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4º ESO . HISTORY - WWII. FOLLOWING OXFORD CLASS BOOK.
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UNIT 10 The Second World War
4º Bil
1- The world at war 1939-1945
-After WWI:
.League of Nations
.Peace treaties
.Great Depression 1929
.Authoritarian regimes -> expansionism
.War economy and society
.Art centre shifted to the USA.
2- The origins of the WWII
2.1. The long-term causes of the war
1-PROTECTIONISM
2- EXPANSIONISM
-The totalitarian regimes began a foreign policy based on expansionism.
-They aimed to increase their international power and influence.
3- APPEASEMENT POLICIES
-Democracies tried an appeasement policy to avoid a new war.
4- TREATY OF VERSAILLES
-Hitler broke the conditions on the peace treaties.
The failure of the League of Nations
-The League of Nations never reached its objectives.
2.2.Increasing tensions
-FINAL CAUSES
The expansionist policies of Germany, Italy and Japan were
one of the final triggers of the war through invasions or
annexations:
-ITALY:
.1935 - Abyssinia invasion
.1936 - intervention in the Spanish Civil War
.1939 - Albania invasion
-GERMANY:
.1935 - Saarland recovery
.1936 - Rhineland recovery
.1938 - Austria invasion and annexation
.1938 - Sudetenland
.1939 - Czechoslovakia
-JAPAN:
.1931 - Manchuria
.1932-9 - Soviet Union
.1937-45 - China
-Between these final causes there were also some pacts
or agreements that influenced the course of the war:
.Rome-Berlin Axis, Oct 1936 -> Italy & Germany.
.The Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936-7 -> anti- communist
pact between Germany & Japan.
.Pact of Steel, May 1939 -> Germany & Italy.
.The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 Aug 1939 -> Hitler & Stalin.
.Aug. 25 1939 -> GB & France alliance with Poland.
.Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, Sept 1940 -> Axis powers.
The outbreak of war
On September 1939 Germany invaded Poland, so Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.
ACTIVITIES
Exercises 1, 2, 3 and 5 on page 203.
3- THE SECOND WORLD WAR
3.1. The war's participants and phases
AXIS POWERS: Germany, Italy and from 1940, Japan. Later joined by other countries.
ALLIED POWERS: Great Britain, France and Poland; later joined by some of the Commonwealth members.
British Commonwealth-It is an intergovernmental organisation of 54
independent member states. All members except Mozambique and Rwanda were part of the British Empire, out of which the Commonwealth developed.
-The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an intergovernmental organisation in which countries with diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are regarded as equal in status.
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941-On 1 September 1939, Germany attacked Poland. On 3 September
France and Britain, followed by the fully independent Dominions of the British Commonwealth, – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa – declared war on Germany, but provided little support to Poland.
-Britain and France also began a naval blockade of Germany on 3 September which aimed to damage the country's economy and war effort.
-On 17 September the Soviets also invaded Poland. Poland's territory was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.
-In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to secure shipments of iron from Sweden, which the Allies were about to disrupt. Denmark capitulated, and despite Allied support, Norway was conquered within two months. In May 1940 Britain invaded Iceland to prevent a possible German invasion. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the replacement of Prime Minister Chamberlain with Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.
At this time I feel entitled
to claim the aid of all, and
I say, "Come then, let us
go forward together with
our united strength."
Winston Churchill - May
13, 1940
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941-Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands and Belgium were overrun using blitzkrieg tactics in a few days and weeks, respectively.
-On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the UK; twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime.
-On 3 July, the British attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent its possible seizure by Germany.
-With France neutralized, Germany began an air superiority campaign over Britain (the Battle of Britain) to prepare for an invasion. The campaign failed, and the invasion plans were canceled by September.
-Italy began operations in the Mediterranean, initiating a siege of Malta in June, conquering British Somaliland in August, and making an incursion into British-held Egypt in September 1940.
