History Summary Sec 4 2009

8/8/2019 History Summary Sec 4 2009

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History

SBQ

Long term factors

Treaty of Versailles

Germans felt that the Treaty of Versailles had treated their nation unfairly.

German representatives were not allowed to take part in the negotiations

They were only told to sign the treaty

The WW1 guilt was being put squarely on Germany and its allies (Article 231 of the Treaty)

Many Germans felt that their nation was not to be blamed as the other belligerent nations should also

shoulder the blame for the outbreak of WW1

Terms were harsh caused widespread problems in Germany

Germans felt humiliated they lost their territories and had to pay reparations

Germans wanted revenge

Hitler pushed the boundaries of the treaty, since he knew that Britain and France were unwilling to get

involved in war this helped him gain support later led to WW2

Colonialism/imperialism

Militarism

Rise of the Nazis

Economic depression in the late 1920's and early 1930's created disillusionment towards the Weimar

government

Rise of perception that democracy had failed to bring order in Germany and failed to solve the problems

faced by Germany

More voters gave their support to the radical parties like the Communists and the Nazis

Nazis gained popular support by exploiting the current sentiments

Nazis presented the Treaty of Versailles as the scapegoat for Germany's plight

Aimed to tear apart the Treaty of Versailles

Hitlers/Nazis actions

Hitler went against the Treaty of Versailles by secretly rearming Germany.

He started an air force, Luftwaffe, although this was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles

He increased the production of weapons in Germany

He re-introduced conscription, the compulsory recruitment of men into the army, in 1935

He signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in 1935 with the British. By this treaty, Germany was

allowed to increase its navy to 35% of the strength of the British navy

After Hitler's proposal for France to disarm to the level of Germany was not accepted, he walked out of

the Disarmament Conference

At the same time, he also withdrew Germany from the League of Nations

Hitler's actions of rearming Germany and getting it out of League of Nations created the perception that

Germany was regaining her pride

Return of Saarland

The TOV stipulated that Saarland would be administered by League of Nations for 15 years.

In 1935, the people in Saar voted to rejoin Germany


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The return of the Saar achieved two things:

Made Hitler very popular

The Saar territory provided Hitler with resources for his rearmament programmes

Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in clear violation of the Treaty Of Versailles

The Nazis engineered the union of Austria and Germany also in clear violation of the Treaty

The Nazis engineered the Sudetenland crisis and carved out that territory from Czechoslovakia

Since Britain and France did not react belligerently, it gave Hitler confidence that the British and the

French would give in to his demands

Involvement in Spanish Civil War 1936

Right wing went against the left wing government

Italy and Germany sent troops to support right wing

Significance of German involvement in Spanish Civil War

Opportunity to try out the German weapons and fighting tactics

Showed potential of aerial warfare through bombing of a town in Spain, Guerni

Competition for resources

Legacy of WWI

Short term factors

Failure of League of Nations

LON

The constitution of the League of Nations was adopted by the Paris Peace Conference in April, 1919.

The Covenant (Constitution) of the League of Nations called for collective security and the peaceful

settlement of disputes by arbitration.

It was decided that any country that resorted to war would be subjected to economic sanctions.

First proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the

League

Only Great Britain and France were to be members throughout the League's existence. Germany, the

Soviet Union, Japan, and Italy joined late or resigned, or did both

Successes

The League of Nations also had success in adverting wars in the border disputes between

Bulgaria-Greece (1925), Iraq-Turkey (1925-26) and Poland-Lithuania (1927). The League of Nations also

had noticeable success in the areas of drugs control, refugee work and famine relief.

Reasons for failure

The League of Nations had no armed forces and had to rely on boycotts (sanctions) to control the

behaviour of member states.

In January 1923 France occupied the Ruhr. Six months later Italy bombed the Greek island of Corfu.

When the League of Nations discussed these events, the governments of France and Italy threatened to

withdraw from the organization. As a result, the League of Nations decided not to take any action.

Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946. The responsibilities were handed over to the UN

Policy of Appeasement

Main ideas

Giving way to other countries in order to avoid conflict and war

Britain and France adopted this policy towards Germany after 1933

This was even more intensified when Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister of Britain in 1937


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People involved

Chamberlain was the Prime Minister during the time of Appeasement. He was the main person behind

the policy of Appeasement. He is famous for returning from Germany with peace in our time after

making a deal with Hitler over the Munich Crisis.

