WWII Origins and the Cold War (1948-1953)
Origins and Causes of World War II
The economic crisis of the 1930s coincided with Hitler’s rise to power. The 1933 Conference on Disarmament failed, and in 1935, Germany abandoned it, annexed the Saar, and instituted mandatory military service. A series of conflicts demonstrated the weakness of Western democracies:
- The Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935-1936)
- The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
- The remilitarization of the Rhineland (1936)
Fascist regimes grew closer: the Rome-Berlin Axis (1936) and the Anti-Comintern Pact (1936). In 1938, Germany forced a conference where France and Britain conceded to its demands, annexing the Sudetenland. In 1939, Hitler dismembered Czechoslovakia, and Mussolini seized Albania. The two dictatorships signed the Pact of Steel. Also, this year, Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact. In September of that year, Germany invaded Poland. Japan also invaded Asia, driven by economic and political factors. In 1931, Japan occupied Manchuria, with little reaction from the League of Nations and the major democracies. In 1937, Japan invaded China, and the British and Americans were confined to withdrawing.
The Cold War Between 1948 and 1953
Economic Collaboration Systems:
- Marshall Plan: The U.S. government devised a strategy to reactivate the economies of favorable European countries. George Marshall proposed a generous aid program, named the Marshall Plan. The aid program was approved in 1948, valued at $13 million, and included almost all Western European countries except Spain.
- COMECON: In 1949, the Soviet Union created the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, aimed at coordinating the economic policies of Eastern European countries. The Soviet Union, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Albania joined.
After the war, Germany was divided into four zones, each managed by an Allied power. In 1948, the London Conference saw the United States, Britain, France, and the Benelux countries agree to unify Germany into one state: the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). Stalin’s response was the land blockade of Berlin between June 1948 and May 1949. Berlin was isolated from the eastern parts of Germany, giving rise to the first great crisis of the Cold War. The United States resolved the situation by creating an airlift that supplied the city during the blockade. The USSR created an independent state in its sector: the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The tension led to the two blocs forming military alliances. The Western bloc established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, signed by the United States, Canada, the UK, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, and Portugal. The Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact in 1955. International tension extended to Asia. Two significant events were the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 and the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party took power, and Secretary-General Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China, a huge success for the Communist bloc. After the Japanese defeat in 1945, Korea was divided into two zones along the 38th parallel. In June 1950, North Korean troops invaded the South. General MacArthur arrived near the Chinese border, prompting intervention from Mao Zedong. U.S. forces were driven back, and the front stabilized along the 38th parallel. Nearly one and a half million people died.