The Second World War (1939-45)

Causes:
1. Post –WWI problems (P.47-48)
Economic problems
 Warring nations faced serious unemployment and inflation
Discontent in Italy and Germany
 Italy failed to get the land promised by the Allied Power
 Germany were heavily punished after WWI
 Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles
 Paid huge indemnity and gave up many territories
 The German hated the treaty
 Both Italian and German governments were unable to solve the post-war problems
 This led to the rise of totalitarianism in these two countries

2. The Great Depression (1929-33) (P.50-52)

 The stock market in Wall Street fell greatly (The Wall Street Crash in 1929) under a wave of
over-speculation
 The United States demanded the repayment loans from European countries
 Demand for foreign goods fell greatly
 Many European and Japanese factories closed down
 unemployment reached 13 million
 Depression spread to Europe and Japan
 Britain and France adopted Appeasement Policy towards Hitler’s aggression in Europe
 The United States became more isolationist after 1929

3. Rise of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism took different forms: (P.53)
 Mussolini – Fascism in Italy (the first totalitarian government)
 Hitler – Nazism in Germany
 Militarism in Japan
Features of Totalitarianism (P.52)
A totalitarian government…
 Rules with dictatorial power and suppresses all opposition
 Promotes a personality cult of the leader
 Adopts an expansionist foreign policy

4. Responses of other powers

4.1 Appeasement Policy of Britain and France (P.66-67)
 Britain and France adopted Appeasement Policy
 They tried to meet the demands of the totalitarian states in order to prevent war and gain time to
build up their armies and armaments.

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4.2 Isolation of the United States (P.68)
 Most Americans wanted the country to deal with its own problems brought about by the Great
Depression.
 The United States turned away from the problems of Europe.
4.3 The Soviet Union signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Germany (P.68)
 Hitler wanted the Soviet Union to step aside when Germany invaded Poland.
 Germany and the Soviet Union agreed not to attack each other.
 Stalin wanted to gain time to strengthen Soviet defences.

Fascism in Italy (P.54-55)

 Italy could not get the land promised by the Allied Powers
 It faced serious post-war economic and social problems
 Italians lost confidence in democratic government  supported a strong leader
 Mussolini set up the Fascist rule in Italy
 Italy adopted an expansionist foreign policy
 The rise of Mussolini and the Fascists e.g. Mussolini led a March on Rome on 28 October 1922 to
seize power. (P.55)

Nazism in Germany (P.57-61)

 The Weimar Republic signed the Treaty of Versailles
 the Treaty of Versailles – too harsh and unfair to Germany
 The Weimar Republic failed to solve many post-war problems
 Unemployment in Germany rose
 Germans turned to Hitler and Nazi Party
 Hitler became the leader of Nazi Party in 1921
 He became Chancellor in 1933
 He became the Fuhrer (the leader)
 Adopted an expansionist foreign policy
 Hitler was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery in the WWI
 He was in prison in 1923 and wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

Main feature of Nazi Rule (P.60-61)

 Germany as a police state:
 set up Gestapo (secret police) to keep watch on the people.
 Controlling the economy:
- banned workers’ trade unions and protests;
- turned Germany into a self-sufficient economy and reduced unemployment
 Promoting Nazi ideas & Nazi education:
- controlled all forms of mass media to promote Nazi ideas and the personality cult of Hitler;
- all German schools had to teach Nazi ideas;
- Young Germans had to join different Nazi organizations e.g. Hitler Youth

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Militarism in Japan (P.62)
 After the Meiji Reforms, militarism started to rise in Japan
 Most parties were corrupt and inefficient
 During the Great Depression: Japan’s exports dropped and many people were unemployed
 People believed what the militarists said: overseas expansion could solve economic problems
 In 1931, the Japanese military invaded Manchuria in Northern China
 In 1932, the militarists gained control of the government
 Japan adopted an expansionist policy to strengthen its world position
 This threatened the peace of the Pacific region, esp. that of China

