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.

ASIAN CONFLICT: HOW DID GANDHI FIGHT FOR FREEDOM? WHEN DID JAPAN BECOME POWERFUL? The first half of the 20th century saw Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands being challenged by the peoples they ruled in south and southeast Asia. At the same time, Japan was trying to take the place of the Europeans and create its own Asian empire. Table 58. ASIA 1920–1942 1920–1922Gandhi leads Indian National Congress Campaign 1926–1942Nationalist agitation in Indochina 1940Japan occupies French Indochina 1942The Vietminh founded HOW DID GANDHI FIGHT FOR FREEDOM? When Indian nationalists were demanding self-rule, one of the leading campaigners against the British was Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948). Instead of calling for an uprising, Gandhi used nonviolent methods of protest. He lived very simply and called for India to return to the traditional values of village life. He became known as Mahatma or “great soul.” This man of peace was assassinated in 1948. WHEN DID JAPAN BECOME POWERFUL? After 1868, Japan turned itself into an industrial nation. It defeated Russia in 1904–1905 and annexed Korea in 1910. In 1919, it gained former German territories in the Far East. During the 1930s, extreme nationalists and the military planned Japan’s invasion of China. In the 1940s, during World War II, Japanese armies finally swept through southeast Asia.

THE DEPRESSION: WHAT WAS THE WALL STREET CRASH? HOW WIDESPREAD WAS THE DEPRESSION? An economic depression is a period of falling prices, low production of goods, and high unemployment. The Great Depression of 1929–1934 caused hardship in the United States, in the countries of Europe, and in their overseas empires. Banks closed and firms went out of business. WHAT WAS THE WALL STREET CRASH? In 1929, US investors found that their shares of stock had become worthless. All trading ceased on Wall Street, New York City’s financial district, as the New York Stock Exchange crashed. Fortunes were lost overnight and factories laid off workers. HOW WIDESPREAD WAS THE DEPRESSION? The 1920s and 1930s were already desperate times in Australia and New Zealand, in Great Britain, and across Europe. When an Austrian bank collapsed, chaos spread to central Europe. Germany was struggling, too, as it tried to recover from World War I and pay money to France as reparation for the war.