World War II and Cold War
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143 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 How did democracies and dictatorships differ in their pursuits at this time? | Western Democracies - attempted to strengthen peace - still horrified by the memory of WWI Dictators in Spain, Germany, and Italy - pursued goals of empire and glorified war Britain, France and the US - tried to avoid conflict |
| Dictators Challenge World Peace (Background) | - 1930s: Dictators took aggressive action - Response from Democracies: Verbal pleas for peace - Mussolini and Hitler (viewed peace as weakness and continued their actions) |
| Japan on the Move | - Japan wanted an empire equal to that of the western powers |
| Japan invades Manchuria [1931] (Western Reaction) | - League of Nations condemned action - Japan withdrew from League of Nations - Japan overran much of eastern China by 1937 |
| What was the western response? | - Western protests to these actions were ineffective |
| Italy invades Ethiopia [1935] | - Italy still angry about defeat by the Ethiopians in 1896 - Italy successfully defeated Ethiopians 1935 - Outdated Ethiopian weapons led to defeat - Ethiopian King: Haile Selassie (appealed to the League of Nations) - League voted sanctions (penalties) against Italy --> League had no power to enforce the sanctions |
| Hitler's Challenge Defiance of Treaty of Versailles | - Built German military - Sent troops into demilitarized Rhineland |
| Impact of Hitler's Defiance | - Hitler's defiance won him popularity |
| Western Reaction | - Western Democracies denounced actions - Adopted policy of appeasement (giving in to demands of aggressor to keep peace) |
| Causes for Appeasement Policy | 1. France could not move against Germany w/out Britain 2. Britain didn't want to confront Hitler (many thought Hitler's actions were justifiable after the Treaty of Versailles) 3. Britain and France saw fascism as a defense against communism 4. Great Depression hurt economies of democracies 5. Widespread pacifism |
| US Neutrality Acts | - Forbade sale of arms to any nation at war - Outlawed loans to warring nations - Prohibited Americans from traveling on ships of warring nations - GOAL: Avoid involvement in European war, NOT to prevent such a conflict |
| Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis (Italy, Germany, Japan) | - Agreed to fight communism - Agreed not to interfere in one anothers plans for expansion - EFFECT: allowed for them to take even bolder steps |
| The Spanish Civil War From Monarchy to Republic | - Spain 1920s - Monarchy - Dominating Groups (Landowning upper-class, Catholic Church, Military) - Most Spanish were poor peasants or urban workers - Popular unrest led king to leave Spain 1931 - Republic established (Liberal constitution) |
| The Spanish Civil War Republican Government - Reforms | - Took over some Church lands - Ended Church control of education - Redistributed land to peasants - Women's suffrage - Ended some privileges of old ruling class |
| Republican Government - Reforms Reaction | - Conservatives rejected change (Supported by Military) |
| Nationalists vs. Loyalists Nationalists | - Leader: Francisco Franco (led revolt that began civil war) - Supporters: fascists and right wing - Mussolini and Hitler send troops to support Franco |
| Nationalists vs. Loyalists Loyalists | - Supporters of republic - Supporters: communists, socialists and supporters of democracy - International Brigades (Volunteers from Germany, Italy, Soviet Union and Western Democracies supported Loyalists |
| Which governments remained neutral? | - Governments of Britain, France and US |
| A Dress Rehearsal The Attack on Guernica | - Germany bombed a small town with no military value - Used machine guns to kill anyone who survived the bombing - 1600 innocent people were killed - Nazi leaders saw this as an "experiment" to identify what their new planes could do |
| Franco's Victory | - Created a fascist dictatorship like Hitler and Mussolini |
| German Aggression Continues Hitler's Goals | - Bring all German speaking people into the Third Reich - Wanted "living space" for Germans in eastern Europe - Argued that Germany had the right to conquer Slavs in the east |
| Austria Annexed [1938] | - Anschluss: union of Austria and Germany - Forced Austrian chancellor to appoint Nazis in key cabinets positions - Hitler sent in army to preserve order - Hitler assumed role as leader of Austria - Violated Treaty of Versailles |
| Western Reaction | - No action taken against Hitler |
