World War II Notebook

Day 1 - Stalin's Soviet Union

Stalin's Soviet Union launched five-year plan to transform Soviet society along socialist lines From Lenin to Stalin Lenin & Bolsheviks face economic disintegration, famine, riots, rebellion New Economic Policy - reestablish economic freedom & rebuild agriculture & industry could sell surplus in free markets; railroads, banks, and heavy industry nationalized compromise with peasants, but brought rapid recovery to industry & economy power struggle after Lenin's death; Stalin won more support over Trotsky The Five-Year Plans goal: industry up 250%, agriculture 150%, frenzy to modernize Stalin committed to socialism & want to catch up to capitalists peasants wanted land, thought they would become capitalists collectivize by creating state-controlled estates from individual peasant farms better-off peasants (kulaks) stripped of land, starved or in labor camps slaughter animals & burn crops in protest; not productive & no financial contribution wanted to destroy Ukrainian nationalism & break peasants' will purge political elite, high grain quota; great famine (Holodomor) industry up 4x, many migrated to cities to become industrial workers funds for factories collected by hidden sales taxes; labor discipline, no trade unions foreign engineers (Americans) hired to plan factories; modeled on America's Life and Culture in Soviet Society reduced consumption, shortages, housing problems received pensions, medical services & education, day-care, no unemployment leave egalitarian policies, trained experts needed for industrialization, upper class Bolshevik Revolution gave women equal rights - Stalin wanted traditional family women work in farms & factories, became specialists; propaganda & indoctrination culture Stalinist Terror and the Great Purges Sergei Kirov killed, launch reign of terror; Old Bolsheviks confess in show trials arrest & torture party officials & new members, & ordinary citizens executed or sent to gulags (labor camps) to fuel industrialization new Communist Party members join seeking opportunities & rewards

Richard Pipes on Communism revolution needed enemies Kirov's murder eliminate potential rival & allow campaign to eliminate Lenin's top people terror & interrogation make wish for death, confess to false crimes citizens brought before troikas (regional party secretary, procurator, police chief) sentenced to death, hard labor, or exile, fulfill quotas many of higher education; more likely to conspire forced to report subversive activity nomenklatura class monopolize authority, unique privileges, hereditary humans travesty of what they could, should, and had to become; could be killed destroy free speech; close non-Bolshevik press, censorship bureau (Glavlit) not until 1930s told authors what to write; no travel abroad/foreign publications Socialist Realism; social ethics decline deification of Stalin, fear assassins, watch films Cheka - GPU & OGPU - NKVD - KGB main source of terror

Class Notes capital now at Moscow now called the USSR lost land became Finland Lenin dies - Trotsky has credit, but Stalin becomes chairman, exile Trotsky Trotsky has affair in Mexico, assassinated in Mexico 2nd attempt 5 year plans - 250% industry, 150% agriculture goal to modernize, doesn't care about death, nobody is safe no progressive ideas, methods are conservative, goals are radical advancing nation with brutal methods collectivization - peasants destroy fields and animals for no benefit Stalin sets conditions for famine move farmers in country to factories targets Kulaks, Ukraine wants independence blockades Ukraine to starve them, biggest country in Europe soviet propaganda about future, not past; leader omnipotent race doesn't matter in communism, cult of the leader too good a job in nomenklatura, gets killed exile in Siberia, hard, pointless labor Women had better opportunities under Stalin

Day 2 - The Rising Sun: Japan Before WWII

From Liberalism to Ultranationalism in Japan most of Japan Japanese; build nationalistic, modern state, resisting imperialism master technology, victory against Russia and China, took German holdings economy expands as profits won markets Europe couldn't supply nationalists want to enlighten and protect Asia; some want peacefully naval limitation with West, give Shandong to China, reducing tensions democracy; men > 25 years could vote; 2 party competition, increased living standards & literacy rates few natural resources, vulnerable to ups and downs of world trade, support colonial empire colonies for prestige & defense; now needed for resources & economic growth zaibatsu in economy, dominated sector of unorganized farmers & peasants financial oligarchy, corrupt government officials, weak middle class elites (emperor, government officials, businessmen, military leaders), power struggle; ultranationalism ultranationalism: reject West (democracy, big business, Marxism), destroy old Japan stress emperor's divinity & samurai code of honor assassinate moderate leaders & armed uprisings against party politics foreign expansion, Kita Ikki, believed in "noble mission" Great Depression: exports & wages down, unemployment up, peasants starve Japan Against China young Japanese army officers in Manchuria from peasantry, army budget declined Chinese nationalism (Guomindang unification) challenge Japanese control, use aggression Japan made Manchuria an independent state, use Puyi (Qing) as puppet emperor resign from League of Nation to protest disapproval of aggression, army independent try to create economic bloc for industry in East Asia; news glorify empire for China, distract from modernization, boycott social reform, land reform & poverty unequal landownership, many own 1/6 land, starved & in debt nationalists with Jiang Jieshi try to destroy Communists, who retreated in Long March Mao Zedong rebuilt forces & won peasant support - (no pillage/rape, schools, health clinics, help peasants with agriculture, tried warlords & landlords Japan military & ultranationalists in control, general attack took Beijing & Shanghai, "Rape of Nanjing", in stalemate called the Second Sino-Japanese War - conflicting nationalism

