Unit XII

WWII!!

I. The Beginning

A. Young Hitler

1. Born in Austria, aspired artist

2. Spent his youth as a tramp in Vienna

3. The outbreak of World War I as his liberation

4. After the war, he joins German Workers’ Party a. National Socialist Workers’ Party (Nazi) (1920)

b. Refused to accept November (1918) Resolution

B. Nazis1. Munich putsch (November 1923)

a. Hitler imprisoned b. Dictates Mein Kampf

2. Portrays himself as savior of German people 3. ‘Nazi elections - Nazis polled 6.6 percent of the vote

(1924) 4. Joseph Goebbels, propaganda 5. Nazi supporters

a. Small property holders, rural middle classes b. Elitist civil servants

6. 1930 election a. Nazis win 107 of 577 seats in Reichstag

b. No party gained majority

C. Chancellor

1. Appointed Chancellor by Hindenberg (1/ 1933)

2. Reichstag set on fire by Dutch anarchist (February 27, 1933)

3. Hitler suspends civil rights

4. New elections (March 5, 1933) a. Hitler granted unlimited power - four years

b. Hitler proclaims Third Reich

D. Third Reich1. 1 party state enforced by Propaganda 2. Opposition - Storm troopers (SA)—maintain party

discipline, Eliminated on Night of Long Knives (June 30, 1934)

3. Schutzstaffel (SS) a. Most dreaded arm of Nazi terror, by Heinrich Himmler b. Fought political, racial enemies

4. Support a. Played off communism, language of pride b. Hitler = symbol of strong, revitalized Germany (Führer cult)

i. Charismaticii. Gave people what they wanted

c. Recovery of German national glory

5. National recovery a. Sealed Germany off from rest of world b. Unemployment dropped from 6 million to 200,000 c. Outlawed trade unionsd. Popular organizations cut across class lines - Hitler Youth

E. Racial Purity

1. Inherited 19th century opinions 2. Anti-Semitism

a. Jews as outsiders b. Dreyfus Affair c. Pogroms d. “International Jewish conspiracy”

3. Racial laws exclude Jews from public office (April 1933)

4. Nuremberg Decrees (1935) - Deprived Jews of citizenship (determined by bloodline)

5. Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) (November 1938)

IV. The War

A. Prewar1. Peace settlement - Created more problems2. League of Nations as alliance of victors against

vanquished 3. No binding standards created for peace&security 4. Kellog-Briand Pact (1928)—outlawing war5. Great Depression intensified economic nationalism 6. Depression as last blow to Weimar Germany 7. Decline of Japanese exports = Invasion of

Manchuria (1931) 8. Mussolini invades Ethiopia (1935) 9. Ideologies

a. Violent nationalism b. Glorifying nation, destiny c. Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany = “Axis” (later joined by

Japan) d. Fascist regimes in Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania

B. Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

1. A weak Republican government

2. Right-wing officers rebel - Francisco Franco (r. 1936–1975)

3. Hitler, Mussolini send in troops, test new weapons

4. Soviets back Republicans

5. Britain, France failed to act

6. Hitler’s lessons a. Britain, France, Soviet Union have a hard time

containing fascism

b. Britain, France would do anything to avoid another war

C. German Space1. Germany out of League of Nations (1933) 2. Disarmament provisions of Versailles voided(1935) 3. Goal = Unification of all Germans 4. Reoccupies the Rhineland (1936) 5. Annexation of Austria (1938) 6. Hitler wants to take Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) 7. Neville Chamberlain

a. After Sudetenland, Hitler will want no more b. Germany could not afford long war c. Eastern Europe low in British priorities

8. Munich: September 29, 1938 a. Daladier (France), Chamberlain, Mussolini,&Hitler meet b. Chamberlain proclaims “peace in our time” c. Germany invades Czechoslovakia (March 1939) d. Appeasement fails

9. Stalin’s response a. Feared Western deal w/ Hitler b. Nazi-Soviet non-aggression (August 1939) c. Stalin promised ½ Poland

D. “Peace” Continues

1. Avoiding another war

2. 1930s as “a low, dishonest decade” (W. H. Auden, 1939)

3. Outbreak of world war unthinkable

4. British, American arguments = Germany was mistreated

5. Fascist states stop Soviet communism

6. The League of Nations a. Japanese invasion of China

i. “Rape of Nanjing” (1937)

ii. League expressed shock, did nothing

b. Mussolini invades Ethiopia (1935)

i. Avenging defeat of 1896

ii. League imposed sanctions, did not enforce them

E. Poland Invaded

1. Hitler demands abolition of Polish Corridor

2. Poland stood firm but Hitler attacked (September 1, 1939)

3. Britain, France send warning to Germany

4. Britain&France declare war (September 3, 1939)

5. The Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”)

6. Soviet troops invade from the east

7. Poland falls in four weeks

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_nm.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005137&MediaId=3376

F. Move to West

1. Scandinavia—Germans take Denmark, one day (Spring 1940)

2. Germans through Belgium toward France (May 10, 1939)

3. France a. French army overwhelmed by Germansb. French army poorly organizedc. French refugees flee south d. Dunkirk—300,000 British, French troops evacuated to

