- Eventually the army began to use rolling barrages, which advanced ahead of the attacking troops, and kept the enemy occupied.
Gas
- Gas was first used at Ypres in April 1915 and proved a deadly weapon. 9,000 Allied soldiers were killed. Early respirators were clumsy and only fitted into the shirt collar. Later designs proved very effective.
- Gas was terrifying, but did not prove to be a decisive weapon. It could blow the wrong way and attackers had to wear respirators, which hindered visibility and movement.
Tanks
- The first tanks appeared in action during the battle of the Somme on 15 September 1916. The army had resisted their use until then. One reason given was that they would scare the cavalry horses.
- The immediate impact of the first tanks was to terrify the German infantry, who ran away. But the tanks were too few in number, only eighteen altogether, and they broke down all too easily on the muddy battlefield. Much more successful was the use of tanks at Cambrai on 20 November 1917. 380 tanks broke completely through the German lines, but the troops were unable to follow this up.
- Tanks played a vital role in the great Allied offensive in August 1918. At Amiens, 450 tanks drove the Germans back eight miles and this began the wholesale retreat of the German forces. However, only twenty-five of the tanks were still in action four days later, a sign that the tank had not yet completely come of age.
Machine guns
- The machine gun was one of the most important weapons of the war. At first the British army did not take it seriously, each battalion had only two machine-guns in August 1914. This was increased to four by Kitchener, but in 1915 Lloyd George raised the number to 64.
- The Germans began to use reinforced concrete in 1915 to protect machine-gun posts. German pill-boxes were prefabricated and the parts were fitted together on the battle field. The British did not build pill-boxes, because the commanders regarded it as a defensive measure and the British army was supposed to be on the offensive.
The war in the air
- The first air raid of the war was on Paris on 30 August 1914. From September British planes raided German airfields and in December 1914 German planes carried out an air raid on Dover.
- London and other cities began to be bombed by Zeppelins in 1915. Despite their size and the fact that they were filled with highly inflammable hydrogen.
- In late 1916 Gotha bombers began to raid Britain. Altogether during the war there were 103 air raids, killing about 1400 people. Britain replied with air-raids by Vickers Vimy bombers,
- In the first dogfights between fighters, the pilots fired at each other with pistols, but proper aerial combat began in 1915. The pilots operated two machine guns mounted on the upper wing of their bi-planes, by pulling a lever.
- In October 1915 the Germans invented a synchronised machine gun that enabled the pilot to point hi lane at the enemy and fire a machine-gun through the propeller. This gave the German pilots a big advantage. In July 1916, however, improved British planes like the Sopwiths and the SE5, enabled the Royal Flying Corps to take control.
Verdun
- In February 1916 the Germans attacked Verdun in eastern France. Their plan was to 'bleed France dry'. They knew that the French would defend Verdun and believed that they would send more and more reinforcements into the city and its forts.
- The battle dragged on until December. The Germans captured some of the outlying forts, but could not break into Verdun, even though it was bombarded continuously. The French kept Verdun supplied by a stream of lorries along 'la voie sacree', the only road into the city that was not controlled by the Germans. General Petain, who took over command on the city, announced that the Germans 'would not pass'.
The Somme
- Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army on the Western front from 1915 to 1918, believed in the 'Big Push'. He was convinced that the enemy could be overwhelmed by sheer weight of numbers, and that final victory could only be achieved on the Western Front. He Somme was his first major battle
- Haig originally intended to fight his first major battle near Ypres in 1916, but he was forced to change his plans after the German attack on Verdun, which began in February 1916. Instead, on 1 July 1916, Haig launched his first great battle began along the banks of the Somme. This was an attempt to take pressure off the French at Verdun, but it was a disaster.
Why was the Somme a disaster?
- Haig was forced to fight the battle with only half of the forces that he believed he required. Because the battle of Verdun appeared to be going so badly and the French needed to be supported, Haig had to start the attack before he was really ready.
- The Somme was originally intended to be a battle in which the French played the major role, with the British in support. After the beginning of the battle of Verdun, the roles of the two armies were reversed.
- Haig believed that the seven day bombardment of 4,000 guns would destroy the German positions. He was wrong. The German positions were heavily fortified and were often deep underground, many were untouched by the shelling. The chalk downland offered good protection from artillery fire.
- Haig ordered the British to advance at a steady walking pace in close order, as the army manuals prove. This meant that they made easy targets for the German machine-gunners.
- The British army did not seem to have prepared as thoroughly for the battle as the French had. French trenches were better built and much more effective
- In Haig's defence. It is true that he had only about half the forces that he believed he needed, but on the other hand, he allowed the army to go on attacking long after it was clear that no real progress was being made. At the same time, the French on the British right made much more impressive advances.
Passchendaele
- In 1917 Haig ordered a second major attack at Passchendaele, just north of Ypres. This time four miles were gained in three months, across a battlefield that was a sea of mud.
- Haig appears to have been inflexible and lacking in new ideas, but so were most commanders in the Great War. He remained convinced until the end of the war that cavalry was the key to victory. He also resisted Lloyd George's attempts to create a unified Allied Command in 1917, but was forced to accept Foch as his superior in 1918. Haig's tactics of the 'Big Push' failed. In 1918, victory was one by surprise attacks without massive bombardments.
How did the USA affect the war?
- The most important effect of the US declaration of war in April 1917 was that it convinced the German High Command of the need to win the war quickly.
- Altogether about 1,250,000 US soldiers served in Europe, they showed immense bravery, but were not prepared for the dangers of modern warfare; their casualty rate was very high.
- The commander of the US forces, General Pershing, generously allowed his troops to be used wherever they were needed. This gave Marshal Foch, the Allied commander, reinforcements which he could use as he wished.
- The repeated attacks in April, May and June 1918 were an effort to finish the war before US forces arrived in Europe in large numbers. In fact they had the effect of exhausting the German soldiers, which made final defeat all the more certain.
Operation Michael
- On 21 March 1918 the Germans launched a massive surprise attack on the Allied forces at St. Quentin. They used a short barrage and specially trained shock troops. The Allies were taken completely off their guard.
- The Germans were trying to bring the war to an end before any US forces arrived in Europe. In one place the Allied forces were driven back fifty-three miles. By the end of May the Germans were only thirty-seven miles from Paris.
- But the Germans failed to drive a wedge between the French and British forces, which had been their main intention. The line held and in June US troops reinforced the Allies.
Why was Germany defeated in 1918?
- Operation Michael ground to a halt in June 1918. For two months the front was stable once again, but now the Allies had several major advantages. More and more US troops were arriving in Europe and the Germans had advanced beyond their defensive lines.
- So on 8 August, the Allies attacked near Amiens, it was called the 'Black Day' by the German High Command. The German army collapsed all along the front.
- From August until the end of October the Allies advanced steadily. It became more and more obvious that Germany was on the brink of disaster. Even so the German High Command still refused to agree to peace talks.
- There were informal peace talks between the Germans and the Allies in October and early November, but while Hindenburg favoured an armistice, Ludendorff opposed it and claimed that the army could hold out until the spring of 1919.
- Eventually, on 7-8 November, the Socialists seized power in Berlin and immediately asked for an Armistice. Germany surrendered unconditionally at 11 am on 11 November 1918.
How did the Treaty of Versailles establish peace?
The leaders of the great powers met at Versailles in 1919 to discuss the terms that were going to be imposed upon Germany. The aims of the leaders differed considerably.
What were the aims of the Allies at the conference?
France
- Of all the major countries involved, France had been the most affected by the damage caused by the fighting. 750,000 homes been totally destroyed and 23,000 villages. The war had also placed a tremendous financial burden on France and the French believed that Germany should be made to pay.
- The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau was nick-named ‘the Tiger’. He represented the aims of most Frenchmen and was determined that Germany should be punished. Any idea that Germany should be let off easily would have been unacceptable to him Germany had to pay for the cost of the War and for the humiliation suffered by France in the past.
- In addition, Clemenceau wanted guarantees that this could never happen again. He demanded that the Rhineland should be handed over to France to prevent an attack from there in the future. He also wanted to occupy other parts of Germany and, of course, Alsace-Lorraine also had to be returned to France.
- One and a half million French soldiers had been killed during the war, many of them in appalling circumstances. Everyone knew whom to blame. Some French politicians wanted Germany to be totally destroyed.
