 |
|
| Western Civilization II page. |
1940'S / 1950'S
EUROPEAN THEATER - (EARLY YEARS)
- THE WAR BEGAN ON SEPTEMBER 1, 1939 WITH HITLER'S INVASION OF POLAND FROM THE WEST.
- NAZI GERMANY INTRODUCED THE "BLITZKRIEG" DURING THIS INVASION.
- THE SOVIET UNION INVADED POLAND FROM THE EAST.
- POLAND FELL IN LESS THAN 1 MONTH UNDER EUROPE'S FIRST BLITZKRIEG.
- FROM THE FALL OF POLAND IN SEPTEMBER 1939 UNTIL APRIL 1940, THE WEST SAW THE "PHONY" WAR OR "SITDOWN" WAR BECAUSE GERMANY REMAINED BEHIND THE SIEGFRIED LINE WHILE FRANCE REMAINED BEHIND THE MAGINOT LINE.
- THIS INACTIVITY ENDED WITH THE GERMAN INVASION OF DENMARK THE NETHERLANDS, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG IN APRIL/MAY 1940, FOLLOWED BY GERMANY'S INVASION INTO FRANCE IN MAY, 1940.
- FRANCE SURRENDERED IN JUNE 1940 ALTHOUGH MANY ENGLISH AND SOME FRENCH TROOPS WERE ABLE TO ESCAPE FROM DUNKIRK ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL.
- BETWEEN MAY 26 AND JUNE 4, 1940 MOST TROOPS PINNED AGAINST THE SEA WERE EVACUATED FROM DUNKIRK.
- THE FRENCH RELIED TOO HEAVILY ON THE MAGINOT LINE WHICH WAS A SYSTEM OF FORTIFICATIONS EXTENDING FROM THE SWISS TO THE BELGIAN BORDER.
- TOO MUCH WAS STAKED ON GERMANY OBSERVING THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM. GERMANY DID NOT OBSERVE THIS NEUTRALITY BUT RATHER INVADED BELGIUM ND USE THE ARDENNES
AS HER ROUTE TO AN EASY FRENCH INVASION
- AFTER THE FALL OF FRANCE, 3/5 OF THE COUNTRY WAS PLACED UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION WHILE THE REMAINING SOUTHEASTERN PART OF FRANCE HAD A PUPPET GOVERNMENT, I.E., THE VICHY GOVERNMENT WHICH WAS ALWAYS DEPENDENT ON NAZI GERMANY.
- IN THE EAST, DURING THE EARLY PART OF WW II, THE SOVIET UNION WAS ANNEXING (IN ADDITION TO THE EASTERN HALF OF POLAND) PARTS OF ROMANIA AS WELL AS ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA.
- AFTER THE FALL OF FRANCE, THE "BATTLE OF BRITAIN" OCCURRED BETWEEN GERMANY AND BRITAIN IN ORDER TO GAIN AIR SUPERIORITY (AUGUST-OCTOBER 1940).
- GERMANY SUFFERED SEVERE LOSS OF PLANES TO BRITAIN'S RAF, I.E., THREE TIMES MORE THAT BRITISH LOSSES. THIS DEFEAT RULED OUT ANY ATTEMPT BY HITLER TO INVADE BRITAIN. GERMANY WAS ABLE TO DESTROY NUMEROUS AREAS OF BRITISH CITIES AS WELL AS INFLICT HEAVY CIVILIAN CASUALTIES ON ENGLAND. GERMAN ATTACKS FIRST CONCENTRATED ON PORTS AND SHIPPING AND THEN AIRFIELDS AND FINALLY ON CITIES WHICH DISSIPATED THE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY EFFECTS OF THE BOMBING AND ACTUALLY BRITISH MORALE ROSE.
- AIDING THE RAF AGAINST THE GERMAN AIRFORCE (LUFTWAFFE) WAS THE BRITISH INVENTION OF RADAR, AS WELL AS ULTRA - THE BREAKING OF GERMAN CODES.
EUROPEAN THEATER - (LATER YEARS)
- NAZI RULE
- THE NAZIS NEVER OBTAINED TRUE TOTALITARIAN RULE IN THEIR SUBJECT LANDS. THEY RULED ESPECIALLY SEVERE IN EASTERN EUROPE WHERE THE SLAVIC PEOPLE WERE TREATED VERY BADLY.
