Today we did more blog discussions!
I. Treaty of Versailles
(know what it specifically did and how it helped lead to WWII)
-Germany lost land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and Czechoslovakia
-Lost overseas colonies to Japan, Great Britian and France
-Germany's military was reduced
-Rhineland
-Germany owed $33 billion dollars after World War I
-Germany could not unite with Austria to form one superstate
-Lost land with resources and industrialized cities
-1. Germany had to admit full responsibility for starting the war in the "War Guilt Clause"
-2. Germany therefore was responsible for all war damages from the war and should pay for all war costs
-3. League of Nations was set up to keep world peace
II. League of Nations
(define and explain it's weaknesses; Why didn't the US join)
-Worldwide peace keeping organization
-If a country has a problem with another country, the come to the League of Nations and they solve he problem peacefully
-The United States was not a part of it
-We felt like we would be at war constantally if we were a part of the League of Nations
-Wilson wanted it to happen, thought it would be good. Congress thought we would be involved in war and European conflict (Democrat vs. Republican classic example)
-The most powerful country in the world (United States) was not a part and the League of Nations lost credibility, Great Britain and France were not happy
-League of Nations had no military force
-Would condem the action (tell them to leave) or could set up economic sanctions (wouldn't trade with them)
-Most of the time they would just tell them to stop and not do anything
-When Hitler came to power he had Germany drop out of the League of Nations
-League of Nations was very weak and ultimately a failure of an organization
-For anything to happen it required an unanimous vote
III. Know the basics about the following countries:
(How did WWI/Treaty of Versailles impact this country; How did this country change in the 1920's/1930's(includes leader coming to power and their goals); What was/were this countries military strategies in the 1920's and 1930's; How was this country involved on WWII(what alliance did they belong to, how were they involved within the war))
Germany:
-Most imacted by the Treaty of Versailles
-Geography was chaged greaty because many new countries were formed
-Weimer was a democracy set up in Germany. First time in history they had a democracy. Democracy struggles at first. The Communists and Nazis used all the troubles to their advantage, and blamed the Weimer Republic (that was run by Jews supposively). Hitler came to power legally. President Hindenberg of Germany appointed Hitler as Chancelor. When Hitler came to power he got rid of the diplomacy right away. He called himself the Fuer (spelling is wrong.. there's accents somewhere also). They went straight to dictatorship.
-When he came to power he got Germany back on their feet. Build up the military. Promised they would get out of the depression by telling them they would have jobs and then actually supplying them with jobs. He wanted to take over Europe and got some of the land with German people back. The land included Czchoslvakia and Austria. Wanted to get rid of Jews and undesireable people. Basically wanted to undo the Treaty of Versailles. Lebensraum = "Living Space". He wanted to create an Arian race. He would have blonde haired soldiers rape blonde haired women and create blonde haired, blue eyed babies. He wanted to take over the Soviet Union and almost acomplished but didn't. It would be living space in Russia for the German People.
-He made more military jobs and took over countries before WWII. He brought Germany back into major country status and Germans were proud of their country again.
-Hitler killed off his oponents so you have everything in your control.
-Jews had to wear stars of david and be segregated, then became slaves, then death camps came along. He wanted to ship jews and other people he didn't like to Madagascar.
-Most of it had to do with undoing the Treaty of Versailles (that was the method behind his other goals)
-Germany was breaking rules, but it wasn't until Hitler came to power where he announced it
-"Blitzkreg" - 'Lightning Warfare' - send everything you have really fast. Airel attacks and bombing, then ground troups. Poland was taken within a month. France was taken over within a month. Other countries were taken over within two months. The countries weren't ready and only focused on defensive stratagies. German Army worked on offensive. Take out transportation and communication systems, as well as troops. Then bring in the tanks, infantry, and mechanised units.
-Japan and Italy were Germany's allies. Axis powers.
-Germany was split into two until 1991. East and West Germany.
