1

Social Studies Term III Final

Term I

Causes of World War I Rival Alliances
Since 1871 the strongest nation in Europe was Germany, led by Bismarck
o Bismarcks policy was to keep the peace
o In 1871 Germany had defeated France and Austria Hungary, Germany could only
be beaten by a combination of states (states working together), so Bismarck
worked to keep enemies isolated (alone)
Bismarck focused this on France
Most suitable ally for France was Russia because Germany would face
war in east and west
Next suitably ally was Austria-Hungary
SO Bismarck signed treaties with both Russia and Austria-Hungary
Three Emperors League, 1872
o Friendship treaty with rulers of Germany, Austria-Hungary
and Russia
o Worked for a short time, BUT Russia and Austria-Hungary
could not agree about the Ottoman Empire
Russia wanted to split it up into separate states
which Russia could control
Austria Hungary (ruled by the Hapsburgs) wanted
the empire to remain
Congress of Berlin, 1878
o Austria-Hungary helped to stop Russian expansion in the
Balkans, arguments between the two countries increased
o Bismarck tried to make them stay friends, did not work
o Bismarck had to choose one of them, chose to stay friends
with Austria Hungary because it was easily beaten
Dual Alliance
o Between Germany and Austria Hungary
Became Triple Alliance in 1882 when Italy joined
Reinsurance Treaty
o Bismarck signed this treaty with Russia to guarantee neutrality between the two in
any war, as long as Germany did not attack France or Russia attack Austria
By 1890, Bismarcks policy of isolating France had failed
William II became Kaiser (Emperor) of Germany
o Vain man who liked to brag and wanted to be popular
o Not a clever politician
o Fought with Bismarck and fired him in 1890
o Chose ministers who were not as capable
o Allowed the Reinsurance Treaty to expire


2
Trouble in the Balkans
Austria Hungary was happy they had won the Balkan Wars, but they were afraid their
empire would be attacked by a Balkan League
Austria Hungary faced a danger from within, there were six million Serbs in the country
Prime Minister Pasic, leader of Serbia, could not control the fanatics (extremists) in
Serbia
o Organizations like Union or Death (Black Hand Society) lead by Colonel Apis
Fought for Serbs to be freed from Austrian rule
There were many people in Austria Hungary who believed that the country should invade
Serbia and defeat them since they posed a threat to Austria-Hungary
o Influenced by General Conrad von Hotzendorf
Because the Prime Minister of Serbia could not control the extremists inside his country
and because of the forces in Austria Hungary that wanted a war between the two
countries, any small event was likely to make war happen
o 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo, Bosnia
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to Austrian throne and his wife Sophia
Chotek were in town for an official visit
First a man named Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at the
Archdukes car but the Archduke swatted it away
Next, a young man named Gavrilo Princip, shot and killed both the
Archduke and his wife

Invasion of Belgium
After the assassination of the Archduke, people were surprised that Austria-Hungary did
not take quick action against Serbia
o Austria was worried about invading Serbia because they thought Russia would get
involved so they had to be sure of German support
o Austria got the support of Kaiser William (the Kaiser supported them because he
felt sure that Russia was not ready for war)
23 July
o Austria Hungary gave Serbia government their conditions
Serbia must stop encouraging nationalist propaganda, allow Austrian
officials in Serbia to destroy revolutionary movements, and punish all
those involved in the murder plot and prevent arms and explosives from
crossing the border
Prime Minister Pasic agreed to all conditions EXCEPT allow Austrian
forces into Serbia
o 28 July Austria declared war
Russia started to prepare her troops
This left Germany in a difficult situation
Their war plan depended on attacking and defeating France
quickly and then fighting Russia
BUT if Russia got ready during peacetime, the plan wouldnt work
because Germany would be forced to fight a war on two fronts
Germany ordered Russia to stop preparing troops, Russia refused
o Germany declared war on Russia and France
3
Following their war plan (Schlieffen Plan), Germany attacked France first
One of the issues of the Schlieffen plan was the neutrality of Belgium
o This had been guaranteed by Treaty of London (1839)
Britain wanted to keep an area so close to their coast neutral and out of
enemy hands
Had gone to war before because of enemies occupy Belgium
Germany didnt really have a choice, and the leaders of Germany werent
worried about Britain (underestimated the power of Britains navy)
o 2 August, Germany asked permission from Belgium to cross borders, Belgium
refused so Germans invaded

The Marne
o Germany army had little trouble invading Belgium and France, but invading Paris would
prove difficult
o 6 September General Joffre, French commander, decided to counter attack the
Germans
o Battle of the Marne one of the most important in history
French attacked Germans from Paris and from the south
Taxis carried French soldiers from Paris to the battle
First large scale use of motor transport in war
French were able to defeat the Germans

The Western Front
o From 1914-1916
o The Western Front was established after the Battle of the Marne, and it hardly moved
more than a few kilometers during the war
o Formed of long trenches, barbed wire, and millions of soldiers and tons of equipment in
the trenches
o Early 1915 French attacked near Compiegne, suffered 90,000 casualties
o March British won at Neuve-Chapelle and got a few square kilometers of land
o Next month, the Germans used gas against the British
o Tens of thousands died for very little change
o Battle of Loos many men died in the terrible battle
o 21 February 1916 Germans tried to take French fortresses around Verdun
o Germans almost captured the area, but French General Petain led his men to
defeat the Germans but it was a long and very bloody battle


