World War II

The Impact of Total War

Economic Damage: Western Europe• Impact of Strategic

Bombing• 75% of Berlin

Uninhabitable• 20 million homeless in

Germany• Dutch lose 219,000

hectares of land• French lose 40% of pre-

war transportation systems

• Norway lost 14% pre-war capital

Dresden After Allied Bombing

The Human Cost36½ million Europeans die!

Deadliest and Most Destructive Conflict in Human History

Military Deaths

COUNTRY MILITARY DEATHS

USSR 8.6 million

Germany 4 million

Italy 400,000

Rumania 300,000

D-Day Invasion

Civilian Deaths

COUNTRY CIVILIAN DEATHS

USSR 16 million

Poland 5 million

Yugoslavia 1.4 million

Greece 430,000

France 350,000

Hungary 270,000

Netherlands 204,000

Rumania 200,000

ALL EUROPE 19 million

Eastern Europe

• Soviet troops physically occupied E. Europe at end of WWII.

• USSR viewed E. Europe as essential to its security… It wanted a sphere of influence.

Yalta(February, 1945)

• U.S. & GB formally accept Soviet domination of Eastern Europe

• Left out issue of Germany b/c it was so divisive

• Did FDR sell out?

The “Big Three” at Yalta

PotsdamJuly 17-August 2, 1945

• Agreement to prosecute Axis war criminals (Nuremberg Trials)

• Temporary division of Germany into 4 zones

• German question to be decided at final peace conference, which never occurs. Atlee Truman Stalin

(GB) (USA) (USSR)

Divided by Default• US came to favor a unified

Germany w/ reconstructed economy.

• USSR still saw a restored Germany as a major threat.

• Britain, France, USA merged zones to form West Germany (May, 1949).

• USSR established East Germany as a satellite state (Oct. 1949).

Divided Berlin

East Germany

West Germany

The Nuremburg Trials (1946)

• Most suspects claimed the court had no jurisdiction… Claimed it was “victor’s justice”

• In all, about 1800 Germans tried after WWII

• Similar trials were held in Japan & Italy

• First known war crimes trial.

• No clear legal precedent.

The United Nations

• UN founded Oct. 1945

• Security Council

– Five permanent members w/ vetoes:

United States, Great Britain, France, USSR & China

Truman Addresses the UN Conference (1945)