Vietnam Notes 4/29/08

Roughly the population and size of Germany

Only country to have defeated 3 of the 5 superpowers (China, France, U.S.)

Vietnam has a long struggle to gain independence

Colonized by France

In World War II, Japan occupies Vietnam, but allows French Vichy government to rule

Vietnamese fought alongside Americans in WWII

Ho Chi Min

Travels the world, trying to garner support for independent Vietnam

Writes to Truman

France claims it needs Vietnam to rebuild, after WWII

Truman sides with France, upsetting Ho Chi Min

HCM turns to USSR to the North

French are fighting Vietnamese resistance, Vietmin, 1947-1954

90 percent of funds come from U.S.

French don't take the war seriously

Vietmin win the war in Dien Bien Phu

Negotiations in Geneva agree to create North Vietnam (Communist) and South Vietnam (Pro-Democ)

U.S. helps to prop up Democratic puppet government under Diem (Ziem)

Cold War Events

Sputnik

Launched USSR ahead of US in the sciences

U.S. bumps up science education, pumps in money

ICBM

Build up of long range missiles

Berlin Wall

1961

Makes the Cold War even colder

Spread of the Comintern

1967: Split between China and USSR

Collapse in Western Imperialism

European influence in the Middle East plummets, causing instability

France/Algerian War

French violently put down Communist Algerian uprising

Increased funding to social sciences in schools

Creates anti-communist sentiments in children

Civil Rights 01 4/25/08

Focus on the deep South

2/3 of all blacks

NAACP begins breaking ground, campaigning for blacks more fervently

Upset at the treatment of blacks coming back from WWII

Blacks have same Constitutional rights

13th Amendment: Emancipation

14th: Citizenship

15th: Voting Equality

1896: Plessy vs. Ferguson

Separate but equal

Truman

Done with the war, needs to switch to domestic issues

In Mississippi, 6 black war vets are murdered

Upsets Truman greatly

In response, desegregates the military and federal jobs

Eisenhower, Truman's replacement, doesn't like desegreregation

1948: Lower courts overturn separate facilities

Overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson

Eisenhower

Reluctant to change

Grows up in a white segregated community

Has personal biases

1954: Brown vs. Board of Education

Orders schools in Topeka, Kansas to desegregate

Brown represents a number of people, suing the Kansas Board of Education, and BoE attorney, Earl Warren, a Populist

Overturns Plessy vs. Ferguson

Border states start to integrates

Native Americans

Trying to overturn the Indian Reorganization Act

Act that puts them on Reservations, with the Dawes Act

Eisenhower wants Indians to assimilate'

U.S. presidents have equivocated between assimilation and reservations 

Rosa Parks

Sat in the black section, was forced to give up her seat, and refused

Arrested

Leads to the Montgomery Bus Boycott

Brings in MLK, head of SCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

1957 Little Rock Arkansas

Governor of Arkansas refuses to uphold Brown vs. Board of Education, believes in states rights

Eisenhower forces integration b/c of federal rights

Calls in Nat'l Guard to make sure that nine black high school students can attend an all-white high school

Civil Rights Act

Creates a Civil Rights commission to evaluate inequalities

15 million possible black voters

Civil Rights Commission helps 20% register to vote

1960's

Starts with a bang

Election between JFK and Nixon

JFK wins in part because he looks so much better on television

First televised debates

Feb 1960

First Sit-In to get national notoriety

Greensboro, N.C.