Italy
- The Italian Government did not join the war until 1915 on the side of Britain and France. The reason for this was that Britain and France signed the secret Treaty of London, they agreed to Italy taking the Adriatic coast of the Balkans as far south as Albania and also some the islands of the coast of Greece. This would allow Italy to develop a new empire in an area of Europe where there was no great power.
- Italy had suffered very badly from the War. The army had had very little success and 460,000 soldiers had been killed. The country was heavily in debt to the USA. To most Italians the war seemed to have been a disaster.
- The Italian Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando arrived at Versailles expecting the Allies to honour the promises that they had made in the Treaty of London. Anything else would not go down well in Italy, where unemployment was growing and the costs of the war were mounting. Unfortunately he soon ran into opposition from Woodrow Wilson, the US president, who did not to see new empires created.
Great Britain
- Great Britain had not suffered anything like the same amount of damage as France. There had been no fighting in Britain, but some coastal towns had been shelled by German warships and the big cities had been bombed by Zeppelins and 'Gotha' bombers. The British people wanted revenge.
- The cost of victory had been enormous. £850,000,000 had been borrowed from US banks and this would have to be paid back £1,750,000,000 had been lent to Russia and this was never paid back, because the Bolshevik government refused to repay the debts of the Tsar. Great Britain was heavily in debt.
- The Great War cost £5,700,000 a day, and income tax had been raised from 6p to 30p. But the government had also had to borrow heavily and now there were debts which had to be repaid.
- Britain had lost 704,000 men killed during the war. Whole villages and parts of towns had lost almost all their young men, and many others were crippled and injured, not surprisingly, there was little sympathy for the Germans.
- At the general election in December 1918, the Prime Minister David Lloyd George promised to 'Make Germany Pay'. He demanded that Germany should be 'Squeezed until l the Pips Squeaked'. The British people expected that Germany would be made to pay for the effects of the war.
- But when Lloyd George got to Versailles he adopted a different approach. He was concerned that if Germany was punished too hard, then there would be trouble in the future. So Lloyd George wanted Germany to be allowed to recover. However, he could not say things like that in public as the British people would not have agreed.
The USA
- The USA had only entered the war in 1917 and so had suffered very little damage. In fact, for the first two and a half years of the war US industry and business had made a big profit out of supplying war materials to Britain and France. US banks had also lent large sums of money to the European countries.
- Woodrow Wilson arrived in Europe in December 1918 determined to ensure a 'just peace'. He did not have any great scores to settle, but wanted to try to make sure that a war such as this could never happen again. He proposed his 'Fourteen Points', which he claimed would lead to world peace in the future.
- Wilson believed in Self-Determination. This meant he did not want one country to govern another. He did not wan to see new empires created..
- In particular Wilson did not like the idea of Italy taking over the Adriatic Coast, which had been promised in the Secret Treaty of London. Because America had lent so much money to help fight the war his views carried great weight at the conference.
The TREATY of VERSAILLES
- The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June, five years to the day after the assassination of the Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo.
- The German delegates had not been allowed to attend any of the meetings at Versailles, but had been shown the terms of the treaty in May. When they saw the terms, they were horrified.
- They had expected that the Treaty would be based upon Wilson's 'Fourteen Points', which recommended 'Self-Determination', but the Treaty was heavily influenced by Clemenceau's desire to 'make Germany pay'.
- The German delegates considered restarting the war, but this was impossible.
The main terms of the Treaty were as follows
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Land - Germany lost about 10% of her land
- Alsace-Lorraine was given back to France.
- The Polish Corridor was created to give the new country of Poland a way out to the Baltic. This cut Germany into two.
- Germany also lost land to Belgium, Denmark and Czechoslovakia.
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Colonies - all German colonies were taken away and were handed to Britain and France to look after under League of Nations mandates until they were ready for independence.
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Armed forces - the German army was reduced to 100,000 men and conscription was banned, the navy was reduced to six ships and submarines were banned, the airforce was to be completely destroyed.
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The Rhineland - this was to be demilitarised, no soldiers or military equipment were to be kept within thirty miles of the east bank of the river. The Allies would occupy it for fifteen years.
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The Saar - this was to be occupied for fifteen years and France would be able to mine coal in it for those years.
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Reparations - Germany was to pay for the damage caused by the war, the full cost would be worked out by 1921; it eventually came to £6,600,000,000. This would be paid for the rest of the twentieth century.
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War Guilt - Germany was to accept the blame for the war, alone.
How and why did the Allies not get what they wanted?
The Treaty was the result of bargaining between the allies. No one country got exactly what it wanted.
- Italy was not given the Adriatic coast that had been promised by Britain and France at the Secret Treaty of London in 1915. - Woodrow Wilson would not agree to the creation of an Italian Empire
- France was not allowed to occupy the Rhineland. - Lloyd George believed that this would only antagonise the Germans.
- Woodrow Wilson was not able to achieve freedom of the seas. - Lloyd George wanted to maintain Britain’s naval supremacy.
- Lloyd George was unable to achieve a moderate settlement. – Public opinion in Britain and French aims forced him to accept harsher terms for Germany than he would have liked
Why did Germans resent the Treaty?
In November 1918 Germany had surrendered unconditionally. This meant that they had no right to take part in any of the discussions at the peace conference. They simply had to accept whatever the Allies decided.
- The Germans expected that the Treaty would be based upon the 14 Points.
- Germany lost 10% of its territory.
- The armed forces were severely cut down.
- Reparations were very severe. Germany was forced to repay £6,600,000,000.
- The War Guilt Clause singled out Germany as the only culprit.
- Germany was not allowed to join the League of Nations.
Why did the League of Nations frequently fail in its aims to keep peace?
- The League of Nations was the Fourteenth Point of Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points. It showed very clearly what Wilson thought the most important aim of the Versailles’ conference should be; to try to prevent any further wars. Unlike the other leaders he was not so concerned with punishing Germany, but wanted to try to ensure that no wars took place in the future.
- Membership of the League was open to all countries, providing they signed the Covenant of the League; this was the set of rules that members had to agree to accept. However, some countries were not allowed to join. Germany was not allowed to join and nor was Russia. This immediately meant that two of the most important countries of the world were banned.
- In fact both of these countries did join later. Germany was admitted in 1926 and the USSR, as it became known in 1924, joined in 1934.
The Organisation of the League
- The Council met three times a year. There were four permanent members, Britain, France, Italy and Japan (Germany became the fifth in 1926). They took most of the important decisions.
- The Assembly had representatives of all the members and it meant once a year.
- Covenant was the agreement which members had to sign. It was a set of rules, which included not using force to settle a disagreement with another country.
- The League could use two types of sanctions to punish a country, which broke the Covenant. Economic Sanctions banned trade; Military Sanctions meant a declaration of war by each member.
- The Council of Ambassadors often took decisions, because the Council and Assembly only met occasionally.
- The Secretary-General was in charge of the administration of the League. The first holder of the office was Sir Eric Drummond, who was British.
Successes of the League
- The League itself was a success, as nothing like it had ever existed before. After the First World War there was a genuine desire for peace.
- The League was successful in the 1920s in settling disputes between countries like Finland and Sweden over the Aaland Islands and Greece and Bulgaria over a border dispute.
- It also did very good work in an effects to stamp out the slave trade and in tackling diseases.
- In the 1920s the League had the support of most major countries and was successful in settling a series of minor disputes.
Problems of the League
- Russia was not allowed to join after the Communist Revolution in 1917.
- The USA did not join, even though the League was Woodrow Wilson's idea. Congress voted against membership. In fact the USA would probably have made little difference. In the 1920s and 1930s, US armed forces were very weak.
- Germany was not allowed to join, but did become a member in 1926.
- Italy broke the Covenant in 1923 when Mussolini occupied Corfu, which was owned by Greece. He was forced to back down but no Sanctions were applied.
- The League came to be seen as a club for the victors of the First World War and was mostly European. Its headquarters were in Geneva. It appeared to give even more influence to Europe.
- It was a mistake to appoint Sir Eric Drummond as the Secretary-General. He was a representative of one of the Permanent Members of the Council and this made countries outside Europe believe that the League was pro-European. As a result many countries outside Europe joined and left.
- The League had no army; it had to rely on member countries declaring war on countries that broke the Covenant.
- But the real problem faced by the League was the determination of dictators to ignore it. There was little that could be done about that.
Why did the USA not join the League?
- Americans believed that the United States would be drawn into internal conflicts in other countries. The only way American soldiers could be drawn into war or ordered anywhere was if Congress said so. Congress was the American Parliament.