- THE NAZIS MAINTAINED A TENUOUS HOLD ON THEIR EMPIRE AND UNDERGROUND MOVEMENTS FROM FRANCE TO THE OCCUPIED SOVIET UNION HARRIED THE GERMANS. THESE RESISTANCE MOVEMENTS RECEIVED MUSH ENCOURAGEMENT FROM THE ALLIED BOMBINGS OF GERMANY. AMERICANS BOMBED BY DAY; THE BRITISH BY NIGHT AND THE AIR RAIDS INTENSIFIED AS THE WAR PROGRESSED. GERMAN CITIES, E.G., DRESDEN WERE RAZED BY THE MASSIVE AIR ATTACKS. AIR RAIDS TOOK A VERY HEAVY TOLL ON CIVILIAN LIFE AND MORE CIVILIANS WERE KILLED IN WW II THAN IN ALL OTHER WARS COMBINED AS A RESULT OF THESE BOMBINGS AS WELL AS STARVATION, DISEASE, AND BY EXECUTION.
- IN JANUARY 1942, TOP GERMAN OFFICIALS MET IN BERLIN TO CONFIRM PLANS FOR THE "FINAL SOLUTION" TO THE JEWISH SITUATION. DURING THE LATER YEARS OF NAZI RULE THE MASS MURDERS OF JEWS CONCENTRATED IN SIX DEATH CAMPS, ALL ON POLISH SOIL, WITH AUSCHWITZ BEING THE MOST NOTORIOUS. NEARLY 6 MILLION JEWS WERE EXECUTED BY THE END OF THE WAR AND AS MANY OTHERS, ESPECIALLY POLES, SLAVS AND GYPSIES DIED IN THESE CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
- ON JUNE 22, 1941, HITLER INVADED THE SOVIET UNION, CREATING A TWO-FRONT WAR.
- OPERATION "BARBAROSSA" WAS INITIALLY VERY SUCCESSFUL BUT GERMAN SUPPLY LINES STRETCHED THINNER AND SOVIET RESISTANCE (SCORCHED EARTH POLICY) BECAME MORE DETERMINED. FINALLY, THE UNUSUALLY SEVERE WINTER OF 1941-1942 MADE ROADS IMPASSABLE AND FROSTBITE AND HYPOTHERMIA BEGAN TO TAKE HEAVY TOLLS ON GERMAN FORCES.
- THE INVASION INTO THE USSR WAS IN THREE BROAD SECTORS:
1) NORTH - GERMANY LAID SIEGE TO LENINGRAD. NO OTHER MAJOR CITY SUFFERED MORE CIVILIAN DEATHS THAN LENINGRAD DURING THE 880 DAY SIEGE.
2) CENTRAL - GERMAN TROOPS PENETRATED TO THE SUBURBS OF MOSCOW.
3) SOUTH - GERMAN TROOPS INVADED THE CRIMEA.
- WHEN THE CRIMEA FELL IN THE SUMMER OF 1942 TO THE GERMANS, HITLER NOW WAS DETERMINED TO GET AT THE RICH RUSSIAN OIL FIELDS. STALINGRAD, ON THE VOLGA RIVER, STOOD IN THE WAY AND IT WAS TO BECOME ONE OF THE GREATEST MILITARY STRUGGLES IN HISTORY.
- THROUGH THE LATE SUMMER OF 1942 UNTIL FEBRUARY 1943, STALINGRAD WAS TO BECOME THE TURNING POINT IN THE EUROPEAN WAR.
- THE SOVIETS TOOK 90,000 GERMAN PRISONERS, MOST OF WHOM EVENTUALLY DIED WHILE IMPRISONED.
- AFTER GERMAN'S SEVERE DEFEAT AT STALINGRAD AS WELL AS HER INABILITY TO SEIZE EITHER MOSCOW OR LENINGRAD, THE SOVIET UNION BEGAN MAJOR COUNTER-OFFENSES BEGINNING AT STALINGRAD. THESE OFFENSIVES WOULD CULMINATE IN THE BITTER STREET FIGHTING OF BERLIN IN APRIL 1945 WHERE THE THIRD REICH WAS FINALLY DESTROYED.