4
Tern II

Adolf Hitler
o Born 1889 in Austria-Hungary
o Father was a customs official on the German border
o Did not do well in school
o Went to Vienna in 1908 to become an artist
o Was not accepted into in the Art Academy in Vienna and did odd jobs to survive,
was sometimes very poor
o He grew to hate Vienna and the mixture of races living in Vienna (Jews, Croats,
Czechs)
o Like most Austrians he loved everything German
o Was happy when his country went to war in 1914
Joined army and was a brave soldier
o Returned to a Germany that had been defeated and was divided
Weimar Republic new government in Germany, not proud like the last
government. This government had signed the Versailles Peace Treaty
which was hated by all Germans
Lots of revolutions, riots and disobedience
Germany was in chaos
o 1923 French army occupied Ruhr coal-fields because Germany failed to make
payments as required by Peace Treaty, German workers fought against their old
enemy
Eventually the work stopped completely
80% of Germanys coal, iron, and steel had come from this area so this
had a strong negative effect on Germany
Production slowed down and unemployment increased
Germany money collapsed
January 1923 72,000 marks (Germany money) = 1 GBP (British
money)
November 1923 16 billion marks = 1 GBP
Germans savings were now worthless
Hitler started his political career in Munich where he worked for the army to turn soldiers
against peaceful, democratic ideas
o His words appealed to peoples feelings, not their reason
o He developed a following called the German Workers Party
o Joined by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) in 1920
Their badge was the swastika
o Hitler knew that people were looking for someone to blame for all of Germanys
problems
He said Jews and communists in Germany were to blame for Armys
defeats
This wasnt true, but lots of people believed it
November criminals said that these people had made Germany
sign the peace deal
5
Hitler promised that he would ignore the unpopular peace settlements if he
came to power
Demanded a union (Anschluss) between the new Austria and Hungary
which many Germans supported
Hitler said democracy was weak and ineffective
Promised a few socialist ideas:
Nationalization of department stores
More than anything else, Hitler offered the German people a simple solution to their
problems. He said that everything would be okay if Jews had no money or power, the
communists crushed, and the November criminals hanged. All Germany had to do was
stand up and fight to become great again.
Stormtroopers young men who worked for the Nazis and broke up other partys
meetings and injured their opponents.
8 November 1923 Hitler went into a Munich beer-hall, jumped on a chair, and
announced a National Revolution
o The next morning 3,000 of his armed Storm-troopers gathered with banners and
began a street parade led by Hitler. It seemed like a repeat of the March on
Rome
o BUT Hitler had not checked:
Support of army (was in fact mostly against him)
Popular support (he was unknown outside of Bavaria compared to
Mussolini who had been popular all over Italy)
o Police blocked the route of the parade, shots were fired and 16 Nazis and 3
policemen were killed
o Hitler was arrested and his party banned
o At his trial Hitler was allowed to make long speeches and question witnesses,
these earned him a lot of publicity, and he became well known outside of Bavaria
(the German province where he lived)
o He was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but only served 9 months
o He wrote his famous book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in a comfortable
room in prison
He tried to show that he was an intellectual in this book but his writing
was not nearly as good as his speaking
His grammar was also very bad in the book


