Origins of the Cold War

1. Why did the USSR and the USA emerge as superpowers. Make sure you specify the military, economic, and Political reasons.

• Military:  France and Britain were unable to defeat Germany, decreasing their military power and making them "second rank."  Yet, in order to defeat Germany, the US was forced to become the number one air force power, and the USSR had come out as the number one land force power.  The USSR no longer had strong military neighbors, making them the regional power.  Both had relative strength compared to weakened European countries.
• Economic: The increase of imports and exports during the war drastically strengthened the US economy, making it able to out produce all the other powers put together.  The USA was also more committed to open trades, allowing market competition to flourish in order to avoid the emergence of pre-war trade-blocs and tariffs.  The USSR also stood in for Germany in providing economic support for new smaller countries nearby.
• Political:  The political system of the US visibly trumped fascism, showing the strength of their ideals.  Communism also gained respect in parts of Europe for its ability to win over the Germans.  Stalin claimed great influence in creating the post-war Europe because of its widespread Red Army losses and influence.  The USSR had the ability to prevent instability in Eastern Europe by its political strength.  

2.  

1. Wartime Conferences:  The Grand Alliance determined the post war political and territorial structure of Europe; three major conferences.
2. Kennan's Long Telegram in Feb. 1946:  Developed US policy of containment and discussed the repressive insecure nature of the Soviet Union.
3. Churchill's iron curtain speech:  Changed the way westerners thought about soviet communism and the Soviets felt as if it was racist and a call to war.
4. The Truman Doctrine:  Talked about how the US had obligations to help all people being pressured or threatened, drawing the US out of its isolationism and forcing them to involve themselves in more situations.
5. The Marshall Plan:  the American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism
6. Red Army Occupation of Eastern Europe:  Soviet Union came to economically and politically control some Easternn European states, possibly violating Yalta and Potsdam. 
7.  The Czechoslovakian Coup Feb 1948:  the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia, ushering in over four decades of dictatorship under its rule.
8. Berlin Crisis of 1948:  Started transportation restrictions Totally blockaded Berlin from the West, and British and American troops flew in from air.  The failure of this blockade led to the division of Germany, the continuation of 4 power control in Germany, and the formation of NATO.

Total War

Evolution from mass war to total war:
There used to be smaller armies of countries that would fight battles here and there between each other until one surrendered or proved stronger.  No country would be invaded or destroyed, governments would remain intact and citizens were more or less removed from the action of the war.  The increasing destructive technology of war forced overpowered the governments control of the situation, making wars a larger and more costly scale.   The machines, such as tanks, enabled the armies to advance more distance in a smaller amount of time, increasing the pace of war destruction. The mass production of tanks and new machines required a large workforce to continually produce and replace the growing need for machines that were destroyed quicker than ever before.  The qualities of mass war changed to encompass every aspect of a society until all of its resources were being utilized for the single purpose of war.


Key Qualities of Total War:
-Total war had to end with total victory and "unconditional surrender"
-Massive propaganda pushes where everyone started to believe the lies
-unable to look for compromises
-Countries only look for total military victory
-Mass Production of Machines
-High number of civilian casualties
-Weapons of mass destruction
-Quicker and more effective

German Weaknesses/Allied Strengths Response

1. Richard Overy argues that "The war was won in 1945 not from German weaknesses but from Allied strengths." How far do you agree with this statement.

         I disagree with this statement by perceiving the Allied victory as majorly a result of German strategic mistakes and weaknesses.  Germany proved this by starting out strong in their initial invasion of France, crumbling from that point in a mixture of problematic military strategy and mistaken war declarations.  The Allied powers did overcome Germany 
by their many strengths, but without the key mistakes by Germany, those wouldn't have been enough.

