Wild+Wild+West

THE WEST


 * 001:**

The re-highlighted areas are what I consider to be the "West." I kept in mind that during the Cold War, the United States and other UN affiliated regions were considered the West, while the other regions not affiliated with the West had alliances with the Soviet Union. The European regions that I included in the Scribble Map are what I believe to be UN related areas. I also considered these European regions to be part of the "West," because throughout history, that surrounding region has been referred to as the "West," and different regions have adopted "western" values from that area. In terms of WWI, the West/ Allies powers was comprised of many of the countries affiliated with the US, while the Axis/ NON-West, were the big three: Germany, Italy, Japan(Italy shouldn't have been colored in the map =.=) **2. Read p. 673- 678 - and 690 - 695 Outline notes** **Bouncing Back:** The New Nations of East Central Europe:
 * **MI: In the West, consumerism and changes in women's roles gained ground. The US and Japan registered economic gains and political tension.**
 * Postwar challenges yielded severe blows to morale, with many deaths, property damage, economic dislocation, and inflation
 * By the middle of the decade, a new attitude arose.
 * A new, democratic republic in Germany made some positive strides.
 * Artistic creativity included the **cubist movement**, led by Pablo Picasso, rendered familiar objects in geometrical shapes. Writers and composers challenged stylistic traditions and modern design in architecture and furnishing gained ground
 * important achievements in science:
 * Albert Einstein = theories of relativity in physics
 * knowledge of atomic structure and genetics
 * Mass consumption items, like the radio, gained ground
 * middle-class women gained participation in dance crazes
 * Germany/ Great Britain/ US = women right to vote
 * aspects of new culture encountered disturbed traditionalists
 * key economic factors; agriculture, mining did not fully recover and much of British economy remained sluggish
 * W. Europe did not regain export markets taken by US & Japan
 * Western European countries faced political extremism --> new communist parties
 * Other Industrial Centers:**
 * **MI: Canada, Australia, and New Zealand gained rewards for their loyal participation in WWI.**
 * Australia, newly independent in 1901, gained pride in its military role
 * several conferences in 1920s confirmed the independence of the Dominions and their co-equal status with Britain
 * British Commonwealth of Nations was a free association of members, as British representation in the three Dominions became symbolic
 * registered solid export growth and population gains from immigration
 * Australia introduced extensive welfare measures and economic planning
 * US economic and popular cultural initiatives advanced rapidly during 1920s
 * economic boom
 * corporate expansion --> adding research and development operations to their portfolios
 * organization of work systems changed
 * Henry Ford = assembly line in 1913 for automotive production --> conveyor belts
 * 1920s = psychologist study of how to increase output further
 * *such changes imitated in Europe, Japan and Soviet Union
 * proliferation of jazz
 * 1920 = Hollywood = film capital
 * International role of US had new complexities
 * US senate rejected Treaty of Versailles and refused to enter League of Nations
 * US pursued isolationist policy for 2 decades, refusing foreign alliances
 * Red Scare = fear of communism
 * Japan entered new phase of industrialization in 1920s
 * agricultural output improved with greater use of fertilizers and mechanical equipment
 * freed labor for expanding factories
 * proliferated in heavy industrial sector, ie. metallurgy, shipbuilding, electrical power
 * organized by large industrial companies --> zaibatsu, linked to state
 * continued dependence on cheap exports to West b/c of need for foreign earning to purchase fuel and raw materials to support rapid population growth
 * politically: increased tensions b/w Japanese military leaders ad civilian government
 * military leaders resented political controls that occasionally reduced budgets
 * liberal politicians expanded voting rights to all males but no full agreement on appropriate political structure
 * military suspicion of consumerism in Japan == guardian of tradition
 * had considerable independence in diplomacy
 * New Authoritarianism: The Rise of Facism:**
 * **MI: Explicit hostility to liberal and democratic political systems emerged first on the fringes of western Europe.**
 * 1919 = **Benito Mussolini** formation of fascio di combattimento, or "union for struggle," in Italy
 * Italian fascists advocated corporate state that would replace capitalism and socialism with new national unity
 * felt the need for an aggressive, nationalistic foreign policy
 * worked to seize power by any means and build strong state under strong leader
 * **fascism** took root in late 19th century w/ groups disenchanted with liberal, parliamentary systems and with social conflict
 * various intellectuals in many countries began to urge the need for new, authoritarian leadership and devotion to nationalist values over capitalist profit-seeking and socialist class struggle
 * conditions in postwar Italy bolstered such impulses
 * nationalist resentment over Italy gaining so little territory in WWI. Veterans felt abandoned by civilian society and some wanted new action
 * labor unrest increased
 * Italian parliament = incapable of decisive measure as political factions sought personal advantage
 * 1922- Italian king called for Mussolini to create new government
 * in power, he eliminated most opposition, suspending elections outright in 1926, while seeking greater state direction of economy and issuing strident propaganda about glories of military conquest
 * MI: Authoritarian regimes took root in east central Europe during 1920s, but were not explicitly fascist. New nations in this region started with Western-style parliaments, but most could not maintain them amid economic difficulties.
