Germany Attacks Poland

• Germany invades Poland (September 1st,

1939-October 6th, 1939)
– Soviet Union invades Poland two weeks later
• Britain and France declare war on Germany
on September 3rd, 1939
– Mutual aid treaties with Poland
– Now both are forced into war and Hitler has
gained the initiative
 Poland
• Conquered in 3 weeks
• Russian invasion from East a major factor. Germany
from the West
• Showed power of offensive
• Balanced combination of motorized infantry, armor, and
air under a single commander.
• Fast moving tanks and airplanes, followed by
infantry, then crush the enemy with overwhelming
force
Invasion of Poland Map
Blitzkrieg was born in Poland

• “Lighting Warfare”
• Attack enemy at weakest point
• Combination of lateral and forward
movements
• Coordinated use of airpower and tanks
aide large scale attacking armies
• Speed, Speed, Speed!!!!
 Sitzkrieg-”Sitting War”
• “Phony War” between France and Germany
• No “real” fighting for 7 months (Strange Calm)
• French Maginot Line opposite the German
Siegfried Line, but neither side attacks.
• April 9, 1940 Hitler attacks Norway and
Denmark
• Denmark falls in 4 hours
• Norway falls in 2 months
Maginot Line vs
Siegfried Line
• Maginot Line- A line of
concrete fortifications, tank
obstacles, machine gun
posts and other defenses
which France constructed
along her borders with
Germany and Italy
• The fortifications did not
extend through the
Ardennes Forest which was
considered “impassable”
• Siegfried Line-”same as
above” for Germany
Maginot Line
 Invasion of
France
• ENDS the “Phony War”
• German’s 135 divisions,
Allies’ 136 divisions;
German divisions larger
and better trained
• Hitler goes around the
Maginot Line,
squeezing through the
Ardennes Forest, an
area where no one
could attack through
• 10 days later Germany
is at the North coast of
France
• Were able to trap French
and British troops at
Dunkirk
 Miracle at Dunkirk

• June 4, 1940- German army seized the French port of Dunkirk

• May 24
• Hitler is told by the head of the Luftwaffe (Hermann Goring) that
German planes could destroy Dunkirk defenders and that ground
troops wouldn’t be needed.
– Hitler halts ground attacks for 2 days allowing the Allies to take advantage and
evacuate
– Plan is not as effective as Hitler had planned
• Operation Dynamo- evacuation plan of Allied forces at Dunkirk
• This allows the British navy and merchant ships to rescue the Allies.
• Armada of 850 ships, yachts, lifeboats, etc. rescue 338,000 allied
troops.
• Hitler’s 1st Big mistake because the allied troops evacuated from
Dunkirk were able to keep fighting in WWII
 The Fall of France
• On June 22,1940 France signed an
armistice with Germany, agreeing to
German occupation of northern France
and the coast.
– The French military was demobilized, and the
French government, now located at Vichy, in the
south (and headed by Marshall Henri Philippe
Pétain), would collaborate with the German
authorities in occupied France.
• Refusing to recognize defeat, General
Charles de Gaulle escaped to London and
organized the Free French forces.
• Britain now stood alone against Germany.
 Battle of Britain
• Great Britain-only major European
country left in Hitler’s way
• Operation Sea Lion- Hitler's code
name for invasion of Great Britain
• When- started on July 10th, 1940
and lasted many months\
• RAF (British Royal Air Force) vs.
Luftwaffe (German air force)
• RAF Leader: Sir Hugh Dowding
• Luftwaffe Leader: Herman Goring
• Goal- to destroy the RAF
(Great Britain’s Royal Air
Force
– RAF formidable opponent for
Luftwaffe
– Germany bombs British airport
runways and British radar
• Hitler becomes frustrated with
slow progress, so he begins to
bomb major cities (large
populations)
– Sept.15th, 1940- Germany
conducts large air raid on London
 End Result

