Description:
The suffering in Europe did not subside after the end of World War II. Approximately 60 million people were dead. Millions suffered from starvation and no longer possessed their properties and homes. The devastation conjured a new wave of unrest and political tensions between nations. After the Allies began to liberate the Jews and minority groups from the concentration camps, the world was exposed to the magnitude of the Holocaust atrocities. Prisoners were emaciated or incapacitated. Soldiers discovered thousands of dead bodies left behind. Later in 1945, the Nuremberg Trials began. (They were to be held until 1949). Their purpose was to punish the people responsible for the violence and barbarity of the war. The defendants were accused of three main types of crimes: crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Twenty-two Nazi leaders were convicted. Twelve of them received the death sentence and the others received prison sentences. As the trials progressed, the Allies also initiated the process of "denazification". The US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union divided Germany into occupation zones and governed them as they saw fit. However, the clashing of political ideologies returned, mainly dividing the more democratic nations (US, Great Britain, France) from the Soviet Union. Stalin returned to his quest for Eastern European domination. In addition, Japan was anything but forgotten. In 1946, General MacArthur was given the responsibility of overseeing the Tokyo War Crime Trials. Japanese military leaders were also convicted of the crimes they had committed in the Pacific. Then, the US created a foundation for a new Japanese constitution, passed in 1947. It gave more power to the people of Japan and diminished the power of the emperor. Despite the initiation of the rehabilitation process in 1945, Europe and Japan lay in ruins for many years.
*Click here to view the death rates in the countries involved in World War II.
Ten Best Articles:
1. The Aftermath (Excerpt from Book): After World War II ended, a series of actions took place to mend the European continent. Soldiers liberated Jews and other minority groups from concentration camps and extermination camps. The Nuremberg Trials were held to convict Nazi leaders. However, Russia also became the dominant country in Eastern Europe, and tensions ensued over the rivalry between communism and democracy. "Aside from the need to punish ex-Nazis, Allied leaders agreed on few other postwar programs. The fall of Germany created a sea of problems."
2. The Nuremberg Trials: The Nuremberg Trials were held between 1945 and 1949. Their purpose was to bring justice to the international community by punishing the people responsible for World War II and the Holocaust. "The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity… Although the legal justifications for the trials and their procedural innovations were controversial at the time, the Nuremberg trials are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court, and an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity."
3. The Era of Partition: In light of of Hitler's suicide and the impending war trials for surviving Nazi leaders, the German state was virtually left without a government. The victorious Allies decided to divide the territory into occupation zones. The American, British, and French governments controlled two-thirds of Germany, while the Soviet Union controlled the other third. The more democratic nations hoped to relieve German citizens of starvation and homelessness. "When the Western powers refused in 1946 to permit the Soviets to claim further reparations from their zones, cooperation among the wartime allies deteriorated sharply. As day-by-day cooperation became more difficult, the management of the occupation zones gradually moved in different directions."
4. European Refugee Movements After World War Two: During the war, millions of Germans had fled the country, entering neighboring countries. After the war, a massive refugee movement ensued. Germans were victimized by foreign governments and often expelled from European nations, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. "According to official West German accounts (perhaps exaggerated) at least 610,000 Germans were killed in the course of the expulsions. The total number of Germans who were expelled or who departed voluntarily from eastern Europe after the end of the war mounted to 11.5 million by 1950."
5. Rebuilding the World: The post-war period brought various changes to the social, political, and economic landscapes of the world, particularly Europe and Asia. Europeans suffered from critical food shortages and starvation, new governments were formed, and European empires were dismantled. The US and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's new major superpowers. "The allies did what they could to feed and house the refugees and to reunite families that had been forcibly torn apart, but the scale of the task and the obstacles were enormous. The majority of ports in Europe and many in Asia had been destroyed or badly damaged; bridges had been blown up; railway locomotives and rolling stock had vanished. Great cities such as Warsaw, Kiev, Tokyo and Berlin were piles of rubble and ash."