 * most new nations, from Baltic states to Yugoslavia, were consumed by nationalist excitement at independence and harbored intense grievances about territories they had not acquired
 * bitter rivalries among small eastern European states, weakening both diplomatically and economically
 * authoritarianism arrived through a dictator (Poland) or by monarch's seizure of new power (Yugoslavia)
 * resulted in underlying social tensions
 * eastern European countries = agricultural, heavily dependent on sales to western Europe
 * most countries refused to take serious land reform
 * aristocratic landowners sought to repress peasants movements --> support authoritarian regimes, which had vaguely fascist trappings
 * peasant land hunger and continued problems of poverty and illiteracy were not addressed
 * A Balance Sheet:**
 * **MI: Changes in Europe, other Western societies, and Japan during the 1920s were complex.**
 * democratic and parliamentary political forms took further root in Germany and places like Canada and Japan
 * significant industrial and social change combined with signs of creativity in culture, in sciences and arts
 * challenges to democracy arose in Italy and much of east central Europe, Japanese politics = less stable
 * US tried to isolate itself from world affairs

p.**690 - 695**
 * The Global Great Depression:**
 * **MI: The Great Depression was centered in the West but had global roots and impact. Western responses to the Depression varied, but none succeeded in ending the crisis**
 * onset of global economic depression led to a crucial step in mounting spiral of international crisis
 * crash of New York stock market hit the headlines in 1929, but the **Great Depression** had begun in many parts of the world economy earlier
 * resulted from new problems in industrial economy of Europe and US, combined with long-term weakness in economies that depended on sales of cheap exports on international market
 * = worldwide collapse that spared only few economies and brought political and economic pressures
 * Causation:**
 * **MI: Structural problems affected many industrial societies in 1920s, even after postwar recovery. Farmers of much of the Western world, including the US, faced chronic overproduction to meet wartime needs, but now, led to inflation. One response was continued population from countryside as urbanization continued. Remaining farmers were hard pressed and unable to sustain high demand for manufactured goods.**
 * 1925 = French + German economic recovery, but problems continued : fears massive postwar inflation had generated limited capacity of gov't to respond to other problems
 * much of the mid-decade prosperity rested on fragile grounds
 * loans from US banks to various European enterprises helped sustain demand for goods on condition that additional loans pour in to help pay off resultant debts
 * most dependent areas in world economy suffered badly
 * pronounced tendencies toward production developed in smaller nations of eastern Europe, sending agricultural goods to western Europe and tropical producers in Africa and Latin America
 * continued efforts to win export revenue pressed local estate owners to drive up output in coffee, sugar and rubber
 * European organization of African colonies led to est. of large estates . Production frequently exceeded demand and drove prices and earning down in Africa and Latin America
 * many colonies and dependent economies were not able to buy many industrial exports, weakening demand for Western products
 * gov'ts of leading industrial nations provided leadership during emerging crisis of the 1920s
 * knowledge of economics was often feeble in Western leadership group not noteworthy for its quality, even in more conventional areas
 * nationalistic selfishness predominated
 * western nations more concerned with insisting on repayment of debts owed to them or constructing tariff barriers to protect their own industries facilitating world economy
 * protectionism, practiced by Great Britain and others, reduced market opportunities
 * The Debacle:**
 * **MI: The formal advent of the Depression occurred in October 1929 when New York stock market collapsed. Stock values decreased as investors lost confidence in prices that had been pushed incredibly high. In Europe and US, many commercial enterprises existed on the basis on continued speculation. When one piece of speculative spiral was withdrawn, the whole edifice collapsed. Key bank failures in Austria and Germany followed the U.S. crisis. Throughout most of Industrial West, investment funds dried up as creditors went bankrupt or tried to pull in their forms.**
 * with investment receding, industrial protection began to fall, starting with industries that produced capital goods and extending to consumer field products
 * falling production = falling employment and lower wages, which withdrew more demand from economy and led to further hardship
 * unemployed and underpaid workers could not buy goods whose production might give other workers jobs
 * Great Depression not entirely unprecedented
 * previous periods saw slumps triggered by bank failures and over-speculation, yielding many years of falling production, unemployment, and hardship
 * its duration was also unprecedented; in many countries, full recovery came only after a decade and only with forced production schedules provoked by WWII
 * Depression = more than economic event
 * reached into countless lives, creating hardship and tension
 * loss of earnings, loss of work, or fears that loss would come devastated people at all social levels
 * up to 1/3 of all blue-collar workers in the West lost their jobs for prolonged periods
 * white collared was unparalleled
 * graduating students could not find work
 * families disrupted: men emasculated at their inability to provide and women found it easier to gain jobs in low-wage economy than men
 * for most of the outside world, depression worsened the already bleak economic picture
 * western markets could absorb fewer commodity imports as production fell and incomes dwindled
 * then nations that produced foods and raw materials saw prices and earnings drop more than before
 * unemployment rose rapidly in exporters of Latin American economy, creating major political challenege
 * Responses to the Great Depression in Europe:**
 * **MI: Western governments, already weakened, responded to onset of economic catastrophe counterproductively. National tariffs were raised to keep out the goods of other countries, but this worsened international economy and curbed sales for everyone. Most governments tried to cut spending, reflecting the decline of revenues that accompanied the falling production. There was increasing concern of inflation, heightened political polarization, people seeking answers from radical parties and movements, and class conflicts.**
