FASCISM IN ITALY

                              

 
FASCISM IN ITALY

                                                CAUSES OF THE RISE OF FASCISM

                                        Why was Mussolini able to come to power in Italy?

There was a general atmosphere of disillusionment and frustration in Italy by the summer of 1919           caused by a combination of factors:

        i.            Disappointment at Italy’s gains from the peace settlement: Though Italy had fought from the side of the victorious Allies during the 1^st world war, she emerged from the war a defeated nation. She was not happy at the peace settlement because she was not given what had been promised to her by the Treaty of London in 1915. When she entered the war the allies had promised her Trentino, the South Tyrol, Istria, and Trieste, part of Dalmatia, Adalia and Protectorate over Albania. Although she was given the first four areas, the rest were awarded to other countries. There were many ardent spirits who felt that Italy had been insufficiently compensated for her efforts and sacrifices in the war. They were not given the port Fume but was given to Yugoslavia. In September 1919, D’Annunzio captured Fiume with a number of soldiers and held the town as an independent area. The Italians government whom he condemned had no courage to take action against him. The government was neither strong nor bold enough to subdue him. However, in June 1920, after D’Annunzio had held out in Fiume for 15 months, the new Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti decided i.e. the government authority must be restored. He ordered the army to remove D’Annunzio from Fiume- a risky more since he was ruined as a national hero. The army obeyed and D’Annunzio surrendered without a fight, but it left the government highly unpopular.

      ii.            The economic effects of the war: An economic crisis developed in Italy as a result of the loss of life and property in the war. Poor before, she was poorer now because of war expenditure. The government had borrowed heavily, especially from USA, and there debts now had to be repaid the value of her currency had so much depreciated. The demobilization of the army increased unemployment problems. Factories were closed and the banks decided to restrict credit facility. Even the peasantry was affected. Such a deteriorated conditions created unrest in the country.

    iii.            Growing contempt for the parliamentary system: votes for all men and proportional representation were introduced for 1919 election. Although this gave fairer representation than under the previous system in the parliament. After the election there were at least nine parties represented including Liberals, Nationals, Socialists, communists etc. this made it difficult for any one party to gain an overall majority and a coalition governments were inevitable. No consistence policy could be pursued and one after another Ministry came and dissolved. People were distressed due to the inability of the political parties to provide a stable government. Bold leadership was wanted and this was eventually supplied by the Fascist.

    iv.            Activities of the socialists: the socialists who included the anarchist, communists and the social democrats made the atmosphere more poisonous by their revolutionary ideas. They left no stones untouched to increase lawlessness prevailing in the country. The workers organized strikes, broke machines and took hold of the factories. The government prestige sank even lower because of its failure to protect property. The Italians communists’ party which was formed in 1921 made plans for capturing sick of such a state of affairs and wanted a powerful leadership in the country.

      v.            Efforts of the nationalists: there were many nationalists in Italy who became afraid of the activities of the communists. They wanted to save the country from falling in the hands of the communists. They were disgusted with the government’s inability to suppress disorders and were determined to undertake the task which the authorities had failed to reform. It was out of them i.e. a body of enthusiasts arose who came to be known as fascists.

    vi.            A wave of strikes, 1919 and 1920: As there was no stable government, in many areas, particularly in the industrial areas of the north, there was serious labour strike. In the south, socialists’ leaders of farm workers seized land from wealthy land owners and set up co-operations. The government prestige sank lower because of non availability to raw material. A socialist’s revolution was going to threaten the country.

  vii.            Popularity of Mussolini: Mussolini and Fascists party were attracted to many sections of Italy because he aimed to resume Italy from feeble government. At first he showed sympathy with factory occupation of 1919-20. When it failed, he changed his policy and came out as a defender of private property which helped him to get the support of the wealthy business people. Because of his anti- communist policy church also supported him slowly and steadily he won the support of people who were tired of weak governments.

viii.            Lack of effective opposition: the anti-fascist groups failed to co-operate with each other and made no determined effort to keep the fascists out. The fascists set up clubs all aver the Italy and attacked socialists every where meeting violence with violence. The government was not powerful enough to control these lawless situations. The socialists must take much of blame for refusing to work with the government to curb fascist violence. A coalition of Giolitti’s nationalist and the socialists could have made a reasonably stable government, thus keeping the fascists out, but the socialists would not co-operate and this caused Giolitti, the socialists called a general strike in summer of 1922.  

    ix.            General strike of 1922: the general strike called by the socialists in summer 1922 helped the fascists announced i.e. if the government failed to crush the strike, they would crush it themselves. When the strike failed through lack of support, Mussolini was able to pore as the savior of the nation from communism. By October 1922, the fascist felt confident enough to stage their ‘March on Rome ‘. About 50,000 black shirts converged on the capital, while others occupied important towns in the north. The Prime Minister Luigi Facta was prepared to resist. But King Victor Emmanuel III refused to declare a state of emergency and instead invited Mussolini to come to Rome and form a new government.     

Why did the king of Italy decide to offer Mussolini the post of the prime minister in October 1922?

                                                            OR

What is the significance of the king’s role in Mussolini becoming Prime Minister of Italy?

          i.            Lack of confidences in Prime Minister Luigi Facta.

        ii.            The king feared he would be over thrown and wanted fascist support.

      iii.            He was not sure of loyalty of police and army. He feared of a long civil war if he failed to crush the Fascist.

                                       

                                     MUSSOLINI & FASCISM

Italy developed fascist dictatorship under Benito Mussolini. Fascist party was founded by him in 1919. The local branches of the party were known as Fasci Italiani di Combattimento (Italian Combat Squad), consisting of 200 members. The word fascism is derived from the Latin word ‘fasces’ which means the bundle of rods with protruding axe in the middle. The following are the basic principles of fascism:-

        i.            Fascism put great emphasis on the idea of extreme nationalism. It was an emphasis on the rebirth of the nation after a period of decline and building up the greatness and prestige of the state.

      ii.            It believed in totalitarian form of government. It wanted to control and organize with strong discipline as many aspects of people’s lives as possible.

    iii.            It gave importance to one party state. Fascism was especially hostile to communism.

    iv.            Economic self-sufficiency was vitally important in developing the greatness of the state.

      v.            Military strength and violence were on integral part of the way of life.

                     

                          Explain the main features of the Fascist state under Mussolini?

                                                                  OR

                            Explain the main features of Mussolini’s domestic Policy?

                                             Mussolini’s Domestics Policies

Mussolini, who was appointed as the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922, was very cautious in the beginning. There was no sudden change in the system of government and state institution. However, the king had given him special powers to last until the end of 1923 to deal with the crisis. The Acerbo law passed in November 1923 changed the rules of general elections. According to this law, the party which got highest votes in a general election would automatically be given two-third of the seats in the parliament. As a result in the elections i.e. held in April 1924 the fascist came out with 404 seats. This helped Mussolini to strengthen his hold in the government and society along fascist line.

Totalitarian state: Mussolini established a totalitarian state with himself as the leader. He controlled everything in the state including the fascist policy. He made the state supreme and destroyed the opposition completely. All parties except the fascist were suppressed. He made changes in the Italian constitution to make him self the supreme authority. The Prime Minister was responsible only to the king, not to parliament. The Prime Minister could rule by decree which meant i.e. new laws did not need to be discussed by parliament. The electorate was reduced. He adopted the title of Duce (the leader)

Change in local government: Mussolini also made changes in the local government elected town, councils and mayors were abolished and towns were run by officials appointed from Rome. In practice the local fascist party bosses often had as much power as the government officials. A strict censorship was enforced in which anti-fascist newspaper and magazines were banned. Radio, films and theatre were controlled very strictly by the state.

Education:  another important state of the government was to control and supervise education and education institutions. Education in schools and universities was closely supervised. Teachers were forced to wear uniforms and new text books were written to glorify the fascist system. Children were encouraged to criticize teachers who seemed to lack enthusiasm for the party. Children and young people were forced to join youth organization.

Corporate state: the government promoted the idea of corporate state by encouraging co-operation between employees and workers. Fascist controlled unions had the role right to negotiate for the workers. Both unions and employers associations were expected to work together to settle disputes over pay and working condition. Strikes and lock lots were not allowed. To compensate for their loss of freedom, workers were assumed of benefits like free Sunday, annual holidays with pay, social securities and cheap labours.

                                 (What benefit did fascism bring for the Italians?)

Economic policy: the fascist evolved out a new economic policy for the country. The big drive was for the self sufficiency, which was thought to be essential for a warrior nation. The government took up a programme of land reclamation to increase agricultural yield.   

The battle for wheat encouraged farmers to concentrate on wheat production as a part of drive for self sufficiency .by 1935 whet import had been cut by 75 %.Industry with government subsidies where necessary. As a result production and iron and steel doubled by 1930. By 1937 production of hydro electric power had double. The government took up a programme of public works which included building of roads, bridges, school, railway stations etc. Mussolini balanced the budget and stabilized currency. The after work Dopolavoro (the Italian Fascist leisure and recreational organization) organisation provided the Italian people with things to in their leisure time. 

Papacy: one of Mussolini’s outstanding achievements was the settlement of long standing dispute with the papacy. The conflict between the Catholic Church and the state which Mussolini described as a ‘thorn in the flesh of the nation’ began with the annexation of Rome by the ruling dynasty in 1870. Mussolini, who wanted to assure the support of the millions of Roman Catholics to the fascist state decided to settle this dispute. He signed a treaty Lantern Treaty in1929 with Pope Pius XI. By this treaty Italy recognized the Vatican City as the sovereign state, paid the Pope a large sum of money as compensation for all his losses accepted the Catholic faith on the official state religion and made religious instruction compulsory in all schools. In return the Papacy recognized the kingdom of Italy with Rome as its Capital. Thus under Mussolini Italy came to occupy a commanding position in Italy.   

                                                  

                                               MUSSOLINI’S FOREIGN POLICY

One of the fundamental articles of the fascist faith was to lighten the prestige of Italy in the eyes of the foreign countries. The fascist glorified war as a symbol of national virility. Mussolini. Aimed at reviving the prestige of ancient Rome and securing for Italy the position of world power. Besides, Italy was in need of colonies to provide an out let for hundreds of thousands of her children deprived of work in the father land and no longer able to emigrate abroad on account of the limitation imposed on immigration by foreign countries. Hence he followed an aggressive foreign policy.

Policy till 1934: First of all Mussolini concentrated his attention on south-eastern Europe. By the treaty of Locarno signed in 1923, Italy got back Dodecanese Island which she had surrendered to Greece in 1920. Another example of his aggressive foreign policy was Corfu incident i.e. took place in 1923.this arose from a boundary dispute between Greece and Albania in which three Italian officials working in boundary commission were killed. Mussolini blamed the Greeks, demanded huge compensation and bombarded and occupied island of Corfu. When League of Nations interfered Mussolini refused to recognize its competence to deal with the problem and threatened to withdraw Italy from the League.

