The Paris Peace Conference
Versailles: The Paris Peace Conference
Background
• Losses during WWI - a few details?
• Wilson's 14 Points (which, very briefly, were?) paved the way
• Armistice (briefly, what were its terms?)
• Bitterness - e.g. Geddes
• January 1919, delegates from 32 countries met at Versailles
Meat
• At first Wilson was suspicious of Britain (Empire)
• Wilson insisted that the LoN was set up first.
• Clemenceau wanted punitive reparations
• LG played both sides - sent Cecil (an appeaser) to negotiate the LoN, but hardliners (Sumner and Cunliffe) to negotiate reparations.
• Wilson and Clemenceau soon came to stalemate over LoN v reparations
• 25 March Fontainbleau Memorandum - forces Clemenceau to be moderate, then Wilson to accept War Guilt Clause.
End
• 7 May draft sent to Germans, who protest that it breaches self-determination and will destroy Germany, but
• they are forced to sign on 28 June 1919.
| |
|Versailles: What the Big Three Wanted |
|Wilson |
|1. 14 Points (know some details) |
|2. a better world ‘safe for democracy’ |
|3. fair peace |
|4. self-determination |
|5. International Co-operation (League of Nations) |
| |
|Clemenceau |
|1. blamed Germany = punishment/ ‘hard justice’ |
|2. angry = revenge. |
|3. wanted to ’make Germany pay’ for the Damage = reparations |
|4. threatened = wanted independent Rhineland/ get Alsace-Lorraine/ |
|5. peace = wanted Germany weak and crippled . |
| |
|Lloyd George |
|1. compromise (nb Fontainbleau Memorandum) |
|2. had promised Parliament/November 1918 election that he would punish/make Germany pay, but did not want revenge like France |
|3. protect British Empire (=Mandates)/ British navy (=German navy) |
|4. trade |
|5. peace: did not want to create anger in Germany which would lead to war in the future. |
| |
| |
|Versailles: What the Big Three Got |
|Wilson |
|LIKED/GOT |
|• League of Nations |
|• self-determination for Poland, Czechoslovakia etc, |
|DISLIKED |
|• many of his 14 points were ignored |
|• Britain opposed freedom of seas |
|• only defeated powers were made to disarm |
|• colonies were given no say in their future |
| |
|Clemenceau |
|LIKED/GOT |
|• Clause 231 |
|• disarmament |
|• Reparations |
|• Getting back Alsace-Lorraine |
|• getting mandates |
|DISLIKED |
|• Saar (only got for 15 years) |
|• wanted an independent Rhineland, not just demilitarised. |
| |
|Lloyd George |
|LIKED/GOT |
|• reducing German navy |
|• getting German colonies as British mandates |
|DISLIKED |
|• Wilson’s ideas about colonies and freedom of the seas |
|• Clemenceau’s harshness |
|• JM Keynes said that reparations would cause another war |
|• Harold Nicolson thought the Treaty ‘neither just nor wise'. |
| |
| |
|Versailles: Importance of the Big Three |
|Wilson |
|1. Gave the Conference its moral authority (14 points) - regarded as great and good man from America, bringing a new world order |
|2. Secured the LoN - influenced world peace for two decades/ brilliant new PRINCIPLE of 'collective security' still seen today (in UN). |
|3. 'Self-determination' was the dominating principle of foreign affairs for the next two decades - countries like Estonia, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia|
|owed their existence to him. |
|4. Almost ruined the conference because he fell out with Clemenceau |
|5. Failed to get US Congress to agree ToV or LoN - so made sure they both failed |
| |
|Clemenceau |
|1. Demanding war-guilt/ reparations/ Rhineland angered the Germans and gave Hitler his platform. |
|2. Almost ruined the conference because he fell out with Wilson |
|3. Got back Alsace-Lorraine for France, and Saar for 15 years |
|4. Got Germany disarmed and Rhineland demilitarised - and so set the scene for politics in Europe (e.g. France could invade in 1920, 1921 AND 1923) |
|until Hitler re-armed in 1935 and re-occupied the Rhineland in 1936. |
| |
|Lloyd George |
|1. Increased the British empire by getting the mandates |
|2. Secured the British navy by getting the German navy reduced to 6 ships - and the rest given to Britain at Scapa Flow/ defeated Wilson's ideas for |
|freedom of the seas |
|3. Continually mediated between Wilson and Clemenceau - the Fontainbleau Memorandum saved the Conference |
|4. His determination to get a lasting peace got a Treaty which survived 20 years |
|5. Managed to please the electorate (to 'make Germany pay') YET Germany made a trade treaty with Britain in 1924. |
| |
| |
|Versailles: The Treaty of Versailles |
|Guilt |
|• clause 231- Germany accepted blame ‘for causing all the loss and damage’ of the war. |
| |
|Army |
|• army: 100,000 |
|• no submarines |
|• no aeroplanes |
|• 6 battleships |
|• Rhineland de-militarised |
| |
|Reparations |
|• Conference couldn't decide - handed it over to a Commission of the LoN which reported in April 1921 |
|• £6,600 million – in instalments, until 1984 |
| |
|Germany |
| lost land |
|• Alsace-Lorraine to France |
|• Saar to France (15 years) |
|• Malmedy to Belgium |
|• North Schleswig to Denmark |
|• West Prussia and Upper Silesia to Poland |
|• Danzig a ‘free city’ |
|• Memel to Lithuania |
|• In all, Germany lost 10% of its land, all its colonies, 12% of its population, 16% of its coalfields, half its iron and steel industry, most of its |
|army and navy, all its airforce. |
| |
|LoN |
|• set up: first 26 articles of the Treaty (and of St Germain, Neuilly, Trianon) were the Covenant of the LoN |
| |
|Extra |
|• forbade Anschluss |
|• Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania independent states. |
| |
| |
|Versailles: How Germany felt about the Treaty |
| |
| |
|Facts |
|Effects |
| |
|Unfair |
|• no part in the Conference talks |
|• forced to sign |
|• few of 14 Points in the Treaty. |
|• based instead on Armistice |
|• riots in Berlin |
|• Deutsche Zeitung attacked ‘the disgraceful treaty’ |
|• Kapp Putsch (1920) to try to overturn the Treaty |
|• led to the 'Stab-in-the-back' legend, and hatred of the 'November criminals' = Weimar government lacked support |
| |
|Guilt |
|• ‘Such a confession in my mouth would be a lie’, said Count Brockdorff-Rantzau. |
|• led Germany to publish all documents |
|• Hindenburg denied it in 1927 = first successful challenge by Germany to ToV |
| |
|Army |
|• Rhineland clearly unreasonable |
|• France invaded in 1920 when Germany sent in troops to quell a riot |
|• Germany could not defend itself against even small countries (whom they called the Dungervolker - Dung people). |
|• gave moral force to Hitler's demands for the Rhineland/ rearmament |
| |
|Reparations |
|• too big for the weakened Germany economy to pay |
|• Germans said the allies were trying to starve their children. |
|• needed Dawes Plan (nb Hungary and Austria also needed economic help) |
| |
|Germany |
| lost land |
|• a humiliation |
|• contrary to self-determination |
|• took farm land (W Prussia) and industrial land (Saar). |
|• made Germany economy too weak to pay reparations = problems in 1923 |
|• gave moral force to Hitler |
| |
|LoN |
|• an insult |
|• treats Germany as an outcast nation |
| |
|• meant that Germany could not defend itself in the League of Nations. |
|• meant that the 'November criminal' German politicians could not even say they had restored Germany to a place amongst the nations |
| |
|Extra |
|• forbidding Anschluss was against the principle of self-determination. |
|• made nationalist German determined to achieve it |
|• gave moral force to Hitler's demands for |
| |
| |
|Versailles: Importance of the Treaty of Versailles |
| |
|Big Three negotiated Versailles - it had all the authority of the Allies. Other countries sent delegations to them = an IMPOSED treaty, not a |
|negotiated treaty. |
|Outlined principles (self-determination/Guilt/Army reduced/Reparations/loss of land) - the treaties of St Germain, Neuilly and Trianon were designed by |
|officials who simply copied the principles of Versailles. |
|League of Nations was set up by Versailles - set political agenda for next 20 years/ a force for peace/ forerunner of the United Nations of today |
|Major Powers - it said how GERMANY was to be treated. Drew the political map of Europe for the next 20 years. |
|Afterwards, Versailles led to Hitler and World War II: |
|• Unfairness of Treaty outraged Germans (see above) and led them to hate the Weimar politicians ('November Criminals' who had 'stabbed the army in the|
|back', and to support Hitler when he promised to overthrow it. |
|• Severity of reparations caused 1923 crisis in Germany/ led to Dawes Plan. Hitler could still get support by promising to stop paying them in 1933.|
|• Unfairness of Treaty demoralised Britain and France and gave force to 'appeasers' who thought Hitler's claims were 'reasonable' |
|• Failure of US to ratify/support it led to the failure of the LoN and peace. |
| |
|League of Nations: Membership |
|Background |
|• 42 countries joined at the start (i.e. all which signed the ToV). |
|• By the 1930s this had risen to 60. |
|• The leading members (of the Council) were Britain, France, Japan and Italy. |
| |
|Meat |
|• May 1920, the US Senate voted against Versailles - biggest setback (expand from below) |
|• Germany was not allowed to join the League as a punishment for causing WWI. Admitted 1926 (Stresemann) but Hitler left in 1933. |
|• The USSR did not join the League - instead it set up the Comintern (1919) to cause world revolution. It joined in 1934 when Germany was rearming, |
|but left in 1938 in protest at appeasement. |
|• Japan left in 1933 when a vote went against it over Manchuria |
|• Italy left in 1937, after making the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany and Japan |
|• Eight other countries (Spain and countries in Latin America) left as the League failed 1935-1939. |
| |
|End |
|• Britain and France stayed members till the end, but they abandoned the principle of collective security to follow appeasement after 1936, and |
|Hoare-Laval betrayed the League over Abyssinia (1936) |
|• the League was formally disbanded by the United Nations in 1946 |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: America |
|Background |
|1. Wilson had suffered a number of 'headaches' (small strokes) during the Versailles Conference, and was not as strong as he had been. |
|2. He failed to consult powerful Senators such as Taft/ Cabot Lodge. |
|3. Many Americans were 'isolationist' - as early as May 1919, Lodge rejected the idea of 'mutual guarantee' in the Covenant (i.e. would not support |
|other member countries if they were attacked) |
