Lecture #27 -- World War II
I. Administration
A. Extra Credit by Thursday
B. Make-ups -- Friday at 11 a.m.
C. Review Session Friday at Noon
D. Final Exam -- May 9th 10-12
II. Introduction
A. Last time we looked at the rise of the totalitarian regimes during the Interwar period -- Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler.
B. The most important of these was, of course, the Nazi regime under Hitler in Germany, or what became known as the Third Reich. Today we are going to look at the conflagration that erupted as result of Hitler's rise to power -- a conflict that once again swept the world into flames.
III. Hitler's Third Reich
A. Once Hitler was made Chancellor in 1933, he began to implement many of the ideas he laid out in Mein Kampf. Goebbels was already in charge of propaganda.
1. In March, Hitler would push the Enabling Act through the Reichstag. This act was to "relieve the distress of the people and the Reich." This act set aside the German constitution and gave Hitler dictatorial powers for four years. This paved the way for their Nazification of Germany, or the implementation of Hitler's view of the world.
2. We talked about some of his methods last time -- propaganda, the censorship of the press and violence. For instance, the Social Democrats who had opposed the Enabling Act would shortly pay for their opposition, and any groups capable of opposing the regime would be eliminated or undermined. As in the Soviet Union, the Nazis were declared the only legal political party, and the church was subverted by the revival of old pagan German gods. Trade unions were abolished, and the state took control of the entire economy. The civilian, political, and economic segments of life were under direct control, as was the army, who took an oath of loyalty directly to Hitler. All soldiers were required to salute, but the Storm Troopers were to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler while touching the a Nazi flag which had become bloodied in the failed Beer Hall Putsch of 1923. This was call the “Blood Flag Ritual.”
B. Hitler also began to implement his view of the perfect society. The German civil service was purged of all non-Aryans, any non-Germans, and preferably everyone was the perfect type -- Blonde, blue-eyed and tall. No minorities or undesirable elements. Hitler believed women
1. The first step to achieving the perfect society and lebensraum was Hitler’s view of the family. The perfect Aryan family – blonde, blue-eyed, with lots of children – needed to be encouraged.
2. So in 1933, he introduced and had passed the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage, which gave 1000 marks to newlyweds as a loan. With each child, the percentage of money they had to pay back to the government was reduced.
3.For women, Hitler’s vision meant they were relegated to “Kinder, Küche, Kirche” – children, kitchen and church. There was no reason for them to ever work outside the home, according to Hitler.
C. Part of creating the superior society also meant Anti-Semitism as a state policy. Since the Jews were to blame for all of the evils in Germany society, then their influence must be eliminated. They were of course dismissed from any government position.
1.Most of the propaganda we looked at was the first step. Rhetoric and bullying of the Jewish population began to de-humanize them, and allowed the Germans to see them as a faceless enemy, not the family that had lived next door for the last ten years.
2. Then came the boycott of Jewish stores beginning on 1 April 1933, as The rhetoric continued. Then in 1935, The Nuremberg Laws were passed. These forbid intermarriage between Jews and "citizens of German or similar blood". Jews were also forbidden to employ servants of "Aryan blood" or to display the German national flag.
3.Jews would eventually become defined by Race and Religion. Swing music was condemned as "Negro-Jewish" music. Jews would excluded from most professions and forced to have identity cards.
4.The bullying of The Jews became serious and foreshadowed things to come on 9-10 November 1938 Kristallnacht or The "Night of The Breaking Glass". Inflamed by Goebbels, the SA "spontaneously" sought retribution on the Jews. At least 91 Jews were killed in what was actually a very well-planned attack. Synagogues were set on fire, property destroyed and store fronts broken. Afterwards, the Jews were denied insurance claims, and 20-30,000 wealthy Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps to await deportation. Shortly thereafter, the Jews lost all legal rights, and on 30 January 1939, Hitler declared that if Europe went to war the Jews would be destroyed.
