The United States in the World: An International History from Colonial Times to the Cold War

Rough Course Schedulev Week 1: Colonial Possessions in a World at War

v Week 2: New Republic, Perilous World, 1787-44

v Week 3: Manifest Destiny, 1844-1898

v Week 4: Emerging Great Power, 1898-1914

v Week 5: United States in the Great War, 1914-18

v Week 6: Interwar Years, 1919-1941

v Week 7: United States in World War II, 1941-45

v Week 8: From World War to Cold War, 1945-

Interpretive ChallengesvSelf-serving memoires vNationalist histories

vInfluence of Cold War ideology vPopular culture (better villains, bigger explosions)

vPopular mythologies vIdeological agendasvConfused Geography (Eurasia)

Problems of Interpretationv Of the “Big Three” USSR

had 96% of casualties

v FDR’s concept of the Four Policemen, including China: China &USSR 98% of casualties

v Of the 10 bloodiest battles in WWII, 9 were on the Eastern Front

A “Good War”?v Estimated 75 million war dead

v 50 million civilians

v USSR: 25 million (14%) [37.2 million?]

v China: 30 million (6%)

v US: 400,000 (0.3%)

v British Empire: 600,000

A War of Allied Civilian DeathsMostly USSR and China

Japanese Task ForceSubmarines Departed for Hawaii on November 16

Is There Too Much Emphasis on Pearl Harbor?

v A Pacific War would have ignited with or without an attack on Pearl Harbor

v The US would have entered that war

v Marshall and Stark memo of November 27

Is There Too Much Emphasis on Pearl Harbor?

v Japanese attacks on Guam, the Philippines, Midway, Wake & Pearl Harbor

v Japanese attacks on British Malaya, Singapore, Hong Kong

v Japanese attacks on Dutch East Indies; New Guinea

Japanese Offensives in Asia & the Pacificv Dutch East Indiesv British Burmav Malaya, Singaporev Hong Kongv Philippinesv Midway (1941)v Wake Islandv Guam v Dutch New Guinea v Pearl Harbor

Initial Attacks on Guam, Wake, Midway, the Philippines, and Hawaii

Japanese Attack on Guam (a U.S. Territory)

v Three hours after Pearl

v 6,000 Japanese Marines attack from Saipan

v 547 US Marines deployed on Guam: 17 killed, 35 wounded, 400 captured

Attack on Wake Island(a U.S. Possession)

v Attacked from Japanese Marshall Islands

v 122 US personnel killed (including 70 civilians)

v 433 US military and 1,000 US civilian POWs

The First Bombardment of Midway(a U.S. possession) December 7, 1941

vTwo Japanese destroyers attack Midway

vJapanese damaged the U.S. Marine base: 4 US killed, 10 wounded

Attack on the Philippines(a U.S. Colony)

vJapanese raid delayed eight hours by heavy fog in Japanese-held Formosa

v1,500 killed in initial raids

Japanese Print: “At Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 8, 1941, the Imperial Navy Completely

Destroys the American Pacific Fleet”

Pearl Harbor Confronted FDR with the Wrong War, at the Wrong Time, in the

Wrong Place, against the Wrong Adversaryv FDR viewed Germany, not

Japan, as greater threat

v FDR’s 1941 policy: persuade Japan not to plunge into war on Germany’s side (similar to his Italian policy, 1940)

v FDR came within weeks of succeeding -- Moscow

War with Japan did not mean war with Germany: FDR did not ask Congress to

declare war on Germany v That declaration came

only after Hitler, on December 11, declared war on the US

v (FDR negotiated with Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania until June 1942!)

Hitler Declares War on the U.S.v Hitler loathed FDR: Thought

FDR Jewish, leading a Jewish administration

v Hitler never sought to avoid war with US: war with US was “inevitable”

v Hitler believed the US would focus entirely on avenging Pearl Harbor. Right?

Mobilization and Morale Purposes.Not Strategy (Europe First)

FDR’s Objectives for 1942v Disrupt Axis plans: Shift

from defensive to offensive ASAP

v Win Battle of the Atlantic

v Support China (holding down Japanese divisions; establish allied airfields)

v Second Front: Europe? North Africa?

v Unconditional Surrender

FDR’s Unique Challenges

n Only wartime leader to face regular elections, 1940, 1942, 1944

n Faced determined political opposition

n Had to balance objectives between Europe & Asia

FDR’s Strategic Sense: War as a global, multi-theater

struggle – played to US’s advantage. Delegated to talented appointments.