When Hitler came out of prison he was determined to never try violent revolution again.
When he came out of prison, Germany was more stable
o Gustav Stresemann was the Chancellor at the time
o Streseman needed to repair the German mark (the German money was very weak)
Dawes Plan had made a schedule for Germany to pay reparations by
annual payments
Lots of US money was available to help improve the economy and a new
currency the rentenmark was given to everyone
Germany went through a time in which all of the post-war problems
seemed to be finished
6
Streseman also improved foreign relations
Signed Locarno Pact with Britain and France
o Germany promised to never change borders with France or
Belgium, and only to try and change eastern borders by
peaceful means
Germany became a member of the League of Nations
Signed Kellogg Pact in which most European nations agreed to
make war illegal
Young Plan (1929) made payments on reparations spread out over
59 years so less money was owed every year
o All of these improvements were not useful for Hitler, because he needed people to
be unhappy for him to be effective
Hitler had found Joseph Goebbels who was very good at propaganda but
still had not made any progress
In 1928 there was an election and the Nazis got only 810,000 votes out of
31 million
There were only 12 seats in the more than 600 in the German
Reichstag (parliament)
He became known all over Germany when he worked with two rich men
Alfred Hugenberg and Emil Kirdorf in a national campaign against
reparations and parts of the Versailles Treaty
1929 Stresemann died
o Soon after he died, the world depression (which started in the USA) hit German
very hard
o Germanys new richness was built on loans of USD 7 billion and the loans
stopped
o Result was the wages (salaries) fell and factories and businesses closed
o This was Hitlers chance
He had been saying that disaster was coming for years
Suddenly people were unhappy and tons of people came to see him speak
Some of the people wanted another putsch (violent revolution), but Hitler
did not want to repeat his past mistakes.
Although he hated democracy, he wanted to get power through it and not
by violence
He campaigned for two years, for Nazis in the Reichstag and for the
position of President for himself
Goebbels (his propaganda boss) used lots of tools for this campaign
There were many films, records of his speeches, posters all over
the country
The Nazi party won 37 percent in the 1932 elections, the largest party in
Germany
By proportional representation a political party was given seats
according to the number of votes it received
This meant there were a lot of small parties in Germany
Field-Marshall Hindenburg was President, but he could only rule by
decree which did not make him very effective or popular
7
Hitler persuaded Hindenburg and his advisers to let him become Chancellor. Three main
reasons:
o 1 he had lots of support from people who had voted for the Nazis in many
elections
o 2 he made the argument that only the Nazis could prevent a communist
revolution in Germany
o 3 he used the threat of violence from the stormtroopers to suggest that if they
did not give him power there would be civil war
Hindenburg and his advisors decided they could manage him and would be able to
control his as chancellor. They would only find out too late how wrong they were.
Hitlers first action as Chancellor was to demand an election
o A week before the election the Rechistag (parliament) building caught fire. The
Nazis blamed the communists (they found a Dutch communist named Marianus
van der Lubbe inside the building at the time)
It turned out that German communists were not connected to this man in
any way. In fact, he had acted alone hoping that burning the parliament
building would encourage German workers to rise up against Hitler
o Hitler argued to Hindenburg that it was necessary to reduce political freedoms and
Hidenburg agreed
o The Nazis won 42 percent of the vote and their allies the Nationalists won 8
percent. Together they ruled Germany. The first thing that they did when they
god power was to cancel rule by Parliamentary government and rule Germany by
Enabling Law
This law gave Hitler lawmaking powers separate from the parliament
Soon all other political parties were banned
Nuremberg Laws removed all rights from Jews.
They could not marry non-Jews, could not get jobs and sometimes
could not get food. Soon thousands of Jews started to leave
Germany.
Nazi Labour Front German workers were forced to join this organization and strikes
became illegal
Hitler Youth children joined this organization which taught children how to fight and
to hate non-white, non-Christian people
Stormtroopers were soon replaced by the SS
o Leader was Heinrich Himmler who gained control of Germanys police forces,
especially the Secret State Police (Gestapo)
o Used a system of terror to enforce the new laws
o Ernst Rohm leader of the stormtroopers
Hated the army and its Prussian generals
Was upset when was not made Minister of Defence, at first Hitler just
tried to calm him down, then arranged a meeting on 30 June 1934 in
Wiessee, Bavaria
No meeting happened, the SS took Rohms men out of their hotel beds and
killed them, Rohm was taken to a prison where he was shot
8
All over Germany many stormtroopers were surprised to be killed, they
had supported Hitler from the beginning but now he was having them
killed
These killings became known as the Night of the Long Knives
Hitler was cruel to the German people and to his enemies abroad. He had two goals
o Include all Germans in Germany (Austria and Czechoslovakia had very large
German populations)
o To win more land for Germany in the East by conquering Poland and Russia
o From the beginning Hitler did not like peacekeeping organizations
1933 Hitler removed Germany from the League of Nations
1934 Austrian Nazis murdered the Chancellor of Austria Engelbert
Dolfuss
Tried to join Austria to Germany, the union (Anschluss) failed
because the person who came after Dolfuss (Kurt Schuschnigg)
took power quickly and prevented it
1935 started to rebuild Germany army and air force
France felt very nervous
o Maginot Line big concrete and steel defenses built by France which they hoped
would keep them safe
Britain could not decide how it felt about Hitler
o Many British people believed the Versailles Treaty had been unfair to Germany.
Hitlers anti-communism also made him popular to many people in Britain.
o Also felt very afraid as Germany started to increase size and power of army and
air force
At first, Mussolini was not friendly with Hitler
o Thought their fascism was not strong enough
o Did not believe in Hitlers theory of a master race
o Germanys desire to gain Austria was against Italian desires to take Austria (Italy
had always believed parts of Austria belonged to Italy)
o Mussolini invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in October 1935
This upset many people in Britain because it was a threat to their colonies
in Africa
Hoare-Laval Pact the British and French tried to secretly negotiate to
limit the amount of land the Italians got in Africa
News of this agreement leaked and British people were angry
because they did not like the idea of surrendering to Italian
aggression
Plan was forgotten
o Britain suggested to ban the sale of oil to Italy
Hitler sent coal to Mussolini
This was the beginning of the two mens friendship
Rome-Berlin Axis (1936) unofficial alliance between Italy and Germany
Pact of Steel (1939) official alliance
7 March 1936 Hitlers troops went into Rhineland
o Broke Versailles treaty
9
o Germany Army wasnt actually strong enough for war, but French army wasnt
prepared to defend territory that was not French
o Britain protested but did not take action
o Germany was allowed to keep the territory
o Siegfried Line German built line of fortifications which cut off France from her
allies to the east
Appeasement
o Neville Chamberlain became Prime Minister of Britain in 1937
He believed most of Europes problems were because of the Paris Peace
Settlement
Thought everything Hitler did was because he wanted to correct
the mistakes made in 1919
Chamberlain believed all that was needed was to determine what it
was Hitler wanted and negotiate a settlement
What he did not realize was that Hitler was a fanatic, and one
cannot negotiate with a crazy person
Hitler used Nazi propaganda to stir up German people in Austria and Czechoslovakia to
demand Anschluss (union) with Germany
o As Austrian Nazis called for Anschluss they organized riots and violence
o Austrian government worked against this by organizing alliances with
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, but Hitler made them make a Nazi named Arthur
Seyss-Inquart the Minister of Interior
o Seyss-Inquart allowed rioting and then asked the German rioting to come into to
stop the bloodshed
o Mussolini did not do anything to stop the powerful German army
o Soon Hitler was in Vienna, leader of the city where he had once lived in poverty
Czechs felt very nervous
o Germany now almost completely surrounded them
Britain negotiated with Mussolini
o He was allowed to keep Abyssinia and in return Mussolini promised to take his
troops out of Spain
But Mussolini visited Hitler in September 1937 and was so impressed by the German
discipline and power that he made his armies start to march in the way the German army
marches
o Mussolini also started a campaign against the Jews