- CONTRIBUTING TO SOVIET SUCCESS AGAINST NAZI GERMANY IN THE EAST WAS THE PRIMARILY BRITISH-AMERICAN ALLIANCE IN THE WEST.
- THROUGHOUT WW II, THERE WERE MEETINGS BETWEEN CHURCHILL AND ROOSEVELT AS WELL AS MEETINGS OF THE "BIG THREE", I.E., ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL AND STALIN TO PLAN FOR THE FUTURE. THE "BIG THREE" MAINTAINED A SEMBLANCE OF UNITY ALTHOUGH THE ALLIES, PARTICULARLY CHURCHILL, WAS VERY MISTRUSTFUL OF STALIN'S INTENTIONS.
- ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS AND CONTROVERSIAL MEETINGS OF THE "BIG THREE" TOOK PLACE AT YALTA (IN THE CRIMEA) IN FEBRUARY 1945. THE MEETING DEALT WITH 4 BROAD ISSUES:
1) THE CREATION OF A UNITED NATIONS ORGANIZATION.
2) SOVIET ENTRY INTO THE WAR AGAINST JAPAN WITHIN 90 DAYS AFTER THE DEFEAT OF GERMANY.
3) THE TREATMENT OF GERMANY INCLUDING OCCUPATION ZONES BY THE "BIG THREE" AND FRANCE.
4) THE ESTABLISHMENT OF NEW GOVERNMENTS IN THE LIBERATED NATIONS. THIS ISSUE, MORE THAN ANY OTHER, EXPOSED THE DISTRUST BETWEEN THE WEST AND THE USSR.
- THE SOVIET UNION SUFFERED THE HEAVIEST LOSSES OF ALL COMBATANTS IN WW II. DESPITE HEAVY LOSSES IN BOTH PEOPLE KILLED AND IN PRODUCTION, THE SOVIETS HAD DISMANTLED MANY OF HER FACTORIES FROM HER WESTERN FRONTIER TO BEHIND THE URAL MOUNTAINS. THE USSR WAS THUS ABLE TO PROTECT A LARGE INDUSTRIAL BASE FROM NAZI DESTRUCTION.
- MOST OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY FAVORED AN INVASION IN 1942 BUT THE BRITISH WARNED AGAINST THE HIGH COST OF SUCH AN OPERATION. IT WAS DECIDED THAT THE ALLIES WOULD FIRST CONCENTRATE ON NORTH AFRICA THEN INVADE ITALY - "THE SOFT UNDERBELLY OF EUROPE" AS CHURCHILL CALLED IT; AND THEN FINALLY OPEN THE SECOND FRONT IN FRANCE.
- THIS DECISION GREATLY ANGERED STALIN.
AFRICA THEATER
- AXIS CAMPAIGN BEGAN WITH ITALIAN OFFENSIVE IN AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1940 BUT WAS COMPLETELY ROUTED BY BRITISH FORCES IN LIBYA.
- GERMANY UNDER GENERAL ROMMEL'S "AFRIKA KORPS" REOCCUPIED ALL OF ITALY'S NORTHERN AFRICAN TERRITORY AND PUSHED EAST ALMOST TO ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT BY JUNE 1942.
- IT WAS AT EL ALAMEIN THAT HITLER WAS TO SUFFER ANOTHER MAJOR DEFEAT OF WW II. IN OCTOBER 1942, ROMMEL'S AFRIKA KORPS LOST A MAJOR BATTLE TO THE BRITISH UNDER GENERAL MONTGOMERY HERE. THIS BECAME THE TURNING POINT OF THE WAR IN AFRICA.
- BY MAY 1943, ALL AXIS RESISTANCE IN NORTH AFRICA ENDED IN TUNISIA AS AMERICAN AND BRITISH TROOPS DESTROYED THE REMNANTS OF THE AFRIKA KORPS AND PLANNED FOR THE INVASION OF ITALY BEGINNING WITH SICILY IN JULY 1943.
- THE MAJOR PUSH, I.E., THE SECOND FRONT FROM THE WEST WHICH STALIN HAD BEEN DEMANDING DID NOT COME FROM ITALY BUT RATHER THE D-DAY INVASION OF JUNE 6, 1944 ON THE NORTHWESTERN BEACHES OF FRANCE.
