History, 4th ESO – Bilingual Section – IES Sánchez Lastra

UNIT 9
-
The
Second
World War
and its
aftermath
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 History, 4th ESO – Bilingual Section – IES Sánchez Lastra

Contents:

1. The Second World War (1939 – 1945).

2. The results of the total war.
3. A new world order. The United Nations
4. Democracy and Communism.

Nagasaki atomic mushroom, August 9th, 1945.

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1. The Second World War (1939 – 1945).
In the previous unit we analyzed how the peace of Versailles left some latent conflicts behind.
The Crisis of 1929 stressed those conflicts and the totalitarian regimes in Germany and Italy
arose along with the Japanese militarism. The expansionism undertaken by the leaders of these
nations was one of the immediate causes of the new war.
Officially, the war started with the Nazi invasion of Poland on September 1st 1939 and the
subsequent declaration of war by France and Britain. Afterwards several countries added to each
side giving the conflict a worldwide dimension.
Nevertheless the deep causes of this conflict must be traced back to the interwar period.

The nations involved in the war joined progressively. After the invasion of Poland only France
and Britain declared war on Germany. As long as the conflict spread new warring nations got
into it. Italy took the step only after the downfall of France in May 1940. The non-aggression pact
signed by Germany and the Soviet Union let them cut up Poland into pieces but kept the
coexistence until 1941 when Germany broke the Agreement and invaded.
Japan and the USA entered the war officially after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
The books and documents about WWII usually refer to Germany and the countries on its side as
the Axis powers, while the nations they fought against are known as the Allies. The group of the
Allies grew slowly nevertheless the most decisive incorporations were those of the USA and the
USSR in 1941.

THE AXIS THE ALLIES

Japan(at war with China 37–45) China (at war with Japan 1937–45)
1939 Germany (1939-45) Poland (1939)
France (1939-40/1944-45)
British Empire (1939-45)
Italy (1940–43) Norway (1940)
1940 Denmark (1940)
Netherlands (1940)
Belgium (1940)
Greece (1940-41)
Yugoslavia (1941–45)
1941 Hungary (1941–45) Soviet Union (1941–45)
Romania (1941–44)
Bulgaria (1941–44)
Finland (1941–44)
Iraq (1941)
Japan (1941-45) United States of America
1942 Thailand (1942–45) (1941–45)
Total war
A Total war is a conflict in which a belligerent engages in the complete mobilization of all their
available resources and population. The Second World War can be considered the quintessential
total war of modernity. The civilian population got involved in the war effort by manufacturing
supplies that would be sent to the frontline. The civilians and their properties were also a target
for the enemy air raids that bombed the cities with general disregard for collateral damage.

The level of national mobilization of resources on both sides of the conflict, the battle space being
contested, the scale of the armies, navies, and air forces raised through conscription and the
unrestricted aims of the belligerents marked total war on a multicontinental scale. If WWI
characterized by the defensive static positions of the trenches, this conflict was more dynamic.
Tanks and motor vehicles let mass rapid attacks covered by air raids over the enemy positions.

The population was subdued to the forces of occupation while a minority formed the Resistance
that fought the invader. Not only POW camps were created for the military but also labour and
extermination camps where millions were assassinated.