-German cities were bombed and practally turned to rubbel. Nazis went to trial for war crimes. Hitler killed himself, as well as other high officials. Many Nazis excaped to South America, like Brazil. Other Nazis were put to death. They could not end the war and let the Nazis stay in power, because things would not change. We decided it would be a long war and we would have to invade Germany because the war would not be over until we got rid of all the Nazis.
-Hitler came to power in 1933.
Italy:
-Italy was an alli of ours during World War I.
-Treaty of Versailles made Italy not get all the land they were promised, just a little piece.
-First had Constitutional Monarchy with a king, then Musolini worked his way up through the military and the kig let him set up his own democracy. Musolini slowly turned it into a dictatorship.
-Fashism - dictatorship where the country is the most important thing.
-King Emmanuel stayed king for awhile while Musolini was in charge, because they made a deal that if he stayed king then Musolini could have his own government.
-He was appointed to power.
-At first he was strengthening the economy and making it stable, then he started to strengthen the military and create them into more of a threat. He kept the Communists out of power. He made sure that the trains run on time. After building up the military, he got a big head and started trying to take over more land.
-Musolini came to power in 1922.
-Hitler had to help Musolini out a lot because Italy wasn't very strong but Musolini wanted them to be, and he wanted to dominate his portion of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea and a lot of Africa.
-Africa was controlled by Germany, Italy, Great Britain and France.
-He had a lot of support from the working and middle class. Then he turned into a vicious dictator. He scared people by making them believe that he would kill them if they didn't agree with him. He set up a secret police that looked for people who didn't support him. His people had no voice in the economy or governemnt, it was all up to him.
-Musolini had an athiest father and Roman Catholic mother. He was forced to go to Catholic school but was an athiest. He got expelled by stabbing someone with a pen knife. Later he became an elementry school teacher. He realized he can't discriminate against his country since they were mostly Catholic so he made deals with the Catholic church so he could gain support. The Catholic church supported him and he supported them, whether they liked it or not.
-The people weren't trusting of just one ruler in the government after WWII.
-Italy became an alli of ours during WWII after Musolini died.
Soviet Union:
-5 year plan: lower to upper class in 5 years
-Nationalization - Industry. Collectivization - farms.
-[Look at assignment blog #4]
Japan:
-Received German teritory, many islands
-Had an emperor, Emperor Hirohito
-Hideki Tojo was the leader of the military
-Hirohito approved the attacking of Pearl Harbor
-They couldn't trade with anyone because of high tariffs, and they wanted natural resources/imports
-Invaded Mancuria, Northern part of China, to get their resources
-Invaded the rest of China in 1937 to dominate Southeast Asia and be the dominant power
-Military had too much power and didn't listen to Hirohito
-Everything in Japan was pretty much destroyed because the United States was bombing them every day with the two atomic bombs and conventional bombs (basic bombs, non-atomic)
-Japan didn't want to invade the United States because they didn't think it would be easy
-We weren't trading oil with them, and they really wanted us to
-United States said Japan had to back out of China before oil would be traded with them again, but Japan didn't want to so they decided to bomb Pearl Harbor
-Japan didn't want us to get into the war so they bombed us, because they thought they were wiping out our whole Navy
-Many negative feelings came out after the Treaty of Versailles. They felt they deserved a place among the world powers but were being treated like a second-class nation
-Admiral Yamamoto was educated in the United States but said if they wanted to beat us they had to take out the Pacific fleet
-In the 1920s Japan did everything they could to make it look like they were close allies
-When the great depression hit the military came to power and said if they can't trade anymore they will invade instead
-Japan was practally demolished, but the United States helped rebuild it to stop the spread of Communism
Great Britain:
-Treaty of Versailles gave them African colonies of Germany
-War payments from Germany
-Constitutional Monarchy
-Nevil Chamberlin was the leader before Winston Churchill
-Chamberlin wasn't well liked because he held the Munich Conference with France, giving Germany Czhelslovakia if he promised not to take anymore land