- THIS INVASION WAS THE LARGEST AMPHIBIOUS OPERATION IN HISTORY AND RESULTED IN OVER 1 MILLION TROOPS LANDED BY JULY 1944.
- HITLER MADE HIS LAST OFFENSIVE TO STOP THE INVASION FROM THE WEST WHICH CULMINATED IN THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE IN DECEMBER 1944 AND RESULTED IN DEFEAT FOR GERMANY.
- BY MARCH 1945, THE ALLIED FORCES HAD CROSSED THE RHINE BUT BY AGREEMENT DID NOT ADVANCE TO BERLIN (LEFT FOR ADVANCING SOVIET FORCES).
ASIAN THEATER (EARLY YEARS)
- SURPRISE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR ON DECEMBER 7, 1941 BY JAPAN AGAINST THE U.S. BECAME THE REASON FOR THE U.S. ENTRY INTO WW II.
- ON DECEMBER 11, 1941, HITLER COMMITTED HIS GREATEST MISTAKE BY DECLARING WAR AGAINST THE U.S.
- SHORTLY AFTER PEARL HARBOR, ROOSEVELT AND CHURCHILL AGREED TO GIVE THE WAR AGAINST GERMANY THE #1 PRIORITY OVER WAR AGAINST JAPAN. GERMANY WAS VIEWED AS THE MOST DANGEROUS AXIS POWER AND IT WAS FELT IN EARLY 1942 THAT THE SOVIET UNION WOULD BE CRUSHED UNLESS THE U.S. COULD RELIEVE SOME OF THE PRESSURE.
- BY THE END OF 1942 THE U.S. WAS PRODUCING MORE WAR MATERIAL THAN ALL ITS ENEMIES COMBINED. THE U.S. WAS NICKNAMED THE "ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY" IN WW II.
- AFTER PEARL HARBOR, JAPAN NEXT BEGAN A RAPID SUCCESSION OF INVASIONS INCLUDING GUAM, HONG KONG, PHILIPPINES, SINGAPORE, NETHERLANDS, EAST INDIES, NEW GUINEA AND BURMA ALL BEFORE THE SUMMER OF 1942.
- JAPAN SUFFERED A MAJOR DEFEAT AGAINST THE U.S. DURING THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY IN JUNE 1942 IN WHICH FOUR OF HER AIRCRAFT CARRIERS WERE DESTROYED.
- THE BATTLE OF MIDWAY IS CONSIDERED THE TURNING POINT IN THE PACIFIC.
ASIAN THEATER - (LATER YEARS)
- PRIMARILY CONDUCTED BY U.S. FORCES AGAINST JAPAN, ALTHOUGH AIDED BY OTHERS, E.G., AUSTRALIANS, FILIPINOS IN THE PACIFIC. BRITISH FORCES WERE MORE INSTRUMENTAL AGAINST JAPAN IN SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA, E.G., BURMA, MALAYSIA.
- U.S. USED A STRATEGY OF "ISLAND HOPPING" ACROSS THE PACIFIC TO STRIKE AT JAPAN.
- FAMOUS BATTLES INCLUDED GUADALCANAL, IWO JIMA AND OKINAWA. THE BATTLE OF LEYTE GULF IN THE PHILIPPINES IN 1944 DESTROYED THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE JAPANESE NAVY.
- FINALLY, IN AUGUST 1945, TWO ATOMIC BOMBS WERE DROPPED ON JAPAN BY THE U.S. WHICH LED TO JAPANESE SURRENDER WITH THE CONDITION THAT EMPEROR HIROHITO BE RETAINED.
WORLD WAR II - THE AFTERMATH
- IN CONTRAST TO WW I, THE MAJORITY OF FATALITIES IN WW II WERE CIVILIANS.
- THE USSR LOST 20 MILLION PEOPLE.
- MORE THAN 12 MILLION PEOPLE WERE MURDERED IN CONCENTRATION CAMPS.
- THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CASUALTIES FOR WW II - DEAD, WOUNDED OR CRIPPLED IS ESTIMATED AT 55 MILLION PEOPLE.