April: Civil Rights Act is passed

Gives teeth to the former Civil Rights Acts

White Students would from down on "freedom rides" to ensure African Americans can vote, supporting CRA

24th Amendment

No more poll taxes

"Mississippi Burning"

1965: Mississippi revolts against reform, and tries to protect states rights

Increase in lynchings and violence

One of the worst places in America

1965: Voting Rights Act

Removes grandfather clauses, etc, other tactics to keep blacks from voting

New Black Militancy

Forms Black Panthers

Malcom X

Opposite to MLK's peaceful agenda

Watts Riots

Hot, hot summer

Riots occur more often in the summer

African American youth decide to rebel against injustice

Looting, burning, often their own neighborhoods

Rodney King Trial

Police officers beat black man excessively

Courts find in favor of the police

Blacks revolt

Korean War 01 4/23/08

Called "The Forgotten War"

1945 Japan leaves occupation of Korea

In South Korea, 1947, S. Korea holds elections and American troops from WWII leave, leaving them vulnerable

June, 1950, North Koreans attack

Attack is fast and effective, S. Koreans are pushed back to nearly to the sea

MacArthur leads U.S. troops into Korea, facing little resistance by means of a brilliant naval landing

Push N. Koreans back up, past the the 38th Parallel

Oct, 1950: Chinese volunteer army pushes U.N. troops back, past the 38th Parallel

1951: Stalemate

MacArthur wants full control of the military to push in China, and eliminate communism

Advocates atomic bomb strikes

Scares Truman, who removes MacArthur

Warhawks in U.S. were upset, claiming MacArthur could have destroyed communism

Truman brings in Bradley

Fighting continues to 1952

In 1952 elections, Eisenhower is elected

Eisenhower is elected on the strength of his military knowledge

1953: Stalin dies

Not fully leader of USSR anymore, but has great influence

His death thaws the Cold War situation

July 1953: Armistice is signed

War never officially ended

"Mig Alley" over Korea is the first arena in which U.S. aircraft fights USSR made aircraft

USSR planes prove superior

The Key Players

Truman

Syngman Rhee (SK)

President of South Korea

UN

Foreign soldiers are involved, but far fewer than American soldiers

MacArthur

Bradley

MacArthur's replacement

Kim Il Sung (NK)

President of North Korea

Mao Zedong

Stalin

Each side thought they won the war

S. Korea remained free

Containment of communism worked

Infrastructure of N. Korea is destroyed

Still seperate today

Still U.S. troops in Korea

Human cost

Casualties

780,000 total N. Korean and Chinese

500,000 South Korean Civilians

70,000 South Korean Soldiers

30,000 Americans

4,500 U.N. Troops

1950: Has Containment worked?

Most Americans agreed with containing communism

Some wanted a more aggressive policy, like MacArthur's

More alliances were setup that were anti-Communist

NATO

Cold War Notes 01 4/21/08

When Fascist forces are eliminated, Democracy and Communism begin to fight

Global competition

The conflicts between the two superpowers played a major role in reshaping the world

Conflict of military might, in other areas, the US was superior to USSR

After World War II, the Soviets and US began to influence other countries with funding and military might.

Both want buffer zones (sphere of influence)

Communism is spreading more rapidly in China under Mao Zedong

U.S. fights bloody wars to prevent Communist takeovers in Korea and Vietnam.

Mad dash between two superpowers to enter developing countries and influence their development

U.S. supports anti-communist forces

Cold War began to thaw when Khrushchev denounces Stalinism and U.S. leaders adopt a foreign policy of lessened tension.

Yalta Conference

Signs of the Cold War erupt

In the Crimean

3 Objectives

Promote World Peace

Provide Emergency Relief

Form interim Governments based on the will of the people

Stalin's proposal, controversial

Aims

USA

Wants to encourage democracy

Rebuild Europe through US's raw materials

Help U.S. Markets

Reunite Germany

USSR

Divided Germany

Germans were leaving East to West Germany

Encourage Communism

Control Eastern Europe, making a buffer zone

June 1945

Soviet Union and US join the UN with 48 other nations

Aimed to prevent future wars

Iron Curtain

Coined by Churchill

Truman is highly pro-democracy

Anti-Communist

Marshall Plan

Europe is devastated, infrastructure destroyed no jobs

U.S. provides 12.5 billion in aid: food, jobs, other materials

Aid extends to East Berlin with airlifts

Berlin Airlift

Soviet cut-off highways, water, and rail, traffic

Berlin divided in 4 zones

277000 flights, 2.3 million tons of supplies dropped

11 Months

Allowed the U.S. to influence Berlin

Nato vs. the Warsaw Pact

NATO

Coalition of US, Canada and 12 Europe Nations

Attack one, all retaliate

1949

Warsaw Pact

1955, Soviet reply

Soviet Union, Poland, E. Germany, Hungary, etc.