10
Term III

World War II
After he took Austria, Hitler focused on Czechoslovakia
Dr. Edward Benes Czech leader
Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister) met with Adolf Hitler three times to try and
convince him to find a peaceful solution (not invade)
Hitler was persuaded to accept the Sudetenland
o Munich Agreement, September 1938
o Chamberlain believed he had prevented war in Europe
Emil Hacha Czech President after Benes, not as brave or determined
March 1939 German troops enter Czechoslovakia
o This is the moment the whole world realized Hitler wanted to control far more
than just a small part of Europe
Hitler believed that since Britain and France had made an agreement with him in Munich
they would never fight him, he saw them as cowards
o In 1939 he started to demand part of Poland
o Britain and France said that if Germany invaded Poland they would defend it
o Hitler didnt believe them
The Nazis and the Soviets
o Stalin and Hitler never really liked each other, but when Hitler prepared to invade
Poland he wanted to make sure that Soviet Union was not going to attack
Germany
o Stalin had first tried to make agreements with western countries, asking Britain
and France to join an alliance with him, but since they were afraid of communism
they did not agree
o Germany and the Soviet Union made a pact of friendship and non-aggression
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Promised the Soviet Union the east of Poland, Finland, Estonia and Latvia
BUT Hitler never meant to keep his promises
When he signed the agreement he knew that Stalin was very ill and
thought that once he died the Germans would be able to defeat the Soviet
Union
Stalin also knew the Germans were not planning to keep their promises,
but he knew that by agreeing to the pact Germany was going to invade
Poland which would cause a war with France and Britain. He thought that
the Soviet Union would benefit from a situation in which these three
countries were made weak by war.
The signing of this pact made the invasion of Poland happen
o Germans said that the Polish army had fired on some German soldiers (a lie)
o Britain declared war on Germany (3 September 1939), France did 6 hours later
o Hitler was surprised by this


11
Japanese planes bombed the US base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on 7 December 1941
o Man behind this plan was Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, he believed that since
the USA was much more powerful than Japan the only way Japan could succeed
in war was to destroy the US ships before the war began
o Attacked disabled 8 ships and killed 2403 Americans
o The attack was actually a failure because there was still a lot of oil left to supply
the US fleet and three big US aircraft carriers were away at the time
o The effect it did have was that it got rid of isolationism in just a few hours,
Americans would never again believe that events in other parts of the world did
not concern them

World War II started on 3 September 1949
o Hitler hoped that he would win quickly
o Because the length of World War I had been to the advantage of the British and
the USA, German wanted World War II to be a war of movement
o Charles de Gaulle and Heinz Guderian two writers that suggested a tank army
could be used to destroy a fixed army line (front)
The French General Staff rejected de Gaulle
The Germany army staff followed Guderians advice
Germany invaded Poland in 1939 and the world saw that the Germans were right
o Polish army could not defend itself against the German tank divisions
o The new German army used Blitzkrieg (lightning war) to move very fast
o Defeated Polands army within 10 days
o This success made Britain and France organize tank armies
o For six months there was no fighting the phoney war
o There was the Winter War fought between Russia and Finland as Stalin wanted
to have an army base in their country and Stalin defeated Finland
o In this time Hitler finished his war plans
Hitlers navy was going to be improved because one of the reasons for the
German Navys failure during World War I was because of Germanys
small coastline, but if they captured Denmark and Norway they would
have a lot of room for the submarines (U-boats)
Germany easily invaded Denmark and Norway
After Germany invaded Norway, the Prime Minister of Britain Neville Chamberlain
resigned
o On 10 May Winston Churchill became Prime Minister
o Churchill was a former soldier, but had been blamed for problems during World
War I
o British wanted him back in leadership because he was an expert at war, made firm
decisions
Operation Yellow
o Hitlers operation to invade the Netherlands, Belgium and France
o British troops were forced to go to Dunkirk where they were rescued by boats to
be taken back to the UK
o These boats were not just from the Navy, but almost everyone who lived nearby
who had a boat came to take the soldiers
12
Italy declared war on France and Britain
o 10 June 1940
France was forced to surrender to Germany
o Charles de Gaulle went to London where he started to organize a Free French
force
Hitler thought his war was finished and offered Britain peace. He was surprised when
Churchill refused and he started to plan an invasion of Britain
In Britain, Churchill inspired the British with great speeches
o British people joined the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV), which would later
become the Home Guard
o They were ready to fight the Germans if they should ever come to Britain
Hitler sent his air force (Luftwaffe) to Britain, his goal was to get control of the air before
launching the invasion by sea
o Battle of Britain the war in the sky over Britain
o No one really won this battle, and the Germans stopped and started to bomb
London
o On 17 September 1940 Hitler postponed his plan to invade Britain
BUT German planes continued to bomb London and other large cities