|4. NB other factors: |
|• many German Americans thought the ToV was unfair |
|• most Americans hated the British Empire |
|• most Americans were worried about the cost of involvement |
| |
|Meat |
|1. Wilson returned home on 8 July 1919. He told the Senate: 'The stage is set, the destiny disclosed.' |
|2. July 14-28: Lodge read all 246 pages of Treaty to Senate out loud. |
|3. Great opposition in the Senate (a Senate Committee proposed 14 'Lodge reservations'). |
|5. In Sept 1919 Senator Borah set off on an anti-Treaty campaign |
| |
|End |
|1. 4 Sept 1919: Wilson set off on a 8000 mile tour, planning speeches in 29 cities in 22 days to advocate the League to the public. |
|2. 25 Sept 1919: Wilson collapsed in Pueblo, suffered a stroke soon after; was ill for 7 months |
|3. Jan 1920: Hitchcock and Taft both proposed reservations giving America the chance NOT to go to war for another country unless Congress agreed. |
|Wilson refused ALL changes to the Treaty. |
|4. 19 March 1920: the Senate rejected the ToV/LoN |
|5. Nov 1920: Harding was elected president promising 'a return to normalcy' (i.e. isolationaism). |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: Aims, organisation and work |
|Stop War |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Article 10 of the Covenant proposed 'collective security' |
|• Assembly (met once a year - needed a unanimous decision) |
|• Council (GB+Fr+It+Jap+ Ger after 1926) met 4-5 times a year and in crises) |
|• Secretariat (too small for all work) |
|• Court of international justice |
|• Conference of Ambassadors (informal meeting of main powers; made a lot of 'deals' in secret) |
|SUCCESSES |
|• Aaland Islands, 1921: the League said they should belong to Finland; Sweden and Finland agreed. |
|• Bulgaria, 1925: Greece invaded Bulgaria, but withdrew when Bulgaria appealed to the League. |
|FAILURES |
|• Vilna, 1920: the League could not stop Poland invading Lithuania. |
|• Ruhr, 1923: the League did not stop France invading the Ruhr. |
|• Corfu, 1923: Italy occupied Corfu. The League ordered Mussolini to leave, but the Conference of Ambassadors overruled & made Greece pay |
|compensation to Italy. |
|• Manchuria and Abyssinia in the 1930s. |
| |
|Improve lives and jobs |
|ORGANISATION |
|Article 23 of the Covenant agreed to improve lives, which was to be accomplished by the 'agencies' of the League: |
|• Health committee/ International Labour Organisation/ Refugees committee/ Mandates commission/ Slavery commission |
|SUCCESSES |
|• 400,000 Prisoners of War repatriated/ Turkish refugee camps (1922)/ Leprosy/ Drugs companies closed down/ Attacked slave owners in Sierra Leone and |
|Burma/ Economic help to Austria and Hungary |
|FAILURES |
|• The ILO failed to get an agreement to a 48-hour week• |
| |
|Disarmament |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Disarmament Conferences in 1923 and 1931 |
|SUCCESSES |
|• Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928: signed by 23 nations and supported by 65, to outlaw war. |
|FAILURES |
|• Britain objected to the 1923 conference |
|• Hitler wrecked the 1932-1934 conference by demanding parity with France |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: Importance of the Powers |
|Moral Persuasion |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Article 10 of the Covenant proposed 'collective security' |
|• Wilson spoke of a 'Community of Power' |
|SUCCESSES |
|• Bulgaria, 1925: Greece invaded Bulgaria, but withdrew when Bulgaria appealed to the League. |
|FAILURES |
|Conference of Ambassadors made a lot of 'deals' in secret |
|• Corfu, 1923: The League ordered Mussolini to leave, but the Conference of Ambassadors overruled & forced Greece to pay compensation to Italy |
|'Moral persuasion' did not work with powerful or determined countries |
|• Vilna, 1920: the League could not stop Poland invading Lithuania. |
|• Ruhr, 1923: the League did not stop France invading the Ruhr. |
|• Manchuria and Abyssinia in the 1930s |
|• Hitler |
| |
|Arbitration |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Court of international justice |
|SUCCESSES |
|• Aaland Islands, 1921: said the islands should belong to Finland; Sweden and Finland agreed. |
|FAILURES |
|Useless where countries determined to go to war: |
|• Vilna, 1920: the League could not stop Poland invading Lithuania. |
|• Ruhr, 1923: the League did not stop France invading the Ruhr. |
|• Manchuria and Abyssinia in the 1930s |
|• Hitler |
| |
|Sanctions |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Article 16 of the Covenant gave the League the right to impose trade sanctions |
|SUCCESSES |
|• None. |
|FAILURES |
|The problem with sanctions is that they hurt countries by damaging trade, so nobody wanted them: |
|• Manchuria, 1931: the League decided not to impose sanctions because they wouldn't work without the USA and the USA wasn't in the League |
|• Abyssinia, 1935: the League banned weapons sales, and put sanctions on rubber and metal, but this hurt Abyssinia more than Italy. It did NOT close |
|the Suez Canal or ban oil sales, which would have stopped the Italian invasion. America took the opportunity to increase their oil sales to Italy. In |
|1936 Britain and France got sanctions lifted. |
|• Rhineland, 1936: France and Belgium asked for sanctions against Germany, but Britain opposed the idea and it was defeated. |
| |
|Military force |
|ORGANISATION |
|• Article 16 of the Covenant gave the League the right to raise an army to protect the Covenent. |
|SUCCESSES |
|• The League sent soldiers to make sure LoN plebiscites (e.g. Schleswig 1920, Silesia 1921, Saar 1935) took place peacefully. |
|FAILURES |
|• The problem with this was that Britain and France were the only countries supporting the League big enough to do this, and they were not prepared to |
|pay/go to war. |
|• The absence of America from the League was terminal. |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: Manchuria |
|Background |
|• The Nationalist government of China led by Chiang Kai-shek was weak, corrupt and busy fighting the Communists. |
|• Because of the Great Depression, Japan wanted to build an empire to secure supplies of raw materials. |
|• The Japanese government was controlled by the army |
|• China ruled Manchuria, but the Japanese army ran the railway there. |
| |
|Meat |
|• Sept 1931: Japan claimed the Chinese had sabotaged the railway. |
|• They invaded Manchuria and set up the 'independent' (i.e. Japanese-controlled) state of Manchukuo under the former Emperor of China, Henry P'ui. In |
|1932 they bombed Shanghai. |
|• China appealed to the League. |
|• Dec 1931: the League appointed a commission led by Lord Lytton to investigate. He did not arrive in Manchuria until April 1932 and did not report |
|until October. |
|• Oct 1932: Lytton's report stated that Japan was the aggressor and should leave, but that Manchuria should be independent. |
|• 24 Feb 1933: The Assembly voted that Japan return Manchuria (Japan walked out of the meeting) |
| |
|End |
|• The League could not agree economic sanctions or arms sales ban. |
|• Japan stayed in Manchuria. |
|• In 1933 Japan resigned from the League, and invaded and conquered Jehol (next to Manchuria). |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: Results/importance of Manchuria |
|1. The Japanese got everything they wanted by ignoring the League - they kept Manchuria. |
|2. This was the beginning of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. In 1933 they invaded and conquered Jehol (next to Manchuria) and in 1937 they |
|invaded China. |
|3. The Manchuria affair showed the weaknesses of the League: |
|• A country could get its own way if it just ignored the League |
|• The 'moral force' of the League's principle of 'collective security' was powerless where national interests were involved - especially during the |
|Great Depression. |
|• The League was slow and cumbersome (the Lytton Report took almost a year) |
|• Even the great powers within the League (Japan was on the Council) were prepared to ignore it. |
| |
|League of Nations: Abyssinia |
|Background |
|• The government of Abyssinia led by Haile Selassie was Christian, but Abyssinia was very poor. |
|• Because of the Great Depression, Italy wanted to build an empire to secure supplies of raw materials. |
|• Mussolini was a fascist, and wanted to revive the glories of Rome |
|• Mussolini signed the Stresa Pact (1935) with France and Britain, who needed his support against Hitler |
|• The border between Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland was uncertain and disputed - in Dec 1934 there was a small skirmish at Wal-Wal. |
| |
|Meat |
|• Mussolini demanded an apology and prepared to invade |
|• There was great anger in Britain, and Hoare made a strong speech supporting sanctions and collective security. |
|• Feb 1935: The League set up a commission, which reported Sept. It did not blame Abyssinia for the Wal-Wal incident, but suggested giving part of |
|Abyssinia to Italy. |
|• Oct 1935: Mussolini rejected the plan and invaded Abyssinia. He used tanks and flame-throwers and attacked red Cross hospitals. |
|• The League banned weapons sales, and put sanctions on rubber and metal (though this hurt Abyssinia more than Italy). It did NOT close the Suez |
|Canal or ban oil sales, which would have stopped the Italian invasion. |
|• Dec 1935: news leaked out of the Hoare-Laval Pact, a secret plan by Britain and France to give most of Abyssinia to Italy. |
|• Britain and France asked that sanctions be lifted, and only Abyssinia voted against lifting them. |
| |
|End |
|• Mar 1936: Hitler marched into the Rhineland - everyone forgot about Abyssinia |
|• May 1936: Mussolini completed his conquest of Abyssinia. |
|• June 1936: Haile Selassie went in person to appeal to the League of Nations to ask the League to reconsider its 'terrible precedent' of giving way |
|to force. He was ignored. |
| |
| |
|League of Nations: Results/importance of Abyssinia |
|1. Mussolini got everything he wanted by ignoring the League - he conquered Abyssinia. |
|2. This was the beginning of fascist expansion in the west. In Nov 1936: Axis Treaty between Mussolini and Hitler/ Hitler and Mussolini supported the|
|fascists in the Spanish Civil War etc. |
|3. Hitler TOOK ADVANTAGE of the Abyssinia crisis to invade the Rhineland in March 1936 - France could not do anything. |
|4. After Abyssinia, Britain and France abandoned the League as a way to keep the peace, and turned instead to the policy of appeasement. |