• Hitler calls off plans for invasion in Sept 1940 and shifts to bombing campaign (“The
Blitz”).
• Despite 3,000 to 1,200 advantage in aircraft, Luftwaffe is unable to defeat the
RAF.
– The British resistance convinced Hitler to postpone the invasion but he continued
the bombing attacks.
– Hitler calls off attacks on May 10, 1941 because he needed to use his
bombers to invade Russia
• British won the Battle
- British advantages: knowledge of territory, defending their homeland, radar
and Enigma
– Enigma Machine- used by British codebreakers to decipher German military
tactics
• Interesting Fact- Arthur Scherbius invented this machine (German engineer)
 Operation Barbarossa: The
German Invasion of Russia
• Hitler believed the Russian Army could be
destroyed in 3 months
• 22 June 1941 - Hitler attacked (wanted to win
before U.S. involvement)
• Wanted LEBENSRAUM- living space
• Initial German aims were to capture Russian
oil fields and industrial areas in order to;
– Support Germany’s war in the west
– Break Russian economic power so she could
not attack at some later date
 Invasion of the Soviet Union
• Hitler gets tired of waiting for Great Britain to fall
– The obliteration of Bolshevism was a key
element of Hitler’s ideology; however, it was
a gigantic military mistake.
– Much violence and destruction
– Over 27 Million dead Russians
• Operation Barbarossa, consisting of an attack army
of 4 million men spread out along a 2,000-mile
front in three massive offensives.
• The German army quickly advanced, but at a
terrifying cost. For the next three years, 90 percent
of German deaths would happen on the eastern
front.
 Russian strategy
• Barter space for time; intended retreats
• Scorched earth policy: military strategy of
burning and destroying buildings, crops, or
other usable resources so invading armies
can not use them
– This policy forced the Germans to overextend their
lines of communications and supply. Forced Hitler’s
exposed army to spend the winter in -40 degree
weather. (Only had Summer uniforms)
• Supply lines were so long that they slowed the
advance
• The massive size of Russia exhausted German
troops
• The Russian winter set in and the Germans did
not have adequate equipment to fight a winter
battle
 Battle of Stalingrad

• One of the largest and deadliest

battles in WWII
• Location: Southwest Russia on the
Volga River
• Importance: major industrial and
communications center for the
Soviet Union
• City named after Joseph Stalin
making it very important to him,
as well as Hitler due to his hatred
for Stalin Leaders:
• When: last part of 1942 and beginning • Germany- Field Marshall
of 1943 (Winter months= VERY Friedrich Paulus
COLD) •Soviet Union- General Georgy
Zhukov
 The Battle of Stalingrad
• Hitler believed that the Red Army had used up
much of its manpower and materiel in the winter
fighting.
– Hitler vs. Stalin
• Tanks became useless due to the rubble
caused from massive Luftwaffe air raids
(Battle began with German air raids)
– German foot soldiers moved in following the air
attacks
• Soviets hid all over the city in buildings and
even in sewers attacking the Germans using
Guerilla Style Warfare
– Took its toll on German troops
• Soviet troops surround Germany troops in
November, causing the Germans to run out of
food and supplies
 Turning Points of the War:
The Battle of Stalingrad
• The Battle of Stalingrad was the turning
point of the war. The German Army
(Wehrmacht) had already lost 2 million men
on the eastern front.
• The Red Army crossed into Poland in
January 1944.
Battle of Stalingrad
 Battle of The Atlantic
• Attempt by Germany to stop supplies
reaching the Allies
• Essentially conducted in five phases
• Phase one (Sept. 1939 – June 1940)
- German U-boat operations led to the sinking
of numerous Allied ships
• Phase two (June 1940 – March 1941)
– Germans build special bombproof
submarine pens
– “Wolfpack” operations began against convoys

• Phase three (April – December 1941)

