The “Good” War

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Post WWI 1920s

The “War guilt” clause• Treaty of Versailles puts blame on

Germany alone – Resentment and financial strain – Hyper inflation (1923) in Germany leads

to political instability for Weimar Republic • 1913 to 1923 cost of bread rises from 1

mark to 200 billion marks

• Failure of Weimar Republic – seen as an inept, slow and extremely

liberal form of parliamentary government

– abandoned by Western powers – radical Marxian politics increase,

causing a conservative backlash

Invasion of Ethiopia, 1935• Italy invades Ethiopia seeking

revenge from an earlier defeat. • Emperor Haile Selassie

appeals to L of N – League proclaimed Italy was the

aggressor – Italy withdraws from League

Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 • July 17, 1936 Spanish troops

declare a revolution against the leftist Popular Front.

• Francisco Franco • Rome-Berlin “Axis” formed

American Neutrality• History of Neutrality - traces all the way back to

Washington (1794) • 1920s and 30s - Anti-business climate prevails in America

– Nye Committee, 1934: found that US was pulled into WWI by wealthy financiers and munitions companies “merchants of death”

• Neutrality Acts – 1935: Response to Italy invading Ethiopia – 1936: no loans or credit to any country at war; response to Spanish

Civil War (still sold oil to Franco) – 1937: No travel on belligerent ships; Civil War bans – 1939: Cash and carry - now allowed to sell weapons if they pay in cash

and carry themselves

Japanese Expansion

• Japanese invasion of Manchuria, 1931 – Stimson Doctrine, 1932: American

policy was to refuse to recognize any territory acquired by force (Japan/China)

• 1937 Full scale war between Japan and China (Second Sino-Japanese War)

• Rape of Nanking (Nanjing) - the Japanese army is accused of raping over 80,000 women and killing 250,000

“Peace in our time”• FDR - Quarantine Speech - Oct 5,

1937 - FDR on collective security "When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients in order to protect the health of the community against the spread of the disease .... Most important of all, the will for peace must express itself to the end that nations that may be tempted to violate their agreements and the rights of others will desist from such a course. ... There must be positive endeavors to preserve peace ... Therefore, America actively engages in the search for peace."

• Policy of Appeasement • Munich Conference - Czech crisis -

Hitler announces he will take Sudetenland; FDR calls for a peaceful solution - Hitler agrees to concessions

1941 lend-lease program - allowed Britain to “borrow” military equipment for the war.

Atlantic Charter - August, 1941 - established a political framework for U.S. involvement in the war. Germany was first priority; Japan was second.

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Influence of Propaganda• The rise in extremist governments

led to an increase in the usage of government sponsored propaganda

• Germany – Leni Riefenstahl “Triumph of the Will” – Joseph Goebbels - head of Nazi

propaganda

• US – Frank Capra “Why We Fight” – Office of War Information - propaganda

• The “Good War” saw the use of deceptive propaganda techniques on a large scale basis

Nazi Germany readies for war

• Rebuilding of Germany –Massive industrial retooling –Autobahn and the “People’s Car”

• 1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany – The Reichstag burns down; communists are

blamed – Enabling Act passed giving Hitler near dictatorial

powers – Nazi party declared the official party of Germany

• 1934 Hindenburg dies; Hitler assumes title of Fuhrer; Night of Long Knives

• Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact, 1939: solidifies the Eastern front and prevents war against USSR.

1941: The “Four Freedoms” Speech

• FDR’s State of the Union known as “Four Freedoms” speech one of the more important in American history

• Freedom of speech • Freedom of worship • Freedom from want • Freedom from fear

• Built on Wilson’s justification for entry into WWI

– “Make the world safe for democracy”

– FDR: WWII was about defending freedom and democracy.

WWII Timeline (Pre-American Entry)• 1923 Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch fails • 1925 Mussolini dismisses the Italian

parliament; Hitler publishes Mein Kampf • 1935 Italy invades Ethiopia; League of Nations

does nothing • 1936 Spanish Civil War begins; Rome-Berlin

“Axis” formed; Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister of England

• 1938 Germany invades Austria; Anschluss proclaimed; Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass)

• March 1939 German troops occupy all of Czechoslovakia (Munich Agreement)

• August 1939 Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact • Sept. 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland - WWII

begins

• 1940 Germany invades France, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands

• 1940 Winston Churchill appointed Prime Minister

• May of 1940 Miracle of Dunkirk; Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands surrender to Germany

• June of 1940 France surrenders to Germany

• July 1940 Battle of Britain begins

• July 1940 Battle of Britain begins • Sept 1940 Tripartite alliance

formed (Germany, Italy and Japan) • April 1941 German forces take

Greece and Yugoslavia • June 1941 Hitler launches

Operation Barbarossa (assault on USSR)

• Summer 1941 First stages of the “Final Solution” is planned and implemented

• October 1941 Hideki Tojo becomes Prime Minister of Japan

• December 7, 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor

• December 11, 1941 Germany declares war on US

America Organizes for War✤War brings major shift in American industry

✤ 1941 military spending was approx. 2 billion per month

✤ The first 6 months of 1942 spending increased to 100 billion

✤ FDR calls for 60,000 planes; 45,000 tanks; 20,000 flak guns (anti-air) and 8 millions tons of ships

✤ LCVP (Higgins Boat) - one of the primary reasons that America won the war.