Class Notes Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere White Man's Burden need food and resources, seize Manchuria, fuel industry WWII starts in 1937 in Asia

Day 3 - Hitler and Nazism in Germany

Hitler and Nazism in GermanyThe Roots of Nazism Nazism grew from extreme nationalism & racism, led by Adolf Hitler son of Austrian customs officer, join extreme Austro-German nationalists found racism, anti-Semitism & hate Slavs - Social Darwinism, racial conflict inevitable Jews direct finance capitalism, Marxist socialism, against German unity/race WWI gain meaning - blamed Jews & Marxists for surrender joined German Workers' Party - socialism would abolish capitalism - Nazi Party Weimar Republic hyperinflation, von Hindenburg became president, Hitler's unsuccessful coup Hitler's Road to Power denounce Weimar Republic, need legal power; Mein Kampf - anti-semitic, expansion, Fuhrer dictator built Nazis during stability, promise salvation during Depression, gain success reject free-market capitalism, advocate recovery - middle & lower classes & skilled workers many desert conservative & moderate for Nazis - become largest party appeal to German youth, national recovery, exciting change, & personal advancement appeal Depression made republican leaders look corrupt, Communists didn't unite with Social Democrats gain business & army support, thinking he would help them; von Hindenburg appoint chancellor The Nazi State and Society blamed Communists for Reichstag building fire, made president abolish liberties & new elections Nazis lost election, outlaw Communists & arrest, sign Enabling Act, giving Hitler 4 years dictatorship Nazis top in government, outlaw strikes & unions, independent organizations to Nazis, publishers & schools controlled by Nazis, no modern art/architecture; dynamism & total obedience SS (elite personal guard) kill Nazi storm troopers, army surrender, Himmler & SS take over police Jews banned from work, Nuremberg laws take citizenship, many emigrate Kristallnacht - destruction of Jewish buildings, difficult for Jews to leave after Hitler's Popularity public works, rearmament, standard of living up, employment up, profits up except Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, communists, and gays, more equality & opportunity relaxed educational requirements, tolerate privilege and wealth well-educated retain advantages (social leveling), hire women during labor shortages Communists & socialists, Catholics & Protestants, & army officers oppose

Class Notes Beer Hall Putsch (1923) Reichstag Fire (Feb 1933) - dictators need a crisis - blame the communists Enabling Act passed - dictatorial power Night of Long Knives - first purge liked WWI - Austrian, good soldier returns to Vienna, meets Austro-German nationalists - monarchy & aristocracy in capital, Slavs, Jews, Communists, and capitalists - hate everyone but the nationalists goes to Germany, try to seize power at Beer Hall Putsch Nazis had 12 seats at Reichstag 1930 1932 - 39% of seats/vote, biggest party, not majority named Chancellor Hitler uses the system legally purge the SA - Nazi army (Brownshirts, 400,000) biggest army top thousand brownshirts purged by brownshirts (can't invade, only thugs) race & living space (Empire) allows to get the Reichswahr, better trained army, on his side economic depression, government cannot stop dictator Hitler's Nazi Party - militaristic

Day 4 - Hitler and Nazism in Germany, Round 2

Aggression and Appeasement, 1933 - 1939 Treaty of Versailles limit German army to 100,000 - withdraw from League of Nations military draft, France, Britain, & Italy protest his actions Britain appease to avoid war - underestimate Hitler, worried about Soviet Communism Churchill disliked appeasement, but not prepared in France or Britain for war Hitler invaded Rhineland; Britain refused intervention, France couldn't act without Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, Italy join Germany in Rome-Berlin Axis Japan join for support in Manchuria Germany & Italy help Fascist Franco in Spanish Civil War Republican Spain only helped by Soviet Union Hitler threaten Austrian chancellor, Austria became part of Germany target Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia try defense, Chamberlain ceded to them no self-determination, use Czechs and Slovaks as captives refer to Slavs as Untermenschen (inferior), sign non-aggression pact Stalin distrust West, need time for industry & military, was offered territory Germans attack Poland, Britain & France declare war on Germany

capitalism - liberal, democraticsocialism - control large industriescommunism - government complete controlfascism - 1 leader, worship dictator (Nazi)Democratic- free speech- private ownership- upper class appealCommunist- guarantee jobs- run by workers- lower class appealFascist- union benefits- effects of Treaty & Depression- nationalism- mixed class appeal