1. Play to US strengths in economic might, logistics, innovations, air-age globalism.

2. Coordination among allies (unlike Axis). 3. Multiple simultaneous fronts.

4. Utilize naval, air, & production advantages

FDR’s Wartime Objectives:1. Limit American casualties.

2. Arsenal of the Grand Alliance. 3. Preserve Alliance: Keep China, USSR in War

4. Europe First, but no neglect of the Pacific5. Win war as quickly as possible (fear of public

opinion, alliance fracture, wonder weapons)

Win War as Soon as PossibleConcern about shocking new “Wonder Weapons”

v Air power v Carriers v Long-range bombing (B-29)v Incendiaries v Kamikazes v Rockets, missiles (V-1, V-2)v Atomic bombs

Postwar Planning, 1939-1945v During war, not after

v Bi-partisanshipv World organization,

established during warv Trusteeship; regionalism

v Prepped for wartime summits, Dumbarton Oaks 1944 & San Francisco 1945

FDR and the Big Threen FDR worried about

objectives of Soviets and British (obscured by Cold War ideology)

n Concerns about postwar colonial Asia, Middle East

n Both Soviet & European imperialism posed postwar challenges

FDR and the Soviet Unionn Create a genuine alliance:

Keep USSR in war until VJ Day (prevent Russian separate peace such as 1918 or 1939)

n War for the conquest of Eurasia: Get USSR into war against Japan on Eurasian landmass ASAP (USSR was already on the Eurasian landmass!)

FDR & Churchill: A Complicated Partnership

v Contrary to popular myths, mutually wary

v FDR: US fighting for US interests, not UK’s (pre-meetings at Cairo, Malta)

v Fundamental differences over strategy, empire, France, China, 2nd Front

FDR was often exasperated by Churchill’s volatile emotions, inconsistency,

repetitiveness, and Churchill’s health issues

Churchill’s “Pick Me Up”(Provided to him by Lord Moran)

v Hopkins Memorandum on Churchill�s medications, December 19, 1941, Hopkins Papers, Part I, Box 4, Folder 5, Georgetown University. See also Churchill to Hopkins August 28, 1941, CHAR 20/42A/ 35, Churchill Papers, Churchill Archives, Cambridge, UK.

v Churchill was taking barbital (a hypnotic), barbitonum, phenacetin (a pain killer), urotropin (a powerful urinary antiseptic), phenyldimethylpyrar, lactylphenetidin (a fever reducer), hexamine (used for urinary tract infections), amylum, magnesium peroxide (an antacid and laxative), and stearin, all washed down with liberal amounts of brandy, whiskey, champagne and red wine. (See John Harper to Hopkins, December 8, 1941, Hopkins Papers, Part I, Box 4, Folder 5, Georgetown University.

FDR believed that Churchill did not value nor understand the war in Asia, nor China’s key role. Nor, FDR suspected, did Churchill grasp that the

Age of Empires ended on December 7, 1941

FDR and the End of EmpireFDR aware of the contradiction in claiming to fight for “freedom” while keeping millions of colonial peoples under Allied occupation

FDR and the End of Empiren Prior to the war racism

was seen as legitimate justification for empire

n After the war such views increasingly reprehensible

n Unintended irony of cartoon: does it apply to the United States, too?

FDR urged Churchill to prepare India for self-government. Churchill gave replies that prevaricated and invented facts about India.

American officials had held extensive meetings about India throughout the war.

FDR & President Edwin Barclay of Liberia. FDR the first US president to meet as an equal

with an African head of state. FDR told Churchill the British had ruthlessly exploited

nearby British Gambia, which FDR also visited.

FDR and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.Meeting with African heads of state undermined

the British and French ideology of white superiority which underpinned European colonial

domination in Africa, Asia & the Middle East.

FDR and the Sultan of Morocco: A Challenge to French & British Imperialism

Farouk of Egypt with FDR, 1945. British had occupied Egypt since 1882 & sought to overthrow the Egyptian Monarchy in 1942.

