The Second Great Revolutionary Wave
  1. World War II began in Europe on 1. September 1939 and by the spring of 1941 the Axis seemed on the verge of continental hegemony.
    1. Poland. 1. September 1939
      1. Blitzkrieg ---over in a month.
      2. German-Soviet division of Eastern Europe in accordance with Hitler-Stalin Pact of 23. August.
    2. Phoney war (3. September) --: Sitzkrieg.
      1. Denmark -- 9. April 1940
      2. Norway and Quisling .
    3. Assault on the West:
      1. 10. May -- Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
        1. Chamberlain -- Churchill
        2. Rotterdam --13. May
        3. Capitulation on 14. May.
      2. 12. May --France.
      3. 26 May, Belgium -- 4. June
        1. Dunkirk (28. May- 4. June)
        2. Read: Churchill Speech of 4. June
      4. Wehrmacht wheeled south, while Italy invaded from the south..
        1. Marshall Petain ---armistice at Compiegne, 22. June 1940
        2. Vichy France
        3. DeGaulle in London
    4. Battle of Britain: July-September 1940.
      1. 18. June 1940. Click on : Listen: Winston Churchill: "Their Finest Hour" . This will take you to the index page of speeches for the History Channel website. Click on Speech Archive at the top of the page and scroll down to Churchill/
      2. The Battle of Britain: "Turning Point" #1.
    5. Axis hegemony in the South and East, 1940
      1. Germany acquires "allies"
        1. Rumania occupied for "its own protection" in October and joined the Axis, 23. November 1940.. .
        2. Hungarian government taken over by native "fascists" and joined the Axis, 20. November 1940
        3. Bulgaria joined the Axis, 1. March 1941 and was occupied by German army.
      2. Italy grasps at Empire.
        1. Albania (1939)
        2. South-eastern France, 10. June 1940.
        3. Greece (28. October 1940)
        4. Egypt.(Fall, 1940)
        5. Yugoslavia (Spring, 1941)
  2. Axis Overreach and the "Turning Points" of 1942
    1. The U.S.: out of isolation: 1939-December 1941.
      1. "Entangling Alliances," moral superiority and the baggage of World War I.
      2. FDR: public opinion and leadership.
        1. Neutrality Act, 1937 prohibited export of arms.
          1. Neutrality Act amended 1939, put sales on -- "cash and carry" basis.
          2. Destroyers to Britain, 2. September 1940.
          3. Draft.(16. September 1940)
        2. Lend-Lease --- 11. March 1941. See F-R, 229
        3. German Assault on the Soviet Union, 22. June 1941 and Truman comment
        4. Read: Atlantic Charter, 14. August 1941-- psychological preparation for war. .
    2. Japan and the War in the Pacific.Overreach!
      1. Vichy France cooperates: -- Indo-China (July, 1940) and Thailand (December, 1941) allies,.
      2. U.S. measures against Japan -- embargo on scrap iron and weapons, 1940 ---- oil, July 1941.
      3. The Japanese gamble, 7. December 1941. Photos. For a 22.07 minute audio clip of the Joint Session of Congress and President Roosevelt's speech declaring war click here. (For F.D.R speech advance the slider on RealPlayer G2 to 13:00.)
      4. Japanese reach for "Lebensraum."
        1. In 1937, Japan had already begun the Asian phase of what would become World War II with its attack on China. See the "Rape of Nanking" for evidence that illustrates that Japan's disdain for the Chinese enemy rivaled that of Nazi Germany for Slavs and Jews. See map.
        2. The Japanese grasp for empire in Asia. Click here for map.
          1. Peaceful occupation of Indo-China 1940.
          2. Phillipines, December 1941- e.g.Corregidor and the Bataan Death March.
          3. East Indies, Malaysia, Burma --- road to India and Australia in 1942.
      5. Turning Points in the Pacific: Click here for map.
        1. The Battle of the Coral Sea, 7. May 1942.
        2. Midway, 4-7 June 1942
        3. 7. August --- Marines landed on Guadalcanal-- subdued 9. Feb. 1943.
