lecture 8 - ww ii

Professor Chee Lecture on WWII

1. War starts in Asia in 19312. Race plays a major part in this war3. War has devastating consequences

involving 60 – 70 million deaths4. War brings unprecedented peace to

Europe, Cold war everywhere else (including the development of the UN)

World War II Timeline1931 – Japanese invade Manchuria (“Asia for the Asians”)1935 – Italians invade Ethiopia1937 – Japanese invade China, Rape of Nanjing1938 – Germans annex of Austria - the Anschluss1938 – Germans invade Sudentenland, home of three million ethnic Germans in Czechoslovakia1938 – Germans occupy the rest of Czechoslovakia1939 – Germany (& Russia) invade Poland (after the Nazi-Soviet Pact)1940 - Blitzkrieg – lightning speed – Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France fell to Nazi forces (Panzer – battletanks and Luftwaffe – German air force)1941 – June - Germans invade of Russia1941 – December – Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, military baseDecember 11, 1941, Hitler & Mussolini declares war on the US 1943 – Stalingrad – Russians defeat Germany – turning point for war1944 – June – Allied invasion of France1945 – April 30 – Hitler commits suicide1945 – May 7 – Germany surrenders1945- August 6 & 8 – Hiroshima & Nagasaki – Atomic bombs

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World War II Death Toll of 60-70 Million

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154

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6

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6 USSRChinaGermanyJapanPolesBritainUSJews

Which country lost the most?Majority civilians, not soldiers Soviet Union - 20+Chinese – 15Germany - 8

Jews - 6Poland – 6Japan – 2

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1931 – Japanese invade Manchuria

“Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” or “Asia for the Asians”

Imperialist Japano Japan signs treaties under League of

Nations to limit imperialist activity, 1922-1928

o Political chaos in interwar Japan, assassinations

o Militarist, imperialist circles advocate greater assertion of Japanese power in the region

o China a soft target5

The Mukden Incident (1931)o Japanese troops in Manchuria, China,

secretly blow up small parts of the Japanese-built South Manchuria Railroad as pretext for war

o Over opposition of Japanese civilian government, military takes Manchuria, renames it Manchuko, a puppet state

o League of Nations censures Japan, Japan leaves the League of Nations

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1935 – Italians invade Ethiopia

Italian soldiers on their way to Eritrea, 1935

o Benito Mussolini invades Ethiopia

o 275K Ethiopians killed

o 2K Italian troops killed,

o Italia also invades Eritrea, Libya, Albania

1936 - Emperor Haile Selassie (Ras Tafari)pleads with the League of Nations to save Ethiopia from Italian Aggression

o The League took no action until after the fall of France in 1940.

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1937 – Japanese invade China, Rape of Nanjing

“Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” or “Asia for the Asians”

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“Comfort Women” - Ianfuo 350K+ Asian girls forced into

prostitution slavery by Japanese forces,

o ages 14-20 from Korea (80%), Taiwan, China, Philippines & other parts of SE Asia

o 20/30 men per day, in war zoneso “Comfort Houses,” “Consolation

Centers”o Killed when infected with venereal

diseaseo Large-scale massacres at end of

war to hide crimeso Social ostracism for survivors

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Policy of AppeasementMunich Conference 1938o Italy, France, Great

Britain, Germany meeto Allies follow policy of

appeasemento Hitler promises to halt

expansionist effortsBritish Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (1937-40) promises “peace for our time”

Hitler signs secret Russian-German Treaty of Non-Aggression, 1939

(Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, August 1939)

With Lighting Speed, Germany Invades Europe

1938 – Germans annex Austria - the Anschluss1938 – Germans invade Sudentenland, Czechoslovakia with 3 million ethnic Germans1938 – Germans invade the rest of Czechoslovakia1939 – Germany (& Russia) invade Poland (after the Nazi-Soviet Pact)1940 - Blitzkrieg –w lightning speed Germans invade Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France & the Netherlands

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1940 - Japan Signs Pact with Germany & Italy, Non-Agression Pact w USSR

1940 - The Fall of France

o 1940: Germany invades Denmark, Norway, Belgium, France (Vichy France)

o Hitler forces French to sign armistice agreement in same railroad car used for the armistice imposed on Germany in 1918, “November crimes”

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Collaboration & Resistance• Military forms of

resistance• Intelligence

gathering• Protecting

refugees• Symbolic gestures

For some, opportunity for social mobility under conquerorsSometimes considered a lesser evil than military administration

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Germany Fights Great Britain

o British retreated from French defeat

o Germans engage them in the Battle of Britain or “The Blitz”o Air war conducted by the German

Luftwaffeo 40,000 British civilians killed in

urban bombing raidso Especially London

o Royal Air Force prevents Germans from invading

Germans stop before completely invading Great Britain (without complete success)

Great Britain the only country in opposition to Germany in Europe!