6. Prelude to the Cold War: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin had managed to cooperate with one another during the war because they all shared the same goal of defeating the Nazis. However, after World War II ended, conflicts over political ideologies emerged once more. "These victors also shared responsibility for deciding the postwar futures of the occupied countries. The end of the global conflict heralded a new contest that pitted the Western Allies (favoring democratically elected governments and independent European states) against the USSR (striving for a Soviet-influenced bloc of Communist countries)."
7. The Truman Doctrine: President Truman made a speech in 1947, asking Congress to support the Greeks against the communists within Greece, especially after the British government announced that they would no longer support them. The larger threat in Europe was Russia's rapid expansion, and Stalin's quest for communism in Eastern Europe. "Truman argued that the United States could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations, because American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory… The Truman Doctrine committed the United States to actively offering assistance to preserve the political integrity of democratic nations when such an offer was deemed to be in the best interest of the United States."
8. Tokyo War Crime Trials: After Japan’s surrender in 1945, they too shared the blame for their criminal acts. General MacArthur had the largest influence on the outcome of the Tokyo War Crime Trials. He also formed the IMFTE (International Military Tribunal for the Far East). "The Tokyo trials began on May 3, 1946, and lasted two and a half years. Although an improvement over the hasty Manila trials, which were also organized by MacArthur and resulted in the executions of Generals Yamashita and Homma, the Tokyo trials have been criticized as another example of 'victors' justice."
9. The Reconstruction of Japan: Between 1945 and 1952, the US government was in charge of the occupation of Japan, which was led by General MacArthur. He instituted a series of reforms to decrease the influence of Japanese militarism. "The groundwork for the Allied occupation of a defeated Japan was laid during the war. In a series of wartime conferences, the leaders of the Allied powers of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the Republic of China, and the United States discussed how to disarm Japan, deal with its colonies (especially Korea and Taiwan), stabilize the Japanese economy, and prevent the remilitarization of the state in the future."
10. The Creation of the Japanese Constitution: General MacArthur took a series of steps to transform Japan into a more democratic nation. He wanted to give more power to the people of Japan. "Although the emperor was acknowledged as the head of state, he was stripped of any real power and essentially became a constitutional monarch. A bi-cameral legislature with a weak upper chamber was established, and with the exception of the Imperial family, all rights of peerage were abolished."
Audio/Video:
1. The Trial of Hermann Goering: The trial of Hermann Goering, Hitler's successor, was led by American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson. The audio footage offers the reasons behind the Nazi regime.
2. General MacArthur and the Occupation of Japan: This video discusses General MacArthur’s influential role in the occupation of Japan. He tried to institute social reforms to transform Japan into a democracy.
3. Winston Churchill's Speech on the Iron Curtain: In 1946, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a speech about communism and the "Soviet sphere". He named many of the cities affected by Stalin's expansion, including Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, and Budapest.
Primary Source Documents:
1. The Sentencing and Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 1946: Dr. G.M. Gilbert was a prison psychologist responsible for assessing the behavior of the defendants while on trial. He recalled the reactions of the prisoners to their sentences after the trials. "Ribbentrop wandered in, aghast, and started to walk around the cell in a daze, whispering, 'Death!-Death! Now I won't be able to write my beautiful memoirs. Tsk! Tsk! So much hatred! Tsk! tsk!' Then he sat down, a completely broken man, and stared into space..."
2. The Truman Doctrine: In 1947, President Truman made a speech to Congress, asking them to support the Greek and Turkish governments. He connoted that the US bore the responsibility of upholding democratic nations across the world. Greece, in particular, needed support to reconstruct the ruins of its nation. "The speeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died… The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms."
3. Germany in Defeat, 1945: As the war came to a close, Charles A. Lindbergh was sent to Germany to collect information on an aircraft the German Luftwaffe had created. He traveled through the countryside, observing the desolation of Germany and the small interactions between German and Allied soldiers. "...Hitler's quarters and the surrounding buildings had been heavily bombed - gutted, roofs fallen, in ruins. Craters from misses dotted the nearby hillsides. The pine forest around the buildings was stripped of limbs-trunks broken off, split, shattered..."