IV. Hitler’s Diplomatic Maneuvers
A. War was on Hitler's mind, as well as the destruction of the Jews as the enemy of Germany. In his book Mein Kampf, Hitler had also laid out the idea of lebensraum for the German volk.
1. The German people needed "living room" or space (lebensraum) to grow. The Aryans were the superior race and needed room to expand to spread their light on civilization and eliminate the lesser races. In order to have this living space for the master race, Germany would have to expand, and the first step would be to invalidate the unjust Versailles Treaty.
2. Hitler had no real plan in foreign policy, as Bismark had, beyond these two principles, but he did have some diplomatic advantages. He was the ruler of a totalitarian state, which meant his diplomatic policy was his alone. He was totally autonomous. He also had the advantage of dealing with Britain, France, Italy, And the Soviet Union. With the Soviets, Hitler believed war was inevitable. Communism was one of the great villains in the fascist universe, so conflict must eventually happen there. But what about the other powers in Europe?
3. With them, Hitler needed time for Germany to grow. In 1933, Germany was weak from economic troubles and the provisions of Versailles. In order to give Germany time, Hitler appealed to the need for equality to ensure peace. Britain and France were both hungry for peace, as was everyone in Europe. Furthermore, Britain felt guilty over Versailles, and France could not enforce it alone. Hitler exploited all of these in the diplomatic moves before WW II. He took advantage of every opening left by Britain's isolation and France's defensiveness, and the pacifist atmosphere.
B. Hitler's first steps toward rebuilding Germany came in the fall of 1933. He withdrew from the Geneva disarmament conference, and then from the League of Nations, which had proved ineffectual in restraining aggressors, particularly when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1933. Japan had simply withdrawn from the League.
1. In the next year or so, Hitler strengthened his position at home. Then in March 1935, he began to take steps toward erasing the effects of Versailles -- first by violating the disarmament clauses. A new air force was created -- the luftwaffe, and conscription was re-introduced into the army. The allies -- did nothing but protest and take no action. Britain's guilt lay heavy on her and she accepted Germany's re-armament as a symbol of her rejoining the family of nations. So, in June, Germany and Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval Pact.
2. Hitler had won his first victory, and he hoped the British would continue as allies, or at least neutral bystanders. His greatest fear was that he would have to fight the British and the Russians at the same time. Then in 1936, Hitler made a daring move. Without sufficient force to defend himself really, he moved troops into the Rhineland. this Re-militarizing the Rhineland was a clear violation of the treaty, but though France protested, Britain saw it only as Germany regaining her rightful territory. Hitler had won through a giant bluff.
3. That same year, Hitler also made other strides. In 1936, there was a revolution in Spain, which had become a republic in 1931. The election of a radical left government in 1936, spurred a revolt led by General Gransico Franco (1892-1975), a member of the Spanish fascists. Hitler saw it as a testing ground for his new military and sent in "volunteers" to aid Franco, as did Mussolini. While Franco gained aid, the only official help the Spanish Republic received was from -- believe or not-- the Russians. The Russians withdrew in 1938, after disillusionment with Britain, France & the U.S., and Franco won out in 1939.
4. The Spanish Civil War not only proved a good testing ground for the German military, it also brought Italy and Germany closer together, and later in 1936 they signed the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact. This was the foundation of what became the Axis Powers in WW II. In 1937, Hitler signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan as an agreement to resist all communist activity.
C. Hitler now had allies, and was convinced that the French, and more importantly the British would not interfere with his plans for lebesraum. After all, the British were Aryans too. Might not they help him fight the Communists?
1.In fact, the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain(1869-1940) had even stated that he was not opposed to changes in Central Europe provided they came about peacefully. Chamberlain was part of an old school that believed in Appeasement. Now the term means to give in, but in the 19th century, it meant giving concessions from a position of strength. Unfortunately, by 1937, the Allies’ position was weakening and they had little resolve. Hitler knew this. Furthermore, Hitler’s military was growing stronger with each passing incident.