- The United States needed to concentrate her interests on domestic issues.
- The League would prop up old empires of Britain and France. The Americans had never forgot that they had won their independence from Britain.
- Many Americans were unsure about the League, for example, how would decisions be enforced since the League had no army?
- The League infringed on the Monroe Doctrine. This was a policy that said that America would not interfere in European affairs as long as European countries did not interfere in American affairs.
- The Republican Party was for the most part against it and wanted to make this a winning issue in their 1920 presidential campaign.
Japanese expansion into Manchuria and China
Why did Japan invade Manchuria and China?
- Japan failed to gain the territory she was expecting at the Treaty of Versailles.
- In the 1920s there was a revival of traditional Japanese ideas.
- In the 1920s the population of Japan began to rise quickly and prices for rice and silk began to fall
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In 1931 the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, which was a province of China, claiming that they were acting in self-defence. It claimed that a railway had been blown up at Mukden on 18th September.
- From 1932 the Japanese government fell under the control of the army and the country began a period of territorial expansion on the mainland.
- In 1932 the Japanese set up the puppet state of Manchukuo, with the last emperor of China, P’u-i as its head.
- The League of Nations set up a Commission of Inquiry under the Earl of Lytton to investigate. In October the Lytton Commission reported that there was no evidence that the Japanese had acted in self-defence and recommended that Manchuria should be an autonomous region under Chinese control.
- The Japanese ignored the report and the condemnation from the League and resigned in 1933.
The Japanese action was a major blow to the League of Nations, not only because it failed to act effectively, but also because Japan was a Permanent Member of the Council.
The Japanese invasion of China
- In July 1937 the Japanese army invaded northern China. The following month, two Japanese sailors were killed at a Chinese aerodrome in Shanghai. This led to the landing of an army, which captured and then forced its way inland. The Japanese airforce was used to bomb Chinese cities into submission.
- Within a year Nanking, the capital, Tsingtao, Canton and Hankow had all been taken. Britain and the USA gave large loans to the Guomindang government of China, but the Japanese government began to demand that Britain and the other western Countries should give up supporting China and co-operate with Japan in establishing a ‘new order’ in the Far East.
- The Japanese government was planning to set up a ‘Greater South East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’. In fact this was to be nothing more than a Japanese Empire, intended to provide living space for Japan’s growing population and to enable Japan to acquire the raw materials which she desperately needed, the most crucial of which was oil.
The Italian conquest of Abyssinia
- On 3 October 1935, the Italian armed forces invaded the African state of Abyssinia (now called Ethiopia). At first the Italians faced considerable opposition, as the Abyssinians avoided a pitched battle and retreated slowly.
- The situation changed, however, in early 1936, Mussolini ordered the use of poison gas. Italian air power also began to tell and this led to the collapse of the Abyssinian forces.
- In May 1936 the capital Addis Ababa was occupied and the Emperor Haile Selassie fled to Britain. Abyssinia was annexed by Italy and the King of Italy became Emperor of Abyssinia.
Why did Italy invade Abyssinia?
- Italy tried to invade Abyssinia in 1895, but had suffered a humiliating defeat at the battle of Adowa. Mussolini wanted revenge.
- Mussolini also wanted an empire to revive his dreams of recreating the Ancient Roman Empire. He believed that Abyssinia would be an easy target. The Italians already occupied neighbouring Eritrea
- Mussolini also wanted to shift public opinion in Italy away from the failures of his domestic policies. In Italy he was becoming increasingly unpopular.
Why was the invasion of Abyssinia important?
- Italy was a Permanent Member of the Council of the League of Nations. The invasion deliberately broke the Covenant and severely weakened the authority of the League. Japan and Germany, two other Permanent Members had already resigned.
- Sanctions were applied to Italy, including an arms embargo, banning of Italian imports and all financial dealings, but Britain and France opposed the addition of oil, which would have been most effective. They did not want to offend Mussolini and drive him over to Hitler's side. Mussolini later admitted that that was the one thing that would have forced him to withdraw.
- Britain and France tried to arrange the Hoare-Laval Pact, which would have been a compromise. This would have given Mussolini control of most of Abyssinia. But when this became public it had to be dropped as a result of adverse opinion. All in all Britain and France, and the League of Nations, appeared to be weak and to be allowing Mussolini to get away with naked aggression.
Why did Britain and France try to reach a compromise with Italy?
- Both countries were alarmed at events in Germany and wanted to keep Mussolini on their side against Hitler.
- The three nations had already formed the Stresa Front in 1934. This had been an attempt to prevent aggression from Germany.
- Britain and France did not want Mussolini to resign from the League of Nations.
How did Hitler challenge and exploit the Treaty of Versailles?
- In 1933 Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany. He ordered the German delegates to walk out of a Disarmament Conference organised by the League of Nations. He stated that Germany was prepared to disarm if other nations did so as well. He then left the League immediately afterwards. A second Permanent Member of the Council showed its contempt for the League.
- In January 1935 the people of the Saar, an area that had been administered by the League of Nations since 1920, voted by 477,000 to 48,000 to rejoin Germany.
Rearmament
- In 1935 Hitler began rearmament. Conscription was reintroduced and the army, navy and airforce were all built up. All members of the German armed forces had to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler personally.
The Anglo-German Naval Treaty
- This was an agreement that allowed Germany to build a navy up to 35% the size of Britain's. This broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and encouraged Hitler to go even further.
The Rhineland
The Rhineland had been demilitarised under the Treaty of Versailles. The Allies were to occupy the area for fifteen years, or for longer if necessary.
- Allied troops were withdrawn from the Rhineland in 1935 The following March Hitler reoccupied it. On 7 March 1936, Germany denounced the Locarno Pacts and reoccupied the Rhineland.
- Hitler later commented, 'the forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of my life. If the French had opposed us we would have had to withdraw. Our forces were not strong enough even to put up a moderate resistance'.
- In fact Hitler had committed virtually his entire trained military forces to the reoccupation and the commanders carried sealed orders, which ordered them to retreat if opposed, but he got away with it.
- The reoccupation of the Rhineland convinced Hitler that Britain and France were unlikely to act against further aggression
Why was Hitler able to get away with the reoccupation of the Rhineland?
- Britain and France were trying to solve the Abyssinia crisis.
- Britain refused to act, one politician said that it was only Hitler going into his own backyard.
The Anschluss
Anschluss meant the union of Germany and Austria, which had been specifically banned by the Treaty of Versailles.
Why did Hitler want to unite Germany and Austria?
- Hitler had been born in the town of Braunau-am-Inn in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was not technically a German citizen, even though he had lived in Germany since 1913.
- Hitler wanted to destroy the Treaty of Versailles, which he regarded as a humiliation for Germany. This would be one way of achieving his aim.
- Hitler wanted to create a Greater Germany, which would include all German-speaking peoples. Austria was an obvious step.
The first attempt at Anschluss took place in July 1934
- In February 1934, the chancellor of Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, ordered attacks on the Austrian Socialist Party, which was then dissolved. From April 1934 Dollfuss began to rule as a dictator.
- On 25 July Nazis entered the radio station in Vienna and forced the staff to announce that Dollfuss had resigned. They then entered the chancellery and shot and killed Dollfuss. The murderers were quickly arrested by the Austrian armed forces, and Italy and Yugoslavia moved forces to the Austrian border to prevent German intervention.
Between 1934 and 1938 relations between Austria and Germany deteriorated. In 1937, Mussolini also informed the new Austrian chancellor, Kurt Schussnigg, that Italy would not help Austria in the future.
A second crisis over Anschluss developed in 1938
- February 12 - Schussnigg met Hitler and agreed to appoint some Nazi ministers to the Austrian Cabinet. Arthur Seyss-Inquart became Minister for the Interior.
- March 1 - Unrest broke out in parts of Austria caused by Nazis. Soon the whole country was in chaos.
- March 11 - Hitler sent an ultimatum demanding the resignation of Schussnigg. German troops were massed on the border. Schussnigg gave in and Seyss-Inquart became chancellor.
- March 13 - Austria and Germany were united and April 10 a plebiscite was held which gave a 99.75 % majority in favour of Anschluss. Austria was immediately incorporated into the German Reich.
The speed at which these events took place made reactions by Britain and France difficult. The two countries protested, but did little more.
Why did appeasement fail to prevent the outbreak of war in 1939?
Czechoslovakia 1938
The Anschluss meant that Germany now surrounded Czechoslovakia on three sides.