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A: THE ROAD TO WAR.
The government of the Republic of Weimar, founded in Germany in 1918, tried the huge task of
the recovery of the country. Nevertheless the Germans had to face a general economic crisis that
had been worsened by the payment of the war reparations of Versailles. The 1929 Crash brought
additional problems and unemployment rocketed.
In this context, the Nationalsocialist Party (NSDAP) led by Adolf Hitler took advantage of the
feelings of national humiliation and the economic crisis to win the Reichstag election, raise to
power in 1933 and establish a dictatorial regime called the III Reich.
From then on Germany, along with Japan and Italy, undertook an aggressive expansionist
nationalism that led to the war. Starting in 1935 the totalitarian countries ignored the international
agreements, signed pacts of mutual help among them and embarked in the invasion of their
neighboring countries: Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1936 and Japan, present in Manchuria from 1931,
occupied the northern coast of China.
The Sino-Japanese War (1937-45)
Japan began its gradual expansion in China by invading the northern region of Manchuria in
1931 and turning it into a puppet state called Manchu-kuo. At that time, the Nationalist Chinese
government of Chang-Kai-Chek was waging a Civil War with the Communists of Mao Zedong
however the growing frictions with the Japanese invaders took to an open war. In 1938, the
Japanese troops occupied Nanking and a significant part of the population was massacred.
Depending on the source the estimations range between 20 000 and 200 000 people killed.
The common cause against the invader brought a momentary ceasefire between the Nationalist
and the Communists in the Chinese Civil War. The fight resumed after the end of WWII and
ended with the victory of the communist side and the establishment of the People's Republic of
China in 1949 by Mao. The entrance of the USA in the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl
Harbor in 1941 integrated the Sino-Japanese conflict in the context of the World War.
Nevertheless, Germany was the country that followed the most aggressive expansion aiming for
the unity of the Volksdeutsche, the German-speaking populations of Europe. This policy called
Pan-Germanism (or German Irredentism) is regarded as the direct trigger of the war.
This expansionism had to be backed by the force of weapons. It was clear for Hitler that Germany
should have a modern powerful Army based on armored divisions and Air forces. Therefore he
focused the economy on the military production (in 1939, 42% of the industrial production).

These are the steps taken by Hitler in the years prior to the outbreak of the war.
• 1933. Hitler left the League of Nations.
• 1935, the Saar province became German again after a plebiscite. Conscription was restored
in Germany against the Treaty of Versailles but the western allies did nothing.
• 1936, Rhineland was remilitarized against Versailles but the western allies did nothing.
• 1936-39, Germany (and Italy) supported Franco in the Spanish Civil War.
• March 1938, Austria was annexed to Germany (Anschluss) against the Treaty of Versailles.
Once again the western allies did nothing.
• Sep. 1938, the Sudetenland Crisis. The Czech region of Sudetenland, mainly inhabited by
Germans, was annexed by the III Reich after the Conference of Munich (or The Munich
Appeasement). The governments of both France and Britain wanted to avoid war at any cost
so once again Chamberlain and Daladier appeased Hitler and ceded upon all his demands.
Hitler was only asked for a promise of respecting the Czech sovereignty and not going further.
• Mar. 1939, the rests of Czechoslovakia were invaded and divided into the German
protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia and the independent Slovakia, a puppet state of the III Reich.
• Aug. 1939, Hitler and Stalin agreed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (or Ribbentrop-
Molotov Pact). The treaty included a secret protocol dividing Eastern Europe and specially
Poland, into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
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B. THE STAGES OF THE WAR
• The Victories of the Axis 1939-42
On September 1st, 1939 Germany invaded Poland to annex Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
Hitler thought the western democracies wouldn't go further than a formal protest again. This time
he was wrong. Britain and France had given a guarantee to Poland and on September 3rd both
nations declared war on Germany. Nevertheless no action was undertaken in the western front
during the first seven months of the war (The Phoney War (Glossary 4) Sep.39-May.40) so
Hitler had his hands free to defeat the Polish and divide the country with Stalin as agreed in pact
of non-aggression.

The Germans defeated Poland so rapidly thanks to a new military tactic, the Blitzkrieg or
Lightning War (Glossary1). In the following months this technique was improved and new
invasion plans were drafted. The German Wehrmacht (Glossary 2) successfully implemented
the Lighting War in Poland in 1939, in the western front (Belgium, the Nederland and France) in
1940, and in the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
In April 1940 the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway to ensure the supply of the vital
Swedish Iron ore. Hitler quickly turned to Belgium, the Nederland and France. Despite the
modern defenses of the Maginot Line, the French campaign took only two weeks to the world
astonishment. On July 13th 1940 Paris surrendered and the British Army rushed to be evacuated
back to England in the beaches of Dunkirk. France was then divided into an occupied zone in the
north and the Atlantic coast and a puppet state, the France of Vichy led by Marshall Petain.
When France fell only Churchill the British PM stood alone before Hitler. The Battle of Britain
started with a massive air raid on the cities and industrial areas prior to the planned invasion of
the Island. Nevertheless the RAF (Glossary 3) successfully stopped the German Luftwaffe in
spite of its numerical inferiority. A new invention, the RADAR was decisive in the victory. Britain
resisted and became the first failure of the Nazis.