In 1924 Italy signed Treaty of Rome with Yugoslavia by which the free state of Fiume was divided between the two. While the city of Fiume proper went to Italy, Yugoslavia got the neighboring port of Baros. In 1925 he attended the Locarno Conference, but disappointed when the agreement was signed. It did not guarantee the Italian frontier with Austria. He followed friendly policy towards Greece, Hungary and especially Albania. In 1926 he concluded a treaty with Albania by which Albania was virtually controlled by Italy. He cultivated good relation with British and supported her demands i.e. Turkey should hand over Mosul Province to Iraq. In return the British gave Italy a small part of Somaliland. At the London Naval conference held in 1930, Mussolini demanded naval party with France. In 1931, he advocated the revision of Peace Treaty.

                                

                                           When and why was Stresa Front collapsed?         

Policy after 1934: The Stresa Front: -the prospect of Europe dominated by Germany was not to the liking of Italy and for France. It was the worst possible development. French foreign minister Pierre Laval was a sincere admire of fascism. He now entered into settlement with Mussolini. The object of this agreement was to present a united front of France, Italy and Britain against the growing German threat. When Hitler announced the re-introduction of conscription in March 1935, Italy, Britain and France at once decided to register their strong protest. They met in a conference at Stresa in11-14 April 1935. It was attended by the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, French foreign minister Pierre Laval and Mussolini. They formed declaration and the three powers agreed to oppose,’ any unilateral repudiation of treaties and to uphold the system of collective security under the frame work of the league. Thus the three powers made impressive display of their solidarity. But non wanted to keep their promise and this became evident within a very short time the insincerity of the three powers became evident when Britain entered into a naval agreement with Germany. It created a breach not only in the Treaty of Versailles, but in the Stresa front also. It convinced Mussolini of British self interest.

                                            Why did Mussolini invade Abyssinia?

Annexation of Abyssinia: - the most spectacular achievement of Mussolini was the conquest of Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Many factors were responsible for the conquest of Abyssinia by Italy. The population of Italy was on the increase and there was the necessity of the acquiring some territory for the surplus population. Italy needed raw material for her industries and the market for the finished goods. It was necessary to divert attention from internal troubles and provide a new market for Italian exports. It would please the nationalists and colonialist, avenge the defeat of 1896 and boost Mussolini’s declining popularity. The conquest of Abyssinia would put minerals into the hands of Italy. Abyssinia was of great strategic value for Italy. It could link the Italian possession in Somaliland, Eritrea and south-east Africa. From Abyssinia, Italy could afford to attack the British position in Sudan. It could also help Italy to make the Mediterranean an Italian Lake. From the attitude of the League of Nations and the great powers towards the conquest of Manchuria by Japan, Mussolini had come to the conclusion that in spite of the principle of collective security, nobody was going to stop him from conquering Abyssinia. As Italy was considered as lesser evil, it was possible i.e., the other powers may not like to interfere while she was busy in conquering Abyssinia.

Mussolini took a lot of time make preparation for an attack on Abyssinia. In 1935 he took advantage of some border incident at Walwal and attacked Abyssinia. Its king Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations for arbitration. The league condemned Italy as an aggressor and applied economic sanction. But these were useless because they did not include banning sales of oil and coal to Italy. The league’s prestige suffered further blow when it emerged i.e. the British foreign secretary Sir Samuel Hoare had made a secret deal with Luval the French Prime Minister to hand over a large sanction of Abyssinia to Italy. Public opinion in Britain was so out raged i.e. the idea was dropped. In the mean while Italian forces continued to penetrate in to Abyssinia and ultimately occupied it in May 1936.

                  State the important consequence of Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia.

 The conquest of Abyssinia marks a crucial turning point in post war history. Its real importance was i.e. it demonstrated the ineffectiveness of collective security. The league and the idea of collective security were discredited. The only significant step taken by the league was the application of Article16 providing for sanctions. But the half hunted manner in which article 16 was applied indicated its weakness rather than strength. The primary responsibility for the leagues’ failure lay on the big powers especially Britain and France. Reason for this weak stand against Italy was i.e. Britain and France were military and economically unprepared for war. Any way Mussolini was annoyed by the sanction and began to be drawn towards friendship with Hitler, who had not criticized the invasion.

                                           Involvement in Spanish civil war

The constitutional monarchy in Spain under king Alfanso was not very efficient. In 1923 General Rivera seized the power in a bloodless coup. The people supported the dictatorship for the fear of the Bolshevik revolution. In the election of 1931 socialists republican party majority and demanded the abdication of the Spanish king.

The king abdicated and a republican form of government was formed. In July 1936 the Rightist leader Calvo Sotelo was murdered by the police. This incident created a terror in the minds of Rightist and they decided to restore military dictatorship. A group of generals under the leadership of Franco decided to utilize the situation and Civil war began in Spain in 1936.

Mussolini sent extensive help to Franco hoping to establish a third Fascist state in Europe and to get naval bases in Spain from which he could threatened France. He also wanted to check the spread of communism. Twenty seven European states formed non-interference committee and decided not to give any kind of help to either party in Spain. Disregarding the decision Italy sent help to General Franco. In 1939 civil war came to an end when Franco won the battle. This Spanish civil war transformed into a European war and paved the way to the Second World War.

Rome Berlin Axis: Another achievement of Mussolini's foreign policy was his understanding with Hitler known as Rome-Berlin Axis. Mussolini said that the Axis was a line drawn between Rome and Berlin, around which all European states that desire place can revolve.

Italy sent help to General Franco: in 1939 Italy joined the Anti Comintern Pact with Germany and Japan in which all three pledged to stand side by side against Communism.

Pact of Steel:- Carried away by his success, Mussolini signed a full alliance with Germany known as pact of steel in may 1939. According to this pact Italy promised full military support if a war came.

Though the Second World War started in September 1939, Italy remained neutral. In 1940 Italy joined the war by declaring war against Britain and France.

                                            Unsolved Problems (Failure of Mussolini)

Even before Italy became involved in Second World War, it was clear that fascism had not solved many of her problems. Little had been done to remedy her basic shortage of raw material coal and oil and much more effort could have been made to develop hydro-electric powers. Although the ‘Battle of wheat’ was a victory, it was achieved only at the expense of diary and arable farming. The climate in the south is much better suited to grazing and orchard than growing wheat. As a result agriculture remained inefficient and form labours wages fell by between 20 and 40 percent during 1930s. Mussolini revealed lira too high as a result of which Italian exports became more expensive on the world market and led to reduced orders especially in the cotton industry.

The great depression which began in 1927 in USA made matters worse. Export full further and

Unemployment problem increased. Another failing of the region was in social services, where was no opportunity for a Welfare State. Above all the region was inefficient and corrupt, so that many of its policies were not carried out. Part of the problem was that Mussolini tried increasingly to do everything himself because he wanted total control. But it was impossible for one man to do so much and it ultimately led to the failure of his policies.

                                                          Down fall of Mussolini

Mussolini’s decision to enter in the war was a disastrous mistake. The majority of the Italians were against it. Economically Italy was incapable of wagging a major war. The army was equipped with obsolete rifles and artillery. To meet the war time expenses he increased taxes which increased hardship of the people. There was shortage of food massive inflation and a 30% fall in real wages. By March 1934 unrest showed itself in strikes in Milan and Turin.

After a few early successes the Italians suffered a string of defeat culminating in the surrender of breaking of all Italian troops in North Africa in may 1943. Breaking point came with the allied capture of Sicily in July 1943. Even then Mussolini refused to make peace it became i.e. world mean disserting Hitler. The Fascist Grand Council turned against Mussolini and the king dismissed him. Nobody lifted a finger to save him and fascism disappeared.

                            Change in Mussolini’s Foreign Policy towards Nazi Germany. 

Mussolini was at first suspicious of Hitler. He was concerned with preventing Austria from falling under the domination of Germany. To achieve this aim he extended protection to Chancellor Dollfuss. When Dollfuss was murdered by the Austrian Nazis in July 1934, he sent troops to Brenner pass to prevent German invasion of Austria. As a result the Nazis called off their  attempt to seize power in Austria .Gradually Mussolini drifted from extreme suspicious of Hitler’s design on Austria to grudging administration of Hitler’s achievements. When Germany began rearmament, Mussolini at first joined Britain and France in Stress front in April 1935. But the Anglo-German Naval Agreement signed in June 1935 convinced Mussolini of British self interest and his relative with Front partners strained.

During his invasion of Abyssinia, League of Nation condemned and implemented Article 16 against Italy. Mussolini was angry at the imposition of Sanction by Britain and France and began moving closer to Germany who had not criticized the invasion and not applied sanction. Both Mussolini and Hitler gave help to General Franco in Spanish Civil war. An understanding known as Rome Berlin Axis was signed between the two. Mussolini was to much impressed by German strength during his visit to Germany and Japan. He dropped objection to merger of Germany with Austria. At Munich Conference the plan for handling over Sudetenland to Hitler was introduced by Mussolini. In 1939 he signed a full alliance with Germany known as Pact of Steel, by which Italy promised full military if war came. In 1940, after the fall of France he joined side of Germany by declaring war against the allied powers.

                     

                     Reason for the popularity of Mussolini and Fascist Party in Italy

Mussolini and the fascist party became more attractive to many section of society because he aimed to rescue Italy from feeble government. In 1919 he founded Fascist Party with a Socialist and Republican programme. He showed sympathy with the factory occupation of 1919-20. But when it failed, he altered course and came out as the defender of private property, thus attracting much needed financial support from wealthy business interests. By the end of 1921, even though his political programme was vague in the extreme, he had gained the support of property owners in general, because they saw him as a guarantee of law and order. Mussolini’s anti-communist policy helped him to win the support of Roman Catholic Church under Pope Pious XI.

Which event helped Mussolini in becoming the Prime Minister of Italy in October 1922?

In 1921 election Mussolini’s fascist party won 35 seats only. The socialist tried to use the situation to their own advantage by calling a general strike in the summer of 1922. When strike failed through lack of support, the fascist staged a ‘march to Rome which culminated in King Victor Emmanuel inviting Mussolini to form the government in October 1922.

Why was Mussolini disappointed with the Locarno Conference of 1925?

Mussolini was disappointed because the agreement did not guarantee the Italian frontier with Austria.