 * Great Depression led to one of two effects:
 * parliamentary system that became increasingly incapacitated, unable to come to grips with the new economic problem and too divided to take vigorous action, in foreign policy or overturning parliamentary system
 * ex. France--> French government responded slowly to Depression
 * voters responded by moving toward political extremes
 * socialists and communist parties expanded
 * rightist movements called for strong leader and nationalist movement
 * liberal, socialist, communist parties formed **Popular Front** in 1936 to win election, but they were unable to take strong measures of social reform b/c of ongoing strength of conservative republicans hostile to change and authoritarian right that looked to forceful leadership to contain the lower classes
 * more constructive responses:
 * Scandinavian states increased gov. spending, providing levels of social insurance against illness and unemployment
 * foreshadowed welfare state
 * British = new industrial sectors
 * The New Deal:**
 * **MI: After years of floundering, the US created another set of responses. Initial American policies under Herbert Hoover resembled those of Western Europe, seeking to cut spending in action of falling revenue, In 1933, the administration under FDR offered the "new deal" to the American people.**
 * New Deal policies of the 1930s offered a more direct aid to Americans at risk, though increasing unemployment benefits and other measures
 * unemployed people = jobs on public works projects
 * social security system designed to provide protection in unemployment and old age
 * undertook some economic planning and stimulus for industry and agriculture, while adding regulations on banks
 * New Deal ushered a period of rapid government growth, a watershed in American history followed by massive expansions of military operations in WWII
 * failed to install welfare state, holding back from pans to offer health insurance system
 * restored confidence in most Americans in their political system
 * Rise of Nazism:**
 * **MI: In Germany, impact of Depression led to new fascist regime. Germany suffered the shock of loss in WWI, enhanced by treaty arrangements that cast primary blame on the war on German nation, which had only recent and shaky parliament traditions.**
 * Fascism in Germany was a product of the war. The movement's advocates, many of whom are former veterans, attacked the weakness of parliamentary democracy and corruption and class conflict of Western capitalism
 * proposed strong state ruled by powerful leader who would revive the nation's forces through vigorous foreign and military policy
 * late 1920s-early 1920s- Hitler repeated standard fascist arguments about the need for unity and hopeless weakness of parliamentary politics
 * he promised many groups a return to more traditional ways
 * middle class was attracted to his commitment to firm stance against socialism and communism
 * Once in power, Hitler constructed **totalitarian state**, exercising massive, direct control of all activities of its subjects
 * eliminated all opposition parties, purged bureaucracy and military, installing loyal Nazis in many posts
 * his secret police, **Gestapo**, arrested hundreds of thousands of political opponents
 * govt economic planning helped restore production levels w/ emphasis on armament construction
 * Hitlers hatred for Jews = blaming them for various personal misfortunes and for socialism and excessive capitalism
 * anti-Semitism appealed to many Germans and played into Hitler's hands in providing a scapegoat that could rouse national passions and distract population from other problems
 * measures against Jews became increasingly severe
 * force to wear special emblems, property seized and attacked, many sent to concentration camps
 * 1940 = elimination of European Jewry
 * Hitler's foreign and military policies were based on preparation for war
 * wanted to recoup German WWI losses and create land empire that extended over much of Europe
 * The Spread of Fascism and the Spanish Civil War:**
 * **MI: Nazi triumph in Germany spurred fascism in other parts of Europe. Many east central states took fascist trappings, esp. in Hungary and Romania.**
 * Mussolini led to aggressive foreign policy and new nationalist glories in Italy. After Hitler's influence, Mussolini's policies changed
 * 1935 = attack on Ethiopia, hoping to avenge Italy's failure to conquer it during imperialist surge on 1890s
 * League of Nations condemned this action
 * Italians won
 * Fascism spread into Spain, leading to Spanish Civil War
 * forces supporting a parliamentary republic and social reform had feuded since 1931, with advocates of a military- backed authoritarian state
 * 1936 = civil war: Spanish military forces, led by Francisco Franco, were back by fascist party, the Falange and more conservative landowners and Catholic leaders
 * German and Italian forces bombed several Spanish cities
 * France, Britain, and US made vague supporting gestures to republican forces but offered no concrete aid
 * Franco's forces won in 1939 --> not fully fascist, maintaining authoritarian rule
 * Economic and Political Changes in Latin America:**
 * **MI: In the 1920s-30s, limitations of liberalism became more apparent in Latin America. A middle class had emerged and began to enter politics and gained power only in conjunction with traditional oligarchy or military. In Latin America, the ideology of liberalism was not an expression of strength of middle class, but rather a series of ideas nor suited to realities of LAtin America. Increasing industrialization did not dissolve old class boundaries, nor did public education and other classic liberal programs produce as much social stability as expected.**
 * disillusioned by liberalism and WWI, artists and intellectuals who looked to Europe for inspiration turned to Latin America's own populations and history for values and solutions to Latin American problems
 * 1920s = intellectuals complaint that L. America was on a race to nowhere
 * literature and arts, ideas of rationality, progress, and order associated w/ liberalism and outward appearances of democracy were under attack
 * ideas of reform and social change began
 * university students of Cordoba, Argentina began a reform of their university, giving more autonomy and power to students within
 * soon spread to other countries
 * socialist and communist parties formed or grew in strength in several Latin American nations, esp. after Russian Revolution of 1917
 * came from traditional elements such as Roman Catholic church, which disliked secularization represented by capitalist society.