1941 – June - Germans invade Russia: Operation Barbarossa

Lebensraum-living space

Despite the Russian-German Treaty of Non-Aggression of 1939, June 22, 1941 Hitler double-crosses Stalin & invades USSR, rapid advance Germans face severe winter, long supply lines

1942 - Soviets regroup & attack

1943 - Turning point: Battle of Stalingrad (ends February 1943)

Recall WWI Allianceso Allied Powers (Formerly Triple Entente) - Britain, France & Russia (& Serbia) & Japan

O Central Powers (Formerly Triple Alliance) – Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

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World War II in Asia and the Pacific

Japan dominates south-east Asia, Pacific islandsEstablishes “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”

US Limited Involvement in WWII before Pearl Harbor

o US initiates “cash and carry” policy to supply Allies with arms

o “lend-lease” : US lends war goods to Allies, leases naval bases in return

After Japan occupies French Indochina, the US o freezes Japanese assets in US after

Japan occupies French Indochinao places embargo on oil shipments to

JapanWar Production and Victory U.S. Office of War Information poster, urging industrial production with defense industry smokestacks that look like cannons, with flags of the Allied nations

German attacks on Allied & American merchant ships in the Atlantic, 1939-1943

Conflicts in the North Atlantic

Abraham Lincoln Battalian led by a Black commander, & other international volunteers defended the Spanish against Italy & Germany, in 1938

Volunteers of America

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Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor, Military base in Hawaii (December 7, 1941)

o FDR: “A date which will live in infamy”

o Destroyed US Navy in the Pacific

o Hitler, Mussolini declare war on the US on December 11

o US joins Great Britain and the USSR

After Pearl Harbor, Sumatra & oil, Manchuria, Philippines, New Guinea, & strategic islands, perhaps tempted by Australia?

Japanese Advance in Asia, 1941-42

From Smoking to Skin Care, advertisers identify products with the war effort

McCall’s, August 1942

To Buy & Get Addicted to Cigarettes is Patriotic

Sketch by 21 year old Corporal Hurwitz, U.S. Army 351st Regiment, 88th Infantry Division, First Battalion, a sketch of a “home away from home,” in Tufo, Italy

“The Home of One of our Distinguished Personnel” 1944

The towel company pitched their sales in the homoerotic imagery of GIs, based on their testimony. McCalls, June 1944

Cannon Towel Ads, 1943-44“True Towel Tales…As Told to Us

by A Soldier”

1943 Westinghouse Electric Wartime Propaganda poster originally intended to get their women to work hardero 1980s feminists used it to

symbolize the power of women

o US, Great Britain bar women from serving in combat units

o Soviet, Chinese forces include women fighters

o WAVES (Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Service), 350K joined in the U.S.

o Women very active in resistance movements

Women & the War Effort: “Rosie the Riveter”

McCall magazine Before the war, promoted the glamour of household work. During the war, the glamorous American woman operates a drill press, but her lipstick is perfect.

McCall’s, September 1942 Cover

Industrial Chic during WWII

September 1943Post WWII, women had a difficult time when they were pushed out of the workforce

Men & Women workers unwind after working in a shipyard, Richmond, California

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Turning the Tide in the Pacific

o US victory at Midway (1942)

o US takes the offensive, engages in island-hopping strategy

o Fall of Saipan (July 1944)o Iwo Jima and Okinawa

(1945)o Japanese kamikaze

suicide bomberso Savage two-month

battle for Okinawa

Numbers of Americans killedo Iwo Jima, 6K o Okinawa, 7.6K Japanese had higher casualties

U.S. stop the Japanese in the Pacific, 1943-45

The Battle of Peleliu Island2.3K American deaths10.7K Japanese deaths

U.S. Reconquer the Philippines from the Japanese, 1944

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High tide of Axis expansion in Europe and their eventual Defeat

US joining the war helped turn the tideo personnel reserves, o industrial capacity

o Shipbuilding, o automotive

productiono Morale boost

Stalingrad – very bitter defeat for Germans

Europe At War, 1944–1945

Until 6, 1944, most fighting in Europe were between the Germans & Russians on the eastern front

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Allied Victory in Europeo Red Army (USSR) gains offensive

after Stalingrad (February 1943) a bitter defeat for Germans

o East - USSR pushes Germans to Berlin

o South - British, US forces attack in North Africa, Italy

o West - D-Day: June 6, 1944, British and US forces land in France

o US, Britain bomb German cities– Dresden, February 1945: 135,000

Germans killed in shelters

Germany Surrenders May 8, 1945

After Hitler commits suicide on 30 April 1945

Germany surrenders 8 May

US firebombs Tokyo, March 1945

100K killed, 25% of buildings destroyed

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U.S. Drops an Atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945

Note: Germany already surrendered.

