Found on the internet some useful inform on European History, by Author Dunbar, AP European History, Chapter 28: World War II Outline
Chapter Overview
- The origins of World War II
- The course of the war
- Racism and the Holocaust
- The impact of the war on the people of Europe
- Relationships among the victorious allies and the preparations for peace
Section One: Again the Road to War
- Section Overview: a. German discontent over economic depression that struck Germany in 1923 and again in 1930 was attributed to the Versailles settlement; b. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party denounced the treaty and used strict discipline to attract people to their platform
- Hitler’s Goals: a. Racial theory was at the core of Hitler’s ideology as he sought to strengthen the nation of the volk—a racial group composed of ethnically German people. Involved the removal of inferior groups, like Jews, in order to purify the new Germany; b. Hitler sought to extend the boundaries of the German nation to include parts of the old Habsburg Empire, especially Austria; c. Lebensraum (“living space”): additional land needed to expand the power of the German nation; inhabitants of that land, like the Slavs, would be forced into servitude; d. Germany Rearms: In 1933, Germany withdrew from an international disarmament conference and also from the League of Nations. In 1935, Germany formally renounced the disarmament provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and began building a modern air force and reinstated conscription (army grew to 500,000 men).
- League of Nations Fails: Japan invaded Manchuria (in China); China pleas to the League of Nations to impose sanctions against Japan; the League condemned the act put failed to impose sanctions; Japan withdraws from the League and maintained control of Manchuria. The League of Nations condemned Hitler’s rearmament program but took no actions to deter it. Britain and France felt hypocritical in enforcing this as they both refused to disarm. Stresa Front—Britain and France met with Mussolini promising to use force to maintain the status quo in Europe. Britain violated the Stresa Front by making a pact with Germany that allowed Hitler to build a navy 35% the size of that of Britain’s. In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and it became clear that the Western Powers had little motivation to resist this action. League of Nations did condemn the act and imposed an arms embargo that limited loans and credit to Italy. France and Britain refused to embargo oil, which would have forced Italy to withdraw from Ethiopia. Britain allowed Italian troops and munitions to reach Ethiopia through the Suez Canal. The League of Nations and the idea of collective security were discredited. Public opinion in western Europe turned against Italy which led Mussolini to seek closer ties with Germany and they formed the Rome-Berlin Axis.
- Remilitarization of the Rhineland: Hitler sent a small armed force to the demilitarized Rhineland which violated both the Versailles treaty and the Locarno Agreements. Britain and France filed a complaint with the League of Nations but neither did anything to resist. The Allies lost a great opportunity in the Rhineland to stop Hitler before he became overly brazen. · The French army along the border would have easily destroyed the small German force placed in the Rhineland.
- Policy of Appeasement: Britain and France set out to negotiate with Germany as they believed the Germans had real grievances and that Hitler’s goals were acceptable.The western powers legitimately dreaded the thought of another war. Immediately following World War I, France had built a line of defenses along its new border with Germany known as the Maginot Line
- The Spanish Civil War: This conflict in Spain made a new European alignment that found the Western democracies on one side and the fascist states on the other. Civil War in Spain: The monarchy collapsed in 1931 and Spain became a more democratic republic that really did not make anyone happy. Conservative groups like landowners, the Catholic Church, and nationalists felt their way of life was attacked by the new system. Peasants, workers, and radicals were not satisfied either. Elections in 1936 brought to power a Spanish Popular Front government which brought to power republicans, communists, and anarchist. Fascist in France would not accept this government. General Francisco Franco led an army from Spanish Morocco against the republic and a war erupted that lasted three years. Germany and Italy supported Franco with troops, airplanes, and supplies. The Soviet Union sent equipment and advisors to assist the republican government. American and European volunteers fought with the republicans against the fascist. Spanish Civil War—training ground for World War II.
- Rome-Berlin Axis was formed in 1936 and brought Italy and Germany closer together; they were joined by Japan who wanted to eradicate the spread of communism. France and Britain had great interest in preventing the spread of fascism to Spain but failed to send their armies. Barcelona fell to Franco’s fascist army in 1939 and they won control of the Spanish government of which Franco remained leader until his death in 1975. Austria and Czechoslovakia: Anschluss—term used to describe the union of Germany and Austria. This was always a goal of the Nazi Party and Hitler. In 1934, the Nazi Party in Austria assassinated the prime minister of Austria and attempted to seize power but Mussolini moved troops to Italy’s border with Austria to prevent the coup. Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schusnigg announced a plebiscite in 1938 to poll the Austrian people to prove they opposed unification with Germany. On March 12, a day prior to the plebiscite, Hitler sent an army into Austria and seized control.
- Hitler’s territorial aspirations in Czechoslovakia: Ethnic Germans who lived in the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia made demands for autonomy; supported by Hitler and nationalist leader Konrad Henlein; fearing a German attack, the Czechs mobilized for war and were assured by Britain, France, and the Soviet Union that they would be supported; Hitler had not mobilized for war and was embarrassed by the ordeal. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attempted to broker concessions between the two opposing sides but to no avail; at a Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally on September 12, 1938 Hitler made a provocative speech that led to rioting in the Sudetenland which was ceded to Germany. Munich: Mussolini suggested a conference in Munich with representatives from Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and France in order to resolve mounting tension due to Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland. Hitler announced at the meeting, “I have no more territorial demands to make in Europe.” Soon thereafter, though, the Czech state fell apart as Poland and Hungary tore more territory from it and on March 15, 1939 a German army occupied Prague.
- Poland was the next target of German expansion. Germany wanted Poland to restore the formerly German city of Danzig. Germany wanted Poland to allow a railroad and a highway through the Polish Corridor to connect East Prussia with the rest of Germany. As tension mounted between Poland and Germany, Chamberlain announced a Franco-British guarantee of Polish independence. France and Britain considered seeking help from Soviet Union with this alliance. Nazi-Soviet Pact: Secret provisions of this agreement divided Poland between them and allowed Russia to occupy the Baltic states and to take Bessarabia from Romania.Bitter ideological enemies had become allies. On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
- The German Conquest of Europe: Attack on Poland. “lightening warfare,” or blitzkrieg led to swift victory as a column of fast-moving tanks, supported by air power, devastated Poland: On September 17, Russia invaded Poland from the east and divided the country with Germany. By July 1940, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had become satellite states of the Soviet Union. In June 1940, Russia forced Romania to cede Bessarabia.