| The Czech Crisis | - Hitler insisted that the Germans in Sudetenland be autonomous - Czechoslovakia was one of two democracies in Eastern Europe - No one took action against Hitler - Hitler then claimed that the Sudetenland be annexed to Germany |
| Munich Conference [1938] | - Britain and France used a policy of appeasement - Munich Pact |
| Munich Pact | - Persuaded Czechs to surrender without a fight - Hitler assured Britain and France he had no intentions of further expansion |
| "Peace for Our Time" | - British prime minister Chamberlain claimed he achieved "peace for our time" - Argued that the Munich Pact saved Europe from Armageddon - French leader Daladier was not as optimistic |
| Significance of Czech Crisis | - Reveals Nazi menace |
| Europe Plunges Toward War (Background) | - March 1939: Hitler invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia - Western democracies realized appeasement failed (promised to protect Poland) |
| Nazi-Soviet Pact | - Non-aggression pact between Germany and Soviet Union - Secret Agreement - Pact based on mutual need |
| Nazi-Soviet Pact Secret Agreement | - Ensure Russian neutrality during the planned invasion of Poland - Divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe |
| Nazi-Soviet Pact Pact based on mutual need | - Hitler feared communism - Stalin feared fascism - Hitler wanted Poland - Hitler didn't want to fight a war against western democracies and Soviet Union |
| Invasion of Poland | - September 1, 1939 - Britain and France declared war on Germany - WWII began |
| Why War Came? | - Axis aggression - Policy of appeasement (Western democracies wanted to avoid war at all cost) (Western democracies distracted w/ their own economic and political problems) - Impact of Treaty of Versailles |
| Invasion of Poland | - Nazi Blitzkrieg (lightening war) (bombed airfields, factories, towns, cities) (tanks and troops invaded country) - Russia attacked Poland from the east (In order to gain lands promised in Nazi-Soviet Pact) (Russia invaded Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) |
| The "Phony War" | - Maginot Line (French remained behind this area) (Britain sent aid to them) - Quiet time of waiting |
| Nazi-Blitzkrieg | - Norway - Denmark - Netherlands - Belgium |
| Miracle of Dunkirk | - Germany invaded France [May 1940] - Dunkirk (Beach on the English Channel) - Allied troops were rescued from advancing Nazis (Britain sent all naval vessels to rescue troops) |
| Impact of the Miracle of Dunkirk | - Boosted British morale |
| France Falls | - Italy attacked France from the south - Germany continued invasion - France surrendered [June 1940] - Germany occupied northern France - Germany set up puppet state in Vicky |
| Free French | - Charles de Gaulle escaped to England and set up government |
| WWII in Africa | - Italy's colony of Libya invades Egypt [September 1940] - Britain aids Egypt - General Erwin Rommel (German general, The Desert Fox, Pushes Britain back) |
| WWII in the Balkans | - Italy invades Greece [October 1940] - Hitler sends aid to Italy - Greece and Yugoslavia are defeated |
| Axis alliance grows | Bulgaria and Hungary join |
| The Technology of Modern Warfare | - Luftwaffe: German air-force - Fast moving tanks - Parachute troops - Airplanes and submarines improved - Radar: detected airplanes - Sonar: detected submarines - Medical Advances (antibiotics) |
| The Battle of Britain and the Blitz (Background) | - Winston Churchill became Prime Minister - Hitler organized for Operation Sea Lion (Invasion of Britain) - Hitler launched air strikes against Britain |
| The London Blitz | - August 12, 1940 - Germany bombed England's southern coast for one month - Germany began to bomb London and other cities (57 nights) |
| The London Blitz London Reaction | - Government continued - Citizens sought refuge in shelters - British king and queen did not flee (Hid in bomb shelter) |
| Failure of the Blitz | - Germany continued bombings until June 1941 - British morale not destroyed - Operation Sea Lion was a failure - Hitler decided to invade Russia (helped to save Britain) |
| Operation of Barbarossa | - Conquest of the Soviet Union - Stalin unprepared for German invasion - 2.5 million Russians died - Russians destroyed factories and burned crops - Hitler poised to take Moscow and Leningrad - Hitler not prepared for winter |
| Siege of Leningrad | - Foot rationed - 1 million died - Stalin urged Britain to open a second front to aid him |
| American Involvement Grows | - US declared neutrality in 1939 - Many Americans sympathized w/ those fighting the Axis |