England e. Germans reach Paris (June 18, 1939) f. French surrender (June 18, 1939)

i. Germans occupy northern France ii. Southern France falls under Vichy regime under Marshall

Pétain g. Free French movement resist, grows w/ war

G. Battle of Britain

1. The Battle of Britain (July 1940–June 1941)a. 40,000 civilians dead

b. Stalemate in the air

c. British resistance

2. Winston Churchill (1940–1945, 1951–1955) a. Talented, arrogant

b. Language, personal diplomacy

c. Convinced FDR to break w/ American neutrality - Lend-Lease

H. Global War1. Battle of the Atlantic

a. German submarines (“wolf packs”) b. British development of sonar, aerial reconnaissance,

break German codes 2. North Africa - Protect the Suez

a. British humiliate Italian invasion in Libya - Germany to intervene

b. Afrika Korps&Erwin Rommel successful at firstc. Rommel’s invasion of Egypt defeated at El Alamein (1942) d. United States lands in French territories of

Algeria&Morocco 3. Conference at Casablanca - Allies discuss course of war 4. Japan

a. Attack Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941), British protectorate Malaya

b. Singapore falls (12/1941), Philippines invaded, press on to Burma

5. American navy a. Rapid production scheduleb. Chester Nimitz, William Halsey = victories

I. Germany on a Roll1. Germany takes Yugoslavia (1940) - Croatian puppet state 2. Romania, Hungary, & Bulgaria side w/ Germany 3. Greece falls4. Russia&Ukraine

a. Ethnically inferior Slavs & Jews, governed by communists = badb. Nazi-Soviet Pact matter of convenience for Hitler

5. Operation Barbarossa—invasion Soviet Union (6/22/41) a. Stalin’s purges rid Russia’s most capable commanders b. Germans take thousands of prisoners

6. War against Soviets pitted one ideology against another 7. Hitler diverts his attack from Moscow to industrial south 8. Nazi “New Order” 9. Patchwork affair

a. Military governments (Poland&Ukraine) b. Collaborators (France), Fascists (Hungary)

10. Empire fed Germany, maintain morale/support 11. Countries paid taxes, food, industrial production, manpower

J. Puppets

1. Norway/Netherlands - party of Nazis governed, resistance

2. France

a. Collaboration = survival tactics to active Nazi support

b. Isolation/deportation of French Jews

c. Communist – Smuggling, guerrillas, saboteurs

d. Free French under Charles de Gaulle

3. Yugoslavia

a. Fascist Croats against most Serbs

b. Josip Broz (Tito) leader of Yugoslav resistance

c. Communist guerilla army

d. Gained support of Allies

e. Moral issues facing occupied countries

f. Enemies of the Nazis—“undesirables”

K. Holocaust1. Hitler had already outlined his war against subhuman - Jews,

Gypsies,&Slavs 2. Himmler removes people (Fall 1939) 3. Poles&Jews deported from German lands4. Special death squads shoot Jews in the streets 5. Planned (1938–1941) - Forced emigration, Deportation to

Madagascar 6. More than 5 million military prisoners marched to camps 7. Warsaw&Lodz ghetto—death&terror 8. Plans for mass killings in death camps, ghettos are sealed, Poison

gas vans 9. Extermination involved knowledge, cooperation of many not directly

involved10. What of other governments?

a. Vichy France required Jews to wear special identification b. Italians participated less actively c. Hungarian government dragged its feet when it came to deportation

11. Rebellions at Auschwitz&Treblinka 12. Warsaw ghetto uprising (1943) 13. Human costs, 4.1–5.7 million Jews killed

L. Allies Turn1.Nazi enters USSR, Siege of Leningrad 2.Eastern Front

a)War to save the Russian motherlandb)Victory during the “General Winter,” recovery of Soviet armyc)Turning point—1943, German all-out assault on Stalingrad d)Bitter house-to-house fighting w/ Soviet snipers, Stalingrad destroyed e)January 1943: German surrender

3.Ukraine back to Soviet, Romania out of war, wins in Yugoslavia&Czechoslovakia

4.Western Front a)Stalin pressured Allies to open second front in West b)Allied invasion of Sicily - Mussolini surrenders (Summer, 1943) c)Normandy (6/6/44), Liberation of Paris (8//44), Battle of the Bulge

(12/44) d)Allies cross Rhine (4/45), Soviets enter Berlin (4/21/45) e)Hitler - suicide bunker (4/30/45), German unconditional surrender

(5/7/45)

M. End of War

1.War demanded massive resources&national commitment

2.Germany&Japan: robbed local areas of resources

3.United States, Britain,&Soviet Union

4.Propaganda campaigns encouraged production

5.Germany was less efficient

6.Pet projects of Nazis expended time&money

7.Targets included industry

8.British = retribution

9.Americans = grind down Germany

10.Dresden fire-bombing – terrorize civilians?

11.Race to build the bomb - Manhattan Project

12.VJ Day 8/15/1945