German planes continued to bomb London and other large cities
Meanwhile, Mussolini had tried to invade Greece and Egypt but been defeated in both
places
o Germans were forced to help them out in both places
o In Egypt the British had used everything available tank to defeat the Italian
armies, hundreds of thousands of men surrendered
o German Afrika Korps, led by Erwin Rommel, landed in Africa and drove the
British back into Egypt
At this point in the war, Hitler made a terrible mistake. He decide to invade the Soviet
Union in Operation Barbarossa
o Nazi generals expected the Soviet Union to collapse as quickly as the French
o At first the German campaign went very well, killing millions of Russian soldiers
and by October the Germans were approaching Moscow
o Then the Russian winter came. German soldiers were cold and they couldnt
move in the mud, and the Soviet Union had time to make some preparations and
make some progress against the Germans
o Soviet army launched an attack near Moscow on 6 December 1941 and almost
defeated the Germans, they eventually retreated
o British army led by General Bernard Montgomery attacked Rommel at El
Alamein and defeated him
o Germany army was stopped at Stalingrad in Russia where they fought for five
months
These two defeats for Germany El Alamein and Stalingrad were turning points in the
war
November 1942 British and American army commanded by General Dwight
Eisenhower landed in Algiers and Morocco, forced remains of Germany army to
surrender
13
6 June 1944 invasion of the coast of France by British and American troops
o Called D-Day
o Surprised the Germans
o Allies had to fight hard, but they did eventually make progress into France
o In July 1944 some of Hitlers officers tried to kill him, put a bomb in a briefcase
near his chair in a meeting
o Hitler launched one last counter-attack, which was almost successful because it
surprised the Americans and took advantage of bad weather, but in the end the
Battle of the Bulge ended with the Germans back where they started
Hitler killed himself on 30 April 1945
7 May 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally


After American economic restrictions were placed on Japan the country had two choices:
o Give up war plans
o Take the whole of southeast Asia and make it into Japans supply area
The leaders of Japan chose the second
Japan invaded the Philippines, Malaya, Thailand, Borneo, and the islands of Wake, Guam
and Hong Kong
o Turning point was the Battle of Midway
Americans sunk four Japanese aircraft carriers
o American marines then slowly took back many of the islands the Japanese forces
had captured
o When the Americans captured the Philippines the Japanese got really desperate
because once they lost control of those they would lose control of the route to the
Dutch East Indies which meant no oil for them
o Result was largest sea battle at Leyte Gulf
In Burma, British and Indian troops were also fighting
o British Army wanted to open a road to China to send supplies
o Chindits guerilla fighters led by British into the jungles behind Japanese lines
Harry Truman became President of the US after Roosevelt died in April 1945
o Wanted a less costly way of winning victory against the Japanese
o Worried about the losses that the army would face in an invasion of Japanese
mainland
o Albert Einstein, Leo Szeland and Enrico Fermi three physicists who had fled
Europe and come to the USA to escape fascist governments
Warned President Roosevelt about the dangers if Germany was to get such
a bomb
Set up a special lab for nuclear research
Los Alamos place in the state of New Mexico where tests were done
o President Truman ordered an atomic bombed dropped on Japan in order to end the
war quickly
6 August 1945, plane named Enola Gay released a bomb over the city of
Hiroshima in Japan
Radioactive materials released in this bombing like Strontium 90
continue to affect people in Japan today
14
Second bomb on Nagasaki because the Japanese had not surrendered
2 September 1945 Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur


The effect of the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima in Japan was incredibly strong
o Produced tidal waves in the harbor which drowned many
o People continued to die for hours after the bomb detonated
o 13 square kilometers of Hiroshima were turned into huge, dirty, grey and rusty
brown stain
o Mushroom cloud over 6 km high
The bomb killed 80,000 people in Hiroshima
o Ordinary air raids had killed more people before this, but the atomic bomb that
was dropped at Hiroshima continued to have an effect for weeks after it was
dropped.
Victims suffered from a mysterious illness, skin started to bleed, hair fell
out, and then they died
This was a disease from the radiation in the bomb
Japanese call it sickness of the original-child bomb
It has continued to kill people, even today people who were not
alive when the bomb was dropped in 1945 die and suffer from the
poison released that day or in later atomic tests
Strontium 90 a type of radioactive material
Radioactive materials are released into the atmosphere during an
atomic explosion, they fall to the ground thousands of kilometers
away from the site of the bomb
o Absorbed by soil and then plants
o Animals eat the plants, then humans eat the animals
o The radioactive materials in the human body cause disease
like cancer
Another bomb dropped on the city of Nagasaki three days later
BUT dropping these two bombs did results in the end of the war
o Emperor Hirohito ordered his people to surrender
o 2 September 1945
A Japanese delegation surrendered to General MacArthur on board the
USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay

