Jacob Schulman
AP Euro
April 19, 2007
Mr. Mumma
Days 7&8: The Grand Alliance and the Turning Tide of Battle
I. The Grand Alliance:
A. Allies were brought together by chance, not choice
- Hitler and Stalin had been cooperating from 1939-1941; Pearl Harbor and US
isolationism was overwhelmed by Hitler’s declaration of war
- Allies had to build a strong alliance
B. “Europe First” policy: President Roosevelt accepted Churchill’s view that US had to defeat
Hitler first before moving on to Japan (the less dangerous one)
- American policy of “Europe first”Helped solidify the alliance
C. Americans and British put military needs firstAvoided conflicts that would’ve split alliance
D. “Unconditional Surrender” of German and JapanDenied Hitler any hope of dividing the
Grand Alliance
- Discouraged Germans and Japanese- won’t overthrow dictators for peace
- Soviet and Anglo-American armies would have to work together to divide Germany
E. Huge military resources:
- US: Huge industry, large population, national unity (“arsenal of democracy”)
Mobilized quickly, used Latin America for resources
- Equipped other allies tooBritain and the Soviet Union
- GB: Fully stable and mobilized economy- rationing and heavy taxes
- 1943: Using small aircraft carriers with radar-guided bombers to remove subs
- USSR: Incredibly strong- whole factories and populations had evacuated to the East
- Reorganized and expanded production; supplied the Red Army
- Stalin drew on support of the Soviet peopleHuge nationalism
F. Had resources of much of the world; helped by growing resistance movement to Nazis
- Barbaric occupation policies drove people against them
- Communists took the lead (with patriots and Christians)
- General Charles de Gaulle: led the “Free French”
The Tide of Battle:
A. July 1942: Germans renewed their offensive against Soviet UnionStalingrad (1 month)
- November 1942: Soviet counter-attackSurrounded the entire German Sixth Army
Massive loss1943: Better Soviet armies took the offensive, moved forward
B. War in the Pacific:
- Late Spring 1942: Japan established empire in East AsiaMade clever appeals to
nationalists there that hated European imperialism
- May 1942: Battle of the Coral Sea- Allied naval and air power stopped Japanese
advance, saved Australia from invasion
- Battle of Midway Island: American pilots sank all 4 attacking Japanese aircraft carriers
American naval superiority in the Pacific Ocean
- August 1942: Americans attack Guadalcanal in Solomon Islandsstart of “island
hopping” to Japan
C. North Africa:
- May 1942: Battle of El Alamein- German and Italian armies defeated by British forces
- October: British counterattack in Egypt; Anglo-American force lands in Morocco/Algeria
Drove Axis Powers from North Africa by Spring 1943
D. Spring 1943: Invade Sicily and mainland ItalyNew Italian gvt accepted surrender in Sept.
German commandos rescued Mussolini, head of puppet gvt; Germans seized Rome
E. Germany applied itself to full total war in 1942
- 1942-1944: German war production tripledAmerican/British raids killed civilians but
were still relatively ineffective
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- German resistance against Hitler failedJuly 1944- attempted killing by SS fanatics,
unsuccessful
F. June 6, 1944: American British forces under General Dwight Eisenhower landed in
Normandy, France2 million men and 500k vehicles broke through German lines in 100 days
- Moved cautiously on a broad front
- March 1945: Crossed the Rhine and entered Germany
G. Soviets reached outskirts of Warsaw by August 1944Moved south into Romania, +
Hungary, Yugoslavia
- January 1945: Moved west through Poland; met American forces at Elbe Rive
- Hitler committed suicide as Soviet forces went into Berlin
G. August: US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan
- Unprecedented human destruction in a single blinding flash
- August 14, 1945: Japan surrendered
H. WWII, claimed lives of more than 50 million, was over
II. Summary:
A. WWII was indirectly caused by the rise of dictatorships in age of Anxiety
- Apprehensive middle-class liberals in West faced the rise, focused on similarities
- Liberals focused on the violent, totalitarian character of them
Linked 1-party socialism of Lenin and Stalin to 1 party fascism of Hitler/Mussolini
- Political left insisted on differences between the two
B. Hitler’s Nazism appears as a uniquely evil and nihilistic system
- Nazism came from fascismBut German fascism was different from Italian
- Stalin and Comm party focused on building socialism at home
- Hitler and Nazi elite aimed at unlimited territorial and racial aggression for a master race
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