Asia

China

Immense fear of communism

China has a civil war between communists and republicans, which commies win

Both sides join together to fight WWII opponents

U.S. backed Nationalists

Gov't was wasteful corrupt

Did NOT have support of the people

Mao Zedong

Supported by Chinese peasants

95% of the populations

Distributed lands and reduced rents

Experience army

Most of the fighting against the Japanese were fought by the Communists

U.S. Response

Truman did not send troops to China

Allowed communism to spread

Did send aid to the Nationalists

1949-Chiang takes all the aid and flees to Taiwan (previously Formosa)

U.S. response has failed

Loss of China to communism creates domino effect, leads to Korea, then Vietnam

Korea

Japan controlled Korea since 1910

North-USSR

South-U.S.

Separated by the 38th Parallel

1948-U.S. gives S. Korea independence

N. Korea became communist and invades S. Korea

Attack and push S. Koreans nearly to the ocean

Truman: "Another nation falls to communism"

Approaches U.N.

Enters S. Korea

Led by MacArthur

Poor landing location, but MacArthur times it perfectly

U.S. and S. Koreans push N. Koreans to 38th Parallel and further

Scares Chinese

China creates a force of a million "volunteers" and helps to push back the marines to the 38th Parallel

Armistice

Fear of the domino effect

World War 2 Notes 02 4/17/08

WWII forced America to change how they interact with the world

America takes the role of putting down potential aggressors before they become a threat

"Munich Mentality"

If America had joined the Munich Conference, the Nazi rise might have been prevented

America is one of the only remaining superpower, needs to supervise the world

Only other is the Soviet Union

Iron Curtain develops as Russia builds a buffer zone to protect itself from aggressors

Greece has a communist uprising

U.S. develops the Marshall Plan, to give aid to Turkey and Greece to prevent communist uprising

Also builds an American presence in these countries

Creates trade in Europe

America could have prevented WWII atrocities, but didn't have enough intelligence on Ger/Jap

Truman creates CIA to help America keep tabs on the world

Study of Social Sciences accelerates after WWII 

Race to Berlin

Soviets take East Berlin, Allies take the west

Eastern Berlin was poor

Pacific

Korean War

Starts June 1950 when N. Korea attacks S. Korea

S. Korea appeals to the UN (Formed 1945)

League of Nations has failed

UN

General Assembly

Each nation gets one vote

Deals with resolutions, trade, human rights

Security Counsel

Made up of 15 members

5 Permanent: USSR, China, Fr, Great Britain, U.S.

Can veto

Other 10: Elected by GA

Communist Chinese take over China in the 1950's

Pushes Chiang Kai Shek to Taiwan

U.S. and U.N. recognizes Taiwan as the real China

This upsets the Soviet Union and causes them to boycott the Security Counsel in 1949

USSR backs N. Korea

U.N. backs South Korea and builds a force to drive the North Koreans out

Gov't Changes

300 Billion dollars spent on the war

Most spent ever

Government contracts and purchases from overseas creates economic boom

WWII ends the Depression

National War Labor Board

Strikes not allowed during wartime

Expansion of the Federal Gov't

Economic and Social Changes

Full Employment

Migration to the West

No discrimination in Gov't contracts (in theory)

Full production needed

Rise in Union membership

Military Service expands

15 Million

Social expectation to enlist for young people

Service of blacks, minorities, women

Women's branches and jobs created

Units segregated based on race

Japanese 442nd from camps and Hawaii

Fought in Europe, not Pacific

Navajo code talkers

Results

Rising expectations and post-war activism-but delayed

Job Opportunites for Blacks minorities and women increase

6 million women join the work force during the war

Proved women could do men's jobs

World War 2 Notes 01 3/16/08

Germany has signed USSR non-aggression pact

Biggest threat to Germany

Signed in '39, followed by invasion of Poland

Angers USSR

War

1939-1940

Sitzkrieg War

"Non-War"

