Post World War Politics (TOK)

1. Post World War Politics (TOK) By. Rowan Castellanos

2. Ending of World War II • After World War II, Europe and Asia were in ruins • Borders were being redrawn • Homecoming, expulsion, and burial • Before the war, the world population was at about two billion • About eighty million died during World War II, about four percent of the entire population • The Allied forces became the new occupiers of Germany, Japan, and most of the land previously occupied by Japan.

3. The Allies, now occupying Germany, now attempted to permanently disable the war-making abilities of both Germany and Japan • Factories were destroyed and the former leadership was removed and prosecuted • Thousands of war criminal trials were held in Europe and Asia, resulting in executions and prison sentences • Millions of Japanese and Germans citizens were expelled from the places that they had called home

4. These post-war actions, among others, taken by both the Allied Powers and by the United Nations lead to problems • Tensions create East and West Germany • Divergent plans on the Korean Peninsula lead to North and South Korea • The Partition Plan for Palestine- recommended a partition with the Economic Union of Mandatory Palestine to follow the termination of the British Mandate • On 29 November 1947, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending the adoption and implementation of the Plan as Resolution • This led to Israel declaring its independence, 1948, and marked the start of the continuous Arab-Israel conflict

5. Post War Politics • The Soviet Union and United States began to pay attention to the politics in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, areas which had previously been disregarded in favor of Europe and North America • The United States and Soviet Union fought for influence over the political development of these newly independent countries • Americans did not want more Communist nations, and the Soviet Union did not want more Democracies

6. Tehran Conference • November twenty-eighth to December first, 1943 • Strategy meeting between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union • Held in the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran • Was the first of three wartime conferences, the Big Three • As a result of this meeting: • It was decided to open a second front against Nazi Germany • Relations between the Allies and Turkey were addressed • Iran operations in Yugoslavia were addressed • An envisioned post-war settlement plan was discussed • The “Big Three” pledged the recognition of Iran’s independence

7. Yalta Conference • Also known as the Crimea Conference • Codenamed the Argonaut Conference • February fourth through eleventh, 1945 • World War II meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin • The purpose: • To discuss Europe’s post-war reorganization • Discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe • Met in the Livadia Palace near Yalta in Crimea

8. Stalin • Post-war economic assistance for Russia • American and British recognition of a Soviet sphere of influence in eastern Europe • Churchill • Protection of the British Empire • Clarify the postwar status of Germany. • Roosevelt • Consensus on establishment of the United Nations • Gaining Soviet agreement to enter the war against Japan once Hitler had been defeated

9. Potsdam Conference • July seventeenth to August second 1945 • Held at Cecilienhof in Potsdam, occupied Germany • Also known as the Berlin Conference of the Three Heads of the Government of the Soviet Union, United States, and United Kingdom • Churchill was later replaced by Clement Attlee and President Harry S. Truman represented the United States • The three leaders gathered to decide how to administer punishment on Nazi Germany • On May eighth, Germany had agreed to an unconditional surrender

10. Conference goals also included: • The establishment for post-war order • Peace treaty issues • Countering the effects of the war

11. Introduction to the Cold War • After World War II, the world entered into a new era • This era was brought on by the decline of old world powers and rise of two new super powers: • The Soviet Union, also known as the USSR • The United States • A bipolar world • The United States and Soviet Union had been temporary allies during World War II, but turned into competitors on world stage and ended up engaged in The Cold War • The Cold War is duly named because it never became open war; rather, it focused on espionage, political subversion, and proxy wars

12. The world divided in two, the United States-led Western bloc, and the Soviet Union-led Eastern bloc • Some countries tried to stay neutral through the Non-Aligned Movement. • Created in 1961 by the leaders of India, Indonesia, Egypt, Ghana, and Yugoslavia • The non-sligned countries were not formally with or against any major power bloc • The Cold War turned into a nuclear arms race between the United Stated and Soviet Union • It never became a heated war because of mutual deterrents or mutually assured destruction

13. Cold War: Behind the Scenes • Beginnings: 1945 to 1947 • The Cold War lasted just under fifty years • Events during and after World War II aggravated tensions and led to the Cold War • These include: • Soviet-German Pact- August twenty-third, 1939, broken when the German government invaded the Soviet Union on June twenty-second, 1941 • During the first two years of the war led to subsequent invasions