2. With this confidence and Versailles dead, in 1937, Hitler embarked on a more aggressive string of expansionist moves. The first was Austria. After an extensive propaganda campaign, Hitler acted in conjunction with the Nazi party in Austria and launched an invasion. The Anschluss or union of Germany and Austria was achieved with cheers from the Austrians, despite violence against the Jews and any who opposed the Anschluss.
3. The next step in creating a greater Germany was to gain other German populations -- the greatest of which was in Czechoslovakia -- in area known as the Sudentenland. Hitler issued a series of demands, which the Czechs found unacceptable. No support came from the Allies, and then the Czechs mobilized. The allies acted hastily to avoid the world war Hitler was proclaiming. In September 1938, Britain, France, Italy and Germany met at the Munich Conference -- neither the Russians nor the Czechs were invited. In Munich, Chamberlain and the other basically conceded all of Hitler's demands in return for an assurance that this was the last demand to be made. Hitler signed an agreement, and Chamberlain returned to Britain proclaiming "Peace in Our Time!" The crowds cheered and breathed in relief.
D. There was a dissonant voice in all of this, however. His name was Winston Spencer Churchill (1874-1965). Churchill was the national gadfly in Britain, but one who would be unfortunately proved right.
1. He said in August of 1938, "War is certainly not inevitable. But the danger to peace will not be removed until the vast German armies which have been called from their homes into the ranks have been dispersed. ..."these great forces have not been placed upon a war footing without an intention to reach a conclusion within a very limited space of time"
2. Chamberlain's piece of paper was proved worthless in a matter of months. Munich confirmed Hitler's perception of the West as weak. In October he began to plan to liquidate Czechoslovakia, and in March 1939, he occupied the rest of it. Hitler then gained Lithuania by demand, and strengthened his alliance with Mussolini. Hitler began making demands for the port of Danzig, which had been given to Poland. Britain and France renewed their guarantees to Poland. Then in August 1939, the unbelievable happened The Nazis and the Soviets signed a Non-Aggression Pact -- the most bitter enemies had agreed not to fight. Stalin wanted time and territory.
3. In September of 1939, Hitler was firmly convinced that the West would not go to war over Poland. After all the had backed down before, right? This time, however, He was wrong. Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, and Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The Soviets sent troops into Poland on the 17th. Poland was lost to the allies, but they kept their promise and Europe was at war again -- only 20 years after the war to end all wars had ended. This war was different than the last one, however, in many ways. THis time there was a clear aggressor. It would also be different in the way it was fought, the atrocities committed on and off the battlefield, and the attitude of the allies in fighting this war.
V. World War II
A. Hitler honestly thought in September of 1939 that all he was doing was taking Poland -- not starting World War. Poland was gone in a matter of weeks, despite the fact that she did fight.
1. Immediately after the fall of Poland, and the invasion of Finland by Russia, though it was difficult to believe Europe was actually at war. From September to May of 1940, it was what became known as the Phony War. Germany did not immediately attack France. There was no action at all on the Western Front. The French remained the Maginot Line, the defensive construction built during the interwar years. It was formidable, but unfortunately it did not extend through Belgium and Luxembourg or through the Ardennes forest. Furthermore the guns were all stationary.
2. In April, the Phony war ended, and the Germans attacked France through the Ardennes Forest -- which was supposed to impentrably dense -- that did not account for the most important weapon of WW II -- the tank. The Germans employed a new technique of warfare called Blitzkrieg -- or lightning war. It was highly mechanized and moved swiftly. The British and French, once again, were prepared for the last war, not this one.
3. The German panzer divisions cut behind the French lines. In MAy another wing of the GErman army attacked through the Netherlands. The entire British army and 120,000 of the French troops were trapped. They were driven back by German forces to the Channel -- 330,000 troops at a little place called Dunkirk. Hitler looked likely to win the war within six weeks. Then something amazing happened -- what is known as Miracle at Dunkirk. With their backs to the sea, the allies gained air superiority briefly. Boats from across Britain appeared and in the dead of night evacuated the troops off the beaches to safety on the other side of the Channel. All of the equipment was lost, and though it was a defeat it made possible the continued resistance of the allies.