On September 12 1938, Hitler demanded self-government for the German speaking Czechs in the Sudetenland.
- The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, had been expecting Hitler to try to seize the Sudetenland for some time. He had already decided that, as soon as it happened, he would go to meet Hitler face to face and settle the matter. Chamberlain called this Plan Z.
- On September 15 Neville Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler at Berchtesgaden and agreed to his demands. He returned to Britain and persuaded Edouard Daladier the French Prime Minister of the need to support him.
- The Czech government was informed of Chamberlain's decision, but was not invited to the discussions.
- On 22 September Chamberlain returned to meet Hitler at Bad Godesberg. But Hitler now had new demands. He told Chamberlain that the Sudetenland must be handed over to Germany immediately and that Polish and Hungarian claims for Czech territory must also be met.
- Chamberlain returned to London believing that war was inevitable. Evacuation began in London and 1,000,000 volunteers were called for by the government.
- But at the last moment war was avoided, the Italian dictator Mussolini suggested a four power conference.
- The four powers, Germany, Italy, Britain and France, met at Munich on 28 September 1938. They agreed to let Hitler have the Sudetenland.
- Hitler and Chamberlain signed an agreement that Britain and Germany would never go to war again. Hitler claimed that he had only been interested in uniting Germans. He stated that his expansion was at an end. This was Appeasement.
- Peace had been saved, and Hitler had been appeased. Chamberlain was convinced that if Germany’s complaints about the Treaty of Versailles could be satisfied, then Hitler was a ‘reasonable’ man and he would respond by maintaining peace.
- Chamberlain returned to Britain as a hero. It was 'Peace in our time' the newspapers claimed.
- In March 1939 Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. This was a clear violation of the Munich Agreement and showed that Hitler was not just aiming to unite all German speakers in a Greater Germany.
Was the policy of appeasement justified?
Appeasement was the belief that the Dictators could be pacified if their demands were met. Appeasement was a serious mistake. It failed completely, and, in fact, merely encouraged the Dictators to make even more demands.
Why did people support Appeasement?
- There was a strong view that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh and that, therefore, it was not unreasonable to allow Hitler to break some of the terms.
- Hitler was also admired by some people for the way that he had rebuilt Germany after 1933. Unemployment was cut from 6,000,000 to 500,000 and industrial production rose dramatically. This was in comparison to events in Britain where the government seemed to be doing very little.
Fears of War
- In the 1930s more and more attention was paid to what future war would be like. People became more and more convinced that bombing would be highly dangerous.
- Added to this was the fear of poison gas, which had been used for the first time during the First World War. Bombers, high explosive and poison gas meant that the war would affect people in Britain far more than ever before.
Rearmament
- Many people saw the RAF as Britain’s main defence and by the mid-1930s the RAF had few modern planes. This was seen by many people as a strong argument for avoiding war at all costs. Britain needed time to build up her defences against Germany.
Memories of the First World War
- Probably the most important reasons for Appeasement were the British people’s memories of the Great War, as it was known until the Second World War. What had made these memories all the more vivid was the fact that in 1914 the war had been greeted with great enthusiasm. By 1918, however, there were very few people who did not view the war with horror.
Events in 1939
April 1939 Britain made defensive alliances with Romania and Poland. These meant that if either country was attacked Britain would go to war to defend them
June –
August 1939 France, Britain and the Soviet Union discussed an alliance against Hitler.
August 1939 Germany and the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
The Nazi-Soviet pact was signed on 23 August 1939, by Joachim von Ribbentrop, the German Foreign Minister, and Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister.
- On the face of it the Nazi-Soviet Pact was a simple non-aggression pact between the two countries. They both agreed not to attack the other. But the Hitler and Stalin had been bitter enemies and the agreement astounded politicians throughout Europe. It was clearly the prelude to something dramatic.
- In fact there were a number of secret clauses that were not public.
- The Soviet Union agreed not to interfere when Germany attacked Poland and also would allow Hitler a free hand in western Europe.
- In return, Germany would allow the Soviet Union to occupy eastern Poland and would not interfere if Stalin occupied the Baltic States and Finland.
- It was, therefore, a cold-blooded and calculated agreement to interfere in the lives of helpless and innocent people.
Why was the pact signed?
- Hitler wanted to have a free hand in Poland and western Europe.
- Stalin was terrified that Hitler might attack the Soviet Union once Poland had been occupied, so the two became the most unlikely bed-fellows.
25 August 1939 Britain responded by signing a formal alliance with Poland.
1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland.
2 September 1939 The British Government sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that all forces should be withdrawn from Poland or war would be declared. This was ignored.
3 September 1939 Britain declared war on Germany.
CONFLICT IN THE MODERN WORLD: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY 1945-63
Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the period 1945 to 1949?
Stalin's point of view
- Stalin did not trust the West and was determined to build a buffer zone against further German attacks.
- During the war the Soviet people suffered terribly, 26,000,000 died altogether. This made Stalin determined that this should never happen again.
- He remembered that the Western Allies had intervened in the Civil War in 1918-9 and he suspected that they had encouraged Hitler in the 1930s.
- Britain and France had turned down an offer of an alliance with the Soviet Union in 1939.
- The Allies had delayed invading France until 1944.
- This made Stalin very suspicious of the West. He believed that they had wanted the Soviet Union to destroy itself fighting Germany on its own.
The West's point of view
- The West believed that Stalin wanted to oppose communism upon Europe.
- He had not allowed the Red Army to intervene in the Warsaw Uprising to help the Poles.
- He had set up a communist government in Poland
- He had not allowed free elections in the countries of eastern Europe.
- Stalin had not declared war on Japan.
- Winston Churchill stated that he had not fought against one dictator for six years to see another one take his place.
Why were the Western Allies prepared to trust Stalin?
- In early 1945 the West needed Stalin's support in case it was necessary to invade Japan.
- Roosevelt, the US president, was prepared to believe Stalin's promises about free elections, provided that Stalin was prepared to declare war on Japan and to join the UNO.
The Yalta Conference
In February 1945 Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta in the southern Soviet Union to plan the end of the Second World War.
What happened at Yalta?
- They agreed to divide Germany into four zones, each one would be occupied by one of the four allies.
- Stalin agreed to accept France as one of the powers. Berlin would also be divided into four sectors.
- Poland would be given land in the west, which would be taken from Germany and would lose land to the USSR. Stalin agreed that some members of the Polish government in exile (the London Poles) would be allowed to join the Polish government that he had set up (the Lublin Poles).
- The USSR would declare war on Japan three months after the end of the war with Germany.
- Stalin promised to allow free elections in the countries of eastern Europe, which had been occupied by the Soviet army.
Roosevelt believed that Stalin would keep his promises. He also believed that the Soviet army would be needed in the final attack on Japan, so he was prepared to leave the Soviet Union in control of eastern Europe.
The new president, Harry Truman, who took over when Roosevelt died on 12 April, took a much tougher line with Stalin. He now had the atomic bomb, which meant that he no longer needed to rely upon the Red army in the war against Japan.
The Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam conference was the last of the conferences between the leaders of the allies during the Second World War.
- Germany was divided into four zones. Each zone would be occupied by one of the four Allies, Great Britain, France, the USA and the USSR. Berlin was divided into four sectors.
- The Nazi Party would be dissolved. War criminals would be tried and punished.
- There would be free elections in Germany, freedom of speech and a free press.
- Germany would pay reparations for the damage caused by the war. Most of this would go to the USSR.
- All the Allies agreed to take part in the United Nations.
But there were also disagreements at Potsdam.
- The new US president, Harry Truman tried to force the USSR to allow free elections in the countries of eastern Europe, which had been occupied after the end of the war.
- Stalin was angry that the USA had not told him about the atomic bomb, which he knew that the USA had developed.
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This was the beginning of the ‘Cold War’. In the next year Stalin set up the Iron Curtain
What was the Iron Curtain?
- The Iron Curtain was the name given to the border between east and west in Europe that was set up by Joseph Stalin, the ruler of the USSR in the years after the Second World War. The name came from a speech made by Winston Churchill in 1946.
- The Iron Curtain became a thousand mile fence cutting off the Communist countries of eastern Europe form the non-communist west.
Why did Stalin build the Iron Curtain?
- He wanted to set up a buffer zone of countries in eastern Europe to protect the USSR against another invasion by Germany. Between 1945 and 1948 all the countries which had been occupied by the Red Army at the end of the war were brought under Soviet control. In Czechoslovakia the leaders were simply murdered.
