Ch 19
Beginnings of WWII
-
Fascists- part comes to run
o Nationalism, one ruler made country stronger (democracy is weaker)
o Led by Benito Mussolini
o Anti communist
- Mussolini-
o Very charismatic, enthusiastic, dynamic speaker
o Appointed head of gov’t by king (bullied into it)
o Takes
total control of
- Joseph Stalin- takes over with total power
o Crushes opposition in country, millions die
- Nazis- nationalistic/anti-communist (fascist)
o Led by Hitler
§
Wrote Mein Kampf- outline for
o Ideas-
§
Need more space for
§
Slavs are inferior (invade
§ Jews are to blame for Germ’s problems
§ Germany Arayans are master race
§ All German speaking people should be united
o Hitler
§
Appointed to head
§ Bans other parties, burns books that have non-nazi ideas
- military takes over for “soft” politicians
-
invades
o wants it for resources (oil, steel, rubber) needed for industry
- Nye committee
o
o Results in:
o Neutrality Act 1935
§ Illegal to sell arms to a warring nation
o Neutrality Act 1937
§ Non-military goods can be sold to warring nations, but they must come get them and pay cash
o Internationalism
§ FDR wants it, b/c trade makes everyone rich, prosperity helps keep the peace
§ But the public wants isolationism
§
FDR decides N. Act doesn’t apply in regards to
Meanwhile-
- Anti-comintern pact
o
o Known as the Axis
- Spanish Civil War
o Fascists vs. Democracy supporters
o
o People
from
o Dress rehersal for WWII for Germany/Italy
Sec 2
1. reoccupies
the
2. Annexes
3. decides
it wants
-
o Eng,
o They
decide to let
o Policy of Appeasement- let them have little things to avoid a big mess (sometimes just delays the inevitable)
o Hitler later takes the rest of Czech
Why did
1.
2. afraid of another war like WWI
3. felt
bad for
4. rather see Nazis than Commies
-
Hitler next wants part of
-
Eng/Fr says this will mean war if
- Non-aggression pact
o USSR/Germany
agree to not fight also split
o Nazi
ideology said Slavs were inferior,
o Stalin- probably realized invasion would happen later, but tried to delay it
- Poland Invaded Sept 1939, WWII begins
People-
Adolf Hitler- head of
Benito Mussolini- head of
Winston Churchill- Prime Minister of
The War in
-
turns to
- tactics- Blitzkreig- fast attacks speared by aircraft, tanks
-
British troops, driven north to
- Dunkirk- British troops trapped here
- 300,000 troops evacuated to Eng using all available water craft (privately owned civilian vessels included)
-
o North- occupied by German army
o South-
semi free, capital in
§ Had own gov’t, but a puppet to the Nazis
-
The last hold out in
- Hitler doesn’t want to invade, would rather negotiate Eng out of the war, Eng refuses
-
Operation Sea Lion- the planned German invasion of
-
o British advantages:
§ Did not have to fly anywhere to fight, less fuel needed, could stay in air longer to fight
§ RADAR- could see them coming, how many and where attack was
o British disadvantages:
§ Few experienced pilots (even less as battle rages)
·
(some Americans volunteer to come over like in
the movie
§ Few excellent fighter planes
-
British bombers do minor raid on
o Hitler insulted, wants to wipe out English cities
o Targets change from the air force bases to the cities
o Result- many civilians die, but RAF gets some rest, can regroup
-
WINNER- England, the invasion of
- Churchill-
o “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”
Sec 3 The Holocaust
People
Joseph Goebbels- head of German propaganda
Heinrich Himmler- head of the SS
Things
Einsatzgruppen- special killing squad, prepared occupied lands for Germans to settle there
SS- elite military unit, ran the concentration camps
Gestapo- German secret police
Nazi ideology- get rid of dangerous persons, inferior people, ones that have no use in society
- Targets: Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, political prisoners, mentally/physically disabled, religious leaders non-Germans (Poles)
- Euthanasia- programs to end the lives of those not useful to society
o The idea is that they will continue to be a drain on society their entire lives (children as well as adults)
- Books- many books banned that were contrary to Nazi beliefs
o Includes: books about communism, democracy, by Jewish authors, Helen Keller, anti war stories (All Quiet on the Western Front), and others
-
The German Aryan was superior (so why a pact with
o People were measured with various instruments to determine if Aryan or not. (Nose, ears, forehead, etc.)
Also in
- Hitler Youth- Boy Scout like group, train young men to be future Nazis/warriors
o Boys forced to join later, a separate group formed for girls
- Women- encouraged to have babies, could receive a “Mother’s Cross”, medal for having a # of kids
- Lebensborn program- Scandinavian women have babies with SS officers
o Babies taken and raised in an orphanage
- Berlin Olympics- Hitler attempted to show the world Aryan superiority
o Many German jews left off squads
o African-American Jesse Owens wins 4 golds
o
o Basketball
was added to the Olympic program. In the final, the
Nuremburg Laws-
- banned marriages of Jews and Non-jews
- Jew defined as having one Jewish grandparent
- Jews prohibited from serving in gov’t/voting
- Passports carried a mark showing them to be Jewish
- Some decide its time to leave now
Kristallnacht- “Night of the Broken Glass”
-
night of rioting against Jews across
- shops looted, synagogues burned, Jews attacked
- in the end, the Jews were fined for the damage that was caused during the rioting
Safe Haven?-
- some try to flee to other counties, many turned down
-
o Most
on the
War- with
the war, the plan to wipe out the Jews in put in motion (Final Solution)
-
Einsatzgruppen sweep into
- Experimented with mobile killing units, vans for Carbon Monoxide poisoning
Concentration
Camps-
-
been around since the early 30s in
- mainly detention center, put inmates to work
- often a lot of political prisoners, criminals
- many died of work, starvation
- experiments performed on some inmates (high altitude, extreme cold/heat, genetic experiments, etc)
Round Up-
1. Jews forced into certain sections of cities (ghettos)
a. Ghettos fenced in, a few allowed out to work
b. Food got scarce, some families forced to share homes
2. Moved from Ghettos to concentration camps on trains
a. Allowed to take one bag (to calm them)
3. Once arriving, bags are taken, men are separated from women/children
4. Head shaved (humiliation, no personal identity, hair collected for wigs, winter clothes liners)
5. Only possessions in some cases, bowl/spoon- must have to eat, clothes
a. Lose any of these things you’re screwed, would have to find repacements
Extermination Camps- only a few (5 or 6) of the hundreds of camps
-
- Goal was the killing of the inmates
- Selections- pick out which inmates were too weak to continue kill them
- Gas chambers- some disguised as showers for delousing
- Crematoriums- used to burn the bodies, chimneys choked with body fat
Resistance?-
-
some Jews escaped and joined organized resistance in
-
Few Jews killed in
- Germans- did little to nothing, why?
o Fear of the Gestapo
o Didn’t know what exactly was happening, and didn’t want to
Result- 6 million Jews are killed, as well as thousands of others