- War on the Western Front: Britain blockaded Germany and meanwhile prepared for war. France hid behind the Maginot Line. Many western observers believed this would be a “phony war,” or Sitzkrieg, and it would have little impact on the western powers; however, this view changed when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and had a staging ground for an invasion of Britain. In the late spring of 1940, Germany launched an air attack on Belgium (surrendered in two weeks), the Netherlands (surrendered in a few days), and Luxembourg. British and French armies fighting the Germans in Belgium were forced to flee to the English Channel on the beaches of Dunkirk. German army bypassed the Maginot Line by launching an invasion of France through Belgium. Poorly trained French army, led my generals who were not versed in the use of tanks or warplanes, easily fell to the powerful German military. Mussolini invaded southern France on June 10. France asked for an armistice less than a week later. In two months Hitler had accomplished what Germany had failed to achieve in four years of bitter fighting in the previous war.
- The Battle of Britain: Winston Churchill became prime minister of Britain in May 1940 and led tough resistance against German control of the continent as he was unwilling to negotiate with Hitler. Churchill established a close friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt. US was neutral and politically dominated by an isolationist policy. Churchill convinced the US to send supplies and warships across the Atlantic to help protect Britain. Hitler’s attempt to take Great Britain: German air force, or Luftwaffe, began attacking airfields and fighter planes in southeast England, in August 1940. Beginning in early September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed London for two months straight and killed 15,000 civilians. The bombing of London strengthened the moral of the British people. Assisted by newly developed radar detection technology and excellent communications, the RAF (royal air force) inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe and forced Hitler to abort his plan to invade Britain.
- The German Attack on Russia: Hitler had long planned to extend German “living space” in Russia and the Ukraine and ordered his generals to start planning for the invasion in 1940. Operation Barbarossa. Planned to begin in mid-May 1940 so the Germans would have control of Russia before winter set in. The Soviet Union was not prepared and were taken by surprise. By November, the German army stood at the gates of Leningrad and an attack on Moscow seemed imminent. Hitler stalled in August as he debated strategy and the German army withered when winter set in. This planned blitzkrieg ended in a war of attrition with casualties in the millions on both sides.
- Italy in North Africa: Jealous of Hitler’s success in western and northern Europe, and forbidden to seize any in France, Mussolini attacked the British in Egypt. Hitler sent troops to assist the Italians in Egypt and the Balkans. Erwin Rommel, “the Desert Fox,” commanded German troops in North Africa and defeated the British in Libya and forced them back into Egypt. This unanticipated diversion cost Hitler thousands of troops who he had planned to have in the Soviet Union.
- Hitler’s Plans for Europe - The Third Reich: Hitler’s plan to resurrect German greatness as the other two German empires were those forged by Charlemagne in the ninth century and Bismarck in the nineteenth. Administration of conquered territories. Some areas were formally annexed, some ruled by German officials, some ruled through puppet governments, pockets of Germans became the ruling class Poland, frontier colonies ruled by German war veterans emerged. Racial policies in conquered lands: People perceived as genetically similar to Germans like those in Scandinavia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands were to be absorbed and germanified. Others, like the Poles and Slavs, were treated essentially like slaves.
- Japan and the United States Enter the War. US policies toward Japan had been unfriendly since the invasion of Manchuria, World War II saw Japan form alliances with Germany and Italy, and make a treaty of neutrality with the Soviet Union. Japan forced defeated France to surrender military bases in Indochina. This move led the US to freeze Japanese assets and cut off oil supplies. Japan continued war against China and planned to take control of Malaya and Indonesia at the expense of the British and Dutch. General Hideki Tojo, a member of a war faction, took power and planned for war against the US. Attack on Pearl Harbor—December 7, 1941. While Japanese representatives were negotiating a compromise in Washington, Tojo ordered an attack on the American naval base in Hawaii. The attack destroyed much of the American fleet and many airplanes. The next day, the US and Britain declared war on Japan.
- The Tide Turns: Slow start for the US. Neither the US military nor industry were prepared for war. Fast start for Japan. Japanese swiftly captured Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippine Islands, and by the spring of 1942 they conquered Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies. Japan conquered New Guinea and was preparing to invade Australia. Germans continue invasion of Russia and continue to fight the British in North Africa. Rommel continued to push the British deeper into Egypt until they finally defeated the German army at the Battle of El Alamein. Major Allies naval victory in the Pacific. allies significantly depleted the Japanese navy in the Coral Sea. the US defeated the Japanese in a fierce air and naval battle off Midway Island. soon after, American marines landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and began to gain momentum in the war.
- The Soviet Union pressured the United States and Britain to attack the Germans on the western front in Europe, but several factors prevented this until 1944. Allied Landings in Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Allied forces landed in French North Africa and the British forces in Egypt converged on Tunisia where they routed a German army. In July and August 1943, the Allies took control of Sicily. A coup toppled Mussolini but the Germans took control. Allies landed in Italy and the leader of the new Italian government, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, declared war on Germany. Battle of Stalingrad. German soldiers remained throughout Russia even after the winter set in and thwarted the attempt to take Moscow. The goal of German occupation of Russia was to take control of the oil fields near the Caspian Sea. Stalingrad, a city on the Volga River to the northwest of the Caspian Sea was the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting in World War II. While the Russians lost more soldiers defending Stalingrad than the US did in the entire war, they were successful in destroying the entire German army. Stalingrad marks a major turning point in the war.
- Strategic Bombing: The US and Britain launched a series of bombardments on Germany. US introduced long-range fighters that could protect bombers and allow precision bombing. Targets were mainly oilfields and communications centers. British bombers completely annihilated Dresden which has raised moral questions since. Aerial war over Germany diverted German defense from other fronts.
- The Defeat of Nazi Germany. D-Day (June 6, 1944): American, British, and Canadian troops landed on the coast of Normandy France. beaches of France were heavily fortified but the Allies established a beachhead and invaded from it. planned by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. France was liberated from German occupation by the beginning of September 1944. The Battle of the Bulge: Germans launched a counter attack in Belgium and Luxembourg through the Ardennes Forest. Because the Germans had pushed forward into the Allied line, it is called the Battle of the Bulge. Although the Allies suffered heavy casualties, this was the last attempt for the Germans as the Allies crossed the Rhine in March of 1945 and chased the German army back into Germany. The Capture of Berlin: The Russians swept quickly into Germany from the east and moved to capture Berlin. As the Russians approached, Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945. The Russians occupied Berlin.