✤War Production Board (Don Nelson) held control over $100 billion in govt’ war contracts

✤“czars” would push through production orders

✤1942 - 33% of economy dedicated to war and GDP growth from 1940 to 1945 was $99.7 billion to $211 billion

✤1940 to 1945 govt spending is $320 billion

“Andrew Higgins is the man who won the war for us.”-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1964 interview

America Organizes for War✤ During WWII, govt. attempts to

fund war through high taxes.

✤ However, taxes only pay for 41% of total cost and therefore large deficit spending occurs.

✤ Deficit spending used as a justification by Keynesian economics

✤ More jobs than people to work them.

✤ Public spending dramatically increases, however, fewer goods are available for purchase by civilians

✤ People now have more money, but there is nothing to buy. Leads to concern over price inflation of goods

✤ Fed. Govt. promotes war bond drive as a way to fund WWII and give people a sound financial investment

✤ $100 billion in bonds sold

✤ OPA (Office of Price Administration) asked to keep prices “in-check” for duration of war. Largely seen as successful.

The War about Race✤ Pearl Harbor ends the isolationist-

interventionist debate

✤ American’s unified by attacks and generally there were no attacks on civil freedoms in the US.

✤ Exception is Japanese relocation

✤ 100,000 Japanese are relocated due to Ex. Order 9066

✤ American govt. made no efforts to assist Jews trying to escape Europe until 1944

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The People behind the lines

✤ Women are brought into “blue collar” industrial jobs in large numbers, for the first time.

✤ By 1945, 20 million women were working, which made up 35% of the total labor force in America.

✤ 6.5 million women in factories alone.

✤ New found income leads to increased middle-class wealth

Blacks fight for equality at home

✤ Black Americans receive few if any rights at home

✤ “Jim Crow” army that fought for freedom?

✤ A. Phillip Randolph - major civil rights leader that pushed for March on Washington. Efforts resulted in FEPC

✤ FEPC (Fair Emp. Practices Committee) - forbade discrimination based on race with employment on defense contracts

✤ CORE (congress on racial equality) pushed for sit-ins and freedom rides during the war to encourage unity

✤ Result was backlash from white community at blacks and latinos

✤ Zoot Suit Riots in LA - 1943 - American Sailors

✤ A. American riots in NY and Detroit (30 killed in riots in Detroit)

Blacks fight for equality at home

The War in Europe✤ Beat Hitler First - reasons for focusing on Europe

were:

✤ 1. German domination of Europe and Atlantic

✤ 2. Concern over Axis influence in Latin America (Argentina)

✤ 3. Germany seemed most likely to create “super weapon”

✤ 4. Great Britain totally engaged in war and needed help

✤ 5. Nazi advance into USSR made victory more likely

✤ “Beating Germany would expose Japan, but beating Japan would not end the war”

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the American government had a strong suspicion that Japan would use chemical weapons on American soil. In order to make the threat of these types of attacks less scary to children, they designed a gas mask to look like Mickey Mouse. This enabled parents to turn drills into a game.At the end of the war, investigations were conducted into Japan’s infamous Unit 731. During one of these investigations they discovered that Japan did in fact have plans to conduct an chemical attack on American soil.

Mad Jack was a British Army officer who went into battle during WWII with bagpipes, a longbow, and his Scottish broadsword.

“Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.” – Captain Mad Jack Churchill

The War in Europe

✤ US and British commanders disagreed on proper strategy for attacking Germany

✤ UK (Churchill) - attack where weakest (if at all)

✤ US - attack where strongest

✤ FDR and American generals favored establishing a 2nd front in France.

✤ Churchill preferred Soviet Union and Germany to wear each other down first.

✤ German invasion of USSR, June 22, 1941

✤ “Sheer suicidal folly” for allies to attack Germany in France.

✤ Focus is on North Africa and Middle East.