Mussolini's Italy was encouraged by the German successes and entered the war beside Hitler
fearing to hold a secondary post. The Italian failure in the invasion of Egypt (from Libya) and
Greece (from Albania) caused the intervention of its ally that occupied Yugoslavia and Greece in
the spring of 1941. Hitler lost a few precious weeks for his next project.
In June 1941, the decisive Operation Barbarossa was initiated and Germany invaded the
USSR. The blitzkrieg in Russia took the German Wehrmacht to the gates of Moscow and millions
of soviet soldiers surrendered. Nevertheless the Russian winter came and the front stabilized.

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The campaign continued until February 1943 when the German defeat in the bloody Battle of
Stalingrad changed the sign of the war in Europe.
Germany sent the Afrika Korps of Erwin Rommel to Libya with the aim of expelling the British
from Egypt and take control of the Suez Canal. On the contrary the British invaded the Italian
colonies in Africa (Eritrea and Abyssinia) and with the help of the Americans they expelled the
Germans from northern Africa in 1943.
Meanwhile, the Japanese were spreading their empire in Asia and the Pacific. They reached their
peak with the conquest of the Philippines, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma and many
islands in the Pacific. After the attack on the American base of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on
December 7th, 1941, the United States entered WWII. It was not until the Battles of Midway
(June 1942) and Guadalcanal (1943) that the Japanese advance could be stopped.

• The Victories of the Allies 1943-45

The American intervention and the reaction of the Soviet Union were decisive for the resolution of
the conflict. From 1943 on, the turning of the tide was a fact and the Germans couldn't stop the
allied advances in the different fronts.
.After the defeat of the Afrika Korps, the Allies landed in Sicily and southern Italy in 1943.
Mussolini was deposed and the new government of General Badoglio joined the side of the Allies.
They slowly advanced northwards through the Italian peninsula recovering the whole of the
territory in 1945.
.In the Eastern Front, the Red Army confirmed its superiority after the tank Battle of Kursk. The
Soviets advanced liberating Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Austria.
.In the Western Front, on June 6th 1944 the Allied landed in the coasts of Normandy and
liberated France and Belgium. More than 150 000 American, British and Canadian soldiers
landed the D-Day and broke Hitler's Atlantic Wall.

.In the Pacific from 1943, the American troops occupied several strategic Islands, and by early
1945 they had liberated the Philippines, Burma and had the main Japanese cities within air
bombing range.
The downfall of Nazi Germany took place finally on April 30th 1945, when Hitler committed
suicide in his bunker in Berlin two days before the Soviet took the city.
In Asia the Japanese were close to their final defeat but no surrender was acceptable for their
leaders. American President Harry Truman decided to use a new terrible weapon, the Atomic
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Bomb, to force the unconditional Japanese capitulation. Two bombs were dropped in the cities of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki where 250 000 people died. The Japs were fearful of the terrible
destruction they were facing and finally ceded. The Second World War ended on September 2nd,
1945 with the signing of the Japanese instrument of surrender on board USS Missouri.

2. The Aftermath of the Total War.

Once the war was over, all the witnesses confirmed that life in the German occupied Europe was
extremely hard. The crimes in the Nazi concentration camps were especially horrible.
In the occupied countries many people organised the resistance and sabotaged many facilities
and services required by the
invading army. In France,
Albania and Yugoslavia the
partisans actively engaged in
the liberation of their
respective countries. However,
it's true that the German army
was supported by local fascist
groups and collaborators in
the conquered countries.

The French resistance and the regime of Vichy.