Hiroshima – half of the population or 150K people killed instantly, Also, far larger uncounted, immediate and slow deaths from burns & radiation

3 hours after bombing, survivors gather together at Miyuki Bridge, Hiroshima,

August 6, 1945

Hiroshima, August 6, 1945

Survivors

August 9, U.S. drops another atomic bomb, Nagasaki

August 8, the Soviet Union declares war on Japan

Nagasaki – 80K people died instantly

“Why do you have to end the war twice?”

“To me, actually, the important event was not the first bomb, but the second…[w]hen they announced the second bomb…, that came as a shock to me. I said, ‘But the war is over.’ In fact, the headlines at that time were ‘Japanese Surrender.’ and then bang, there was the bomb in Nagasaki. And that hit me like a glass of cold water thrown at you. I suddenly said, ‘Now, wait a second. What for?’ I mean, great, we ended the war – but why do you have to end the war twice?’…

Bernard Feld, graduate student, Manhattan Project, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Atomic Bomb Research & Development

The Reminiscences of Bernard Feld, Columbia Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 1980, 19-20

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Japanese Emperor Hirohito surrenders unconditionally August 15, 1945

OrientalismHow to understand the racialized otracities of World War II? The genocides and the atomic bomb droppings?

Edward Said talks about the “othering” of human beings, the orientalizing of human beings, to view them as inhuman.

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Death Toll of 60-70 Million During World War II

20

154

2

6

0.4

0.3

6 USSRChinaGermanyJapanPolesBritainUSJews

Majority civilians, not soldiers Soviet Union - 20+Chinese – 15Germany - 8

Jews - 6Poland – 6Japan – 2

Map 10.5 Geography of Shame (p. 533)

Geography of Shame: Internment Relocation Centers & Camps for Japanese

Americans

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo as a vampire batU.S. propaganda portrayed Japanese as subhuman apes, insects, rats & reptiles (unlike European enemies) “Most Americans came to hate the Japanese with a passion that was not equally directed at their German or Italian enemies.”Rosenzweig et al.

Japan as Enemy #1

Unlike the Japanese, Germans portrayed as sinister, but human. A stereotype of a monocled Prussian office predating world war IHuman sinister predators, 1942 Victor Ancona & Karl Koehler.

Enemy 2: Nazi Germany as Human Sinister Predators, 1942

How to Tell a Chinese from a “Jap” U.S. Army pamphlet

American racial stereotypes during WWII:

Chinese as Good Asians, Japanese as Evil Asians,

Yellow (Asian) Peril

Captain America Comics #2

Captain America: Aryan Ideal in Pop Culture, in America and not just Germany

“New People” (1938) Evil Japanese

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The Holocaust in Europe, 1933-1945

Nazi Genocide and the Jews

• Jews primary target of Nazi genocidal efforts– Other groups also slated

for destruction: Roma (Gypsies), Homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses

• Nazis initially encouraged Jewish emigration– Few countries willing to

accept Jewish refugees• Aborted plans to deport

Jews to Madagascar, reservation in Poland

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The Final Solutiono Einsatzgruppen (mobile

killing squads) follow German army into USSR with Operation Barbarossa

o Round up of Jews and others, machine-gun executions of 1.4 million

o Later in 1941 decided on “Final Solution:” deportation of all European Jews to Death Camps

o Plans solidified at Wannsee Conference, January 1942

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The Holocaust• Jews deported from ghettos

all over Europe in cattle cars, spring 1942

• Destination: six specially designed Death Camps in Eastern Europe (Auschwitz largest)

• Technologically advanced, assembly-line style of murder through poison gas (Zyklon B)

• Corpses destroyed in crematoria

• Estimated number of Jews killed: 5.7 million

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Death Toll of 60-70 Million During World War II

20

154

2

6

0.4

0.3

6 USSRChinaGermanyJapanPolesBritainUSJews

Majority civilians, not soldiers Soviet Union - 20+Chinese – 15Germany - 8

Jews - 6Poland – 6Japan – 2

An American Soldier of the Antitank Co., 34th Regiment, Who Was Killed by Mortar Fire in the Philippines, October 31, 1944

War is not heroic: Censored photos of American soldiers later

released

A great positive outcome of WWII?United Nations Charter, Collective

Security & The Marshall Plano George C. Marshall (1880-

1989), US Secretary of State proposed $13 billion to reconstruct western Europe in 1947

o USSR establishes Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), 1949

o The United Nations formed (1945) – collective security

Grace Chee2013

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