A Rise in Dictators
The aftermath of the World War I peace settlements left the losing side, Germany, with a lot to complain about. The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to create a “just and secure peace” as Woodrow Wilson had hoped. Instead, it created a lot of discontent with the Germans and Soviets. Also, the new democratic nations that emerged in Europe were not able to be maintained because they had no democratic background to begin with. Overall, The Treaty of Versailles failed in rebuilding Europe and creating a stable environment, ultimately allowing dictators to rise up in power. The 3 main dictators were Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Stalin took over the Soviet Union after Lenin died in 1924. His vision for the Soviet Union was for it to become a truly socialist state. Stalin went to great lengths to achieve this goal including collectivizing agriculture and his 5-Year Plans, both of which contributed to a human cost of 8-13 million people. The Soviet Union became a totalitarian state, where the people had no voice. Benito Mussolini did the same in Italy. He was the father of fascism- a strong centralized government headed by a powerful dictator. Fascism was rooted in nationalism, of which there was a lot, especially after WWI. While his supporters were actually anti- Communist, Mussolini still managed to create a totalitarian state by crushing all opposition to the Fascist Party. Adolf Hitler became leader of the Nazi Party after WWI, and in his book Mein Kampf, detailed his goals of unifying all German speaking people into one empire, having the Aryan race dominate all others and land expansion to allow all the people to live together. He dismantled the democratic Weinmar Republic and created the Third Reich. In Japan, militarist leaders shared Hitler's belief in expansion for their population. Against the other government officials' wishes, they launched an attack on Manchuria (Chinese province) in 1931, and took control of it. When the League of Nations sent representatives to investigate, Japan just quit the League; the success of the invasion put the government in militarist control. Hitler followed this example and against the Versailles Treaty, began to build the German army again. Americans wanted to stay out of war. Many believed that they only entered WWI because of greedy bankers and arms dealers, and antiwar sentiment grew a lot. FDR foreign policy had changed from being very involved to isolationist. Congress passed the Neutrality Acts ('35), outlawing arms sales and loans to nations at war or undergoing civil war. Still, it was hard for Americans not to take sides in conflicts like the Spanish Civil War (Francisco Franco) or sympathize as blacks did with the Ethiopians. War In Europe As part of Hitler's plan for German expansion he declared that Austria and Czechoslovakia would be (forcibly) annexed as part of Germany, and no one stopped him when he invaded Austria. After WWI, the Austria-Hungary empire broke up leaving Germans of the Sudetenland to join Czechoslovakia. Hitler, accusing the Czechs of abusing the Germans, amassed troops on the border. France and Britain had both promised to protect Czechoslovakia; Hitler invited French premier Daladier and British prime minister Neville Chamberlain to meet and claimed that the Sudetenland was his last territorial request- both agreed to give it over to prevent war (The Munich Pact). While many people approved of Chamberlain's action, Winston Churchill did not- he saw it as appeasement, or giving up principles to pacify an aggressor. He warned that their would be war anyway. On March 15, 1939, Hitler broke his promise and took over the rest of Czechoslovakia, turning his eyes to Poland next. Poland had a large German population and Hitler did the same routine as with the Sudetenland. However, Poland is different in that invading it might provoke conflict with the Soviet Union, as well as war from France and Britain (who promised to aid Poland); a two front war. Stalin, though disliking the Nazis, realize he had more to lose than to gain and signed the nonaggression pact with Germany, agreeing not to fight each other. They also had a second secret pact in which they split Poland up between the two of them. On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, implementing blitzkrieg (lightning war), meant to catch Poland by surprise and quickly crush all opposition. It was effective in that Poland was taken before France and Britain could do anything about it. On Apr. 7, 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, then several others. With the German invasion of Belgium, French and British troops were sent in for fear of them bypassing the Maginot Line into France. Hitler sent his troops north into the Ardennes, cutting off the Allies from the north. Italy then invaded France from the South as Germany did from the north. Germany then began to assemble a naval fleet on the coast of France but knowing that it could not beat the British naval force, they launched an air war at the same time. The Luftwaffe (German air force) began attacking Britain with bombs, trying to destroy the Royal Air Force to control the skies. The Battle of Britain lasted about 2 months, with the Luftwaffe targeting air fields and factories and then cities. The RAF had radar technology which plotted the flight paths of the German planes, allowing them to retaliate against the Germans. Hitler called off the invasion indefinitely. The Holocaust The Holocaust- systematic murder of 11 million people across Europe (more than half were Jews). Jews were especially targeted because of deep anti-Semitic