                                                  

                                                           NAZISM IN Germany

                                   

                                        Post War Germany /Reason for rise in Germany

The collapse of Germany in the 1^st world war led to political distribution in the country. Kaiser Germany fled to Holland. A provisional government under Fredric Evert leader of the social democrats was set up at Munich. Mean while constituent Assembly was elected by secret ballot of all the Germans. It met at Weimar in 1919 and drafted constitution known as Weimar constitution. It provided for a republican form of government, popularly known as Weimar Republic and Evert became the first President of Weimar Republic. The constitution entrusted the executive power to the President for a period of 7 years. He was to act on the advice of a ministry responsible to the legislature. The legislature consisted of two houses:-

Reichstag representing the people and Reichstadt representing the component states.

                                             Problem facing the Weimar Republic

                                       Why did the Weimar Republic Collapse?

Political Problems

The Weimar Republic had a number of disadvantages. These hampered it from the beginning.

1.      It had accepted the humiliating and unpopular treaty of Versailles. So the new regime was regarded with disfavor by many. German nationalists could never forgive it.

2.      There was a traditional lack of respect for democratic government. In 1919 the view was widespread that the army had not been defeated. it had been betrayed, stabbed in the back by the democrats who had needlessly agreed to the Versailles treaty.

3.      The parliamentary system introduced in the new Weimar constitution had weakness. The most serious this was that it was based on a system of proportional representation. So that all political groups would have a fair representation. Unfortunately there were different groups that no party ever won an overall majority.

4.      The political parties had very little experience of how to operate a democratic parliamentary system. The Communist and Nationalists did not believe in the Republic and refused to support the social democrats. The combination of these weaknesses led to more out break of violence and attempt to over throw the republic.

Outbreak of violence

The Weimar Republic failed to curb the persistent violence that broke out in the country.

1.      In January 1919 the separatist rising occurred in which the communist, inspired by the success of the Russian revolution occupied almost every major city in Germany. The rising was led by Karl liebknant and Rosa Luxemburg. The government managed to defeat the communist only because it accepted the help of Freikorps. It was a sign of the government’s weakness that it had to depend on private forces which it did not itself control.

2.      Another great rising was the Kapp Putsch in March 1920. It was an attempt by right wing group to seize power. It was sparked off when the government tried to disband Freikorps. They refused to disband and declared Wolfgang Kapp Chancellor. The German took an action against the Putsch because the generals were in sympathy with the right. In the end the workers of Berlin came to the aid of the Social Democrats Government by calling a general strike.

3.      A series of political assassination took place in Germany. There were mainly carried out by ex-Freikorps members. Walther Rathenau, Jewish foreign minister and Matthias Erzberger leader of armistice delegation were killed. When the government fought strong measures against such acts of terrorism. There was great oppositation from the right wing parties. Whereas the communists leaders had been brutally murdered.

4.      Another threat to the government occurred in November 1923 in Bavaria known as ‘Beer Hall Putsch’. It is so called because the march set out from the Munich beer hall in which Hitler had announced his national revolution the previous evening. Hitler helped by General Ludendorff, aimed to take control of the Bavarian state government in Munich and then lead a national revolution to over throw the government in Berlin. However this organization was suppressed by the government.

5.      The violence did down during the years 1924 to 1929 as the republic became more stable. But when unemployment grew in the early 1930s the private armies’ expanded and regular street fight occurred between Nazis and communists. All parties had their meetings broken up by rival armies and the police seemed powerless to prevent it happening.

Economics Problems

The Weimar republic was constantly played by economics problems which the government failed to solve permanently.

1.      In 1919 Germany was close to bankruptcy because of enormous expense of the war. Her attempts to pay reparations installments made matter worse.

2.      In January 1923 French troops occupied the Ruhr in an attempt to seize goods from factories and mines. The Germany government ordered the workers to follow a policy of passive resistance and German industry in Ruhr was paralyzed. The French had failed in their aim, but the effect on the German economy was disastrous. The value of the Mark came to almost nothing, inflation gripped the whole country. However the situation gradually improved when the Stresemann came to power. He called off passive resistance in Ruhr, stabilized currency and resumed reparation deliveries to France and Belgium. It was mainly due to Dawes Plan which came into effect in 1924. American Banker Charles Dawes provided an immediate loan for Germany, arranged annual installments spread over a long period. The currency was stabilized there was a boom in such industries as iron, steel, coal, chemicals and electrical. The work of Dawes Plan was carried a stage further by the ‘Young Plan’ agreed in October 1929. This reduced the reparation amount by ¾ and arranged the payment of installment spread over 59 years. In this way American assistance helped Germany to stabilize her economy.

3.      The world economic crisis which developed in October 1929 made the situation worse. The USA stopped army loan and began to call in many of the short terms already made with Germany. This caused a crisis of confidence in the currency.

4.      As a result of economic depression the Germany industries were closed and by 1931 un employment and poverty became very common. The government came under criticism from almost all groups in society. By the end of 1932 the Weimar Republic had been brought to verge of collapse.

                            (Reasons for the popularity of Nazi Party in Germany.)

                                 What made Nazi’s so popular in Germany?

1.      Nazi’s offered national unity, prosperity and full employment. Great play was made in Nazi propaganda into the ‘stab in the back myth’.

2.      Nazi’s promised to over throw the Versailles settlement, which was so unpopular with most humans and to build Germany into a great power again.

3.      Nazis private army the SA was attractive in young people out of work. It gave them a small ways and a uniform.

4.      Wealthy land owners and industrialists encouraged the Nazis because they feared a communist’s revolution. They approved of the Nazi policy of hostility to communists.

5.      Hitler himself had extra ordinary political abilities. He possessed tremendous energy and will- power and a remarkable gift for public speaking which enabled him to put forward his ideas with great emotional force.

6.      The striking contrast between the government of the Weimar republic and the Nazi impressed people. The farmers were respectable, dull and unable to maintain law and order, the latter promised strong government and the restoration of national pride.

7.      The widespread unemployment and social misery that widespread existed in Germany also helped the Nazis to gain mass support.

                     

                      

                                  Principles of Nazism (What did National Socialism stand for?)  

1.      It was more than one political party among many. It was a way of life dedicated to the rebirth of the nations. All classes in society must be united to make Germany a great nation again restores national pride.

2.      Great emphasis was laid on the ruthlessly efficient organisation of all aspects of the lives of the masses under the central government in order to achieve greatness.

3.      Since it was likely that greatness could only be achieved by war, the entire state must be organized on a military footing.

4.      The race theory was initially important this was that mankind could be divided into groups. Aryans and non-Aryans. The Aryans were the Germans, destined to rule the world. All the rest were destined to become the slave races of the Germans.

                                Events which culminated in Hitler coming to powers.

                (Out line the event from 1930 – 1933 which helped Hitler coming to power.)

The Wall Street crash in October 1929 created an economic crisis all over the world. The USA stopped any further loans and began to call in money of the short term loans made to Germany. This caused crisis of confidence in the currency and led to a run on the banks, many of which had to close. The starving and destitute people turned to Nazis who promised a bold and new programme. They offered national unity, prosperity and full employment by ridding Germany of what they claimed were the real causes of troubles. As a result the Nazis gained mass support not only among the working class but also among the lower middle classes.

In July 1930 after the Reichstag rejected government budget, President Hindenburg dissolved the legislative and new elections were ordered for September. In this election of September 1930, Nazi party won 107 seats and became second largest party in the Reichstag. Gradually its membership increased and in the election that held in July 1932, it became the largest party in by winning 130 seats in Reichstag. However, Hitler failed to become the chancellor, because the Nazis still lacked an overall majority and he was not yet quite respectable President.

Hindenburg viewed him as an upstart and refused to have him as Chancellor. Hindenburg appointed Franz von Papen as Chancellor. When Von Papen found that he could not maintain law and order in the country, he resigned. In the election of November 1932, the Nazis seats dropped to 196. No party or group of parties gained control of the Reichstag. Kurt von Schleicher was appointed as new chancellor by Hindenburg.

The new government lacked backing in the Reichstag which was necessary to ensure stability. Now a group of right wing politician led by Franz von Papen and Schleicher began to think of doing a deal with Hitler. They felt that the Nazis votes would go a long way towards giving them a majority which might make possible a restoration of the monarchy and a regime to older undemocratic constitutional system in which the Reichstag had much less system powers. So they decided to form a coalition government with Nazi party. In January 1933 they persuaded Hindenburg to invite Hitler to become Chancellor with Papen as vice-chancellor. Hindenburg agreed and appointed Hitler as a Chancellor of Germany on 30^th January 1933. Thus the weak political situation helped Hitler to capture power in Germany.

                            Events which helped Hitler in consolidating his power in Germany.

In January 1933, Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany. He was chancellor of the coalition government of national socialist and nationalists. But he was not satisfied with the amount of power  he possessed. Nazis held only three out of eleven cabinet posts. Therefore he insisted on a general election in the hope of winning an overall majority for the Nazis and demanded new election(5^th march ).

The election campaign was an extremely violent one. The Nazis now in power were able to use all the apparatus of state, including press and radio, to try to whip up a majority. The government instituted repressive measures against the communists, social democrats and other parties. Senior police officers were replaced with reliable Nazis. Meetings of all parties except Nazis and nationalist were wrecked.

The climax of the election campaign came on the myth of 27^th February 1933 when the Reichstag building in Berlin was badly damaged by a fire. It was done by a young witted Dutch anarchist called Marianus Vander Lubbe, who was arrested tried and executed for his plans. It has been suggested that Nazis private army the SA knew about Vander Lubbe’s plan, but allowed him to go ahead and even started fires of their own else where in the building with the intension of blaming it on the communists.

Hitler accused the communists for this carnage saying that they had no faith in democracy. The so called betrayed communists had its impact on the poll. The Nazis captured 288 out of 647 seats in the new Reichstag and the nationalists 52. The Nazi – nationalists’ coalition thus received approximately 52% of the popular vote and a majority in Reichstag. On the death of Hindenburg in1934 Hitler made himself the President and chancellor of Germany. Thus Hitler laid the foundation of third German Republic or third Reich.  

                                                                

                                                               Domestic Policy

                              Explain the main features of Nazi state in Germany under Hitler.

After becoming Fuhrer, Hitler captured all the powers. Germany became an authoritarian state. The major changes introduced by Hitler in Germany were the following:-

The Enabling law: - the legal basis of his power was the enabling law which was forced through the Reichstag on 23^rd march 1933. This stated that the government could introduce laws without the approval of the Reichstag for next four years, could ignore the constitution and sign agreements with foreign countries. All laws could be drafted by the chancellor and come into operation the day they were published. This meant that Hitler was to be the complete dictator for the next four years. Such a major constitutional change needed approval by a 2/3 majority, yet the Nazis did not have even a simple majority. However the Nazis managed it by adopting stern policy. The Kroll Opera house, where the Reichstag had been meeting since the fire was surrounded by Hitler’s private armies. The communists’ members were not allowed to get inside. In this way the Nazis got the law through the Reichstag.

