Transcript 16.5_WWII Aftermath

Main Idea:
WWII cost millions of
human lives and
billions of dollars in
damages. It left
Europe and Japan in
ruins.
Why it Matters
Now:
The U.S. survived
WWII undamaged,
allowing it to become
a world leader.
16.5 Europe & Japan in Ruins
Text pg. 514-517
World War II ends with the surrender of Germany on May 8th
and the surrender of Japan on Sept. 2nd 1945.
Wartime conferences
• Attendees: THE BIG 3
– U.S.
– Great Britain
– Soviet Union
British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, U.S. President Franklin
Roosevelt, and Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin met at Yalta in
February 1945 to discuss their joint
occupation of Germany and plans
for postwar Europe.
Wartime conferences
• Nov. 1943: Teheran Conference
– Allies agree to launch attacks from Russia on the
east at the same time as US and Great Britain
attack from west
– Soviets agreed to enter war against Japan after
Germany is defeated
– Inconclusive discussion about occupation of
Germany
Wartime conferences
• Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference
– Plans for post-war
• Germany to be disarmed & divided into 4 zones
of occupation
• Soviets would attack Japan within three months
of the collapse of Germany
– Receive territory in Manchuria and several
islands
– Poland would have free elections after the
war
• Veto power to be given to Big 5 nations at U. N.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybnzMnFEWJY
Wartime conferences
• July 1945: Potsdam
– Unconditional surrender of Japan or risk
destruction
– Set up of a council to administer Germany
– Transfer of German people out of Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, and Poland into Germany
– Stalin announced that there will be no elections in
Poland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CYUh16AHIk
United Nations
• April 1945: First Meeting
• Jan. 1946: First session
http://www.history.com/videos/
united-nations– London
founded#united-nations– representatives of 51 nations
founded
• June 1946: Agreed on a charter
– created the General Assembly
• made up of all member nations
• expected to function as a “town meeting of the world”
– 11 member Security Council held the real power
• Permanent seats: U.S., Great Britain, France, China & Soviet
Union
– power to veto any council action
• other six seats rotated
Devastation of WWII
• Europe was in ruins
– 40 million Europeans had died – 2/3 of them civilians
– Ground war had destroyed much of the countryside
• Agriculture was disrupted
– Most men fought in the war & the women worked in war
production, so there were very few to tend to the fields
• Transportation systems were destroyed
– Most available food did not reach the cities
» Thousands died of famine & disease spread through
the bombed-out cities
» August 1945, 4,000 citizens of Berlin died every day!
– The first winter people went without shoes & coats
Devastation of WWII
– Displaced persons were struggling to get home
• Millions found themselves in the wrong country when the
postwar treaties changed national borders
• jammed the roads trying to get home, find their families,
or find a safe place
– Hundreds of cities reduced to rubble
• London was left in ruins by the German Blitz.
• Warsaw, Poland, was almost wiped completely wiped out
• Berlin was 95% demolished
– One U.S. officer stationed in Berlin reported,
“Wherever we looked, we saw desolation. It was like
a city of the dead.”
A City in Great Britain
After the war, many civilians stayed where they were & tried to get on with their
lives. Some lived in partially destroyed homes or apartments. Others huddled
in caves & cellars beneath the rubble. They had no water, no electricity, and
very little food. With factories destroyed or damaged, most people had no
earnings to buy the food that was available.
Costs of WWII: Allies & Axis
Direct War Costs
Military
Killed/Missing
Civilians
Killed
United States
$288 billion
292,131
0
Great Britain
$117 billion
271,311
60,595
France
$111.3 billion
205,707
173,260*
USSR
$93 billion
13,600,000
7,720,000
Germany
$212.3 billion
3,300,000
2,893,000*
953,000
Japan
$41.3 billion
1,140,429
Note: *Of the 173,260 French civilians that were killed, 65,000 were
murdered Jews.
*Of the 2,893,000 German civilians who were killed, about 170,000 were
murdered Jews & 56,000 were foreign civilians in Germany.
Nuremberg War Trials
• Nov. 20, 1945: first trial against the principal war
criminals of the “Third Reich“ began
– International Military Court in Nuremberg
– indictment includes war crimes, “crimes against
humanity“ & “crimes against peace”
– Not all major Nazis could be brought before the
Allies: Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich
Himmler committed suicide
– Lasts over a year
Nuremberg War Trials
• Oct. 1, 1946: 12 of the 22 accused are condemned to
death
– Göring escapes the hangman by committing suicide
– Seven receive sentences of many years or life
– Only three cases were acquitted
– In later trials of lesser leaders, nearly 200 more Nazis
were found guilty of war crimes
– For the first time in history a nation’s leaders had
been held legally responsible for their actions during
wartime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWR2I5Q9d9U
Occupation of Japan
• Japan was occupied by U.S. forces for 6 years
– under the command of General Douglass MacArthur
• disbanded Japanese armed forces, leaving only a small
police force
• introduced free-market practices that led to economic
recovery
• worked to transform Japan’s government
– called for a new constitution
» known as the MacArthur Constitution today
» guarantee basic freedoms
» women’s suffrage
• More than 1,100 Japanese were arrested & put on trial
– Seven, including former prime minister Hideki Tojo, were
sentenced to death by hanging
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwFF_0fugR8
16.5 Assignment
p.517 #3-8; p.519 SBA #1-2