-Churchill was elected Prime Minister right before World War II because they realized they should have listened to him at the Munich Conference
-His goals were to beat Germany, keep the British land safe, and the citizens unharmed
-Britain was being bombed every day and night and he said they will "never surrender"
-Major allience of the United States, allied powers
-Used country as a base
-Lost it's power status and empire fell apart
-Much damage because of bombing
-Churchill worked in about all areas of government
France:
-Treaty of Versailles gave them back land from Germany, right on the border and in Africa
-Liked the German Army being cut back
-Felt the Treaty should have been tougher on Germany, they wanted Rhineland
-Semi-Presidential System
-Charles de Gaulle led the Free French Underground
-Free French Undergroud were people who fled France and went to Great Britain
-We delt with Charles de Gaulle as our allie
-Vichy Government controlled the Southern part of France
-Vichy Government was led by Marshal Henri Petain
-German Nazis controlled the Northern part of France
-Vichy Government was allied with the German Nazis and helped gather Jews to send to camps
-French were not proud of this
-Charles de Gaulle became President of France after WWII
-Wanted to promote industrial growth, introduced a new French currency to control inflation, wanted to make and keep Germany weak, didn't want to worry about Germany anymore, wanted to keep out of any wars
-Became demolished by Germans
-Used an defensive military strategy
-Maginot Line was a great defensive strategy, but failed because of the way Germany attacked
-Allied powers, except for Vichy Government (Axis)
-Never fully recovered from attacks
-Germany had control of France after a month, and most of the attacks took place after D-Day
-Under Great Britain in superpower status
China:
-China didn't sign the Treaty of Versailles
-Japan did get a little land from China but not much
-Government was an empire
-Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of the Nationalist party and hated Communists
-Official leader of China
-Leader of Communists was Mao Tse-Tung (or Zesong)
-Both fighted a lot over Communism
-United States supported Chiang Kai Shek
-Japan invaded China and China suffered a lot but did not surrender
-Thousands of people were killed by Japanese soldiers and women were raped by them
-China was allies
-Chiang Kai Shek didnt like the United States and thought we wanted to take over his country, so he wanted the war to be between United States and Soviet Union
-Wanted to defeat the Japanese
-Mao wins and Communist rules
-A lot of tension was created between China and Japan
-Lost millions of people, thousands of soldiers
US:
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Canada:
-Got a very small portion of land from the Treaty of Versailles
-Still a British colony but was slowly moving twards independence
-Didn't have a very good government
-Constitutional Monarchy
-William McKinzie King was the leader of Canada
-Came to power after being in politics for a while
-He served as the Prime Minister of Canada and was elected to that position
-Gave Canada their own voice and letting them have a say in war
-King lowered the tariffs but only did it to please the people of Canada
-Helped Britain during the war by helping in the Battle of Britain and helped escort ships
-Air Force and Navy played a major role
-Sent ground troops and fought in all areas of the war
-Canada was in the year two years longer than the United States
-Production of food and war goods was high on the homefront
-Allied powers
-Before the war they were an agricultural nation, and after the war they became industrial and modern
-Helped them achieve independence
Australia:
-Australia didn't sign the Treaty of Versailles
-Had a small army after WWI
-Colony of Great Britain so they went to war
-Goals were to take defensive measure and build the military
-Helped the United States with fighting the Japanese on islands
-United States base of operation in the Pacific
-Important for troops, operations, and supplies
-Got independence after WWII
-A little more important than Canada
-Allied powers
-Changed foreign policy, grew military, and made industrialization quicker
-Became actually independent very slowly
IV. Hitler's Treatment of the Jews
V. Munich Conference-Policy of Appeasement
VI. US Role in the 1920's/1930's
-Washington Naval Conference
-Kellog-Briand Pact
-Neutrality Acts throughout the 1930's
-Quarantine Speech
-Bases for Destroyers
-Lend-Lease Act
VII. Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact
VIII. Outbreak of War--Blitzkrieg!!
-Japan and China
-Germany and Poland
-Germany and France
-Germany and Great Britain
-Germany and the Soviet Union
IX. Pearl Harbor
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