

and Service Act of 1940– The first peacetime draft in U.S. history

• 1940: German raids on the British Air Force and British civilians in the Battle of Britain

• U.S. arranged for Britain’s acquisition of “surplus material” (607)

• 1941: In June, Germany retracted its non-aggression pact with the USSR and attacked Poland– The U.S. therefore helped Stalin

• December 7, 1941: Japanese bombed the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor– 19 ships, 200 planes, 2,200 deaths

• December 8, 1941: Congress declared war on Japan• December 11, 1941: Germany and Italy declared

war on the U.S.

Pentagon was finished in January of 1943 (610)

FDR’s Second Bill of Rights

• All Americans have the right to:– Regular Employment– Adequate food and shelter– Appropriate educational opportunities– Guaranteed Health Care

• Opponents argued for private alternatives over governmental programs

D-Day and General Dwight D. Eisenhower

• June 6, 1944: “D-Day” or “Operation Overlord”

• 4,000 Allied ships landed at Normandy– 3 weeks later, Allied forces controlled the French

coast– 1945: Allied armies made it to Berlin, meeting up

with Soviet troops• They found Holocaust operations that had killed more

than 5 million Jews out of Europe’s prewar population of 10 million

Deaths of Hitler and FDR in April 1945Germany Surrendered on May 8, 1945

• 1945: Hitler commit suicide on April• 1945: FDR died on April 12– Soviet armies controlled Eastern Europe– British and U.S. forces controlled Italy and the

Mediterranean– Germany and Austria fell under divided

occupation (like Korea)

The War in China

• U.S. wanted China to fight against Japan, but they were in a Civil War: Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) vs. Mao Zedong– Chiang Kai-shek avoided combat with the

Japanese while making “extravagant demands for U.S. assistance,” while Mao fought more effectively (614)

• The U.S. continued to support Chiang Kai-Shek as China’s future leader• U.S. changed laws regarding Chinese immigration

Up to Japanese Surrender

• 1944: Japanese captured 7 key U.S. airbases in China

• 1945: on one night, March 9th, 1945, 100,000 civilians in Tokyo were firebombed– More civilians than soldiers died on the Japanese

side• 1945: August 6, 9, Atomic Bomb dropped in

Hiroshima and then Nagasaki

Economic Change During the War

• 1940: Government spending was $9 billion• 1944: Government spending was $ 98 billion

• 1941: National Debt at $48 billion• 1945: National debt at $280 billion

• 1942: FDR called for 60,000 planes• 1945: production of 300,000 planes• 2.5 million trucks• 50 million pairs of shoes

Women and Minorities in Employment Previously Unavailable

• 350,000 women joined the military– 1000 + female pilots in the “Women’s Airforce Service Pilots”

• Women and minorities in factories showed there was no “ethnic” basis for work – resurfaced in the Civil Rights Movement– Many jobs were lost when the war ended– Many had been hired without opportunity for upward mobility

• 25,000 Native American men served in the military– The Navajo Signal Corps were essential since the Japanese

could not understand their language– They often returned to the U.S. and lived in cities instead of on

reservations (or went back and forth) (624)

A Debate About What it Meant “to be American”

• Fundamental visions about U.S. culture were reshaped, for virtually all Americans– The Double V campaign meant victory abroad and

victory on the home front– There was also a resistance to Civil Rights due to

diminishing overrepresentation

Japanese Internment Camps

• Feb 1942: FDR implemented Executive Order 9066

• 130,000 were interned, 2/3 born in the U.S– Compare with Germans during WWI: 6,000

interned • Confined for as long as 4 years• “Many left behind thriving agricultural

enterprises vital to wartime production.” (624-625)

Zoot Suiters – War on the Homefront: A War over what was considered American

• Mexican-American women wore short, black skirts, high hair, heavy make-up

• Part of the emerging jazz culture• Young people valued leisure and style• Became popular among youth in every city– Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia

• They would walk in a way to take up space– Minorities were supposed to be invisible and quiet– Zoot suits were vibrant and colorful

Zoot Suit Riots

• Zoot Suits were burned • Very few navy sailors would be punished

Japan’s Empire by Overseas Conquest

• 1937: Japanese attacked Beijing, Nanjing, and ___ – Japanese troops killed ??_______tens of thousands of captured

soldiers and civilians in Nanjing

Changes from WWII

• Changed global politics and the home front• Brought an end to the Depression • Solidified reforms of the New Deal

What Victory Meant

• Economic Prosperity and Vibrancy• Leisure, Music, & Sports took off in a new way• Pulled Americans together after the

Depression• U.S. became a primary power around the

world

Truman Doctrine

Marshall Plan

• To create trading partners, especially with western Europe

• To create opportunity for U.S. investment in foreign countries

• To create an anti-communist bloc including western Germany

• To stabilize markets for export of U.S. goods

NATO

• 11 Western democracies to contain the spread of communism

• Viewed as critical, because the USSR had nuclear weapons, matching U.S. power

The Truman Doctrine

• Announced by President Truman in 1947– Mutual suspicion between Truman and Stalin after the

war• U.S. would protect its security interests around the

world by helping others put down or resist Soviet expansionism

• A global and activist policy• Executive Order 9835– Loyalty boards could determine whether an individual

or organization was subversive and a “security risk” (635)

The National Security Act of 1947

• Created several new bureaucracies• Navy and War Departments became the

Department of Defense• National Security Council obtained broad

authority over containment policy• Air force became separate service equal to

army and navy (635)

The Cold War

• Several smaller proxy wars– Korea (June 1950) (“MASH”)– Vietnam– Guatemala– Cuba

• U.S. Top authority on the Soviet Union believed that USSR was at odds with capitalist systems and could only expand with American weakness

• The U.S. had to be the strongest to stem the expansion of communism