Germans' strategy to defeat Britain solely through air attacks
Aerial bombing killed forty thousand British civilians; Royal Air Force prevented defeat
Summer 1941, Germany also controlled Balkans and North Africa
The German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa: German surprise invasion of Soviet Union, June 1941
Wanted eastern land on which to resettle Germans
Captured Russian heartland; Leningrad under siege; troops outside Moscow
Blitzkrieg strategies less effective in Russia
Soviets drew on tremendous reserves: 360 Soviet divisions against 150 German
Hitler underestimated Soviet industrial capacity
Stalin quickly moved Soviet industry east to the Ural Mountains
Russian winter caught German troops ill-prepared
Battles in Asia and the Pacific
U.S. support of the Allies before Pearl Harbor
Roosevelt sold and then "loaned" arms and war material to the British
Later supplied the Soviets and the Chinese
Japanese expansion continued into southeast Asia: Indochina, 1940-1941
United States responded by freezing Japanese assets, implementing oil embargo
Demanded withdrawal from China and southeast Asia
Prime minister Tojo Hikedi developed plan of attack
7 December 1941: U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor attacked by Japanese pilots
U.S. naval power in Pacific devastated
United States declared war on Japan; Germany and Italy declared war on United States
Japanese victories after Pearl Harbor
Japan advanced swiftly in the Pacific and southeast Asia
Conquered Philippines, Dutch East Indies, Indochina, Burma, Singapore
Slogan "Asia for Asia" masked Japanese imperialism against fellow Asians
Defeat of the Axis Powers
Impact of Soviet Union and U.S. entry in 1941
Brought vital personnel and industry to Allies
German subs sank 2,452 merchants ships, but U.S. shipyards built more
Allied victories came after 1943
Russians defeated the Germans at Stalingrad, pushed them back
1944, British-U.S. troops invaded North Africa and then Italy
June 1944, British-U.S. forces invaded northern France at Normandy
Overwhelmed Germans on coast of Normandy, 6 June 1944
Round-the-clock strategic bombing by United States and Britain leveled German cities
Germans surrendered unconditionally 8 May 1945; Hitler committed suicide
Turning the tide in the Pacific
Turning point: the Battle of Midway, June 1942; United States broke Japanese code
Island-hopping strategy: moving to islands close to Japan for air attacks
Savage fighting on islands of Iwo Jima and Okinawa
Japanese used suicide kamikaze pilots
Okinawan civilians refused to surrender
U.S. military was convinced that Japan would not surrender
Japanese surrender after devastating assault
U.S. firebombing raids devastated Japanese cities: in Tokyo, one hundred thousand killed
August 1945: atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed two hundred thousand
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan, 8 August
Japanese emperor surrendered unconditionally 15 August, ending WWII
Life during wartime
Occupation, collaboration, and resistance
Patterns of occupation varied
Japanese conquests: puppet governments, independent allies, or military control
German conquests: racially "superior" people given greater autonomy
(a) In northern Europe, civilian governments under German supervision
(b) In eastern Europe, conquered territories taken over by military
Both Japan and Germany exploited conquered states, resources, and peoples
Slave labor conscripted from conquered populations to work in factories
Labor conscripted from Poles, Soviets, Balkans, also Chinese and Koreans
Many local people accepted, even collaborated with occupying forces
In Asia, Japanese domination not much different from European domination
Others aided conquerors to gain power in new administration
Anticommunism led some in western Europe to join the Nazi SS troops
Resistance to occupation took many forms
Active resistance: sabotage, assaults, assassination
Passive resistance as well: intelligence gathering, refusing to submit
Resistance in Japan and Germany was dangerous and rare
Occupation forces responded to resistance with atrocities
Brutal reprisals to acts of resistance by both Germans and Japanese
Despite retaliation, resistance movements grew throughout the war
The Holocaust
Long history of anti-Semitism created tolerance of Nazi's anti-Jewish measures
At first Nazis encouraged Jewish emigration
Many Jews were unable to leave after Nazis took their wealth
Nazi conquest of Europe brought more Jews under their control
The "final solution"
Began with slaughter of Jews, Roma, and other undesirables in Soviet Union
By end of 1941, German special killing units had killed 1.4 million Jews
By 1942 Nazis decided to evacuate all European Jews to camps in east Poland
In Auschwitz alone at least one million Jews perished
Jewish resistance
Will to resist sapped by prolonged starvation, disease
Uprising of Warsaw ghetto, 1943: sixty thousand Jews rose up against Germans
Altogether, about 5.7 million Jews perished in the Holocaust
Women and the war
"It's a Woman's War, Too!"
Over half a million British, 350,000 American women joined auxiliary services
Soviet and Chinese women took up arms and joined resistance groups
Jewish women and girls suffered as much as men and boys
Women's social roles changed dramatically
By taking jobs or heading families, women gained independence and confidence
Changes expected to be temporary, would return to traditional role after war
"Comfort women"
Japanese armies forcibly recruited three hundred thousand women to serve in military brothels
80 percent of comfort women came from Korea
A comfort woman had to service between twenty and thirty men each day
Many were massacred by Japanese soldiers; survivors experienced deep shame
Neither peace nor war
Postwar settlements and cold war
Two strongest postwar powers, Soviet Union and United States, vied for nonaligned nations
War left millions of casualties and refugees
At least sixty million people died in WWII, highest in Soviet Union and China
Eight million Germans fled west to British, U.S. territories to escape Soviet army
Twelve million Germans and Soviet prisoners of war made their way home
Survivors of camps and three million refugees from the Balkans returned home
The origins of the cold war (1947-1990)
Unlikely alliance between Britain, Soviet Union, and United States held up for duration of war
Not without tensions: Soviet resented U.S.-British delays in European invasion
Postwar settlement established at Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July--August)
Each Allied power to occupy and control territories liberated by its armed forces
Stalin agreed to support United States against Japan
Stalin's plans prevailed; Poland and east Europe became communist allies
President Truman took hard line at Potsdam, widened differences
Postwar territorial divisions reflected growing schism between United States and Soviet Union
Soviets took east Germany, while United States, Britain, and France took west Germany
Berlin also divided four ways; by 1950 division seemed permanent
Churchill spoke of an "iron curtain" across Europe, separating east and west
Similar division in Korea: Soviets occupied north and United States the south
Truman doctrine, 1947: United States would support "free peoples resisting subjugation"
Perception of world divided between so-called free and enslaved peoples
Interventionist policy, dedicated to "containment" of communism
Global reconstruction and the United Nations
The Marshall Plan, 1948: U.S. aid for the recovery of Europe
Idea to rebuild European economies and strengthen capitalism
Soviet response: Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) for its satellite nations
NATO and the Warsaw Pact: militarization of the cold war
1949, United States created NATO, a regional military alliance against Soviet aggression
1955, Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact in response
Two global superpowers protecting hegemony with alliances
United Nations, established 1945 to maintain international peace and security
