Transcript Chapter 19 Section 1 Notes Healing the Wounds of War

Chapter 19 Section 1 Notes
Healing the Wounds of War
Both Germany and Japan were decimated by the war
Germany
The Potsdam Conference was held by the Allies in Potsdam,
Germany to work out the details of their joint occupation of
Germany.
•The British, French and UD divided up the Western side
•The USSR occupied the Eastern and rural part
•Berlin, in the Soviet zone, was divided likewise
•Austria was also divided up
Pledges, Promises and
Issues with German Occupation
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Both side agreed to crush the Nazi Party
Re-establish local governance
Rebuild industry
The Allies agreed to repatriate German Refugees
Soviet Actions that Caused Tensions
• The Soviets demanded that Poland be given German
territory won in the war
• They also wanted reparations from Germany
• The Soviets had taken over the countries between them
and Germany
The Occupation of Japan
From 1945 to 1952
• Emperor Hirohito was confined to his palace and had no
power
• Several million Japanese troops were demobilized
Democracy in Japan
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In 1947 a new democratic Constitution was adopted:
Voting rights to women
Freedom of Religion
Abolished the army and navy- forever
Land redistribution and unions were legal
Broke up the “zaibatsu”- huge corporations run by single
families- Japan made a huge recovery
War Crime Trials
Nuremburg Trials (Germany)- Before an international
military court horrible testimony resulted in the
sentencing of 12 to death and 7 to jail sentences.
Many Nazis like Adolf Eichmann escaped to Latin America
International Tribunal for the Far East (Japan)- General
MacArthur set these up and they last for over two years.
In the end Hideki Tojo (Japan’s Premier) and many others
were sentenced to death
*The #1 lesson is that countries and individuals can be
held accountable for atrocities during war
The United Nations
*The number 1 goal of the UN is world peace*
• April 1945- 50 nations met in San Francisco to draw up the
charter
• General Assembly- includes all member nations- deals with
day -to -day stuff
• Security Council- 15 nations, 5 permanent with veto power
over the general assembly. The SC deals with military and
political problems- US,GB, USSR, France, China
• The US overwhelmingly joined in October of 1945 and
Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the US’s first delegates
• Many critics thought the UN would fail because of lack of
enforcement powers
The Founding of Israel
GB controlled Palestine and after WW2 many
European Jews moved there and GB turned
over the issue to the UN
• The UN decide to divide Palestine into two parts- one
for the Jews and one for the Arabs-against Arab
opposition
• The UN plan was a victory for Zionism- a movement
looking for a Jewish homeland in Palestine led by
Ben-Gurion- formerly of Poland
• The British withdrew in 1948 and the US and the
USSR quickly recognized Israel
The Arab-Israeli War
The Arab states joined together and went to war
with Israel
• Israel was well-armed from the support of the
American-Jewish community
• Ben-Gurion led the Israelis to victory
• In 1949 Ralph Bunche a US diplomat
persuaded both sides to accept an armistice
and he won the Nobel Peace Prize
• Even after this the Arab countries refused to
recognize Israel’s right to exist