Militarizing, occupying territory, but not invading

Appeases Br and Fr

Summer 1940

Blitzkrieg begins

Western Europe falls

Bombing of Britain

Softening Br

No German foot troops in Br yet

U.S. Response

Cash and Carry

Later, Lend/Lease Act

Draft and Military Preparations

U.S. knew it would go to war eventually

U.S. joins the war after Pearl Harbor

U.S. retaliates quickly

Doolittle Raid on Tokyo

Redesigned 8 bombers to make them lighter

Most are shot down, only three drop bombs on Tokyo

3 surviving planes

1 crashes

2 land in China

1 is captured by the Japanese

The other escaped

Did little effect but helped U.S. philosophy

Sequences of War in Europed

Germany invades Russia, June 1941

Two front war

Hitler is a psychotic fuckhead, bad decision

Bombing campaigns into Germany

Hitler's forces spread thin in a two front war

Stalingrad: Germans retreat Feb 1943

Russian winter cripples forces

Africa: Germany collapses 1943

Rommel effectively leads German forces in Africa

Taken down by Gen. Patton

Sicily: July 1943

Allied forces invade

Italian front bogs down

Allied troops advance slowly

D-Day: June 6, 1944

Battle of the Bulge, 1944/45

Winter, forest

Pivotal battle that allows Allied troops to enter Germany

Bombing of Dresden

Opened by Battle of the Bulge Victory

Worse that atomic bombs

Berlin Falls

V-E Day, May 8, 1945

USSR is sort of an enemy to the other allies

Racing to Berlin

Sequences of War in Asia

Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1944

Bataan Peninsula: Early 1942

Bataan Death March

In Phillipines

Japanese force prisoners on death march

Midway, June 1942

Pivotal battle

Midway between Hawaii and Japan

Matter of inches

One admiral moved his ship 1 degree to the east

Japan bombardment was 1 degree off

U.S. used that to win

Island Hopping Strategy

Move closer and closer to the Japanese mainland

Marines fight in the Pacific, Army/Air Force in Europe

Iwojima, etc

Okinawa, April-June 1945

Fighting Japanese and native Okinawans

Brutal Battle

Opens up Japanese Mainland

Atomic Bombs

Hiroshima, Aug 6

Nagasaki, Aug 9

Supported by 85% of Americans

Fighting in the Japanese mainland would have caused massive casualties

Results

140,000 killed in Hiroshima

70,000 in Nagasaki

U.S. also wants to beat the Soviets to Japan

Wants another buffer zone to the USSR

Strong US Japanese relations continue to this day

Surrender: Aug 15, V-J Day

War Casualties

35 to 60 million deaths

US:

Killed in Combat: 292,131

Other Deaths 115,187

Wounded: 671,801

Prisoners/Missing: 139,709

Chapter 27 Notes 02 4/14/08

America knew Japan would attack

Removed Aircraft carriers from Pearl Harbor

Alliances

US/USSR

Uncomfortable alliance

USSR wants a collective security during Spanish Civil War

Allies hoped for war between fascists and communists

Sit back and watch the bloodshed

Conferences

Atlantic Charter

Secret meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill

Addressing non-agression pact between Gr and USSR

 