The Vichy regime was the puppet state instored in southern France after the 1940 defeat. It was
ruled by Marshall Petain. Petain's personality is controversial in France where he is regarded as
the heroe of the Battle of Verdun in WWI, and at the same time as the traitor that governed the
"collabo" regime of Vichy.
Part of the population decided to resist the Nazi invader. This resistance was led abroad since
General DeGaulle gathered all the French expatriates in London and tried to reorganise the Free
French Forces. In the other hand, the Resistance was also undertaken from the interior where
the most exposed activities were carried out: sabotages, release of war prisoners, services of
information, anything that could distract enemy troops from the frontline. The resistance was no
more that 3% of the population although it had a lot of support, specially the partisans of the
"maquis" that fought the Germans from their hiding places in the countryside. Many expatriated
Republican Spaniards integrated the Maquis and the Free French Forces.
The impact of the War
If WWI had already had a devastating moral impact, the second one exceeded all estimations
and meant a total worsening for Europe in no matter the domain. The number of casualties tripled
those of WWI and for the first time there were more casualties among civilians than the military.
The figures ranged between 55 and 60 million people of which over a half were civilians who
were killed as a result of air bombardments, pandemics, starvation and the Nazi extermination
camps. The war also provoked
massive population transfers
suffered by deported minorities,
prisoners of war and the German
population expelled from the
eastern regions of the country
after the conflict.
The material destruction was
considerable since half of the
territory and 70% of the cities
were affected by the conflict. The
economic impact was
overwhelming mainly in Europe
and Japan which had been
devastated by the war. On the
other hand, no destruction was
suffered in the USA and the
economy of the country even
developed.

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Besides, the values of the European culture teetered since no international convention or
agreements had been respected. The routine use of torture, the fear to the atomic bomb and the
discovery of the extermination camps bewildered the population.
From this discovery the concept of Crimes against Humanity (Glossary 6) was created, a
charge by which the Nazi leaders were tried in Nuremberg.

3. The New World Order & the United Nations.

Starting from 1943 the three greatest Allied powers, Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union, took
part in several conferences where they designed the new world order and the conditions of the
future Peace. The most decisive conferences were those of Tehran in 1943, Yalta (Feb. 1945)
and Potsdam (Aug. 1945).
According to the Declaration on Liberated Europe of Yalta, the Big Three agreed that the New
Order should be based on International Law, and aim Peace, Freedom and common Prosperity.
The allied powers signed Peace treaties with Italy, Hungary, Finland, Romania and Bulgaria in
1947 and Japan in 1951, but no treaty was signed with Germany.
-Potsdam Conference, Aug. 1945
In Potsdam by the summer of 1945, some important changes had taken place: the Soviet Union
was occupying Central and Eastern Europe, Britain had a new Prime Minister (Attlee, Labour
Party), America had a new President (Truman after the death of Roosevelt), the war was ending
in the Pacific and the US had tested an atomic bomb. The main issues were:
• The demilitarization of Germany: Destruction of German industrial war-potential through the
destruction or control of all industry with military potential.
• The denazification of the German state and society to prevent the party from being reborn and
prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
• The economic compensations to the Soviet Union from their zone of occupation in
Germany. It was also agreed that the industrial capacity unnecessary for the German peace
economy should be transferred to the Soviet Union within 2 years.
• The new borders.
A) Reversion of all German annexations in Europe, including Sudetenland, Alsace-Lorraine,
Austria, and the westernmost parts of Poland
B) Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, effectively
reducing Germany in size by approximately 25% compared to its 1937 borders. The territories
east of the new border comprised East Prussia, Silesia, West Prussia, and two thirds of
Pomerania. These areas were mainly agricultural, with the exception of Upper Silesia which
was the second largest centre of German heavy industry.
C) Expulsion of the German populations remaining beyond the new eastern borders.
However, there were soon many discrepancies between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviets
(mainly the Polish Question) that eventually took to the division of Europe into spheres of
influence: Germany was split into four occupation zones and Japan lost all its conquests.
Once the sovereignty of all the states was re-established, the winning powers agreed the creation
of a United Nations Organization (UN) to solve the international conflicts in peaceful terms.
Bretton Woods agreements, July 1944
The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and
financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid 20th century. The Bretton
Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern
monetary relations among independent nation-states. The International Monetary Fund and the
World Bank were the main institutions created in Bretton Woods, aiming for an international
framework for the establishment of global economic relations.