United Nations

Even before the end of World War II the Allies started trying to stop a future war
Before Japan was defeated representatives of fifty nations met in the San Francisco Opera
House and signed a United Nations Charter (UN Charter)
o Replaced the old covenant (constitution) of the League of Nations
o Agreed to keep the peace, encourage cooperation between nations and defend
human rights
o The League of Nations had failed because some of the largest nations had not
joined and because it had no armed forces
15
o All of the winning and neutral countries would be members of the UN
o Article 43 of the Charter
UN could call on its members to provide troops to deal with aggression
o Built large headquarters in Manhattan, New York
This is the base of the General Assembly, the parliament of the world
General Assembly meets once a year and has five representatives from
each member state
Security Council
Eleven representatives
Meets regularly to deal with crises
Six of the seats in the Council rotate
Five are permanently held
o Permanent seats in the UN Security Council are held by
Britain, the USA, the USSR (now Russia), France and
China
Decisions of the Security Council must be passed by a majority of
seven and must include ALL 5 permanent members
o If even one of the permanent members does not like an
idea, they can VETO (cancel) the decision
o At first this seemed like a good idea, but it became clear
that France and Britain were no longer world powers and
then China was taken over by a communist government.
But continued to be represented in the UN by Chiang Kai-
shek, the leader of the government in exile
USA and USSR became enemies
USSR used veto a lot to keep out unfriendly states
For a long time the United States could rely on support in the General Assembly
o As more newly-independent states were admitted to the UN this changed
Although the UNs ability to do peacekeeping was made difficult by the rivalries between
the US and USSR, the Specialized Agencies have done a lot of good
When it was formed the UN took over old international organizations
o International Telecommunications Union and Universal Postal Union
o International Labor Organization (ILO) and International Court
ILO has experts that make studies of work conditions in different
countries and industries all over the world. They give advice and training
and issue laws as guidelines for member nations
International Court deals with disputes between nations
o Specialized agencies attempt to close the gap between rich and poor
World Health Organization (WHO)
o Fights diseases such as typhus, cholera, smallpox and malaria
Have greatly reduced the number of cases around the world
Wiped out smallpox in West Africa, eliminated malaria from large areas
of the world
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
o Formed in 1943, became an agency of the UN after World War II
o Basic goal help the poorer countries of the world increase their food production
16
o Since 1951 FAO experts have worked on every part of farming, fishing and
forestry
o Increasing food production in poor countries can have a very large effect on
millions of peoples lives
o Green Revolution launched in 1971 by the FAO, led to increase in the amount
of rice grown in the east
Goal of Green Revolution was to double world food production in 10
years
United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
o Runs schools, universities and training colleges
o Works to save ancient objects from destruction
o Goal is for increased knowledge and education will work again hatred and
conflict between people

The Cold War

Differences between the USA and the Soviet Union were large
o Since the 1917 revolution Russia had developed a communist system, the natural
enemy of free enterprise capitalist economy (USA)
o Western leaders saw the Soviet Union as a threat to freedom
o They tried to get rid of the Bolsheviks with force, and when this failed they
refused to recognize the government for many years
USSR came out from World War II more powerful than ever
o Large Soviet army took many countries in eastern Europe
o By the end of the war Russia had captured 51,800 square kilometers
o Europe could not fight against such power
President Roosevelt knew that a country as large as the USSR was going to have
influence on other countries close to it after the war, but what neither he nor Harry
Truman (the next President) predicted was that this countries would not be able to choose
their type of government
o Soviet Union (Stalin) made it clear it would only allow friendly countries on its
borders
o Insisted on communist states, no free elections
o Stalin moved carefully at first
Took many anti-communists and sent them to Siberia, claiming they were
Nazis
Built up communist parties in these countries, then encouraged them to
take power
Shot many opponents
By 1948 Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia had
communist governments
Winston Churchill, March 1946, said: an iron curtain has descended across the
continent (Asia)
o Soviet Union was surrounded by an iron curtain or countries whose rulers took
their orders from Moscow
17
o Countries who were successful in resisting the USSR did so because they were
never occupied by Soviet troops, had outside help, and/or disliked the Soviet
Union
Turkey used army against Soviet pressure and with the help of Allied
money stayed out
Greece civil war between communists and anti-communists, ended in
victory for anti-communists in 1949
Yugoslavia Communist regime led by Josip Broz (Marshal Tito)
The east and the west were not just competing for power and territory, it was also a battle
of ideas
o Western countries believed the ideas from the Soviet Union would turn their
peoples minds against their rulers
Western Europe formed defensive alliances
o Britain and France signed a fifty-year treaty of cooperation in 1947
Joined by Benelux countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands)
in 1948
o President Truman also made it clear that the USA would defend European
countries against USSR if necessary, invited European states to join in a Western
alliances
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Formed in April 1949
Included USA, Britain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Italy and
Portugal
Greece and Turkey (joined 1951)
West Germany (joined 1954)
American policy was to restrict (limit) Soviet Union to existing position in
Europe
Idea of containment
Americans would only risk war if Russia invaded more countries
o Truman Doctrine
Gave money to Turkey and Greece to fight USSR
Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program ERP) gave food, fuel,
machinery and raw materials to Europe
o USSR proposed a Molotov Plan, but it was 1955 until the USSR had any extra
materials to spare
o Offers of help would become an important part of the Cold War

