historia

Why did the Second World War happen: The origins of the Second World War can be found in the world order created after the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles caused feelings of humiliation and resentment among the Germans and Italians, who refused to accept the restrictions imposed.

THE TOTALITARIAN REGIMES’ DESIRE FOR WAR: As we have seen, the fascist regimes in Italy and Nazi Germany developed expansionist policies that aspired to expand their territorial boundaries and challenged the consensus established within the League of Nations (IN). To achieve this, they strengthened their armies, encouraged militarism and became involved in an intense arms race.

ESCALATING AGGRESSION: In the 1930s, the authoritarian states began a series of hostile attacks against other countries:

• In Asia, Japan sought to expand its territory at the expense of China. It occupied Manchuria in 1931 and invaded China in 1937.
• In Africa, Italy took possession of Ethiopia in 1935 as part of its mission to extend its colonial empire. In Europe, it also invaded Albania.
• Italy and Germany took part in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939. supplying the insurgent forces with soldiers and weapons, while France and Great Britain chose not to get involved Non-Intervention Pact.
• Germany developed a policy of territorial expansion aimed at creating a vast empire (Third Reich of lands inhabited by Germanic peoples. In 1936, in violation of the terms of the Treaty of Versails Hitler remilitarised the Rhineland In March 1938, it used military force to occupy Austria (Anschlust and in September demanded Czechoslovakia hand over the Sudetenland, which was populated by a significant German minority.

THE WEAKNESS OF THE DEMOCRACIES: In light of the authoritarian regimes’ hostile policies, the democracies attempted to insulate themselves from the world’s problems (US isolationism) or focus their attention on domestic issues (growing unemployment, social unrest, etc.). The weakness of the democracies and the League of Nations’ failure to respond to Nazi and fascist hostilities encouraged their aggression and eventually led to war. The Munich Conference (1938) was convened by Hitler following protests by France, Great Britain and other powers over his policy of expansionism. It ended with the democracies accepting Hitler’s promises to expand no further.

PREPARING FOR WAR: THE FORMATION OF ALLIANCES: This expansionist policy was based on a series of mutually supportive international treaties. In 1936, Germany entered into the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance with Italy, which was renewed in 1939 under the name Pact of Steel. Moreover, in November 1936, Germany entered into the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan. To prevent the USSR from joining forces with France and Great Britain and helping Poland, Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939) with Stalin, after which he began the invasion of Poland (September 1939). Allies declared war on Germany, which marked the beginning of the Second World War.

Development of the war: Axis victories (1939-1941): Following the invasion of Poland (September 1939), Hitler launched Blitzkrieg, ‘lightning war’, which consisted of using armoured divisions (the Panzer divisions) and strong aerial support. This type of war made surprise attacks and quick advances possible. Poland collapsed after three

weeks, and the country was divided between Germany and the USSR according to the terms of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. In 1940, the German army invaded most of western Europe (Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern and western France). By that summer, Great Britain was the only country to have resisted German occupation. To prepare for a possible assault on Britain, the Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force, bombed British ports and cities in what was known as the Battle of Britain. Great Britain resisted the attack, and Hitler was forced to abort the mission. He ordered the blockade of the British Isles and launched the Battle of the Atlantic to cut off British supply lines. He also fought the British in the Mediterranean, and the German African Corps (under Rommel’s command) conquered North Africa. Yugoslavia and Greece also fell in April 1941.

In June 1941, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa and attacked the USSR, quickly reaching the gates of Moscow and Leningrad. This was an extremely significant event as, in response, the USSR joined the Allied forces in the battle against the Axis powers. In December, Japan destroyed the US fleet in Pearl Harbor and the US entered the war.

Allied offensives (1942-1945): After the USSR and the United States entered the conflict, the war took a decisive turn in June 1942. The Americans stopped Japanese advances in the Pacific (Battles of Midway and Guadalcanal) and started reconquering occupied territories. In North Africa, the British defeated the Germans at El Alamein. General Eisenhower landed in French Africa and defeated the Germans in Tunisia. The German assault on Stalingrad. Was Hitler’s first major failure. The city withstood several months of siege, after which the German Field Marshal Paulus surrendered. The liberation of Europe was hastened by the 1943. Normandy landings by British and American troops (June 1944), which brought many soldiers and weapons into France. The British and American forces defeated the German resistance and began advancing from the west, liberating part of France and entering Germany. At the same time, the Russians moved in from the east, pushing the Germans out of Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. To support these advances, German cities were subjected to heavy Allied bombings. Both Allied armies occupied Germany and met at the River Elbe on 26 April 1945. Hitler committed suicide on 30 April and, on 8 May, Germany surrendered.