The suffering in Europe did not subside after the end of World War II. Approximately 60 million people were dead. Millions suffered from starvation and no longer possessed their properties and homes. The devastation conjured a new wave of unrest and political tensions between nations. After the Allies began to liberate the Jews and minority groups from the concentration camps, the world was exposed to the magnitude of the Holocaust atrocities. Prisoners were emaciated or incapacitated. Soldiers discovered thousands of dead bodies left behind. Later in 1945, the Nuremberg Trials began. (They were to be held until 1949). Their purpose was to punish the people responsible for the violence and barbarity of the war. The defendants were accused of three main types of crimes: crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Twenty-two Nazi leaders were convicted. Twelve of them received the death sentence and the others received prison sentences. As the trials progressed, the Allies also initiated the process of "denazification". The US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union divided Germany into occupation zones and governed them as they saw fit. However, the clashing of political ideologies returned, mainly dividing the more democratic nations (US, Great Britain, France) from the Soviet Union. Stalin returned to his quest for Eastern European domination. In addition, Japan was anything but forgotten. In 1946, General MacArthur was given the responsibility of overseeing the Tokyo War Crime Trials. Japanese military leaders were also convicted of the crimes they had committed in the Pacific. Then, the US created a foundation for a new Japanese constitution, passed in 1947. It gave more power to the people of Japan and diminished the power of the emperor. Despite the initiation of the rehabilitation process in 1945, Europe and Japan lay in ruins for many years.
*Click here to view the death rates in the countries involved in World War II.
Ten Best Articles:
1. The Aftermath (Excerpt from Book): After World War II ended, a series of actions took place to mend the European continent. Soldiers liberated Jews and other minority groups from concentration camps and extermination camps. The Nuremberg Trials were held to convict Nazi leaders. However, Russia also became the dominant country in Eastern Europe, and tensions ensued over the rivalry between communism and democracy. "Aside from the need to punish ex-Nazis, Allied leaders agreed on few other postwar programs. The fall of Germany created a sea of problems."
2. The Nuremberg Trials: The Nuremberg Trials were held between 1945 and 1949. Their purpose was to bring justice to the international community by punishing the people responsible for World War II and the Holocaust. "The defendants, who included Nazi Party officials and high-ranking military officers along with German industrialists, lawyers and doctors, were indicted on such charges as crimes against peace and crimes against humanity… Although the legal justifications for the trials and their procedural innovations were controversial at the time, the Nuremberg trials are now regarded as a milestone toward the establishment of a permanent international court, and an important precedent for dealing with later instances of genocide and other crimes against humanity."
3. The Era of Partition: In light of of Hitler's suicide and the impending war trials for surviving Nazi leaders, the German state was virtually left without a government. The victorious Allies decided to divide the territory into occupation zones. The American, British, and French governments controlled two-thirds of Germany, while the Soviet Union controlled the other third. The more democratic nations hoped to relieve German citizens of starvation and homelessness. "When the Western powers refused in 1946 to permit the Soviets to claim further reparations from their zones, cooperation among the wartime allies deteriorated sharply. As day-by-day cooperation became more difficult, the management of the occupation zones gradually moved in different directions."
4. European Refugee Movements After World War Two: During the war, millions of Germans had fled the country, entering neighboring countries. After the war, a massive refugee movement ensued. Germans were victimized by foreign governments and often expelled from European nations, such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. "According to official West German accounts (perhaps exaggerated) at least 610,000 Germans were killed in the course of the expulsions. The total number of Germans who were expelled or who departed voluntarily from eastern Europe after the end of the war mounted to 11.5 million by 1950."
5. Rebuilding the World: The post-war period brought various changes to the social, political, and economic landscapes of the world, particularly Europe and Asia. Europeans suffered from critical food shortages and starvation, new governments were formed, and European empires were dismantled. The US and the Soviet Union emerged as the world's new major superpowers. "The allies did what they could to feed and house the refugees and to reunite families that had been forcibly torn apart, but the scale of the task and the obstacles were enormous. The majority of ports in Europe and many in Asia had been destroyed or badly damaged; bridges had been blown up; railway locomotives and rolling stock had vanished. Great cities such as Warsaw, Kiev, Tokyo and Berlin were piles of rubble and ash."