- The Fall of the Japanese Empire. Americans Recapture the Pacific Islands. Implement a strategy known as “island hopping” where the US captured strategic islands-starting in the Solomon Islands-and moving north toward Japan. By June 1944, the US captured the Mariana Islands which they used as a base to bomb the Japanese in the Philippines, China, and Japan itself. In October, the US captured the Philippines. In 1945, Iwo Jima and Okinawa fell despite fierce Japanese resistance which included the use of kamikaze attacks. The US launched relentless bombings of Japanese industry and disabled the Japanese navy. The Atomic Bomb: On August 6, 1945 an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima which destroyed the city and killed 70,000 of the 200,000 residents. The next day, a second atomic bomb hit Nagasaki. The Japanese government surrendered on August 14 and a peace was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
- The Cost of War: Military deaths in World War II are estimated at 15 million. When deaths that resulted from disease, hunger, and other causes, the numbers total nearly 40 million. Most of Europe and large parts of Asia were devastated. The war ended on an anxious notes as the world feared the potential of atomic weapons and conflicts among the victors seemed inevitable.
- Section Overview. Most horrific aspect of World War II was the inhumanity of Hitler’s racial doctrines. Considered the Slavs Untermenschen, subhuman creatures like beasts. In Poland, the upper and professional classes were jailed, deported, and killed. In Russia, Hitler and Heirich Himmler (head of the SS) planned to eliminate 30 million Slavs to make room for Germans.
- Hitler planned to make Europe Judenrein, or “free of Jews. The Holocaust saw the murder of nearly 6 million Jews, leaving only 1 million European Jews alive. The Destruction of the Polish Jewish Community. Poland’s Jewish population had lived for centuries in a climate of anti-Semitism and therefore lived in their own neighborhoods and villages. Under Russian domination, all those who were not Orthodox Christians—like Lutherans and Roman Catholics, but especially the Jews—were subject to a variety of discriminatory legislation. Polish Jews used Hebrew as their written language and Yiddish as their primary spoken language. Jews were the poorest group in Poland as most were excluded from trade unions. · Polish Anti-Semitism between the Wars. Jozef Pilsudski, who dominated the interwar era, favored including Jews as citizens; however, his successors proceeded to implement anti-Semitic policies. The Polish government nationalized certain industries and excluded Jews from employment in them. By the late 1930s, the Polish government required businesses to display their owners’ names prominently, which made it easy for people to avoid Jewish shops. Jews tended to move into careers in law and medicine as they were excluded from civic life. In general, many Polish Jews attempted assimilation n the interwar era as they adopted the dress, social practices, and language of the Polish majority without actually expecting to be considered Polish. Jews in Poland had trouble agreeing on a strategy to use the political system as a vehicle to gain more rights.
- The Nazi Assault on the Jews of Poland. The Nazis viewed Poland as the chief breeding ground for European Jewry. Jews in Poland initially forced into ghettos, walled off and guarded sections of cities, following German occupation; disease and malnutrition in ghettos killed many. Nazis confiscated property and businesses of Jews. Jewish laborers were sent to work in camps while their families remained in ghettos. During the second half of 1941, the Nazi government decided to exterminate the Jews of Europe. From late 1941 througho 1944, the Germans transported Jews from ghettos by rail to death camps in Poland, including Kulmhof, Belzen, Sobibor, Birkenau, and Auschwitz. In death camps, Jews were systematically killed in gas chambers.By 1945, nearly 90% of Poland’s Jewish population had been destroyed.
o Jews continued to face oppression during Soviet occupation following World War II leading many to seek asylum in Israel.
· Explanations of the Holocaust
o Fundamental questions raised about the Holocaust
§ Was it a unique event or unprecedented and unparalleled evil, or was it one specific instance of a more general human wickedness that has found expression throughout history?
§ Are its roots to be found in flaws in human nature as a whole, or are they unique to the experience of the West or, perhaps, the German people?
o Other examples of atrocities; while Hitler attempted the destruction of an entire group of people, they were eliminating social discontent and political rivals.
§ Stalin in Russia
§ Mao in China
§ US dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
o How was it possible to carry out such an extensive mass murder of European Jews?
§ persistence of anti-Semitism in Christianity and western culture
§ pseudo-scientific racial theories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
§ parochial nationalism that developed during the French Revolution which polarized views of “others” and justified terror to promote one’s homeland
§ scientific and technological advances that gave the modern state the power to command its people through mass media and propaganda which permitted the creation of a totalitarian state
Section Three: the Domestic Fronts
· Section Overview
o World War II serves as the best example of total war in human history as so many men and women and resources were devoted to the war effort.
· Germany: From Apparent Victory to Defeat
o Early in the war
§ little had changed in Germany as spending on domestic projects continued and food was plentiful
§ the German economy was not on a full wartime footing
o Germany’s inability to quickly defeat Russia changed the course of the war for Germany
§ food supplies stopped arriving from the east.
§ Germany forced to mobilize for total war
§ German government demanded more sacrifices from its citizens
o Total War and Germany
§ Consumer goods shortages plagued the German people after 1942
§ there was a labor shortage which required retired Germans and teenagers to work in factories.
§ theaters closed
§ thousands of non-Germans were forced to provided labor in Germany
o Women and total war
§ encouraged to remain faithful to their husbands who were off fighting in war
§ served as air raid wardens
§ worked in munitions factories
§ protect racial purity
o Total war and propaganda
§ Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels used film and radio addressed to disseminate the Nazi message
· Movies of the collapse of Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France showed German military might.
o The experience of physical destruction, invasion, and occupation paved the way for a new kind of state with new political structures to take charge of Germany following World War II.
· France: Defeat, Collaboration, and Resistance
o The armistice signed between France and Germany in 1940 allowed Germany to occupy more than half of France including the Atlantic and English Channel coasts.
o Marshal Petain conspired with the Germans and set up a dictatorial regime at the resort city of Vichy in hopes of preserving as much autonomy as possible.
§ many conservatives and extreme rightists saw the Vichy government as a way to reshape the character of France which had fallen victim to liberalism.
§ Roman Catholic Church gained status under the Vichy government
§ Vichy regime encouraged extreme nationalism.
§ many Jews were removed from government jobs, and positions in education and publishing.
§ In spring 1942, they began to transport French Jews to extermination camps of Eastern Europe.
o General Charles de Gaulle, and other people from France, fled to Britain during Nazi occupation and organized the French National Committee of Liberation (aka. “Free France”)
§ Although the Vichy government controlled North Africa, “Free France” used areas in central Africa to organize their resistance.
§ “Free France” opposed both the Vichy government and German occupation and aroused strong resistance from occupied France by 1942.
· Resistance was limited throughout the period it seemed eminent that the Germans would win the war.
§ By 1944, the resistance organized by “Free France” was strong and by late 1944 declared the authority of the Vichy government illegitimate.
§ French soldiers joined the “Free France” movement and helped liberate Paris.
o On October 21, 1945 France adopted a new constitution.
· Great Britain: Organization for the Victory
o On May 22, 1940, the British Parliament gave the government emergency powers which allowed the government to institute compulsory military service, rationing, and economic controls.
o Prime Minister Winston Churchill led Britain through World War II
o Britain and total war
§ launched a campaign to gather scrap metal (wrought iron fences, kitchen pots, etc were collected)
§ factory hours were extended and many women joined the workforce
§ unemployment disappeared
o The blitz and the people of Britain
§ many people moved to the countryside
§ government paid for food and medication for children
§ government issued gas masks to urban dwellers who took shelter in subway systems
o sacrifices made by the British people
§ coal supplies were low
§ food and clothing were scarce
§ gasoline was scarce
§ private vehicles were rare
o British propaganda
§ BBC sent broadcasts throughout Europe in native languages to encourage resistance of the Nazis
§ radio used to unify the nation
§ It’s That Man Again was a radio broadcast filled with imaginary figures that the entire nation came to treasure.
o Strangely, the standard of living for many in Britain improved during the war.
· The Soviet Union: “The Great Patriotic War”
o War with Germany came as a surprise to Stalin and the Soviet Union as they had arranged a pact with Hitler to divide Poland.
o The Soviet Union suffered more than any other nation in World War II.
§ estimated 16 million people killed
§ many Soviet troops taken as prisoners
§ cities and industrial centers were devastated
§ Germans seized grain, mineral resources, and oil from the Soviet Union
o War-time government in the Soviet Union
§ Through collectivization and centralization of the economy prior to the war, the Soviet Union was already geared for what amounted to a war-time economy.
§ Soviet government confiscated radios from citizens as they distrusted them; but the government made broadcasts through loudspeakers in cities.
§ Soviet propaganda stressed patriotism rather than Marxist class-conflict themes
§ Government issued copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace which was set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia
§ Serge Eisenstein produced the film Ivan the Terrible which celebrated the achievements of the 16th century ruler
§ Stalin made peace with the Russian Orthodox Church to increase support at home and in Eastern Europe
Section Four: Preparations for Peace
· Section Overview
o The dominant issue surrounding peace settlements was the conflict that inevitably would emerge between communist Soviet Union and the democratic western nations.
· The Atlantic Charter
o In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met on a ship off the coast of Newfoundland and agreed to the Atlantic Charter.
§ charter provided principles for the peace they sought between belligerent nations
o foreign ministers of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union met in 1943 and agreed to cooperate with each other until the enemy has been defeated and to continue cooperation through a United Nations following the war.
· Tehran: Agreement on a Second Front
o USSR, Britain, and the US met in Tehran where they planned to open a second front in France the next summer (1944).
o The most important decision made at this conference was choosing Europe’s west coast as the main point of entry, rather than the Mediterranean; this meant that Soviet forces would occupy Eastern Europe and control its destiny. The western powers did not for see this clearly at the Tehran conference as the Russians were still fighting deep within their own territory.
o Churchill and Stalin
§ The Soviet army drove into the Balkans in August 1944 which led Churchill to meet with Stalin in Moscow; they agreed to the following terms:
· Soviet Union could dominate Romania and Bulgaria
· Britain would determine the fate of Greece
· They would come to a compromise as to what to do with Yugoslavia and Hungary.
· US was skeptical of plans to set up spheres of influence in Europe
o Germany
§ USSR, Britain, and the US agreed on what to do with a defeated Germany---disarmament, de-Nazificaiton, and division into four zones of occupation (US, Britain, France, USSR).
§ Stalin demanded 20 billion in reparations and forced labor but the other powers didn’t agree
o Eastern Europe
§ Western leaders, particularly Churchill, were not eager to see Russia dominate Eastern Europe.
§ Stalin knew that democratic, freely elected governments in Poland, Hungary, and Romania would not be friendly to Russia.
· Stalin had already set up a puppet government in Poland
§ Stalin signed an agreement known as the Declaration of Liberated Europe which promised self-determination and free elections to liberated nations.
· Yalta
o Meeting in the Crimean in February 1945 with USSR, Britain, and US (at this point the Allies hadn’t crossed the Rhine but the Soviets were within a hundred miles of Berlin.
o To encourage Russian participation in an invasion of Japan, Wilson and Churchill made several concessions to Stalin ceding the Soviets Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, and accommodating some of Russia’s desires in Korea and Manchuria.
o Roosevelt laid out his vision for a “United Nations” at the conference.
· Potsdam
o The last meeting between the Big Three (Truman replaced Roosevelt, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill) in July 1945
o Germany had been defeated and atomic bombs dropped on Japan
o Territorial adjustments
§ Russia’s western frontier pushed further into Poland and included most of German East Prussia.
· Poland was moved about 100 miles west, at the expense of Germany, to accommodate the Soviet Union.
o Allies agreed to divide Germany into spheres of occupation until a final peace was negotiated.
§ Germany remained divided until 1990.
o The Russians were not satisfied with the agreements between the US and Japan and later signed their own agreements with Japan.Mr. Dunbar
AP European History
Chapter 28: World War II Outline
Chapter Overview
· The origins of World War II
· The course of the war
· Racism and the Holocaust
· The impact of the war on the people of Europe
· Relationships among the victorious allies and the preparations for peace
Section One: Again the Road to War
· Section Overview
o German discontent over economic depression that struck Germany in 1923 and again in 1930 was attributed to the Versailles settlement
o Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party denounced the treaty and used strict discipline to attract people to their platform
· Hitler’s Goals
o Racial theory was at the core of Hitler’s ideology as he sought to strengthen the nation of the volk—a racial group composed of ethnically German people
§ Involved the removal of inferior groups, like Jews, in order to purify the new Germany
o Hitler sought to extend the boundaries of the German nation to include parts of the old Habsburg Empire, especially Austria
o Lebensraum (“living space”)
§ additional land needed to expand the power of the German nation
§ inhabitants of that land, like the Slavs, would be forced into servitude
o Germany Rearms
§ In 1933, Germany withdrew from an international disarmament conference and also from the League of Nations.