- THE WAR SAW UNPRECEDENTED PHYSICAL DAMAGE, ESPECIALLY TO MAJOR CITIES IN GERMANY, FRANCE, POLAND AND THE USSR.
- THE WAR ALSO SAW THE GREATEST DISLOCATION OF POPULATIONS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY.
- GERMANY BECAME A DIVIDED NATION INTO 4 ZONES OF OCCUPATION, I.E., USSR, USA, GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE. BERLIN ALSO BECAME A DIVIDED CITY WHICH LED TO A CRISIS IN 1948 - THE BERLIN AIRLIFT.
THE UNITED NATIONS
- AT A MEETING IN WASHINGTON, D.C. (DUNBARTON OAKS) IN 1944 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U.S., SOVIET UNION AND GREAT BRITAIN AGREED TO CREATE AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION TO PRESERVE PEACE. THERE WERE 51 COUNTRIES WHO APPROVED THE U.N. CHARTER IN 1945 AT A CONFERENCE IN SAN FRANCISCO. THIS CHARTER ESTABLISHED A:
1) GENERAL ASSEMBLY - (ALL MEMBERS) TO DETERMINE POLICY.
2) SECURITY COUNCIL - 15 MEMBERS TO SUPERVISE THE MAINTENANCE OF PEACE AS WELL AS VARIOUS ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND LEGAL AGENCIES. PERMANENT SECURITY COUNCIL SEATS WERE RESERVED FOR THE U.S., THE USSR, CHINA, GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE. ALL OF THE "BIG FIVE" WERE GIVEN THE RIGHT TO VETO ANY COUNCIL ACTION AS OPPOSED TO THE 2/3 MAJORITY NEEDED IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
3) THE SECRETARIAT - HEADED BY SECRETARY-GENERAL AND IS THE ADMINISTRATIVE ORGAN OF THE U.N.
4) AGENCIES OF THE U.N. INCLUDE:
UNESCO
WHO
WORLD BANK
- WHILE THE U.N. HAS CONTINUED TO PLAY A ROLE IN WORLD AFFAIRS, IT HAS BEEN RELATIVELY INEFFECTIVE REGARDING SOME RECENT CONFLICTS E.G. THE BALKAN CONFLICT INVOLVING BOSNIA AND SERBIA.
- MOST OF THE EMPHASIS IN THE U.N. SHIFTED AWAY FROM EUROPE TO THE SO-CALLED THIRD WORLD IN THE 1960'S AND BEYOND.
EASTERN EUROPE
AFTER WW II, THE USSR MADE SATELLITES OUT OF MOST OF EASTERN EUROPE. CHURCHILL REFERRED TO THIS AS THE "IRON CURTAIN".
- THE THREE SMALL COUNTRIES OF ESTONIA, LATVIA AND LITHUANIA WERE TAKEN OVER AND MADE SOVIET REPUBLICS.
- COUNTRIES FALLING UNDER THE DOMINATION OF THE USSR IN EASTERN EUROPE INCLUDED EAST GERMANY, ROMANIA, BULGARIA, HUNGARY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ALBANIA, AND YUGOSLAVIA. YUGOSLAVIA, UNDER GENERAL TITO, WAS ABLE TO MAINTAIN A FAIR DEGREE OF AUTONOMY FROM THE USSR.
- MUCH OF EASTERN GERMANY AND OTHER DEVELOPED AREAS WERE RANSACKED OF INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTIVITY BY THE USSR, E.G., DISMANTLED FACTORIES.
COLD WAR
- THE SEIZURE OF EASTERN EUROPE BY THE USSR LED TO A POLICY OF CONTAINMENT BY THE U.S. BEGINNING IN 1947 THAT WAS TO BECOME KNOWN AS THE COLD WAR. UNDER THE COLD WAR, THE U.S. INAUGURATED THE:
1) TRUMAN DOCTRINE - (1947) TO SUPPORT FREE PEOPLES
- MILITARY AID FROM THE U.S. SAVED GREECE AND TURKEY FROM FALLING TO THE USSR.