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The United Nations (UN)
It was clear during the war to the main allied leaders that the League of Nations (Gloss. 7) should
be replaced since it hadn't been able to keep peace. Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin defined the
project in Yalta. Later in 1945, representatives of 51 nations drafted in San Francisco the United
Nations Charter, which was the founding document of UN. Its aim was to keep peace and
security worldwide. In a first stage the nations in the defeated side of WWII didn't take part in UN,
but they were allowed to join on the condition of accepting the charter. It has five principal organs:
• The General Assembly, (representatives of every nation have the right to vote and be heard).
• The Security Council is charged with maintaining peace and security among countries. While
other organs of the United Nations can only make 'recommendations' to member governments,
the Security Council has the power to make binding decisions that member governments have
agreed to carry out. The decisions of the Council are known as United Nations Security
Council resolutions. The Security Council is made up of 15 member states, 5 permanent
members (China, France, the USSR-Russia, the UK and the USA) holding the veto power,
(Glossary 8) and 10 non-permanent members chosen every two years.
• The Economic and Social Council for assisting in promoting international economic and
social cooperation and development;
• The Secretariat provides studies, information, and facilities needed by the UN. It's headed by
the Secretary-General of the UN, a kind of world moderator who acts as the de facto
spokesperson and leader of the UN.
• The International Court of Justice the judicial organ based in The Hague, Netherlands.

4. Democracy and Communism.

The Nazi Germany had kept the Allied powers united against the common enemy, but once the III
Reich had been defeated the discrepancies between the Anglo-Americans and the Soviets
became evident. The western allies mistrusted the dominion of the Soviet Union over the
countries liberated by the Red Army in Central and Eastern Europe and, in turn Stalin regarded
the new American atomic weapons as a threat.
The division of Germany in four zones of occupation was only the beginning of a confrontation
between the allies and the Soviets that would be later known as the Cold War.
This conflict took place because of economic reasons as well as the quest for international
prestige. Nevertheless the enormous differences of both blocs regarding the structure of the State
and the role of the individuals are the basis of this antagonism, Communism vs. Capitalism.
In Europe this rivalry materialised in the Iron Curtain, a symbolic border between the western
democracies and the Soviet influence area. Only a few countries like Austria, Switzerland and
Yugoslavia remained more or less neutral.
The allies avoided the presence of Communists in the coalition governments in their areas of
occupation. Similarly, Stalin promoted the communist coups in the countries under his sphere of
influence and a copy of the Soviet system of single party called the People's Republics.

A: THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES.

Churchill stated that democracy is the least bad of all of the systems of government produced out
of human experience. If not perfect, a real Democracy involves every social sector in the political
life of country. Its success lies precisely in the ability of including all the political sensibilities even
those dissenting with the system and the unquestionable moral strength of having the decision-
making based on majority and the rule of law.

The Liberal Democracy (Glossary 9) developed from the French Revolution and it's based on
the liberties of the individual, the rule of law and the Equality of opportunity. The liberty
extends also to the economic activities with the Free Market concept. Its most important
principles are:

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Free elections and Multi-Party System.
Separation of Powers, Checks and Balances.
Individual Liberties and Rights.
A Constitution is the framework law for the state organization.
Freedom of the economic activities, Free Trade and Free Enterprise.
Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech.

There are some differences within this model between the liberal system of the USA, and the
social democrat philosophy in continental Europe. For the liberals the intervention of the State in
the life of the citizens is regarded as an invasion into the individual freedom. The task of the state
shouldn't go further than enforcing the rule of law to guarantee the life and properties of the
citizens. In the other hand the social democrats maintain that the state must intervene to act as
a social leveler by means of legislation and redistributionist taxation. The welfare system
(Glossary 10) spread in the years of the post-war in order to ensure education, the healthcare
assistance and the different kinds of unemployment subsidies.

Both philosophies are based on the representation system where citizens vote for
representatives to govern on their behalf. Nevertheless, the sine qua non in real democracies is
the control of the ruler by the citizen through an independent judiciary power stating that no
one, no matter how powerful, is above the law. An independent free press helps also to offset
the state and its government. The healthy democracies and the responsible citizens have the
right and duty to scrutinise zealously their rulers.

After the end of WWII the bloc of the western democracies was led by the USA since the
European powers had been destroyed in the war. Its influence spread all over the world trying to
fulfill the gap the European powers (France, the UK) had vacated in southeastern Asia and Africa.
In 1946 the USA backed the recovery of the western European countries through the Marshall
Plan, and in 1949 established a military alliance, the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
for the defense against the soviet bloc countries.

The downfall of the soviet bloc has modified the international role of the NATO by increasing its
members and goals. Its latest interventions have taken place in Afghanistan and Yugoslavia.
There were also some economic treaties agreed like those of the EEC (European Economic
Community) and the OAS (Organization of American States).