 * p. 709- 721 Notes:**


 * Old and New Causes of a Second World War**
 * **MI: The causes of WWII stemmed largely from the major social and political upheavals caused by WWI amongst several nations. Such grievances were compounded by economic havoc, leading to social tensions brought on by the Depression.**
 * militarization of Japan, despite majorities that moderate political parties continued to win until end of 1930s.
 * 1920s - nationalistic forces in China ousted regional warlords
 * Chiang Kai-shek, leader of Guomindang (Nationalist) Party gained support of intellectuals, students, business class, rural gentry, and members of Confucian elite and rival military leaders
 * military success against north+ south warlords showed unity of China under strong central gov. for first time in decades
 * Japanese fear of Guomindang success and resistance of Japanese control over Manchuria since Russo-Japanese War of 1905 = Japanese military seize of Manchuria in 1931 --> proclaimed it independent state, Manchukuo
 * international crisis favored military's advantage
 * changes of regimes in Germany = more radical and abrupt
 * parliamentary government in Weimar era had been under siege from the time its civilian leaders agreed to armistice in 1918 and after signing Treaty of Versailles
 * Weimar survived humiliations, civil war, and hyperinflation, but Great Depression led to social discontent and political turmoil
 * Hitler + **National Socialist Party (Nazi)** succeeded and amassed many votes and parliamentary seats in elections
 * Nazi promise work for German people, restore political stability, and institute remilitarization program to allow overthrowing of the "diktat" of Versailles
 * promised to turn back communist bid to capture power in Germany
 * *key political agenda = disassembling political and diplomatic system created by Versailles settlement
 * 1935- rearmament
 * 1936- militarization of Rhineland --> forced union with Austria and seizure of areas in Czechoslovak republic
 * influenced Mussolini to bomb Ethiopia
 * Hitler + Mussolini militarily intervened in Spanish Civil War in 1930s in hopes of establishing an allied regime --> used as training ground for air forcess
 * Unchecked Aggression and the Coming of Wr in Europe and the Pacific:**
 * **MI: By late 1930s, the leaders of the new totalitarian states acted on the lesson that international rivalries in preceding decades that seemed to offer and that aggression would succeed at little cost.**
 * Sept. 1, 1939- beginning of WWII - German invasion of Poland
 * WWII: provoked by aggression of Nazi Germany and militarized and imperialist Japan
 * failures of Western democracies and Soviet Union led to formation of **Axis** powers, b/w Berlin, Rome, and Tokyo
 * Winston Churchill warned that major war was inevitable due to Hitler's ambitions, but voters prevented him from power for fear of another war
 * Rival politicians, such as Neville Chamberlain and socialist leaders of France also feared that Churchill's claims of war would halt their plans of building welfare states to resolve the depression
 * 1930s- another round of aggressions pushed democracies into war
 * 1937- Japanese invasion of China from Manchukuo
 * launched ill-advised campaign to conquer the whole of China
 * Japanese naval leaders and civilian politicians had high doubts of this invasion, but were convinced by threat of assassination by junior officers and appeals to patriotic solidarity
 * initially had great success and occupied most coastal cities, ie. Shanghai
 * 1938 --> Canton and hinterlands behind cities in the north captured
 * aerial bombings against Guomindang forces and civilian population in coastal cities
 * civilian resistance was met with draconian reprisals
 * Dec. 1937 = city of Nanjing, the evacuated capital of Guomindang, Japanese took frustrations on retreating Chinese troops and civilian population
 * pillaging, murdering of innocent civilians, rape of tens of thousands of undefended Chinese women
 * deprivation of coastal cities and provinces = Chiang and Guomindang forces retreat up Yangtze and into city of Chongqing
 * Japanese entrance into war was not consulted amongst allies, Germany and Italy
 * Tripartite Pact, which united the three, was not signed until Sept. 1940
 * Nazi military advisors did much to train Guomindang officers to contain Japanese invasion of China
 * Hitler focused forces on drive to Slavic east = region for Germanic master race
 * made way for assault on main target, S.U. by signing nonaggression pact with Stalin in August 1939
 * military emissaries of the two dictators negotiated a division of the smaller states that separated their empires
 * Stalin = division of Poland
 * w/in days of signing the pact, Hitler ordered Wehrmacht to overrun western Poland
 * Sept 1, 1939 - this invasion ended doubts about Hitler's contempt for treaties and repeated assurances that Germany's territorial ambitions had been satisfied by absorption of Czechoslovakia into Nazi Reich
 * The Conduct of a Second Global War:**
 * **MI: Reluctance to rearm and react decisively on behalf on Western democracies and Soviet Union in 1930s made possible crushing victories and rapid territorial advances on part of the main Axis powers, Germany and Japan.**
 * once Nazis concentrated on expanding to Russian steppes and US admittance into the war, the war favored the Allies
 * as Axis powers declined, it became the superiority of the Anglo-American and Soviet alliance became evident in terms of population size, potential industrial production, technological innovation, and military capacity on land, seas, and air.
