World War II: The Peace
Amanda Zhao
3-5-13
Period 5
End of WWII Timeline
• April 1, 1945 - U.S. troops encircle Germans in the Ruhr; Allied
offensive in northern Italy.
• April 12, 1945 - Allies liberate Buchenwald and Belsen
concentration camps; President Roosevelt dies. Harry Truman
becomes President.
• April 16, 1945 - Soviet troops begin their final attack on Berlin;
Americans enter Nuremberg.
• April 18, 1945 - German forces in the Ruhr surrender.
• April 21, 1945 - Soviets reach Berlin.
• April 28, 1945 - Mussolini is captured and hanged by Italian
partisans; Allies take Venice.
• April 30, 1945 - Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
• May 2, 1945 - German troops in Italy surrender.
• May 7, 1945 - Unconditional surrender of all German forces to
Allies.
"The History Place - World War II in Europe Timeline." The History Place - World War II in Europe
Timeline. The History Place, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/ww2time.htm>.
• June 5, 1945 - Allies divide up Germany and Berlin and take
over the government.
• June 26, 1945 - United Nations Charter is signed in San
Francisco.
• July 16, 1945 - First U.S. atomic bomb test; Potsdam
Conference begins.
• July 26, 1945 - Atlee succeeds Churchill as British Prime
Minister.
• August 6, 1945 - First atomic bomb dropped, on Hiroshima,
Japan.
• August 8, 1945 - Soviets declares war on Japan and invade
Manchuria.
• August 9, 1945 - Second atomic bomb dropped, on Nagasaki,
Japan.
• September 2, 1945 - Japanese sign the surrender
agreement; V-J (Victory over Japan) Day.
• October 24, 1945 - United Nations is born.
• November 20, 1945 - Nuremberg war crimes trials begin.
The Final Months (Europe)
• Allies invade Germany (1945)
– American and British forces halt at Elbe River
(prevent Hitler make stand at Berchtesgaden)
– Russian take Berlin
• April 30, 1945: Hitler
commits suicide
• Germans sign
unconditional surrender
• War in Europe over
The Final Months (Asia)
• Conflict in Asia continue for 4 more months
– Allied progress in Pacific to Japan slow and bloody
• Americans took Guam and Iwo Jima, landed in
Philippines
• Tactics:
– Land on some islands while skipping others, allow formation of
bases
– From bases Allied planes bomb Japanese fleet and mainland
(killed nearly 200,000 people in Tokyo in one week)
• August 6: US President Harry Truman authorize use of
atomic bomb
• Bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki (August 9)
• August 8: Soviet Union declare war on Japan
World War II in2,
the1945:
Pacific Japan surrenders
• September
Learn NC. Map of World War II in the Pacific. Digital image.
Major Battles/Campaigns
Learn NC. Learn NC, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/13349>.
Post-War Issues
• Euphoria of victory  difficulties from war
• Struggle with effects of death, destruction,
displacement of people (millions)
• Economic hardship, social dislocation,
political division
• Dominance of United States and Soviet
Union (Cold War)
Immediate Crises
• Devastation from war
– Majority of deaths: civilian (ex. Germans killed 12-20 million people
in occupied countries and concentration camps)
– 4 million soldiers died
– 5/6X more greater EU casualties than WWI
 Total European casualties: 45-55 million
• Industrial capability halved
• Ports, bridges, rail lines, homes destroyed
• Agriculture impacted: (US and Soviet Union provide relief)
– Farmland in FR, Italy, Germany cannot be cultivated
– FR cattle number halved
– 1945-1946: Famine a threat (ex. Vienna)
• Disease (though penicillin helped)
StarHalo. World War II Deaths. Digital image. CandlePowerForums.
CandlePowerForums, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?2
63721-Charts-amp-Graphs>.
Immediate Crises con.
• Refugees
– 8 million slave laborers (from Germany) and millions
from concentration camps sent home
– Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Germans leave
• Prisoners of war (both sides)
• Placement of refugees contributed to
settlement of national boundaries
• Most civilians (60 million total)
– Majority: women and children
– Housed in abandoned factories, warehouses,
concentration camps, crude barracks
Potsdam Conference
• July 1945: Soviet Union (Stalin), Great BR
(Churchill, Clement Attlee), and U.S. (President
Harry Truman) meet at Potsdam
• Germany:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Nazi institutions all to be abolished
No German arms production
Controlled Germany industry
Restore democracy and free speech
Divide into 4 zones of occupation
Eastern border moved to Oder and Neisse rivers (enlarge
Poland)
• Japan:
– Soviet Union get some territory
– European nations regain Asian colonies
– Prime beneficiaries: China, U.S.