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B: THE EUROPEAN UNION.
When Europe was liberated from the Nazi yoke the Europeans lived in a continent destroyed by
the war and divided by the Iron Curtain. The separation between Democracies and Communist
regimes was more than economical and political, it was philosophical.
The idea of a European Union, initially economical and later political and social, was born with
the double aim of strengthening the west against the Soviet bloc and prevent the continent from
suffering a new devastating Franco-German conflict.

The first organization based on the principles of supranationalism was the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC) (CECA). Belgium, the Nederland, Luxembourg, Italy, France and
Western Germany formed in 1951 this international organization serving to unify Western
Europe during the Cold War and create the foundation for the current developments of the E U.
In 1957 the Treaty of Rome set the bases of the EEC (European Economic Community), later
the European Union, an organization that has now been spread to 27 member nations.
The Union was initially intended as a common market that nowadays has a common currency,
the Euro, and a European Central Bank but its aims are more ambitious: not only the economic
but the political and social union. The Council of Europe and the European Parliament act as
the organs of government and there are European laws that must be observed by all the member
states. Nevertheless the project of a European Constitution has been blocked by the negative
plebiscites in several countries.

C: THE SOVIET BLOC.

In turn, the Soviets established a system of alliances with the countries that had been liberated by
the Red Army after WWII mainly in Eastern Europe (East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Yugoslavia) and several countries in southeastern
Asia (North Korea, China, Vietnam and Cambodia)
They also established links and alliances of cooperation and development: the kominform
(Glossary 11) in 1947 and the COMECON, an equivalent to the EEC. In the military domain the
Pact of Warsaw was the defensive alliance against the NATO. These organizations dissolved in
1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed.

The main features of the so-called People's Republics are:

• A totalitarian state copied from the Soviet model. Their single-party regimes were led by a
charismatic leader whom the masses rendered cult of personality. The civil servants belonged
to the Communist Party and censorship and repression were used to remove any opposition.
• The economy was organised on the base of a centralised planification. The all-powerful
state took over the means of production and the services: the agrarian exploitations, the
heavy industry, the banks... Besides, the state also regulated the trade (production,
distribution and sales) and tried to control the law of Supply and demand which took to
shortages in consumption goods and the black market. The citizens had to queue for hours in
order to buy everyday life products. Private property was suppressed and it wasn't replaced
by a real collective property but by a state-owned property.
• Equality was given preference to personal freedom in the communist society. The social
cover became widespread with free healthcare and education. However society was controlled
by the state throughout the Army, the Police and the Civil servants. The citizens remained
subdued to the state and the party which were considered as a unique institution.
• The Culture, (literature, Art, Cinema, education...) had a propagandistic end and showed the
path which was to be followed in the social and family life (Socialist Realism).

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D: THE CHINESE CASE.
In 1911 a Nationalist revolution outbroke under Sun-Yat-Sen leader of the Nationalist Party
Kuomintang. The Revolution put an end to the Imperial regime and brought the Republic in
1912.
From the 1920's a Civil War confronted the nationalists led by President Chang-Kai-Chek to the
Communists of Mao Zedong. The latter obtained the victory and Mao proclaimed the People's
Republic of China in 1949. The country became a communist state supported by the USSR until
the confrontation of both nations in the 1960's. Chang-Kai-Chek settled with his supporters in the
island of Formosa (Taiwan) where he established a new State backed by the USA, the
Nationalist China.
The economic revolution undertaken by Mao was based on the industrial and agrarian
development and later on the increase of the national productivity through a plan called the Great
Leap Forward. By the mid 1960's Mao undertook a purge campaign called the Cultural
Revolution against the intellectuals and the critics inside the Communist Party. He was backed
by the Army and the students of the Red Guard. The outcome of the campaign was the
imprisonment and death of many people, the repression of individual liberties and the censorship
of political opinions.
Mao's foreign policy.
During the rule of Mao, China became a great power that promoted communist revolutions
abroad.
In 1950, China intervened in the Korean War and invaded the Tibet.
China also kept border conflicts with India and the USSR.
In the 1960's and 70's Mao backed the war of North Vietnam against the USA and helped to
establish communism in Cambodia.

One country, two systems.