Churchill was the main opponent of Appeasement as he saw Hitler as an aggressive dictator that needed

to stop. He strongly believed that Appeasement was wrong, but he was eventually proved right when

Hitler invaded Poland.

Arguments for appeasement

Some people actually sympathised with Hitler and Germany

Germany needed a fair deal

Germany was treated unfairly through the Treaty of Versailles

Appeasement allowed Germany to gain back what it had lost the lands rightfully belonged to

Germany

With appeasement, Britain and France thought that Germany would be satisfied and would not

make further advances

Many saw that Stalin and Communist Russia was the real threat

Communism and Soviet Union needed to be checked

Though Hitler was a concern, communism was of greater fear for both Britain and France

If communism spread, the governments in Britain and France would collapse

With appeasement, Germany would be on the side of Britain and France. This would strengthen

Britain and France against any possible communist threat to their countries.

People wanted to avoid another war.

People in Britain and France wanted to avoid another war as they were tired of war

They were shocked with the devastating consequences of WW1 and did not want a repeat

As the people were against war, it would not be appropriate to go against the wishes of the people

and get into a war with Germany

Appeasement would ensure that there was no war with Germany

Britain and France were not in a position to fight Germany

Britain and France needed time to build up resources

WW1 had made both Britain and France week as many factories, manpower and other resources

were lost

By giving in to Hitler, Britain and France would be able to build up the country again. This would

strengthen them against any aggressive move by Germany

Arguments against appeasement

Allowing a stronger Germany

Appeasement allowed Germany to grow stronger

Allowed Germany to build up its resources

This meant that Germany became even more difficult to defeat

Without the policy, Germany would have hesitated to build up its army as it would have led to

protest and actions from Britain and France

Encouraging Hitler

Appeasement encouraged Hitler

For example, during the remilitarising of Rhineland, Hitler instructed his troops to withdraw if there

was any retaliation from France.


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The policy of appeasement made Hitler assume that no one would go against him

Suspicious Soviets

Appeasement scared USSR

USSR became frightened that Britain and France might join force with Germany against USSR

USSR thus became more supportive of Germany than Britain and France If the policy of

appeasement was not practiced, the Soviets might not have signed that Nazi-Soviet pact. This

would have made Hitler hesitate to expand further due to fear of a two front attack on Germany by

Britain, France and Soviet Union

Isolationism

Ambitions/aggression of fascist nations

Hitler's foreign policies

Important people

Hitler

Increased size of the German Military but no action was taken against him

This gave him greater confidence to break more terms of the treaty

He knew France and Britain were unwilling to go into battle again (though they were militarily stronger), so he

pushed the boundaries of the treaty

He broke the treaty again when he decided to send German troops into Rhineland (France was horrified, but

Britain resisted going to war over the issue saying that Germany was just going to an area that was theirs)

Stalin

Chamberlain

Mussolini

The Allies

Great Britain

US

Canada

USSR joined after being invaded by Germany

The Axis

Germany

Italy

Japan

SEQ

Events during war

Battle of Britain

10 July 1940 31 October 1940

Allies

Great Britain

Strengths: 1,963 total

Axis

Germany

Italy


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Strengths: 4,074 total

Battle Of Britain is a sustained strategic effort by the German Luftwaffe to gain air superiority over the Royal

Air Force (RAF)The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air force

The failure of Nazi Germany to destroy Britain's air defence or to break British morale is considered its first

major defeat.

Had it been successful, the planned amphibious and airborne forces landings in Britain would have followed

Reasons for German defeat:

Tactical errors:

The German Luftwaffe, under direct command of Hermann Goering and overall command of Hitler,

committed tactical errors despite gaining an advantage over the RAF

Goering and Hitler ordered an intensified aerial blitz on London in September after the RAF

performed a retaliatory air raid on Berlin on late August

The Berlin air-raid struck Hitler's ego that he ordered the London blitz

However, more planes were lost during the blitz and they were not replaced nor repaired

immediately

Whereas for the British, the RAF was very quick to repair damage air defence installations as well

as planes that were downed

Logistical problems

Despite having more planes than the RAF, the Luftwaffe did not have a responsive system to repair

damaged planes and make them battle-ready within a short duration

Aircraft adjustments were also not made for the planes to last the air-raid on Britain

A Messerschmitt Bf.109 had only enough fuel to remain over England for 20 minutes and bombers

were often left unescorted

Poor intelligence

The Luftwaffe intelligence sources said that radar stations were unimportant and should not be

targets. Eventually it was the radar station in Britain that detected the incoming German fighters

and alerted the air defence system to knock out the fighters

It also misreported strength, weapons, and losses.