 * Nazi Blitzkrieg, Stalemate, and Long Retreat:**
 * **MI: As Japanese advanced down China and debated the necessity of tangling with the US and European colonial powers, the Nazi war machine capture France and the Low Countries, forcing British armies to retreat, and then advanced toward Europe and into Soviet Union**.
 * German strategy = **blitzkrieg** (Lightning War), which involved rapid penetration of enemy territory by a combination of tanks and mechanized troop carriers, backup infantry, and supporting fighter aircraft and bombers
 * effective deployment of such forces overwhelmed the Poles in 1939 and routed the French and British within a matter of days in spring of 1940
 * 1940 - Dutch port of Rotterdam leveled by Nazi bombers, 40,000 killed
 * rapid collapse of France = result of divided and weak leadership of republic
 * when war broke out, citizenry of France demoralized, and nation's defenses were outdated and extremely succeptable to Wehrmacht's blitzkrieg offensives

**From Persecution to Genocide: Hitler's War Against the Jews:**
 * summer 1940 = all of north and central France in German hands; in south = Nazi puppet regime, centered on city of **Vichy**
 * Britain, as a result, was alone of western democracies
 * under Churchill:
 * smaller British air force withstood Nazi air offensive
 * victory @Battle of Britain was due to a mix of strong leadership by Churchill and a very able coalition cabinet, innovative air tactics made possible by the introduction of radar devices for tracking German assault aircraft, bravery of Britain's royal family, and high morale of citizenry as a whole that the bombing raids seemed only to enhance
 * unable to destroy Britain's air defenses or break the resolve of its people, Hitler and NAzi hig command had to abandon their plans of conquest on British isles
 * mid-1941- Germans controlled most of European continent and much of Mediterranean
 * rescued Italians' floundering campaign to conquer Albania and overrun Yugoslavia and Greece
 * conquered Scandinavian countries
 * most of Mediterranean and launched motorized offensives under commander Erwin Rommel across north Africa and on to Egypt, with goal of seizing Suez Canal and cutting Britain off
 * Nazi forces, numbered at 3.5 million, drove forces out of Finland, Poland, and Baltic states, and much of Byelorussia and the Ukraine in the summer and early fall of 1941
 * ==Hitler's grandest victory and unlimited access to cheap labor and critical resources, such as oil
 * Soviets retreated eastward, Stalin ordered industry relocated across the Ural Mountains to shield them from capture and German aerial attacks
 * as winter approached, Russian resistance stiffened, and German drive eastward stalled on outskirts of Moscow and Leningrad
 * Nazi mass killings and harsh treatment of Slavic peoples
 * spring of 1942 - renewed German offensives drove deep into Russia, but failed to capture key cities like Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad and Baku oil fields
 * 1943 - Red armies went on offensive at numerous points along the overextended, undermanned, and vulnerable German front
 * late 1944 - Red armies cleared the Soviet Union of Nazi forces and captured Poland and much of eat central Europe southward into the Balkans
 * as Soviet forces advanced towards Germany, it became evident that the destruction of Hitler's "thousand-year reich" was only months away
 * **MI: As the Nazi war machine made their way down Russia, Hitler and his Nazi henchmen stepped up their vendetta against Gypsies, leftist politicians, homosexuals, and Jews.**
 * Jews, Polish intellectuals, and communists had been rounded up and killed in mass executions during German offensives into eastern Europe and Russia in early 1940s
 * "final solution" for "Jewish problem" was decided on at Wannsee Conference in Feb. 1942
 * destruction of Jews became official policy of the Reich
 * concentration camps set up in 1930s to incarcerate political enemies and groups branded as racially inferior
 * as war turned more and more against Hitler, efforts against the Jews increase
 * supplies form war diverted to transport Jews to concentration camps
 * destruction of human life reached frenetic pace in last years of the regime
 * as many as 12 million people died in the Holocaust:
 * 6 million = Jews
 * many millions = Slavic peoples
 * plight of Jew in Europe was exacerbated by refusal of Western Allies to accept Jews as immigrants, fleeing Nazi atrocities and by the failure of those Allies to use their military assets to strike at the railway lines and killing chambers they knew were in operation
 * their responses to Nazi horror only steeled the resolve of Zionist leaders in Palestine
 * Anglo-American Offensives, Encirclement, and the End of the 12-Year Reich:**
 * **MI: For nearly 2 years, the British were so absorbed in their own struggle for survival that they could provide little relief for their Soviet allies, hard-pressed by what some have seen as Hitler's fool-hardy invasion of Russia.**
 * prior to attack on Pearl Harbor in Dec. 1941, US had been providing assistance, including military supplies to Britain
 * Franklin-Roosevelt relationship
 * Americans first entered the war in response to German U-boat attacks on shipping crossing the Atlantic
 * 1943-43- reversal of Rommel's gains in North Africa
 * 1945- toppling of fascist regime and prompted Nazi take over of northern Italy
 * When Germans moved down the Eastern front and in Italy, the allied high command, w/ Eisenhower prepared landings in northern France that would carry the war into the fortress the Nazis had been building in occupied Europe since their defeat in Battle of Britain in 1940
 * early June, allies est. beachheads at Normandy, from which they launched liberation campaigns into Low Countries and the rest of France
 * winter 1944-45- **Battle of Bulge-** Hitler's last effort to repel invading Allied Armies
 * early 1945- Allies invaded Germany from the west, while Red armies pouring in East