The War in Europe• 1939 - Germany invades Poland, Sept. 1 • 1939 - GB and France declare war on

Germany, Sept 3 • 1940 - Italy declare war on GB and

France, June 10 • 1940 - France surrenders to Germany,

June 22 • 1940 - Battle of Britain, July-Oct • 1941 - Operation Barbarossa

British Intelligence saves the day• ‘Ultra’ - name used by British

intelligence for all decryption practices and of German communications.

• German communications done with Enigma machine, which in theory was unbreakable. However, captured Enigma machines, deciphering tablets and laziness on the part of Germany led to the code being cracked.

• Capture of U-559

• The United States used the code name ‘Magic’ for the decrypting process of Japanese intelligence in the Pacific.

✤ North Africa - Operation Torch - October 1942

✤ Soviet’s insist on a 2nd war front

✤ Erwin Rommel is engaged in battle by Bernard Montgomery at El Alamein

✤ Nov. 8th to Dec. 1 - 400,000 Allied troops land in N. Africa led by Gen. Eisenhower.

✤ May 2-10, 1943 - Allied troops take Tunisia and force the surrender of 250,000 troops

✤ Casablanca Conference - Jan 1943 - Decision made to invade Italy instead of France. Enrages Stalin as his forces were greatly suffering.

✤ Italy - Operation Husky - begins July 1943

✤ Gen. George Patton invades Sicily summer of 1943

✤ Mussolini abdicates power to King Victor Emanuel

✤ German/Italian losses number 160,000+ to American losses at 7,000

✤ Sept, 1943 - Mainland Italy is invaded

✤ June 4, 1944 Rome is liberated after German forces surrender

Operation Fortitude, 1944

• The British and American forces used deception routinely during WWII.

• None bigger than Operation Fortitude in 1944

• Used rubber and cardboard tanks.

• Later accidents (Operation Market Garden)

Operation Overlord (D-Day) –June 6, 1944 –Largest invasion armada in history (Amphibious)

–Relied heavily on the Higgins’ boat. Designed by a New Orleans industrialist upon being challenged by US govt’

–Deception •Fake radio traffic •Dummy tanks, troop and camp facades

–Transported •3 million troops •12,000 aircraft •7,000 seagoing vessels •10,000 tons of ammunition

Stalingrad before battle

Stalingrad after battle

Battle of Kursk (Operation Citadel)

The War in Europe✤ Battle of Stalingrad, Aug 23, 1942

- Feb 2, 1943 (the turning point in the Eastern Front)

✤ Battle of El Alamein, Oct 23, 1942

✤ Allies land at Sicily, July 10, 1943

✤ Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944

✤ Paris Liberated Aug 25, 1944

✤ Battle of the Bulge Dec. 16, 1944 - Feb 7, 1945 (last desperate push by Germans in the Western Front)

✤ Germany Surrenders, May 7, 1945

Final Allied Push into Germany✤ July 20, 1944 - attempt to assassinate Hitler

(Operation Valkyrie)

✤ Aug 25, 1944 - Paris is liberated by Allied forces

✤ Sept 12, 1944 American forces entered Germany

✤ Dec 16, 1944 - to Feb 7, 1945 Final German Offensive

✤ Germans attack American 101st Airborne - Battle of the Bulge

✤ American lines bend, but do not break. German losses total over 120,000

✤ March, 25 1945 - American forces reach the east bank of the Rhine

Yalta: February, 1945

•FDR wants quick Soviet entry into Pacific war.

•FDR & Churchill concede Stalin needs buffer, FDR & Stalin want spheres of influence and a weak Germany.

•Churchill wants a strong Germany as a buffer against Stalin

•FDR argues for a ‘United Nations’.

Fall of the Third Reich

• Soviet’s Push into Berlin by April of 1945

• Hitler retreats to his bunker where he marries Eva Braun and then they take their own lives (April 30)

• Germany is forced to surrender.

• V-E Day - Victory in Europe day May 8, 1945

April 30, 1945 ! Hitler commits suicideMay 9, 1945 ! unconditional surrender

American Homefront During WWII

…The war created a glittering consumer paradise [in the United States]… civilian purchases of goods and services managed to grow by 12%. Most Americans had never had it so good. They started half a million new businesses. They went to movies and restaurants with habitual frequency. They bought books, recordings, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, and liquor in record volumes. Racing fans wagered two and a half times more on horses in 1944 than they had in 1940. Housewives shopped at well stocked supermarkets, 11,000 of them built during the war.

USSR Homefront During WWII

In the Soviet Union… the home-front experience was nearly the opposite that in the United States—massive invasion, followed by a crash mobilization program characterized by harshly regulated scarcity. While the Americans fought a war from an ever-expanding economic base, the Russians were the only people forced to fight the war on a steadily diminishing one… As German armies advanced over the soviet heartland, Russian food output fell by two-thirds… Russians by the millions slid into agonies of squalor and deprivation; many starved.