| The Arsenal of Democracy Methods to Circumvent Neutrality Lend-Lease Act [1941] | - Sell of lend war materials to any country whose defense FDR deemed vital to the defense of the US - "Arsenal of Democracy" selling arms to those who were fighting for freedom |
| Atlantic Charter [August 1941] | - Secret meeting on warship in Atlantic - Roosevelt: USA - Churchill: Britain |
| Atlantic Charter Goals | - Final destruction of Nazi tyranny - Support for self-determination - Called for a permanent system of general security - Endorsed principles of free trade and disarmament |
| Japan Attacks | - Japan had been trying to conquer since 1930s - Chinese would not surrender - japan tried to gain possessions in Southeast Asia with the outbreak of WWII |
| Growing Tensions | - Japan invaded French Indochina and Indonesia |
| US Reaction | - US ended all trade with Japan - Banned sale of war materials to Japan (Iron, Steel, Oil) |
| Diplomacy failed | - General Tojo Hideki was gaining power - Extreme militarist - Wanted to seize lands in Asia and Pacific |
| Attack on Pearl Harbor | - December 7, 1941 - Japanese successfully attacked 19 ships - 2,400 people died - US declared war on Japan - December 11, 1941: Germany and Italy declared war on US |
| Japanese Victories | - Japanese successfully defeated European and American possessions in the Pacific - Philippines, Hong Kong, Burma, Malaya, French Indochina |
| Japanese Empire | - Southeast Asia to western Pacific Ocean |
| WWII a Unique War | - Fought in more places - More deaths |
| Nazi Europe | - Hitler established puppet governments in Western European countries - Slavs were forced aside to make room for lebensraum - Hitler stripped conquered nations of art, factories and resources - Thousands became slave laborers in German industries |
| Nazi Genocide | - Exterminate racial inferiors (Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Mentally ill) |
| Persecution of Jews in Poland | - Deporting of all German Jews to Poland (Ghettos) (Concentration Camps) |
| Final Solution | - Genocide (deliberate murder) of all European Jews - Death Camps (Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka) (Designed efficient means for killing millions) |
| Conditions of Death Camps | - Stripped of clothes - Hair shaved - Separated women and men - Separated parents and children - Many gassed - Many worked to death or used for medical experiments |
| Holocaust | - 6 million Jews murdered - Extermination of European Jews was the ultimate monstrosity of Nazi racism and racial imperialism - Millions of other "undesirables" were killed |
| Resistance | - Jews destroyed gas chamber in Auschwitz --> rebels killed - Some people protected Jews (wrote them exit visas) (hid them in villages) |
| Collaborators | - helping the Nazis hunt down the Jews - Vichy government in France shipped Jews to their death |
| The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere | - Japan's mission: to help Asians escape western colonial rule - Effect: Japanese empire in Asia |
| Japanese treatment of non-Japanese people | - Many killed or tortured - Not permitted to even listen to Allied news - Seized food - Destroyed cities |
| Reaction of those w/in the sphere | - Nationalist groups waged guerrilla warfare against the Japanese |
| The Grand Alliance | - Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin - Agreed to finish the war in Europe before the turning their attention to Asia |
| Suspicions | - Churchill thought Stalin wanted to dominate Europe - FDR thought Churchill wanted to expand British imperial power - Stalin thought western democracies wanted to destroy communism |
| US Objectives | - Total defeat of Axis - establish new world order to keep peace and protect self-determination |
| Great Britain Objectives | - Maintain British colonial empire - Maintain balance of power in Europe |
| Soviet Union Objectives | - Weaken Germany - A second front in Western Europe to relieve pressure on Russia (US and Great Britain delayed until 1944) (Stalin saw this as a way to weaken the Soviet Union) |
| Political Impact | - Governments increased political power |
| Economic Impact | - Economic resources directed to war effort (factories made airplanes and tanks) - Rationed consumer goods - Regulated prices and wages - Ended unemployment |
| Social Impact | - Limited rights of citizens - Censorship - Propaganda - Discrimination (Impact of Japanese Americans and Canadians - Lost jobs & Internment camps) (Reparations) |
| Women Help Win the War | - Replaced men in their jobs - Served in armed forces - Some Soviet women were in combat roles |