- Growth of US participation
- 50 destroyers given to Britain, this allowed
Russia to hold out against Germany
- Germans initiate unrestricted submarine
warfare
 Battle of Atlantic Cont’d
• Phase four (January 1942 – April 1943)
-Germans attack shipping routes near
US Coast
- Air and surface-escorted interlocking
Allied convoy system
-Increased loss of German submarines,
turning point of the battle
• Phase five (May 1943- May 1945)
- Germans shift attacks to Mediterranean
• Eventually U-boats are defeated because of
close air cover escorts and advances in
technology
• Allied victory shifted the balance of the
war
 The U.S. Aides Its Allies
• War takes its toll on Europe, FDR begins
to change policy, Pro-British.
• Cash and Carry, a belligerent could pay
in cash for U.S. arms.
• Selective Service Act, 1940,
registration of all men ages 21-35 and
to train 1.2 million men. Isolationists
upset.
• Destroyers for Bases deal, U.S. gives
G.B. 50 older destroyers in exchange
military bases in the Caribbean
 FDR and the War
• 6 January 1941 Four Freedoms, speech,
religion, freedom from want, freedom from
fear.
• Lend-Lease Act, March 1941, U.S. to extend
credit to G.B. for buying weapons.
• Atlantic Charter, FDR and Churchill: War Aims
– 1. No extension of territory.
– 2. Territorial self determination.
– 3. Destruction of Nazism.
– 4. International Organization to promote world
peace.
• September 4, 1941 German U-Boat fires on
US destroyer
– Roosevelt orders to fire on U-boats on sight
 The Road to War
• Japan sought to control of “East Asia” for
additional markets and sources of raw
materials
– Invades China in 1931.
– Invades French Indochina in 1940.
• “Colonial” governments begin imposing
embargoes to put brakes on Japanese
expansion.
• Japanese armed forces argue that they must
strike to relieve pressure of embargoes.
– Expect conflict, but buy time and surprise through
negotiations.
• US and UK focused on war in Europe.
 Sneak Attack!
• December 7, 1941- 7:55
am- 1st of 2 attacks on
US Fleet at Pearl Harbor
• 107 ships in harbor- 1/3 of
fleet.
• 183 planes in 1st wave.
Aircraft carriers are 1st
target, but they aren’t
there.
• Battleship row is 2nd target.
• 167 planes in second
wave at 8:54 am.
• Third wave called off
because Japan feels
that the 1st two waves
were successful
enough.
• 17 ships severely
damaged
• 180+ US fighters
destroyed
• 3 ships completely
destroyed (USS
Arizona)
• 2,403 Americans die
(1,177 on the Arizona)
• 29 Japanese planes
shot down.
 Or was it?
• Many feel that FDR knew of the attacks
and wanted them.
– Most Americans did not want to get
involved in the war unless attacked.
– He felt Japan was the answer
• Imposed trade embargos on Japan
(Metal and Oil)
• Japan had to fight or accept US’s
demands
• With a puppet dictator and the military
really in charge they chose war!
 Internment of Japanese
Americans
• After the tragedy of Pearl Harbor,
Americans were eager to act on racial
stereotypes
• Eventually, the government built
special relocation centers in remote
sections of the U.S. and evacuated
about 110,000 Japanese (including
60,000 citizens of Japanese heritage).
 Mobilization In the U.S.

• The war effort required all of America’s huge

productive capacity and full employment of the
workforce.
– Government expenditures soared.
• U.S. budget increases
– 1940 $9 million
– 1944 $100 million
– Expenditures in WWII greater than all previous
government budgets combined (150 years)
– GNP 1939 91 billion 1945 166 million
Japanese Internment Camps
 Mobilization for War