End of the Pacific War: In the Pacific, the Americans had reconquered most of the territories occupied by the Japanese. But Japan continued its fanatical defence, symbolised by the kamikazes. To force Japan to surrender, US President Truman decided to use a new weapodie agos the atomic bomb, which was dropped on the cities of Hirosfima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The level of destruction was like nothing seen before and approximately 150000 people died. Faced with this nuclear horror, Japan surrendered on 2 September. The Second World War was over.

The consequences of the war: Human and economic losses. The Second World War left behind a trail of devastation and horror. Over 50 million people died in the war, the largest proportion of whom were from the USSR, followed by Germany and Poland. The weapons, bombs and aeroplanes used during the war increased the capacity for destruction on both the fronts and among the civilian population. Civilian victims represent more than half the total number of deaths. In the First World War, only 5% of the dead were civilians. There was also extensive destruction of property. On the other hand, the countries that had stayed out of the dispute and became suppliers experienced economic growth. Population displacements, continued in the post-war period. There were approximately thirty million displaced Europeans wandering the continent. Europe was materially and morally destroyed. Two new powers emerged: the United States and the USSR.

The moral impact: The brutality of military action led people to question the moral and political values of European civilisation. Human rights had been systematically violated, and a culture of violence and cruelty had become established over the course of 6 years. The discovery of the concentration camps and practices of extermination brought to light the scale of the Nazi atrocities. The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were interpreted as a global apocalypse. In addition, evidence of the massacres carried out by the Soviets in Poland raised further ideological doubts.

FROM PEACE CONFERENCES TO CONFRONTATION: The three major Allies (Great Britain, the United States and the USSR) met for the first time at the Tehran Conference (November 1943), which was attended by Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. There, they took joint military measures to speed up the end of the war. The second conference took place in Yalta (February 1945). This meeting agreed denazification and partition of Germany and Austria into four occupied zones and the division of Berlin and Vienna; the organisation of democratic elections in the liberated countries; and the creation of an international peacekeeping body: the United Nations. The third peace conference was held in Potsdam (August 1945). The new leaders (Atlee, Truman and Stalin) reached an agreement to return all of the European territories annexed by Germany, separate Austria, dismantle the military industry and prosecute and punish the Nazi leaders. Finally, peace treaties with Germany’s other allies were drawn up during the Paris Peace Conference in 1946.

The United Nations (UN): The need for an organisation to replace the discredited League of Nations was addressed. Today it assembles nearly every country in the world and carries out humanitarian missions and mediation efforts in armed conflicts.

THE FOUNDING OF THE UN: The new organisation sought to ensure international peace and security, between nations. It established the sovereign equality of all member states and promoted the maintenance of peace., and the right of the peoples to self-determination. Based on these principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948.

GOVERNING BODIES: All member states are now represented and have voting rights at the General Assembly. This body can only issue recommendations, § it has an essentially moral authority. The Security Council is the highest executive body. Initially it comprised 11 members (today increased to 15). The major powers (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and Chino. are permanent members, and the others are elected periodically by the General Assembly. The Council considers the Assembly’s recommendations and, by a simple majority, can turn them into decisions that are compulsory for all member states. However, all permanent members have the right veto these decisions. This ensures the predominance of the great powers. The Secretary-General in New York is responsible for the institution’s on going administration and coordination across the UN. The Secretary General is nominated by the Security Council on appointed by the General Assembly for a period of five years.

THE WORK OF THE UN: In addition to representative and governing bodies, the UN also has other agencies, which are available to all member states. The International Court of Justice at The Hague, which is under the Assembly’s control, is an example. The Economic and Social Council is the UN’s main body for promoting the social and economic development of countries. Over time it has become a rvery important institution that controls a large number of specialised agencies focused on health, childhood, development, refugees, etc. The UN’s political role is limited due to its inability to influence the world’s major powers, but the work of its Lagencies is extremely important in defending human rights. For example, the UNHCR is dedicated to protecting refugees, UNICEF works for disadvantaged children and UNESCO protects cultural heritage.