At one point, Hitler complained to Goering that "you have apparently shot down more aircraft

than the British ever possessed

The North Africa Campaign

10 June 1940 16 May 1943

Allies

Britain

Australia

New Zealand

Commonwealth countries

US (joined the Allies later in the campaign) Free French exiles

Axis

Italy

Germany

Vichy Franc


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Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on June 10, 1940.

On June 14, a division of the British army and armoured regiment crossed the border into Libya and captured

the Italian Fort Capuzzo.

This was followed by an Italian offensive into Egypt and then in December 1940 by a Commonwealth

counteroffensive, Operation Compass.

During Operation Compass, the Italian Tenth Army was destroyed and

German Afrika Korps, commanded by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, was dispatched to North Africa, during

Operation Sonnenblume, to bolster the Italian forces and prevent a complete Axis defeat

Allied Casualties

Free French 16,000 Killed, Wounded or Captured

British Empire 33,000 Killed, Wounded, or Captured

United States 2,715 killed8,978 wounded6,528 missingAxis Casualties

Germany

12,808 killed

Numbers wounded unknown

101,784 captured

Total Axis:

950,000 total casualties 8,000 aircraft destroyed or captured 6,200 guns destroyed or captured

2,500 tanks destroyed or captured

Reasons for Axis defeat

Ineffective Italian forces (Mussolini rushed Italian participation into the war after being pressed by

Hitler despite Italy not being ready for war, due to its previous involvement in Abyssinia)The entry of the United States into the war added more firepower to the Allies

Despite early success of Rommel in the desert front, lack of logistical and armour support contributed

to the Axis defeat (lack of support due to Operation Barbarossa in the Soviet Union)

Despite Rommel receiving reinforcements from the German High Command, the North African

Campaign was later split into 2 fronts:

In Tunisia (Battle Of Tunisia, 1943)In Egypt (Battle Of El Alamein, 1942)The Axis forces were totally out-stretched, out-gunned and out-flanked by the Allied powers consisting

of troops from Britain, Australia, NZ, South Africa, Free French forces, United States and British India

Battle Of Midway

4 June 7 June 1942

Between US and Japan

The Midway operation, like the attack on Pearl Harbour, was not part of a campaign for the conquest of the

United States, but was aimed at its elimination as a strategic Pacific power, thereby giving Japan a free hand

in establishing its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

It was also hoped another defeat would force the U.S. to negotiate an end to the Pacific War with conditions

favourable for Japan.

Japanese plan was to lure America's few remaining carriers into a trap and sink them.

The Japanese also intended to occupy Midway Atoll to extend their defensive perimeter


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Both sides sustained significant losses. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk in

exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer.

The heavy losses permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), in particular the four fleet carriers

and over 200 experienced naval aviators.

Japan was unable to keep pace with American shipbuilding and aircrew training programs in providing

replacements.

By 1942, the United States was three years into a massive ship building program intended to make the navy

larger than Japan's.

As a result of Midway, strategically, the U.S. Navy was able to seize the initiative in the Pacific and go on the

offensive

Midway dealt Japanese naval aviation a heavy blow.

The pre-war Japanese training program produced pilots of exceptional quality but at a slow rate.This small

group of elite aviators were combat hardened veterans.

At Midway, the Japanese lost as many of these pilots in a single day as their pre-war training program

produced in a year.

Japanese planners failed to foresee a long continuous war, and consequently their production failed to

replace the losses of ships, pilots, and sailors begun at Midway; by mid-1943, Japanese naval aviation was

decimated

Battle Of Stalingrad

21st

August 1942 2nd

February 1943

Operation Overlord (Battle Of Normandy) (D-Day: The Normandy Landings)

6th of June 1944 30th of August 1944

Allies

Soviet Union

Axis

Germany

Hungary

Italy

Romania

Allied troops strength

1,452,000 (by July 25 1944)3,000,000+ (by end August 1944)

German troops strength

380,000 (by July 23 1944)

Operation Overlord was the codename giveven to the planned invasion of northwest Europe during World

War II by Allied forces

The operation began with the Normandy Landings on June 6, 1944 (commonly known as D-Day), among the

largest amphibious assaults ever conducted.