Underlying causes
 1936 Germany and Italy formed Berlin-Rome-Axis
 1940 Japan joined Germany and Italy and formed the Berlin-Rome-Tokyo-Axis
 1931 – Shenyang Incident (Japan invaded China)
 1932 – Japanese set up a puppet state called Manzhouguo
 1935-36 – Italy invaded Abyssinia (in Africa)
 1936 – Hitler sent troops to the demilitarized Rhineland
 1937 – Lugouqiao Incident (Japan invaded Beiping)
 1938 – Germany united with Austria
 1938 – Germany occupied the Sudetenland
 1939 – Germany invaded Poland

Responses of other major powers (P.47-48)

 Britain and France adopted Appeasement Policy: tried to meet the demands of the totalitarian
states in order to prevent war
 Chamberlain (Britain) signed the Munich Agreement with Hitler (Germany) in 1938: gave
Sudetenland to Germany; promised that neither Britain nor Germany would go to war
 The Munich Agreement offended Stalin because the Soviet Union was not consulted
 The United States supported isolation
 Germany and the Soviet Union signed Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in 1939: agreed not to
attack each other and agreed to divide Poland between them

Outbreak of WWII
 The Second World War lasted six years, from 1939 - 1945.
 It was fought between the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy & Japan) and the Allied Powers (the
United States, Britain, France, Soviet Union…)
 WWII was fought on a larger scale than the First World War. There was fighting in Europe, Africa
and Asia.

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Course (major events)
 1939 Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia
 1939 German troops invaded Poland
 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany
 1940 Germany conquered Denmark and Norway
 1940 Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands. Other German troops attacked
France through Belgium. German troops took Paris on 13 June. France surrendered to
Germany on 22 June.
 1940 After the fall of France, Germany began to attack Britain in July 1940. This
started the Battle of Britain.
 1940 Italy invaded Africa.
 1941 Germany suddenly invaded the Soviet Union.
 1941 Pearl Harbour Incident (On 7 December (8 Dec in Asia), the Japanese made a
sudden attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. The United
States joined the Allied Powers after this event.)
 1942-43 Counter-offensives of the Allied Powers (1942-43)
 1943 In July, Allied forces took Sicily. Then they defeated the Fascists and helped the
Italians to overthrow Mussolini’s Fascist government. Italy signed an armistice with the
Allied Powers in September.
 1944 D-Day: Allied soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy in northern
France (Liberation of France). They freed Paris on 24 August.
 1945 Victory in Europe (V-E Day): The Allied Powers started to attack Germany after
the liberation of France. Soviet soldiers took Berlin on 30 April 1945. Germany
surrendered. All fighting in Europe ended on 8 May.
 1945 Victory over Japan Day (V-J Day): To end the war quickly and to reduce American
casualties, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Japan finally surrendered on 15 August. The six-year-long Second World War was over.

Results of the War (P.78)

Leaders of the United States, the Soviet Union and Britain (the Big Three) met several times to discuss
the post-war settlement:
 Germany and its capital Berlin were each divided into four zones. Britain, France, the United
States and the Soviet Union each controlled one zone of Berlin and one zone of Germany
 Italy had to give up its colonies and cede lands to France, Yugoslavia and Greece
 Japan was occupied by the United States; returned territories to China and gave up control of
Korea

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Impacts of the war (P.79-85)
The Second World War was the most destructive war in human history: more than fifty countries took part
in it; battles were fought all over Europe, Asia and Africa; many destructive weapons were used.
1. More deaths and destruction
 About 60 million people were killed in WWII, many were civilians
 Mainly caused by the war crimes of the Axis Powers
 Nazi Germany carried out the genocide of the Jews and other minority groups. Hitler sent the
Jews to concentration camps and gas chambers. (P.81-82)
 Militarist Japan also killed many Chinese during its invasion of China
 Destroyed countless buildings, factories, farms, bridges and roads

2. Formation of the United Nations in 1946

 the United Nations was set up to replace the League of Nations.
 It aims to keep world peace and solve conflicts, also to help promote the economic, social and
cultural developments of the world

3. Decolonization
 colonies in Africa and Asia organized nationalist movements to fight for independence
 many British colonies in Africa and Asia gained independence between 1946 and 1959
 most of the European colonies had also become independent by 1975

4. Rise of two superpowers

 European Powers became greatly weakened
 The United States and the Soviet Union grew stronger and became superpowers
 They competed for world leadership and their conflicts finally led to the Cold War