|4. The Abyssinia affair is sometimes said to have 'killed' the League. It showed: |
|• A strong country could get its own way if it just ignored the League |
|• The 'moral force' of the League's principle of 'collective security' was powerless where national interests were involved - especially during the |
|Great Depression. |
|• Even the greatest powers within the League (Italy was on the Council) were prepared to ignore it. |
|• Even Britain and France were prepared to betray it. |
|• The League was slow and cumbersome (the Commission Report took 8 months, and a further 5 months to decide whether to impose oil sanctions). |
|Mussolini had taken advantage of this slowness, by conquering Abyssinia while the League was investigating - it made the league look weak and foolish. |
|• 9 countries left the League after 1936. |
|• The historian AJP Taylor said Abyssinia showed the League to be 'a useless fraud'. |
| |
|Road to War: Hitler's Aims and Policies |
|Abolish the Treaty of Versailles |
|Until Munich, most of Hitler's policies were pointed towards the destruction of the Treaty of Versailles: |
|1. Hitler claimed that the ToV was 'worthless', and that Germans were 'on fire with shame and anger' about it. The Treaty was a constant reminder to |
|the Germans of their humiliation in WWI. |
|2. Hitler did not accept Germany had lost WWI, and wanted to make Germany great again. |
|3. He objected to: |
|• The tiny armed forces (and so he re-armed German after 1935). |
|• Rhineland demilitarised (and so he marched in in March 1936). |
|• Anschluss forbidden (so he annexed Austria in March 1938) |
|• Germans under Czech and Polish rule (so he took over the Sudetenland in Sept 1938, and attacked Poland in Sept 1939). |
| |
|Lebensraum and Aryan supremacy |
|After Munich, Hitler began to pursue his other gaols of Lebensraum, Aryan supremacy and the destruction of Communist Russia: |
|1. Hitler said that the German population was growing and would need 'living space' in eastern Europe. 'Destiny points us towards Russia' he said in |
|Mein Kampf. |
|• The Nazi-Soviet Pact Aug 1939 gave him half of Poland, which he attacked in Sept 1939. |
|• In June 1941, he attacked Russia. |
|2. This was connected to his belief in Aryan supremacy - he believed this gave him the right to invade eastern Europe and make the Slav peoples |
|Germany's slaves. |
|• He moved Poles into certain areas of Poland (ethnic cleansing so Germans could take the rest) and used them as labourers for the German war effort. |
|• The Nazis used Jews and Gypsies and slave labourers in workcamps. |
|• Nazi governors (eg Hans Frank in Poland) were told to 'Germanize' the population. Poles were not to be educated, and educated Poles were put to |
|death. |
|• in places like Norway and Poland, the Nazis took lebensborn (German-looking) children and sent them to be brought up as Germans. |
| |
|Destroy Communism |
|1. Hitler hated and feared the Communists, esp. Russia - 'the menace of Russia hangs over Germany', he said in Mein Kampf. |
|• In June 1941, he attacked Russia, before he had fully defeated Britain. |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Steps to War |
|Saar |
|ACTIONS |
|• The ToV had put the Saar under League control for 15 years; plebiscite due in 1935 to decide future. |
|• Many anti-Nazis had fled to the Saar in 1933. Seeing what Hitler was doing in Germany, Communists and Social Democrats formed a 'united front' |
|campaign to try to retain LoN status. |
|• The Nazis formed a 'German Front' with the Catholics. Helped by the police and the Nazi Gestapo, they attacked their opponents. |
|• The LoN knew what was happening, but it was afraid to stop them |
|• Spaniol and 17,000 Nazi Saarlanders (who had joined the SA in Germany to) threatened to invade. This was stopped Dec 1935 when Britain offered to |
|send soldiers to keep the peace. |
|• 13 Jan 1935: plebiscite - 90.3% voted to return to Germany. |
|IMPORTANCE/RESULTS |
|• It was, says one historian, 'the greatest triumph of the Nazis in a free election' = massive boost to Hitler's prestige. |
|• Showed that Germans outside Germany hated the ToV & loved Germany more than they feared Hitler. |
|• Gave moral authority to Hitler's claims on Austria/ Sudetenland. |
|• Showed the LoN was scared in the face of violence - and FAILED to notice that the Nazis immediately backed down when Britain promised to send |
|soldiers. |
| |
|Re-armament |
|ACTIONS |
|• 1933: Hitler begins rearming in secret - by 1935 army had risen 3x to 300,000, and airplanes from 36 to 2500. |
|• 1934: Hitler wrecked the LoN Disarmament Conference by demanding parity with France |
|• 1935: Hitler introduced conscription, and formed the Luftwaffe. Both broke the ToV. A huge Military Rally openly showed off how he had broken the |
|ToV. Br & Fr did nothing |
|• 1935 Britain made a treaty with Hitler letting Germany have a navy one-third as big as Britain's. |
|• By 1939 Hitler was spending 25% of his budget on armaments - 'guns before butter' |
|• By 1939, Germany had 95 warships, 8250 airplanes and an army of almost 1 million. |
|IMPORTANCE/RESULTS |
|• Hitler openly broke the ToV and go away with it |
|• Britain HELPED him - beginning of appeasement |
|• NB not necessarily aggressive - Hitler said he only wanted them as a deterrent ... but he later used them to threaten and bully. |
| |
|Rhineland |
|ACTIONS |
|• Demilitarised under ToV (and Germany had accepted this at the Treaty of Locarno, 1925). Hitler now overturned them both. |
|• In 1936, France and USSR signed a defensive alliance - Hitler claimed this threatened Germany's safety. |
|• Br & Fr/ LoN were distracted by the Abyssinian crisis with Italy. |
|• 7 Mar 1936: Hitler ordered his army into the Rhineland; it had orders to retreat if the French opposed it (they did not). |
|• The LoN condemned Hitler, but refused to impose sanctions. |
|• The German troops were welcomed as heroes. |
|IMPORTANCE/RESULTS |
|• Hitler openly broke the ToV and the LoN let him |
|• Hitler's prestige soared - especially in Germany |
|• It was the start of a feeling that he would always get away with it (Br & Fr would always back down) that led to WWII in the end |
|• Encourages him to try to change Anschluss. |
| |
|Austria |
|ACTIONS |
|• Mein Kampf had said that Austria was part of 'Greater Germany'. |
|• 1934: nightmare year for Austria - economic depression, in February the Social Democrats rebelled, then in July the Austrian Nazis rebelled and |
|assassinated the Austrian Chancellor Dollfuss. Hitler wanted to help the Nazis, but Mussolini moved his army to the Austrian border and Hitler was |
|forced to back down. |
|• Nov 1936: Hitler made the Axis alliance with Mussolini. |
|• 1938, Austrian Nazis rioted, calling for Anschluss. Hitler supported them. Br & Fr refused to defend Austria. The Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg|
|suggested a plebsicite. |
|• 11 Mar 1938: Fearing that he would lose, Hitler invaded. |
|• 20,000 Austrians arrested/ plebiscite held - controlled by Nazi army - 99.75% vote for Anschluss. |
|IMPORTANCE/RESULTS |
|• Hitler openly broke the ToV and LoN let him |
|• Hitler's prestige soared - especially in Germany |
|• It was the first time Hitler had tried aggression outside Germany |
|• Hitler grew in confidence to attempt the Sudetenland |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Appeasement |
|You should not get asked directly about: |
|● why Chamberlain appeased Hitler, or |
|● whether appeasement was sensible, or even |
|● who was to blame |
|but make sure you have thought about these questions. |
| |
|However: THIS IS THE LIST YOU MUST LEARN: |
|Appeasement was believing that Hitler's claims were REASONABLE, and that he was reasonable, and that if we gave in to his reasonable demands he would |
|stop what they were fulfilled - that is why Chamberlain set so much store by Hitler's promise at Munich that he had no more demands. |
|Appeasement involved treating Hitler's Germany, not as a troublemaker or an outcast, but as an equal and 'a man who can be trusted': |
| |
|1933 |
|Prime Minister Ramsey MacDonald ignored German rearmament |
| |
|1935 |
|Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin ignored Hitler's open rearmament rally and introduction of conscription |
| |
|1935 |
|Baldwin made the naval agreement with Germany |
| |
|7 March 1936 |
|Baldwin ignored the reoccupation of the Rhineland |
| |
|April 1938 |
|Chamberlain did nothing about Anschluss |
| |
|Sept 1938 |
|Chamberlain GAVE Hitler the Sudetenland at Munich after a humiliating series of meetings. |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Results/importance of Appeasement |
|Britain gained time to build up her armed forces - but so did Hitler. |
|Hitler decided that Britain and France were afraid of him and that they would not stop him whatever he did. Historians have suggested that in this way|
|appeasement ENCOURAGED Hitler to start WWII. |
|Russia decided that Britain and France would never stand up to Hitler, and that war with Germany was inevitable (this led to the Nazi-Soviet Pact). |
|The people of Britain realised that they had been duped, and decided that war was inevitable. |
|But it also improved the morale of the British people, who knew they had done everything possible to avoid war. |
| |
|Road to War: Sudetenland and Munich |
|Background |
|• By 1938, Hitler expected Br & Fr to appease him. |
|• He was buoyed up by the successful invasion of Austria. |
|• 7 Sept 1938: the Sudeten Nazi Party (led by Konrad henlein) demanded union with Germany – riots. Hitler accused the Czechs of atrocities and |
|threatened to support the Sudeten Germans with military force. |
| |
|Meat |
|THREE MEETINGS: |
|• 15 Sept 1938: Chamberlain met Hitler at Berchtesgaden. They agreed on a plebiscite. Hitler promised him that this was the ‘last problem to be |
|solved’. Chamberlain decided Hitler was ‘a man who can be relied upon’. Chamberlain got the Czech to agree. |
|• 22 Sep 19382. Chamberlain met Hitler at Bad Godesberg. Hitler made more demands. Chamberlain refused, but then he decided that Czechoslovakia|
|was not one of the ‘great issues’ which justified war, but just ‘a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing’. |
|• 29 Sep 1938: Chamberlain and Daladier met Hitler at Munich and gave the Sudetenland to Germany. Czechoslovakia was not even invited to the talks. |
| |
| |
|End |