4. France fell in weeks. In June 1940, they sued for peace. A French government was set-up in Vichy, which collaborated with the German occupation. Resistance continued in France headed by General Charles de Gaulle(1890-1970) who fled to London with the armistice. The Free French army fought with the British in North Africa and elsewhere, but most of France was not part of this or the Resistance movement even within France. In fact, the French government, though insisting they would not turn their fleet over to the Germans, did not actually sail the fleet to a British or American port. So, the British, in order to not have to face French ships plus the Germans, sunk the French fleet while in was in port in North Africa.
B. France was gone, Belgium and all of the small countries. Russia was in a non-aggression pact, and the U.S. was in isolation. One country stood alone against Hitler -- Great Britain. It was at this moment that Britain's national gadfly became her national hero -- Churchill became Prime Minister in May 1940, and would become the hero of the West.
1. Britain had not much left in 1940. Her forces had been defeated on land. An amphibious assault was out. She lacked the might. Her navy had not long been on a war footing. Hitler would have negotiated for peace. The British were after all a Teutonic people -- their Aryan brothers. Churchill however gave a speech on May 13th in which he told the British people "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat". "You ask What is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory -- victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival." Britain chose to fight and what came was what Churchill himself called "Britain's Finest Hour".
2. He mobilized then what Britain had. First, the strength of her Empire, without which she would not have survived. The resources of empire flowed into Britain. Australia and New Zealand fought against the Japanese, and so did India. Darwin, in northern Australia, was even bombed by the Japanese.
3. And once again her island status came to Britain's rescue. Churchill once said that the most significant thing in English history occurred in 9 million B.C. when England broke away from the continent. The stormy waters of the Channel are difficult at best to cross.
4.This was combined with Churchill's own great ability -- his gift with the English language. The language of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton rose to the occasion – to stir the British to fight and steel their resolve. Churchill knew the power of the language and knew it inside & out, and he used it. He inspired the British at every turn.
After Dunkirk he spoke and said "We shall not flag or fail. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets; we shall never surrender."
5. That resolve was made possible by one group -- the RAF -- the royal air force. Churchill said "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed to so few by so many." The bombing of London began in June of 1940 and continued until August 1941. This was the battle of Britain. The RAF had better planes, better pilots and a little thing called RADAR, and with these tools the British were able to hold out. Partly because the Germans stopped bombing air bases and bombed civilian targets, after the British bombed Berlin. By August of 1941, the major bombing of Britain had stopped, Britain had stood. She was secure from invasion and Operation Sea Lion, the German plan for invasion, was never carried out.
C. To win the war, however, Britain would need to do more than just hold out. In 1941, she would gain new allies. The first was a surprise. On 22 June 1941, Hitler invaded Russia, despite the advice of his allies.
1. Operation Barbarossa was the largest military operation in history with a front of over 1200 miles. The Russians were taken by surprise and had to fall back. Once again they used the same strategy they had with Napoleon -- General Distance and General Winter. They fell back without surrendering. They lost the factories in the Urals, but there were still those in Siberia, along with those fresh troops. The Germans were stopped within sight of Moscow. Leningrad held out 1,000 days under siege. Still the Germans could not get a surrender.
2. Meanwhile, the British offered their support to Russia, to the chagrin of some. When criticized for supporting the Soviets, Churchill answered his critics by saying, "If Hitler invaded Hell I would at least make a favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons." Churchill was however cultivating the friendship he considered far removed from the Devil -- the United States. In August 1941, Churchill and Roosevelt met on a carrier off Canada, and composed what is known as the Atlantic Charter.
3. In this, the two men drew up a set of war aims -- or Why the war was being fought -- the defeat of Hitler, as well as a set of goals for the Post-war World. It was also the beginning of the Lend-Lease Act. Analogy of the house afire and the garden hose. Churchill needed material, and Roosevelt conceived this method for bringing the U.S. industrial complex into the war, without bankrupting Britain. Britain never paid for in money, simply because the British EMpire was the only one fighting.