• War time Economy, consumer goods to war materiel

• War Production Board, managed war industries, set
production priorities, pushed maximum output
• Office of Price Administration, froze prices, wages,
and rents, rationed meat, sugar, gasoline, and tires.
• Financing the War, increased income tax, selling war
bonds.
• Office of War Information, controlled news about
troop movements and battles.
 Restoration of U.S. Prosperity
• World War II ended the Great Depression.
• Factories run at full capacity
– Ford Motor Company – one bomber
plane per hour
• People save money (rationing)
• Army bases in South provide economic
boom (most bases in South b/c of climate)
• The national debt grew to $260 billion (6
times its size on Dec. 7, 1941)
 War and Society
• African Americans- Double V Campaign, victory
over fascism and victory for equality, over a million
in the military
• Mexican Americans, over 300,000 in the military.
Native Americans, 25,000 in the military
• Japanese Americans, 20,000 served in the military,
Internment camps Wyoming, Arizona, and
Colorado
• Women over 350,000 served in the military, close to
5 million joined the workforce.
 The Turn of the Tide in
Europe
• Defeat of the Axis Powers
• The turning point of the war came in
1942-43.
• Allied victory in North Africa was
followed by an invasion of Italy,
which stopped the Axis powers’
string of victories.
• The decisive theater of war,
however, was the eastern front.
 Strategic Bombing of
Germany
• Smashing the German war machine by bomber blitz similar to
German tank blitz used in France and Poland
• Until A-bomb, not sufficiently destructive to end war
• 5 Main Targets
• 1-Military group - tactical, not strategic
• 2-Industrial group - would take years & many aircraft to achieve
results
• 3-Urban group - create demoralization & revolt
• 4-Resources and energy group - coal, oil, etc.
• 5-Transportation group - means to transport war materials, i.e.,
bridges, railroads, etc.
• Groups (4) and (5) became dominant targets
 Race to
Berlin

• D-Day was the turning point of the

western front. Stalingrad was the
turning point of the eastern front.
• The British, U.S., and Free French armies
began to press into western Germany as
the Soviets invaded eastern Germany.
• Both sides raced to Berlin.
 Surprise: Fictitious Armies
• By spurious radio transmissions, the Allies
created an entire phantom army, "based" in
southeast England (opposite Pas-de-Calais)
and alleged to be commanded by Patton.
– In addition, on the night of the invasion itself, airborne
radar deception presented to German radar stations a
"phantom" picture of an invasion fleet crossing the
Channel narrows, while a radar blackout disguised the
real transit to Normandy.
 Surprise: Ultra

– At the same time, through the top-secret

Ultra operation, the Allies were able to
decode encrypted German transmissions,
thus providing the Overlord forces with a
clear picture of where the German
counterattack forces were deployed.
 Operation Overlord

• Most massive and complex military

endeavor in history
• Numerous beaches were studied
• Normandy or Pas de Calais
 Pas de Pas de Calais-
Calais - Disadvantages
Advantages
• Best air cover • Germans
• Shorter sea voyage considered it the
• Best beaches and most likely avenue
of approach
conditions
• Beaches were too
• Close to Dutch and
narrow to support
Belgium forts
follow on
operations
 Advantages Disadvantages
of Normandy of Normandy

• Good beach conditions

• Somewhat sheltered • Exits from the
• Within air cover beach were
distance difficult
• Defenses were not • Insufficient
strong numbers of ports
• Port of Cherbourg were readily
could be quickly
isolated and captured
available
 Allied Plan
• Eisenhower appointed Supreme Commander
• Land on Normandy coast, build up and break out
of beachhead
• Attack on a broad axis with two armies;
- one to attack east and north towards
Germany
- the other to link up with the southern France
invasion to the south
 D-Day
• After taking control of North Africa and the
Mediterranean, Allies are ready to invade
Europe.
• 1,000 British Bombers pound the coast, but do
little damage.
• 23,000 U.S and British paratroopers were
dropped in France to take strategic towns and
bridges.
• 150,000 troops landed on the beaches of
Normandy. Largest amphibious assault ever.
• 5 beaches- Juno, Gold, Sword, Omaha, Utah
• 2,000 American casualties on Omaha
 Allied Plan Cont’d