    3. Nazi Germany's Overreach 1941-1942. Overreach! -- Double-envelopment of the East.
      1. The primacy of ideology over reason..
        1. See map of Operation Barbarossa to achieve a "New World Order." 22. June 1941
        2. The Holocaust.
          1. Genocide before the decision at the Wannsee Conference.(Read)
          1. The consequences.
          2. FYI: Click here for a link to the U.S. Holocaust Museum.
      2. Turning Point on The Eastern Front.
        1. The fatal delay from April/May to 22. June 1941.
        2. The northern pincer -- Stalingrad August-November 1942 (Surrounded and Surrender 2. February 1943.)
      3. Turning Point in North Africa -- the southern pincher -- El Alemein: 23. October - 12. November 1942. (Surrender, May 1943). Photo..
    4. The Allied Conduct of the War as a source of the Cold War.
      1. Early Suspicions: Lend Lease, Atlantic Charter and Truman comment on 22. June 1941.
      2. The issue of the Second Front. Promised by FDR, December 1941. See F-R, 233
        1. Torch, 8. November 1942 --- minimal Vichy resistance guaranteed by Admiral Darlan.
        2. Sicily, 10. July 1943.
        3. Teheran Conference, Dec. 1943.
        4. D-Day, 6. June 1944. Photos. Map
  3. Allied Victory and the Origins of the Cold War in Europe.
    1. The Post-War Aims of the Allies.
      1. Great Britain - Churchill and spheres of influence.
        1. The "soft underbelly"
        2. The Normandy compromise
        3. The "percentages deal." November, 1944. See F-R. 236, right.
      2. The Soviet Union:
        1. The borders issue in the light of 1914 and 1941.
        2. "Sympathetic neighbors."
        3. "Democratic" but not "free elections." See F-R, 237-238.
      3. U.S. -- "a world saved for democracy" or...
    2. Yalta Conference-- 7.-12. February 1945. Photo of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Read F-R., 238.
      1. The military situation at the time.
        1. The war against Germany.
        2. The plea of the JCS
      2. Yalta. Read.
        1. Agreements on Europe
          1. Declaration of a Liberated Europe
          2. German Reparations
          3. Poland
          4. Bulgaria and Rumania; The Baltic, Ruthenia, Moldavia and East Prussia
        2. Agreements on Asia.
      3. Assessment: Read, F-R. 238.
    3. Potsdam--- The Different Circumstances of July 1945.
      1. FDR died 12. April 1945
      2. The German Settlement as one source of the Cold War. FYI: For an interesting current debate on this issue click here.
      3. Oder-Neisse Line
      4. "The baby is born." --- "The first act of the Cold War."
        1. 6. August 1945 --- Hiroshima ---60,000+ killed.
        2. 8. August: Soviet Union enters the war
        3. 9. August--- Nagasaki ----- 30,000-50,000 killed. Photo.
        4. 10. August --- Japan surrendered. Photo of official ceremony, September 2, 1945
  4. The Cold War and the Division of Europe -- Action and Reaction.
    1. 1945-1947
      1. Stalin's "election speech," 9. February 1946
      2. Excerpts from Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech, 5. March 1946. Click here for an audio clip of the 55 minute speech including introduction by President Truman. (For the Iron Curtain segment, advance the slider on RealPlayer G2 to 38:00 minutes.)
    2. 1947-1949. Compare Centennia 1946-1948 with 1925.
      1. The Greek Civil War
      2. George Kennan: The Long Telegram and Mr. X
      3. Read: Truman Doctrine Speech, 12. March 1947
      4. "The other half of the walnut." For links to an audio clip and the text of the Marshall Plan speech, click here. Fifteen countries received $13 billion in aid ---- 80% ultimately gifted
        1. Great Britain 3.1
        2. France 2.7
        3. Italy, 1.5
        4. Federal Republic of Germany, 1.39
      5. "Everyone imposes his system as far as his army (also money) can reach." Stalin, 1945. ----- Action-Reaction.
        1. France and Italy, May 1947, Bizonia, June 1947. > Hungary, summer 1947, Cominform, September 1947.> Austria, November, 1947.
        2. Chechoslovakia, February, 1948 ---------------------->The Brussels Pact, March, 1948
        3. Trizonia and the currency reform of Spring, 1948. -----> Berlin Blocade, 24. June 1948-12. May 1949. See photo of Airlift..
