World War II: The Peace

Amanda Zhao

3-5-13

Period 5

End of WWII Timeline• April 1, 1945 - U.S. troops encircle Germans in the

Ruhr; Allied offensive in northern Italy.• April 12, 1945 - Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen

concentration camps; President Roosevelt dies. Harry Truman becomes President.

• April 16, 1945 - Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin; Americans enter Nuremberg.

• April 18, 1945 - German forces in the Ruhr surrender.• April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin.• April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian

partisans; Allies take Venice.• April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide.• May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender.• May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to

Allies. "The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline." The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline. The History Place, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

<http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm>.

• June 5, 1945 - Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take over the government.

• June 26, 1945 - United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.

• July 16, 1945 - First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam Conference begins.

• July 26, 1945 - Atlee succeeds Churchill as British Prime Minister.

• August 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan.

• August 8, 1945 - Soviets declares war on Japan and invade Manchuria.

• August 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki, Japan.

• September 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender agreement;  V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.

• October 24, 1945 - United Nations is born.• November 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.

The Final Months (Europe)

• April 30, 1945: Hitler commits suicide

• Germans sign unconditional surrender

• War in Europe over

• Allies invade Germany (1945)– American and British forces halt at Elbe River

(prevent Hitler make stand at Berchtesgaden)– Russian take Berlin

The Final Months (Asia)• Conflict in Asia continue for 4 more months

– Allied progress in Pacific to Japan slow and bloody

• Americans took Guam and Iwo Jima, landed in Philippines• Tactics:

– Land on some islands while skipping others, allow formation of bases

– From bases Allied planes bomb Japanese fleet and mainland (killed nearly 200,000 people in Tokyo in one week)

• August 6: US President Harry Truman authorize use of atomic bomb

• Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 9)• August 8: Soviet Union declare war on Japan• September 2, 1945: Japan surrenders

World War II in the PacificMajor Battles/Campaigns

Learn NC. Map of World War II in the Pacific. Digital image. Learn NC. Learn NC, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/13349>.

Post-War Issues• Euphoria of victory difficulties from war

• Struggle with effects of death, destruction, displacement of people (millions)

• Economic hardship, social dislocation, political division

• Dominance of United States and Soviet Union (Cold War)

Immediate Crises

• Devastation from war– Majority of deaths: civilian (ex. Germans killed 12-20 million people

in occupied countries and concentration camps)– 4 million soldiers died– 5/6X more greater EU casualties than WWI

Total European casualties: 45-55 million

• Industrial capability halved

• Ports, bridges, rail lines, homes destroyed• Agriculture impacted: (US and Soviet Union provide relief)

– Farmland in FR, Italy, Germany cannot be cultivated– FR cattle number halved– 1945-1946: Famine a threat (ex. Vienna)

• Disease (though penicillin helped)

StarHalo. World War II Deaths. Digital image. CandlePowerForums. CandlePowerForums, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

<http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?2

63721-Charts-amp-Graphs>.

Immediate Crises con.• Refugees

– 8 million slave laborers (from Germany) and millions from concentration camps sent home

– Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Germans leave

• Prisoners of war (both sides)• Placement of refugees contributed to

settlement of national boundaries• Most civilians (60 million total)

– Majority: women and children– Housed in abandoned factories, warehouses,

concentration camps, crude barracks

Potsdam Conference• July 1945: Soviet Union (Stalin), Great BR

(Churchill, Clement Attlee), and U.S. (President Harry Truman) meet at Potsdam

• Germany:– Nazi institutions all to be abolished– No German arms production– Controlled Germany industry– Restore democracy and free speech– Divide into 4 zones of occupation– Eastern border moved to Oder and Neisse rivers (enlarge

Poland)

• Japan:– Soviet Union get some territory– European nations regain Asian colonies– Prime beneficiaries: China, U.S.