• Maintain an unrelenting offense for

complete destruction of enemy west of
the Rhine
• Launch a final attack – a double
envelopment of the Ruhr
• Emphasis on the northern, left flank
toward Ruhr and industrial Germany
 The Battle of the Bulge
• The Battle of Ardennes, (Belgium)
• Germany’s last attempt to stop the
Allies' progress in the West
• 16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945
• German forces intended to split the
Allied line.
• G.B. and U.S. had 83,000 men.
Germany over 200,000
• G.B. and U.S.
• 80,987 casualties(10,276 dead, 23,218
missing,
47,493 wounded)
• Germany
• 84,834 casualties
(15,652 dead,
27,582 missing,
41,600 wounded
 Into Germany!
• Americans closing in from the West, Russians
closing in from the East.
• 13.6 million Russians and 3 million Germans
die in the East
• USSR- 27 Million civilian and military death.
• April 1945- Soviets push towards Berlin.
• 80% of city leveled
• U.S. pushed to the south.
• Hitler knows the end is near and commits
suicide with his mistress, Eva Braun.
• Germany surrenders to US, not USSR
 Victory in Europe
• Mussolini was captured and
killed by Italian partisans and
Hitler committed suicide in
April 1945, as the Russian
troops took Berlin.
• Germany surrendered
unconditionally on May 7,
1945 (V-E Day).
• Fighting in the Pacific would
continue until August.
 The Pacific Theater
• Within 6 months of Pearl Harbor, Japan had a new
empire.
– Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere
• Japanese racial purity and supremacy
– Treated Chinese and Koreans with brutality.
• “Rape of Nanjing”- Japanese slaughtered at least
100,000 civilians and raped thousands of women in the
Chinese capital between Dec. 1937 and Feb. 1938.
– Could have consolidated
– “victory disease”
• After Pearl Harbor, American military leaders
focused on halting the Japanese advance and
mobilizing the whole nation for war.
 The Pacific Theater:
Early Battles
• American Forces halted the Japanese advances in
two decisive naval battles.
– Coral Sea (May 1942)
• U.S. stopped a fleet convoying Japanese troops to
New Guinea
• Japanese designs on Australia ended
– Midway (June 1942)
• Japanese Admiral Yamamoto hoped to capture
Midway Island as a base to attack Pearl Harbor again
• U.S. Admiral Chester Nimitz caught the Japanese by
surprise and sank 3 of the 4 aircraft carriers, 332
planes, and 3500 men.
– American cryptanalysts
 The War in the Pacific
• 1942 Japan Occupied: Korea, Eastern China, the
Philippines, British Burma, Malaya, French
Indochina, Indonesia, many islands west of Midway
Island
• May 7 – 8, 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea
• Japan threatens New Zealand and Australia, looking
to maintain a stranglehold on the Solomon Islands
• United States and Australia hold off the Japanese
attack.
• No real victor, sets the stage for Midway
 Importance of Midway
• The Japanese defeat at Midway was
the turning point in the Pacific.
– Japanese advances stopped.
– U.S. assumes initiative.
– Japanese have shortage of able pilots.
• Censorship and Propaganda
– News of the defeat was kept from the
Japanese public.
 The War in the Pacific, Midway
June 4-7, 1942
• The United States
• Commanders: Chester Nimitz,
Frank Fletcher, Raymond Spruance
• Strength: Three carriers,
about 50 support ships
233 carrier aircraft,
127 land-based aircraft
• Casualties:1 carrier,
1 destroyer sunk;
307 killed
• Destruction of 4 carriers means that
the U.S. can now go on the
offensive. Crushing defeat for the
Japanese
• Japan, plan to destroy U.S.
carriers, under the impression that
they would only have to deal with
two carriers.
• Commanders: Isoroku
Yamamoto, Chuichi Nagumo,
Tamon Yamaguchi
• Strength: Four carriers,