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-Japan increased its blockade of China in September by seizing several bases in the northern part.
-At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact united Japan, Italy and Germany to formalize the Axis Powers. They stipulated that any country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, not in the war which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three.
-The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia and Romania joined the Tripartite Pact.
-In December 1940, British Commonwealth forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa. The Germans soon intervened to assist Italy. Hitler sent German forces to Libya in February, and by the end of March they had launched an offensive against the diminished Commonwealth forces.
Tripartite Pact
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941-In April, following Bulgaria's signing of the Tripartite Pact, the
Germans intervened in the Balkans by invading Greece and Yugoslavia following a coup.
-During the Battle of Britain the Royal Air Force had successfully resisted the Luftwaffe's assault, and the German bombing campaign largely ended in May 1941.
-In Asia, despite several offensives by both sides, the war between China and Japan was stalemated by 1940.
-With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the USSR made preparations. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in southeast Asia, the two powers signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, amassing forces on the Soviet border.
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-On June 1941, Germany, along with other European Axis members, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The primary targets of this surprise offensive were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, connecting the Caspian and White Seas.
-Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power, exterminate Communism, generate Lebensraum ("living space") by dispossessing the native population and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's remaining rivals.
-Although the Red Army was preparing for strategic counter- offensives before the war, Barbarossa forced the Soviet supreme command to adopt a strategic defence.
-The USSR joined the Allies.
First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-Japan planned to rapidly seize European colonies in Asia to create a large defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific; the Japanese would then be free to exploit the resources of Southeast Asia while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive war.
-To prevent American intervention while securing the perimeter it was further planned to neutralise the US Pacific Fleet from the outset. On 7 December 1941, Japan attacked British and American holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific. These included an attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, landings in Thailand and Malaya, and the battle of Hong Kong.
-These attacks led the US, Britain, China, Australia and several other states to formally declare war on Japan, whereas the Soviet Union, being heavily involved in large-scale hostilities with European Axis countries, preferred to maintain a neutrality agreement with Japan.
Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43-On Germany's eastern front, the Axis defeated Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkiv, and then launched their main summer offensive against southern Russia in June 1942, to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus, while maintaining positions on the northern and central areas of the front. The Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad, which was in the path of the advancing German armies.
-By mid-November, the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in street fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter- offensive. By early February 1943, the German Army had taken tremendous losses; German troops at Stalingrad had been forced to surrender and the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position before the summer offensive.
-In mid-February, after the Soviet push had declined, the Germans launched another attack on Kharkiv, creating a salient in their front line around the Russian city of Kursk.
Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43
-In August 1942, the Allies succeeded in repelling a second attack against El Alamein and, at a high cost, managed to deliver desperately needed supplies to Malta. A few months later, the Allies commenced an attack of their own in Egypt, dislodging the Axis forces and beginning a drive west across Libya. This attack was followed up shortly after by an Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa, which resulted in the region joining the Allies. Hitler responded to the French colony's defection by ordering the occupation of Vichy France; although Vichy forces did not resist this violation of the armistice, they managed to scuttle their fleet to prevent its capture by German forces. The Axis forces in Africa withdrew into Tunisia, which was conquered by the Allies in May 1943.
Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43-In early May 1942, Japan initiated operations to capture Port Moresby by amphibious assault and thus cut communications and supply lines between the US and Australia. The Allies, however, prevented the invasion by intercepting and defeating the Japanese naval forces in the Battle of the Coral Sea.
-Japan's next plan was to seize Midway Atoll and attract American into battle to be eliminated. In June, Japan put its operations into action but the Americans, having broken Japanese naval codes in May, were fully aware of the plans and force dispositions and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory at Midway over the Imperial Japanese Navy.
-With its capacity for aggressive action diminished, Japan chose to focus on a late attempt to capture Port Moresby by an overland campaign in Papua. The Americans planned a counter-attack against Japanese positions in Guadalcanal, as a first step towards capturing Rabaul, the main Japanese base in Southeast Asia.
Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43-Both plans started in July, but by mid-September, the Battle for
Guadalcanal took priority for the Japanese, and troops in New Guinea were ordered to withdraw from the Port Moresby area to the northern part of the island, where they faced Australian and US troops in the Battle of Buna-Gona. Guadalcanal soon became a focal point for both sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in the battle for Guadalcanal. By the start of 1943, the Japanese were defeated on the island and withdrew their troops.
-Following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Allies initiated several operations against Japan in the Pacific. In May 1943, Allied forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians, and soon after began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands, and to breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. By the end of March 1944, the Allies had completed both of these objectives, and additionally neutralised the major Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-In the Soviet Union, both the Germans and the Soviets spent the spring and early summer of 1943 making preparations for large offensives in Central Russia. On July, Germany attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge. Within a week, German forces had exhausted themselves and, for the first time in the war, Hitler cancelled the operation before it had achieved tactical success. This decision was partially affected by the Western Allies' invasion of Sicily launched on 9 July which, combined with previous Italian failures, resulted in the ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.
-On 12 July, the Soviets launched their own counter-offensives, thereby dispelling any hopes of the German Army for victory. The Soviet victory at Kursk announced the downfall of German superiority, giving the Soviet Union the initiative on the Eastern Front. The Germans attempted to stabilise their eastern front along the hastily fortified Panther-Wotan line, however, the Soviets broke through it at Smolensk and by the Lower Dnieper Offensives.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-In early September 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland, following an Italian armistice with the Allies. Germany responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian areas, and creating defensive lines. German special forces then rescued Mussolini, who established a new client state in German occupied Italy. The Western Allies fought through several lines until reaching the main German defensive line in mid-November.
-German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective, the resulting sizable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign. In November, Roosevelt and Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo and then with Stalin in Tehran. The former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory, while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's defeat.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-From November 1943, the Chinese forced Japan to fight a costly war, while awaiting Allied relief.
-In January 1944, the Allies launched a series of attacks in Italy against the line at Monte Cassino.
-By the end of January, a major Soviet offensive expelled German forces from the Leningrad region, ending the longest and most lethal siege in history.
-By late May 1944, the Soviets had liberated Crimea, largely expelled Axis forces from Ukraine, and made incursions into Romania, which were repulsed by the Axis troops.
-The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and, at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat, on 4 June Rome was captured.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-The Allies experienced mixed fortunes in Asia. In March 1944, the Japanese launched the first of two invasions, an operation against British positions in India. In May, British forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma. The second Japanese invasion attempted to destroy China's main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.
-By the start of July, Commonwealth forces in Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges. In China, the Japanese were having greater successes.
-In the Pacific, US forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter. In June they began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands, and decisively defeated Japanese forces in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. It led to the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Tōjō and provided the US with air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese home islands. In late October, US forces invaded the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after, Allied naval forces scored another large victory during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-On 6 June 1944 (D-Day) the Western Allies invaded France. These landings were successful, and led to the defeat of the German Army in France. Paris was liberated on 25 August and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in Western Europe. The Western Allies slowly pushed into Germany, unsuccessfully trying to cross the Rur river in a large offensive. In Italy the Allied advance also slowed down, when they ran into the last major German defensive line.
-On 22 June, the Soviets launched a strategic offensive in Belarus that resulted in the almost complete destruction of the German Army Soon after that, another Soviet strategic offensive forced German troops from Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. The successful advance of Soviet troops prompted resistance forces in Poland to initiate several uprisings, though the largest of these, in Warsaw, as well as a Slovak Uprising in the south, were not assisted by the Soviets and were put down by German forces.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-In September 1944, Soviet Red Army troops advanced into Yugoslavia and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army in Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia. By this point, the Communist-led Partisans under Tito, who had led an increasingly successful guerrilla campaign against the occupation since 1941, controlled much of the territory of Yugoslavia and were engaged in delaying efforts against the German forces further south.