Why was there a revolution in Russia?

A: AN AUTOCRATIC EMPIRE: In the early 20th century, the tsars ruled a vast empire where the system of absolute monarchy continued. Politically, tsarsim was an autocracy. The tsar had absolute power: he ruled by decree, was not subject to any constitution and did not have to answer to a parliament. A loyal bureaucracy and a powerful army controlled the empire, while the Orthodox Church was one of the great ideological pillars of the regime.

B: FEUDAL AGRICULTURE AND DEPENDENT INDUSTRY: The economy and social structures of the Russian Empire were the most backward in Europe. Agriculture was the main economic activity, and land was controlled by an immensely powerful and wealthy aristocracy. Feudalism, which had disappeared from most of Europe, continued in the Russian Empire. The majority of the population were peasants and lived in miserable conditions. Personal servitude lasted until 1865 and, although the power of the landed nobility was abolished, it remained intact. In some areas (Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Urals, etc.), industrialisation had begun, driven largely by foreign capital. A large industrial proletariat had emerged who worked in large factories. Almost half of all workers worked in companies with more than 500 workers, for very low wages.

C: OPPOSITION TO TSARISM: Opposition to the regime first developed among the peasants buriney did noiser any dear aliternatives. Marxist ideas spread among industrial workers. h 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was founded led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin). The party soon split into two’ wings, the Mensheviks who were unconvinced by the tsar’s reforms and favoured a revolutionary path. In the early 20th century, bourgeois liberal parties like the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kade) began to appear in Russia. Further to the left, the Socialist Revolutionary Party (the SRs or Esers) was influential among the peasants.

The 1905 revolution: In 1905, a revolution broke out demanding the end of autocracy. A peaceful demonstration (Bloody Sunday). Peasants and soldiers organised themselves into Soviets.

D THE CRISIS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR: Russia entered the First World War in 1914, but it was not prepared for such a long, hard and expensive war. is army was not ready, is fransport system was inefficient and is arms industry could not cope with demand.” As economic resources were devoled to waf, famine appeared in cilies, spreading unrest among workers, peasants and soldiers. All of this made Tsar Nicholas Il very unpopular.  1916, af the height of the war, those who opposed sarism samy he chance to end the regime and take power.

The United States: from prosperity to crisis

The Roaring Twenties: Economic growth in the United States continued for the decade following the end of the war (1918-1929). It was the decade of prosperity, the Roaring Twenties, in which the American way of life and the values that underpinned it, which guaranteed the wealth and wellbeing of its citizens, became a model for the whole world. Economic growth was based on a comprehensive transformation of goods manufacturing processes, which were dominated by technical )nnovation. Taylorism and Fordism helped increase productivity and reduce costs. The rise in workers wages, advertising campaigns, hire purchase and bank loans paved the way for an era of mass consumption. Huge stock market boom. A rise in demand for shares, whose value rose steadily.

The paradox of prosperity: The period of prosperity in the 1920s did not benefit everyone equally, and a series of events between 1926 and 1927 led to a crisis. Agricultural prices were increasing less rapidly than industrial prices, and many farmers, who had borrowed money to acquire new land and machinery and thus increase production, realised that the market could not absorb all their production. Stock accumulated, prices fell and many farmers, lost everything they owned. Traditional industries stagnated and entire regions missed out on modernisation. The rise in wages was much lower than corporate profits and production, and people had little purchasing power. Overproduction was becoming a problem for the US economy.

The Wall Street Crash of 1929: Many shareholders knew that the prices of shares were much hicker than their real value. Mistrust spread among investors, and on 24. October 1929 (Black Thursday, a huge selling wave hit the New York Stock Exchange. Suddenly, everyone wanted to selltheir shares and no one wanted to buy them. Their value plummeted and triggered the Wall Street Crash (the Stock Market Crash) of 1929. Many investors were ruined and panic spread among the citizens who locked)to the banks to withdraw their money. The banks were forced to close due to a lack of funds, since they could not collect loans provided to individuals and insolvent businesses. The Wall Street Crash led to the failure of many banks. In a few years, the crisis affected many industries, trade and agriculture, causing a widespread economic recession (the Great Depression). As unemployment increased, consumption declined and many factories closed, as they could not sell their products. Unemployment rose to 13 million in 1932. Many families fell into poverty.