about 150 support ships
248 carrier aircraft,
16 floatplanes
• Casualties: 4 carriers,
1 cruiser sunk;
3,057 killed
 The War in the Pacific
• Island Hopping Campaign- isolate Japanese strongholds using Naval
and air power, seize strategic islands along the Japanese supply line.
• Begins August 1942, Marines land at Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands,
Gilbert and Marshall Islands,
• 23-26 October 1944 Invasion of the Philippines, Battle of Leyte Gulf,
Japanese navy just about destroyed
• February and March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima, Mount Suribachi, U.S.
Casualties 6,821 dead19,000 wounded Japanese Casualties
20,500 dead 200 captured
• Battle of Okinawa, March – June 1945, largest sea-land battle in
history, Last major battle of the war. U.S. Casualties: 12,500 killed or
missing 38,000 wounded 33,096 non-combat wounded 38 ships lost
763 aircraft lost Japanese Casualties: 110,000 killed
7,455 captured 16 ships lost 7,800 aircraft lost
 Guadalcanal
• 7 August 1942
• First offensive action of the war.
• Critical airfield.
– First plane makes emergency landing on 12 Aug.
– 2 USMC squadrons arrive on 20 Aug.
– Only one “healthy” carrier left by end of battle.
• Jungle causes significant casualties.
– Over 1k new cases of malaria per week.
• Island “secured” in Feb ’43.
• Japan suffers critical losses in all areas.
– 25,000 soldiers (1/2 in combat, ½ to illness)
 The Beginning of the End in
the Pacific
• Yamamoto is assassinated by the U.S. (April
1943)
• Loss of Saipan (August 1944)
– “the naval and military heart and brain of Japanese
defense strategy”
– Political crisis in Japan
• The government could no longer hide the fact that
they were losing the war.
• Tōjō resigns on July 18, 1944
• Intensive air raids over Japan
– Iwo Jima (February, 1945)
• American marines invaded this island, which was
needed to provide fighter escort for bombings over
Japan
 Iwo Jima
• D-Day 9 Feb 1945
• Airfields again the objectives.
• 450 ships
• Pre-invasion bombardment shortened from 12 to 3 days.
– Weather limited effectiveness of even this.
• Southern half of island in US hands by D+2.
– Takes 34 more days to secure remainder of island (8 square
miles total).
• Nothing fancy; simple but costly.
– “Throwing human flesh against reinforced concrete.”
• 36 days, 26k US casualties including 6k KIA.
– 1 of every 3 US personnel that went ashore was wounded or
killed.   
• 1k of 20k defenders survived 
• 2400 B-29s w/ 27k crewmen made unscheduled landings on
island by the time the war ended.
• 27 Medals of Honor awarded.  
 A Grinding War in the Pacific
• In 1945, the U.S. began targeting people in order to
coerce Japan to surrender
– 66 major Japanese cities bombed
– 500,000 civilians killed
• Battle for Leyte Gulf
– Total blockade of Japan
– Japanese navy virtually destroyed
– Kamikaze (divine wind) flights begin
• Okinawa (April, 1945)
– All 110,000 Japanese defenders killed
– U.S. invaded this island, which would provide a staging area for
the invasion of the Japanese islands.
– If it is this bad at Okinawa, how bad will it get in Japan?
 Manhattan Project
• Albert Einstein
– Developed the theory of relativity and set in
motion the process of developing the atomic
bomb
• Manhattan Project
– Committee that looked at the feasibility of an
atomic bomb
– July 16, 1945 – they test the first atomic bomb
in the desert at Alamogordo, New Mexico
– The bomb left a huge crater in the earth and
shattered windows up to 125 miles away
 Decision to Drop the Bomb
• The alternatives
– Invading main land Japan
– A naval Blockade and continued bombing
– Softening of the idea of unconditional surrender
– Dropping the bomb on a remote, deserted island
to show its power