China before Mao + Chinese Civil War

From 1644 1912 conquerors from Manchuria called the Manchus led China (they were
the emperors and the ruling class)
Last strong Manchu ruler Empress Tzu-his died in 1908
The emperor after her was only 3 years old, so his father ruled
The revolutionaries in China were tired of such family rule, and took their chance to
make change
18
o Sun Yat-sen revolutionary who had written books suggesting the Manchus
should be overthrown and a republic established. The government sent men like
him out of the country, but they could not keep their ideas out.
1911 reformers started demonstrations/revolts around the country, some were defeated
but others (especially the one at Wuchang on 10 October 1911) were successful
Peoples army supporting Sun Yat-sen marched against government forces, civil war
seemed likely
Both sides signed an armistice in December 1911
Two months later the young emperor abdicated (gave up his throne) and China became a
republic
Double Tenth revolution on the tenth day of the tenth month
o Ended a monarchy that had existed for 2,300 years
New republic had problems
o President Sun Yat-sen Kuomintang (Nationalist) government had to fight soldiers
led by Yuan Shih-kai, a warlord who wanted to be emperor
Yuan died
o During World War I Japan bullied China, issued 21 Demands (1917)
Asked to be able to build railways in China, take over iron factory and
send advisers to the government
If they had happened, China would not have been an independent country
USA pressured Japan to give up these demands, and Japan did
BUT Japan forced China to declare war on Germany, so China had to buy
weapons from Japan
By 1918 large parts of China were out of Yat-sens control
By 1920s, China still liked western ways but was against western control
Pai Hua - simple peasant speech that gradually replaced the complicated classical
language
More Chinese went abroad to study
Mao Tse-tung a small group led by him followed Bolshevism
o Mao had grown up in inland China, worked hard
o Had seen the sadness and misery of the peasant
o Believed Communism was the answer to the countrys problems
o Started to build a strong political party
Sun Yat-sen died in 1925
o His successor Chiang Kai-shek
More a man of action than Yat-sen
Land-owners sun, trained as soldier in Japan
Friends with American businessmen, not socialists
Order was more important to him than ideas
Tried to impose order on the country with a march through the country
with a large army (1926)
At first this was supported by everyone in the country because they were
sick of disorder
By 1930 China enjoyed peace created by dictatorship
Soon two rival forces Communists and Japanese destroyed all of Kai-sheks work
From 1927 Chiang Kai-shek fought against them, crushing their rebellions
19
o Defeated Kiangsi-Hunan Soviet (1931)
o Long March led by Mao
Started in October 1934, 100,000 Communists did a 9,000 kilometer
march
Only 20,000 survived
Cross rivers, mountains and fought battles against Chiang Kai-shek
o Japanese forces had a very large, negative effect on the government of Chiang
Kai-shek (the Kuomintang)
o During World War II China effectively had three separate governments
Wang Ching-wei (puppet government appointed by Japanese)
Chiang Kai-sheks Kuomintang
Maos Communists
o Communists grew stronger during World War II
After the end of World War III, China was plunged into Civil War
o Ended quickly
o The Kuomintang was too corrupt to put up a real fight
Retreated to Formosa (Taiwan), an island off the Chinese mainland
1 October 1949 Mao Tse-tung became Chairman of the Peoples Republic of China

Scramble for Africa

Imperialism the founding of colonies
o European habit for centuries (hundreds of years)
o Spanish took most of South America and Mexico in 16
th
century
o Britain and France fought for control of North America and India (18
th
century)
o Europeans managed to defeat non-Europeans due to superior weapons and
organization
o This had a large effect because Europeans brought their way of life with them
Built churches, houses, roads
Then railways, factories and mines
European ways did not only spread due to imperialism, but also because many Europeans
left their homes in the 19
th
century
o From 1815 1914 40 million Europeans left Europe
o European technology continued to be better than that around the world
Developed the steam engine, and many other inventions to improve
factories and produce more with less workers
European industry expanded so quickly that businessmen in Europe
needed new places to sell their goods and to invest their money
Imperialism had been profitable in the past, but not it was
important if the industries in Europe were going to continue to be
able to sell their goods
British Empire nearly doubled in the last 20 years of the 1800s (19
th
century)
o Mostly in Africa and South East Asia
Africa was extremely large and its population was not able to defend itself, very tempting
to European countries
20
o The rush for land in Africa was so great that it was called the Scramble for
Africa
o Scramble was like a race
Treaty of Berlin signed by large European countries, laid down rules of
the scramble for Africa
Any country that effectively occupied a territory was to tell others right
away, this would give the right of possession (ownership)
All were supposed to be able to use Niger and Congo rivers
Slavery was to be abolished
o Why did the Scramble for Africa take place at this point in history?
Increased production of goods and extra profits is one reason
Possibly more important reason was Congress of Berlin
The Congress had settled the map of Europe in such a way that
only war could change it
Nations had to look elsewhere to add to their territory
Three other factors added to the scramble
o Explorers
Had collected enough information to make the continent of Africa less
unknown
o Steamships and railways
Made travel easier
o Heavy artillery and machine-guns
Made European victory in battle almost certain
Different countries joined the scramble for different reasons
o Britain
Originally took control of Egypt to guard trade route with Far East
o Others went in for trade or raw materials, for territory to invest money in
enterprise, for more land, or just because other nations were doing it
For example, Germanys East Africa colonies cost Germany more than
they were worth
Taken mainly because Germany felt a great power should have colonies
Lots of different types of people went to colonize these countries
o Missionaries felt they had a duty to teach Christianity to pagans
o Administrators went to serve their countries, believed they were bringing order
to poor natives
o Adventure lovers
o Desire for influence and power

