Kenneth Li

Euro Hist.
6th Period
5-20-08
Ch. 35 pgs. 983-995

A. The Tide Turns

1) The potential power of U.S. was enormous, but wasn’t prepared for war.
i) Japanese quickly captured Guam, Wake Island and the Philippines.
ii) By summer of 1942, Japanese Empire stretched from western Aleutian
Islands south almost to Australia, and from Burma east to Gilbert
Island.
2) In same year, Germans almost reached Caspian Sea in their drive for
Russia’s oil fields.
i) Relations between democracies and their Soviet ally were not close.
ii) German subs threatened British supplies, Allies were breaking in every
front, and future looked bleak.
3) Tide turned at Battle of Midway in June 1942.
i) At Midway, American planes destroyed 4 Japanese aircraft carriers.
ii) War in Pacific was far from over but Japan was checked sufficiently to
allow Allies to concentrate their efforts first in West.
B. Allied Landings in Africa, Sicily, and Italy
1) In November 1942, Allied force landed in French North Africa.
i) German army was trapped in Tunisia and crushed.
ii) Mediterranean under Allied control.
iii) Mussolini driven from power, Allies landed in Italy, and Marshal
Badoglio declared war on Germany (Italy).
C. Battle of Stalingrad
1) Russian campaign became especially demanding.
i) German army tried to get to oil fields; was an offensive on all fronts.
ii) Battle of Stalingrad took place in city where Hitler and Stalin fought for
the city.
iii) Russians lost many men but still prevailed.
2) Afterwards Russians pushed German army back.
D. Strategic Bombing
1) In 1943 Allies gained ground in production and logistics.
i) American and British air forces began series of massive bombings of
Germany night and day.
ii) By 1945 Allies could bomb at will.
E. Defeat of Nazi Germany
1) On June 6, 1944, Allied troops landed in force coast of Normandy.
2) All went smoothly until December, when Germans launched counterattack
called Battle of the Bulge through Forest of Ardennes.
i) This time there could be no doubt Germans lost war on battlefield.
3) In east, Russians were within reach of Berlin by March 1945.
i) Russians occupied Berlin by agreement with western allies.
 ii) Third Reich lasted dozen years instead of the millennium predicted by
Hitler.
F. Fall of the Japanese Empire
1) War in Europe ended on May 8, 1945 and by then victory over Japan was in
sight.
i) Beginning in 1943 American forces began campaign of “island
hopping,” selecting major bases and places strategically located
along enemy supply line.
ii) American bombers launched terrible wave of bombings that destroyed
Japanese industry and disabled the Japanese navy.
2) Confronted with Japan’s determination, Americans made plans for frontal
assault on Japanese homeland.
i) Since early in war secret program had been in progress.
3) On August 6, 1945 American plane dropped atomic bomb on city of
Hiroshima.
i) Japanese would rather accept the invasion than surrender.
ii) President Harry Truman who came to office on April 12, 1945 accepted
condition that Japan could keep its Emperor.
G. The Cost of War
1) WWII was most terrible war in history.
i) 15 million military deaths, and civilians dead are close to that number.
ii) Everything depended on conclusion of stable peace, but even as
fighting ended, victors began to quarrel.
IV. The Domestic Fronts
1) WWII represented effort of total war by all belligerents.
i) Another was unprecedented organization of civilians on various home
fronts.
ii) Shortages, propaganda campaigns, and new political developments
were ubiquitous.
A. Germany: From Apparent Victory to Defeat
1) Hitler had expected to defeat all enemies by rapid strokes.
i) During first 2 years of war, Hitler demanded few important sacrifices
from German people.
ii) Failure to knock out Soviet Union changed everything.
2) Great expansion of army and military production began in 1942.
i) Major German business enterprises aided growth of wartime products
tripled; but as war went on army absorbed more men from
industry, hurting production of even military goods.
3) Beginning in 1942 everyday products became scarce.
i) To preserve their own home front, Nazis passed on suffering to their
defeated neighbors.
4) By 1943 there were also serious labor shortages.
i) Nazis forced thousands of people from conquered lands to labor in
Germany.
5) Hitler assigned women special place in war effort.
 i) Films portrayed ordinary women who became especially brave and
patriotic during war and remained faithful to their husbands.
ii) As air raid wardens they protected their families; as factory workers in
munitions plants they aided their sons on front lines.
iii) German women were protecting racial purity.
iv) German women were thus supposed to demonstrate kind of service and
courage required by war.
6) War years also saw intensification of political propaganda on domestic front
beyond what occurred in other countries.
i) Nazi propaganda blamed outbreak of war on British and its prolongation
on policies of Germany’s opponents.
7) Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels used radio and films to boost Nazi
cause.
i) Later in war ministry broadcast exaggerated claims of Nazi victories.
ii) To stiffen German resolve, propaganda also aimed to frighten German
population about con sequences of defeat.
8) After May 1943, when Allies began major bombing offensive over
Germany, the German people had much to fear.
i) But bombing didn’t undermine German morale-on contrary, it may have
confirmed general fear of defeat at hands of such savage opponents and
increased German resistance.
B. France: Defeat, Collaboration, and Resistance
1) In France the Vichy government cooperated closely with Germans for
variety of reasons.
i) Most of French were not active collaborators and remained helpless and
demoralized y defeat and German power.
2) Many conservators and extreme rightists saw Vichy government as device
to reshape French national character and halt the decadence they
associated with political and religious liberalism.
i) Divorce was forbidden during first 3 years of marriage and difficult
thereafter, large families were rewarded.
3) Vichy regime embraced an intense, chauvinistic nationalism.
i) Anti-Semitism wasn’t new in France.
ii) In 1941 Germans began to intern Jews living in occupied France.
iii)Vichy government had no part in these decisions, but made no protest,
and own anti-Semitic policies facilitated the process.
4) Few Frenchmen had fled to join de Gaulle’s Free French forces soon after
defeat of 1940.
i) Some disliked violence that resistance inevitably entailed.
ii) Less than 5% of adult French population was involved.
C. Great Britain: Organization for Victory
1) On May 22, 1940 British Parliament gave government emergency powers.
2) Churchill and British war cabinet moved as quickly as possible to mobilize
nation.
i) Unemployment disappeared, and working classes had more money to
spend than they had enjoyed for many years.
 3) Bombing “blitz” conducted by German Luftwaffe against British targets in
winter and spring of 1940 to 1941 was most immediate and dramatic
experience of war for British people.
i) German air raids killed thousands and destroyed homes of many more.
D. The Soviet Union: “The Great Patriotic War”
1) No nation suffered greater loss of life or physical destruction in WWII than
Soviet Union.
i) Germans sent thousands of Soviet prisoners to work in factories.
ii) Germans also confiscated grain supplies and drew mineral resources
and oil from Soviet Union to serve their own war effort.
2) Stalin conducted war as virtual chief of armed forces, and State Committee
for Defense provided strong central coordination.
i) Country was thus on what amounted to wartime footing long before
conflict erupted.
ii) When war began, millions of citizens entered army, but army didn’t
grow influence at expense of state and Communist Party- that is,
Stalin.
3) Soviet propaganda differed from that of other