Casablanca, 1943

Nazis control France

How to liberate France

Fr fell in 10 days\

Moscow Conference

Big 3

Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin

Tehran, 1943

Discussing Italy turning towards allies

Soviets will help fight Japan, second front war

Allies create second front war, but through Italy

Yalta Conf. 1945

Roosevelt dies, enter Truman

US makes USSR promise that first to Berlin must promise free elections

USSR refuses

Beginning of the Cold War

Pacific

US is Island hopping

Capturing islands, working our way to Japan

Drops the bomb

So US could reach Japan first

Fears that Japan will never surrender without the bomb

Chapter 27 Notes 01 4/11/08

1920's Peace

League of Nations

Based on cooperation, but with two big countries missing

USA and USSR

Washington Conf. 1921

Limits naval power

USA allowed 10 billion tonnage of navy

UK same

Japan 7

France 1.67

Italy 1.67

Countries had to destroy navy

US and UK destroyed 5 billion tons

Japan 3

Fr and It 1.75

Power Pact-1921 in China

Reflects on the integrity of China

Sun Yat Sin overthrown in China, with jostling for power

Mao Zedong vs. Chiang Kai Shek

Shek allows US into China, so he gains US support

Lacarno Pact

1925

Germany told they needed approval from the League of Nations to annex any German speaking country

Prevents Austria/German joining

Kellogg-Briand Pact

1928

Outlaws war

London Naval Conference

1930 and 1934

Sets the rules for maritime battles

1934, Japan removes themselves from the Washington and London Conference Pacts

First signs of Japans coming agression

Steps of Aggression

1931, Japan's only sphere of influence is Korea

Justified with "New Asian Order"

Instigates public opinion with the Muckden Incident

Japanese RR tracks stretch into China

China destroys RR

Japan invades

League of Nations decrees that Japan is the aggressor

Japan blew up their own railroad tracks

Japan leaves the League of Nations and invades Manchuria

US Sec of State Stipson steps in and decrees Japanese controlled Manchuria needs Chinese representation

Japan institutes a puppet governor

Ethiopia

Represents of two land masses not colonially held

Conference in Berlin is debating Ethiopian border with no Ethiopian influence

Ethiopia was originally an agricultural power

King Selassie controls Ethiopia

Joins League of Nations and gains a military

Fears Italian attack

Italy does attack and conquers Eth easily

League of Nations determines that Italy was the aggressor, needs to leave Ethiopia and pay fine

Italy leaves League of Nations

US

Pro-Neutrality Legislation

35, 37, 39

US has too many of its own problems

Can't give loans and war materials

Most European nations defaulted on loans to US, one of the causes of the Great Depression

No Americans on passenger liners

No American merchant ships

Germany 1935

Hitler rises to power

Nuremberg Laws

Conscription Act

Drafts young men

Germany remilitarizes and gains huge military

Violates Treaty of Versailles

1936 Militarized Rhineland

Spanish Civil War

Francisco Franco: Fascist

Opposed by Democratic Party

Also opposed by Int'l Brigade

Helped by Germany and Italy

Most help of the war provided by USSR

Opposed to Fascism

Also helped by the US, Fr, GB

Lincoln Brigade

Franco wins because Hitler creates the first Blitzkrieg

All out offensive

1937, US declares Neutrality

1937, Japan begins all out invasion of China

Begin of World War 2

Rape of Nanjing

Unit 751

Medical experiments on Chinese prisoners

At the end of the war, US forgives Japan in return for medical information gained by Unit 751

1938 Gr and Austria combine

1938 Hitler invades Sudetenland, border between Gr and Czechoslovakia

Cz applies to League of Nations

Munich Conference

LoN tries appeasement, gives Gr Sudetenland for an end to aggression

Hitler agrees and reneges and invades Cz

Then invades Poland

Great Depression Notes 03 4/3/08

Agricultural Adjustment Act

Helps to stimulate agricultural sector

Farming subsidiesC

CCC

 Civilian Convervation Corps

Young men go out to work on environment, work with forest service

FERA

Federal Emergency Relief Administration

Similar to FEMA

NIRA

National Industrial Recovery Act

Sets up NRA

National Recovery Administration

Helps out failing businesses

Stimulation to failing business eliminates American sense of free capitalism

Central split between Republicans and Democrats

Dems would stimulate failing business, Reps wouldn't

Regional Development Projects

Largest ever: TVA

Tennessee Valley Authority

Creates damns on the Tennessee Valley

Jobs

Flood Control

Hydroelectricity

Criticism of the New Deal

Liberals- did not do enough to help poor (Huey Long)

New Deal should tax rich and help the poor

Conservatives-Federal government shouldn't have as much control of agriculture and industry

American Liberty League

Supreme Court

Court found two parts of the New Deal unconstitutional

NRA and the AAA

FDR was upset

Proposed bill to allow him more appointments on Supreme Court

Court Packing Bill

Critics-FDR trying to pack court w/ justices who supported New Deal

Cost FDR support

7 new appointees, Democrats

Court decisions began to favor N.D.