roots in German history; Hitler blamed them for Germany's troubles after WWI. In 1935, the Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of their civil rights and property if they tried to leave Germany, and they were forced to identify themselves with a yellow Star of David on their clothes. Nov. 9, 1938- Kristallnacht (night of broken glass)- when gangs of Nazis attacked Jewish homes and businesses and then blamed the Jews for the destruction- they were arrested, sent to concentration camps and made to pay a fine for all the damages. From 1933 on, Jews fled Germany each year, more so after Kristallnacht. Germans tried to expedite this but problems arose when other nations reached their quotas (France, US). They feared that admitting too many refugees into their countries would fuel anti-Semitism and create more economic trouble. Because (forced) emigration didn't work, the Nazis had to find the “final solution to the Jewish question”. This meant sending healthy Jews to labor camps and genocide for the rest. This solution was based on the Nazi's belief in the preservation of the “master race”. Besides Jews, other groups like political opponents (Communists, Socialists liberals), gypsies, Freemasons, and Jehovah's Witnesses were targeted because they spoke out against the Nazi's. The gays, insane, disables and terminally ill were also killed as they were deemed unfit to be of the master race. Poles, Ukrainians and Russians were later added to the list. The 'final solution' was first implemented in Poland. Nazi murder squads rounded up Jews then killed them, left them to starve in ghettos or sent them to concentration camps. In the camps, prisoners were cramped, starved and worked harshly, and eventually killed. Even this did not get rid of the Jews fast enough, so the Nazis had gas chambers built in each camp which could kill 6000 in one day. Prisoners were also shot, hung, injected or died of horrible medical experiments, some with the intent to improve the master race. In the end, over 6 million Jews died, as did many others, in the Holocaust. Those who survived or escaped went into hiding or into neutral territory like Sweden or Switzerland. America Moves Towards War Sept 8, 1939- FDR called a special session in Congress to revise the Neutrality Acts. He proposed a “cash-and-carry” provision, which would allow nations to buy US arms so long as they paid cash and transported with their own ships. He felt this was help France and Britain while keeping US neutral. It was passed in the Neutrality Act of 1939. However, just months later, France had already fallen, Britain was under siege and Japan, Germany and Italy had signed the Tripartite Pact, becoming the Axis Powers. Under this pact, an attack on anyone of them meant the others would come to their defense. This meant that should the US attack any of the three, it would face war on both the Pacific and Atlantic. FDR asked Congress for an increase in national defenses, as years of isolationism made them weak. In 1940, Congress approved and also passed the Selective Training and Service Act, where men age 21-35 would be registered and 1 million would be drafted each year. Also in 1940, Roosevelt decided to run for reelection. Because his and the Republican's platforms were so similar, the people chose who they were familiar with and he won again. FDR warned the people that there was no hope in negotiating peace with Hitler. Britain had run out of money to spend so FDR suggested replacing the “cash-and-carry” with the “lend-lease”, lending/leasing arms to any nation whose defense was vital to the US. On Jun 22, 1941, Hitler broke his treaty with Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviets fought back fiercely and carried out a scorched earth policy until the winter set in, halting German attack. This prompted FDR to send lend-lease aid to the Soviets as well. To prevent any aid from getting to Britain or the Soviet Union, Hitler enlisted his wolf- pack of submarines to destroy shipments, which they did. FDR ordered the US Navy to protect the shipments and attack in self defense if needed. FDR and Churchill met in secret on a warship to discuss and came out with the Atlantic Charter, spelling out causes for which WWII was fought: Britain and the US would seek no territorial expansion, no territorial changes without inhabitants' consent, respect the right of people to choose their own government, promote free trade, encourage international cooperation, build a secure peace, disarmament of aggressors and a permanent system of general security. This was the basis for the Declaration by the United Nations, signed by 26 nations or Allies which joined together against the Axis Powers. With many US casualties and ships destroyed as a result of German attack, it was only a matter of time before the US got more involved. Japan has long dreamed of a vast colonial empire. With WWII taking place, French and Dutch colonies in Asia have already been overtaken by their German allies, and Britain was too busy to prevent Japanese expansion on their colonies; only the US stood in the way. As Japanese expansion began, the US cut off trade with Japan, which meant no oil for Japanese war machines. General Hideki Tojo became the prime minister and assured the emperor Hirohito that peace would be attempted but also ordered the Navy to be prepared to attack. On Dec 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, crippling almost the entire US fleet while only suffering a 29 plane casualty. The next day, FDR asked Congress for a declaration of war on Japan (which was quickly approved) and days later, Italy and Germany declared war on the US. |