DECOLONIZATION: WHEN DID WINDS OF CHANGE BLOW? APARTHEID After 1945, European nations began to give up their colonies. In some places, power was handed back to local people peacefully. White South Africans refused to share power, creating a system of APARTHEID. WHEN DID WINDS OF CHANGE BLOW? In 1960, the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made a speech in South Africa, declaring that a “wind of change” was blowing through the African continent. He meant that the age of empires and colonies was coming to an end. Today only a few colonies or “overseas territories” still exist. APARTHEID Apartheid is a word from the Afrikaans language that means “staying apart.” It was the South African government’s policy of racial separation from 1948 to 1994. White people, who made up only 14 percent of the population, refused to give the vote to black or Asian people. These peoples were denied basic rights and were not allowed to mix with the whites. WHAT WERE THE EFFECTS OF APARTHEID? Black people were not permitted to live in areas reserved for whites. They were not even allowed to sit on the same benches. Many black people endured bad housing, poverty, and inadequate education. Black and white South Africans who protested against apartheid risked imprisonment or death. WHEN DID APARTHEID END? The end of apartheid came in 1994, when Nelson Mandela won South Africa’s first democratic general election. This occasion marked the end of two centuries in which Europeans had attempted to rule the rest of the world. However, the newly independent nations of Africa still face many problems. BIOGRAPHY: NELSON MANDELA 1918- Nelson Mandela was a black lawyer who campaigned against apartheid. Imprisoned from 1964–1990, he became a symbol of resistance. After his release, he became South Africa’s first black president.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: WHY WAS THE UNITED NATIONS FOUNDED? WHAT OTHER ALLIANCES WERE SET UP? Nations have always formed alliances. In the 20th century, many new international organizations were set up worldwide for economic and political reasons, defense and peacekeeping, and health and welfare. WHY WAS THE UNITED NATIONS FOUNDED? The League of Nations was founded in 1919 to keep the peace after World War I. But it failed to prevent World War II in 1939, so in 1945 the nations of the world set up a new organization, the United Nations (UN). Since then, the UN has encouraged international cooperation and worked to resolve conflict. THE OLIVE BRANCH The United Nations flag shows the world surrounded by olive branches, a symbol of peace. The UN has sent peacekeeping forces around the world. WHAT OTHER ALLIANCES WERE SET UP? Some alliances have been political, such as the Arab League (1945) or the Organization of African Unity (1963). The European Economic Community (1958) grew from a small trading alliance into the European Union. Military alliances included the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949–) and the Warsaw Pact (1955–1991).

COLD WAR: WHAT WAS THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS? WHAT WAS THE VIETNAM WAR? WHAT WAS THE IRON CURTAIN? After World War II, allies who had fought fascism together became rivals for world power. From 1945 to 1990, there was a period of tension called the Cold War. Capitalist countries, led by the US, clashed with the communist countries of the Soviet Union and China. WHAT WAS THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS? Both sides in the Cold War were heavily armed with nuclear weapons. In 1962, the Soviet Union secretly stationed missiles in communist Cuba. The US found out and demanded that the missiles be removed. The Soviet Union gave in, and the world narrowly avoided a nuclear war. WHAT WAS THE VIETNAM WAR? In 1954, the French colonial army in Vietnam was defeated by communist rebels. The country was divided into North and South Vietnam, and the US intervened to support an anticommunist government in the South. During the 1960s, troops were sent to fight the communists. They failed to defeat them, and Vietnam united under communist rule in 1975. WHAT WAS THE IRON CURTAIN? World War II had left communist governments in control of central and eastern Europe. They were opposed by the nations of western Europe and the United States. The two hostile sides, or “blocs,” became isolated from each other. In a speech, British politician Winston Churchill said that it was as if an “iron curtain” had fallen across Europe.

