Hitler lost the military advantage durring the 1942-1943 Winter. The involvement of Japan (Sept 1940) Russia (June 1941) and the US (Dec 1941) made it a world war fought mostly in Europe, but not a war of Euorpean powers.

The first superpower--Hitler’s Mitteleuropa--was defeated by the US and Russia--Europe lost its autonomy

AMERICAN HEGEMONY IN THE WEST

Initially in 1940 the US had a smaller army than Belgium. But by Dec 1941 it dominated the Allied coallition.

Increased output fourfold

Together with the Allies they demanded total unconditional surrender of the Nazis but they didn’t want any territory--Atlantic Charter 14 August 1941

To win they needed a second front in Hitler’s Fortress Europe, and they could only do this with the power of the US and Russia

The US joined immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941--Initially it was "Europe first" birtish planning, but control eventually slipped over to the US

New Years, 1942--24 nations stated their support for the Atlantic Charter (including USSR, and China) pledged their "full resources" to "complete victory"

Needed a Second Front: Hitler wanted to protect the Mediterranean and Suez--American landing in North Africa Nov 1942--partly because he didn’t want another WWI style frontal assult in France.

Churchill was worried about the USSR surrendering, but he also wanted to position Britian well after the war.

Americans preffered a "purely military" overwhelming force landing across the Channel. British were skeptical of their intentions.

Stalin demanded immediate help after June 1941 to ease his fighting on the eastern front

Operation TOURCH in 1942 brought Allies into North Africa and opened the Mediterranean Sea--intended to lessen the force on Russia. A temporary attack on a weaker flank rather than directly attacking Germany propper

Allies took over French Morocco and Algeria, then moved after Rommel’s Afrika Korps in Tunisia--securing the Meditteranean

Churchill wanted to continue to attack the soft underbelly of Europe--Italy and France--Stalin agreed at the Casablanca Conference of Jan 1943

German subs were causing heavy losses. The Allies had to wait another year for the D-Day assult, dissapointing Stalin, and attacking Italy instead.

10 July 1943--Allies landed in sicilly, looked easy for Italy as Mussolini was overtrhown on 25 July by generals who didn’t want Italy torn up by war--but Hitler brought in rienforcements--Allies didn’t land till 2 Sept and had a very hard fight through Italy--failed to open up an easy route into Europe.

6 JUNE 1944--D-DAY

Hitler held back his tanks thinking the Normandy invasion was a feint.

First 100 days, 2.2 million men, 450,000 vehicles, 4 million tons of supplies

Early July before they could fight their way out in to France

US took command--took troups out of Italy for a suppimental landing in Southern France on 15 August 1944--Churchill wanted to go through Italy to maintain Britian’s influence in Eastern Europe--The US was worried about the Normandy landing

Eisenhower refused to act quickly to assure political gain, and instead built up forces to attack.

Hitler’s counter attack The Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 nearly drove the Allies back to the Channel.

7 March 1945 Allies secured a way into the Rhine

SOVIET HEGEMONY IN THE EAST

No one appreciated how strong Russia was--the British thought they would loose to the Germans in six weeks.

Stalin’s initial peace with Russia was seen as a sign that the USSR was internally weak and fractured

The largest battles and greatest casualties of the war were suffered in the Eastern Front in Russia 18 million dead

1942 Soviets cling to Stalingrad in house to house fighting--2 Feb 1943 Russians capture a german army and Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus around Stalingrad--Also managed to break through to Lenningrad

From the Summer of 1943 on Russia advanced

Survival a function of: indusrial reconstruction, mass public support, emerence of new officer talent--NOT Western support or intervention--after 75% of its productive capacity was captured by the Germans the USSR built new factories in the Urals--good economic foundations after the war

Propoganda--rather that a war of surivial, it became The Great Patriotic War

Germans treated the Russians poorly under occupation, so not much collaboration.

Outside assistance: Churchill had immediately offered assistance to Stalin after Hitler launched his Operatio Barbarossa in 1941--US agreed to send aid--hard to get it in, through Iran or Murmansk, heavy shipping losses and ice to work through--the aid wasnt’ much in itself so much as the fact that Russia could maintain a war long enough to use it

Hitler’s failure to take Russia and/or Moscow quickly were major errors--his failure to withdrawl when he would loose an army (Stalingrad)--but once it became a longer war of attrition, Stalin’s size advantage began to be effective

When the allies were still bogged down in the Rhine, Stalin was 100 miles from Berlin and had taken Romania and Hungary and Poland--shaped the outcomes later

THE BIG THREE AND THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

Americans wanted to stay out of political postwar issues as long as possible and confine themselves to purely military ones.

Russia wanted to keep its 1914 post Polish invasion frontiers--led to a purely military (beat Hitler) alliance with the West.

