Transcript The End of War in Europe

The End of WWII in Europe
• Ending WWII in Europe
– “The Fall” Clips
• Nuremburg
How to PWN the documents
• Close analysis! (NOT JUST RESTATING)
Ex: U.S. Report (Doc 4) Says it was militarily
justified
– COMPARE ACROSS DOCUMENTS: But the map
shows that railroads were not hit…
– Analyze: this means that…
• If you can do this…you will be in a better spot
than most juniors!
Germans vs. “partisans”
- punishing individuals
- collective reprisals: entire
villages slaughtered
German soldiers shoot
villagers in
Yugoslavia,
April 1941
Heaps of German soldiers at Stalingrad (240,000 German
soldiers died)
Operation Mincemeat and Fortitude
• Proposed by Ian Fleming
•
Plan: Dress a body as a
British spy, filled with
misinformation
Operation Fortitude:
-Inflatable tank armies
- Mass misinformation
campaigns
Terror bombing
• Attacks on civilians a hallmark of Axis powers
– Rape of Nanking
– John Rabe
• But Allies consider it too!
• Terror bombing:
– Night time bombing vs. Day time bombing
• Incendiary vs. “High Explosive”
– Dresden
Second Front
• Since Barbarossa, Stalin
had begged for a 2nd
Front
• Britain and U.S. agree
– Mix of noble and selfish
reasons
– “Fortress Europe”
Strategic Differences
• US: direct cross
channel invasion of
Nazi-held France
• Britain: indirect
approach, attacking
through the “soft
underbelly of Europe”
• Noble and selfish
reasons!
–
–
–
–
Casualties
Communism
Protecting empire
Postwar world
British Approach
American Approach
What They Agreed On
• Keep going and attack the “soft underbelly”
– Tie down German soldiers in the South
– British and Americans know this would mean no “2nd
Front” in Europe until 1944
– But still prepare to invade rest of Europe
– If you were a Soviet leader, what would you think…?
– Set for May, 1944
• “Unconditional surrender” of Axis Powers
Invasion of Italy
•
•
•
•
July 1943, Americans and British
Invaded Sicily. Next they invaded
the Italian peninsula.
Italians revolted against Mussolini
and signed an armistice.
But Germans in Italy kept up the
fight. Germans didn’t surrender in
Italy until May 2, 1945
. The Allied invasion of Italy
diverted German resources from
other places.
• But if you’re the Soviet Union?
IV. Operation Overlord - the DDay invasion June 6, 1944.
Central Argument: With Germany’s defeat,
superpower rivalries begin to emerge-defining the
next 50 years to come.
Yalta Conference
• By February 1945, it was clear the Allies would
win the war in Europe
–
–
–
–
June 1944: D-Day Landing
Allied air superiority
Bombing campaigns in Germany proper
Soviet Union chasing German armies
• Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta to
decide how to deal with Germany, how to rebuild
Europe and how to win the war with Japan
The View from the Soviet Union
• 1941-1944: “Fighting alone”
– Perception of allies
• IMAGINE: If you were a Soviet
citizen…what would you think
about the allies?
• Motivation for “Race to Berlin”
• Additional U.S. campaigns: Market Garden,
Battle of the Bulge
Yalta Tensions
• Roosevelt and Churchill wanted free elections
in Eastern Europe
• Roosevelt wanted Stalin’s support for the war
against Japan and for the creation of the
United Nations
• Stalin wanted Germany weak, divided and
controlled by the Allies
But wait…who are the “Allies?”
• Eventually 40+ nations
– United in opposition to
Germany, Japan, Italy
• All pledge to follow the
principles laid out in the
ATLANTIC CHARTER
– Document drafted by
Britain and the U.S.
• Seeds sown for union +
disunion
Yalta Compromises
• Roosevelt and Churchill agreed Germany could
be temporarily divided into four zones
(American, French, British and Soviet)
• Stalin agreed to “free and unfettered
elections” in Eastern Europe,
– Would join the war against Japan
– Would support the creation of United Nations
So…
• When the United States and Britain hear that
the Soviet Union is racing to Berlin, the
question for U.S. generals is:
• Race to Berlin as well?
• Or secure Southern Germany, prevent Nazi
leadership from escaping to Bavarian
mountains?
Timeline
•
•
•
•
June 1944: D-Day landing
November-December 1944: Battle of the Bulge
April 1945: Race to Berlin
May 1945: Battle and Fall of Berlin
Race to Berlin
• Stalin orders a “competition” between his best
generals
• Also knowledge: U.S. + Britain crossing the
Rhine river into Germany too
• Soviet Army: 2.5 million soldiers,
6000 tanks, 40,000 artillery pieces
• Wehrmacht: 300,000
• Fear of Soviet retribution: 23 million Soviet
dead
The cost of the race
• Incredible casualties
• “Of our unit's 360 handsome young men who
gathered at the Dnieper River, only 6 made it
to Berlin” says one Soviet veteran.
Berlin falls
•
•
•
•
90,000 old people and kids vs. Soviet army
1st wave of Soviet soldiers: highly disciplined
2nd wave: …not so much
But why such a race
for Berlin?
• Operation Borodino:
Soviet nuke program!
• 3 tons of uranium
recovered
German bombings:
Rotterdam, Coventry, London
(and many, many more)
Allied fire-bombing:
many cities, including
Dresden (Feb. 1945)
VI The End of War in Europe
•
•
•
By April 1945 Russian troops from
the East greeted their
“Amerikanskie tovarishchi”
(American comrades) from the
West at the Elbe River in Germany.
By the end of April the Russians
captured Berlin. Hitler quickly
married Eva and on April 30, 1945
they committed suicide.
On May 7 Germany surrendered,
and Allies proclaimed VE Day on
May 8, 1945.
April 30, 1945 Adolf Hitler
commits suicide