The fight against the crisis the New Deal: The US and most European countries adopted measures to reduce the effects of the widespread crisis and promote economic recovery. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, elected in 1932, introduced the New Deal a series of political programmes based on the ideas of the economist J. M. Keynes, who advocated state intervention in the economy. Its main areas of action were:

• Economic: The government helped private companies in difficulty, created public companies in sectors without incentives for private investment and ordered agricultural stock to be destroyed. The state also established stricter control over banks by monitoring their deposits and forcing them to offer low-interest loans.
• Social: To fight unemployment, the state promoted a major public works programme (roads, reservoirs, etc.), encovraged companies to increase wages and reduced the working week to 40 hours.

1929: the capitalist economy in crisis

A CYCLE OF PROSPERITY: Prosperity in the United States in the 1920s was caused in large part by the profits generated by high product sales during the First World War and the huge number of high-interest loans that had to be repaid by European countries. It was logical that company shares, which were making huge profits, increased in value on the stock market. However, after a while, neither agriculture nor industry could sell so many products, partly because the wages of workers made it impossible for the steady growth in consumption to continue, despite the use of credit.

STOCK MARKET SPECULATION: What took place was a speculative bubble – in other words, a disconnection between the real economy and the productive economy. The increase in share value occurred due to the conviction among investors that they could obtain significant profits during this period simply by buying and reselling. There was a lot of money to invest, but people could also turn to credit to invest in the stock exchange. Brass plate companies were created, and their complex operations led to rumours that their shares were in high demand, so their value rose immediately. If these shares were sold within a few months, huge amounts of money were earned without anyone realising what they did, what they sold and that they were not actually producing any goods.

FROM STOCK MARKET CRISIS TO ECONOMIC CRISIS: As we have seen, the first consequence of the stock market collapse in October 1929 was a banking crisis. The capitalist system relies on money in circulation and credit. Banks do not have clients’ deposits in cash. They invest it in the stock market or lend it to individuals (investors, companies, etc.) with interest. When the money disappears, either because they have lost it or they cannot recover it, the whole economic system collapses and an industrial, commercial and agricultural crisis occurs.

THE GLOBALISATION OF THE CRISIS: The crisis spread from the USA to the rest of the world. The banking crisis in the United States immediately caused credit to be reduced, funds deposited in European banks to be withdrawn and American companies to reduce their investments. US imports plummeted, so world trade suffered a major recession. The US crisis of the 1930s dragged down many countries in Europe and the rest of the world, which caused banks to go bankrupt in many places, a decline in production and trade and a rise in unemployment.

The crisis of democracy: fascism in Italy

Italy was the first European country with a parliamentary democracy where the consequences of the war led to a rise in nationalist and authoritarian political movements. These movements led to the establishment of an undemocratic and dictatorial system.

Post-war Italy: The peace agreements were a major disappointment, since the Allies / agreed to give Italy Trentino, Trieste and stria) but not Dalmatia and Fiume, as had been agreed in the Treaty of London (1915). Political 2 instability was also a problem: no political party of the monarchy of Victor Emmanuel III was able to win a sufficient majority and there were five different governments between 1919 and 1922. The human and economic consequences of the war in Italy were severe: 700000 men were killed, many industries were destroyed. The economic crisis created great social tensions. Workers’ strikes with revolutionary goals, encouraged by the Soviet example, spread throughout northern Italy.

The rise of fascism:Benito Mussolini emerged from this crisis. In 1919, he created the Fascia paramilitary group that wore black shirts and fought to stop the “rise of the labour movement by violently attacking the labour unions and their leaders. In 1921, the Fasci became the National Fascist Party, which was presented as the most effective remedy to stop the revolutionary movement in Italy. Its programme was based on building a strong state to guarantee private property and an expansionist foreign policy; The new party was supported by the petty bourgeoisie, the Catholic Church and the king himself, Victor Emmanuel Ill and financed by large agricultural and industrial landowners. In the 1922 elections, the Fascist Party achieved just 22 deputies out of a 500-deputy parliament. That same year given the government’s lack of control over the general strike of socialist and anarchist unions, Mussolini demanded that the king give him control of the government.To show his strength, he organised the March on Rome in which 300 000 black shirts took part/ In October, the monarch, under pressure from conservative forces, appointed him head of government.