Gleichshaltung: - Hitler followed a policy known as Gleichshaltung forable co-ordination which turned Germany into a totalitarian state. The government tried to control as many aspects of life as possible using a huge police force and the secret police- Gestapo. The main features of this policy were the following:-

i.                    Political Parties: - All political parties except the National Socialism were banned so that Germany became a one party state.

ii.                  Parliament Leaders: - The separate state parliament leader lost all powers. Nazi special commissioners appointed in each state took over their functions. The commissioner had complete power over all officials and affairs within the state. There were no more states, provincial or municipal election.

iii.                Trade Union: - Trade unions were abolished their funds confiscated and their leaders were arrested. They were replaced by German labor front to which all workers had to belong. Strikes were not allowed.  

iv.                Education:-He set up such a system of education so as to produce strong supporters of Nazism .school text books were rewritten on the line of the Nazi ideas. Human biology was dominated by the Nazi were race theory. History was distorted to fit in with Hitler’s view that great things could only be achieved by force. Teachers were directed not to speak against the Nazi government in any way. The tender minds of the youth were infused with Nazi ideology to make them convince that they alone can solve national problems.

v.                  Media:-All communication and the media were controlled by the ministers of propaganda. Radio newspaper, magazine, books, theatre, films, music and art were all supervised.

vi.                Economic Life:-Hitler introduced various reforms to meet the economic crisis in Germany. The economic life of the country was closely organized to achieve the twin objectives of removing unemployment and making Germany self-sufficient by bursting exports and reducing imports. Industrialists were asked to produce what the country needed at that time. Raw materials were strictly rationed. Factories were closed down if their products were not required or their products had no demand. Germany made a remarkable improvement in the evolution of systematic products. Wool, rubber and petrol were made by artificial process from material like wood and coal in order to reduce dependence on foreign countries. He introduced vast schemes of public works to provide employment to the people. By all these measures economy became stable.

vii.              Religion:-Religion was brought under state control since the churches were a possible source of opposition. In 1933 Hitler signed an agreement known as the concordant with the Pope. According to this, he promised not to interfere with German Catholic in any way. In return they agreed to dissolve the Catholic centre part and take no further party in politics. But relation soon became strained when the government broke the concordant by dissolving the culture youth league because it recalled the Hitler youth when the Catholic protested, their schools were closed down. Pope Pins XI issued an Encyclical in which he condemned the Nazi government for being hostile to Christ and his church. Then thousands of priest and nuns were arrested and sent to Concentration Camps. Hitler tried to organize various protestant groups into a ‘Reich Church’ with a Nazi as the first Reich bishop. But many priests objected and a group of them led by Martin Niemoller protested to Hitler about government interference and about his treatment towards Jews. Hitler adopted a ruthless policy towards them and arrested hundreds of Protestants.  

viii.            Anti-Semitic:-The worst aspect of the Nazis system was Hitler anti-Semitic (anti-Jews) policy. The Nazis succeeded in creating a deep indignation among the Germans against the Jews by holding them responsible for the hardship of Germany. For all the miseries of the German people, the Jews were blamed. The Nazis extolled the purity of the German race ‘pure blood Aryans’ and they were superior to other races or whom they had right to rule. The campaign was given legal right by the Nuremberg laws passed in 1935. This law deprived Jews of their German citizenship, forbade them to marry non Jews and ruled that even a person with only one Jewish grand parent must be classified a Jew. Many lawyers’ doctors and teachers were removed from jobs as they were Jews. Jews were harassed, insulted, property looted and burned and sent to concentration camp. Hitler’s intension was to exterminate the entire-Jewish race. It is believed that by 1945, over 5 million had been murdered, most of them in the gas chambers of the Nazi extermination camps. Thus method was known as Holocaust and this was possibly the worst crime over committed against humanity.

Above all, Germany was a police state. The police tried to prevent all open opposition to the regime. Thus, Hitler changed the character of Germany and made it a powerful country in Europe.

Reasons for the popularity of Nazi party among many sections of German people  

1.      Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1935. It caused a great wave of enthusiasm and anticipation after the weak and intensive government of Weimar republic. Hitler, who offered a great new Germany, was careful to foster this enthusiasm by military parade, to enlighten procession and fire work display. 

2.      Hitler was successful in eliminating unemployment. When he came to power the unemployment figure stood at over to 6 million but as early as July 1935, it had dropped to under 2 million and by 1939, it had disappeared completely.

3.      He also took care to keep the support of the workers. The strength through joy or organisation Kraft durch Freude provided benefits such as subsidized holidays in Germany and abroad and holidays with pay.

4.      Wealthy industrialist and businessmen supported Hitler because they were glad to be rid of trade unions and communist revolution.

5.      Farmers also welcomed Nazism when it became clear that a farmer is a separately favored position in the state, because of the declared Nazi aim of self sufficient in food production. Prices of agriculture product were fixed so that they were assured of a reasonable profit.  

6.      Hitler succeeded in getting the support of Reich wear (army). The officers’ class was well-disposed towards Hitler, because of his aim of setting aside the restriction of the Versailles treaty by rearmament and expansion of the army to its full strength. The army leaders were also impressed by Hitler’s handling of the troublesome SA in the notorious Rohm Purge also known as the ‘Night of the Long Knives’ of 30^th June 1934. Early in 1934, it became evident that there was dissatisfaction within Nazi ranks. It was particularly noticeable among the storm troops (SA), many of whom had been communists and still considered themselves as revolutionaries. The leadership of the discontented Brown Shirts was assumed by captain and last Rohm. Rohm wasted his brown shirts to merge with the Reichswehr and himself made a general. To this both the Reichstag generals and Hitler were opposed. Rohm persisted in his demands, forced Hitler to choose between the SA and the Reichswehr. Hitler ruthless policy towards them and most of the SA leader including Rohm were murdered, thus purge helped Hitler to win over the Reichswehr.

7.       Finally, Hitler foreign policy was a brilliant success, which helped him to get more popularity among the people.

                                             

                                              Hitler’s Foreign Policy

Hitler and his Nazi party stood for German racial superiority. The German were described as master race destined to conquer others. The Nazi party in its three point programme of foreign policy had laid down its objectives as:-

i.                    The union of all people of German race by the right of self-determination in one great Germany.

ii.                  The cancellation of the peace treaties of Versailles.

iii.                Acquisition of further territory for the support of the people and the settlement of the surplus human population.

These specific points were given a very wide background in Hitler’s autobiography Mein Kemp. His final political objectives were to be ‘world or nothing’. He wrote ‘’never allow the rise of two continental powers in Europe’’. Obviously this was to be only one continental power Germany and it would aim at world power or nothing. Regarding the method to be followed, Hitler said, ‘reliance on force and rejection of compromise should be the keystone’.

a)      Rearming Germany:-He took up the work of rearming Germany. He wanted to reduce the treaty of Versailles to a scrap of paper and took the first step in the direction by withdrawing from the League of Nations in October 1933. He also withdrew from the world disarmament conference being held at Geneva on the ground that France would not agree to Germany having equality of armaments. At the same time, he insisted that Germany was willing to disarm if other states would do the same and that he wanted only peace.

b)      Non-aggression pact (1934):-To give a show of Germany’s peaceful intensions, in January 1934, Hitler concluded a non-aggression pact with Poland for ten years. He signed this pact because he needed polish neutrally in the event of occupation of Czechoslovakia. He also wanted to weaken the ‘Little Entente’ formed by smaller nations and France.

c)      Saar Plebiscite:-The treaty of Versailles had vested France with the right to occupy for a period of fifteen years and the future of the Saar would be decided by a plebiscite. In January 1935 the plebiscite was arranged and 90% of the voters voted in favour of Germany. Thus Saar region again became united with Germany which added to the resources of Germany.

d)      German Remilitarization:-Hitler first successful breach of Versailles came in March 1935 when he announced the reintroduction of consumption. He declared that Germany was not bound by the militating of the treaty of Versailles and the peace strength of the German army would be 36 divisions. His excuse was that Britain had just announced air force increase and France had extended consumption from 12 to 18 month.

e)      Anglo-German Naval Agreement:-in June 1935, Hitler entered into a naval agreement with Great Britain. According to it, Germany agreed to limit the size of her navy to 35% of the strength of the Britain navy. By this agreement, Hitler was able to remove the suspension of Great Britain and win her to his side.   

f)       Capture of Rhine land:-The treaty of Versailles had demilitarized the Ruhr land; it had been specifically provided that no German troops were to be stationed in that region. However in March 1936, Hitler denounced the Locarno treaties and German troops marched into the Rhine land. Though the troops had ordered to withdraw at the first stage of French opposition no resistance was offered, except the usual protests. At the same time, well aware of the mood of pacifism among his opponents, Hitler soothed them by offering peace treaty to last for 25 years.

g)      Spanish Civil War 1936:-Spain offered Hitler a field to test his policy. Spain had a republican government, but the republic was moving towards communism. To save the country from communists’ control, General Franco organized a revolt which led to the outbreak of civil war in Spain in 1936. Hitler and Mussolini sent troops to help General Franco. The struggle ended in victory of Franco. The Spanish civil war was a dress rehearsal for a greater drama soon to be played on a bigger stage. Thus Spanish civil war brought Germany and Italy closer to each other.  

h)      Axis Pact:-Hitler realized that a war could not be successfully fought without allies, realizing that France and Russia could not befriended and Britain could not be relied, he looked towards Italy’s trust in Ethiopia created a wedge between Italy on the other. Therefore, Mussolini saw in Germany friendship the only way out. Germany and Italy came closer to each other because both of them wanted to undue the peace settlement of 1919. During the Spanish civil war, when Mussolini was sending men and ammunition to General Franco, Hitler supported him and won him over. In October 1936, the two countries concluded an agreement for mutual co-operation. Thus this agreement came to be known as Rome-Berlin Axis.

In 1936, Hitler concluded another part with Japan known as Anti-Comintern Pact. The main                           objectives of this pact were opposition to Russian communism and its international organisation to safe guard Japan ambition in the far-east and to serve German ambition in Europe. Italy joined this pact in 1917 and thus Berlin-Berlin-Tokyo Axis came into being. Initially the implication of this pact was not clear. But by 1940, it was classified in the flowing terms:-

i)        Germany and Italy were to respect Japan’s leadership in Asia.

ii)      Japan recognized the leadership of Germany and Italy in Europe.

iii)    They mutually agreed upon to help each other in the event of an attack by a fourth country.

iv)    The pact was to remain in force for 10 years.

This Axis was a new balance of power against Britain France and Russia.