6. Prelude to the Cold War: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin had managed to cooperate with one another during the war because they all shared the same goal of defeating the Nazis. However, after World War II ended, conflicts over political ideologies emerged once more. "These victors also shared responsibility for deciding the postwar futures of the occupied countries. The end of the global conflict heralded a new contest that pitted the Western Allies (favoring democratically elected governments and independent European states) against the USSR (striving for a Soviet-influenced bloc of Communist countries)."
7. The Truman Doctrine: President Truman made a speech in 1947, asking Congress to support the Greeks against the communists within Greece, especially after the British government announced that they would no longer support them. The larger threat in Europe was Russia's rapid expansion, and Stalin's quest for communism in Eastern Europe. "Truman argued that the United States could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations, because American national security now depended upon more than just the physical security of American territory… The Truman Doctrine committed the United States to actively offering assistance to preserve the political integrity of democratic nations when such an offer was deemed to be in the best interest of the United States."
8. Tokyo War Crime Trials: After Japan’s surrender in 1945, they too shared the blame for their criminal acts. General MacArthur had the largest influence on the outcome of the Tokyo War Crime Trials. He also formed the IMFTE (International Military Tribunal for the Far East). "The Tokyo trials began on May 3, 1946, and lasted two and a half years. Although an improvement over the hasty Manila trials, which were also organized by MacArthur and resulted in the executions of Generals Yamashita and Homma, the Tokyo trials have been criticized as another example of 'victors' justice."
9. The Reconstruction of Japan: Between 1945 and 1952, the US government was in charge of the occupation of Japan, which was led by General MacArthur. He instituted a series of reforms to decrease the influence of Japanese militarism. "The groundwork for the Allied occupation of a defeated Japan was laid during the war. In a series of wartime conferences, the leaders of the Allied powers of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the Republic of China, and the United States discussed how to disarm Japan, deal with its colonies (especially Korea and Taiwan), stabilize the Japanese economy, and prevent the remilitarization of the state in the future."
10. The Creation of the Japanese Constitution: General MacArthur took a series of steps to transform Japan into a more democratic nation. He wanted to give more power to the people of Japan. "Although the emperor was acknowledged as the head of state, he was stripped of any real power and essentially became a constitutional monarch. A bi-cameral legislature with a weak upper chamber was established, and with the exception of the Imperial family, all rights of peerage were abolished."
Audio/Video:
1. The Trial of Hermann Goering: The trial of Hermann Goering, Hitler's successor, was led by American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson. The audio footage offers the reasons behind the Nazi regime.
2. General MacArthur and the Occupation of Japan: This video discusses General MacArthur’s influential role in the occupation of Japan. He tried to institute social reforms to transform Japan into a democracy.
3. Winston Churchill's Speech on the Iron Curtain: In 1946, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a speech about communism and the "Soviet sphere". He named many of the cities affected by Stalin's expansion, including Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, and Budapest.
Primary Source Documents:
1. The Sentencing and Execution of Nazi War Criminals, 1946: Dr. G.M. Gilbert was a prison psychologist responsible for assessing the behavior of the defendants while on trial. He recalled the reactions of the prisoners to their sentences after the trials. "Ribbentrop wandered in, aghast, and started to walk around the cell in a daze, whispering, 'Death!-Death! Now I won't be able to write my beautiful memoirs. Tsk! Tsk! So much hatred! Tsk! tsk!' Then he sat down, a completely broken man, and stared into space..."
2. The Truman Doctrine: In 1947, President Truman made a speech to Congress, asking them to support the Greek and Turkish governments. He connoted that the US bore the responsibility of upholding democratic nations across the world. Greece, in particular, needed support to reconstruct the ruins of its nation. "The speeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died… The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms."
3. Germany in Defeat, 1945: As the war came to a close, Charles A. Lindbergh was sent to Germany to collect information on an aircraft the German Luftwaffe had created. He traveled through the countryside, observing the desolation of Germany and the small interactions between German and Allied soldiers. "...Hitler's quarters and the surrounding buildings had been heavily bombed - gutted, roofs fallen, in ruins. Craters from misses dotted the nearby hillsides. The pine forest around the buildings was stripped of limbs-trunks broken off, split, shattered..."
Maps: