Causes and Effects of World War II

CAUSES:

World War I: The Global Great Depression (Europe and US weak)Rise of Fascism in Germany and Italy:

Hitler rebuilds German army 1933, Italy invaded Albania 1939

(Britain and France sign non-aggression pact with Greece, Turkey,

Romania and Poland) Defeat of Democracy in Spain: Hitler and Mussolini supported General Francisco Franco’s “nationalists” in Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

JAPAN Japan invaded China 1937: League of Nations does nothing Rape of Nanjing 1937

Japanese bomb urban center 400,000 Chinese used for bayonet practice, massacred 7,000 women raped 1/3 of all homes destroyed

Japan signs Tripartite Pact with Germany, Italy (1940)Non-Aggression Pact with USSR (1941)

AXIS (Germany, Italy, Japan) vs. ALLIES (GB, USA)

Russia?

• Hitler invaded the Rhineland 1935: League of Nations does nothing• Hitler formed alliance with Japan 1937• Hitler annexed Austria 1938• Munich Conference 1938: Neville Chamberlain gave Hitler the • Sudetenland in exchange for promise to end expansion • (APPEASEMENT)• Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia 1939• Germans signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August 1939• September 1, 1939: Germany invaded Poland• September 3, 1939: Britain and France declare war on Germany

Guernica, Pablo Picasso (1937) 349 x 776 cm

Blitzkreig Lend LeaseBattle of Britain Pearl HarborOperation Barbarossa D-Day“Lebenstraum” “Island Hopping”US “Cash and Carry”

Postwar Settlements and Decisions

Yalta: February 4-11, 1945 (Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill)Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan and to collaborate in establishment of the United Nations major war criminals would be tried in international courtHow to deal with postwar geography? All agreed to free elections in liberated countries

VE Day: May 8, 1945

Potsdam: July 16- August 2, 1945 (Truman, Stalin, Churchill)issues: immediate Allied control of Germany, occupation of Austria, boundaries of Polandtensions grow between US and Russia

VJ Day: August 15, 1945 Surrender ceremony:

September 2, 1945Emperor Hirohito surrenders

unconditionally=

SCHISM

Division of Germany Because of tension between Sovietsand Allies, NO peace treaty was signed with Germany

COLD WAR

Marshall Plan?Only accepted by Western Europe

War Tribunals?Nuremberg Trials

Effects: Beginning of the Cold War

By late 1940s = divided Germany =Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” (1946)

West = capitalist nations of Western Europe

East = Soviet control (including Poland)

Truman Doctrine 1947 = CONTAINMENT

Approximately 5.7 million (78%) of the 7.3 million Jews, in occupied Europe, perished

in the Holocaust, compared to the non Jewish

victims of the Nazis which are estimated between 5 to 11

million ( 1.4% to 3.0%) of the 360 million persons in

German dominated Europe

The Holocaust Revealed

Casualties

The total estimated human loss =roughly 72 million people.

The civilian toll = 47 million, including 20 million deaths due to war related famine and disease.

The military toll = 25 million, including the deaths of about 4 million prisoners of war in captivity.

The Allies lost approx 61 million people, and the Axis powers lost 11 million.

Dark green: Allied Powers pre Pearl HarborLight green: Allied Powers post Pearl HarborOrange: Axis Powers

Post WW II IndependenceMovements and Decolonization

NATO and the Warsaw Pact = Militarization of the Cold War

Establishment of United Nations 1946: 50 original members, 5 permanent Security Council members (China, France, GB, US, Soviet Union) =

Post War Migrations