WORLD WAR II: HOW DID THE WAR BEGIN? WHY WAS THIS A WORLD WAR? WAR IN THE PACIFIC WHEN DID THE TIDE TURN? BLITZKRIEG HOLOCAUST ATOM BOMB In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded its neighboring countries, beginning a world war that left about 40 million people dead. Unlike World War I, this was high-speed warfare, or BLITZKRIEG. It ended with the discovery of the terrible truth about the Nazi HOLOCAUSTand the unleashing of the ATOM BOMB. Table 59. A WORLD AT WAR 1939Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war 1940Germany invades most of western Europe; Italy enters war 1941Germany invades Yugoslavia, Greece, Soviet Union; Japan attacks US 1942Japan invades southeast Asia and Pacific 1944France liberated 1945Allied victory HOW DID THE WAR BEGIN? The military power of Nazi Germany grew unchecked until its tanks invaded Poland. In 1939, Britain and France declared war against Hitler, but in 1940 he invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark, and Norway. Only a period of air warfare, the Battle of Britain, saved the United Kingdom from invasion. WHY WAS THIS A WORLD WAR? The Allies included British, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, and South Africans, as well as exiled French and Poles. They were joined in 1941 by two giants—the Soviet Union and the US. The Axis alliance of Germany and Italy was extended to include Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Japan. WAR IN THE PACIFIC In 1941, Japan launched an unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbor, a US naval base in Hawaii. The US, the world’s most powerful nation, entered the war. The Pacific conflict with Japan lasted nearly four years. WHEN DID THE TIDE TURN? In 1942, the US smashed Japanese naval power at the Battle of Midway. Allied victories in North Africa allowed an advance through Italy in 1943. In heavy fighting on Europe’s Eastern Front, the Russians defeated the Germans at Stalingrad. By 1945, the Allies were invading Germany from east and west. BLITZKRIEG Blitzkrieg means “lightning war” in German. The term was first used in 1939 to describe the tactics of high-speed warfare that launched the Nazi invasion of Europe. It was made possible by new technology and weapons. WHAT WERE THE NEW WAYS OF WAGING WAR? Blitzkrieg used fast tanks and aircraft to bypass ground defenses. Paratroops were dropped behind enemy lines. Civilians died in cities that were bombed. The British shortened blitzkrieg to “blitz” to describe the massive bombing of their cities. The Allies also adopted blitzkrieg tactics and bombed German cities into rubble. This war also saw the development of radar for detecting enemy aircraft, as well as submarine warfare, flying bombs, and rockets. BIOGRAPHY: WINSTON CHURCHILL 1874–1965 Churchill had a long and controversial political career, which most people regarded as over in the years before the war. However, his outspoken opposition to Nazi Germany made him the ideal choice for prime minister in 1940. His determination, eloquence, and sense of humor made him a popular and successful leader. HOLOCAUST The Holocaust (“sacrifice by burning”) was an attempt to murder the entire Jewish people. German concentration camps had existed since the 1930s, but this act of genocide was accelerated by Nazi leaders at the Wannsee Conference in 1942. About six million Jews died. WHO DISCOVERED THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS? In 1945, as Allied forces advanced, they found evidence of this monstrous crime. Jews from all over Europe had been rounded up, forced into cattle cars on trains, and taken to prison camps, along with other peoples the Nazis despised, such as Roma. Some victims were forced to work as slave labor; others were killed immediately in gas chambers. ATOM BOMB Throughout the war, the US had secretly been developing the most destructive weapon ever known—the atom bomb. This produced energy by nuclear fission. In August 1945, US planes dropped two atom bombs on Japan. Japan surrendered. WHY DID THE US DROP THE BOMB? The United States government wished to bring the war to a rapid end and prevent the loss of any more troops. Critics of the bomb believed that the extent of its power, and the resulting loss of so many civilian lives, was morally unacceptable.

FASCISM: FASCIST DICTATOR WERE THERE FASCISTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES? WHO WERE THE NAZIS? BIOGRAPHY: ADOLF HITLER 1889–1945 SPANISH CIVIL WAR In 1922 a political movement called fascism grew up in Italy. It took its name from the fasces, an ax emblem that symbolized state power in Ancient Rome. Fascists believed in the authority of the state. Extremely nationalistic, they opposed democracy and communism. FASCIST DICTATOR Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) marched on Rome in 1922 and became Italian dictator in 1925. WERE THERE FASCISTS IN OTHER COUNTRIES? Fascism found supporters in many Western nations. It attracted people who were more worried about public order and unemployment than personal freedom. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party was founded in 1920. The Falange, a fascist movement founded in 1933, took part in the SPANISH CIVIL WAR. WHO WERE THE NAZIS? Germany’s National Socialists were known as Nazis. Their leader was Adolf Hitler. During the 1930s he provided work for the unemployed and built up Germany’s forces illegally. Nazi thugs bullied, cheated, and murdered their way to power. They were extreme racists, consumed by hatred of the Jewish people. BIOGRAPHY: ADOLF HITLER 1889–1945 Austrian-born Adolf Hitler served in a German regiment during World War I. Embittered by defeat, he organized the Nazis and their seizure of power in Germany. As dictator, Hitler persecuted Jews and crushed opposition. His invasions of neighboring lands led to World War II. SPANISH CIVIL WAR Civil war raged in Spain from 1936 to 1939. An alliance led by General Franco overthrew the elected government of the Spanish Republic. Franco’s supporters were Falangists, conservatives, monarchists, and Catholics. Fighting for the government were socialists, communists, and regionalists. WHO JOINED THE WAR? Franco was backed by fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Government forces received help from the Soviet Union and were backed by antifascist volunteers from all over Europe and the Americas. Many of these young idealists died fighting for Republican International Brigades. But the Republic fell, and Franco ruled Spain as dictator until his death in 1975.