FDR and the Shah of Iran, 1944The Shah’s father had been overthrown by an Anglo-Soviet invasion & occupation of neutral

Iran in 1941.

FDR’s Objectives for 1943:The Year of Maximum U.S. Leverage

v Bind USSR to staying in the war, entering war against Japan, & United Nations

v 2nd Front in Northern Europe (& appointment of Supreme Commander for Europe)

v Asia & Pacific: China (Cairo Declaration, airfields); US offensives in Pacific (airfields)

Disaster in the Gilberts (Tarawa), Nov. 1943(China Looking More Appealing)

l US Marines sustained very high casualties (1,700 KIA) overwhelming a 5000-strong Japanese garrison

l Only 17 Japanese defenders taken alive

l “Strategically dubious”

The Underappreciated Role of ChinaChina’s critics allowed racism to blind them.

Indeed, China did not possess sufficient military strength to triumph over Japan

Outsized Strategic Role of China But China DID possess territorial depth, enormous

population & a stubborn refusal to capitulate. China held down nearly half of Japanese divisions

“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”Cairo Conference, December 1, 1943:

FDR compels a reluctant Churchill to meet with an Asian leader

Cairo Declaration, November 27, 19431. End of extra-territoriality

2. Sino-US-UK unconditional surrender of Japan3. Manchuria, Formosa restored to China

4. Free & independent Korea

Teheran, November-December, 1943FDR aware U.S. had leverage at Teheran:

Stalin’s desperate need for a 2nd Front in France

FDR’s Objectives: Second Front in France, Red Army against Japan; United Nations;

More Effective Alliance Coordination

Churchill’s Objectives at Teheran: Empire factors; Greece; Turkey;

Polish border shifts in favor of USSR (FDR opposed, Soviets intrigued)

FDR leveraged Churchill’s objectives to obtain agreements from Stalin

Polish borders shifted west:(Churchill-Stalin matchstick analogy)

Churchill’s Objectives at Teheran

I. FDR used Stalin to persuade Churchill of the necessity of a Second Front in France. II. Churchill instead argued for a front in

what he characterized as the Balkan “underbelly” – a region closer to British

imperial interests in the Middle East

FDR doubted such an “underbelly” existed.The Balkan region was too distant from the

Reich’s vital industrial organs in West &Northwest Germany (the Saar, the Rhine,

the Ruhr industrial regions).

FDR believed the Balkan “underbelly” strategy would not shorten the war by a single day. It would instead extend

British imperial interests in the Eastern Mediterrean

Stalin skeptical of Churchill’s seriousness about Second Front in France. Stalin called the bluff: he demanded a date & name of a commander

(FDR’s intent?)

A Successful Summit for the US:1. USSR to fight Japan after VE Day (FDR)

2. USSR accepts United Nations (FDR)3. Better alliance military coordination (FDR)

A Successful Summit for the US:Overlord launched spring 1944 (FDR, Stalin)Overlord commander named (FDR, Stalin)

FDR’s Objectives for 1944v Expedite end of the war

against Hitler: Second Front in France

v Penetrate inner ring in Pacific (bombing range)

v China (bombing range)

v Army-Navy division of objectives in Pacific

Churchill “Loses the Forest”Churchill’s Obsessive Focus on Greece:

Churchill-Stalin Bilateral Meetings, Moscow, code-named Tolstoy, October 1944

FDR’s Objectives in 1945v Germany’s speedy

unconditional surrender

v Red Army intervention in Far East (no guarantee Japan would surrender)

v USSR & UN; launching UN during war

v Agreement on German occupation zones; prosecutions of Nazi war criminals

1945: Year of Maximum Soviet Leverage.But FDR still had vital objectives for 1945: Confirm Red Army against Japan; & UN

Yalta Conference, February 4-11, 1945.Red Army responsible for the deaths of 5 million German combatants (90%).

US & UK forces an estimated 500,000 (9%).

1. USSR to fight Japan within 90 days of VE Day.(Agreed without Chinese consultation)

2. Reconfirmation of Germany & Japan’s unconditional surrender & occupations.

3. USSR interests in Sakhalin & Kurils recognized.

“Declaration of Liberated Europe” Vaguely directed at Poland.

But Britain and the US had earlier established problematic precedents in

North Africa, Italy, France, Greece, etc.