|• 30 Sept 1938: Chamberlain returned to England with his ‘piece of paper’: ‘I believe it is peace for our time’, he told the cheering crowd. |
|• 1 Oct 1938: Hitler marched into the Sudetenland and boasted that it was the start of a 1000-year Reich. |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Sudetenland/Munich - results/importance |
|Czechoslovakia was weakened (only a matter of time before Hitler took the rest - 15 Mar 1939). |
|Hitler decided that Britain and France were afraid of him and that they would not stop him whatever he did (historians have suggested that in this way |
|appeasement ENCOURAGED Hitler to start WWII). |
|Russia decided that Britain and France would never stand up to Hitler, and that war with Germany was inevitable (this led to the Nazi-Soviet Pact - Aug |
|1939). |
|The people of Britain immediately realised that they had been duped, and decided that war was inevitable (Winston Churchill said: 'It is a total defeat.|
|Czechoslovakia will be swallowed up by the Nazis. And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning'). |
|Britain gained a year to prepare for war (but so did Hitler) |
| |
|Dec 1938 |
|‘National Register’ of who would do what if there was a war. |
| |
|Jan 1939 |
|Plans to strengthen navy and RAF |
| |
|Feb |
|A quarter of a million free air raid shelters are given to Londoners. |
| |
|Mar |
|Territorial Army doubled in numbers. |
| |
|Apr |
|Parliament increases defence spending. Civil Defence Act – plans to evacuate women and children from London to the countryside. |
| |
|May |
|Military Training Act – conscription. |
| |
|31 Aug |
|First children evacuated from London. |
| |
| |
|It improved the war morale of the British people, who knew they had done everything possible to avoid war, and now decided that Hitler was evil. |
| |
|Road to War: The Slide to War, 1938-9 |
|It is arguable that Chamberlain realised that war was coming even as he was negotiating the Munich Agreement (or immediately afterwards). Remember that|
|- throughout the year - Britain was preparing for war. However - even if Chamberlain still thought Hitler could be trusted - events during 1938-39 |
|pushed him and Britain into war: |
| |
| |
|Event |
|Significance |
| |
|Events in Britain ending appeasement |
|• Winston Churchill |
|• led campaign against appeasement |
| |
| |
|• 3 Oct 1938: Duff Cooper (head of navy), resigned over Munich. |
|• showed growing hostility to appeasement in the government |
| |
| |
|• 27 Oct 1938: anti-appeasers do well in the Oxford by-election |
|• showed growing hostility to appeasement amongst ordinary people |
| |
| |
|• 28 Feb 1939: MPs shouted ‘Heil Chamberlain’ |
|• showed growing hostility to appeasement in parliament |
| |
|Events in Europe bringing war |
|• 8 Nov 1938: Kristallnacht |
|• Shows the Nazis as evil racists |
|• People wonder what life would be like in a Nazi Europe |
| |
| |
|• 28 Feb 1939: Fascists won the Spanish Civil War. |
|• Seems that fascism was triumphing everywhere |
| |
| |
|• 15 Mar 1939: Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia |
|• Chamberlain promised to defend Poland. |
|• The first time Hitler had attacked non-Germans. |
|• Chamberlain called it a ‘shock to confidence’ (= showed Hitler lied at Munich). |
| |
| |
|• 13 Apr 1939: Mussolini conquered Albania. |
|• proved that fascists wanted to take over the world |
| |
| |
|• 23 Aug 1939: Nazi-Soviet Pact |
|• freed Hitler to attack Poland |
|• ended any hopes of alliance with Russia against Hitler - only answer now was war |
| |
| |
|• 1 Sep 1939: Hitler invaded Poland |
|• 3 Sep: Britain declared war. |
| |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Nazi-Soviet Pact |
| |
|Background |
|• 31 Mar 1939: Chamberlain promised to defend Poland. Churchill said that the only way to do this was by an alliance with Stalin. Chamberlain |
|approached the Russian ambassador to open negotiations. Stalin, who was also afraid of Hitler, agreed. |
|• Chamberlain did not trust Communist Russia. Negotiations went very slowly. |
|• Meanwhile, Stalin did not trust the British, who he believed would eventually appease Hitler and leave him in the lurch. On June 15 the Soviets |
|secretly sounded out the Nazis for an alliance. While Stalin was negotiating with Britain, he was negotiating with Hitler behind Chamberlain's back. |
| |
|Meat |
|• Aug 1939: the British eventually sent a minor official called Reginald Ranfurly Plunckett-Ernle-Erle-Drax. He travelled by slow boat. He did not|
|have authority to make any decisions, and had to refer every question back to London. |
|• 3 Aug: Hitler agreed to pay the Soviet price for a pact with Russia. |
|• 19 Aug: a Nazi-Soviet trade treaty was signed. |
|• 23 Aug: the Nazi-Soviet Pact was concluded. Hitler pounded on the wall with his fists and shouted, "I have the world in my pocket!" |
| |
|End |
|• The public text of the Nazi-Soviet Pact was merely a non-aggression pact. |
|• A secret protocol agreed to attack and partition Poland between them – Russia was also to get Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. |
| |
| |
|Road to War: Nazi-Soviet Pact - results/importance |
|Freed up Hitler to invade Poland - he knew that Britain couldn't do anything to defend Poland (he invaded 9 days later). |
|Ended Britain's hopes of an alliance with Russia to stop Hitler - people in Britain realised that nothing would stop Hitler now but war. |
|Improved morale of British people for war - showed Hitler as an opportunist and a trickster, who could never be trusted. |
|Anger at Russia was to become a cause of the Cold War. |
| |
|Road to War: Poland |
|Background |
|• The Polish corridor had been given to Poland by the ToV/ Danzig was a LoN 'free city'. |
|• 31 Mar 1939: Chamberlain had guaranteed Poland against German attack. Hitler was not afraid of Britain, but he did fear war with Russia |
| |
|Meat |
|• Hitler demanded Danzig and right of way through the Polish corridor |
|• The Germans in Danzig demanded union with Germany. |
|• Hitler accused the Polish government of atrocities. He threatened war if Poland did not give way. |
|• 23 Aug: the Nazi-Soviet Pact removed the fear of war with Russia. |
| |
|End |
|• 1 Sep 1939: Hitler invaded Poland |
|• 3 Sep 1939: Chamberlain declared war on Germany. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: The Ideological Conflict |
|What you need here is to be able to flesh out the table that you remember from this Causes of the Cold War diagram: |
| |
| |
|America |
|Russia |
| |
|Ideology |
|Capitalist |
|Communist |
| |
| |
|Democracy |
|Dictatorship |
| |
| |
|Human Rights |
|No personal freedoms |
| |
|Aims |
|Recovery |
|Reparations |
| |
| |
|Protect democracy |
|Buffer states |
| |
|History |
|1939 |
|1918 |
| |
| |
| |
|1944 |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results/significance |
|Post-1991 historians now believe that the ideological clash was the chief cause of the Cold War. |
|Because democracy and Communists were beliefs, they gave the Cold War the feeling of a religious war, with the kind of bitterness that attends a |
|religious war (e.g. the 'kitchen debate' between Nixon and Khrushchev in 1959). |
|Because capitalism and communism were ideologies, they both felt the need to prove that they were better than the other by competing (e.g. led to the |
|arms race, the space race, the Olympics, propaganda war etc.) |
|Because they were beliefs, they affected people INSIDE the country, which led to fear (e.g. McCarthy 'witch-hunts' of the 1950s/ USSR arrested |
|'dissidents'). |
|Russia was on the back foot re human rights - led to Poland and Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968) trying to get free, which caused international |
|crises. |
|Russia's desire for a buffer led to 'salami tactics', and because the USA interpreted this as empire-building, it led to the Truman Doctrine and |
|Marshall Plan. |
|Britain and America's desire to build up West Germany as a prosperous capitalist trading partner led to the Berlin Blockade and (because so many people |
|in the east were defecting) to the Berlin Wall. |
| |
|Cold War: Yalta and Potsdam |
| |
|Yalta |
|Potsdam |
| |
|Background |
| |
|February 1945 |
|July 1945 |
| |
|Stalin • |
|Roosevelt (liked and trusted Stalin) • |
|Churchill (hated Communism, but good-humoured towards Stalin) • |
|• Stalin |
|• Truman (anti-Communist, anti-Stalin) |
|• Attlee (disliked Stalin) |
| |
|Stalin had broken through and was advancing on Berlin from the east - |
|Britain and America, from the west, had still not managed to invade Germany |
|Germany had surrendered and Hitler had committed suicide. |
| |
|Roosevelt wanted Stalin to help him against Japan |
|America had developed the atomic bomb - Truman did not need Russia's help against Japan |
| |
|Protocols (Agreements) |
| |
|to divide Germany into four ‘zones’, which Britain, France, the USA and the USSR would occupy after the war |
|to set up the four ‘zones of occupation’ in Germany, destroy the Nazi thinking, and build a democracy in Germany. |
| |
|to bring Nazi war-criminals to trial |
|to bring Nazi war-criminals to trial. |
| |
|to set up a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity 'pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible' |
|to recognize the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity and hold 'free and unfettered elections as soon as possible'. |
| |
|'The Declaration of Liberated Europe' - to help the freed peoples of Europe set up self-governing governments and hold democratic elections |
|(Stalin had arrested large numbers of non-Communist Polish leaders) |
| |
|to set up a commission to look into reparations |
|Russia was allowed to take reparations from the Soviet Zone, and also 10% of the industrial equipment of the western zones. |
|America and Britain could take reparations from their zones if they wished. |
| |
|that Russia would join the United Nations |
|Stalin offered to help the Americans defeat Japan . |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Yalta |
|Many historians believe that Yalta was when the Cold War began. |
|Germany remained divided until 1990. |
|Certainly, tension was growing throughout the conference, notably about the fate of Poland and eastern Europe, and especially between Churchill and |
|Stalin. After the conference, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt that ‘The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world.’ |