Other Peace Settlements

• 4 principle Allies (BR, FR, U.S., USSR) draft treaties for other defeated states

• Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland cede minor territories to neighbors

• Austria divided into four occupied zones

War Crime Trials• Drive against Fascism and former Nazis• Nazi occupied countries had summary

execution of collaborators and some public prosecutions

• Pierre Laval and Marshal Petain publically tried in FR (worked with Nazis in French occupation)

• Germany’s high numbers of prosecuted made denazification difficult

• Allies organize Nuremberg Trials

Nuremberg Trials

• 1945-1946: international tribunal created by Allies, held in Nuremberg

• Prosecute Hitler’s closest associates for crimes against humanity

• To inform German people horrors of Nazi rule• 12/22 defendants condemned to death

• Important precedent of an international court, trying for genocide, and international law

International Agencies and Institutions• 1943: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation

Administration (UNRRA)– Reconstructing postwar Europe– Organize food and medical relief– International loans

• 1944: International Monetary Fund and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) established– Established in conference in Bretton Woods,New

Hampshire– Avoid dangerous inflation– Support stable currencies– Mechanisms for shaping international capitalist

economy• Main institution: United Nations

United Nations

• Main instrument of peace• Conference in San Francisco approve

United Nations charter• Established:

– General Assembly (determine policy)– Security Council (decision-making/supervision)

• More promising than League of Nations, but superpowers still compete

Europe Divided• Communists (Eastern nations and

USSR) vs. Anticommunists (Western ones and U.S.)

• Communist call for social justice

• Democracy with post-war idealism

• Led to 1947 Cold War between USSR and U.S. (military, political, ideological conflict)

Allison, Fiona. Division of the World During the Cold War. Digital image. ProQuest. ProQuest, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.

<http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/russia/review.php>.

Eastern Europe• USSR annex Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; territories of East Prussia,

Poland, Hungary, and Romania• Soviets encourage establishment of single-party, communist

dictatorship governments loyal to them– Used coercion, social issues, secret police

• Five Year Plan of 1946: ransack occupied areas

• 1946: Forced merger of East Germany’s Social Democratic party with Communist party Eastern zone becomes German Democratic Republic (1949) (Divide Germany)

• Poland:– Weaken Peasant party in 1947 election and come into power

– Attack Catholic Church

• Also dominate Czechoslovakia (defeat Benes and Masaryk), Romania, Albania, Bulgaria

• Yugoslavia (under Marshal Tito) different: avoid USSR influence

Western Europe• Return to democratic life, social reform

– Right to work, social/civil rights, women suffrage– Spain, Portugal remain dictatorships

• West Germany:– Christian and Social Democrats return to Weimar Republic

politics– Industry recover well– Western divisions of Germany = Federal Republic of Germany– Chancellor: Konrad Adenauer

• Italy:– Christian Democrats dominant– Prime minister: Alcide De Gasperi (1945-1953)

• France: (Fourth Republic)– President subordinate to legislature, troubled by instability

• Britain:– Churchill lose to Clement Attlee (Labour party) in 1945– Launched large program of nationalization, welfare program

Tensions between Communist and Anticommunist Cold war• U.S. announce Truman Doctrine (against Communist takeover)

• Ex. Greece, Turkey•Aid also Cold War issue:

• U.S.: Marhsall Plan• Russia: Council of Mutual Economic Assistance

Escalating tensions and fear of atomic weapons • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949)• Soviets form: Warsaw Pact (1955)

Effects on Empire• Decolonization

• Pressures against colonization: Japanese conquest of European colonies, obstacles from war, U.S. and USSR unsupportive

• Nationalist movements:– India (Jawaharlal Nehru), Senegal (Leopold Senghor),

Guinea (Sekou Toure), West Indies (Franz Fanon)

• BR and FR withdraw from Middle East: – Lebanon and Syria (1946), Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Sudan

• UN endorse creation of Israeli state

Jawaharlal Nehru

Franz Fanon

The Global Pattern• Decolonization throughout world

– Ex. Mohandas K. Gandhi Indian independence (1947)– Independence campaigns in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma,

Malaya, Indonesia– Most African colonies (ex. Ghana, Kenya) won independence by

1960s (Portuguese Angola caught in civil war backed on different sides by U.S. and USSR)

– BR and FR continue influence former colonies through taking advantage of diplomacy, economic interests, common languages, and various institutions

• French withdrawal from Vietnam from Vietnamese conflict:– Vietnamese guerilla campaign under Ho Chi Minh

• Cold war also had global affects:– Mao Zedong bring communists to power in China (1949)– Democratic Japan, U.S. support in Taiwan– U.S. form Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) (like NATO)

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