2) "MARSHALL PLAN" - (1947) - EUROPEAN RECOVERY PROGRAM
- MAJOR ECONOMIC AID TO WESTERN EUROPE
- THE MARSHALL PLAN GAVE EUROPE MORE THAN 15 BILLION DOLLARS OVER A FOUR YEAR PERIOD. BECAUSE OF THE MARSHALL PLAN, WESTERN EUROPE ACHIEVED THE HIGHEST RATE OF GROWTH IT EVER RECORDED. THUS, THE MARSHALL PLAN WAS A MAJOR ECONOMIC SUCCESS FOR THE PEOPLES OF WESTERN EUROPE. DURING THE DECADE OF THE 1950'S, EUROPE ACHIEVED THE HIGHEST RATE OF GROWTH IT EVER HAD.
- GRADUALLY EUROPE BECAME DIVIDED INTO TWO HOSTILE MILITARY ALLIANCES:
1) NATO - (1949) NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION WHICH WAS A FORMAL MILITARY ALLIANCE OF NATIONS PRIMARILY OF WESTERN EUROPE BUT ALSO INCLUDING THE U.S. AND CANADA.
2) WARSAW PACT - (1955) - UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE USSR AND INCLUDED THE USSR AND HER SATELLITES.
MAJOR INTERNATIONAL EVENTS - POST WW II + 1950'S
- KOREAN WAR 1950 - 1953
- KOREA WAS DIVIDED INTO TWO ZONES AT THE END OF WW II
1) RUSSIAN ZONE - NORTH OF THE 38TH PARALLEL
2) AMERICAN ZONE - SOUTH OF THE 38TH PARALLEL
- TENSIONS INCREASED BETWEEN NORTH AND SOUTH KOREA THROUGHOUT THE LATE 1940'S CULMINATING IN THE INVASION OF SOUTH KOREA BY NORTH KOREA IN JUNE, 1950.
- NORTH KOREA IGNORED DEMANDS FROM THE U.N. TO WITHDRAW. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE FIRST USE OF FORCE BY THE UNITED NATIONS IN A SO-CALLED "POLICE-ACTION" BY PRESIDENT TRUMAN. WHILE MANY NATIONS SENT MILITARY AID,, THE U.S. AND SOUTH KOREA BORE MOST OF THE FIGHTING.
- COMMUNIST CHINA ENTERED THE WAR ON THE SIDE OF NORTH KOREA IN NOVEMBER, 1950 WHEN U.N. TROOPS HAD PUSHED NORTH KOREAN TROOPS ALMOST TO THE NORTH KOREAN AND CHINESE BORDER ALONG THE YALU RIVER. AT FIRST, THE CHINESE OFFENSIVE WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL, INCLUDING THE CAPTURE OF SEOUL (CAPITAL OF SOUTH KOREA). A COUNTER OFFENSIVE BY THE UN RECAPTURED SEOUL (MARCH 1951) AND PUSHED THE CHINESE ACROSS THE 38TH PARALLEL IN APRIL, 1951.
- BY MID-1951, A STALEMATE RESULTED, AND AFTER TWO MORE YEARS AN ARMISTICE AT PUNMUNJOM (JULY 1953) RESTORED THE DIVISION OF KOREA CLOSE TO THE 38TH PARALLEL.
- THE WAR GREATLY INCREADED THE PRESTIGE OF CHINA THROUGHOUT ASIA.
- PALESTINIAN WAR - 1948
- BEGAN IMMEDIATELY UPON THE PROCLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE BY ISRAEL. ISRAEL HAD ACCEPTED THE U.N. PARTITION OF PALESTINE INTO SEPARATE JEWISH AND ARAB STATES - BUT THE ARABS REJECTED A JEWISH STATE.
- ISRAEL WON THE WAR YET THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ARABS AND JEWS REMAIN VERY MUCH WITH US TODAY AND OTHER WARS, E.G., THE SIX-DAY WAR OF 1967 BETWEEN THESE TWO GROUPS HAVE LED ONLY TO MORE HATRED. CURRENTLY THERE ARE MAJOR ATTEMPTS TO RECONCILE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THESE TWO GROUPS.