         One example of German defeat caused by their own weaknesses was in Operation Barbarossa, where they failed in invading the Soviet Union.  Starting a war on another front, not to mention a nation 80 times their size with an outnumbered army was their first lapse in judgement.  The German army was not prepared for such a long invasion, especially not for the harsh Russian winters, which killed many German soldiers.  Their supply line was too far stretched, and the German army committed violent, horrible acts upon civilians, letting the country unite together stronger than ever.  This led to a severe loss in armored divisions, trying to concentrate units in only a few divisions, making them clearly outnumbered by the Russians.  Because of these flaws, Germany was forced to retreat from Russia.

           Overall the weaknesses of the Axis powers, (namely Germany) led to defeat.  In the Battle of Britain, Germany did not fully commit its armed forced to the battle, allowing Britain to survive and resist in many other fronts, dividing the concentration of German forces and resources.  A major problem Hitler suffered from was declaring war on the U.S., assuming Japan would deal with them, when in fact their number one priority was Hitler.  His strategies failed by producing the wrong weapons, producing V-rockets instead of jet rockets, which could have helped fend off the bombing attacks by the Allies. They faced resource shortages throughout the war which weakened the German force.   In a combination of all of these mistakes, it was Germany that allowed the Allies to gain strength despite their initial successes.

WWII in Europe

Why did Hitler assume that his air force could defeat Britain alone?

Hitler believed in his Luftwaffe's ability to defeat the Royal Air Force, planning a naval invasion on the side.  After his quick defeat of France, Hitler gained confidence in his air force capabilities, especially since France was out of the picture and Britain had no nearby allies.

What factor, in your opinion, was the most important in Britain's victory in the Battle of Britain?
The most important reason for the British Victory was the use of the new technology of radars.  These significant inventions allowed Britain to detect enemy aircraft locations and distance from the radar.  The warning system was able to help Britain close the gap between the large amount of German fighters and bombers and the Britain fighters.  This helped them not waste planes on air patrol, increase anticipation, and played a significant role in their victory as a whole.

Why did Hitler invade into the Balkans and why was this significant?
Hitler was forced to invade the Balkans because his ally, Italy, failed to capture both Greece and North Africa, being defeated by Britain and Greece.  Because Mussolini failed, Hitler came into North Africa and the Balkans where his troops drove Britain out of Libya and invaded Greece and Yugoslavia.  This was significant because it was a low point for the allies in terms of setbacks.  It was also important because Britain was forced to divide its troops between Africa and Greece, which weakened their ability to defend Africa as well as they could have.  The invasion of the Balkans also caused a setback for Germany by delaying their invasion of the USSR by six weeks.

What were Hitler's motives for attacking the USSR?
"Operation Barbarossa"
Hitler intended to attack the USSR to fill his desires for Lebensraum by expanding his German Nation into an area wealthy in oil and other natural resources.  Hitler wanted to give his nation room to grow and become more prosperous.

What factors slowed the initial blitzkrieg of Russia?
One factor that slowed the invasion into the USSR was Hitler's invasion into the Balkans to make up for Italian failure to capture parts of Greece and Africa.  Another factor was their retreat from the Battle of Britain, where Britain refused to make peace, frustrating Hitler.  He eventually retreated because he knew he wouldn't be strong enough to have a two-front war, and he decided that the USSR would be easier to defeat.

1939-1941 WWII Events

September 1, 1939: Germany Invades Poland

September 3, 1939:  Britain and France declare war on Germany.  WWII begins.

In October - Nazis begin euthanasia on sick and disabled in Germany.

May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders to the Nazis; Italy declares war on Britain and France

June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with Nazi Germany

July 1, 1940 - German U-boats attack merchant ships in the Atlantic

August 25/26 - First British air raid on Berlin

September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by Germany, Italy and Japan

March 11, 1941 - President Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act

December 7, 1941 - Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor; Hitler issues the Night and Fog decree.