| Turning Points | - Allies won several battles that would turn the tide - Instead of opening a second front in Europe to aid Stalin, US aided British in North Africa - negative impact on US-USSR relations |
| El Alamein, Egypt (Victory in North Africa) | - British General Montgomery stopped Rommel's advance - American General Eisenhower later helped British forces defeat Rommel in 1943 |
| Invasion of Italy | - US helped British invade Italy - British and American army defeated Italian army in the summer of 1943 |
| Invasion of Italy Impact | - Italians overthrew Mussolini - New Italian government signed an armistice (Hitler sent troops to rescue Mussolini and aid Italians) |
| Invasion of Italy Significance | - Weakened Hitler by forcing him to fight a second front |
| The Red Army Resists | - Germans were stalled outside of Moscow and Leningrad - Hitler launched offensive 1942 - Stalled at Stalingrad |
| Battle of Stalingrad | - August 1942-January 1943 - One of the costliest battles - Russians encircled the Germans - Germans were then trapped without food or ammunition - Germany surrendered 1943 |
| Battle of Stalingrad Significance | - Red Army took the offensive and dove invaders out of Soviet Union - Soviet troops advanced into Eastern Europe (Established puppet government in Poland) (Took control of Romania and Bulgaria) (Drove Nazis out of Yugoslavia) |
| Invasion of France | - Eisenhower made supreme Allied Commander - Allied bombers flew missions over Germany (bombed factories, aircraft and cities) |
| June 6, 1944 - D-Day | - After midnight planes dropped paratroopers behind enemy lines - At dawn ships stormed the beaches - Broke through German defenses |
| Allies advances toward Paris | - French resistance forces rose up against Germans - France was free by September |
| War in the Pacific | - At sea - On tiny islands - In deep jungles |
| Japanese won many victories | - Controlled much of Southeast Asia and Pacific islands |
| Battle of the Philippines | - May 1942: Japan gained control of Philippines - Bataan Death March |
| Bataan death march | - 68 miles - Forcible transfer of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war to prison camps - Wide-ranging physical abuse and murder |
| Turning Point - Allied Victories | - Battle of Coral Sea: First battle fought by planes from aircraft carriers - Battle of Midway |
| Island-Hopping Campaign | - US offensive - Recapture Japanese-held islands - Captured islands served as steppingstones to the next - 1944: US Navy was blockading Japan |
| Battle of the Bulge | - Allies moved into Belgium - December 1944 - Delayed Allied advance - Seen as a German success |
| Bombing of Germany for two years | - Military bases, factories, railroad, oil depots, cities |
| Yalta Conference [February 1945] | - Peace meeting with the Big Three - Staling agreed to have free elections in eastern Europe after the war - broken promise - Stalin agreed to declare war on Japan once Germany in defeated |
| The End in Europe | - Mussolini executed - Hitler committed suicide - Berlin was captured by the Soviets - Germany surrendered - May 8, 1945: V-E Day (Victory in Europe) |
| Significance of Battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa | - Japanese would fight to the death than surrender |
| Japanese Kamikaze Pilots | - Suicide missions crashing explosive planes into American warships |
| Atomic Bomb | - Tested Successfully (New Mexico) - President Truman decided to use new weapon against Japan |
| Postdam Conference | - Warned Japan to surrender or face destruction - Japan refused |
| Hiroshima | - US dropped atomic bomb - 70,000 people killed instantly - died from radiation |
| Soviet Union declared war on Japan [1945] | - Invaded Manchuria - No response from Japanese |
| Nakasaki | - US dropped another atomic bomb - 40,000 people were killed |
| August 10, 1945 | - Japan surrendered |
| Why did Truman use the bomb? | - Convinced that Japan would not surrender without invasion - Intimidate Soviet Union |
| Horrors of the Holocaust | - Allies were aware of death camps - At the year's end they learned the full extent of the misery |
| War Crimes Trials | - Axis leaders tried for "crimes against humanity" - Nuremberg Trials (Germans and Austrians found guilty) - War crimes trials in Italy and Japan |
| War Crimes Trials Significance | - Showed that military and political leaders would be held accountable for actions in wartime |
| Allied Occupation | - War crimes trials discredited Nazi, fascist, militarist ideologies - Allies occupied Germany and Japan - US argued that strengthening democracy would ensure peace - Western Allies built new governments with democratic constitutions - Nazi textbooks replaced with books that reflected democratic principles |