§ In 1935, Germany formally renounced the disarmament provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and began building a modern air force and reinstated conscription (army grew to 500,000 men)
o League of Nations Fails
§ Japan invaded Manchuria (in China); China pleas to the League of Nations to impose sanctions against Japan; the League condemned the act put failed to impose sanctions; Japan withdraws from the League and maintained control of Manchuria
§ The League of Nations condemned Hitler’s rearmament program but took no actions to deter it.
· Britain and France felt hypocritical in enforcing this as they both refused to disarm
· Stresa Front—Britain and France met with Mussolini promising to use force to maintain the status quo in Europe
· Britain violated the Stresa Front by making a pact with Germany that allowed Hitler to build a navy 35% the size of that of Britain’s.
· Italy Attacks Ethiopia
o In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and it became clear that the Western Powers had little motivation to resist this action.
§ League of Nations did condemn the act and imposed an arms embargo that limited loans and credit to Italy.
§ France and Britain refused to embargo oil, which would have forced Italy to withdraw from Ethiopia.
§ Britain allowed Italian troops and munitions to reach Ethiopia through the Suez Canal
o The League of Nations and the idea of collective security were discredited.
§ Public opinion in western Europe turned against Italy which led Mussolini to seek closer ties with Germany and they formed the Rome-Berlin Axis.
· Remilitarization of the Rhineland
o Hitler sent a small armed force to the demilitarized Rhineland which violated both the Versailles treaty and the Locarno Agreements.
§ Britain and France filed a complaint with the League of Nations but neither did anything to resist
· The Allies lost a great opportunity in the Rhineland to stop Hitler before he became overly brazen.
· The French army along the border would have easily destroyed the small German force placed in the Rhineland.
o Policy of Appeasement
§ Britain and France set out to negotiate with Germany as they believed the Germans had real grievances and that Hitler’s goals were acceptable
§ The western powers legitimately dreaded the thought of another war.
§ Immediately following World War I, France had built a line of defenses along its new border with Germany known as the Maginot Line
· The Spanish Civil War
o This conflict in Spain made a new European alignment that found the Western democracies on one side and the fascist states on the other.
o Civil War in Spain
§ The monarchy collapsed in 1931 and Spain became a more democratic republic that really did not make anyone happy.
· Conservative groups like landowners, the Catholic Church, and nationalists felt their way of life was attacked by the new system
· Peasants, workers, and radicals were not satisfied either.
§ Elections in 1936 brought to power a Spanish Popular Front government which brought to power republicans, communists, and anarchist.
· Fascist in France would not accept this government
§ General Francisco Franco led an army from Spanish Morocco against the republic and a war erupted that lasted three years
· Germany and Italy supported Franco with troops, airplanes, and supplies
· The Soviet Union sent equipment and advisors to assist the republican government.
· American and European volunteers fought with the republicans against the fascist.
o Spanish Civil War—training ground for World War II
§ Rome-Berlin Axis was formed in 1936 and brought Italy and Germany closer together; they were joined by Japan who wanted to eradicate the spread of communism.
§ France and Britain had great interest in preventing the spread of fascism to Spain but failed to send their armies
o Barcelona fell to Franco’s fascist army in 1939 and they won control of the Spanish government of which Franco remained leader until his death in 1975.
· Austria and Czechoslovakia
o Anschluss—term used to describe the union of Germany and Austria
§ this was always a goal of the Nazi Party and Hitler
§ in 1934, the Nazi Party in Austria assassinated the prime minister of Austria and attempted to seize power but Mussolini moved troops to Italy’s border with Austria to prevent the coup.
§ Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schusnigg announced a plebiscite in 1938 to poll the Austrian people to prove they opposed unification with Germany
§ On March 12, a day prior to the plebiscite, Hitler sent an army into Austria and seized control.
o Hitler’s territorial aspirations in Czechoslovakia
§ ethnic Germans who lived in the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia made demands for autonomy
· supported by Hitler and nationalist leader Konrad Henlein
§ fearing a German attack, the Czechs mobilized for war and were assured by Britain, France, and the Soviet Union that they would be supported
· Hitler had not mobilized for war and was embarrassed by the ordeal
§ British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain attempted to broker concessions between the two opposing sides but to no avail; at a Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally on September 12, 1938 Hitler made a provocative speech that led to rioting in the Sudetenland which was ceded to Germany.
· Munich
o Mussolini suggested a conference in Munich with representatives from Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and France in order to resolve mounting tension due to Hitler’s annexation of the Sudetenland.
o Hitler announced at the meeting, “I have no more territorial demands to make in Europe.”
o Soon thereafter, though, the Czech state fell apart as Poland and Hungary tore more territory from it and on March 15, 1939 a German army occupied Prague.
o Poland was the next target of German expansion
§ Germany wanted Poland to restore the formerly German city of Danzig
§ Germany wanted Poland to allow a railroad and a highway through the Polish Corridor to connect East Prussia with the rest of Germany
o As tension mounted between Poland and Germany, Chamberlain announced a Franco-British guarantee of Polish independence.
§ France and Britain considered seeking help from Soviet Union with this alliance
· Nazi-Soviet Pact
o Secret provisions of this agreement divided Poland between them and allowed Russia to occupy the Baltic states and to take Bessarabia from Romania.
o Bitter ideological enemies had become allies
o On September 1, 1939, the Germans invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany.
Section Two: World War II (1935-1945)
· The German Conquest of Europe
o Attack on Poland
§ “lightening warfare,” or blitzkrieg led to swift victory as a column of fast-moving tanks, supported by air power, devastated Poland
§ On September 17, Russia invaded Poland from the east and divided the country with Germany.
o By July 1940, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had become satellite states of the Soviet Union.
o In June 1940, Russia forced Romania to cede Bessarabia.
o War on the Western Front
§ Britain blockaded Germany and meanwhile prepared for war.
§ France hid behind the Maginot Line.
o Many western observers believed this would be a “phony war,” or Sitzkrieg, and it would have little impact on the western powers; however, this view changed when Germany invaded Denmark and Norway and had a staging ground for an invasion of Britain.
o In the late spring of 1940, Germany launched an air attack on Belgium (surrendered in two weeks), the Netherlands (surrendered in a few days), and Luxembourg.