• The decision
– High casualties would result from invading Japan
– The bitterness that Americans felt towards Pearl
Harbor
– The U.S. wanted to “flex its muscles before the
eyes of the communist rivals” and the rest of the
world
 The Bombs

• August 6, 1945, the first bomb, “Little Boy,”

was dropped on Hiroshima
• August 9, 1945, the second bomb, “Fat
Man,” is dropped on Nagasaki
• September 2, 1945, Japan surrenders
 President Truman’s Speech
August 9, 1945
• The world will note that the first atomic bomb was
dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was
because we wished in this first attack to avoid,
insofar as possible, the killing of civilians. But that
attack is only a warning of things to come. If Japan
does not surrender, bombs will have to be dropped
on her war industries and, unfortunately, thousands
of civilian lives will be lost. I urge Japanese
civilians to leave industrial cities immediately, and
save themselves from destruction.
 VJ!
• Some Japanese still want to fight after A-
bombs, but Emperor Hirohito urges them to
stop.
• Surrender to General Douglas “god”
MacArthur.
• His goal was to demilitarize Japan (reduce
their ability to fight)
• Second goal was democratization, creating a
democracy
• Become a Parliamentary democracy similar
to Great Britain, with Emperor as figurehead.
• Hirohito forced to admit that he was not God!
• Article 9- Japanes cannot make war. No
Army, only SDF. We are still responsible for
Japan.
 Cost of War
• Germany- 3 million combat deaths (3/4ths on the
eastern front)
• Japan – over 1.5 combat deaths; 900,000 civilians
dead
• Soviet Union - 13 million combat deaths
• U.S. – 300,000 combat deaths, over 100,000 other
deaths
• When you include all combat and civilian
deaths, World War II becomes the most
destructive war in history with estimates as
high as 60 million, including 25 million
Russians.
 Aftershocks!
• Many historic cities like London and Berlin,
destroyed.
• Countryside torn up. Crops?
• Warsaw
– 1.3 M before the war.
– 153,000 after the war.
• 95% of Berlin was rubble.
• 4,000 a day die in Berlin in 1945.
• Starvation, disease, etc.
• Communists (Russians) don’t leave Eastern Europe.
• Iron Curtain develops.
• Democracy v. Communism
• Cold War
 Nuremberg War Crimes Trial
• 22 Nazis put on trial for war crimes and
“crimes against humanity.”
• Hitler and many top Nazis dead, but some still
remain.
• Reichsmarshall Herman Goering and Deputy
Fuhrer Rudolf Hess among those tried.
• 12 sentenced to death, Goering kills himself,
escapes hanging.
• “I was just following orders.”
• Only 1, Hans Frank, the slayer of the Poles,
expressed remorse.
 Truman Administration