                                             ANSCHLUSS (Annexation of Austria)

Hitler’s next action was the conquest of Austria. The Austrians were also Germans and they had been kept separate from Germany by treaty of Versailles. However Germany would like to annex Austria and with this objective in view, Hitler encouraged the Nazi agitations in Austria to capture government. In 1934 Hitler suffered a setback to his ambitions of an Anschluss. Austrian Nazis encouraged by Hitler stayed a revolt and murdered Chancellor Dollfuss. When Mussolini moved Italians troops to the Austrian frontier, and warned the Germans, the revolt collapsed.

In February 1938 the Austrian Prime Minister, Schuschnigg, met Hitler at Berchtesgaden in the Alps. At the meeting the Austrian chancellor was threatened and was forced to place leading Austrian Nazis in his Government.

On his return to Austria, Schuschnigg tried to stop spreading German influence by calling a referendum. This enraged Hitler and Schuschnigg was forced to resign. German troops “were invited in” by the new Nazi Prime Minister, Seyss-Inquart.

Hitler returned in triumph to Vienna where he was greeted by euphoric crowds. This was the city where before World War One he had lived as a down and out. Hitler incorporated Austria into the Reich as the province of Ostmark. This event became known as the Anschluss.

The year from September 1938 to September 1939 saw Hitler wagging two pressure campaigns, the first against Czechoslovakia and the second against Poland.

The Sudetenland (Czechoslovakia) 1938:-The next target for Hitler was the country of Czechoslovakia. It had been founded after World War One. It was the only democracy in Eastern Europe and possessed a good army. It also contained a number of national minorities (it was nicknamed “little Austria-Hungary”) including a large German minority in an area known as the Sudetenland. Hitler encouraged the Germans living there to demonstrate against Czech rule. The leader of the Sudeten German Party was Konrad Henlein.

Hitler decided to use the grievances of the Sudeten Germans to bring the area under German control. He secretly set the date of 1 October for war with Czechoslovakia if the issue was not resolved. Throughout

the summer of 1938 the crisis grew worse. The Sudeten Germans backed by Nazi propaganda agitated for greater autonomy (independence).

Chamberlain hoped to avoid war and felt that there was some justification in the German demand for the region. He flew to Germany and met Hitler twice, at Berchtesgaden and Bad Godesberg. However although it seemed an agreement had been reached, Hitler made new demands and it looked as if Europe was on the brink of war.

Mussolini was ill prepared for a war and proposed a conference of Britain, France, Germany and Italy. This met at Munich on 28 September. The Czechs were not even invited. The British and French agreed to Hitler’s demands and it seemed as if the threat of war was averted. Chamberlain and Daladier, the French Prime Minister, received heroes welcomes when they returned home. The Czechs were bitter at the loss of territory including most of their border fortifications and were now virtually powerless to resist the Germans.

In March 1939, Hitler took over the rest of the Czech lands after encouraging the Slovaks to declare independence under German protection. The Czech President, Hacha was invited to Berlin and was threatened that if he did not agree to German occupation, Prague would be bombed. Significantly this was the first non-Germanic land that Hitler had seized. This occupation outraged public opinion in Britain and marked the end of appeasement. In the same month the German speaking town of Memel was seized from Lithuania.

Poland 1939:-The occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia had led Britain to guarantee Poland that if she was attacked she would come to her aid. Under the Treaty of Versailles the newly created state of Poland was given the German speaking port of Danzig and land known as the Polish Corridor in order to give it access to the sea.

Hitler wanted to destroy Poland in order to gain living space (Lebensraum).Hitler demanded the German speaking town of Danzig from Poland and the building of a motorway to link East Prussia with the rest of the Reich.

However the demand for Danzig was not the real issue for Hitler. He said

Further successes can no longer be attained without the shedding of blood…Danzig is not the subject of the dispute at all. It is a question of expanding our living space in the east…there is no question of sparing Poland.

He accused the Poles of mistreating the German minority in other parts of Poland. Nazi propaganda greatly exaggerated stories of attacks on the German minority. The Poles refused to hand over the town of Danzig.

A Very Surprising Alliance!

As the summer wore on tension grew. Both Britain and France and Germany were trying to gain the support of the USSR in the event of war. Stalin did not trust Britain and France and felt they were encouraging Hitler to attack Russia. He had been greatly angered by the Munich agreement.

Although both Germany and the Soviet Union had been bitter enemies up to 1939, the world was stunned to learn that they had reached an agreement on 23 August 1939. This was a Ten Year Non-Aggression pact. Both countries benefited from this agreement. For the Soviet Union it allowed her more time to prepare for war and she gained a lot of territory in Eastern Europe. Germany was assured that if she attacked Poland she would not have to face a two-front war.

Hitler hoped that the news of the Pact with Russia would stop France and Britain from going to war if Germany attacked Poland. He was surprised when Britain and Poland concluded a mutual defence treaty. Mussolini informed him that Italy was unprepared for war and he postponed the invasion of Poland. A flurry of diplomatic activity achieved nothing and on 1 September Germany invaded Poland. On 3 September Britain and France declared war on Germany.

                                                                   

                                                                 

                                                                       Japan

                           Account for the development of Militarism in Japan in the 1930’s

                                   How did militarism grow in Japan between 1919 and 1939?

Japan had a powerful navy, a great deal of influence in china, and had benefited economically from the First World War, while the states of Europe were busy fighting each other. Japan took advantage of the situation both by providing the allies with stepping and other goods and by steeping into supply orders especially in Asia. During the war years, her export of cotton cloth almost trebled while her merchant fleet doubled in tonnage. Politically the course seemed set fair for democracy when in 1925 all adult males were given the vote. Hopes were soon dashed. At the beginning of the 1930’s the army assumed control of the government.

There were many reasons for the growth of militarism in Japan:-

i)        From the beginning, democracy was not popular with many influential groups in Japanese society, such as the army and the conservatives. They seized every opportunity to discredit the government. Many of them believed that Japan had a tragic mistake in adopting western parliamentary institution. They favored the assumption of internal political power by the army leaders.

ii)      Many politicians were corrupt and regularly accepted bribes from big businessmen. The system was not one to inspire respect, and the prestige of parliament suffered.

iii)    The great trading boom of the war years lasted only until the middle of 1921, when Europe began to recover lost markets. In Japan, unemployment and industrial unrest developed. At the same time farmers were hit by the rapidly falling price of rice caused by a series of bumper harvest. When farmers and industrial workers tried to organize themselves into a political party, they were suppressed by the police. Thus, the workers as well as the army and the right gradually became hostile to a parliament.

iv)    The world economic crisis of 1939 affected Japan severely. Her export shrank disastrously and others countries introduced or raised tariffs against her to safeguard their own industries. One of the worst affected trades was the export of raw silk, which went mostly to the USA. The period after the Wall Street crash was no time for luxuries and the Americans drastically reduced her imports of raw silk, so that by 1932 the price had fallen to less than 1/5 of the 1932 figure. This was a further blow for Japanese farmers. There was desperate poverty especially in the north, for which factory workers and peasants blamed the government.

v)      Matters were brought to a hand in 1931 by the situation in Manchuria, where Japan had valuable investment and trade. The Chinese were trying to squeeze out Japanese trade and business, which would have been a severe blow to Japanese economy already hard hit by the depression. To preserve their economic advantages, Japanese army unit invade and occupied Manchuria in September 1931 with out permission from the government. When Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi criticized action, he was assassinated by a group of army officers in May 1932. His successors felt he had support army action.

                                        Japanese Expansion in China – Invasion of Manchuria

Japan had deep-rooted interest in Manchuria due to economic, political and strategic reasons. Japan population was increasing leaps and bounds and she was looking for addition territory for her population. Japan wanted to occupy fertile Manchuria in a bid to tide over crisis created by economic depression of 1929-31. The aggressive nationalism of Japan was interpreted to mean strong international policy. The pressure of army for expansion in China was increasing over civil administration.

Japan had already got control over the south Manchurian railway. She was entitled to keep 15,000 soldiers in Manchuria for the protection of the railways. These soldiers were stationed at Mukden. In 1931, in the out skirts of Mukden, bomb exploded causing a slight damage to a small portion of Japanese hold Chinese responsible for the explosion and at once attacked Chinese army. The Chinese army which offered feeble resistance was easily dispersed and the whole of Manchuria was overran by Japanese army.

Then Japanese established an independent government in Manchuria.

The Chinese government lodged a protest with League of Nations. The league council appointed a commission handed by Lord Lytton to investigate the situation and to make recommendation for possible solution. The Lytton commission included representation from Britain, France, Italy, Germany and USA. The commission suggested that Manchuria be made an autonomous province under Chinese control. Opposing this proposal, Japan withdrew her membership from league and continued her control over Manchuria. The failure of the league was a great blow to the principle of collective security.

The success of Manchuria expedition encouraged Japan’s imperialistic aspiration. In 1933 Japanese began to advance from Manchuria in to the rest of north eastern China, to which they had no claim. After signing the Anti-Comintern pact with Germany in 1936, the Japanese army seized the excuse provided by an incident between Chinese and Japanese troops in Peking and started a full scale invasion of China. By 1938 the Japanese had captured the cities of Shanghai, Nanking and Hankow. Later they captured Canton, but Chaing still refused to surrender. Thus on the eve of Second World War, the Japanese controlled most of eastern China.       

                                                     

                              

                              The Second World War

Causes: - though invasion of Poland by Germany was the immediate causes for the out break of Second World War in 1339. The real causes were many:-

ü  Treaty of Versailles

ü  World Wide economic depression

ü  Mussolini and Italian fascism

ü  Rise of Nazi power in Germany

ü  Policy of appeasement.

But still now debate is going on whether Nazi aggression or Anglo-French appeasement was responsible for the outbreak of the Second World War. Actually to millions of people in Europe during the 1920’s and 1930’s the dominant image of life was political instability, economic crisis, unemployment etc. Such

people were easily attracted towards fascist’s ideas. Hitler emerged as a leader out of this situation. He utilized the grievances of the small farmers, middle class in winning over support of itself. Thus by promising strong government the end of employment and by suppressing its opponents Hitler rose to power.

The main factor which helped the Nazi rise was humiliating terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The seeds of the Second World War were sown in the treaty of Versailles. The treaty was based on the spirit of revenge and Germany was forced to sign the treaty at the point of bayonet. She was deprived of her colonies, territories and natural resources. She was also burdened with reparation which was beyond her capacity to pay. Under the leadership of Hitler, Germany decided to repudiate the unjust treaty and prepared for a great trial of strength with victorious powers. During 1933-39, Hitler completely destroyed the democratic institutions at home and started the process to Nazify Europe. The decisive point was Hitler’s support to Mussolini’s Abyssinian adventure. The Spanish civil war cemented their friendship. By this time Hitler completed the German rearmament and re-militarization of Rhine land. Austria was annexed in 1938. Czechoslovakia was also conquered. The Polish Corridor was the issue which Hitler whipped up Germany’s ultra nationalistic sentiments. The Second World War German ultra nationalism thus became the basic causes for the war.