14. The perceived delay of an amphibious invasion of German-occupied Europe • The Western Allies' support of the Atlantic Charter, defined the Allied goals for the post-war world • The disagreement in wartime conferences over the fate of Eastern Europe • The Soviets' creation of an Eastern Bloc of Soviet satellite states • Marshall Plan- American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism

15. Views of Joseph Stalin • Stalinism- policy on how to construct socialism and develop a communist society • Stalinist policies in the Soviet Union included: • State terror- acts of terrorism conducted by a state against a foreign state or people or its own people

16. Authoritarianism- form of government, characterized by absolute or blind obedience to authority • The theory of socialism in one country- given the defeat of all the communist revolutions in Europe, the Soviet Union should begin to strengthen itself internally • Collectivization of agriculture- consolidate individual land and labor into collective farms • Rapid industrialization • A centralized state

17. Views of Winston Churchill • Identified with Christianity and its Anglican expression • Admitted to praying often during the heat of battle, but he always knew it was an unreasonable thing to do • Worldly man- dealt with governance, war, strategy, business, and economics • Suggests that religion isn’t necessary to dictate ethical and moral behavior for mankind

18. Views of Charles de Gaulle • Gaullism- French political ideology • Main foreign policy was independence for France and maintaining as much control of as many French colonies as possible • France should not have to rely on any other countries for its survival • Should refuse subservient roles to any country • Believed that NATO was a conspiracy by the Anglo-Saxons to dominate Europe

19. Harry S. Truman • Thirty-third president • Roosevelt’s final running mate in 1944 • April twelfth, 1945, succeeded to presidency when Roosevelt died • United States successfully ended World War II and in the aftermath, entered the Cold War

20. During few weeks as Vice President, Truman barley saw Roosevelt • He received no briefing on the development of an atomic bomb or tensions with Soviet Union • When Roosevelt died, Truman said "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

21. Primary Source Document • Origin- Cold War anti-communist propaganda • Purpose- suggests that the rise of communism brings the deaths of the named nations, hence the gravestones. The presents of Uncle Sam foreshadows that the United States is coming closer and with it, war. The iceberg also serves as symbolism, this is just the tip of the iceberg. If communism is allowed to continue, it will only bring about the death of other nations. • Value- portrays American sentiment towards communism. • Limit- this is bias, being propaganda, it is specifically engineered to bring forth specific thoughts and emotions

22. Work Cited • "A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947." A/RES/181(II) of 29 November 1947. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/7f0af2bd897689b785256c330061d253?OpenDocument>. • "Charles De Gaulle's Views - Cold War." Charles De Gaulle's Views - Cold War. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://sites.google.com/a/newcanaan.k12.ct.us/goldhawk-coldwar/Home/nato-warsaw/degaulle/charles-de-gaulles-views>. • "Electronic Newsletter of the ECPR-SG on Extremism & Democracy." Electronic Newsletter of the ECPR-SG on Extremism & Democracy. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.tufts.edu/~dart01/extremismanddemocracy/newsletter/Afghanistan2_4.htm>. • "FDR and the Soviet Union." FDR and the Soviet Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/glafdr.html>. • "Harry S. Truman." The White House. The White House, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/harrystruman>. • "INFORMATION FOR PARTICIPANTS TO THE SIXTEENTH SUMMIT OF THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT." 16th NAM Summit. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://nam.gov.ir/Portal/Home/Default.aspx?CategoryID=aeca0e23-61d5-4889-841d-09ba76bb0356>. • "Joseph Stalin." About.com 20th Century History. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/ss/Stalin_9.htm>. • "Joseph Stalin’s Religion and Political Views." Joseph Stalin's Religion and Political Views. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://hollowverse.com/joseph-stalin/>. • "Mutually Assured Destruction Revisited." Mutually Assured Destruction Revisited. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj97/win97/parrin.html>. • "On This Day." nytimes,com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0412.html>. • Roskin, Michael. "Post-World War II trends and debates." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/467721/political-science/247909/Post-World-War-II-trends-and-debates>. • "Stalinism." Stalinism. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.marxists.org/subject/stalinism/>. • The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Tehran Conference (World War II)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/585632/Tehran-Conference>. • "The Potsdam Conference, 1945 - 1937–1945 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." The Potsdam Conference, 1945 - 1937–1945 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/potsdam-conf>. • "Winston Churchill’s Religion and Political Views." Winston Churchill's Religion and Political Views. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://hollowverse.com/winston-churchill/>. • "World War II: After the War." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 30 Oct. 2011. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/world-war-ii-after-the-war/100180/>. • "Yalta Conference." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/yalta-conference>.