 * late April, Russian and America troops came up Elbe River
 * April 30- Hitler committed suicide
 * 2 wks later, German military leaders surrendered
 * Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire in the Pacific War:**
 * **MI: Following Germany's defeat, the Japanese continued their attack on many of the Pacific countries.**
 * **Pearl Harbor**- Dec. 7. 1941
 * following Pearl Harbor, roughly 1/3 of all Japanese military forces remained in China, despite sudden extension of Japanese empire over much of Southeast Asia and far out into the Pacific
 * With American Pacific air fleet temporarily neutralized by the attack, Japan was able to capture British colonial territories, such as Hong Kong, Malaya, and Burma
 * overran Dutch EAst Indies and Philippines
 * took over French IndoChina
 * Thais staved off invasion and occupation of Siam
 * Despite its size and speed, Japanese empire proved vulnerable to Allied forces committed to its destruction
 * Japanese alienated all European colonial powers by seizure of much of Southeast Asia

**War's End and the Emergence of the Superpower Standoff:**
 * Japanese leadership was also aware that homeland's wartime economy was in desperate need of critical raw materials, such as oil and staple foods
 * resistance fighters cooperated with the British and American forces pushed into the area in the latter stages of the war
 * Southeast Asian guerilla forces played significant role in sabotaging occupying forces and harassing retreating armies
 * w/in 6 months, the US naval and air forces fought the Japanese at a standoff at the **Battle of Coral Sea**
 * in June, at **Midway Island**, they won a decisive victory over a powerful carrier force, commanded by Admiral Yamamoto
 * once the Americans got the upper hand, they could begin the assault on the double ring of Pacific island fortresses that protected the Japanese homeland
 * keying their amphibious assaults strategically on vital islands, the joint air, sea, and land operations of the Allied forces had come within striking distance of Japan itself in early 1944
 * March 1945- General Curtis Le May ordered mass aerial bombardment of highly vulnerable Japanese cities
 * Tokyo = 125,000 civilian deaths
 * summer 1945- Japanese leaders were sending out peace feelers
 * August 6 + August 9 = atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
 * Allies demanded unconditional surrender of the Japanese
 * **MI: The final stages of WWII quickly led to a tense worldwide half-century of confrontation b/w the US and the Soviet Union, each of which headed hostile alliances anchored in nations that had been major combatants during the war.**
 * WWII did not produce sweeping peace settlements
 * leaders of the Allies opposed to the Axis powers met on several occasions in an attempt to build the framework for more lasting peace free of vindictiveness that was so prominent in Versailles gathering
 * est. of **United Nations(UN)** --> represented world's peoples, in both large and small nations, than the League of Nations
 * US pledged to join, and played major role in UN planning and finance and provided a site on the East River in Manhattan for the organization's permanent headquarters
 * Soviet Union was a charter member, along with Britain and France
 * China was grouped with the Security Council
 * Axis power eventually granted membership
 * Mission of the UN: to provide a forum for negotiating international affairs
 * From Hot War to Cold War:**
 * **MI: The col war would last until the 1980s, with various points of crisis and confrontation. Direct conflict between two super powers did not occur.**
 * Cold War began when WWII allied turned to debate the nature of postwar settlement
 * became obvious that the Soviet Union expected mass territorial gains that Britain and the US intended to limit through their own areas of influence
 * unresolved disputes = outbreak of Cold War b/w 1945 and 1949
 * **1944- Tehran Conference** = tensions surface, allies agreed on invasion of Nazi-occupied France
 * decision to focus on France rather than moving up from the Mediterranean gave Soviet forces a free hand to move through the smaller nations of eastern Europe as they pushed Nazis back
 * **Yalta Conference:** Soviet Crimea in early 1945
 * Roosevelt of US was eager to press Soviets for assistance against Japan to end promised Soviets important gains in Manchuria and northern Japanese islands
 * to Europe: agreement = 3 powers/ 4 occupation zones
 * July 1945- final conference @**Potsdam**
 * Russian forces now occupied most of eastern Europe and eastern Germany
 * prompted Soviet Union agreement to take over much of eastern Poland, with Poles getting part of eastern Germany in compensation
 * Germany divided pending a peace treaty
 * Austria divided + occupied, unity and independence in 1956
 * Japan occupied by US and wartime gains stripped away
 * Korea = freed and divided b/w US and SU
 * Europe, boundaries of SU pushed westward
 * nations of western Europe freed to set up or confirm democratic regimes


 * 4. Read chapter 31 p.732 - 750**
 * **What were the major effects of decolonization post WWII on Europe?**
 * Colonies outside of Europe became restive. When the British returned to Malaya and the Dutch to Indonesia, areas that they have dislodge, they faced an aura of hostility and even nationalistic resistance. In Vietnam, the French attempted to hold on against communist guerillas, giving up in 1954 after major defeats. Western governments typically retained important cultural relations in their former colonies and sometimes provided adminstrative and military help, ie French and Belgium intervention in Africa after decolonization. In the West, important minorities of former settlers and officials came home embittered, and in France, were not a significant political force. European influence as the world power was severely reduced. Even though decolonization was a major change, it did not overwhelm the West.