October 1943--Allied political conference in Moscow--United Nations Organization ideas, force Hitler to surrender, complete occupation of Germany, purging all Nazi officers, total demiliterization of Germany--Set up the European Advisory Commisssion to raft more specific terms--no details settled

November 1943--Stlin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met in Teheran for three days

Left the details alone--wanted to wait till the United Nations to work them out

Stalin wanted a second front

Clear that Eastern Europe and the Balkans would be liberated by the Soviets

Hitler attacked towards Warsaw per agreement when the Allies invaded Normandy, but stopped short and took over Romania and Bulgaria on Aug 23, 26 1944--by Nov 1944 Soviet expansion was enormous

Stalin "agreed" to give the USSR influence in Romania and Bulgaria, Britian in Greece, and 50/50 division of Yugoslavia and Hungary

HIgh point of soviet diplomatic sucess--basically granted Russia Eastern Europe in the face of victory

US wanted Russia’s help agains the Japoneese ASAP, so they couldn’t demand much--gave land and bases to Russia in the pacific to get help, thought a military invasion of Japan would cost 1 million lives.

The Americans saw the threat of the British wanting to get back their spheres of influence as carving up Europe--they put a lot of faith and hope in the United Nations

Stalin agreed to the UN after a compromise ahd been reached on Poland and the USSR got two more voting states

No frim agreements on what to do with Germany other than french, birtish, american, and russian controlled areas--talk of reperations, but no agreement

Allies agree to hand picked "reorganization" of Polish government and gaurentee of elections

30 April 1945 Hitler commited suicide

7 May 1945 German army surrenders

July 1945 Potsdam Conference in Berlin--Roosevelt dead (Truman), Chruchill out of office (Clement Attlee)--could not put off political issues anymore--Truman’s secret weapon: atomic bomb tested sucessfully the day before--no longer needed the Soviets to attack Japan, and now they had a weapon against the Soviets--only agreed on vague things, War Crimes Tribunal, demiliterization and denazification of Germany, etc.

Both USSR and USA were mad at eachother for breaking good faith--cold war…

ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR

Things which couldn’t be settled quickly by negotiation were settled by fait accompli.

Fundamental irreconcilable aims for the USSR and USA?

Intially Stalin just wanted land to defend the USSR--Stalin also wanted a ring of friendly states around his boarders-- "friendly" meant communist and Moscow controlled

Agreed to previous quick division of European influence in Greece, etc. with Churchill--no orders for revolution abroad

Americans wanted the world open and friendly to them--reduced army size in Europe from 3.5 million to 500,000 within 10 months of the end of the war

US wanted freedom for European Colonies

US insisted (prematurely) on free postwar economies to get US loans (pound down from $4.03 to $2.80) Gave US a lot of economic power in Europe, not to be turned around till the 1960s when the trade deficit helped Europe.

Mass hystaria on both sides fed by propoganda got people to belive that the Russains (or the US) were out to destroy the other and subvert it

Stalin excluded from the seceret surrender negotiations of Italy in July 1943

Cut of Lend-Lease to Russia violently

7 May 1945 German Surrender at Reims

Communist uprisings in Egypt and Athens made Westerners feel that the Soviet Union wanted to take over the world

FIRST BATTLEGROUNDS OF THE COLD WAR

Russian-Polis frontier in 1919 included many Russians and Ukranians, Seceret treaty with Hitler in Aug 1939 gave it back to him--Teheran, this seemed reasonable, but no gaurentees

What kind of regime in Poland? West: Polish gov. in exile in London, East: provisional governemtn made up of Communists, of course.

Stalin stopped outside of Warsaw and allowed the Polish army to be liquidataed trying to defend it, very clever

At Potsdam Allies tried to trade land for control--wanted a new or at least more ballanced provisional government for Poland

Will be occupied--retribution or rehabilitation? divide it up, or adminster it whole?

Plan to divide it up uder a greate commission never worked out--did get divied up haphasardly into four sections, Russia and France wanted to extract retributions from the Germans, Britian and the US wanted to re-build their economy

Soviet Germany was off limits to Westerners

Agreed to war reparations of 25% of German "unneeded" industrial output--no defenintion for "unneeded."

March, April, December 1947 meetings to discuss Germany--not sucessfull, Russai left 20 march, 1948

A WORLD IN TWO BLOCS, 1947-1949

The West was unhappy about being excluded (as observers) from the East Bloc countries.

Stalin thought it was quite appropriate that the winners controlled the territory they occupied.

Hot areas--Iran, Greece, Turkey

12 March 1947--Truman doctrine--Committed the US to stopping the spread of communism

Marshall plan--Stalin prevented Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Hungary from participating

1947-1948 Stalin cracked down on Eastern Europe to get full control--Take over of Czechoslovakia convinced the West that Stalin was evil and just wanted land--North Atlantic Treaty Organization