|Churchill was forced to make the 'percentages agreement' with Stalin - allowing him a 'sphere of influence' in eastern Europe. Many historians have |
|claimed that Yalta thus handed over eastern Europe to Russia, and condemned millions to Communist oppression - President George Bush described it as |
|'pone of the greatest wrongs in history'. |
|Downing and Isaacs (makes of TV series on the Cold War) say: "Yalta revealed cracks in the Grand Alliance. Only the common objective of defeating Hitler |
|had kept it together." |
|Time magazine in 1945 said that - compared with the Treaty of Versailles - Yalta was a good peace. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Potsdam |
|Potsdam just repeated the decisions of Yalta |
|The tensions of Yalta came out into open disagreement - it arguable that Potsdam was the moment when the Cold War actually broke out. |
|Truman and Churchill HATED the reparations agreement at Potsdam. Truman presented it as a 'compromise', but really he was furious. |
|The British were furious about Poland - Polish freedom was why they had fought WWII in the first place! Soon after, Truman invited Churchill to Fulton,|
|to give his 'Iron Curtain' speech. |
|The Russian offer to help defeat Japan terrified Truman, who feared the Soviets doing in the far east what they had in eastern Europe) |
|Stalin was FURIOUS that Truman did not tell him that he had the atomic bomb. |
| |
|Cold War: Salami Tactics |
|Background |
|• Stalin wanted a 'buffer' to protect the USSR |
|• In the so-called 'percentages agreement' Churchill had agreed to a Russian 'sphere of influence' in eastern Europe. |
|• The Red Army conquered eastern Europe 1944-46 - there was • nothing America or Britain could do to dislodge it. |
| |
|Meat |
|• East Germany was made the Russian 'zone' at Yalta |
|• In 1945-7, Communist governments came to power in Bulgaria, Albania and Romania. |
| |
|• HOW the Communists did it was described by Rakosi as 'slicing salami' - case studies: |
|• Hungary |
|• 1945 - Russian troops stayed there. |
|• Stalin allowed elections, which the non-communists won. However, some communists were elected (led by Rakosi). |
|• 1946 - Rakosi got non-Communist parties banned, saying that otherwise the Russians would take over the country. |
|• He got control of the police, and had his opponents arrested. |
|• He set up a brutal secret police, the AVO. |
|• 1947 - Rakosi had complete control over Hungary. |
|• Poland |
|• 1945 - Russians set up a Communist government (though at Yalta Stalin agreed to let non-Communists join it). |
|• Stalin invited 16 non-Communist leaders to Moscow and imprisoned them. |
|• 1946 - Elections were delayed a number of times. |
|• 1947 - Thousands of non-Communists were imprisoned. |
|• Czechoslovakia |
|• 1945 - the Red Army stayed there |
|• a government was set up with non-Communists and Communists (led by Gottwald). |
|• Gottwald had non-Communists arrested, claiming they had helped the Nazis during the war |
|• He made sure that Communists were in charge of the police, radio and army. |
|• 1947 - a secret police was set up |
|• 1948 - The leading anti-Communist Jan Masaryk 'committed suicide' by throwing himself out of his bathroom window. |
| |
|End |
|• By 1948, hard-line Stalinist governments ruled in every country of eastern Europe. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Soviet expansion |
|In the 1960s, historians blamed Soviet expansion for causing the Cold War - they said the USSR was empire-building (this Illingworth cartoon shows was |
|the west thought about it). |
|The peoples of eastern Europe fell under the control of hard-line Stalinist government = lack of freedom (e.g. Hungary 1956, Czechoslovakia, 1968). |
|Soviet expansion led directly to the Fulton speech, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan |
| |
|Cold War: Fulton Speech |
|Background |
|• Churchill feared Communism - in 1944, he suggested that America and Britain make peace with Germany and attack Russia! |
|• At Yalta, he had been forced to make the percentages agreement, but regretted it. |
|• After Yalta, told Roosevelt that ‘The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world.’ |
|• Truman was very anti-Communist, and FURIOUS about Potsdam. |
|• George Kennan, the US Ambassador in Moscow, sent Truman a 'Long Telegram' , saying that the Soviet Union was growing and - without going to war - |
|had to be stopped (by 'educating the public'). |
| |
|Meat |
|• 5 Mar 1946, Truman invited Churchill to give a speech in Fulton, Missouri - it was all pre-agreed, and Truman gave a speech of introduction |
|• Churchill said that an 'iron curtain' had come down across Europe, behind which the Communists had taken over. |
|• He described the Communist governments as a 'shadow' over civilisation - of 'totalitarian control [and] police governments'. |
| |
|End |
|• Stalin said that Churchill had 'declared war' on the USSR |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Fulton |
|Fulton warned the people of America and Britain (who were used to thinking of 'Uncle Joe' as their ally) that their governments were becoming alarmed at|
|Soviet expansion - nb Kennan's advice about 'educating the public' |
|Fulton prepared the ground for the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. |
|Stalin was furious - he said that Churchill had 'declared war' on the USSR. The Soviets became openly hostile towards the west - thereby bringing on a|
|Cold War. |
|5 Mar 1946 can be said to be the date on which the Cold War broke out. |
| |
|Cold War: Truman Doctrine |
|Background |
|• Stalin was taking over eastern Europe by 'salami tactics' |
|• George Kennan's 'Long Telegram' assured Truman that Russia COULD be stopped by resolute action. |
|• At Fulton, Truman had got Churchill to give the 'Iron Curtain' speech |
|• In the 'percentages agreement', Stalin had promised to leave Greece alone - but Communists were still attacking the Greek government. |
|• British soldiers were defending Greece, but in Feb 1947 the British told Truman they could not afford to keep them there any more. |
| |
|Meat |
|• As after the First World War, many Americans had hoped to be able to return to 'isolation'. |
|• 12 Mar 1947 he told Congress: |
|a. that Communism was growing |
|b. that it was America's 'responsibility ... 'to ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion'. |
|• Although the word was not in the speech), the Truman Doctrine came to stand for 'containment' - not trying to 'roll back' Communism, but stopping |
|further advance. |
| |
|End |
|• Congress supported Truman, who asked for $400 million for military intervention in Greece and Turkey |
|• Truman sent General George Marshall to Europe to see what else needed to be done to stop Communism. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Truman Doctrine |
|America changed her policy - overturned for ever the 'Monroe Doctrine' of isolation (which they had followed since the 19th century) - and adopted |
|instead the 'Truman Doctrine' . Truman's speech was in fact America's declaration of 'Cold War' on Russia. |
|Congress allocated $400 million for immediate military intervention in Greece and Turkey - the Communists were quickly defeated/stopped in both |
|countries. |
|Truman sent General George Marshall to Europe to see what else needed to be done - this led immediately to the Marshall Plan |
|Although the word was not in the speech), the Truman Doctrine came to stand for 'containment' - not trying to 'roll back' Communism, but stopping |
|further advance - this idea led to the Korean and Vietnam Wars |
|Truman's idea of Soviet advance led to the 'domino theory', which lay behind the Korean and Vietnam Wars |
|Truman's decision to give military support to countries resisting Communism led eventually to the formation of NATO |
| |
|Cold War: Marshall Plan |
|Background |
|• All the background of - Salami tactics; Kennan; Fulton; Greece. |
|• 12 Mar 1946, Truman had secured the support of Congress for the 'Truman Doctrine' of 'containing' Communism. |
|• Truman sent General George Marshall on a tour of Europe to see what needed to be done to stop the spread of Communism. Marshall came back |
|believing that Europe was so poor after the war that ALL EUROPE was 'a breeding ground of hate' and in danger of turning Communist. |
| |
|Meat |
|• 5 June 1947, Marshall gave a speech advocating spending vast sums of money to get the European economy going. |
|• He said that the war had caused: 'the dislocation of the entire fabric of the European economy'. |
|• He insisted that: 'Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.' |
|• He said that the countries of Europe needed to decide how much they needed for what - on 12 July 1947 Britain arranged a meeting in Paris to decide.|
|• In 1948, the European Recovery Program (ERP) went into effect. |
| |
|End |
|• Congress at first hesitated to spend so much money. However, in March 1948 Czechoslovakia turned Communist, and Congress voted the funding. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of the Marshall Plan |
|Europe asked for $22bn, Truman asked for $17bn, and Congress voted £13bn. |
|The money was spent as the countries of Europe decided - on roads and railways, factories, tractors, fishing nets, food aid .. everything down to |
|donkeys. |
|Note that a substantial proportion of the money was spent on the military and weapons. |
|Britain (got $3bn) and West Germany benefited most, also France, Italy and the Netherlands. |
|This money worked - it stopped further countries from turning Communist. |
|The Russians (correctly) interpreted this as America going to war with them, using money not weapons. |
|Stalin forbade Iron Curtain countries to seek Marshall Aid (Czechoslovakia, which had at first asked for Aid, had to 'change its mind'). |
|Stalin set up Cominform as a counter-influence. |
|Co-operating over the Marshall Plan led eventually to the 'European Economic Community' (the EU). |
| |
|Cold War: Germany after WWII |
|At Potsdam (July 1945) Germany had been divided into four zones. Berlin (in the Russian zone) was also divided into four zones. |
|BOTH sides had huge military forces stationed in Germany. |
|America and Russia had different Aims for Germany: |
|Stalin wanted to ruin Germany: |
|• The USSR took reparations from west Germany and stripped the Russian zone of its wealth and machinery |
|Britain and the USA wanted to rebuild Germany’s industry to become a trading partner: |
|• they joined their two zones together into Bizonia (Jan 1947) |
