Chapter 29-3

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Dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles
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Discontent due to the Depression
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Failure of the League of Nations to keep the peace
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Failure to Disarm
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The Rise of totalitarian states
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U.S. stock market crash, bank failures, isolationism, tariff policy

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Treaty of Versailles:
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Harsh reparations, conservative resentment over
Diktat (article 231)
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The League of Nations:
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Little credibility without the U.S. and USSR
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Was unable to maintain peace

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Washington Naval Conference 1921: did not provide for enforcement
Four-Power Treaty
Five Power Treaty
Nine Power Treaty
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Japan gave only verbal agreement
5-Power Treaty only concerned 1 st class ships

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Locarno Pact:
 offered a false sense of security for the future
 was not relevant once Hitler took power
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Same for Kellogg-Briand Pact signed by 62 nations

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The depression caused wide-spread discontent and created the opportunity for the rise of fascism
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The London Economic Conference = Failure
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The above convinced Hitler that democracies lacked the will and organization necessary to address the international crisis
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Hitler began to rearm Germany

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Violated the 9-Power Treaty, the Kellogg-Briand
Pact and the Charter of the League of nations
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The League of Nations protested
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Japan withdrew from the League and treaty obligations

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The British, French and Italy, concerned about
Hitler’s rearmament, agreed to use force to preserve the political status quo in Europe
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Then, Italy invaded Ethiopia 1935
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Used modern weapons
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500,000 Ethiopians died, 5,000 Italians
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The League protested & Italy dropped out

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Sanctions imposed by the League but not oil
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Brits and French did not stop Italy at the Suez
Canal on the way to Ethiopia.
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They needed Italy’s help to keep Hitler in check
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By 1936 Hitler and Mussolini are working together in the Spanish Civil War
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Sanctions were lifted by this time

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Spain had a constitutional monarchy
Was challenged by Fascist, Francisco Franco
Wanted to eradicate socialism & communism
Wanted to restore the power of the Church
Civil War Between the Fascists (Falangists) and
Royalists
Franco was aided by Mussolini and Hitler
Picasso’s Guernica

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Formed as a response to successful military cooperation in Spain
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Italians still upset about lack of territory at post
WWI Paris Peace Conference (Italia Irredenta)
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1936 Germany occupied the Rhineland…T of
V had demilitarized this zone
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German Generals were nervous. France too

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For the first time since WWI, Germany had troops on the Franco-German border
A major threat to French security
France was unwilling to enforce the T. of V. without England’s help
England was Pacifist:
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Due to the memories of WWI
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And the belief by many that the T. of V. was too harsh

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Had control of the Northern and Central
Chinese Plains
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“The Rape of Shanghai”
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The League was impotent

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Germany’s threat of military action = Austrian
Chancellor resigned
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Austrian Nazi Party assumed government control
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Germany marched in and annexed Austria
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Brits: Policy of Appeasement (Neville
Chamberlain)

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At the 1938 Munich Conference Brits, French,
Italy allowed Hitler to take Sudetenland in exchange for guarantee: no more territorial aggression (appeasement)
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The Czechs were told to comply…had no choice
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Neville Chamberlain a hero at home

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Hitler went back on his word and took the rest of Czechoslovakia
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The end of Appeasement Policy

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Public: 10-Year pact
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Surprised the world
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Privately: Agreed to divide Poland between them
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Also, Russia could snap up Baltic states:
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
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Hitler: a one-front war against the West

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One week after taking Czechoslovakia, Hitler demanded he be able to build a road across the
Polish corridor…Poles refused
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Hitler also demanded Danzig (port city on the
Baltic run as a “Free City” by the League
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Brits and French promised Poland aid
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Poles expected help from General Mud

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Hitler claimed Poles were committing atrocities against Germans in the corridor and attacked
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Russia invaded on Poland’s Eastern Front
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Refugees were bombed
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Brits and French sent a naval blockade
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Had no impact against land forces
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Warsaw fell in 3 weeks

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Was Hitler done? Only until the spring
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But Russia was busy: Attacked Finland
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Fins held out for 3 months alone
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Then Russia occupied Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
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Used as a buffer zone between Russia and
Germany

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1939 Italy took Albania
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Sitzkrieg (phony war) over after 7 months
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April of 1940 Hitler invaded Norway and
Denmark and Sweden

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May 1940 Hitler demanded occupation of
Netherlands and Belgium
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Dutch held out for 5 days; lost ¼ of army
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Belgium held out for 18 days
Miracle at Dunkirk

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In three weeks
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Terms of Armistice: 1 million French POWs and occupation
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Vichy France: Petain (hero of Verdun) now
Nazi sympathizer ruled for Nazis (later executed for treason
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De Gaulle and the Free French

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Japan joined Rome-Berlin Axis
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Battle of Britain: Hitler offered peace with Brits if Brits would accept German domination of continent
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Churchill (had replaced Chamberlain) refused