- He did not trust the west, Britain and the USA, because they had invaded Russia in 1919 and had delayed the invasion of France until 1944.
- Stalin knew that Germany had invaded Russia twice in the twentieth century, he was determined to prevent this happening a third time. He wanted to make sure that Germany was kept weak, whereas the western Allies wanted Germany to be allowed to recover from the effects of the war.
- He was trying to prevent western influence reaching the west and refugees leaving the east for western Europe.
The Iron Curtain collapsed in 1989 and 1990, when the countries off the east threw off Soviet control, but for forty-five years it dominated Europe and divided Germany.
How was Germany governed after the war?
- When the Allies met at Potsdam to decide how to govern Germany at the end of the Second World War, they agreed to divide the country into four zones, one each for the USA, the USSR, Britain and France.
- Each of the four allies was to be responsible for its own sector. Decisions affecting Germany as a whole would be taken jointly and it was intended that Germany would be reunited in the future.
- Berlin the capital of Germany was inside the Soviet zone, so this was also divided into four sectors. It was governed by the Joint Kommandatura, which contained the military leaders of the four allies.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
- In February 1947 the British government informed the USA that it could no longer afford to support the Greek government against Communist rebels. The US government stepped in with an offer of $400,000,000. Harry Truman also took the opportunity to extend the offer of aid.
- The Truman Doctrine was announced by Harry Truman, the president of the USA, in March 1947. He offered to help any country that was being threatened either from within or from without its own borders. He did not name any country, nor did he specify what sort of aid would be given.
Why was the Truman Doctrine published?
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Truman wanted to help the countries of Europe recover from the effects of the Second World War. He had seen the devastation, which the war had caused and he wanted the USA to play a part in recovery. Marshall Aid was announced at the same time.
- Truman was trying to stop any other countries in Europe becoming Communist. Already the Iron Curtain had cut Europe in two; he did not want that to go any further.
- Truman also hoped that he might be able to persuade some of the countries of eastern Europe to break away from Communism. Marshall Aid was also intended to help here.
- While the Truman Doctrine did not actually mention the Soviet Union, it was obvious that it was intended as a warning to Stalin that Truman was not going to let him get away with any more attempts to take control of Europe.
- Truman had said that he was going to ‘get tough with Russia’, this was one example of his policy.
How did Marshall Aid work?
- Marshall Aid was an attempt to rebuild Europe after the Second World War. It put the ideas of the Truman Doctrine into effect. In March 1947 President Harry Truman offered grants of American money to all European countries. The plan was named after his secretary of state George C Marshall.
- Truman intended that Marshall Aid would be made available to all countries in Europe, but in fact only countries in the west accepted it.
- The USSR and other eastern countries attended the first meetings in 1948, but withdrew when they discovered that they would have to join the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation.
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The MARSHALL PLAN would control how Marshall Aid would be spent. Individual countries would not be able to decide for themselves
- This would mean that the USA would be able to influence the countries of the east and undermine communism. This was what Truman had hoped would happen.
- When the Soviet Union realised what Truman was up to, other Eastern Bloc countries, Czechoslovakia in particular, were forced to withdraw applications for Marshall Aid.
- Altogether seventeen countries received a total of $13,750,000,000, which allowed them to recover from the war much more quickly than the countries of the east. Italy, which had been an ally of Germany during the war, received $600,000,000. Marshall Aid was one of the reasons why Stalin tried to force the west out of West Berlin in 1948.
COMECON
- Stalin set up a Soviet Version of Marshall Aid, COMECON, the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance on January 25 1949. It was intended to be the Soviet Union's response to Marshall Aid. Stalin offered aid to communist countries to help them recover from the effects of the Second World War.
- In 1958 Communist China, North Korea, North Vietnam and Mongolia agreed to integrate their economies with Comecon and in 1964 an International Bank of Economic Collaboration was established. But Comecon was only a pale shadow of the economic institutions of the West.
- The Soviet Union lacked the financial strength of the USA and the attempt to set up a communist rival led to bankruptcy and ruin. Comecon was a major drain on the resources of the Soviet Union and helped to bring about its economic downfall in the 1980s.
The Berlin Blockade
- From June 1948 until May 1949, Joseph Stalin ordered that all traffic between West Germany and West Berlin should be stopped.
- He was able to close the road, canal and rail routes, but was not able to prevent the western allies, Great Britain, France and the USA from bringing supplies into West Berlin by air.
- The Berlin airlift lasted ten and a half months and one plane landed in West Berlin every ninety seconds.
Why did Stalin blockade Berlin?
- The main reason for the blockade was that Great Britain and the USA had made it clear that they intended to rebuild the economy in their zones of Germany. In 1947 the British and US zones were joined together in ‘Bizonia’ and the French zone was added in 1948.
- Stalin believed that Germany should be kept weak to prevent any risk of further trouble. He also wanted to get reparations from Germany to help rebuild the Soviet Union.
- In 1948 the western allies announced that they were going to introduce a new currency in the west to help the economy get going again. This would mean that east and west would be separate economically.
- West Berlin was a temptation to East Berliners. In the west the Marshall Plan was beginning to make life much better. Already East Berliners and East Germans were trying to escape to the west.
How did the Allies react?
- They were determined that Stalin should not succeed. General Lucius Clay the US commander in Berlin said, ‘If West Berlin falls, West Germany will be next’.
- Clay offered to fight his way out of West Berlin, but was ordered not to by Truman.
- The Allies believed that if they gave in Stalin would behave as Hitler had in the 1930s. More and more countries would be taken over.
- The Allies began to bring supplies into West Berlin by air. 4,000 tonnes were needed every day. Eventually they were bringing in 8,000 tonnes; even coal was brought in by plane.
- More than 320,000 flights were made altogether and 79 pilots died.
What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?
- Many East Germans began to try to escape from the Soviet zone to the other three.
- The Federal republic of Germany was set up in 1949.
How did the Cold War develop in the period 1949 to 1963?
What is NATO?
- NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, which was set up in 1949 after the Berlin Blockade.
- It was a sign that relations between the Superpowers were now so bad that some form of military alliance was necessary.
- Thirteen countries joined in 1949, including Britain and the USA.
- It led to US troops and aircraft being stationed in European countries to protect them against a possible attack by the countries of eastern Europe.
- The most important aspect of the alliance was that if anyone of the member countries was to be attacked, all the others would immediately protect it.
- Since 1949 most countries of western Europe have joined NATO and in the last years some of the former communist countries, such as Poland and Hungary have joined. Since the alliance was set up, none of the members has been attacked.
WEST GERMANY
- After the Berlin Blockade the Allies decided to create the Federal Republic of Germany, with its capital at Bonn in the Rhineland. This became known as West Germany.
- West Germany existed as a separate country from 1949 to 1990. It became a member of the UN and was admitted to NATO in 1955, although it was never allowed to have nuclear weapons. The Allies continued to occupy it and there are still British forces in Germany today.
In 1949 the Soviet Union also exploded its first atomic bomb. This led to an Arms Race between the superpowers.
What was the WARSAW PACT?
- The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of the Communist countries of eastern Europe. It was the communist equivalent of NATO.
- The Pact was set up in 1955, because in that year the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was allowed to join NATO.
- The USSR was very concerned at this, as Germany had invaded Russia twice in the twentieth century.
- The Warsaw Pact was an attempt to protect the USSR by drawing the countries of eastern Europe closer together.
- The Warsaw Pact lasted until the late 1980s, when it collapsed
The Arms Race
1945 - US atomic bomb
1949 - Soviet atomic bomb
1952 - US hydrogen bomb
1953 - Soviet hydrogen bomb
1957 - First Soviet ICBM Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
1960s Nuclear weapons
1966 - Soviet ABMs Anti-Ballistic Missiles
1968 - US ABMs and MIRVs Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Missiles
1979 - Soviet SS-20s and US Cruise Missiles
1983 - SDI, Star Wars Special Defence Initiative
The USA was also determined to stop the Soviet Union taking over other countries.
- In 1950 it organised the UN force that was sent to Korea.
- In 1956 it was unable to prevent the Warsaw Pact from invading Hungary.
The death of Stalin
In March 1953 Joseph Stalin died and was eventually replaced by Nikita Khrushchev.
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Khrushchev believed in COEXISTENCE. Rather than try to destroy the West, the Soviet Union should accept that it had a right to exist.