|• Germany was eligible for Marshall Aid (31 March 1948), but Stalin forbade the Russian zone to take part. |
|• June 1948, they announced that they wanted to create the new country of West Germany |
| |
|Cold War: Berlin Blockade and Airlift |
|Background |
|• Britain and the USA wanted to rebuild Germany’s industry to become a wealthy trading partner. They joined their two zones together into Bizonia |
|(Jan 1947). |
|• the US gave west Germany Marshall Aid (31 March 1948), but Stalin forbade the Russian zone to take part, and the Russians started stopping and |
|searching all road and rail traffic into Berlin. |
|• June 1948, America and Britain announced that they wanted to create the new country of West Germany; this was a direct affront to the USSR, which had|
|not been consulted. |
|• 23 June 1948 America and Britain introduced a new currency into ‘Bizonia’ and western Berlin. This caused an economic crisis in the Russian zone, |
|as people in eastern Europe rushed to change all their money into the new western currency, which was worth more. |
| |
|Meat |
|• 24 June 1948 Stalin stopped all road and rail traffic into Berlin. |
|• Gen. Clay, the American commander in Germany, wanted to fight its way into Berlin – that would have caused a war. |
|• Instead, Truman decided to supply Berlin by air ('Operation Vittles'). |
|• Stalin offered to supply food to west Berlin but this was refused. |
|• The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months). |
|• The situation was bad at first, but got better as time went on. |
|• In the winter of 1948–49 Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs and cans of meat. They had 4 hours of electricity a day. |
|• 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies. A plane landed every 3 mins. |
|• Pilot Gail Halvorsen dropped chocolate and sweets. |
|• The USA stationed B-29 bombers (which could carry an atomic bomb) in Britain - Stalin didn't dare shoot down the supply planes. |
| |
|End |
|• The Blockade was portrayed in the west as an attempt to conquer Berlin by starvation |
|• It became clear that the Blockade was failing, and on 12 May 1949, Stalin re-opened the border.. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Berlin Blockade |
|Cold War got worse - the US stationed B-29 bomber (which could carry an atomic bomb) in Britain |
|Germany split (until 1990) into East and West Germany. In May 1949, America, Britain and France united their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany|
|(West Germany). In October 1949, Stalin set up the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). |
|Armed stand-off: in 1949, the western Allies set up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as a defensive alliance against Russia. NATO countries |
|surrounded Russia; in 1955, the Soviet Union set up the Warsaw Pact – a military alliance of Communist states. |
|Arms Race - after Berlin, the USA and the USSR realised that they were in a competition for world domination and began to build up their armies and |
|weapons. |
|Cold War: Korea after WWII |
|After the war, the Americans and Russians divided Korea (which had been ruled by Japan) into a Communist north and a capitalist south. |
|It was divided along the 38th parallel because the only map available was a small-scale map of the world. |
|The North Korea ruler was the hard-line communist Kim Il Sung. The President of South Korea was Syngman Rhee. |
|North and South Korea hated each other - there were constant border clashes, and fear of invasion. |
| |
|Cold War: The Korean War |
|Background |
|• The Americans developed the 'domino theory' to explain Communist expansion. |
|• In April 1950, the American National Security Council issued a report (NSC 68) recommending abandoning 'containment' to start 'rolling back' |
|Communism. |
|• In 1949, Kim Il Sung visited Stalin and persuaded him to let him invade South Korea. Stalin saw a chance to continue the cold war and discomfort |
|America, but ‘at arm’s length’ |
|• Kim II Sung also went to see Mao Zedong, the leader of China, who promised his full support. |
|• In 1950, Syngman Rhee boasted that he was going to attack North Korea. It gave Kim Il Sung an excuse to invade South Korea (on 25 June 1950). |
| |
|Meat |
|• The North Korean People's Army (NKPA) easily drove back the Republic of Korea's army (the ROKs) to Pusan |
|• The Americans persuaded the United Nations to pass a resolution supporting South Korea, and sent troops to Korea. |
|• 15 Sept 1950: Gen. MacArthur with 300,000 UN troops led an amphibious assault at Inchon; the NKPA were driven back to the Chinese border. |
|• 25 Nov 1950: the Chinese 'People's Volunteers' attacked to help the North Koreans. They drove back the Americans, and the war reached a stalemate |
|at the 38th parallel. |
| |
|End |
|• In 1953, Eisenhower became American president. He threatened to use the atomic bomb if China did not stop fighting. |
|• The Chinese agree to a truce, which was signed on 27 July 1953. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of the Korean War |
|Human cost - perhaps a million Chinese and half a million North Korean soldiers died in the war. Many civilians - perhaps 8 million - died. |
|Korea stayed split and still is; North Korea is STILL regarded as a 'problem' state. |
|Cold War/ Vietnam - the Americans believed that Korea proved the domino theory, and this made them try to stop Communist expansion elsewhere - |
|especially in Vietnam. They also used some of the tactics (e.g. napalm) they developed in Korea. |
|Atomic War. Many Americans had wanted to use the atomic bomb in Korea, and the world came close to nuclear war. This led to fear of 'Armageddon' in |
|the west, CND and Ban-the-Bomb campaigns. |
| |
|Cold War: Khrushchev's policies |
|Background |
|• Stalin died in 1953 and, after a leadership battle, Nikita Khrushchev became leader. |
|• In 1957, Khrushchev gave a speech calling Stalin a murderer and tyrant. |
| |
|Meat |
|Khrushchev: |
|a said he wanted 'destalinisation', and a relaxation of the tyranny in the countries of eastern Europe. |
|• he told Tito of Yugoslavia there were 'many roads to communism'. |
|b said he wanted 'peaceful co-existence', and that the alternative was nuclear war and the end of humankind. |
|• he met Western leaders at summit meetings (e.g. Paris 1960/ Vienna 1961). |
|BUT: |
|a destalinisation and 'many roads to communism' did not mean he was going to let the Iron Curtain countries turn capitalist, or get free from Russian|
|control: |
|• he sent in troops when countries tried to leave Russian control (e.g. Poland and Hungary, 1956) |
|b by peaceful co-existence, Khrushchev meant ‘free competition’: |
|• he loved to argue (e.g. the kitchen debate with Nixon) |
|• he built up allies (e.g. Afghanistan, Burma and Cuba) by giving economic aid in return for support. |
|• he entered into the Arms Race (including forming the Warsaw Pact in 1955). |
|• he entered into the Space Race |
| |
|End |
|• When Khrushchev came to power, the West saw him as a jolly, laughing man who they hoped would end the Cold War. |
|• In fact, Khrushchev's policies INCREASED tension, and 1955-1963 was the time of greatest danger in the Cold War. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Khrushchev's policies |
|a When Khrushchev came to power, the West saw him as a jolly, laughing man who they hoped would end the Cold War. They hoped that 'destalinisation' |
|would give Iron Curtain countries freedom, and that 'peaceful co-existence' meant Russia would be less expansionist. |
|b In fact, Khrushchev's policies INCREASED tension, and 1955-1963 was the time of greatest danger in the Cold War. Crisis after 1955 included |
|Poland and Hungary (1956), U2 crisis (1960), Berlin Wall (1961) and the Cuban Missiles crisis (1962). |
| |
|c America's response was aggressive: |
|• In the 1950s, McCarthy conducted a 'witchhunt' for Communists in America |
|• America tried to build up allies (especially in Central America) |
|• America supported wars against communists (e.g. in Vietnam) |
|• America entered the Arms Race with Russia |
|• America entered the Space Race with Russia. |
|• American U2 planes spied on Russia |
|• In 1961 the Americans elected a new president (Kennedy), who promised to get tougher on Communism. |
| |
|Cold War: The Arms Race |
|Both sides raced to build up as many weapons as possible. The idea was that this would be a 'deterrent' to the other side, to stop them daring to |
|attack. America had more nuclear weapons, Russia had more conventional forces. |
|By the 1960s, both sides had enough ICBMs, trained on the other, to destroy every living thing on earth many times over (= '100x overkill') |
|1945 America – Atomic Bomb |
|1949 Russia – Atomic Bomb |
|1949 NATO formed |
| |
|1955 Warsaw Pact set up |
|1955 NATO agreed to an army of 0.5million men in West Germany |
| |
| |
|Cold War: The Space Race |
|Both sides argued that they were exploring space for its military, or mineral, possibilities - but really, they were just trying to prove that they were|
|more 'advanced' than the other. |
|Although the Americans were the first to put a man on the moon (1969), it was the Russians who led the space race at first. |
|1957 Russia – Sputnik (first satellite) |
|1958 America – NASA set up |
| |
|1961 Gagarin – first astronaut to orbit the earth |
|1961 Kennedy promises to put a man on the moon by 1969 |
| |
| |
|Cold War: The Hungarian Revolution |
|Background |
|• Khrushchev's policy of 'destalinisation' undermined all the Stalinist govts of Eastern Europe (e.g. riots in Poland and Czechoslovakia). |
|• The Hungarians hated Russian control - sending food to Russia, Russian control of education, and Russian troops in Hungary. |
|• They hated Rakosi's Stalinist government, especially censorship, the AVH, and repression of Catholicism (Cardinal Mindzenty in prison) |
|• They were led to believe that Eisenhower or the UN would help. |
| |
|Meat |
|• 23 Oct: revolution - students attacked the AVH and Russian troops, and toppled a huge statue of Stalin. |
|• Khrushchev refused to help Rakosi, who fell from power. |
|• 24 Oct–3 Nov: a new government led by Imre Nagy introduced democracy, freedom of speech and religion (Cardinal Mindzenty joined the government) |
|• Nagy asked Khrushchev to take Russian troops out of Hungary - Khrushchev agreed. |
| |
|End |
|• But then Nagy announced Hungary was leaving the Warsaw Pact. |
