What weakened the global power of America after WWII?

Objectives:1. Explain why the US was so powerful in 19452. Explain why the Global Power of the US was weakened after

1950

Hiroshima: 1945: US Victoryhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF4LQaWJRDg

• USA seems to dominate East Asia by 1945• Ultimate loser is Japan who had homeland devastated by

bombing.• Forced into humiliating occupation by Allied forces• America the undisputed winner of WW2• Allied with Soviet Russia• But by 1950 US was engaged in another war with a client

state of the Soviet Union – why?

•6th August 1945: US bomber drops atomic bomb and kills 100,000 people instantly•9th August: another plane bombs Nagasaki 35,000 killed

•USA the sole master of this weapon•Japanese government surrenders: General MacArthur becomes new ruler. Bit like a Roman pronconsul

Task: What was the relative power of key countries in 1945?

• Use the country information you have been given.

• Take a country each – introduce yourself and key facts

• Decide order of power – rank them in a line• Draw a bar graph to demonstrate relative

power of each country by 1945

10 really powerful

USSR:• Leader: Josef Stalin (Communist Dictator)• Allies with USA in WW2• Joined the conflict against Japan in closing days of

the war and occupied Manchuria and North Korea but was exhausted following war with Germany

• Total GNP in 1945 only ¼ of USA’s• Dependant on loans from the USA to recover from

war effort• Vast army but strength was not comparable to the

US bomber force or Navy• No atomic bombs – yet!

China:• Leader: Chiang Kai-Shek (Nationalist Ruler –

Right Wing)• Devastated by eight year long struggle with

Japan• Heavily dependant on US support• Corrupt regime under Chiang Kai-shek• It’s army had US instructors – almost like a

satellite of the US• Communists in North-West under Mao Zedong

were independent from rest of China – at threat from Communist takeover.

• But the West and Russia thought Chiang would hold on to power

France:

• Trying to recover from the trauma and defeat of occupation during WW2

• Uphill struggle to re-impose it’s colonial rule on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (Indo-China) after domination by Japan in these areas during WW2 – there is growing resistance against France’s control of these regions

Britain:• Leader: Atlee (Labour)• Bankrupt from war• Desperate for loans from the US• Would have to give up parts of it’s empire –

had previously possessed vast amounts of Indian Empire and much of trade in Southern China

• Abandoned India in 1947• Scrapped the bulk of it’s navy• Decline of Britain creates a power vacuum in

which USA can step

USA:• Untouched by bombs and fighting• War boosted the economy lifted America

out of Great Depression• Output of goods grew by more than 50%• 2/3 of the world’s gold reserves• Turned out more than ½ the world’s

manufactured goods• 69 army divisions in Europe and 26 in the

Pacific• Living Standards high• 1200 major warships• UN based in New York – testimony to level

of US dominance

Why US power was weakened by 1950:

• Defeat of US backed regime in China by the Communists; led by Mao Zedong. Declaration of the People’s Republic of China

• Formation of a Chinese alliance with the USSR in 1950• France struggled to re-gain it’s empire and could not resist

Communist/Nationalist forces in Indo-China under Ho Chi Minh• Communist inspired demonstrations in Japan which challenged

American control• Super power Rivalry: USA V USSR• Defence spending was cut in 1948; 2 billion lower than the USSR• The USSR’s army now totalled 2.6 million while the USA totalled 640,000• The USSR built up a strategic bomber force and produced 7000 planes a

year; the USA produced 1200• In 1949 Russia successfully tested a nuclear bomb at kamchatka

NSC 68• Top Secret report on

Military strength of US• Carried out under

orders of Secretary of State Dean Acheson

• Shocking conclusion that defence spending would need to increase to $50 billion annually from $35 million

• Truman cautious

Ho Chi Minh

Guess the Question?1. Japan2. Dependant3. Chiang Kai Shek4. Instructors5. Empire6. Cambodia7. Loans8. India9. Economy10. New York

Homework questions:

Chapter 1 of red textbook.• Consolidate pages 1-8• Read 9-11.• Make notes on Ideologies in the Cold War context: why

did some people in West sympathise with Communism?• What did the USA Government think about Communist

USSR?• Chapter 1 of USA in Asia – Overview. Makes notes under

each of the key questions