- Khrushchev did not intend, however, to weaken the ties between the Soviet Union and the other countries of eastern Europe. In 1953 workers in East Germany were shot when they demonstrated against conditions.
- He was not going to take a more lenient attitude to West Germany. In 1955 Khrushchev set up the Warsaw Pact.
The U-2 Incident
On 1 May 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U-2 and put the pilot Gary Powers on trial.
Why was the U-2 Incident important?
- Only a few days later Khrushchev met the US President Eisenhower at a Summit Meeting in Paris. Khrushchev demanded an apology and when Eisenhower refused. Khrushchev used this as an excuse to storm out of the meeting and returned to Moscow.
- A proposed visit by Eisenhower to Moscow was immediately cancelled. That would have been the first time that a US president had visited the Soviet Union.
The Berlin Wall
Why did Khrushchev order the building of the Berlin Wall?
- It had always been possible for Berliners to travel from one part of the city to another. Many worked in one sector and lived in another. It was easy for them to see what life was like on the other side.
- Consequently hundreds of thousands of people had escaped from East to West, since the end of the Blockade in May 1949. On average the number ranged between 20-25,000 each month.
- Most defectors were well educated; engineers, teachers, doctors, lecturers. They were just the sort of people that the Communist Bloc could not afford to lose as it tried to modernise its industry and agriculture.
How did Khrushchev try to stop up this hole in the Iron Curtain and end the stream of defectors?
- In November 1958 he demanded that the three western powers should leave West Berlin. The West refused and called for talks on the reunification of East and West Germany (in fact at the Rome Olympics in 1960 there was a united German team, but nothing more).
- Khrushchev refused to discuss unification and in April 1960 threatened another blockade.
- In September 1960 East Germany forced West Berliners who wanted to travel to East Berlin to obtain a police pass. This was the first time that any restriction had been placed on travel between the four sectors in Berlin.
Why did defectors try to leave the East?
- Defectors left because life in the east was dominated by the Communist Party. In East Germany the party exercised greater control than in any other East European state.
- The Communist Party also controlled the media. Newspapers and the radio and television could only report the official version of the news.
- People were subject to the secret police, in the Soviet Union, the KGB. Such organisations operated outside the law and there was little that an ordinary citizen could do.
- Freedom of expression was restricted, and, although Khrushchev relaxed some of the controls that Stalin had put into place and reduced the powers of the Secret Police, he did not allow complete freedom. Criticism of the Communist Party and the Soviet way of life was not allowed.
- Consumer goods were limited and often of poor quality. Sales of foreign goods were restricted. Foreign travel was difficult and currency sales were strictly controlled in an effort to obtain foreign exchange.
Why did Khrushchev believe that he could get away building the Wall?
- Khrushchev believed that he could get away with building the Wall because John F Kennedy, the US president, had been made to look foolish over the Bay of Pigs.
- Kennedy and Khrushchev had also met in Vienna in June 1961 and Khrushchev had apparently decided that Kennedy was inexperienced and could be easily pushed around.
The Wall remained in place until 1990 and more than 300 people were killed trying to cross it.
The deterrent
- By the late 1950s both Superpowers had weapons capable of destroying each other. This became known as the deterrent, the realisation that war would destroy everybody.
- There were many disarmament talks, but all went nowhere.
- In Britain the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament was set up in 1958. This tried to persuade the British government to give up its weapons and in 1960 'Blue Streak', the British missile was cancelled.
How close to war did the world come over Cuba in 1962?
The Cuban Missiles Crisis
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In 1959 Fidel Castro seized power in Cuba. Until then Cuba had been under US influence and many companies had invested heavily in the country. The USA cut off all aid to Cuba and Castro then nationalised all businesses. He was not at first a Communist, but US actions forced him to accept aid from the Soviet Union.
- In 1960 the Soviet Union signed an agreement to buy 1,000,000 tonnes of Cuban sugar every year. This tied the two countries closely together. There was now a Communist country in the western hemisphere.
- In April 1961 the CIA backed an invasion of Cuba by 1,400 Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. It was a fiasco. Kennedy, the new US president had not been behind the invasion, but he had not stopped it. It made him look foolish.
- In December 1961 Castro announced that he was setting up a communist government in Cuba. There was now a communist country within 70 miles of American soil.
The Crisis
- In October 1962 A US spy plane took photographs which showed Soviet missile bases being built on Cuba. This meant that all US missile defence systems were now useless.
- From 16 October Kennedy spent one week asking his defence chiefs for possible reactions and considering alternatives. He decided on a blockade because they could not promise that an air strike would destroy the sites but not hit anywhere else.
- The blockade came into effect on 24 October after Kennedy had given Khrushchev a warning. 180 ships were used including a fleet of nuclear submarines.
- Khrushchev replied with a statement accusing the USA of interfering in Cuba’s internal affairs.
- But, the Soviet ships sailing to Cuba slowed down and even began to sail in circles.
- Khrushchev now sent two letters. One in public was defiant, the second offered a compromise. The missile sites would be destroyed if the USA guaranteed to leave Cuba alone.
- Kennedy agreed to Khrushchev’s offer. The blockade was removed, the sites were destroyed and Cuba was left alone.
- In a secret meeting between Robert Kennedy and the Soviet ambassador, the US government agreed that US missiles would be removed from Italy and Turkey. However as these were in a NATO force it could not be announced immediately. They were removed three months later.
- Kennedy also suggested that the two leaders should begin talks on arms reduction.
Why did the Cuban Missiles Crisis end like this?
- Kennedy realised that he had to make a stand.
- Khrushchev realised that he had gone too far.
- Neither of them was prepared for nuclear war.
- The crisis focused the minds of the leaders of the Superpowers on their responsibilities.
What happened as a result of the crisis?
The beginnings of Détente
- In June 1963 the 'Hotline' was set up. This was a tele-printer link between the White House and the Kremlin. It meant that the two leaders could communicate directly in the case of an emergency.
- Late in the sane year the Test Ban Treaty was signed. This banned all nuclear tests above ground.
How important were these developments?
- Neither was very important. The Hotline was hardly ever used, and tests in the atmosphere were no longer necessary.
- But the agreements were symbolic and showed that the Superpowers were drawing closer together.
CONFLICT IN THE MODERN WORLD, 1963-91
Why did the Cold War move towards Détente in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
Détente
- 1n 1963 the Hot-Line was set up. This was a direct tele-printer between the Kremlin and the White House. There are few sings that it was ever used.
- In 1964 the Test Ban Treaty was signed. This stopped nuclear tests above ground.
Reasons for Détente
- Détente began as a direct result of the Cuban Missiles Crisis. The term was first used in an offer of talks made in a letter from Kennedy to Khrushchev at the end of the crisis and Khrushchev replied agreeing to talks
- Both leaders had realised the dreadful consequences of a nuclear war.
- Both leaders also wanted to reduce military expenditure. Kennedy had increased US defence expenditure three times since becoming president and Khrushchev was desperate to save money so that he could try to provide more consumer goods. His economic reforms were already starting to fail.
But in 1964 Khrushchev was forced to resign and was replaced by Brezhnev.
Why did relations between the superpowers deteriorate in the mid-1960s?
- At first Brezhnev built up the Soviet Unions long range weapons. He believed that Khrushchev had failed to maintain the Soviet Union's defences and had allowed a missile gap to develop. But this led to a severe budget deficit in the Soviet Union, by the late 1960s.
- Brezhnev also began to use the KGB to crush opposition in the Soviet Union
- In 1965 US combat troops landed in Vietnam and the USA became involved in the war.
- In 1968 Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring.
Czechoslovakia, 1968
- After the Second World War, Czechoslovakia fell under Soviet control. The communists infiltrated the government, police and civil service; the foreign minister, Jan Masaryk was apparently murdered in 1948, when he was thrown from a window and President Benes resigned later in the year.
- Czechoslovakia gained the reputation of having the most successful spy network of all the communist countries and of bring the most successful industrial country behind the Iron Curtain. Otherwise, life in Czechoslovakia was very similar to life in any country of the Eastern Bloc.
- Soviet control of public life, the armed forces, the media and education. Stalinist rule under President Novotny, which offered few freedoms and little hope of change
- Strict censorship and secret police, which prevented the free exchange of news. A low standard of living, as a very high proportion of government spending went on the armed forces.
What was the Prague Spring of 1968?
- In January 1968 President Novotny was replaced as First Secretary of the Communist Party by Alexander Dubcek.
