Transcript Post War Issues

Post War Issues
MWH – Corning
March 2010
General Overview
• WWII involved the loss of millions of human
lives and billions of dollars in damage.
▫ 60 million dead – (20 million USSR)
▫ $862 billion spent
• The U.S. survived WWII undamaged and with a
strong economy which allowed it to become a
world power.
• Whole societies destroyed (political/economic),
people homeless, property heavily damaged.
Post-War Issues? (Brainstorming)
• Who will run the gov’ts? Who is in charge?
• How to rebuild economies and societies?
• Rebuilding the infrastructure –what should be
done first? How to pay for it?
• How to avoid future wars?
• The Jewish question – what to do with all the
displaced people?
• How to solve international problems in the
future?
Post-War Europe
• Cities damaged: only Paris, Rome and Brussels
undamaged (why?)
▫ London, Warsaw, Berlin
• Displaced people – forced migrations, homeless,
property ownership issues (see article)
• Agriculture destroyed – famine and disease in
cities
• People look to government to solve these
problems – but which government?
Post-War Europe - Politics
• Some nations returned to pre-war governments
(Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway).
• Other countries did not want to return to
previous gov’ts – Germany, France, Italy.
• Increase in the popularity of Communism just
after war but as economic conditions improve
communism declines.
Post-War Europe - Responsibility
• A major issue post-war was War Crimes.
• 1946- an International Military Tribunal
representing 23 nations put Nazi war criminals –
Nuremberg Trials.
• Nazi leaders were charged with waging a “war of
aggression” and committing “crimes against
humanity”.
▫ Hitler, Himmler and Goebbels suicide before the trials
▫ Goring, Hess and other Nazis went on trial
• Question: what is the difference between an act of
war and a war crime?
Post-War Plan
• Yalta Conference – before end war – Feb 1945
▫ Churchill (Great Britain), Roosevelt (USA) and Stalin
(USSR) met in USSR
▫ Agreed to divide Germany into occupation zones
controlled by Allied forces
▫ Germany to compensate USSR
▫ USSR promised free elections for Eastern Europeans
• United Nations – 50 countries joined in forming the
UN (including USA and USSR) June 1945
▫ Protect members against aggression, HQ in New York
▫ General Assembly PLUS Security Council (5
permanent members: US, USSR, Britain, China and
France plus 6 rotating members).
Eastern Europe / Iron Curtain
• Soviet Union wanted to shield itself from another
invasion from the West.
• Used Eastern European nations as a divison between the
West and USSR
▫ Stalin ignored Yalta Agreement and installed/ supported
Communist gov’ts in Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
• Postdam Conference – July 1945 U.S. Pres. Truman
pushed for free elections in Eastern Europe – Stalin
refused
• 1946, Stalin declared “communism and capitalism
cannot exist in the same world”.
• Europe divided by the “Iron Curtain” – democratic
Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe.
U.S. Tries to “Contain” USSR
• The US pursued a foreign policy of
“containment” – directed at blocking Soviet
influence and stopping the expansion of
communism.
▫ Included forming alliances and helping weak
countries resist Soviet advances.
▫ “Truman Doctrine” – US support for countries
that reject communism.
 Opposition to US involvement in affairs of other
nations AND the cost involved.
US Support
• Marshall Plan (1947) – aid program to need
European nations (food, machinery and other
• materials).
▫ Plan very successful
• Berlin Airlift – in 1948 US/British/French forces
withdrew from Germany, USSR held onto its zone
and put West Berlin under a blockade (see pg. 535)
▫ For 11 months US and British officials flew food and
supplies into West Berlin, USSR eventually withdrew
the blockade (May 1949).
Post-War Asia
• Japan was left in ruins – millions killed, damage
to cities, stripped of colonial empire, economic
instability
• Gen. Douglas MacArthur took charge of US
occupation of Japan – he respected Japanese
culture and wanted to be fair/not plant the seeds
of a future war
• Two key components of his plan:
demilitarization and democratization
Occupation Plan
• Demilitarization: disbanding the Japanese military, only
a small police force remained
• Democratization: the process of creating a government
elected by the people
▫ Feb 1946, creation of new constitution- constitutional
monarchy (effective May 1947)
▫ Emperor no longer divine, rather a symbol of Japan
▫ Political power -> Diet, led by Prime Minister
▫ Suffrage for women, bill of rights
▫ Article 9 – Japan cannot declare war, only defensive actions
• Economic reforms: broaden land ownership, increase
democratic participation of workers and small farmers,
independent labor unions.
Surprising Friends / Enemies
• Sept 1951, Allies and Japan sign formal peace
treaty
• 1952 US occupation Japan ends, however US
maintains military bases to protect Japan and
American interests in Asia
▫ Close political and economic ties
• Germany allows US military bases as protection
against USSR – close political and economic ties
• Former allies – US and USSR – are now locked
in a power struggle  Cold War