§ British and French armies fighting the Germans in Belgium were forced to flee to the English Channel on the beaches of Dunkirk.
o German army bypassed the Maginot Line by launching an invasion of France through Belgium.
§ Poorly trained French army, led my generals who were not versed in the use of tanks or warplanes, easily fell to the powerful German military.
§ Mussolini invaded southern France on June 10.
§ France asked for an armistice less than a week later.
o In two months Hitler had accomplished what Germany had failed to achieve in four years of bitter fighting in the previous war.
· The Battle of Britain
o Winston Churchill became prime minister of Britain in May 1940 and led tough resistance against German control of the continent as he was unwilling to negotiate with Hitler.
o Churchill established a close friendship with Franklin D. Roosevelt
§ US was neutral and politically dominated by an isolationist policy.
§ Churchill convinced the US to send supplies and warships across the Atlantic to help protect Britain.
o Hitler’s attempt to take Great Britain
§ German air force, or Luftwaffe, began attacking airfields and fighter planes in southeast England, in August 1940
§ Beginning in early September 1940, the Luftwaffe bombed London for two months straight and killed 15,000 civilians.
· The bombing of London strengthened the moral of the British people
o Assisted by newly developed radar detection technology and excellent communications, the RAF (royal air force) inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe and forced Hitler to abort his plan to invade Britain.
· The German Attack on Russia
o Hitler had long planned to extend German “living space” in Russia and the Ukraine and ordered his generals to start planning for the invasion in 1940.
o Operation Barbarossa
§ Planned to begin in mid-May 1940 so the Germans would have control of Russia before winter set in.
§ The Soviet Union was not prepared and were taken by surprise
§ By November, the German army stood at the gates of Leningrad and an attack on Moscow seemed imminent.
§ Hitler stalled in August as he debated strategy and the German army withered when winter set in.
§ This planned blitzkrieg ended in a war of attrition with casualties in the millions on both sides.
o Italy in North Africa
§ Jealous of Hitler’s success in western and northern Europe, and forbidden to seize any in France, Mussolini attacked the British in Egypt
§ Hitler sent troops to assist the Italians in Egypt and the Balkans
· Erwin Rommel, “the Desert Fox,” commanded German troops in North Africa and defeated the British in Libya and forced them back into Egypt.
§ This unanticipated diversion cost Hitler thousands of troops who he had planned to have in the Soviet Union.
· Hitler’s Plans for Europe
o The Third Reich
§ Hitler’s plan to resurrect German greatness as the other two German empires were those forged by Charlemagne in the ninth century and Bismarck in the nineteenth.
o Administration of conquered territories
§ some areas were formally annexed
§ some ruled by German officials
§ some ruled through puppet governments
§ pockets of Germans became the ruling class Poland
§ frontier colonies ruled by German war veterans emerged
o Racial policies in conquered lands
§ People perceived as genetically similar to Germans like those in Scandinavia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands were to be absorbed and germanified.
§ Others, like the Poles and Slavs, were treated essentially like slaves
· Japan and the United States Enter the War
o US policies toward Japan had been unfriendly since the invasion of Manchuria
o World War II saw Japan form alliances with Germany and Italy, and make a treaty of neutrality with the Soviet Union.
§ Japan forced defeated France to surrender military bases in Indochina
· This move led the US to freeze Japanese assets and cut off oil supplies
§ Japan continued war against China and planned to take control of Malaya and Indonesia at the expense of the British and Dutch.
§ General Hideki Tojo, a member of a war faction, took power and planned for war against the US
o Attack on Pearl Harbor—December 7, 1941
§ While Japanese representatives were negotiating a compromise in Washington, Tojo ordered an attack on the American naval base in Hawaii.
§ The attack destroyed much of the American fleet and many airplanes.
§ The next day, the US and Britain declared war on Japan.
· The Tide Turns
o Slow start for the US
§ neither the US military nor industry were prepared for war
o Fast start for Japan
§ Japanese swiftly captured Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippine Islands, and by the spring of 1942 they conquered Hong Kong, Malaya, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies.
§ Japan conquered New Guinea and was preparing to invade Australia.
o Germans continue invasion of Russia and continue to fight the British in North Africa
§ Rommel continued to push the British deeper into Egypt until they finally defeated the German army at the Battle of El Alamein.
o Major Allies naval victory in the Pacific
§ allies significantly depleted the Japanese navy in the Coral Sea
§ the US defeated the Japanese in a fierce air and naval battle off Midway Island.
§ soon after, American marines landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands and began to gain momentum in the war
o The Soviet Union pressured the United States and Britain to attack the Germans on the western front in Europe, but several factors prevented this until 1944.
o Allied Landings in Africa, Sicily, and Italy
§ Allied forces landed in French North Africa and the British forces in Egypt converged on Tunisia where they routed a German army.
§ In July and August 1943, the Allies took control of Sicily.
· a coup toppled Mussolini but the Germans took control
§ Allies landed in Italy and the leader of the new Italian government, Marshal Pietro Badoglio, declared war on Germany.
o Battle of Stalingrad
§ German soldiers remained throughout Russia even after the winter set in and thwarted the attempt to take Moscow.
§ The goal of German occupation of Russia was to take control of the oil fields near the Caspian Sea.
§ Stalingrad, a city on the Volga River to the northwest of the Caspian Sea was the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting in World War II.
§ While the Russians lost more soldiers defending Stalingrad than the US did in the entire war, they were successful in destroying the entire German army.
§ Stalingrad marks a major turning point in the war.
o Strategic Bombing
§ The US and Britain launched a series of bombardments on Germany.
§ US introduced long-range fighters that could protect bombers and allow precision bombing.
§ Targets were mainly oilfields and communications centers.
§ British bombers completely annihilated Dresden which has raised moral questions since.
§ Aerial war over Germany diverted German defense from other fronts.
· The Defeat of Nazi Germany
o D-Day (June 6, 1944)
§ American, British, and Canadian troops landed on the coast of Normandy France.
§ beaches of France were heavily fortified but the Allies established a beachhead and invaded from it.
§ planned by General Dwight D. Eisenhower
§ France was liberated from German occupation by the beginning of September 1944.
o The Battle of the Bulge
§ Germans launched a counter attack in Belgium and Luxembourg through the Ardennes Forest.