Aggressive policy of Japan was also responsible for the outbreak of war. In 1931 Japan attacked and captured Manchuria. She than captured a number of Chinese towns such a Hankow, Canton, Nanking, Shanghai etc. In this situation America would not tolerate any chance in the status quo in South-East Asia Japan captured indo-china. America then imposed an economic embargo on Japan and stopped export of steel and iron to Japan, which created great resentment in Japan. Japan entered with military alliance with Germany and Italy and signed a non-aggression pact with Soviet Russia. Japan regarded America as her enemy in the South East Asia, fortified by these entire pacts Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbors. As a result USA declared war against Japan.

The Appeasement policy followed by Britain and France was also responsible for the outbreak of war. It was the policy followed by Britain and France of avoiding war with aggressive powers such as Italy, Germany and Japan, by giving way to their demands, provided that they were not too reasonable. Following are the examples of appeasement policy followed by Britain and France:

1)      When Japan attacked china in 1931 and captured Manchuria, England and France did nothing to check her imperialistic design. They wanted to use Japan to weaken the powers of China and Russia.

2)      There was only half-hearted British action against the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.

3)      No action was taken to check the German rearmament.

4)      The Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed without any consultation with France and Italy.

5)      Although disturbed at the German re-occupation of the Rhine land, the French did not mobilize their troops. They were deeply divided and received no backing from the British, who were impressed by Hitler’s offer of 25 years of peace.

6)      When civil war broke out in Spain, Italy and Germany openly helped General Franco. England and France did nothing to save the rightful government.

7)      When Hitler occupied Austria in 1938, many in Britain saw it as the natural union of one Germany group to another.

8)      Chamberlain should have backed the Czechoslovakia against Hitler's aggression. But at Munich, Chamberlain allowed Hitler to occupy Sudetenland.

It is said that ‘’success and the absence of resistance tempted Hitler to reach out further, to take bigger risk’’. He may not have had definite plans for war, but after the surrender at Munich, he was convinced that Britain and France would remain passive again. So he decided to gamble on war with Poland, there by starting the Second World War.

                                       

                                   

                                          REASON FOR THE APPEASEMENT PLICY

At the time appeasement was being followed, there seemed lots of very good reason in its favour and the appeasement were convinced that their policy was right.

1)      It was thought essential to avoid war, which was likely to be even more devasting than ever before the great fear was the bombing of defenseless cities Britain still in the throes of the economic expenses of a major war.

2)      Many felt that Germany and Italy had genuine grievances Italy had been cheated at Versailles and Germany had treated too harshly.

3)      Since the League of Nations seemed to be helpless chamberlain believed that the only way to settle dispute was by personal contact between leaders. In this way, he thought he would be able to conduct control and civilize Hitler and Mussolini into the bargain and bring them to respect international law.

4)      Economic co-operation between Brittan and Germany would be good for them. If Britain helped the Germany economic to recover, Germany’s internal violence would die down.

5)      Fear of communist Russia was great especially among British conservatives. Many of them believed that the communist threat was greater then the danger from Hitler some British politicians were willing to ignore the unpleasant feature would be a buffer against communist expansion west wards.

6)      Underlying all these feeling was the belief that Britain ought not to take any military action in case it led to a full scale war for which Britain was not strong enough to fight a war against more then one country at the same time. The U.S.A was still in favour of isolation and France was weak and divided Britain would become and more this would deter aggression or so chamberlain hoped.

                                                 Course of Second World War

The Second World War was fought between the Axis powers consisting of Germany, Italy and Japan allied powers consisting of Britain, France and joined later by USSR and USA. This was different in many aspects from all previous of all the state and whole activity of the nation were mobilized for war purposed. Main events of the war are given below.

        I.            German invasion of Poland: - After the occupation of Czechoslovakia, polish neutrality was n longer necessary. In April 1939 Hitler demanded the return of Danzig and a road and railway across the corridor, linking East Prussia with rest of Germany. Already fortified by a British promise of help, the foreign minister Colonel Back rejected the German demands. When the Polish refused to negotiate, a full scale German invasion began early on 1^st September. Chamberlain sent an ultimatum to Germany. When this expired, on 3^rd September Britain declared war against Germany. Soon afterwards France also declared war. The Poles were defeated swiftly because of German Blitzkrieg r Lightening war. It consisted of rapid thrust by motorized divisions and tanks supported by air power. The Luftwaffe (the German air force) put the Polish railway station out of action and destroyed Polish air force. Britain and France did little to help their ally directly because French mobilization procedure was slow and out of date. When the Russians invaded eastern Poland, resistance collapsed. On 29^th September Poland was divided up between Germany and the USSR.

     II.            The Phoney war: - The Phoney War refers to what happened in Western Europe between September 1939 and the spring of 1940. To assume that nothing was going on in Europe would be wrong as Poland was in the process of being occupied with all that brought for the Polish people. However, in Western Europe very little of military importance did take place. In fact, so little occurred that many of the children who had been evacuated at the start of the war, had returned to their families. Too many, war had been declared by Neville Chamberlain, but nothing was actually happening. In fact, things were happening but the public in Britain were not aware of them – or very few were. The sinking of the ‘Athenia’ sent a clear message to Britain that Germany was prepared to sink passenger liners and not just ships of military importance. The sinking of the ‘Royal Oak’ also brought the war home to Britain. Such was the shock to the

   III.            government of the ‘Royal Oak’s’ sinking that many people first learned about it from the broadcasts of Lord Haw-Haw. 

  IV.            German invasion of Denmark and Norway: - Hitler troops occupied Denmark and landed over Norwegian parts in April 1940. Control over Norway was important for the German because Narvik was the main outlet for Swedish iron ore, which was vital for German armament industry. Norway was of great strategic importance to Germany. They could offer necessary base for operation against France and England. The Germans were successful because the Norwegian troops were not even mobilized. It showed the incompetence of Chamberlain’s government. 

     V.            Hitler attacked Holland, Belgium and France:-The attack on Holland, Belgium and France were launched simultaneously on 10^th may. Blitzkrieg methods brought swift victories. The Dutch surrendered after four days. Belgium held out longer, but her surrender at the end of May left the British and French troops in Belgium exposed and German army swept across northern France. The allied troops narrowly escaped destruction from the French port of Dunkirk towards the end of may 1940. It was a serious blow for the Allies. He troops at Dunkirk had lost all their arms and equipments which made impossible for Britain to help France.

The German now swept southward, Paris was captured on 14^th June and France surrendered on 22^nd June. At Hitler’s insistence the armistice was signed. The Germans occupied northern France and Atlantic coast, giving them valuable submarine looses and the French army was demobilized. Unoccupied France was allowed its own government under Marshall Petain, but it had no real independence.

There were many reasons for French defeat:-

i)        The French were psychologically not prepared for war and were bitterly divided between right and left.

ii)      France had to face the full weight of an undivided German offensive.

iii)    The German divisions were supported by combat planes, an area neglected by the French.

iv)     The French had as many tanks and armored vehicles as Germany, but instead of being concentrated in completely mechanized armored divisions, they were split up with a certain number to an infantry division. This showed them to the speed of marching soldiers.

v)      The French generals made fatal mistakes. No attempt was made to help Poland by attacking Germany in the west in September 1939, which might have had a good chance of success.

vi)    There was poor communication between army and air force, so that air defense to drive German bombers off usually failed to arrive.

  VI.            The Battle of Britain:-One of the epic struggles of the Second World War was the battle of Britain. After having conquered almost the whole of western groups, Germany now planned the invasion of Britain. This plan was given the code name of ‘Sea-Lion’. Hitler waited for two months to attack England after France; his main was to break down the morale of the English by heavy Arial bombardment and large scale sinking of British ships. Hitler turned his Luftwaffe on Britain and subjected her to the most intensive attack. The industrial areas, the ports and London itself were heavily bombed. But under the dynamic leadership of Winston Churchill, Britain was able to pull herself up. The British made history by their stubborn defense. The Royal Air Force (RAF) inflicted heavy losses on the Luftwaffe when it became clear that British air power was far from being destroyed, Hitler called off invasion. The battle of Britain was probably the first major turning point of the war. For the first time the Germans had been checked and so they were not invincible. Britain was able to remain in the struggle, thus facing Hitler with the fatal situation of war on the fronts. ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owned by so many to so few’.

There were many reasons for the British success in the battle of Britain:-

i)        Their chain of new radar station gave plenty of warning of approaching German attackers.

ii)      The German bombers were poorly armed. They were hampered by limited range.

iii)    The switch to bombing London was a mistake because it relived pressure on the oilfields at the critical moments.

VII.            German invasion of Greece: - in 1941 Hitler’s first moves were to help out his faltering ally. In February, he sent Rommel to Tripol and together with the Italians; they drove the British out of Libya. Then in April 1941, he attacked Greece. Austrian and Newzealand troops had arrived to help the Greeks. The Germans soon captured Athens forcing the British to withdraw. The Germans campaign in Greece had important effects:-

i)        It was depressing for the Allies, who lost about 36000 men.

ii)      Many of the troops had been removed from North Africa, thus weakening British forces.

iii)    It delayed his attack on Russia.

VIII.            German invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa):-In June 1941, Hitler attacked Russia. Hitler’s motives seem to have been mixed.

i)        He feared that Russia might attack Germany while she was still occupied in the west.

ii)      He hoped that Japan would attack Russia in the Far East.

iii)    Hitler thought that more powerful Japan became, the less chance there was of the USA entering the war.

              Above all there was his hatred of communism and his desire for Lebensraum (living space)

                                           

                                                  Detail on Operation Barbarossa

In Mein Kampf and in numerous speeches Adolf Hitler claimed that the German population needed more living space. Hitler's Lebensraum policy was mainly directed at the Soviet Union. He was especially interested in the Ukraine where he planned to develop a German colony. The system would be based on the British occupation of India: "What India was for England the territories of Russia will be for us... The German colonists ought to live on handsome, spacious farms. The German services will be lodged in marvelous buildings, the governors in palaces... The Germans - this is essential - will have to constitute amongst themselves a closed society, like a fortress. The least of our stable-lads will be superior to any native."

Hitler intended to force Norwegians, Swedes and Danes to move to these territories in the East. Hitler believed that the Blitzkrieg tactics employed against the other European countries could not be used as successfully against the Soviet Union. He conceded that due to its enormous size, the Soviet Union would take longer than other countries to occupy. However he was confident it could still be achieved during the summer months of 1941.