4. In December 1941, the United States formally entered the war, when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Empire of Japan. The bulk of the United States fleet was destroyed, and it was the greatest defeat in American history. The United States declared war on Japan the next day, and then Germany declared war on the U.S.
D. In 1942, Britain now had allies, but the allies still looked to be losing the war. Russia was still falling back. The U.S. fleet was in trouble. The Philippines to the Japanese, and so did the key to British Pacific defense -- Singapore (February 1942). Irwin Rommel was winning in North Africa and threatening the vital Suez Canal, which linked Britain to the Pacific. He was also far too close to the oil fields of the Middle East. 1942 was a dark time for the Allies.
1. The first step toward stemming the tide was the Battle of the Atlantic. The Germans could not halt the stream of supplies from the U.S. to Britain during the winter of 1942-43. Even at the height of the submarine campaign against the British, British shipping – her glory – always outnumbered the actual numbers of ships sunk by the Germans. The German submarine threat was fought with the Convoy system, radar, and air power. World War II was the war of the air.
2. The next step came earlier in 1942, with the Anglo-Soviet Pact in May, which gave the Soviets access to American material. The first victories, though did not begin until late 1942 in North Africa, with El Alamein. Then began the battle of Stalingrad. The siege of Stalingrad began in December 1942 and lasted until February of 1943. It was the turning point of the war on the Eastern front. Hitler refused to withdraw and when reinforcements arrived from Siberia, and the entire German army -- 1 million strong was captured. The tide began turn elsewhere as well. At the Battle of Midway in the Pacific, the Allies began to turn back the Japanese and slowly advance toward the Home Islands of Japan.
3. The Allies, at this point, called a conference, and would continue to do so throughout the war. This time they met at Casablanca, and Britain and the U.S. invaded Italy in 1943. The Italians changed sides in the course of Allied advance. They overthrew Mussolini, put him in prison and the new government helped the Allies against the Germans. Hitler sent forces to rescue Mussolini, but he was captured and hung upside down by his own people.
4. In November of 43, the Allies met again in Tehran, and here Stalin clamored and pressured Churchill and Roosevelt for a Second Front in Europe, as the Allies began winning in the Pacific as well. The Second Front came with the commencement of Operation Overlord on D-Day with the Normandy invasions on 6 June 1944.
a. D-Day invasion was led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States. Unlike WW I, the Allies had a unified command structure this time. The D-Day invasion was the largest amphibious assault force ever assembled. Eisenhower refused to have a Plan B. This was it.
b. The Allies still faced a difficult fight across Europe even once the landing was complete. For the Americans, one of the worst episodes came in December 1944, when many thought the Germans were done. Instead, the Germans scraped together one last bold throw in an all-out assault on the Allies – The Battle of the Bulge, so named for the Bulge in the German line. Because of American stubbornness, they held out.
5. The Allies reached Berlin on April 30, 1945. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker below the city. The German high command surrendered May 2, 1945. V-E Day – Victory in Europe – was May 8, 1945 when all of the German forces surrendered.
6. The dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – Aug. 6th & 9th respectively insured the surrender of the Japanese without more loss of Allied, particularly American life. V-J Day was Aug. 15, 1945.
E. It was also in 1942 that Hitler held a conference on the Jewish Problem. The Wansee Conference was held and papers were presented on what to do with the Jews. The answer was the Final Solution, which provided for the final destruction of European Jews. Over 6 million Jews were eliminated, along with other undesirable elements, including one million Gypsies, the disabled, the mentally ill. The Jews were first put into Ghettos, or confinement areas, and then shipped to Concentration camps. Show map
1. Here they were worked, starved and beaten to death. Eventually, the Germans would use the mechanization of industrialization to exterminate the Jews. They were systematically gassed, and then burned in ovens built for that purpose. Even when the war went against the Germans, the methods were continued.