| The United Nations | - April 1945: 50 nations met to draft the charter - Greater role in international affairs than League of Nations |
| Charter | - Each nation had one vote in General Assembly - Security Council (US, USSR, Britain, France, China) |
| Other UN Involvements | - Prevent the outbreak of disease - Improve education - Aid developing nations - Protect refugees - World Health organization - Food and Agricultural Organization |
| Why did the Alliance break apart? | - New Power Structure - Germany defeated - Britain and France drained - US and USSR emerge as superpowers and rivals (strong economic resources) (military might) |
| Growing Differences | - Soviet Union and the west cooperated to defeat Nazi Germany |
| The Cold War | - State of tension and hostility among nations without armed conflict - Focus of the conflict initially was Eastern Europe ( Stalin and the west had different goals) |
| Stalin's Goals | - Spread communism into Eastern Europe - Create a buffer zone of friendly governments as defense against Germany - Stalin wanted the occupying forces in eastern Europe to determine the social system (Stalin argued that the US was not consulting the Soviets on their occupying policies in Italy and Japan) |
| Yalta Western Conference [February 1945] | - FDR and Churchill made Stalin promise "free elections" in Eastern Europe (Stalin ignored the pledge) (Stalin installed pro-communist governments throughout Eastern Europe) |
| Iron Curtain | - Speech made by Churchill - Soviet control of Eastern Europe was an "iron curtain" dividing Europe |
| Iron Curtain became symbol of Cold War | - Growing fear of communism - Described division of Europe into eastern (communist) and western (democratic) blocs |
| US Foreign Policy | - Truman saw communism as a threat - US abandoned isolationism |
| - Problems in Greece and Turkey | Greece - Stalin supported communist rebels fighting to overturn monarchy supported by Britain - Britain could no longer afford to support Greece Turkey - Stalin supported a communist revolt |
| Truman Doctrine | - Foundation for US foreign policy - US commitment to support peoples all over the world who were threatened by Soviet aggression and/or internal communist uprising (Truman sent military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey) |
| Containment | - Limiting communism to areas already under Soviet control - Foundation of Truman Doctrine - Developed by George Kennan in his Long Telegram - Stalin saw containment as a way to isolate the Soviet union |
| Main Points from Long Telegram | - Spread of communism was seen as the greatest threat to the free world - Communism was a "malignant parasite that fed only on diseased tissue" |
| Marshall Plan | - Economic aid to help countries in Europe rebuild - Assistance was also used to aid countries in their fight against communism - Truman offered aid to Soviet satellites (Satellites: dependent states) |
| Stalin's reaction | - Argued it was a plan to win Eastern Europe over to capitalism and democracy |
| Divisions with Germany | - Soviet Union dismantled factories (feared a German build up) - France, Britain and US united their zones (encouraged the build up of industry) - Result: Germany a divided nation with the Berlin Wall (West Germany: Democratic) (East Germany: Communist) |
| Berlin Aircraft | - Berlin occupied by all four Allies - Stalin tried to force Allies out by sealing off railroad and highways |
| Berlin Aircraft - Response | - Cargo planes supplied West Berliners with food and fuel - Forced Soviets to end blockade |
| Berlin Aircraft - Significance | - Deepened hostilities of the Cold War |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization | - Members: US, Canada, Nine Western European countries - Pledged to help one another if any one of them was attacked |
| Warsaw Pact | - Members: USSR, Seven Satellite countries - Used as a weapon to keep order in the satellites |
| The Arms Race | - US had an initial advantage with nuclear energy - Soviet Union tested its own atomic bomb - USSR and US spent money on new delivery systems (bombers, missiles, submarines) |
| Propaganda War | US Propaganda - Defending capitalism and democracy Soviet Union Propaganda - Claimed to resist western imperialism Both sides sought world power |
| Cold War | - 40 years - Fueled crisis around the world - Drained economic resources - Superpowers took sides in various wars - new weapons raised fear of global destruction |
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