|• 4 Nov: 1000 Russian tanks crushed the revolution. |
|• Western powers protested but didn’t send troops. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of the Hungarian Revolution |
|In Hungary |
|• 4,000 Hungarians (including Nagy) were executed. |
|• 200,000 Hungarians fled to the West. |
|• The Russians put Janos Kadar into power. |
| |
|Cold War: |
|• Russia stayed in total control behind the Iron Curtain. |
|• Communism was utterly discredited in the west - many western communists resigned from the Communist party. |
|• Western leaders became more determined to oppose communism. |
| |
|Cold War: The U2 Crisis, 1960 |
|Background |
|• By 1960, Cold War tension was at an all-time high: |
|• Russia was winning the space race (Sputnik 1957/Gagarin 1961) and had a HUGE army in eastern Europe. |
|• The Communists had taken over Cuba in 1959, and China was very aggressive, demanding that Russia get tough with the West. |
|• Russia wanted the Americans out of West Berlin. |
|• The Americans wanted an 'open skies' agreement giving them the right to fly over Communist countries. |
|• A Summit meeting was arranged for May 1960 in Paris to try and sort all this out. |
| |
|Meat |
|• 1 May 1960: Soviets shot down an American U2 spy plane over USSR, and captured pilot Gary Powers. |
|• (neither Russian planes nor guns could get high enough to shoot down a U2 plane, but the U2 got shot down by accident when a Russian gun trying to |
|shoot it down blew up a Russian plane trying to shoot it down) |
|• At first the Americans claimed it was a weather plane, but they were shown to be liars when the Russians put Gary Powers on trial as a spy - the |
|Americans had to admit he was a spy. |
| |
|End |
|• When the Paris summit met 14 May 1960, Khrushchev immediately demanded apology + end to spying flights. |
|• Eisenhower agreed to end spy-flights, but refused to apologise, so Khrushchev walked out. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of the U2 Crisis |
|• The Paris summit was ruined - Cold War tension increased |
|• Eisenhower’s planned visit to Russia was cancelled |
| |
|In America: |
|• America came off badly (had been caught lying) = propaganda victory for USSR. |
|• Eisenhower lost prestige. In 1961 the Americans elected a new president (Kennedy), who promised to get tougher on Communism. |
| |
|In Russia |
|• Attitudes hardened - Khrushchev demanded that US left West Berlin |
| |
|Cold War: The Berlin Wall, 1961 |
|Background |
|• Tension in Cold War - Kennedy was helping the war in Vietnam. |
|• Tension over West Berlin - by 1961, 2000 people a day (3 million since 1945) were fleeing to the West through West Berlin. |
|• West Berlin was a centre for American spies |
|• At the Vienna Summit (June 1961) Khrushchev again demanded that the Americans leave West Berlin. |
|• Instead, in July 1961, Kennedy INCREASED his arms spending |
| |
|Meat |
|• 13 August 1961: the East Germans erected a barbed wire wall overnight, later replaced with concrete. |
|• All movement between East and West was stopped. |
|• The Wall was fortified with barbed wire and guns. |
| |
|End |
|• Western powers protested but couldn't do anything. |
|• Wall remained until 1991, a symbol of the division between East and West. |
|• MANY East Germans died trying to escape through the Wall. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of the Berlin Wall |
|• Cold War tension grew - both sides began testing nuclear bombs. |
|• Berlin was split into two. |
|• The Wall remained until 1991, a symbol of the division between East and West. |
| |
|• At first, it was a Russian propaganda victory - the Americans couldn't do anything. |
|• BUT as time went on, MANY East Germans died trying to escape through the Wall - it became a symbol of the failures of Communism, poor, oppressed, |
|and cut off from the West. |
|• It therefore also inspired people in the West to try to defeat communism - the West became more anti-Communist. |
|• In 1963, President Kennedy went to West Berlin and - in his 'I am a Berliner' speech, given right next to the Wall - made HUGE propaganda out of the|
|Wall, about the need to defeat communism. He said that it showed that there could be no accommodations made with the communists - they must be |
|opposed. (On the other side of the Wall, East Berliners listened and cheered him). |
| |
|Cold War: Background |
|1. By 1960, superpower tension was at an all time high: |
|• arms race - both sides were nuclear testing, and the Americans had recently put ICBMs in Turkey |
|• America was funding anti-Communists in Vietnam, |
|• the U2 crisis |
|• the failed summit meetings at Paris (1960) and Vienna (1961) |
|• the Berlin Wall. |
| |
|2 There were especial problems in Cuba: |
|• In 1959, Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. |
|• In 1960 he nationalised all American-owned companies. |
|• In retaliation, the Americans stopped trading with Cuba. |
|• So Castro made a trade agreement with Russia, whereby Cuba sent sugar to Russia, in return for oil, machines and money. Castro became a |
|Communist. |
|• April 1961: the CIA supported the failed Bay of Pigs invasion |
|• Sept 1961: Castro asked for (and Russia publicly promised) weapons to defend Cuba against America. |
| |
|Cold War: The Bay of Pigs, 1961 |
|Background |
|• Background of tension - arms race/ U2/ Berlin Wall |
|• In 1959, the Communist Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. |
|• In 1960 he nationalised all American-owned companies. |
|• In retaliation, the Americans stopped trading with Cuba. |
|• So Castro made a trade agreement with Russia, whereby Cuba sent sugar to Russia, in return for oil, machines and money. Castro became a Communist.|
|• President Eisenhower told the CIA to collect, fund and arms a force of Cuban exiles. |
| |
|Meat |
|• The CIA persuaded Kennedy to agree to an invasion. |
|• 17 April 1961, a force of 1500 Cuban exiles was transported to the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. |
|• The local inhabitants immediately betrayed them to Castro's forces. |
|• They were easily defeated - by 21 April 1,173 had been taken prisoner. |
| |
|End |
|• Kennedy was humiliated. |
|• In Sept 1961: Castro asked for (and Russia publicly promised) weapons to defend Cuba against America - this led directly to the Cuban missiles crisis|
|of 1962. |
|• In 1962, America paid $53 million dollars-worth of food and medicines to ransom the captured soldiers. |
|• The CIA internal report on the failure blamed CIA ignorance and incompetence - Kennedy never trusted the CIA again |
| |
| |
|Cold War: The Cuban Missiles Crisis, 1962 |
|Background |
|• Background of tension - arms race/ U2/ Berlin Wall |
|• In 1959, the Communist Fidel Castro took power in Cuba. |
|• In 1960 he nationalised all American-owned companies. |
|• In retaliation, the Americans stopped trading with Cuba. |
|• So Castro made a trade agreement with Russia, whereby Cuba sent sugar to Russia, in return for oil, machines and money. Castro became a Communist.|
|• April 1961: the CIA supported the failed Bay of Pigs invasion |
|• Sept 1961: Castro asked for (and Russia publicly promised) weapons to defend Cuba against America. |
| |
|Meat |
|• 14 Oct: an American U2 spy-plane took pictures of missile sites being built on Cuba. Kennedy called the National Security Council, who told him he |
|had 10 days to act. Some options (e.g. invasion of Cuba) were very dangerous because they would have caused a World War. |
|• 22 Oct: Kennedy announced on TV that he was mounting a naval blockade of Cuba. He said he would not 'shrink from the risk' of world war. |
|Khrushchev accused him of 'piracy', and promised ‘a fitting reply to the aggressor’. |
|• 25 Oct: the first Russian ship reached the naval blockade. It was an oil ship and was allowed through. All the other Russian ships turned back. |
|Secretly, the US government offered to remove US missiles in Turkey in exchange for those in Cuba. |
|• 26 Oct: Kennedy was about to authorise an invasion of Cuba.Then, at 6pm,Khrushchev sent a telegram offering to dismantle the sites if Kennedy would |
|lift the blockade and agree not to invade Cuba. |
|• 27 Oct: Before Kennedy could reply, Khrushchev sent another letter, demanding that Kennedy also dismantle American missile sites in Turkey. On the|
|same day, a U2 plane was shot down over Cuba. War was about to happen. But Kennedy ignored the U2 incident AND the second letter. He offered to lift|
|the blockade and promise not to invade Cuba if the missile sites were dismantled. He also offered secretly to dismantle the Turkish missile sites. |
|• 28 Oct: Khrushchev agreed. The crisis finished. |
| |
|End |
|• 20 Nov: The Turkish missiles sites were dismantled. Russian bombers left Cuba, and Kennedy lifted the naval blockade. |
| |
| |
|Cold War: Results of Cuba |
|1 Cuba remained a Communist dictatorship, and America left it alone. |
|2 Surprisingly, Kennedy gained prestige. Although he had lost, it looked as though he had faced down the Russians. |
|3 Surprisingly, Khrushchev lost prestige – although he had won, it looked as though he had failed. Particularly, China broke from Russia. In 1964, |
|he fell from power. |
|4 Both sides had had a fright. They were more careful in future. The two leaders set up a telephone ‘hotline’ to talk directly in a crisis. |
|5 In 1963, they agreed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Cuba was the start of the end of the Cold War. |
| |
| Britain & WWII: The BEF and Dunkirk, 1939-40 |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. At first, Britain could not hope to help Poland, so far away, so the government was forced to prepare at home as best it could, and wait until |
|Hitler attacked - this period of no fighting was called the 'Phoney War'. |
|2. When Hitler attacked, the British Expeditionary Force in France and the French were utterly unable to resist Hitler's 'Blitzkrieg' tactics. |
| |
|3. How valid are newsreels of Dunkirk from the time? - by concentrating on small craft heroically taking soldiers from beaches, and the 345,000 troops |
|evacuated, the government succeeded in presenting Dunkirk in the media as a wonderful salvation and example of British determination and team-work ('the|
|myth of Dunkirk'), but really it was the HUGE defeat. |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|1. 11 Sept: British Expeditionary Force of four divisions – 158,000 men with 25,000 vehicles – went to France, but too small and poorly-equipped. |