-In northern Serbia, the Red Army, with limited support from Bulgarian forces, assisted the Partisans in a joint liberation of the capital city of Belgrade on October. A few days later, the Soviets launched a massive assault against German-occupied Hungary. In contrast with impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans, the Finnish resistance to the Soviet offensive denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led to the signing of Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-On December 1944, Germany attempted its last desperate measure for success on the Western Front by using most of its remaining reserves to launch a counter-offensive in the Ardennes. By January, the offensive had been repulsed with no strategic objectives fulfilled. In Italy, the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In January 1945, the Soviets and Poles attacked in Poland. On February, US, British, and Soviet leaders met for the Yalta Conference. They agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany, and on when the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.
-In February, the Soviets invaded Silesia and Pomerania, while Western Allies entered Western Germany and closed to the Rhine river. By March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine, encircling the German Army, while the Soviets advanced to Vienna. In April, the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across Western Germany, while Soviet forces stormed Berlin in late April. On 30 April 1945, the Reichstag was captured, signalling the military defeat of the Third Reich.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45-Several changes in leadership occurred during this period. On 12
April, Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry Truman. Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on 28 April. Two days later, Hitler committed suicide, and was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.
-German forces surrendered in Italy on 29 April. The German instrument of surrender was ratified on 8 May in Berlin.
-In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and captured Manila in March following a battle which reduced the city to ruins.
-In May 1945, Australian troops landed in Borneo, overrunning the oilfields there. British, American and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese. Chinese forces started to counterattack in Battle of West Hunan that occurred in June. American forces also moved towards Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by the end of June. American bombers destroyed Japanese cities, and American submarines cut off Japanese imports.
Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-On 11 July, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany, and reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces, specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction". During this conference the UK held its general election, and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.
-As Japan continued to ignore the Potsdam terms, the US dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in early August. Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the largest Japanese fighting force. The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands.
-On 15 August 1945 Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, ending the war.
Activities
On page 207, exercises 7, 8, 11, and 12.
3.2. Spain during the war
-The Spanish State under General Franco was officially non-belligerent during World War II.
-This status, although not recognised by international law, was intended to express the regime's sympathy and material support for the Axis Powers, to which Spain offered considerable material, economic, and military assistance.
-In October 1940 Hitler and Franco met at Hendaye to consider a possible spanish intervention in the war.
-Franco asked Hitler for many concessions to join the Axis, so Hitler refused, and Spain remained neutral.
-Although neutrality, Franco supported the Axis by sending volunteer troops, the Blue Division, to fight against the Soviet Union (until 1943).
Blue Division
-No intervention allowed Franco to focus on spanish
problems after the civil war, that included:
.Economic crisis -> destruction of agricultural
lands, industry, infrastructure, etc.
.Demographic crisis -> thousands of casualties
during the war and also emigrations due to political
retaliations. The birthrate fell during the war.
.Political opposition -> spanish society remained
divided into two groups: Franco's supporters, and those
who had fought against him.
Activities
On page 207, exercise 13.
4- The wartime economy
-A war economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon (geographer, author and assistant professor at the University of
British Columbia) describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to sustain the violence."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt said that if the Axis Powers win, then "we would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy."
-On the supply side, it has been observed that wars sometimes have the effect of accelerating progress of technology to such an extent that an economy is greatly strengthened after the war, especially if it has avoided the war-related destruction. This was the case, for example, with the United States in World War I and World War II.
Rationing
-Rationing is the controlled
distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.
-A reason for setting the price lower than would clear the market may be that there is a shortage, which would drive the market price very high. High prices, especially in the case of necessities, are undesirable with regard to those who cannot afford them.
Black market
Activities
Exercises 14 and 17 on page 211.
