WOH2040 Review: From Second World War to Cold War, 1939-1948 Divided Europe WOH2040 Review: From Second World War to Cold War, 1939-1948

First Stage Outbreak of war: what were Hitler’s war aims in 1939? Impact of Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939 (division of Eastern Europe, etc.) Allied response to invasion of Poland. Russo-Finnish war/Scandinavian interlude

Stage 2 Western Offensive, May 1940 Battle for Britain: A turning point? Italy’s parallel war: Mussolini an asset or liability? African theater of war. Britain stands alone? US/British relations up to 1941. Operation Barbarossa: How does it change the course of the war?

The “Inner War” Internal developments: Creating (colonizing) a “New Europe”; resistance movements; German hegemony in Europe; Life behind the lines; Women at War; role of intelligence and industrial productivity; the Holocaust and crimes against humanity.

Turning points U.S. enters the war, 1941 Battle of Stalingrad, 1942-43 (Kursk, etc.) North African campaign/Italy defeated, 1941-1943 Opening a second front, 1944: Operation Overlord and Bagration.

War in the Pacific, 1937-1945 July, 1937 – Japan invades China, initiating the war in Asia. 1939-1942 -- Extent of Japanese expansion (occupation of China, Philippines, Southeast Asia) Kuomintang and Communists against Japan Limits of Japanese military/naval power: Battle of Midway (June, 1942), (Coral Sea, Guadalcanal) Significance of India/Southeast Asia

Politics of War War-time conferences:-- Atlantic Charter, Casablanca, Tehran, Moscow, Yalta. Events: Warsaw uprising of 1944. Manhattan project Role of personalities: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, etc.

End of War Defeating Germany, 1944-1945: Significance of final battles (Arnhem, Bulge, Berlin) Europe transformed: origins of Cold War Greek Civil War, 1946-1949; Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan Berlin Airlift, 1948-49

Asia and De-colonization, 1945-- Civil War in China, 1946-1949 Triumph of Mao and communism: KMT begins long period of exile in Taiwan. Japan in the Post-war era. (Role of U.S. in shaping post-war political structures of Japan.)

Asia and De-colonization, 1945-- Indochina – Nationalist movement led by Ho Chi Minh. Battle of Điện Biên Phủ, 1954. Vietnam divided. From Malaya to Malaysia, 1945-1957. The birth of Indonesia, 1945-1949.