Joseph Stalin believed that Germany would not invade the Soviet Union until Britain and France had been conquered. From Stalin's own calculations, this would not be until the summer of 1942. Some of his closest advisers began to argue that 1941 would be a much more likely date. The surrender of France in June, 1940, cast doubts on Stalin's calculations.

Stalin's response to France's defeat was to send Vyacheslav Molotov to Berlin for more discussions. Molotov was instructed to draw out these talks for as long as possible. Stalin knew that if Adolf Hitler did not attack the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941 he would have to wait until 1942. No one, not even someone as rash as Hitler, would invade the Soviet Union in the winter, he argued.

Germany was now in a strong negotiating position and found it impossible to agree to Hitler's demands. As soon as talks broke-up, Hitler ordered his military leaders to prepare for Operation Barbarossa. The plan was for the invasion of the Soviet Union to start on the 15th May, 1941. Hitler believed that this would give the German Army enough time to take control of the country before the harsh Soviet winter set in.

General Friedrich Paulus was asked to carry out a strategic survey on the Soviet Union for the proposed invasion. The main advice given by Paulus to Adolf Hitler was to make sure that after the invasion the Red Army did not retreat into the interior. For the campaign to be successful he argued for battles of

encirclement. He also suggested that the main thrust should be made north of the Pripyat Marshes in order to capture Moscow.

Information on the proposed invasion came to Stalin from various sources. Richard Sorge, an agent working for the Red Orchestra in Japan, obtains information about the proposed invasion as early as December, 1940. Winston Churchill sent a personal message to Stalin in April, 1941, explaining how German troop movements suggested that they were about to attack the Soviet Union. However, Stalin was still suspicious of the British and thought that Churchill was trying to trick him into declaring war on Germany.

When the Red Orchestra prediction that Germany would invade in May, 1941, did not take place, Stalin became even more convinced that Germany had invaded Yugoslavia in April. Adolf Hitler had expected the Yugoslavs to surrender immediately but because of stubborn resistance, Hitler had to postpone Operation Barbarossa for a few weeks.

On 21st June, 1941, a German sergeant deserted to the Soviet forces. He informed them that the German Army would attack at dawn the following morning. Stalin was reluctant to believe the soldier's story and it was not until the German attack took place that he finally accepted that his attempts to avoid war with Germany until 1942 had failed.

The German forces, made up of three million men and 3,400 tanks, advanced in three groups. The north group headed for Leningrad, the centre group for Moscow and the southern forces into the Ukraine. Within six days, the German Army had captured Minsk. General Demitry Pavlov, the man responsible for defending Minsk, and two of his senior generals were recalled to Moscow and were shot for incompetence.

With the execution of Pavlov and his generals, Joseph Stalin made it clear that he would punish severely any commander whom he believed had let down the Soviet Union. In future, Soviet commanders thought twice about surrendering or retreating. Another factor in this was the way that the German Army massacred the people of Minsk. Terrified of both Stalin and Hitler, the Soviet people had no option but to fight until they were killed.

The first few months of the war were disastrous for the Soviet Union. The German northern forces surrounded Leningrad while the centre group made steady progress towards Moscow. German forces had also made deep inroads into the Ukraine. Kiev was under siege and Stalin's Chief of Staff, Georgi Zhukov, suggested that the troops defending the capital of the Ukraine should be withdrawn, thus enabling them to take up strong defensive positions further east. Stalin insisted that the troops stayed and by the time Kiev was taken, the casualties were extremely high. It was the most comprehensive defeat experienced by the red army in its history. However, the determined resistance put up at Kiev, had considerably delayed the attack on Moscow.

It was now September and winter was fast approaching. As German troops moved deeper into the Soviet Union, supply lines became longer. Joseph Stalin gave instructions that when forced to withdraw, the Red Army should destroy anything that could be of use to the enemy. The scorched earth policy and the formation of guerrilla units behind the German front lines, created severe problems for the German war machine which was trying to keep her three million soldiers supplied with the necessary food and ammunition.

By October, 1941, German troops were only fifteen miles outside Moscow. Orders were given for a mass evacuation of the city. In two weeks, two million people left Moscow and headed east. Stalin rallied morale by staying in Moscow. In a bomb-proof air raid shelter positioned under the Kremlin, Stalin, as

Supreme Commander-in-Chief, directed the Soviet war effort. All major decisions made by his front-line commanders had to be cleared with Stalin first.

In November, 1941, the German Army launched a new offensive on Moscow. The Soviet army held out and the Germans were brought to a halt. Stalin called for a counter-attack. His commanders had doubts about this policy but Stalin insisted and on 4th December the Red Army attacked. The German army, demoralized by its recent lack of success, was taken by surprise and started to retreat. By January, the Germans had been pushed back 200 miles.

Stalin's military strategy was basically fairly simple. He believed it was vitally important to attack the enemy as often as possible. He was particularly keen to use new, fresh troops for these offensives. Stalin argued that countries in Western Europe had been beaten by their own fear of German superiority. His main objective in using new troops in this way was to convince them that the German forces were not invincible. By pushing the German Army back at Moscow, Stalin proved to the Soviet troops that Blitzkrieg could be counteracted; it also provided an important example to all troops throughout the world fighting the German war-machine.

In December, 1941, Adolf Hitler agreed to the suggestion made by Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau that General Freidrich Paulus should be given command of the 6th Army. Promoted to general, Paulus took up his appointment on 1st January 1942 and fought his first battle at Dnepropetrovsk in the Soviet Union. The advance of the 6th Army was halted by the Red Army and the following month Paulus was forced to order his men to move back in search of better defensive positions.

On 9th May 1942, General Semen Timoshenko, with 640,000 men, attacked the 6th Army at Volchansk. Paulus, seriously outnumbered, decided to move his troops back toward Kharkov. The 6th Army was rescued by General Paul von Kleist and his 1st Panzer Army when they struck Timoshenko's exposed southern flank on 17th May. Paulus was now able to launch a counter-attack on 20th May and by the end of the month all Soviet resistance had come to an end. A total of 240,000 Soviet soldiers were killed or captured and Paulus was awarded the Knights' Cross.

In the summer of 1942 General Freidrich Paulus advanced toward Stalingrad with 250,000 men, 500 tanks, 7,000 guns and mortars, and 25,000 horses. Progress was slow because fuel was rationed and Army Group A was given priority. At the end of July 1942, a lack of fuel brought Paulus to a halt at Kalach. It was not until 7th August that he had received the supplies needed to continue with his advance. Over the next few weeks his troops killed or captured 50,000 Soviet troops but on 18th August, Paulus, now only thirty-five miles from Stalingrad, ran out of fuel again.

When fresh supplies reached him, Paulus decided to preserve fuel by move forward with only his XIV Panzer corps. The Red Army now attacked the advance party and they were brought to a halt just short of Stalingrad. The rest of his forces were brought up and Paulus now circled the city. As his northern flank came under attack Paulus decided to delay the attack on the city until 7th September. While he was waiting the Luftwaffe bombed the city killing thousands of civilians.

As the German Army advanced into Stalingrad the Soviets fought for every building. The deeper the troops got into the city, the more difficult the street fighting became and casualties increased dramatically. The German tanks were less effective in a fortified urban area as it involved house-to-house fighting with rifles, pistols, machine-guns and hand grenades. The Germans had particularly problems with cleverly camouflaged artillery positions and machine-gun nests. The Soviets also made good use of sniper detachments deployed in the bombed out buildings in the city. On the 26th September the 6th Army was able to raise the swastika flag over the government buildings in Red Square but the street fighting continued.

Adolf Hitler now ordered Paulus to take Stalingrad whatever the cost to German forces. On the radio Hitler told the German people: "You may rest assured that nobody will ever drive us out of Stalingrad." When General Gustav von Wietersheim, commander of the XIV Panzer Corps, complained about the high casualty rates, Paulus replaced him with General Hans Hube. However, Paulus, who had lost 40,000 soldiers since entering the city, was running out of fighting men and on 4th October he made a desperate plea to Hitler for reinforcements.

A few days later five engineer battalions and a panzer division arrived in Stalingrad. Fighting a war of attrition, Joseph Stalin responded by ordering three more armies to the city. Soviet losses were much higher than those of the Germans, but Stalin had more men at his disposal than Paulus.

The heavy rains of October turned the roads into seas of mud and the 6th Army's supply conveys began to get bogged down. On 19th October the rain turned to snow. Paulus continued to make progress and by the beginning of November he controlled 90 per cent of the city. However, his men were now running short of ammunition and food. Despite these problems Paulus decided to order another major offensive on 10th November. The German Army took heavy casualties for the next two days and then the Red Army launched a counterattack Paulus was forced to retreat southward but when he reached Gumrak Airfield, Adolf Hitler ordered him to stop and stand fast despite the danger of encirclement. Hitler told him that Hermann Goering had promised that the Luftwaffe would provide the necessary supplies by air.

Senior officers under Paulus argued that they doubted if the scale of the airlift required could be achieved during a Russian winter. All of the corps commanders argued for a breakout before the Red Army was able to consolidate its positions. General Hans Hube told Paulus: "A breakout is our only chance." Paulus responded by saying that he had to obey Hitler's orders.

Throughout December the Luftwaffe dropped an average of 70 tons of supplies a day. The encircled German Army needed a minimum of 300 tons a day. The soldiers were put on one-third rations and began to kill and eat their horses. By 7th December the 6th Army was living on one loaf of bread for every five men.

Now aware that the 6th Army was in danger of being starved into surrender, Adolf Hitler ordered Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and the 4th Panzer Army to launch a rescue attempt. Manstein managed to get within thirty miles of Stalingrad but was then brought to a halt by the Red Army. On 27th December, 1942, Manstein decided to withdraw as he was also in danger of being encircled by Soviet troops.

In Stalingrad over 28,000 German soldiers had died in just over a month. With little food left Paulus gave the order that the 12,000 wounded men could no longer be fed. Only those who could fight would be

given their rations. Erich von Manstein now gave the order for Paulus to make a mass breakout. Paulus rejected the order arguing that his men were too weak to make such a move.

On 30th January, 1943, Adolf Hitler promoted to Paulus to field marshal and sent him a message reminding him that no German field marshal had ever been captured. Hitler was clearly suggesting to Paulus to commit suicide but he declined and the following day surrendered to the Red Army. The last of the Germans surrendered on 2nd February.

The battle for Stalingrad was over. Over 91,000 men were captured and a further 150,000 had died during the siege. The German prisoners were forced marched to Siberia. About 45,000 died during the march to the prisoner of war camps and only about 7,000 survived the war.

  IX.            Battle of El Alamein:-After the fall of France, Italy under Mussolini entered the war thinking that the allied side would collapse soon. Mussolini’s objective was to take advantage of Britain’s critical positions to snatch away the British colonies in North Africa. Mussolini sent an army from the Italian colony of Libya which penetrated about 60 inches to Egypt in September 1940.