After the death of Mao in 1976, China evolved towards some economic forms related with
capitalism.
The new leader Deng-Xiao-Ping, kept the communist political totalitarianism. However he
promoted the development of many regions in the country by installing power infrastructures,
building new communication pathways and promoting industries and agriculture.
The aim of this policy was to achieve the economic external opening of China and the entrance of
foreign capitals and technologies.
In the 1980's and 1990's Chinese economy grew in a remarkable way and the country
modernised by leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, the coincidence of a communist political system
and a capitalist economy created social inequalities and new political expectations.

The protest of the Chinese students against the regime and the demands of democratic liberties
took to a massive demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, June 1989. The
demonstration ended in a massacre when 2 000 students died because of the brutal repression
of the army.
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Questions:
1. Why was WWII called a 'Total War'?
2. What are the main causes of the outbreak of WWII?
3. What was the territorial aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles for Germany?
4. What was Hitler's foreign policy between 1935 and 1939? Point out 3 events of this policy.
5. How did the war begin?
6. Why were the German advances so successful in the first stages of conflict?
7. What were the most decisive events in the development of the war?
8. What were the aims of the conferences in Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam?
9. How was the New World Order organised?
10. What was the cause that made the allies grow apart after the end of the war?
11. What are the features of a genuine democratic system?
12. What was the first incident between the western allies and the Russians?
13. Summarize the features of the western democracies.
14. What is the NATO?
15. What are the executive organs of the EU? And the legislative ones?
16. Point out the member countries of the EU.
17. Summarize the features of the communist system.
18. Is compatible a fair classless equalitarian society with a dictatorship?
19. Define this concepts: the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Glossary:

1. Blitzkrieg was a revolutionary war tactic consisting on a concentration of tanks and air
power. Its success lied on an overwhelming force at high speed that broke through and
flanked the enemy lines.

2. The Wehrmacht was the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of
the Heer (army), the Kriegsmarine (navy) and the Luftwaffe (air force)

3. The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force of the United Kingdom.

4. The Phony War was a phase early in World War II—in the months following Britain's
declaration of war on Germany (shortly after the German invasion of Poland) in September
1939 and preceding the Battle of France in May 1940—that was marked by a lack of major
military operations in Continental Europe.

5. The Maginot Line was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates,
machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with
Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I, and in the run-up to World War II.

6. Crimes Against Humanity, are attacks on human dignity, consisting on Murder;

extermination; torture; rape; political, racial, or religious persecution and other inhuman acts
as a part of a government policy or atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or
authority.

7. The League of Nations (LON) was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of

the Paris Peace Conference that ended World War I, and it was the precursor to the United
Nations. Its seat was established in Geneva (Switzerland). It was abolished in 1946 after the
creation of the UN.

8. The Veto Power enables the 5 permanent members of the Security Council to prevent the
adoption of any 'substantive' draft Council resolution, regardless of the level of international
support for the draft.

UNIT 9 - The Second World War and its Aftermath. 17

 History, 4th ESO – Bilingual Section – IES Sánchez Lastra
9. A Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of
representative democracy. Political pluralism is usually defined as the presence of multiple
and distinct political parties. A liberal democracy may take various constitutional forms: it may
be a constitutional republic (United States, India, Germany or Brazil), or a constitutional
monarchy (the UK, Japan, Canada or Spain). It may have a presidential system (USA,
Brazil), a parliamentary system (the UK, Spain), or a semi-presidential system (France).

10. A welfare state is a concept of government where the state plays the primary role in the
protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on
the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public
responsibility for those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life.
The general term may cover the state funding of services (i.e. healthcare, education) as well
as directly to individuals ("benefits").

11. Kominform was a Soviet-dominated organization of Communist parties founded in

September 1947. Stalin called the conference in response to divergences among eastern
European governments on whether or not to attend the Paris Conference on Marshall Plan.

12. The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign of the Chinese Communists
from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly modernise the
country from an agrarian economy into a communist society through agriculturalization,
industrialization, and collectivization. Mao led the campaign based on the Theory of
Productive Forces, and intensified it under the threat of grain shortages. In less than a year
900 million Chinese peasants were moved into enormous collective farms, becoming the
greatest mobilization of human beings the world has ever seen.

UNIT 9 - The Second World War and its Aftermath. 18