          1. From 170 tons a day to 12,940 tons a day
          2. Total --- 277,000 flights, 1.8 million tons.
          3. Stalin into Hitler
        4. NATO, April 4, 1949 ---> Warsaw Pact, 1950.
    3. The Rise and Fall of Bi-Polarity: Germany: A return to normalcy? 1945-1990.
      1. The German Question: 1945
        1. Kulturnation into Staatsnation.
          1. Kleindeutschland, 1871
          2. Grossdeutschland, 1938
          3. Stunde Null, 1945
        2. The Austrian Question, 1867, 1938, 1945
      1. The Federal Republic of Germany, 23. May 1949.
        1. The Grundgesetz: provisional, ceasing "... to be in force on the day on which a constitution adopted by a free decision of the German people comes into force." ---- "the entire German people are called upon to achieve in free self-determination the unity and freedom of Germany."
          1. The Bundesdorf.
          2. Der Alte.
            • A "westerner" who distrusted his own people who had been shaped by Prussian-led conservative modernization
            • Pandered to the ideal of unification
            • Rejected Stalin offer of 1952
          3. Occupation into full sovereignty on 5. May 1955 --- NATO
        2. The "Economic Miracle" based on Marshall Plan funds, $1.39 billion.
          1. Founding member of the Common Market (EEC: Treaty of Rome, 1957) --- an evolution out of the European Steel and Coal Community (France, Benelux, BRD of 1951.) ---- economic integration of mines and mills.
          2. Hallstein Doctrine: any country that recognized the GDR was guilty of an "unfriendly act."
      2. The German Democratic Republic, constituted 7. October 1949, was the consequence of the failure of the Berlin Blockade.
        1. Saw the nationalization of industry and collectivization of agriculture into VEB.
          1. The burden of reparations.
          2. Integration into COMECON in 1950 with heavy industrial role ---- heavy investment.
        2. Integration in the Warsaw Pact.
        3. 17. June 1953---- protests rising out recognition of growing disparity between east and west ---- brutal repression, beginning of exodus.
        4. Soviet pressure to end the German Question.
          1. 1957, Khruschev pressed the Austrian Model.
          2. 1958 --threat of making a unilateral peace with GDR ---- implications for Berlin.
          3. March, 1961 K. threatened Kennedy with incorporation ----- Kennedy invoked Berlin control agreements of 1945
        5. Voting with their feet:
          1. 30,000 a day in July 1961
          2. 3.5 million since 1949
        6. The "Anti-fascist" wall, 13. August 1961
      3. Berlin as the "flash point" of the Cold War and "the Wall." 13. August 1961.
        1. Click here to begin a photo tour of a divided and now united Berlin13. August 1961.
        1. Text and audio clip: 25. June 1963 ---JFK: "Ich bin ein Berliner."
        2. Human costs over the years, about a 100.
        3. Honecker: "a great contribution to the securing of the peace." Indeed, did put the "German Question" on ice.
          1. Posters of "dreigeteiltes Deutschland, nie." became meaningless.
          2. GDR stabilized, became economically, relatively successful.
        4. Berlin ---- a backwater, periodically made ceremonially important.
      4. Willy Brandt and Ostpolitik: Normalization after 1969
        1. Treaties with USSR, CSSR, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria ended the Hallstein doctrine.
        2. September 1971-1972: German-German Treaties-- Two states - one nation --- agreements on commerce, visitation, communications
        3. 1975 Helsinki Conference on European Security --- high point of detente policies of Nixon/Kissinger, Brandt and de Gaulle:
          1. Recognized de facto borders of post-1945 era.
          2. Soviet promise to honor human rights, freedom of information and travel.
      5. The Revolution of 1989 and the end of the wall 9. November.
        1. Consequence of Ostpolitik and Helsinki..
          1. TV
          2. The Hungarian connection (344,000 in 1989)
          3. Gorbi
        2. The fall of the Wall: 9. November 1989: For a NPR broadcast on the tenth anniversary, including interviews from the time of the fall of the wall, click here.
        3. Geman national unification, September 1990
      6. After the Cold War.

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