- March 1968 Novotny was forced to resign as president.
- April 1968 General Ludvik Svoboda was elected president and Oldrich Cernik became prime minister. The Communist Party was reorganised and freedom of speech, the press, assembly and religion were announced. Slovakia was also to be given some self-rule.
- July 1968 Dubcek was summoned to attend conferences in Warsaw and Moscow, but refused to go. The whole Soviet Politburo then visited Prague to try to persuade Dubcek to reverse the reforms.
- August 20 1968 Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia and Dubcek disappeared. He reappeared in Prague on 27 August and announced that the reforms had been stopped.
- October 1968 All reforms were reversed and a temporary Soviet military occupation was announced.
- September 1969 Dubcek was dismissed from the Central Committee of the Czech Communist Party. In December 1969 he was sent as Czech ambassador to Turkey.
The Brezhnev Doctrine
The Brezhnev Doctrine declared that the Soviet Union had the right to intervene in any neighbouring country where socialism was threatened. This was to be the basis for the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.
The Vietnam War
The impact of the war upon the peoples of the USA and Vietnam
The USA
The most important event in the war in changing US opinion against the war is now believed to have been the Tet Offensive.
What was the Tet Offensive?
- This was a massive attack by the Viet Cong upon South Vietnam, which began on 30 January 1968.
- All the major cities of South Vietnam were attacked, including Saigon. In Saigon the US embassy was seized by a suicide squad, which was only driven out by paratroops.
- It took 11,000 troops a week to drive the Viet Cong out of Saigon. Eventually the US forces managed to beat of the Viet Cong and killed 80,000 of them.
Why was the Tet Offensive important?
- It showed that the Viet Cong could strike anywhere and at any time and that there was nothing that the Americans could do about it. It made it clear that the war in Vietnam could not be won.
- It persuaded Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate in the 1968 presidential election that US forces must be withdrawn from Vietnam.
Other effects of the war
- The numbers of US casualties rose. By 1967, 160 soldiers were being killed each week. These returned to the USA in body bags.
- Amongst the troops in Vietnam, drug taking became increasingly common. ‘Fragging’, killing or wounding officers with fragmentation grenades began in 1969. More than half a million US soldiers deserted out of 10,000,000 drafted.
- There was increasing opposition in the USA by Civil Rights’ leaders, because the war led to money being withdrawn from the ‘Great Society’.
- From 1968 there was a wave of protests across the USA, particularly at universities. Some students were shot when the National Guard was called in to end the unrest.
- Draft-dodging became common as students tried to avoid being sent to Vietnam.
- News filtered back to the USA of the fighting in Vietnam, each soldier served for one year and more than 3,000,000 Americans altogether served in Vietnam.
- A very important factor was television. This was the first war to be shown live on television and in colour. In 1965 viewers saw a GI set fire to a peasant’s hut with his cigarette lighter. In 1968 they watched as a Viet Cong prisoner was shot dead.
- In 1969 the truth about the My Lai massacre was revealed along with the army film which showed South Vietnamese women and children being stripped and murdered by GIs.
Richard Nixon’s policies
- In 1969 he began peace talks, and started the withdrawal of US forces, but at the same time stepped up attacks on North Vietnam.
- Nixon also announced the policy of Vietnamisation. Making sure that the ARVN could defend the country on its own.
Why did Nixon’s decision to withdraw US forces lead to increased military action?
- Nixon began to withdraw US forces in 1969, but he did not want to reveal that to the North. To cover the withdrawal he stepped up Operation Rolling Thunder, one air-raid on Hanoi lasted for seven days and killed 2,000 people.
- US forces also invaded Laos and Cambodia and bombed both countries and increased the use of defoliants to uncover Viet Cong supply lines. These were all attempts to try to stop the Viet Cong infiltrating the South.
What effects did the fighting have on Vietnam?
- 2,000,000 men, women and children were killed and over 7,000,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on North Vietnam, more than three times the amount dropped during the Second World War.
- Large areas of the country were destroyed. Vietnam was reduced from a major exporter of rice to a country that could not feed itself.
- Many mines and other booby traps were left after the war.
- People continued to suffer from the effects of chemicals and defoliants.
The consequences of the war for the USA
- The war cost $120,000,000,000 and was a tremendous blow to American prestige.
- 700,000 veterans have suffered from psychological disorders since returning to the USA.
- More veterans have committed suicide than were killed in the fighting.
What happened after the US forces withdrew?
- Negotiations between the USA and the North Vietnamese dragged on for five years. Agreement was not reached until 1973. When the US forces withdrew.
- The defence of South Vietnam was then taken over by the ARVN, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. It held out until May 1975.
- When South Vietnam fell it was united with the North. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
Détente began again in 1968
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In 1968 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was signed. The Superpowers guaranteed not to supply nuclear technology to other countries.
- There was even more progress when Richard Nixon became President of the USA in 1969. Leonid Brezhnev also wanted to reduce Soviet military spending so that he could sort out the problems facing the Soviet economy.
How far was Détente successful in the 1970s?
The result of Brezhnev's decision to increase spending on arms was that by the early 1970s the USSR had a distinct advantage in ICBMs.
- 1974
USA ICBMs 834 1054
SLBMs 416 656
Soviet Union ICBMs 200 1575
SLBMs 120 720
SLBMs were Submarine-launched Ballistic Missiles
- Brezhnev now wanted to reduce Soviet military spending so that he could sort out the problems facing the Soviet economy. The most obvious way was by cutting expenditure on arms.
- So in 1970 Brezhnev agreed to begin Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. They soon became known as SALT, and later SALT I.
SALT I
- The SALT talks led to the signing of the SALT I treaty in 1972. This limited the increase in numbers of nuclear missiles. There would be a five year delay on the building of more missiles. At the end of the five year period a further agreement would be necessary.
The figures agreed were:
USA Soviet Union
ICBMs 1000 1600
SLBMs 650 700
- A separate treaty restricted the number of ABMs, Anti-Ballistic Missiles.
- At the same time the two sides agreed to begin Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Talks (MBFR). These continued until the 1980s, when there had been more than 300 meeting with almost no agreements. Both sides also agreed to allow each other to use spy satellites to make sure that the numbers were being kept to.
- The USA also signed a trade deal to export wheat to the Soviet Union and both sides agreed to develop artistic and sporting links. In 1975 Soviet and US astronauts linked up in Space for the fist time.
- SALT I was the first time that the Superpowers had reached an agreement on arms limitation, but the talks only dealt with strategic weapons, long-range nuclear weapons. They did not cover multiple warhead missiles or battlefield weapons (tactical nuclear weapons). In fact the USA continued to produce multiple warheads, at the rate of three a day, throughout the 1970s.
Détente soon covered other areas, however, when in 1975 the USA and the Soviet Union, along with 33 other countries signed the
The Helsinki Agreement on Human Rights
This guaranteed that they would
respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.
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SALT II began in 1974 and continued until 1979. Agreement was reached on further reductions in strategic weapons, which were to last until 1985.
Weapons allowed USA Soviet Union
ICBMs 1054 1398
SLBMs 656 950
Why did Détente begin to break down in the late 1970s?
- Even before agreement was reached on SALT II, relations between the Superpowers began to break down.
- In 1977 President Carter of the USA criticised the Soviet Union’s human rights’ record at the Belgrade conference. He wanted to link the issue of human rights to arms reduction. The Soviet Union was not prepared to do this.
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In 1979 SALT II was signed by Carter and Brezhnev, but before it could be ratified relations between East and West broke down.
The real crisis in Superpower relations, however, came in 1979.
How and why did Détente collapse in the late 1970s and early 1980s?
- There were revolutions in Iran and Nicaragua. In Iran the Shah, who was pro-western, was overthrown and an Islamic republic was set up. The US embassy was attacked and hostages seized. In Nicaragua Communist guerrillas seized power.
- Cuba sent armed forces to Africa to help rebels in Angola.
- New Soviet SS-20 missiles were sent to eastern Europe, and there was a build up of conventional forces in the Warsaw Pact.
- In December NATO announced that Cruise and Pershing missiles would be deployed in Europe.
- At Christmas 1979, Soviet forces entered Afghanistan on Christmas Day 1979. The president Hafizullah Amin was arrested and executed, and a pro-communist government was set up.
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President Brezhnev announced that the Soviet Union 'had responded to an urgent request from the Kabul government for help'. Barbrak Kamal became the new president.
Soviet involvement in Afghanistan
Why did the Soviet Union invade Afghanistan?