§ Because the Germans had pushed forward into the Allied line, it is called the Battle of the Bulge
§ Although the Allies suffered heavy casualties, this was the last attempt for the Germans as the Allies crossed the Rhine in March of 1945 and chased the German army back into Germany.
o The Capture of Berlin
§ The Russians swept quickly into Germany from the east and moved to capture Berlin.
§ As the Russians approached, Hitler committed suicide in a bunker in Berlin on April 30, 1945.
§ The Russians occupied Berlin.
· The Fall of the Japanese Empire
o Americans Recapture the Pacific Islands
§ Implement a strategy known as “island hopping” where the US captured strategic islands-starting in the Solomon Islands-and moving north toward Japan.
§ By June 1944, the US captured the Mariana Islands which they used as a base to bomb the Japanese in the Philippines, China, and Japan itself.
§ In October, the US captured the Philippines.
§ In 1945, Iwo Jima and Okinawa fell despite fierce Japanese resistance which included the use of kamikaze attacks.
§ The US launched relentless bombings of Japanese industry and disabled the Japanese navy.
· The Atomic Bomb
o On August 6, 1945 an American plane dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima which destroyed the city and killed 70,000 of the 200,000 residents.
o The next day, a second atomic bomb hit Nagasaki.
o The Japanese government surrendered on August 14 and a peace was signed aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
· The Cost of War
o Military deaths in World War II are estimated at 15 million.
o When deaths that resulted from disease, hunger, and other causes, the numbers total nearly 40 million.
o Most of Europe and large parts of Asia were devastated.
o The war ended on an anxious notes as the world feared the potential of atomic weapons and conflicts among the victors seemed inevitable.
Racism and the Holocaust
· Section Overview
o Most horrific aspect of World War II was the inhumanity of Hitler’s racial doctrines
§ Considered the Slavs Untermenschen, subhuman creatures like beasts
§ In Poland, the upper and professional classes were jailed, deported, and killed.
§ In Russia, Hitler and Heirich Himmler (head of the SS) planned to eliminate 30 million Slavs to make room for Germans.
§ Hitler planned to make Europe Judenrein, or “free of Jews.
· The Holocaust saw the murder of nearly 6 million Jews, leaving only 1 million European Jews alive.
· The Destruction of the Polish Jewish Community
o Poland’s Jewish population had lived for centuries in a climate of anti-Semitism and therefore lived in their own neighborhoods and villages.
o Under Russian domination, all those who were not Orthodox Christians—like Lutherans and Roman Catholics, but especially the Jews—were subject to a variety of discriminatory legislation.
o Polish Jews used Hebrew as their written language and Yiddish as their primary spoken language.
o Jews were the poorest group in Poland as most were excluded from trade unions.
· Polish Anti-Semitism between the Wars
o Jozef Pilsudski, who dominated the interwar era, favored including Jews as citizens; however, his successors proceeded to implement anti-Semitic policies.
o The Polish government nationalized certain industries and excluded Jews from employment in them.
o By the late 1930s, the Polish government required businesses to display their owners’ names prominently, which made it easy for people to avoid Jewish shops.
o Jews tended to move into careers in law and medicine as they were excluded from civic life.
o In general, many Polish Jews attempted assimilation n the interwar era as they adopted the dress, social practices, and language of the Polish majority without actually expecting to be considered Polish.
o Jews in Poland had trouble agreeing on a strategy to use the political system as a vehicle to gain more rights.
· The Nazi Assault on the Jews of Poland
o The Nazis viewed Poland as the chief breeding ground for European Jewry.
o Jews in Poland initially forced into ghettos, walled off and guarded sections of cities, following German occupation; disease and malnutrition in ghettos killed many.
o Nazis confiscated property and businesses of Jews.
o Jewish laborers were sent to work in camps while their families remained in ghettos.
o During the second half of 1941, the Nazi government decided to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
§ From late 1941 througho 1944, the Germans transported Jews from ghettos by rail to death camps in Poland, including Kulmhof, Belzen, Sobibor, Birkenau, and Auschwitz.
§ In death camps, Jews were systematically killed in gas chambers.
o By 1945, nearly 90% of Poland’s Jewish population had been destroyed.
o Jews continued to face oppression during Soviet occupation following World War II leading many to seek asylum in Israel.
· Explanations of the Holocaust
o Fundamental questions raised about the Holocaust
§ Was it a unique event or unprecedented and unparalleled evil, or was it one specific instance of a more general human wickedness that has found expression throughout history?
§ Are its roots to be found in flaws in human nature as a whole, or are they unique to the experience of the West or, perhaps, the German people?
o Other examples of atrocities; while Hitler attempted the destruction of an entire group of people, they were eliminating social discontent and political rivals.
§ Stalin in Russia
§ Mao in China
§ US dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
o How was it possible to carry out such an extensive mass murder of European Jews?
§ persistence of anti-Semitism in Christianity and western culture
§ pseudo-scientific racial theories of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
§ parochial nationalism that developed during the French Revolution which polarized views of “others” and justified terror to promote one’s homeland
§ scientific and technological advances that gave the modern state the power to command its people through mass media and propaganda which permitted the creation of a totalitarian state
Section Three: the Domestic Fronts
· Section Overview
o World War II serves as the best example of total war in human history as so many men and women and resources were devoted to the war effort.
· Germany: From Apparent Victory to Defeat
o Early in the war
§ little had changed in Germany as spending on domestic projects continued and food was plentiful
§ the German economy was not on a full wartime footing
o Germany’s inability to quickly defeat Russia changed the course of the war for Germany
§ food supplies stopped arriving from the east.
§ Germany forced to mobilize for total war
§ German government demanded more sacrifices from its citizens
o Total War and Germany
§ Consumer goods shortages plagued the German people after 1942
§ there was a labor shortage which required retired Germans and teenagers to work in factories.
§ theaters closed
§ thousands of non-Germans were forced to provided labor in Germany
o Women and total war
§ encouraged to remain faithful to their husbands who were off fighting in war
§ served as air raid wardens
§ worked in munitions factories
§ protect racial purity
o Total war and propaganda
§ Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels used film and radio addressed to disseminate the Nazi message
· Movies of the collapse of Poland, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France showed German military might.
o The experience of physical destruction, invasion, and occupation paved the way for a new kind of state with new political structures to take charge of Germany following World War II.