Class Notes annex Austria, Britain and France allow Germany, self-determination wants land with Stalin, promise to divide Eastern Europe Blitzkreig - 1939 Poland, Oct 1939 - Mar 1940 - Phony War Maginot Line - fortifications at border, Germans went through less fortified Belgium - useless Hitler invades France; falls in 6 weeks Luftwaffe - German air force to take Britain, no land invasions Operation Barbarossa - take Soviet Union, largest invasion 1800 mi, 3 million men - huge gains

Day 5 - Japan: Empire in the Pacific

Japan's Asian Empire crush peasant Nationalists & Communists - Rape of Nanjing, Sino-Japanese War ultranationalists call liberation mission, worship semidivine emperor join Axis alliance, Vichy gave French Indochina to block aid for China U.S. supply 90% of oil, few reserves; embargo to Japan, declare war Pearl Harbor - sank American battleships (aircraft carriers at sea), destroy air force in Philippines Hitler declare war, Japan seize islands, Philippines support for Japan decline through war; no equal, no governments, cut wages, drafts kill wounded and POWs, rape nurses, Korean comfort women

Day 6 - The War in Europe and Asia

The Second World War, 1939 - 1945Britain, US, & Soviet Union form Grand AllianceHitler's Empire in Europe, 1939 - 1945 Hitler's Blitzkrieg (lightning war) take Poland quickly Soviet Union took east Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, & Latvia Germans attack France through Belgium; Petain form Vichy, surrender French support Petain, but then he collaborated with the Nazis Battle of Britain - bomb with airforce before invading on land broke Soviet pact - take Leningrad/Moscow, winter stopped invasion racial imperialism dictate New Order: Dutch/Norway/Swede/Dane, French, Jews/Slavs hoped Poles, Ukrainians & Russians would die, more room for Germans The Holocaust force Jews into ghettos, German sent to Poland - arrest, camps, murder Catholics & Protestants rarely protest, most Germans sympathetic to Nazis The Grand AllianceChurchill's Europe First Policy - Hitler, then Japan, no treaties/division; best militaryThe War in Europe, 1942 - 1945 Hitler defeated at Stalingrad, pushed back; Germany enlist women & slaves Allies attack through North Africa, British defeat at Battle of El Alamein Italians depose Mussolini, surrender; Germans save Mussolini for puppet government Germans surrender in Italy; Mussolini executed soon after Eisenhower (American & British) at Normandy, France, invade Germany; Soviets met at Elbe River The War in the Pacific, 1942 - 1945 America defend Port Moseby in Battle of the Coral Sea, won Battle of Midway for naval equality island hopping with Australia; bombing & hand to hand combat kill Japanese after Battle of Guadalcanal mercilessly MacArthur at Battle of Leyte Gulf, Japanese navy down Iwo Jima & Okinawa, bloodiest battles; destroyed by bombings Stalin gave Japan hope of diplomacy; plan to seize territories Potsdam Declaration demand surrender, unclear of emperor's safety atomic bombs, Soviet invade Manchukuo, avoid both by surrendering

Nazism1. Fascism- authoritarian rule- ultranationalism - empire2. race & living space- Austria and Sudetenland } German nationalism- Czechoslovakia and Poland } no German nationals3. militarism4. emphasizes continuity with past5. hate communismJapan agrees with all but 4 and 5Luftwaffe - small German planesHitler doesn't dedicate industry as fully to war productionwill can overcome - nationalismdoesn't need to suffer; wants consumer goods at homeOperation Barbarossa - invade RussiaSoviet Union would have defeated Germany without D-dayEastern Theater was the most importantStalin has the industrial capacity to make a comeback and the will to slaughter Russiansthe difference between WWI and WWII is great leadership

Day 7 - The Start of the Cold War

Goals of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: force the surrender of Japan establish America's supremacy in the world boost America's authority in postwar dealings with Soviet Union shock factor - psychologically force them to stop fighting beat Soviet Union to it, because they could have taken Japan themselves 5/8/45 - VE Day8/6/45 - Hiroshima8/8/45 - OSSR (Manchuria) invasions8/9/45 - Nagasaki8/15/45 - VJ Day8/8 - military generals in Japan voted on whether they should surrender; split vote

Czechoslovakia ruled by:1914 - Austria Hugary1919 - 1929 - independent1940 - Germany1950 - USSRPoland ruled by:1914 - Germany/Russia1919 - 1929 - independent1940 - Nazi Germany/Russia1950 - USSRIron Curtain: border of Russian territory post-warFDR - Federal Democratic RepublicGDR - German Democratic RepublicGDR is communist East Germany11% of East German population flees through West BerlinBerlin Wall built around West Berlin, on East German soilcloses off the escape route3 fences, serious about not letting them leave

Day 8 - Cold War and the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall East German economy suffered as people left collectivization industry, sacrifice consumer goods for weaponry thought control