• Truman Doctrine: I believe it must be the policy of the United

States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
• Containment: rather than liberating those countries already in
the grip of Communism, the United States tried to keep it from
spreading
• Creation of NATO: U.S., Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France,
G.B., Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal,
and later Greece and Turkey; form a front against Soviet
Aggression.
• Korean War, 1950-53: Invasion of South Korea by North Korean
communist forces in June of 1950
 U.S. World Power
• New Challenges faced the United States
1. Safeguard its security and National interests
against powerful and unfriendly nations
2. Help protect the sovereignty of the nations
of Europe, Latin America, and Asia without
provoking hostile relations with them or the
Communist Bloc
3. Establish ties to newly independent nations
of Asia and Africa
4. Balance the cost of domestic programs with
defense needs.
 The Cold War Begins
• U.S.A. and USSR have ideological
differences. Capitalism v. Communism
• Wartime allies out of convenience,
common enemy.
• Postwar goals
– U.S.A.- fought for democracy and
economic freedom in Europe and Asian,
wanted to see these continued.
– USSR- wants to rebuild to protect their
interests. Create satellite nations- countries
subject to Soviet domination.
 Iron Curtain
• Communist regimes in • Cold War-
East Germany, Poland, competition that
Czech, Hungary, developed between
Yugoslavia, Bulgaria the US and the
and Romania. USSR for power and
• Churchill asks US for influence throughout
help from Russians the world.
closing the Iron Curtain • Never directly
around any more fought, but almost.
nations in Europe.
 Containment and the Truman
Doctrine.
• Containment- American • Asks US for help.
policy of resisting • Truman gives speech
further expansion of that becomes known as
communism around the Truman Doctrine.
world, said that Eastern • US WOULD SUPPORT
Europe was already NATIONS THAT WERE
lost. BEING THREATENED
• GB can’t support its BY COMMUNISM
former colonies and • Truman Doctrine and
allies, like Turkey and Containment led to
Greece. Korean and Vietnam
Wars, Cuban Missile
Crisis, etc.
 Marshal Plan
• US doesn’t want to
make same mistakes
as WWI.
• Wants to rebuild not
punish Europe for war.
• Marshall Plan- program
of American economic
assistance to Western
Europe to rebuild
Western Europe and
keep USSR out.
• Named for General
George C. Marshall
 NATO and Korea
• UN is powerless to stop • N. Korea
communism b/c Russia has (communist) invades
veto power. S. Korea
• Western European countries • US and UN
form North Atlantic Treaty intervene.
Organization (NATO) • MacArthur whips
• If Russia attacks one, they all Koreans, but
Chinese volunteers
join in. Problem?
push Americans
• Russia forms Warsaw Pact back.
with other communist nations • MarArthur second
• Collective Security- policy in guesses the
which nations agree to president and gets
protect on another against an fired.
attack. • 38th parallel
 Eisenhower Era
• Russia develops A-
• Ike elected in 1952. bomb in 1949
• Arms race develops
• Believed in Domino between the US and
Theory- theory that USSR
described the world as
being overrun by
Soviet Communism, as
one country falls, so
does the next.
• If it starts, no way to
stop it.
1957 Sputnik – first satellite
1960- 1st man in space
 Cold War
Heats Up
• Soviets first in space
– Sputnik - First man-made satellite - 1957
– Yuri Gagarin - First man in space - 1961

• U-2 Incident - 1960

– Francis Gary Powers shot down over Soviet Union
• Khrushchev's speech at the UN “We will bury you!” - 1960
• Berlin Wall - 1961
• Kennedy’s speech “Ich bin ein Berliner” - 1963
 Cold War
Bay of Pigs
• Bay of Pigs Invasion - 17 Apr 1961
– 1400 invaders to overthrow Castro
– Cuban Nationalists/Insurgents trained and
backed by CIA
– Poorly planned and poorly executed –
complete fiasco
• No popular support in Cuba
• No US military support
– Total failure
• U.S. loss of face
 13 Days in October
 14th – photographs of missiles on Cuba
 22nd – Kennedy decides to blockade Cuba
 24th – Soviet ships turn back
 24th – message from Khrushchev saying must
find peaceful solution
 25th – U2 spy plane shot down
 26th – 2nd message from Khrushchev
 28th – agreement reached
 Cuban Missile Crisis
American Response
• “Quarantine”
– Actually a blockade
– Fleet directed to block further shipments
– Demand to remove missiles
– Soviet ships reverse course, 1 ship boarded

“We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think

the other fellow just blinked”
• Khrushchev stops shipments
Dean and
Rusk, Secretary removes
of State
missiles
October 25: At the UN, Adlai
Stevenson directly challenges the Soviet
ambassador to admit to the existence
of missiles, when the ambassador
refuses, Stevenson wheels out pictures
of the missile sites
http://www.history.com/media.do?action=clip&id=v2t16
 Chronology, Continued
• October 27: Soviets demand that Americans
also withdraw missiles from Turkey; Major
Anderson’s plane is missing over Cuba,
presumably shot down; U.S. recon plane
strays over Soviet airspace…high tensions
• Kennedy tells Khrushchev that he will accept
the proposal of the 26th, Kennedy tells his
brother to tell the Soviet Ambassador that
though the Turkey missiles would not be part
of the bargain, they would be removed in time
• October 28: USSR agrees to withdraw missiles