December 8, 1941 - United States and Britain declare war on Japan

December 11, 1941 - Hitler declares war on the United States

Sources:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/
http://thompsonplace.weebly.com/8/post/2013/09/wwii-timeline-1939-1941.html#comments

Collective Security

 Why did collective security fail to keep the peace between 1920 and 1935?

• What was the League of nations intended to do?

• League of Nations intended to preserve the peace between countries by acting collectively to enforce the rules and place economic sanctions on any nation that went against them
• Group pressure was placed on a country to force them to back down and decisions were made as a group to decide when enforcement was necessary

Thesis:  Collective Security failed to preserve peace between 1920 and 1935 because the basic structure of the League was flawed, major nations never joined the League of Nations, and transgressors were not punished justly.

Structural Issues:

-Unanimity was required for decisions in the assembly; this ensured that quick decisions would almost never happen in times of crisis

-System relied on the "goodwill of the nations" when the very League was founded because of the lack of goodwill between them

-Expecting everyone to want the same thing for the world

-In a perfect world the setup may have worked, but when countries are looking out for their own interests, the peace between nations far from them would become less important 

-Military sanctions never happened because no nation was willing to put their military under international control

• Covenant was ambiguous as to when forces should be used
• Military Aggression was a last resort; after all else was tried (appeasement)

-The Great Depression consumed countries with their own domestic affairs and they had little time to worry about international disputes

Absence of Major Powers:

-USA was not present in the League

-Being the major economic power, they would have put a lot of weight behind the League's threat of economic sanctions

-Almost all of the members of the League were European, which failed to give it a world-wide feel and there were only limited viewpoints as a result

-Germany was excluded, making the main powers of the League the victorious allies of WWI

-Seemed unfair to exclude countries that could have given hindsight and helped make the future better rather then make increase their contempt

-There were many smaller states that lacked a stable center, and although part of the League, could not offer much support

-USA never joined the League of Nations because Congress was afraid it would draw them into more conflicts then they desired

-USA went into Isolationism

-Overall, the League lacked credibility and was less of a threat in the eyes of transgressors

Failure to resolve international crises:

-The League failed to address several crisis, intending to offer assistence, but was never quite able to summon a punishment against the rule breaker

-Once other countries see that the League failed to enforce its own rules, they feel more confident in breaking rules and the cycle continues

-Countries think they can walk all over the League because they have set a reputation for failing to enforce

Manchurian Crisis:

-Japan invaded China to increase their expand their empire-China asked for help from the League of Nations (one member attacking another) and an investigation was started that took a year to complete-Japan was found guilty and was asked to retreat but they never did and ultimately left the League of Nations -League was unwilling to provide economic sanctions because of the Depression-Only Britain had the naval capability to go after Japan, but they didn't want to risk losing-In the end it was tolerated and the League lost credibility for failing to deal with a situation, making them look weak

Pregnant With War

What did Keegan mean when he said, "For the truth of twentieth-century European civilization was that the world it dominated was pregnant with war."?

          To start, by this sentence, Keegan implies that they were prepared for such a war.  With a full scale industrial revolution, vast population increase resulting in large armies, a war was becoming increasingly inevitable.  There were increasing medical and dietary advantages which made men more fit to go and fight in the military.  Also Keegan tells us that "The enormous enlargement of European economies was meanwhile creating the tax base by which new armies of conscripted recruits were supported" (Keegan 15). This means that nations became more advanced in gathering taxes and being aware of their population so that men could be recruited for the army and paid for it.  Countries started conscription and became more obsessed with the idea of war, even to the extent that they were using a majority of revenue to buy military weapons.  The idea of war was all-powerful.  Event the The nature of being a soldier changed dramatically into a willing and devoted persona.  The 19th century reinforced the idea of nationalism and die-hard patriotic ideals that citizens of every nation became stuck to.  By his mention of being "pregnant with war", Keegan is attempting to manifest the concept that all of the previous factors led to a world where every country had war on their minds and the means to prepare for even the slightest conflict to emerge and bring out war.