THE MAIN IDEOLOGIES OF FASCISM: Between 1922 and 1924, Benito Mussolini restricted freedom and persecuted his opponents (socialists, communists and / Christian democrats), but kept up the pretence of a parliamentary regime. It was not until Mussolini won the 1924 elections through violence towards his opponents that he announced the establishment of an authoritarian regime. The state and the National Fascist Party united under a regime in which Mussolini had total power. Political parties were banned, their leaders persecuted and imprisoned, and Parliament was replaced with the Chamber of Fasci. In addition, strikes were banned and unions were replaced with cooperative unions, which included representatives of workers, mployers and the state. The fascists also controlled the economy, advocated a self-sufficient economic policy and supported private enterprises with military orders and heavy subsidies. The state used the party to exercise strict control over society, including all aspects of social life and the media (radio, press, cinema, etc.). An extremely conservative view of the family and he role of women was imposed. Mussolini signed a concordat with the Holy See to restore the authority of the Catholic Church in Italy. Lastly, Mussolini promised the creation of an Italian Empire that/ would control the Mediterranean in a similar way to the ancient/ Roman Empire. With this goal in mind, he invaded Ethiopia in 1935 to expand the Italian colonies in North Africa.

The Nazi regime: a totalitarian system

A TOTALITARIAN SYSTEM: After 1934, the Nazi Party and the state united under the sole authority of Hitler, the Führer. Individual freedoms and rights were abolished. The dissolution of political parties and trade unions was decreed. Only the NSDAP was allowed, and all workers were forced to join the only trade union, the German Labour Front. Public administration was purged. Judges submitted to the will of the party. The police were taken over by Nazi paramilitary groups, mainly the SS. In 1934, the Gestapo (secret police) was created. This was led by Himmler and was responsible for repressing opponents of the regime and controlling public opinion.

THE ENFORCEMENT OF NAZI IDEOLOGY: To form the Nazi state, absolute ideological unity was needed. The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels, was created to guarantee a culture and mindset based on racist and nationalist ideas. Science and culture books, newspapers, radio, cinema, etc.) were ‘nazified’, destroying intellectual freedom. Nazism devoted huge efforts to the education of young people. The education system was reorganised and politicised: teachers at schools and universities were purged, and censorship was introduced in classrooms and texibooks. Maintaining the racial purity of German sociely involved the persecution and elimination of all minorities who were considered inferior (Romani, Jews and mentally and physically disabled people). The persecution of Jews was most prominent: a boycott of Jewish businesses was ordered in 1933, the Nuremberg Laws, which prohibited interracial marriages and excluded Jews from German citizenship, were enacted in 1935, and from 1938 Jews were forced to wear a Jewish identity badge. After 1933, concentration camps were created to imprison socialists, communists, democrats and, above all, Jews. They were forced to carry out hard labour, and many of them were exterminated.

ECONOMIC SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND REARMAMENT: The Third Reich wanted a revival that would make Germany a world economic power, prepared to face France and Britain in a war that was considered inevitable. As a result, Nazi economic policy focused on Hitler’s militaristic and expansionist projects. The Nazi state exercised strong economic interventionism in orde to achieve economic self-sufficiency (aufarky) and depend less on countries abroad. Priority was given to heavy industry, especially the arms industry, which developed enormously. In order to deal with unemployment, an ambitious public works programme was carried out and numerous motorways and other infrastructure were built. 

AN EXPANSIONIST POLICY: Hitler related the concept of racial superiority to his desire to stablish a new order in Europe under the domination of Germany is expansionist ambitions needed a powerful army and Hitler stablished a military policy: he strengthened the army with the introduction of military service and the creation of a new army, the Wehrmacht, and a modern air force, the Luftwaffe. With a powerful army and a war-orientated economy, Hitler felt ready to embark on the construction of a great empire and the conquest of a ‘living space’ (Lebensraum) in eastern Europe. The road to the Second World War was paved.

THE INDOCTRINATION OF THE POPULATION: Nazism devoted great efforts to shaping and indoctrinating the population, especially young people, who joined the Hitler Youth. Propaganda and fear, but also the appeal of Hitler’s project, which exalted the greatness of Germany, the pride of the race and a future of progress, secured the support of the people, who did not understand the methods used by the Nazis. All this allowed Nazism to present itself to the world as an uncontested regime with massive public support.