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Hitler planned “Operation Sealion”: a massive invasion of England across the channel
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German aerial bombings of Britain to soften them up
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Goring’s Luftwaffe vs Brits RAF
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Brits had radar and defeated the Luftwaffe
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Germany lost 2,433 planes, RAF lost 900

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Violation of Non-Aggression agreement
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Hitler’s biggest mistake
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Invasion East for Lebensraum: living space
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Soviets called it The Great Patriotic War of the
Fatherland
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Scorched Earth Policy

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FDR meeting secretly with Churchill:
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Atlantic Charter
Agreed: no territorial exchanges after the war contrary to the wishes of the inhabitants
A new world organization
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Stalin endorsed above

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Neutrality Acts prevented FDR from bringing
U.S. into the conflict
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Lend-Lease Act 1941 = help to Brits and eventually Soviets
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Japan attacked Pear Harbor Dec. 7, 1941
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U.S. entered the war

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Another mistake
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See Atlantic Charter
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Solved a problem for FDR
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The Grand Alliance formed in 1942
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Britain, USSR, the U.S. and 42 other nations
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Spain neutral but allowed Nazis to use ports

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Nazis exploited Europe for economic value
Nordic Peoples were given preferential treatment: Dutch, Norwegians, Danes (were racially related to Germans)
French were taxed big time: were racially inferior Latin people …but to be tolerated
Poles, Ukrainians, Russians to be worked to death…Slavs considered subhuman
80% Soviet POW’s did not survive the war

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Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses,
Homosexuals, captured Communists
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Jews: Businesses and property confiscated
Had to register with government and wear Stars of David
Polish Jews forced into ghettos: Warsaw,
Krakow…deprived of supplies & outside contact

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To deprive Jews of civil rights
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Racial Hygiene, marriage laws
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Sterilization
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Berlin Olympics…Master Race
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Kristalknacht
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Final Solution began in 1942
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Wannsee Conference outlined formal plan

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And 5 other Death Camps built in Poland
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In addition to hundreds of concentration camps
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6-10 million Jews killed
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5-10 million others

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Free French was the most famous
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Supplied the allies with valuable info (troops movements, etc) and aid
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Published secret newspapers, hid escaped allied prisoners
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Sabotaged Nazi supply depots, derailed trains, blew up bridges

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El Alamein Nov. 1942: British forces led by
Montgomery drove the Germans (led by
Rommel- the Desert Fox) out of Egypt
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Operation Torch Nov. 1942: U.S. and Brits engaged retreating German forces on beaches of Morocco and Algeria
Allies surrounded Rommel’s Afrikakorps May,
1943

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Critical battle on Eastern front
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First German land defeat in Europe
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While attempting to take Stalingrad and control of Soviet oil fields in Caucasus Mountains, they were surrounded by Soviet troops
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Hitler refused to allow German forces to surrender = lost 300,000 men

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After Stalingrad, Russians began the 2 & ½ year long march, pushing the Germans back to Berlin
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July 1943 Battle of Kursk: the largest tank battle in human history…Russian victory
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By Feb. 1945, Russians on the outskirts of
Berlin

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120,000 troops crossed the channel to beaches of Normandy in France...amphibious assult
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Western Front established = beginning of the end for Germany
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Hitler now fighting on 3 fronts...(By now, allies in Italy)

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Hitler tried to break through the Allied lines
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Huge casualties
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Allies deep into Germany in 1945
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May 8, 1945 V-E Day
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Hitler and his new wife had committed suicide some days earlier

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U.S. and others island-hopping
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Truman and Potsdam Conference
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Atomic bomb Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945
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Nagasaki Aug. 9 th
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Japan surrendered tho- Emperor (Hirohito) allowed to remain

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Tehran Conference 1943…Big Three
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Allies agreed to invasion of W. Europe (D-Day)
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Stalin agreed to go against Japan after Hitler defeated
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Stalin insisted on occupying E. Europe
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Churchill fought this
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Delayed to Yalta
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Germany to be occupied after the war

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Stalin promised free elections after brief occupation of E. Europe
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Planned United Nations
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Stalin agreed to enter war against Japan within 3 months after defeat of Germany
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Zones for divided Germany decided on

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FDR, Churchill and Chaing Kai-shek: agreed on independence of Korea

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Potsdam Declaration
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Stalin reversed on free elections in Eastern
Europe
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Agreed on war crimes trials: Nuremburg Trials
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Reparations from each zone of Germany

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55 million dead or missing (22 million Soviets)
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Holocaust: 6-10 million Jews
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Millions left homeless
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Europe in ruins
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Women in the factories
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U.S. and Soviets poised for Cold War

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Blunders: Russia, Declaring war on U.S.
Germany too spread out, ran out of soldiers, began using old men and young boys
Industry not equal to the allies, especially the
U.S.
Slave labor not overly effective
Too much time & energy spent on Final
Solution
Alliances were liability: Japan, Italy