Africa unscrambled

By 1945 the old imperial powers (Britain, France, Belgium, Italy) were much weaker and
the new superpowers (USA and USSR) had never had African territory and were unlikely
to support imperialism
The key to the end of colonial rule in Africa was African leaders
o These leaders had been to Western universities, learned Western ideals and were
keenly aware of the gap between these ideals and the practice in their countries
21
African nationalists first success came in British territories of Gold Coast and Togoland
o These areas were much more westernized than other parts of Africa
o European traders had been there for more than 300 years
o Kwame Nkrumah nationalist leader, found British were only prepared to move
slowly towards self government
Worked out methods of government and elections which made it difficult
to form a black government
Nkrumah formed party called Convention Peoples Party (CPP) which
demanded Self Government NOW)
British put Nkrumah in prison
1951 British started new electoral system which resulted in CPP victory
1952 Nkrumah became the leader of a partly independent state called
Ghana
1957 Ghana was fully independent
The unscrambling of Africa was almost as quick as the scrambling
o Ends of colonial governments were almost as fast as their beginnings
o BUT the end of empire brought lots of problems
Artificial borders created by European colonizers
Helped cause civil war in Nigeria
British style political system left behind
Africans used to making decisions based on family, clan and ethnic
lines
Most African countries ended up with one party state
o This had been bad in some cases, leading to dictatorship
like Idi Amin in Uganda
o In the end, the change of government from white European to black African was
rarely a revolution that helped ordinary Africans
New rulers behaved like old colonial rulers

From Congo to Zaire
o The new states in Africa struggled with three main problems
o Lack of experts to run industry
o Ethnic/tribal divisions between different parts of the country
o Trouble with white settlers who were not willing to give up their privileges and
power (in some cases, not all)
o Zaire
o Formerly Belgian Congo
o Granted independence in 1960, residents did not expect it and were not prepared
o Patrice Lumumba, first Prime Minister
Led National Congress Movement (MNC)
Moise Tshombe, leader of the Katanga province (which all most of the
countrys copper, the source of wealth for the country)
Tried to break away
Lumumba asked for assistance from UN, they sent a force into the
country but it achieved nothing
Lumumba then asked Soviet Union for help
22
o They tried to take back Katanga, but failed
o Then General Sese Seko Mobutu, Chief of Staff of the Congolese Army,
overthrew Lumumba (who was now seen as a communist because of working
with the Soviet Union)
Mobutu has ruled Zaire since

Civil War In Nigeria
o Nigeria is not really one country, it a group of 80 million people who speak 248 different
languages and dialects
o Northern peoples were much more cut off from Western political ideas than in the
south because the British always ruled the north indirectly
o Britain decided to set up a federation of Nigerian states
o This only worked on paper, actually there was a real struggle between the North
and the South but because the north had more people it always won in elections
o North was usually Muslim, South was Christian
o 1966 massacre of Hausa and Ibo by enemy tribes
o General Yakubu Gowon Hausa army officer, took over the government in 1966
Had plan to change political organization of Nigeria
This made the ruler of the east of Nigera declare his area would become
independent and named Biafra
o Civil War
o After this declaration of independence, there was a long and deadly civil war
o Gown didnt want to lose Biafra because it would mean losing the oil fields there
o By 1968 25,000 people per day were dying of starvation in Biafra
o 1970 Biafra gave up
o 1979 first non-military President of Nigeria took office
o Alhaji Shehu Shagari
o New constitution modeled on US constitution

Kenya
o Had a fairly big number of white settlers, they went to the area called the White
Highlands and grew crops
o British called this area Kenya Colony and Protectorate
o After World War II many black residents of Kenya felt the settlers (white) had taken too
much land
o Especially members of powerful Kikuyu tribe
o Mau Mau terrorist movement in Kenya that swore to kill Europeans and Africans who
cooperated with them
o British army fought hard against them and eventually removed them in 1956
o BUT British realized they could not stay in Kenya forever
o They knew the Africans had real problems with their leadership
Allowed Kenyans to form two political parties
Kenya African National Union (KANU)
Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU)
o Jomo Kenyatta
o Leading Kikuyu politicians
23
o Spent a lot of time in England
o Was tried and convicted of being one of the leaders of the Mau Mau
o After release from prison he was sent to a rural village, then he returned to politics
to go to a conference in London to decide Kenya future
o 1963 - became Prime Minister of independent Kenya
o One year later he became President, which he remained until he died in 1978
o Kenya had a strong economy but most businesses were owned by foreigners

Tanzania
o While Kenya is an example of a country built from the top, some leaders in Africa have
built their countries from the bottom, starting with local community and uniting in a
region, and then a country
o Julius Nyerere did this in Tanzania
o Arusha Declaration country was beginning to develop an economic and social
elite whose main concern was to profit for themselves and their families and not
the needs of the majority of people for better living conditions
o Nyerere wanted a government elected and led by peasants and workers
o Didnt want Western values that focused on competition, wanted cooperation
Looked for Socialist solution