3 Main Critics of FDR

Father Charles Coughlin

Roman Catholic Priest who said New Deal didn't help those in need

Huey Long

Senator, proposes a socialist "Share the Wealth" program

Assassinated in 1935

Dr. Francis Townsend

Proponent of a Pension Plan

Great Depression Notes 02 4/1/08

Human Suffering

Shanty towns

Bread lines

Soup kitchens

Homelessness

Radical minorities suffered the greatest

Farmers in dire straits

Crops weren't worth anything

Dust Bowl

Soil exhausted from over-farming and long drought

Grass is gone, dust starts to blow in the wind

Migrant workers flee dust to California

Dust could pierce clothes, breathing in made people ill

Livestock devastated

Effects on American Families

Family life changed

Family bonds grew stronger

Shared Everything

Poverty/unemployment

Children suffering

Federal gov't did NOT provide direct relief

The New Deal

FDR, Democrat replaces long string of bad Repub. presidents

Program to restore public confidence in the economy

Reform governor of NY, impressed people with reforms

Dems control congress

Americans ready for change

People wait to see what FDR would do in his first 100 days

Recognizes poor economic situation

"Brain Trust"

3 Goals

Immediate relief for the needy

Build economy back up

Financial Reform

Prevent Depression from happening again

First 100 days of office, gov't expands rapidly

Reforms

Bank Holidays

Incentive to spend money

Congress passed the Emergency Banking Relief Act- "healthy banks"

Public confidence restored

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Insures federal banking deposits up 5,000

Protects savings people put in banks

Provided reassurance

Law made companies give more accurate information in this stock offering

SEC (Securities & Exchange Commission) regulate stock markets

End of Prohibition (21st Amendment)

Creates a new industry that can be taxed

FDR

Speaks to American through fireside chats

Creates public confidence

Explained New Deal measures

20th Amendment: Presidents can only serve 2 terms

Great Depression Notes 01 3/20/08

Causes

Laissez Faire

3 bad leaders

Harding

Dies in office

Fails to realize that the Treaty of Versailles is failing

U.S. is not getting any money from war debts

Coolidge

Business of America is business

Hoover

Crash happens one year into his term

Not his fault

Some business background

Responsible for sending food to Belgium

Sec. of Commerce

Creates voluntary programs

Reconstruction Finance Corp.

Provides Gov't loans to failing businesses

Bears and Sterns

One of the largest finance corporations in the U.S.

Wealthy company, with lots of assets, but could not liquidate them

People wanted money out, B+S couldn't provide

Gov't loans allow B+S to pay out to customers

Now B+S is on top of all that loan money

Morgan Stanley buys out B+S

Can afford to pay back loans

Over production of goods

Automobile Industry makes up 13 percent of the American production

Now it's about 1

Construction increases

More buildings built than companies to occupy them

Technological Advancements

Leads to increase in unemployment

Lack of Ability to Buy Goods

1% of American Public controlled the wealth of the country

Larger gap in social classes

Purchasing power reduced

Advertisement

Companies advertise "Buy on Credit", postpone payment

Buying stocks on margin

Agriculture

At the time, made up 60% of American industry

Mass prodcution

During WWI, America feeds Europe

After WWI, U.S. is at full production, but with no one to sell it

Prices plummet

Worldwide Depression

No market for American goods in Europe

1930

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

We want debt money from Europe, so U.S. creates a 32% tariff

Europe raises tariffs on the U.S.

Trade decreases

Finland is the only country to pay off WWI debts

1932

FDR Elected

New Deal

First President to address public through radio