· France: Defeat, Collaboration, and Resistance
o The armistice signed between France and Germany in 1940 allowed Germany to occupy more than half of France including the Atlantic and English Channel coasts.
o Marshal Petain conspired with the Germans and set up a dictatorial regime at the resort city of Vichy in hopes of preserving as much autonomy as possible.
§ many conservatives and extreme rightists saw the Vichy government as a way to reshape the character of France which had fallen victim to liberalism.
§ Roman Catholic Church gained status under the Vichy government
§ Vichy regime encouraged extreme nationalism.
§ many Jews were removed from government jobs, and positions in education and publishing.
§ In spring 1942, they began to transport French Jews to extermination camps of Eastern Europe.
o General Charles de Gaulle, and other people from France, fled to Britain during Nazi occupation and organized the French National Committee of Liberation (aka. “Free France”)
§ Although the Vichy government controlled North Africa, “Free France” used areas in central Africa to organize their resistance.
§ “Free France” opposed both the Vichy government and German occupation and aroused strong resistance from occupied France by 1942.
· Resistance was limited throughout the period it seemed eminent that the Germans would win the war.
§ By 1944, the resistance organized by “Free France” was strong and by late 1944 declared the authority of the Vichy government illegitimate.
§ French soldiers joined the “Free France” movement and helped liberate Paris.
o On October 21, 1945 France adopted a new constitution.
· Great Britain: Organization for the Victory
o On May 22, 1940, the British Parliament gave the government emergency powers which allowed the government to institute compulsory military service, rationing, and economic controls.
o Prime Minister Winston Churchill led Britain through World War II
o Britain and total war
§ launched a campaign to gather scrap metal (wrought iron fences, kitchen pots, etc were collected)
§ factory hours were extended and many women joined the workforce
§ unemployment disappeared
o The blitz and the people of Britain
§ many people moved to the countryside
§ government paid for food and medication for children
§ government issued gas masks to urban dwellers who took shelter in subway systems
o sacrifices made by the British people
§ coal supplies were low
§ food and clothing were scarce
§ gasoline was scarce
§ private vehicles were rare
o British propaganda
§ BBC sent broadcasts throughout Europe in native languages to encourage resistance of the Nazis
§ radio used to unify the nation
§ It’s That Man Again was a radio broadcast filled with imaginary figures that the entire nation came to treasure.
o Strangely, the standard of living for many in Britain improved during the war.
· The Soviet Union: “The Great Patriotic War”
o War with Germany came as a surprise to Stalin and the Soviet Union as they had arranged a pact with Hitler to divide Poland.
o The Soviet Union suffered more than any other nation in World War II.
§ estimated 16 million people killed
§ many Soviet troops taken as prisoners
§ cities and industrial centers were devastated
§ Germans seized grain, mineral resources, and oil from the Soviet Union
o War-time government in the Soviet Union
§ Through collectivization and centralization of the economy prior to the war, the Soviet Union was already geared for what amounted to a war-time economy.
§ Soviet government confiscated radios from citizens as they distrusted them; but the government made broadcasts through loudspeakers in cities.
§ Soviet propaganda stressed patriotism rather than Marxist class-conflict themes
§ Government issued copies of Tolstoy’s War and Peace which was set during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia
§ Serge Eisenstein produced the film Ivan the Terrible which celebrated the achievements of the 16th century ruler
§ Stalin made peace with the Russian Orthodox Church to increase support at home and in Eastern Europe
Section Four: Preparations for Peace
· Section Overview
o The dominant issue surrounding peace settlements was the conflict that inevitably would emerge between communist Soviet Union and the democratic western nations.
· The Atlantic Charter
o In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met on a ship off the coast of Newfoundland and agreed to the Atlantic Charter.
§ charter provided principles for the peace they sought between belligerent nations
o foreign ministers of the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union met in 1943 and agreed to cooperate with each other until the enemy has been defeated and to continue cooperation through a United Nations following the war.
· Tehran: Agreement on a Second Front
o USSR, Britain, and the US met in Tehran where they planned to open a second front in France the next summer (1944).
o The most important decision made at this conference was choosing Europe’s west coast as the main point of entry, rather than the Mediterranean; this meant that Soviet forces would occupy Eastern Europe and control its destiny. The western powers did not for see this clearly at the Tehran conference as the Russians were still fighting deep within their own territory.
o Churchill and Stalin
§ The Soviet army drove into the Balkans in August 1944 which led Churchill to meet with Stalin in Moscow; they agreed to the following terms:
· Soviet Union could dominate Romania and Bulgaria
· Britain would determine the fate of Greece
· They would come to a compromise as to what to do with Yugoslavia and Hungary.
· US was skeptical of plans to set up spheres of influence in Europe
o Germany
§ USSR, Britain, and the US agreed on what to do with a defeated Germany---disarmament, de-Nazificaiton, and division into four zones of occupation (US, Britain, France, USSR).
§ Stalin demanded 20 billion in reparations and forced labor but the other powers didn’t agree
o Eastern Europe
§ Western leaders, particularly Churchill, were not eager to see Russia dominate Eastern Europe.
§ Stalin knew that democratic, freely elected governments in Poland, Hungary, and Romania would not be friendly to Russia.
· Stalin had already set up a puppet government in Poland
§ Stalin signed an agreement known as the Declaration of Liberated Europe which promised self-determination and free elections to liberated nations.
· Yalta
o Meeting in the Crimean in February 1945 with USSR, Britain, and US (at this point the Allies hadn’t crossed the Rhine but the Soviets were within a hundred miles of Berlin.
o To encourage Russian participation in an invasion of Japan, Wilson and Churchill made several concessions to Stalin ceding the Soviets Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, and accommodating some of Russia’s desires in Korea and Manchuria.
o Roosevelt laid out his vision for a “United Nations” at the conference.
· Potsdam
o The last meeting between the Big Three (Truman replaced Roosevelt, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill) in July 1945
o Germany had been defeated and atomic bombs dropped on Japan
o Territorial adjustments
§ Russia’s western frontier pushed further into Poland and included most of German East Prussia.
· Poland was moved about 100 miles west, at the expense of Germany, to accommodate the Soviet Union.
o Allies agreed to divide Germany into spheres of occupation until a final peace was negotiated.
§ Germany remained divided until 1990.
o The Russians were not satisfied with the agreements between the US and Japan and later signed their own agreements with Japan.
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