 * **How did the Cold War divide Europe? What were the implications of this division?**
 * Soviet troops occupied most eastern European countries and in three years, the Soviets had installed communist regimes to their linking, while opposing political movements. The **eastern bloc** emerged, consisting of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary. Soviet boundaries had been pushed West, reversing the decisions of the Versailles conference of post-WWI. Baltic states disappeared and Poland lost territory to Russia, gaining some former German lands as compensation. Soviet occupation of the eastern zone of Germany gave Russia a base close to center of Europe. US and British policymakers were offended by the Soviet's division of Europe and made an attempt to counter. In 1947, the US initiated the **Marshall Plan**, which would provide aid for the rebuilding of War's devastation for the West. In 1949, **NATO** was formed to combat possible Soviet aggressions. In the West, the Cold War brought many implications, ie establishing US as part of the internal and foreign policy, higher military expenditiures, and acceptance of US forces and weapons.
 * **Why did European governments move towards Liberal Democracies?**
 * Liberal democracy spread as a result of defeat in war. It discredited fascism and other rightist movements that had opposed parliamentary democracy. New political movements emerged in Europe, such as the Christian democratic movement, which combined democractic institutions and moderate social reforms. In Germany, new regimes had to be constructed after the defeat of Fascist and Nazi leadership. As Cold War took shape, France, Britain, and US merged with zones into the Federal Republic of Germany(West Germany), and encouragede a new constitution that would avoid the mistakes of Germany's Weimar Republic by outlawing extremist political movements.
 * **What was the welfare state? Why did they develop? what were the issues?**
 * The welfare statew increased social insurance measures. Medical care became state-funded, and in Britain, a part f the new **Labour program**, in which basic health care was nationalized. All western European governments provided payments to families with several children. Government became more active in the housing field, which was highly necessary, due to wartime destruction and postwar population growth. By the 1950s, over 1/4 of British population was housed in structures that were government built and operated. A major issue with the welfare state was cost. It enlarged government bureaucraciesand channeled monies to new purposes. The technocract emerged because of intense training in engineering or economics and due to devotion to power of national planning. By 1950s, 25% of France and Holland's gross national product went to welfare purposes. When military expenses began to stabilize, welfare commitments became less of a component of Western government budgets outside the US.
 * **Trace growing diplomatic relationships within Europe**
 * 1970s= **Green Movement**- signaled new political tone
 * Green parliamentray deputies in Germany refused to wear coats and ties in efforts to reduce political habits
 * **British Conservative Party =** new leadership, seeking to reduce costs and coverage of welfare state
 * 1979- Margaret Thatcher- longest prime-ministership, worked to cut welfare and housing expenses and promote free enterprise
 * During war, many leaders held resentment towards Nazism and desired a reconstruction of European spirit
 * Chrisitan Democratic movement produced important new advocates of harmony among European nations
 * 1947- US leaders eager to aid western European economic recovery == Marshall Plan
 * France, nations of Low countries were soon linked to such activities
 * 1958- six western European nations: France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands, established the European Economic Community, or Common Market, later known as European Union to begin to create a single economic entity across national political boundaries
 * tariffs removed among member nations, common tariff policy set for outside world
 * Common Market democracy established in Brussels to oversee operations
 * court system established to settle disputes and prevent violations of coordination rules
 * also administered a development fund to spur economic growth in regions, such as southern Italy and western France
 * 1980s- dismantling of all trade and currency exchange barriers among states in 1992 --> euro
 * European Union expanded hold within Western Europe
 * **Outline economic development in Europe**
 * 1980s- dismantling of all trade and currency exchange barriers among states in 1992 --> euro
 * welfare state and European Union improved purchasing power for the masses and facilitating market expansion across national boundaries
 * mid-1950s- western Europe entered new economic phase
 * agricultural production and productivity increased rapidly as peasant farmers adopted new equipment and seeds --> supported by technocrats
 * Though European agriculture was not on par to North America, food production met European demands and often had enough to spare and export
 * retooled industries pour out textiles and metallurgical goods
 * expensive consumer products, such as automobiles and appliances supported rapidly growing markets
 * Western Europe remained a leading center of weapons production
 * growth of national product surpassed the rates of any extended period since the Industrial Revolution
 * French, German, and Italian economies were growing between 6-11% annually
 * depended on technological change --> growth rates depended on rising food production and shrinking labor force
 * 1950s- increase in industrial workforce as part of factory expansion, but in 1960s, dropped despite rising production
 * Key change involved immigration:
 * labor shortage led to seeking hundreds of thousands of workers from other areas
 * southern Europe, Africa, Middle East, parts of Asia
 * rising immigrant minority was vital development in western Europe and US
 * taxation became necessary to sustain incomes because of high economic growth and low unemployment
 * widespread ownership of consumer goods, like cars
 * **Outline the post war development of the non-European West (Excluding the United States)**
 * Canada improved welfare policies after WWII: est. greater stake in economic planning and state-run medical insurance
 * Canadian economic integration with US continued, US investments in Canadian resources and mutual exports and imports increasing by 1970s
 * 1980= Canadian government measurtes to limit further US penetration and a sense of Canadian nationalism
 * 1988- freetrade agreement = North American trading bloc
 * 1967= separatist party, taking control of provincial government during 1970s
