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Chapter 27
The Deepening European Crisis: World War II
Outline:
I. Prelude to the War
A. The "Diplomatic revolution" 1933-1937
B. The Path to War, 1038-1939
II. The Course of World War II
A. Victory and Stalemate
B. The War in Asia
C. TheTurning Point of the War, 1942-1943
D. The Last Years of the War
III. The Naiz New Order
A. The Nazi Empire
B. The Holocasut
IV. The Home Front
A. The Mobilization of Peoples: Three Examples
B. Civilians of the Front Line: The Bombing of Cities
V. Aftermath: The Emergence of the Cold War
A. The Conferences at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam
VI. Conclusion
Key terms and People:
- Appeasement
- Global War vs. European War
- Two front war
- Stalingard
- Holocasut
- Aryan
- Jew
- Civilian
- Atomic Bomb
- Cold War
Chapter Summary:
World War II was the eruption of long simmering animosities and frustrations; and its outcome, both decisive
and ambiguous, determined the course of European history for the next fifty years. It was also in a real sense the only truly
world war in human history, and it helped set the global agenda for the rest of the twentieth century.
If we were to
name one person for the war, it would be Adolf Hitler. Without Hitler to fan the flames of revenge, Germany would have been
bitter over its treatment at Versailles. Without him Germany would have had the industrial might to wage war. There would
have been a vacuum of power in Central Europe. But Hitler and his Nazi Party gave voice and direction to these dangerous factors.
Understanding how reluctant the democracies were to fight another war, he moved to enlarge the frontiers of his Third Reich
until his aggression was no longer tolerable and war began.
The first two years of the war, following the invasion
of Poland in September of 1939, belonged to the Axis nations: Germany, Italy, and Japan. All the victories were theirs. Not
until early in 1942, with America now allied to Britain and the Soviet Union, did the war turn. After Hitler’s failure
in Russia, after Italy’s failure to resist Allied forces coming from North Africa, after the United States gained sea
superiority against Japan, after the Allies successfully invaded France, the war wound down to its conclusion.
The
Nazi Empire had done its bloody worst in all the lands it had held. Despite the effectiveness of resistance movements everywhere,
Nazi forces dominated much of the continent for five years, bringing oppression and death to Jews, minorities, and all "inferior"
peoples. Indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas by both sides led to a tragic number of innocent deaths. World War II was
costly in every way.
Even before the German and Japanese surrender, the victors were having trouble agreeing on the
post-war world; and at the various conferences held to determine borders and governments, it was evident that East and West
would separate into warring camps. World War II ended as tragically as World War I. A Cold War began.
Focus Questions:
- What were Hitler's foreign policy goals, and what steps did he take to achieve them between 1933 and
1939?
- What were the main events of World War II in Europe and in Asia, and why were the allies ultimately victorious?
- What was the Holocaust, and what role did it play in Nazi plicy?
- What were the conditions like on the home front for the major Western nations involved in World War II?
- How did the Allies' visions of postwar Europe differ, and how did thesedifferences contribute to the emergence
of the Cold War?
- What was the relationship between World War I and World War II, and what were the differneces in the way
the wars were fought?
Chapter 28
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