     X.            Another Italian army invaded Greece from Albania out of Egypt and defeated them at Beda. British naval aircraft sank half the Italian fleet in harbor at Toronto and occupied Crete. In February, Hitler sent Rommel to help the Italians and drove the British out of Libya. After much advancing and retreating, by June 1942, the Germans were in Egypt approaching El Alamein only 70 miles from Alexandria. But the situation was saved by British general Montgomery. He defeated Rommel’s army at El Alamein in October 1942.

  The Allies were successful due to many reasons:

i)        During the seven week pause massive reinforcements had arrived so that the Germans and Italians were out numbered.

ii)      Allies air power was vital constantly attaching the Axis forces and sinking their supply ships crossing the Mediterranean.

iii)    At the same time the air force was strong enough to protect the army own supply routes.

iv)    Montgomery’s skilful preparation probably clinched the issue.

The battle of El Alamein was another turning point in the war .The significance of the battle is given below.

i)        It prevented Egypt and the Suez Canal from falling into the Germans hands.

ii)      It ended the possibility of a link up between the Axis forces in the Middle East and those in the Ukraine.

iii)    It led to the complete expulsion of Axis forces from North Africa.

iv)    It had been a serious Drain on German resources which could have been used in Russia where they wee badly needed.

                                                   American entry in the war

  XI.            When the Second World War started in 1939 America was not a part of it. Its president was moaning cautiously an account of the public opinion in USA. But the fall of France and the threat to Britain shattered the American feeling of security. So they decided to give all possible and short of war to Britain. The US war department released surplus guns and planned for sale to Britain. In order to avoid the financial complication president Roosevelt devised the lend-lease programme. In March 1941, the American congress passed the lend-lease act, by which the US undertook to help those countries which were fighting against the Axis powers. The Anglo-American partnership became more ultimate when President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill held a conference on a battle-ship in the Atlantic. They issued a programme of war which came to be known as the Atlantic Charter. When Russia was attacked by June 1941 an agreement was

XII.             

XIII.            signed between Russia and USA. The US sent all necessary war materials to Britain and USSR to fight against Hitler.

President Roosevelt tried to make use of economic pressure to half the Japanese advance in the Far-East. On 7^th December 1941, the Japanese attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbour and destroyed number of American ships. The incident roused the wrath of the American and the congress declared war on Japan. Japanese motives for the attack were tied up with her economic situation. The government, behind that they would soon run short of raw materials. The easts were longing eyes towards Malaya and Burma. The Americans were providing assistance to Chinese who were still at war with Japan when the aggressive general Tojo became the Prime Minister, war seemed inevitable. The attack was brilliantly organized by Admiral Yamamoto. There was to declaration of war Japanese arrived at Pearl Harbour and destroyed American aircraft and battleships.

The Pearl Harbour attack had important results.

1.      It gave Japanese the control of Pacific.

2.      It caused Hitler to declare war on USA.

3.      It transformed the war into a global war.

4.      It led to the defeat of the Axis.

America played a significant role in reducing Japan. In June 1942, at Midway Island in the Pacific the Americans bent off a powerful Japanese attack and destroyed Japanese carriers and planes. The battle of Midway Island proved to be a conical turning point in the battle for Pacific. The loss of their carriers and strike planes seriously weakened the Japanese. Gradually the Americans under General Mae Arthur began to recover the Pacific islands. The struggle was long and bitter and continued through 1943 and 1944 by a process known as ‘island hopping’.

Early in 1945 the Americans launched a series of devastating land on Japan. In august, America   dropped atom bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On 2^nd September 1945 Japan surrendered. 

XIV.            Battle of Atlantic:-It was another major war fought by the allied powers against Germany. It was the struggle against German U-boat attempting to deprive Britain of food and raw-materials. At the beginning of 1942 the Germans had 10 U-boats in operation and 250 being built. In the first six months of that year the allies lost over 4 millions tones of merchant shipping and destroyed only 21 U-boats. However, after that number of sinking began to fall while the U-boat losses increased. By July 1943, the allies could produce ships at a faster rate than the U-boat could sink them and the situation was under the control. 

The reasons for the allied success were:-

i)        More air protection was provided for experience.

ii)      Both escorts and air crafts improved with experience.

iii)    The British introduction of new radar sets which were small enough to be fitted into air craft which enables submarines to be detected in poor instability at night.

XV.            Operation Overlord: - The Battle of Normandy, codenamed Operation Overlord, began with the amphibious Allied landings at Normandy, France, early in the morning of June 6, 1944, and continued into the following weeks with a land campaign to establish, expand, and eventually break out of the Normandy bridgehead. In the English-speaking world, it remains the best-known battle of World War II.

Combined American, British, Canadian, and French forces under the command of General Montgomery landed at several points along the Normandy coastline.

The British and Canadian beaches were to the east, and, from east to west were codenamed: Sword Beach, which extended from Ouistreham at the mouth of the river Orne to Saint Aubin sur Mer, Juno Beach from Saint Aubin sur Mer to La Riviere, and Gold Beach, from La Riviere to a few kilometres west of Longues sur Mer. The American beaches, further to the west, were Omaha Beach and Utah Beach.

The foreshore area had been extensively fortified by the Germans as part of their Atlantic Wall defenses. It was manned with a haphazard collection of troops: mainly Germans who (usually for medical reasons) were not considered suitable for active duty on the Eastern Front, and other nationalities (mainly Russians) who had agreed to fight for the Germans rather than endure a prisoner of war camp.

Some of the area immediately behind the coastline had been flooded by the Germans as a precaution against parachute assault.

Prior to the battle, the Allies had carefully mapped and tested the landing area, paying particular attention to weather conditions in the English Channel. The weather conditions at the only time when the landings were practicable (because of tide and moonlight considerations) were particularly severe. The German forces were not expecting the landings to occur because of this.

In addition to the main beachhead assaults, troops were parachute dropped behind enemy lines and these were further supported by troops arriving in gliders at key points. Coordinated activities with the French resistance forces, the Maquis, helped disrupt Axis lines of communications.

Additionally, the Allies made extensive use of deception in a series of complex plans under the overall rubric of Bodyguard. Key to this overarching strategic effort was the local feint using dummy weaponry and forces to simulate a landing further east in the Pas de Calais, Operation Fortitude.

This drew the best German tank and infantry divisions in the west away from Normandy. Also in the Allies favor, much of the German command had been called back to (Paris?) for war games

and thus were not present on the critical first day, when the allies could have most easily been thrown off the beaches.

Once the beachhead was established, two artificial Mulberry Harbours were towed across the English Channel in segments. One was constructed at Arromanches, the other at Omaha Beach. For a short while, this facilitated the landing of heavy weaponry and materials, but they were soon lost to storms, and by far the major part of the Allied materiel came over the beaches.

XVI.            The Axis powers defeated:- The Allied Powers, led by Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, defeated the Axis in World War II. Italy was the first Axis partner to give up: it surrendered to the Allies on September 8, 1943; six weeks after leaders of the Italian Fascist Party deposed Fascist leader and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. On August 23, 1944, following the overthrow of Dictator Marshal Ion Antonescu, Romania switched sides: Romanian troops fought alongside Soviet troops for the remainder of the war. After the Soviets rejected its offer of an armistice, Bulgaria surrendered on September 8, 1944, as the Communist-led Fatherland Front seized power from the Axis government in a coup and then declared war on Nazi Germany. On September 19, 1944, Finland signed an armistice with the Soviet Union.

The German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 succeeded in its primary purpose: to prevent the Hungarian leaders from deserting the Axis as the Romanians would later do. Hungary never surrendered; the war ended for Hungary only when Soviet troops drove the last pro-Axis Hungarian troops and police units and the members of the Arrow Cross government across Hungary’s western border into Austria in early April 1945. Slovakia, which German troops occupied in the summer of 1944 to suppress the Slovak uprising, remained in the Axis as a puppet state until the Soviets captured the capital, Bratislava, in early April. Fanatical remnants of the Croat Ustasa remained in Croatia until Tito’s Partisans captured or drove them across the border into German-occupied Slovenia and Austria itself in the last days of April 1945.

On May 7, 1945, seven days after Hitler committed suicide, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies. Japan fought on alone, surrendering formally on September 2, 1945.

                                                            Causes of Japan defeat

1.      America had identified and displaced Japanese radio code, which helped them to know exactly, helped them to know exactly and where the attack was to be launched.

2.      The Japan failed to realize the importance of aircraft carriers and concentrated more and more on battleships.

3.      Japan was a small island state, but her own capacity for holding the gains with hosted industrial powers. Japan was no match for America in resources military equipments and man power.

4.      The continuous resistance of China was a serious drain on Japanese resources in men and money. It handicapped her war efforts in other quarters and gave the allied much advantage.

                                        Causes for the defeat of the Axis powers

1.      At first the allied powers could not understand how to check the German Blitzkrieg. Soon they learned from their early furfures and started to check Blitzkrieg. The allied powers realized the importance of our support and naval power which helped them to win the war.

2.      Another reason for the axis failure was shortage of raw materials. Both Italy and Japan had to supplies. Germany was short of rubber, cotton, nickel and oil. To win the war a constant supply of raw materials was urgently needed and in this point the axis powers were very much handicapped.

3.      The combined resources of America, Britain and USSR were so great that it was impossible for the axis powers to win the war. By 1945, Russia had four times as many as tanks as Germany and could put twice as many men in the field. USA also increased their production of tanks and aircraft in such a way which ultimately changed the tide of war in favour of allies.

4.      The axis powers committed several mistakes. Hitler made a blunder by starting winter campaign in Russia. Likewise, Japanese failed to realize the importance of aircraft carries and concentrated on battleships

5.      Finally, it was a war of ideas as well as nation. The fight against Nazism was a fight for freedom. In the Atlantic Charter of 1941, President Roosevelt summoned up the war aims of the Allies consisting of four freedom- freedoms from fear, freedom from want, freedom of worship and political freedom. In this respect, the allied powers were ahead of the Axis powers and the Axis powers lost the war.

Short Answer

1.      What was known as D-Day?

The opening of the second front at Normandy in France on 6^th June 1944 was known as D-Day or operation overlord.

2.      Why did the influential groups in Japan criticize the foreign minister Baron Shide hara Kijuro?

They criticized Kijuro for his conciliatory approach to China, which he thought was the best way to strengthen Japanese economic hold over that country. 

3.      What was known as operation Barbarossa?

The invasion that was planned against the Soviet Union by Germany was code named operation Barbarossa.

4.      How did the war in the pacific come to an end?

On 6^th and 9^th august 1945, the USA dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It led to Japanese surrender and brought an end to the Second World War.