 * subsequent legislation limited use of English language in Quebec's public and commercial life, though referendums failed in 1980s
 * 1982= new Canadian constitution, which gave greater voice to provinces, to counter French Canadian demand and to recognize growing economic strength of resource-rich western provinces
 * separatist tensions continued to simmer into 21st century
 * 1945- on, Australia and New Zealand moved away from traditional alignment with Great Britain and toward horizons around the Pacific:
 * 2 commonwealths joined a mutual defense pact with US in 1951, directed against potential communist aggression in the Pacific
 * both nations cooperated with the US in Korean war, and Australia backed US intervention in Vietnam
 * 1970s- 80s, Australia and New Zealand began to distance themselves from US foreign policy and New Zealand barred US nuclear-armed vessels in 1985
 * Great Britain aligned with European Union and Australian and New Zealand exports were increasingly directed toward other Pacific nations, esp. Japan
 * Australia became Japan's chief raw materials supplier aside from oil
 * **Explain the growing role of the United States in world affairs**
 * The US, after 1945, highly opposed the Soviet Union and served as the world's leading defender of democratic and capitalistic values. In 1947, **Truman** promised support for "free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." The doctrine directed against communist pressures on Greece and Turkey, and soon extended into elaboration of the Marshall Plan aid to rebuild the economies of western Europe against possibility of communist subversion in these war-torn countries. The US foreign policy, for many decades, revolved around a wide bipartisan agreement. The cold war plunged the US into a state of concern about internal communist conspiracies and led to policy changes in the federal government. In 1947, the **Defense department** was established to coordinate military policy and **Central Intelligence Agency** was established to organize a worldwide information-gathering and espionage network. Military spending increased with formation of the Strategic Air Command in anticipation of Soviet attack. The US aid in the Berlin airlift helped thwart Soviet pressures in Germany. Under **Douglas MacArthur**, North Korean invasion was repulsed. Under **Eisenhower,** US settled into a containment policy, involving peacetime officers and US arranged alliances with NATO, in western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, several southeast Asian nations, and several nations in Middle East. Under **Reagan** in 1980, conservative domestic policies were combined with a commitment to increase military spending and ensure US dominance in world affairs. Under Bush, the US continued interventionist policies in sending troops to Panama to evict and arrest the dictator. Under **Clinton**, the US led participation in military action against forces in the Balkans in '90s.
 * **Trace developments for women in the post war West**
 * expansion of family leisure activities
 * new working patterns for women
 * number of working women, esp. married women, rose from 1950s onward
 * women education improved and growing number of service jobs created need for additional workers
 * women took clerical jobs that were paid less than men
 * women sought entry into labor force to add to personal/ family income, and to afford new consumer items
 * teenage employment decreased, as more girls remained in school
 * long-term commitments rose steadily
 * women pay continued to be less than men's
 * women gained right to vote, only Switzerland refused, until 1971
 * family rights improved in judgement of most women's advocates
 * access to divorce increased
 * abortion law eased --> easier for women to regulate birth rate
 * development of new birth control methods --> contraceptive pill of 1960, as well as growing knowledge and acceptance of birth control decreased unwanted pregnancies
 * sex and procreation became separate considerations
 * roles of women in family changed
 * women working and desire to use income for consumer standards worked against children, who were usually sent to day cares
 * pressures to readjust family roles --> working women outside family and growing legal freedoms increased likelihood of divorce
 * development of feminine protest
 * growing divorce created impoverished women combining work and childcare
 * new work roles revealed persistent earnings gap b/w women and men
 * **new feminism** took shape with 1949 publication of The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvior
 * emphasize more literal equality that would play down in special domestic roles and qualities
 * new expectations and ongoing inequalities about gender
 * **Outline cultural developments in Europe.**
 * shift of focus towards the US
 * greater political stability in US during 1930s-40s drove many intellectuals to US shores, where they remained even when Western Europe was revived
 * expansion of US universities = greater scientific research
 * "brain drain" drew many scientists to US in 1950s and 60s
 * European scientific advances:
 * **Francis Crick and James Watson** = discovery of genetic building block DNA, opening way for rapid advances in genetic knowledge and industries based on artificial synthesis of genetic materials
 * 2000- human genome project
 * Europeans participated in nuclear research through programs funded by European Union or other inter-European agencies
 * European space research, though slower in development compared to US or SU, made notable accomplishments by 1970s
 * developments in art:
 * unconventional self-expression and wide array of nonrepresentational techniques
 * public acceptance of modern styles
 * Paris = Bernard Buffet --> abstract figures
 * British sculptor Henry Moore --> round figures and abstractions that conveyed horrors of wartime life and postwar dislocations
 * "POP" art
 * European artistic films: late 1940s = Italian portrayal of urban and peasant life
 * fragmentation took place in social sciences
 * rising stature of Marx and Weber in previous generations
 * many scientific fields in social sciences turned to massive data collections and pragmatic, detailed observations
 * economics = American specialty: post-Keynesian decades focused on massive quantitative studies of economic cycles and money supplies
 * European influences was greater in several new theoretical formulations in humanities
 * French intellectuals contributed to redefinition of historical study, building on innovations launched b/w world wars
 * social history became more the order of the day and gave rise to historical research throughout western Europe and the US.
 * social history became more the order of the day and gave rise to historical research throughout western Europe and the US.