Listening, ex. 15 on page 211.
5- The human impact of the war
5.1. Social Disruption
-Evacuation
-Blackouts and shelters
-Emigration
5.2. Resistance and collaboration
-In German-occupied areas, there were two possibilities for people (apart from being neutral):
-Resistance fighters -> secret resistance movements
-Collaborators -> they collaborated with the Germans
Activities
Exercise 18 on page 211.
TO HAND IN: exercise 19 on page 211 (choose one of the topics).
5.3. The Holocaust
-The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos, "whole" and kaustós, "burnt") was the mass murder or genocide of approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout German-occupied territory.
-Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds were killed. Over one million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust, as were approximately two million Jewish women and three million Jewish men. A network of over 40,000 facilities in Germany and German-occupied territory were used to concentrate, hold, and kill Jews and other victims.
-Recent estimates based on figures obtained since the fall of the Soviet Union indicates some ten to eleven million civilians and prisoners of war were intentionally murdered by the Nazi regime.
Activities
Exercise 20 on page 211.
6- Peace and its consequences
6.1. The peace agreements
THE YALTA CONFERENCE, Feb 1945
It was a WWII meeting of the heads of government of the USA, the UK, and the Soviet Union, represented by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and General Secretary Stalin, respectively, for the purpose of discussing Europe's post-war reorganization.
All three leaders were trying to establish an agenda for governing post-war Germany. Churchill's attitude towards the Soviet Union differed vastly from that of Roosevelt, with the former believing Stalin to be a "devil"-like tyrant leading a vile system.
The Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam,occupied Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945.
Participants were the Soviet Union, the UK and the US. The three powers were represented by Communist Party General Secretary Stalin, Prime Ministers Churchill, and, later, Clement Attlee, and President Truman.
They gathered to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May.
The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of the war.
The birth of the UNThe United Nations is an
international organization whose stated aims include promoting and facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, civil rights, civil liberties, political freedoms, democracy, and the achievement of lasting world peace.
The UN was founded in 1945 after WWII to replace the League of Nations, to stop wars between countries, and to provide a platform for dialogue. It contains multiple subsidiary organizations to carry out its missions.
The UN has 4 main purposes
•
• To develop friendly relations among nations;
• To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor
people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to
encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms;
• To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to
achieve these goals.
To keep peace throughout the world;
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Activities
Exercises 21-22 on page 217.
6.2. The consequences of the WWII
-DEMOGRAPHIC CONSEQUENCES
Greatest loss of human life in history (more than 50% civilians).
-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
Heavy damage on lands, cities, industry and infrastructure.
-POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES
Changes in politics, the USA and the USSR became the new superpowers, and the world was divided into two spheres of influence.
-TERRITORIAL CONSEQUENCES
Europe`s map changed dramatically once more.
BERLIN - before and after WWII
During World War II, most of the buildings were badly damaged or destroyed. Today all the buildings have been restored to their former state.
Before
During
After / Today
Today
Activities
Exercises 24 and 25 in page 217.
Exercise 7 on page 219.
7- Functionalism and Abstract Art
7.1. Functionalism
-Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should
design a building based on the purpose of that building.
-The Functionalist creed is especially associated with the modern style of architecture, which developed during the 2nd quarter of the 20th c. as a result of changes in building technique, new types of buildings required, and changing cultural and aesthetic ideals. In fact, as architects began to show discontent with the historical revivalism, a type of architecture based on the clear outward expression of the function of the building was bound to develop.
-The slogan “form follows function,” coined in the 1880s by one of the pioneers of modern architectural design, Sullivan, and the dictum of the architect Le Corbusier “a house is a machine for living,” which dates from 1920, both state the idea firmly.
Characteristics of Functionalism
-Building's design is functional.
-Decoration is not necessary (but possible).
-Horizontal and vertical lines are emphasised.
-Use of simple geometric shapes.