Other Peace Settlements
• 4 principle Allies (BR, FR, U.S., USSR)
draft treaties for other defeated states
• Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland
cede minor territories to neighbors
• Austria divided into four occupied zones
War Crime Trials
• Drive against Fascism and former Nazis
• Nazi occupied countries had summary
execution of collaborators and some public
prosecutions
• Pierre Laval and Marshal Petain publically
tried in FR (worked with Nazis in French
occupation)
• Germany’s high numbers of prosecuted
made denazification difficult
• Allies organize Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
• 1945-1946: international tribunal created by
Allies, held in Nuremberg
• Prosecute Hitler’s closest associates for crimes
against humanity
• To inform German people horrors of Nazi rule
• 12/22 defendants condemned to death
• Important precedent of an international court,
trying for genocide, and international law
International Agencies and Institutions
• 1943: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation
Administration (UNRRA)
– Reconstructing postwar Europe
– Organize food and medical relief
– International loans
• 1944: International Monetary Fund and an
International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development (World Bank) established
– Established in conference in Bretton Woods,New
Hampshire
– Avoid dangerous inflation
– Support stable currencies
– Mechanisms for shaping international capitalist
economy
• Main institution: United Nations
United Nations
• Main instrument of peace
• Conference in San Francisco approve
United Nations charter
• Established:
– General Assembly (determine policy)
– Security Council (decision-making/supervision)
• More promising than League of Nations, but
superpowers still compete
Allison, Fiona. Division of the World During the Cold War. Digital image.
ProQuest. ProQuest, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.
<http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/russia/review.php>.
Europe Divided
• Communists (Eastern nations and
USSR) vs. Anticommunists (Western
ones and U.S.)
• Communist call for social justice
• Democracy with post-war idealism
• Led to 1947 Cold War between USSR
and U.S. (military, political, ideological
conflict)
Eastern Europe
• USSR annex Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania; territories of East Prussia,
Poland, Hungary, and Romania
• Soviets encourage establishment of single-party, communist
dictatorship governments loyal to them
– Used coercion, social issues, secret police
• Five Year Plan of 1946: ransack occupied areas
• 1946: Forced merger of East Germany’s Social Democratic party with
Communist party  Eastern zone becomes German Democratic
Republic (1949) (Divide Germany)
• Poland:
– Weaken Peasant party in 1947 election and come into power
– Attack Catholic Church
• Also dominate Czechoslovakia (defeat Benes and Masaryk),
Romania, Albania, Bulgaria
• Yugoslavia (under Marshal Tito) different: avoid USSR influence
Western Europe
• Return to democratic life, social reform
– Right to work, social/civil rights, women suffrage
– Spain, Portugal remain dictatorships
Tensions
between Communist and Anticommunist  Cold war
• West
Germany:
• U.S. announce
Truman
Doctrine (against
Communist
takeover)
– Christian
and Social
Democrats
return to
Weimar Republic
• Ex. Greece, Turkey
politics
•Aid alsorecover
Cold Warwell
issue:
– Industry
• U.S.:
MarhsallofPlan
– Western
divisions
Germany = Federal Republic of Germany
• Russia: Council of Mutual Economic Assistance
– Chancellor: Konrad Adenauer
• Italy:
Escalating tensions and fear of atomic weapons 
–
–
Christian
Democrats
dominant (NATO) (1949)
• North Atlantic
Treaty Organization
Prime
minister:
Alcide De
• Soviets
form: Warsaw
PactGasperi
(1955) (1945-1953)
• France: (Fourth Republic)
– President subordinate to legislature, troubled by instability
• Britain:
– Churchill lose to Clement Attlee (Labour party) in 1945
– Launched large program of nationalization, welfare program
Effects on Empire
• Decolonization
• Pressures against colonization: Japanese conquest
of European colonies, obstacles from war, U.S. and
USSR unsupportive
• Nationalist movements:
Jawaharlal Nehru
– India (Jawaharlal Nehru), Senegal (Leopold
Senghor), Guinea (Sekou Toure), West Indies (Franz
Fanon)
• BR and FR withdraw from Middle East:
– Lebanon and Syria (1946), Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Sudan
• UN endorse creation
of Israeli state
Franz Fanon
The Global Pattern
• Decolonization throughout world
– Ex. Mohandas K. Gandhi  Indian independence (1947)
– Independence campaigns in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Burma,
Malaya, Indonesia
– Most African colonies (ex. Ghana, Kenya) won independence by
1960s (Portuguese Angola caught in civil war backed on different
sides by U.S. and USSR)
– BR and FR continue influence former colonies through taking
advantage of diplomacy, economic interests, common
languages, and various institutions
• French withdrawal from Vietnam from Vietnamese
conflict:
– Vietnamese guerilla campaign under Ho Chi Minh
• Cold war also had global affects:
– Mao Zedong bring communists to power in China (1949)
Wars of Decolonization.
Digital
image.
Colonial Warfare
1880-1975. DevHub, 6 June 2011. Web. 12
– Democratic
Japan,
U.S.
support
in Taiwan
Mar. 2013. <http://colonialwarfare18901975.devhub.com/blog/634572-wars-of decolonization/>.
– U.S. form Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) (like NATO)
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