Nearly 160,000 troops crossed the English Channel on 6 June, landing more than 3 million troops by the end

of August

Allied land forces that saw combat in Normandy on D-Day itself came from

Canada

Britain

United States of America


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Substantial Free French and Polish forces also participated in the battle after the assault phase

Contingents of resistance fighters from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway

Objectives of Battle Of Normandy

To secure the five beaches along the coast of Normandy (codenamed: Gold, Sword, Juno, Omaha, Utah) The five beachheads would be the launching pad to launch the full-scale invasion of German-occupied

Western Europe and of Germany itself

A the five beachheads, artificial harbours (Mulberry harbours) were built to act as the entry point of

military logistics, crucial to the operation

While the Germans anticipated the invasion, there was disagreement between the generals and Hitler over

how fortification and defences should be built.

Generals like Rommel and Guderian were in favour of putting tanks alongside the bunkers protecting the

coastline but Hitler wanted more focus on stemming the Soviet advance

Though the Atlantic Wall was planned, the fortifications were not completed

Allied casualties

46,000 dead, 173,000 wounded and missing

12,000 French civilian and Resistance dead or missing

German casualties

400,000 casualties (50,000 dead, 150,000 wounded and 200,000 captured)

The invasion of Normandy would eventually lead to the liberation of France with the surrender of Paris in 25

August 1944

From that point onwards, Belgium and Netherlands were liberated and a full-scale invasion of Germany

began

The Normandy landings not only signalled the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, it heralded in the start

of the race for Europe, which some historians consider to be the start of the Cold War (The Race To Berlin)

Germany

Germany invaded Poland in 1939, setting off war in Europe.

Germany invaded France, capturing Paris

Germany bombed London and the Battle of Britain began

Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union defeated German in Stalingrad, marking the turning

point of the war in Eastern Europe

Britain's engagement in war

Battle of Britain

Entrance of USA

As conflict grew in Europe and Asia, American foreign policy evolved from neutrality to direct involvement

The United States stopped shipping oil, scrap metal, and gasoline to Japan

Economic aid to the Allies

Cash and Carry

The U.S. allowed warring nations to purchase arms provided they paid for them in cash and

transported them in their ships (1939)

Destroyers for Bases Trade

The U.S. gave Britain war supplies and old naval warships (50 destroyers) in return for 99-year

leases on military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean (1940)

Direct involvement in the war after the bombing of Pearl Harbour on Dec 7th

, 1941

The United States declared war on Japan and right after that, Germany declared war on the United States


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The United States declared war on Japan and Germany (turning point!)

The U.S. was victorious over Japan in the Battle of Midway. This victory was a turning point because the U.S.

gained control of the Pacific Ocean

Decisions made by Allies during war

American and Allied troops landed in Normandy, France, on D-Day to begin the liberation of Western Europe

Despite initial Axis success in both Europe and the Pacific, the Allies persevered and ultimately defeated

Germany and Japan

Jews and others in concentration camps (due to holocaust) were liberated by Allied troops

Holocaust

Hitlers systematic program to exterminate the Jews in Europe

Boycott (refusal to buy goods and services of Jewish stores; threats, segregation, imprisonment

and killing of Jews and others in concentration camps

Atomic bombs

Japan bombing US (turning point!)

Rising tension developed between the United States and Japan because of Japanese aggression in East

Asia

On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbour without warning.

Japan launching their attack.

View from Japanese planes as they attack Pearl Harbour

US bombing Japan

The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, forcing Japan to surrender and

ending WWII

USSR's involvement in war

The Soviet Union invaded Poland and the Baltic nations

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Consequences of war

Bipolar world

Emergence of 2 superpowers

USA

USA was strong since they produced and supplied a large amount of weapons and planes

Their country was the only one not affected by the war (other than the atomic bomb in Pearl

Harbour)

They had the manpower to do so (brought an end to the great Depression since many jobs

were created)

Thousands of American women took jobs in defense plants during the war (i.e., Rosie the

Riveter)

USSR

Creation of UN

Prevent something like WW2 from happening again

Collective security

Documents

History Summary Sec 4 2009