-Usual materials are reinforced concrete, steel and glass that allow architects to design very tall buildings (skyscrapers).
BAUHAUS
-It was a school of design, architecture, and applied arts that existed in Germany from 1919 to 1933. It was based in Weimar until 1925, Dessau through 1932, and Berlin in its final months. The Bauhaus was founded by the architect Walter Gropius.
-It was the origin of Functionalism in Germany, but moved to the USA from 1933 running away from the nazi regime.
Main functionalist architects
-Mies Van der Rohe, a German-American architect. He served as the last director of Berlin's Bauhaus, and then headed the department of architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, where he developed the Second Chicago School. He created an influential twentieth century architectural style, stated with extreme clarity and simplicity.
-Le Corbusier, was an architect, designer, painter, urbanist, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India, and America. He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal and AIA Gold Medal in 1961.
Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, M. V. der Rohe, 1951.
The 2 towers of glass and steel were paradigmatic for its time. They clearly reflect the International Style. Trend, its design, as well as the structural resolution, was translated and imitated throughout the world in the years after its construction. The towers, despite the modest scale of its functional units and criticism for his picture in the beginning, were a commercial success.
The project is distinguished by the synthetic and functional ideas that Mies developed throughout life. These towers are a new way of looking at housing, and that what he was recognized as their location, visual, and above all, certain utilities group.
Seagram Building, New York, M.V. der Rohe, 1954-58.
It is a modern office tower designed by van der Rohe, in collaboration with Philip Johnson.
This office skyscraper is in many ways the culmination of the purification process of expression, without any compromise in the ornamental, for high-rise buildings that van der Rohe had started with the Apartments Lake Shore Drive and had continued after this. It is a sign of his rationalist mentality, an exercise in architectural elegance that use few elements measured results in one of the most beautiful jewels of 20th century architecture.
It is the headquarters of the Seagram corporation, originally belonging to a rich bootlegger during Prohibition by selling alcohol illegally.
Villa Savoye, Poissy, Le Corbusier, 1928-31.
It was designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, and built using reinforced concrete.
A manifesto of Le Corbusier's "five points" of new architecture, the villa is representative of the bases of modern architecture, and is one of the most easily recognizable and renowned examples of the International style.
Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture
During his career, Le Corbusier developed a set of architectural principles that dictated his technique, called "the Five Points of a New Architecture" which were most evident in his Villa Savoye. These were:
• Pilotis – The replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns that bears the load of the structure is the basis of the new aesthetic.
• Roof gardens – The flat roof can be utilized for a domestic purpose while also providing essential protection to the concrete roof.
• The free designing of the ground plan – The absence of supporting walls means that the house is unrestrained in its internal usage.
• The free design of façade – By separating the exterior of the building from its structural function the façade becomes free.
• The horizontal window – The façade can be cut along its entire length to allow rooms to be lit equally.
Unite d'Habitation, Marseille, 1947-52
It comprises 337 apartments arranged over 12 stories, all suspended on large piloti. The building also incorporates shops with architectural bookshop, sporting, medical and educational facilities, a hotel which is open to the public, and a gastronomic restaurant.
Unite d'Habitation, Marseille, 1947-52
Inside, corridors run through the centre of the long axis of every third floor of the building, with each apartment lying on two levels, and stretching from one side of the building to the other, with a balcony. Unlike many of the inferior system-built blocks it inspired, which lack the original's generous proportions, communal facilities and parkland setting, the Unité is popular with its residents and is now mainly occupied by upper middle-class professionals.
The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with sculptural ventilation stacks, a running track, and a shallow paddling pool for children. There is also a children's art school in the atelier. The roof, where a number of theatrical performances have taken place, underwent renovation in 2010 and since 2013 it hosts an exhibition center. It has unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille and can be accessed by the public.