|2. ‘Phoney War’ – no fighting, but 38 million gas-masks were issued. |
|3. 9 April: Norway fell – British naval force utterly failed to help. |
|4. 10 May: Hitler invaded Holland, Belgium and France. Churchill became PM. |
|5 22 May-2 June: ‘Operation Dynamo’ - the BEF lost 2,500 guns, 84,500 vehicles, 77,000 tons ammunition, 416,000 tons supplies, 165,000 tons petrol and|
|68,000 soldiers killed/taken prisoner. |
| |
|Britain & WWII: Evacuation |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. Evacuation began BEFORE the declaration of war. |
|2. The government removed the women and children so that morale would not fall when they began dying in the bombing raids that were expected. The |
|government was VERY anxious that children should go. |
|3. Arrangements were - by today's standards - dreadful, and many children ended up in abusive or dirty homes. |
|4. Many hosts were shocked by the poverty, ignorance and dirtiness of the evacuees - after the war, this led to the Welfare State. |
|5. Hosting an evacuee was a VERY burdensome task. |
|6. Many evacuees went home - in the end, morale was better served keeping them at home. |
| |
|7. How valid are fictional representations of evacuation such as Carrie's War or Goodnight Mr Tom? |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|1. 1-3 Sep 1939: 827,000 children and 535,000 pregnant mothers were evacuated from towns to the country. |
|2. Teachers evacuated with their pupils - overload village schools |
|3. Some excited, some homesick. Some evacuees like Kenneth Williams MUCH PREFERRED their new homes to their real families. |
|4. Many ignorant - some had never seen farm animals. Some nightmare evacuees – swore/ pee-ed on wallpaper/ had never worn underclothes, eaten food |
|from a table or slept in a bed/ filthy/ naughty/ many wet the bed. |
|5. Many went home during Phoney War. |
| |
|Britain & WWII: Battle of Britain and the Blitz |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. The heroism of the pilots - and how close Britain came to defeat in the Battle of Britain. |
|2. The Blitz was GOOD for Britain's war effort, because it gave the RAF time to recover. |
|3. The mechanisms of coping with the Blitz- blackout/ shelters etc. |
|4. Did the Blitz wreck morale? Churchill and the newsreels of the time said no; Nazi propaganda (and some facts turned up by historians) suggest all |
|was not as well as Churchill said. |
| |
|5. How valid were wartime newsreels and films of the Battle of Britain? |
|6. How valid are fictionalised representations of the Blitz such as the film Hope and Glory? |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|Battle of Britain |
|1. Radar was the key to Britain's success - so the Luftwaffe attacked the radar stations first, but FAILED to put them out of action. |
|2. Churchill put Lord Beaverbrook, owner of Daily Express, in charge of aircraft production. |
|3. The young pilots were called ‘Dowding’s chicks’, after Air Chief Marshall Dowding The RAF lost 1,173 planes and 510 pilots and gunners. The |
|Luftwaffe lost 1,733 planes and 3,368 airmen. |
|4. The turning point came on 2 Sep, when Hitler switched the Luftwaffe to bombing cities. |
|5. 15 Sep major Luftwaffe raid repulsed. Sealion called off. |
| |
|Blitz |
|1. FOUR kinds of shelter: Anderson / Morrison / Underground and ‘trekking’ to the fields |
|2. FOUR kinds of bomb: HEs / ‘Molotovs’ / Parachute bombs / ‘Carpet- bombing’ |
|3. Coventry was so badly bombed that the Nazis coined the word: ‘coventrate’ |
|4. Baedecker Raids on tourist and historical sites. |
|5. EIGHTS ways of helping: Firemen/ Fire-watchers/ Rescue workers/ Blackout/ ARP/ ‘ack-ack’/ Bomb disposal/ Local Defence Volunteers (‘Dad’s Army’)/ |
|Women’s Voluntary Service. |
| |
|Britain & WWII: Conscription and Internment |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. The need for conscription - other forms of service such as the Home Guard. |
|2. The need to conscript people (including women) into industry. |
|3. Initial over-reaction and wide-scale internment of foreign nationals (some had lived in Britain for generations) - later separating them into |
|categories of risk. |
| |
|4. How valid is the comedy series Dad's Army as an image of life in the Home Guard? |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|Conscription |
|1. 3 Sept 1939: National Service (Armed Forces) Act - so in Jan 1940: two million men aged 20–27 were called up. |
|2. Tax inspectors, engineers, coal miners exempt. |
|3. Tribunals for Conscientious Objectors (sent to farms, hospitals, in the Pacifist Service Units, Friends Ambulance Unit). 60,000 sent to prison. |
|4. May 1940: Emergency Powers Act (could conscript workers into essential industries - e.g. 22,000 ‘Bevin boys’ conscripted to mines). |
|5. Mar 1941: Essential Works Order (women 20-30 could be conscripted into war work). |
| |
|Internment |
|1. 1939: 74,000 Germans interviewed to see if they were loyal - 64,000 were ‘Category C’ (=loyal). |
|2. At first only 600 ‘Category A’ (=a danger to Britain) Germans interned. |
|3. When Italy declared war on Britain (1940), Churchill had all Italians in Britain arrested: by 1940, 27,000 Germans and Italians were interned. |
|4. First women interned during 1940. |
|5. By summer 1941 fear of invasion had fallen, and this had fallen to 5,000. |
| |
|Britain & WWII: Censorship and Propaganda |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. Based on detailed research ('Mass Observation'). |
|2. Improved until very successful - sophisticated and amusing. |
|3. Different media used (e.g. radio, cinema, posters, Churchill's speeches). |
|4. Censorship covers up pictures etc which the Ministry of Information thought would damage morale (e.g. pictures of dead children/ a picture of a |
|bombed underground station) BUT the success of British propaganda was that it usually told the truth, only put a positive 'slant' on it. |
|4. 'Black propaganda', misleading the Germans. |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|1. 22 Jan 1940: newspapers and newsreels were censored by the government Ministry of Information. |
|2. 6 Feb 1940: MoI ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’ campaign. |
|3. Mass Observation monitored public morale. |
|4. Radio: Listen while you Work/ The Kitchen Front/ ITMA/ Vera Lynn sang for British soldiers. |
|5. Black propaganda (Political Warfare Executive pretended to be a rebel German radio station). |
| |
|Britain & WWII: U-boats, rationing and the role of women |
|ISSUES |
|1. Britain depended on supply by sea for most of her raw materials - if Hitler could cut this off, he would win. Churchill said that the U-boat |
|menace was the only thing that worried him during the war. |
|2. Protecting the convoys and the merchant seamen - advances in technology/ importance of intelligence. |
|3. VITAL importance of the 'home front' and women in this 'total war'. |
|4. The population in general were HEALTHIER during the war, because rationing shared food more equally - nb especially the feeling of 'pulling |
|together'. |
|5. Note that women were often NOT welcomed into industry by the men, because they 'diluted' men's wages. |
|6. How valid are fictionalised accounts such as Sink the Bismark! and U571? |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|Battle of the Atlantic |
|1. An early disaster was convoy HX–84 (1940) – HMS Jervis Bay and five merchant ships sunk. |
|2. August 1940: US gave Britain 50 destroyers in exchange for Atlantic naval bases. |
|3. Many things helped the Allies to stop the U-boats, but key were the codebreakers at Bletchley Park (especially when Britain captured an Enigma code |
|machine) |
|4. The turning point was Convoy ONS–5 (1943). Although 13 merchant ships were lost, the U-Boats were detected by HF-DF, and six sunk. |
|5. Nazi counter-measures - anti-aircraft guns, Snorkel (U-Boats refresh air without surfacing) and ‘Bottoming’ - did not work. |
| |
|Rationing and the effects of submarine warfare |
|1. 22 Sept 1939: petrol rationed |
|2. 30 Jan 1940: national campaign to collect scrap metal, paper, and food waste (for pig-swill) |
|3. 3 Apr 1940: Lord Woolton appointed Minister of Food |
|4. 1940: butter, sugar and bacon, then meat rationed |
|5. TEN FACTS OF RATIONING LIFE: Coupons/ Black market/ Dig for Victory/ Potato Pete and Dr Carrot/ SPAM/ Dried eggs/ Women’s Voluntary Service |
|collections/ Utility clothing and furniture/ swapshops/ 6” water in the bath. |
| |
|The role of women |
|1. Sept 1939: 25,000 women join the Women’s Land Army. |
|2. After Dec 1941, women aged 20–30 could be conscripted to the women’s armed forces (though not to fight) |
|3. THREE WAYS WOMEN SERVED: WRNS/ WAAF/ 450,000 in the ATS. |
|4. The number of women employed rose from 5 to 8 million/ by 1943, nine out of every ten single women were doing war work. |
|5. Until 1943 the government did not conscript married women, and women with children under 14 could not be sent away from home. |
|Britain & WWII: D-Day and the defeat of Germany |
| |
|ISSUES |
|1. Preparations for D-Day. |
|2. Great difficulty and losses of D-Day. |
|3. Did the Americans 'win the war'? |
| |
|4. How valid are film representations of D-Day, such as The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan? |
| |
| |
|FIVE FACTS |
|1. ‘Operation Overlord’ was led by the American General Ike Eisenhower. |
|2. Some men at Dover (+ wooden tanks) AND a Spanish double agent convinced the Nazis that the main invasion was at Calais, and that the Normandy attack|
|was just a diversion. |
|3. 3 am, 6 June 1944: 6,000 ships/ 200,000 seamen/ 185,000 soldiers/ 20,000 vehicles/ 20,000 men dropped by parachute or landed in gliders behind enemy|
|lines/ 11,000 planes/ 7 battleships, 23 cruisers and 105 destroyers. |
|4. British and Canadians at Gold, Juno, Sword (4500 casualties but captured a large area). Americans at Utah (only 210 casualties) and Omaha. |
|5. Disaster at Omaha - B17 bombers overshot/ Nazi defences dug into the cliffs/ the Nazis had just moved in their crack 352nd Division/ powerful tide |
|sank many landing craft = 3,000 casualties. |
| |
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
- microsoft digital literacy tot academy
- teacher sites
- the origins of cellular automata soup
- recommended web sites last revised mar
- computational photography mit media lab
- unique child positive relationships enabling environments
- from issue 2601 of new scientist magazine 28 april 2007
- the paris peace conference