- In 1978 a Marxist government had come to power in Afghanistan and a twenty year treaty of friendship had been signed with the Soviet Union.
- In September 1979 Nur Mohammed Taraki, the Marxist president of Afghanistan, was deposed and murdered. The post of president was taken by the Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin.
- The Soviet Union feared that this would lead to a collapse of the Marxist government and intervened following the Brezhnev Doctrine. This stated that the Soviet Union was entitled to use force to protect Socialism in any country where it was under attack.
But the situation in Afghanistan was more complex than the Soviet Union realised. In the summer of 1979 Muslim resistance groups had been set up to oppose land reforms and educational changes. When the Soviet forces invaded, the Mujaheddin, as they became known, continued their resistance.
Why did the Soviet forces lose the war?
- The Soviet forces were initially successful; they were able to take control of the cities, but increasingly were unable to counter the guerrilla tactics of the Mujaheddin and lost control of the mountainous countryside.
- Many of the Soviet troops sent to Afghanistan were conscripts, unprepared for the fighting that they were exposed to. Their heavy weapons could not be used effectively and they were subject to constant and sudden attacks.
- Increasingly there was little appetite for the war amongst the Soviet troops. Afghanistan did not seem worth fighting and dying for. Their opponents, on the other hand, believed that they were fighting for their religion.
What effects did the Afghan War have on the Soviet Union?
- There was increasing opposition to the war from many people inside the Soviet Union as casualties mounted. A Superpower was being humiliated by guerrillas.
- The cost of the war was colossal and played a significant part in the bankruptcy of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. This in turn led to the attempts by Mikhail Gorbachev to reform the Soviet economy.
The Olympic boycotts, the attitude of Reagan and SDI
What effects did the invasion have on relations between the Superpowers?
- Since the late 1960s, relations between the Superpowers had been improving. However, almost immediately after the invasion, the good relations between the USA and the Soviet Union broke down.
- Exports of US grain to the Soviet Union were stopped.
- The USA refused to ratify SALT II.
- The USA boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games, which were held in Moscow.
- In 1981 talks on Intermediate Range Missiles (SS-20s and Cruise) began. Reagan offered the ‘Zero Option’. Both sides would dismantle and remove their weapons from Europe. Brezhnev refused.
- When martial law was imposed in Poland in December 1981 to stop the activities of the trade union ‘Solidarity’ led by Lech Walesa, Reagan stopped high technology exports to the Soviet Union.
- In 1982 Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) began. But all talks soon became deadlocked.
- In 1983 the USA invaded Grenada to crush a Communist takeover.
- In 1983 Reagan announced 'Star Wars', the Special Defence Initiative.
- In 1984 the Soviet Union and the other Communist countries boycotted the Los Angeles Olympics.
How did Ronald Reagan make a difference?
- Reagan became president in 1981. He made no secret of his hatred for the Soviet Union. He called it ‘The Evil Empire’. He made it clear that he was prepared to discuss arms limitation, but was only prepared to negotiate from strength. If things did not work out, he was not prepared to compromise.
- In 1983 Reagan announced the Special Defence Initiative, SDI, which became known as Star Wars. It was a plan to shoot down Soviet missiles using lasers based on US satellites in space.
- This was probably not a serious proposition, but it meant that the Soviet Union had to respond. The Soviet leadership knew that they had neither the money nor the technology for such a venture.
But, Reagan had become President after being Governor of California, where he had made his name by reducing taxation. He knew that one way of reducing taxes was cutting expenditure and defence was an obvious target. In 1983 the USA spent $300,000,000,000 on defence. More than the entire British budget.
Why did Communism and Eastern Europe collapse, and with what consequences?
Gorbachev and the changing Soviet and American attitudes
Gorbachev came to power with two slogans Perestroika and Glasnost.
- Perestroika referred to ‘economic restructuring’ in the Soviet Union. Gorbachev believed that the Soviet Union could only survive if the economy was completely rebuilt, doing away with the command economy which had existed since Stalin.
- Glasnost referred to new sense of ‘openness’, both within the Soviet Union and also with the West. The powers of the KGB were restricted and criticism of the government was allowed. Free election were held in 1990. Gorbachev realised that the Soviet Union’s survival depended upon the West. He needed investment, new technology, but most of all arms agreements which would allow him to reduce the Soviet Union’s massive defence spending.
Gorbachev knew that the Soviet Union was bankrupt. Why was it bankrupt?
- For forty years it had supported Communist regimes around the world through COMECON. In 1977 Cuba had joined. Cuba depended almost totally on the Soviet Union for aid.
- Prices in the Soviet Union were controlled and subsidised. This was a heavy drain on the government.
- Military expenditure had gone on rising. This stopped spending on consumer goods. No leader dared offend the military in case he was overthrown by a coup
- The Space programme had been very ambitious and very expensive. In 1975 Soviet and US astronauts had met in Space. It would become almost the last symbol of Superpower status.
- The Soviet Union had increasingly come to rely on imports of food and technology from the West. This had to be paid for in foreign currency.
- The Soviet Union was desperate for foreign currency. Sales of roubles were strictly controlled and foreign visitors were allowed to buy in ‘Beriozka’ shops that contained goods that were not available to Soviet citizens.
- Soviet exports were usually of poor quality. There was little incentive to workers to raise standards as everyone was guaranteed a job, cheap housing and public services. Officially the last person to be unemployed in the Soviet Union had found a job in 1932.
- There was immense ‘black market’ in western goods and currency. Tourists would be offered roubles at three or five times the official exchange rate.
- The Afghan War was merely the final straw. Soviet troops were withdrawn in 1988.
What did Reagan and Gorbachev agree?
- In 1986 Gorbachev and Reagan met and agreed to remove Intermediate Range Missiles (SS-20s and Cruise). The INF Treaty, as it was called, was signed in 1986.
- Further talks were held to discuss the reductions in conventional forces. But before these reached any conclusions, the Eastern Bloc disintegrated and the Soviet Union did nothing to stop it.
The end of Soviet Control and its implication for world affairs
- Soviet troops were withdrawn from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which had been occupied since 1945 and the countries became independent again
- In 1989 Communist rule collapsed in Poland and Lech Walesa became President in 1990 after the first free elections.
- In September 1989 Hungary opened its borders with Austria and East Germany opened its borders with Austria. Massive numbers of refugees began to flood west.
- In November 1989 the Communist governments of East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria all resigned
- In December 1989 the numbers increased dramatically when Nicolai Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator was overthrown and shot.
- In December Gorbachev met George Bush, the new US president and they declared that the cold War was over.
- In 1990 the first free elections since November 1918 were held in the Soviet Union.
Why did Gorbachev do nothing to stop the collapse of the Soviet bloc?
- He was not prepared to use force and risk bloodshed.
- The Red Army had not been paid for six months and its morale had been destroyed in Afghanistan. The Soviet Union was on the verge of financial collapse.
- Gorbachev needed aid from the West, he knew that he would not get it if he ordered a clampdown on the East.
The end of the Cold War
The final talks between East and West took place in Malta in December 1989. By this time Reagan had been replaced by George Bush as president. Bush and Gorbachev announced that the Cold War was over.
There was one last attempt to save the Soviet Union.
- In August 1991 Communist hard-liners tried to overthrow Mikhail Gorbachev while he was on holiday in the Crimea.
- Within three days the coup had failed. The Soviet army refused to back the coup.
- The leading figure in the defeat of the Communists was Boris Yeltsin, the Russian president.
- For the first time in seventy-two years the White, Blue and Red flag of Russia, outlawed under Communism, flew over the Kremlin. The Soviet Union no longer existed.
The impact of the collapse on world affairs
- The collapse of the Soviet Union not only brought an end to the Cold War, but it also produced much greater co-operation between the countries of East and West.
- Within a matter of years, former members of the communist bloc were seeking admission to NATO and the European Union.
- The United Nations Security Council began to work with much greater unity.
- Communist regimes around the world collapsed for lack of support. Only Cuba and China managed to survive, but both were forced to look for economic support from the West, either industrial and financial or through increased tourism.
- In Africa and South America, Soviet support for rebel groups disappeared overnight.
- The division of the Soviet Union into separate republics led to an increased threat of nuclear accidents, as nuclear weapons fell into the hands of the Ukraine and Belorussia.
- Inside the Russian federation, separatist movements developed in autonomous regions such as Chechnya. This led to increased instability in Russia itself.