Functionalism in Spain
-GATPAC or GATEPAC (Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles Para la Arquitectura Contemporánea) was a group of architects assembled during the Second Spanish Republic. Its most important members were: Josep Lluís Sert, A. Bonet Castellana, J. Torres Clavé, J. Manuel Aizpurúa, F. García Mercadal and Sixte Illescas.
-The group was formed in the 1930s as a Spanish branch of C.I.A.M. (International Congresses of Modern Architecture).
7.2. Abstract Art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would include the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.
Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, but perhaps not of identical meaning.
Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete.
Wassily KandinskyHe was an influential Russian painter
and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely abstract works.
In 1896 Kandinsky settled in Munich, studying first at Anton Ažbe's private school and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. He returned to Moscow in 1914, after the outbreak of WWI. Kandinsky was unsympathetic to the official theories on art in Moscow, and returned to Germany in 1921. There, he taught at the Bauhaus school from 1922 until the Nazis closed it in 1933. He then moved to France where he lived the rest of his life, became a French citizen in 1939, and produced some of his most prominent art. He died in 1944.
Two kinds of painting in Abstract Art:
-Geometric Abstraction: is a form of abstract art based on the use of geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in non-illusionistic space and combined into non-objective compositions.
Kandinsky, one of the forerunners of pure non-objective painting, was among the first artists to explore this geometric approach in his abstract work. Other examples of pioneer abstractionists such as Malevich and Mondrian have also embraced this approach towards abstract painting.
-Abstract Expressionism: was an American post–WWII art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the western art world.
Technically, an important predecessor is surrealism, with its emphasis on spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation. Jackson Pollock's dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that has its roots in the work of André Masson or Max Ernst.
Malevich
Mondrian
Pollock
Abstract sculptures
-Abstract sculptures represented human figures or animals by simplifying their shapes.
-Two important sculptors were Brancusi, and Henry Moore.
Bird in space, Brancusi
The kiss, Brancusi
Socrates, by Brancusi
Henry Moore
Reclining figure
Double Oval
Activities
Exercises 26 and 27 on page 217.
Exercise 8 on page 219.
Recommendations. MoviesSchindlers List (1993) - A must see, however it is worth noting for this
list that it is based on the efforts of Oscar Schindler to save Jews during the holocaust and therefore does not feature frontline battle scenes for those that like lots of action in there WWII films.
Life Is Beautiful (1999) - Historical drama with a comical feel, Life is Beautiful is different to many on this list but is a touching film about a family trying their best to cope in desperate times and during WWII and well worthy of a mention.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) - Following along similar lines to Life is Beautiful, this movie follows a young German boy who makes an unlikely friend in the form of Jewish boy. However the camp his friend is in is also run by his father.
Downfall (2005) - A very accurate German film about the downfall of Hitler and the Nazi's. Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is first class, one of the best WWII films for sure.
Documentary"The Second World War in Colour" is a very good documentary about
WWII and how it affected life around the world between 1940-45. The entire documentary is a collection of authentic images of which a lot have been previously unreleased. Some images can be quite shocking at times and no doubt leave you with a bitter impression on how horrible war can be. The commentator also reads out a lot of letters or diary fragments from people who lived or died during World War II. Knowing this, you might think that the documentary in a whole would lose coherence but it's quite the opposite because even though "Colour of War" is mainly a collection of authentic images and letters it felt like everything fitted together very well.
About all the major events which happened during the period 1936-45 are included. For example the German invasion in Poland and France, the bombing of London, Pearl Harbor, the confrontation between the American fleet and the German U-boats, Stalingrad, the American invasions of the Japanese islands, D-day, the Holocaust, Japanese Kamikazes, Hiroshima, ... it's all there.
Series
En español, documental alojado en la web de RTVE titulado "Memorias de la guerra".
En youtube, en inglés o español, la serie de seis capítulos: Apocalypse The Second World War
Recommendations. Books
You can check this website for a list of WW2 related books.
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank - Discovered in the attic in which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne - When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.
