1. 16.5 Europe & Japan in Ruins Main Idea: Why it Matters Now:
WWII cost millions of human lives and billions of dollars in damages. It left Europe and Japan in ruins.
Why it Matters Now:
The U.S. survived WWII undamaged, allowing it to become a world leader.
16.5 Europe & Japan in Ruins
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2. World War II ends with the surrender of Germany on May 8th and the surrender of Japan on Sept. 2nd 1945.

3. Wartime conferences Attendees: THE BIG 3 U.S. Great Britain
Soviet Union
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met at Yalta in February 1945 to discuss their joint occupation of Germany and plans for postwar Europe.

4. Wartime conferences Nov. 1943: Teheran Conference
Allies agree to launch attacks from Russia on the east at the same time as US and Great Britain attack from west
Soviets agreed to enter war against Japan after Germany is defeated
Inconclusive discussion about occupation of Germany

5. Wartime conferences Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference Plans for post-war
Germany to be disarmed & divided into 4 zones of occupation
Soviets would attack Japan within three months of the collapse of Germany
Receive territory in Manchuria and several islands
Poland would have free elections after the war
Veto power to be given to Big 5 nations at U. N.

7. Wartime conferences July 1945: Potsdam
Unconditional surrender of Japan or risk destruction
Set up of a council to administer Germany
Transfer of German people out of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland into Germany
Stalin announced that there will be no elections in Poland

8. United Nations April 1945: First Meeting Jan. 1946: First session
London
representatives of 51 nations
June 1946: Agreed on a charter
created the General Assembly
made up of all member nations
expected to function as a “town meeting of the world”
11 member Security Council held the real power
Permanent seats: U.S., Great Britain, France, China & Soviet Union
power to veto any council action
other six seats rotated

9. Devastation of WWII Europe was in ruins
40 million Europeans had died – 2/3 of them civilians
Ground war had destroyed much of the countryside
Agriculture was disrupted
Most men fought in the war & the women worked in war production, so there were very few to tend to the fields
Transportation systems were destroyed
Most available food did not reach the cities
Thousands died of famine & disease spread through the bombed-out cities
August 1945, 4,000 citizens of Berlin died every day!
The first winter people went without shoes & coats

10. Devastation of WWII Displaced persons were struggling to get home
Millions found themselves in the wrong country when the postwar treaties changed national borders
jammed the roads trying to get home, find their families, or find a safe place
Hundreds of cities reduced to rubble
London was left in ruins by the German Blitz.
Warsaw, Poland, was almost wiped completely wiped out
Berlin was 95% demolished
One U.S. officer stationed in Berlin reported, “Wherever we looked, we saw desolation. It was like a city of the dead.”

11. A City in Great Britain
After the war, many civilians stayed where they were & tried to get on with their lives. Some lived in partially destroyed homes or apartments. Others huddled in caves & cellars beneath the rubble. They had no water, no electricity, and very little food. With factories destroyed or damaged, most people had no earnings to buy the food that was available.

12. Costs of WWII: Allies & Axis
Direct War Costs
Military Killed/Missing
Civilians Killed
United States
Great Britain
France
USSR
Germany
Japan
$288 billion
$117 billion
$111.3 billion
$93 billion
$212.3 billion
$41.3 billion
292,131
271,311
205,707
13,600,000
3,300,000
1,140,429
60,595
173,260*
7,720,000
2,893,000*
953,000
Note: *Of the 173,260 French civilians that were killed, 65,000 were murdered Jews.
*Of the 2,893,000 German civilians who were killed, about 170,000 were murdered Jews & 56,000 were foreign civilians in Germany.

13. Nuremberg War Trials
Nov. 20, 1945: first trial against the principal war criminals of the “Third Reich“ began
International Military Court in Nuremberg
indictment includes war crimes, “crimes against humanity“ & “crimes against peace”
Not all major Nazis could be brought before the Allies: Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Heinrich Himmler committed suicide
Lasts over a year

14. Nuremberg War Trials
Oct. 1, 1946: 12 of the 22 accused are condemned to death
Göring escapes the hangman by committing suicide
Seven receive sentences of many years or life
Only three cases were acquitted
In later trials of lesser leaders, nearly 200 more Nazis were found guilty of war crimes
For the first time in history a nation’s leaders had been held legally responsible for their actions during wartime

15. Occupation of Japan Japan was occupied by U.S. forces for 6 years
under the command of General Douglass MacArthur
disbanded Japanese armed forces, leaving only a small police force
introduced free-market practices that led to economic recovery
worked to transform Japan’s government
called for a new constitution
known as the MacArthur Constitution today
guarantee basic freedoms
women’s suffrage
More than 1,100 Japanese were arrested & put on trial
Seven, including former prime minister Hideki Tojo, were sentenced to death by hanging

16. 16.5 Assignment
p.517 #3-8; p.519 SBA #1-2