- SUEZ CANAL CRISIS OF 1956
- BEGAN WHEN THE RULER OF EGYPT, GAMAL NASSER NATIONALIZED THE SUEZ CANAL AFTER THE WESTERN NATIONS REFUSED TO AID EGYPT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE ASWAN DAM. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY ANGLO-FRENCH-ISRAELI INVASION OF EGYPT. WHILE THE INVASION QUICKLY DEFEATED EGYPT, THE EGYPTIANS BLOCKED THE SUEZ CANAL WITH SUNKEN SHIPS.
- BRITISH AND FRENCH FORCES WITHDREW AFTER A JOINT DENOUNCEMENT BY THE U.S. AND THE USSR OVER THE USE OF MILITARY POWER AGAINST EGYPT. ISRAEL WITHDREW FROM THE GAZA STRIP AND THE SINAI PENINSULA UNDER PRESSURE FROM THE U.N.
- THE CRISIS RESULTED IN A MAJOR DIPLOMATIC VICTORY FOR EGYPT AS SHE WAS ABLE TO KEEP IN EFFECT THE NATIONALIZATION OF THE SUEZ CANAL.
- THE INDOCHINESE WAR (1946-1954)
- THE VIETMINH, WHO CONTROLLED MOST OF NORTHERN VIETNAM, WAS LED BY HO CHI MINH WHO RECEIVED MILITARY AND ECONOMIC AID FROM COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE USSR. THEY WERE FIGHTING THE FRENCH WHO TOOK RECONTROL OF INDO-CHINA AFTER THE JAPANESE WERE DEFEATED IN WW II. THE U.S. SUPPORTED THE FRENCH WITH MILITARY AID BUT THE FRENCH LOST THEIR STRUGGLE AT DIEN BIEN PHU IN 1954 WHICH RESULTED IN THE FRENCH WITHDRAWAL FROM INDO-CHINA.
- VIETNAM BECAME DIVIDED ALONG THE 17TH PARALLEL AND LAOS AND CAMBODIA ESTABLISHED AS INDEPENDENT COUNTRIES.
- THE FRENCH WITHDRAWAL WAS FOLLOWED BY AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT. THE U.S. BEGAN TO TRAIN THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY AS EARLY AS 1955 DURING THE PRESIDENCY OF EISENHOWER. AMONG THOSE OPPOSED TO THE U.S. EFFORTS WERE THE NATIVE COMMUNIST GUERRILLA FORCES IN SOUTH VIETNAM - THE VIET CONG. THEY PLAYED AN ACTIVE ROLE IN THE VIETNAM WAR BEGINNING IN 1961.
- HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION - 1956
- HUNGARIAN UPRISING, PARTICULARLY IN BUDAPEST, FOLLOWED UPRISINGS OF WORKERS IN POLAND. A "NEUTRAL" NATION WAS PROCLAIMED BY THE HUNGARIANS AND WHILE THE WORLD FOCUSED ON THE SUEZ CANAL CRISIS, THE USSR INVADED HUNGARY WITH LARGE FORCES OF TANKS AND ARTILLERY.
- DESPITE FIERCE BATTLING BY THE POPULACE, WHICH HAD BEEN LED TO BELIEVE THE U.S. WOULD COME TO THEIR AID, THE SOVIETS EASILY CRUSHED HUNGARY'S BID FOR FREEDOM. THE USSR MADE IT CLEAR THAT HER SATELLITE STATES WOULD NOT BE PERMITTED TO BREAK AWAY.
- LOSS OF EMPIRE
- MOST DRAMATIC EVIDENCE OF DECLINE IN THE EUROPEAN POWERS WAS THE RAPID DECLINE OF EMPIRE PARTICULARLY BY GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE FOLLOWING WW II.
- IN 1947, GREAT BRITAIN GRANTED INDEPENDENCE TO INDIA ("THE GREATEST STEP IN ENDING HER COLONIALISM"), PAKISTAN, AND BURMA A YEAR LATER. IN THE 1960'S, GREAT BRITAIN GAVE UP HER HOLDINGS IN AFRICA.
- FRANCE WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP HER INDO-CHINA HOLDINGS IN THE 1950'S AND GAVE UP MOST OF HER AFRICAN HOLDING IN THE EARLY 1960'S.
- BELGIUM GAVE UP THE CONGO IN 1960.
- THE NETHERLANDS GAVE UP INDONESIA IN 1949.