2. 1- The world at war 1939-1945
-After WWI:
.League of Nations
.Peace treaties
.Great Depression 1929
.Authoritarian regimes -> expansionism
.War economy and society
.Art centre shifted to the USA.
3. 2- The origins of the WWII
2.1. The long-term causes of the war
1-PROTECTIONISM
6. 4- TREATY OF VERSAILLES
-Hitler broke the conditions on the peace treaties.
7. The failure of the League of Nations
-The League of Nations never reached its objectives.
8. 2.2.Increasing tensions
-FINAL CAUSES
The expansionist policies of Germany, Italy and Japan
were one of the final triggers of the war through
invasions or annexations:
-ITALY:
.1935 - Abyssinia invasion
.1936 - intervention in the Spanish Civil War
.1939 - Albania invasion
9. -GERMANY:
.1935 - Saarland recovery
.1936 - Rhineland recovery
.1938 - Austria invasion and annexation
.1938 - Sudetenland
.1939 - Czechoslovakia
-JAPAN:
.1931 - Manchuria
.1932-9 - Soviet Union
.1937-45 - China
10. -Between these final causes there were also some pacts
or agreements that influenced the course of the war:
.Rome-Berlin Axis, Oct 1936 -> Italy & Germany.
.The Anti-Comintern Pact, 1936-7 -> anti- communist
pact between Germany & Japan.
.Pact of Steel, May 1939 -> Germany & Italy.
.The Nazi-Soviet Pact, 23 Aug 1939 -> Hitler & Stalin.
.Aug. 25 1939 -> GB & France alliance with Poland.
.Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, Sept 1940 -> Axis powers.
11. The outbreak of war
On September
1939
Germany
invaded
Poland,
so
Great Britain
and
France
declared war
on Germany.
13. 3- THE SECOND WORLD WAR
3.1. The war's participants and phases
AXIS POWERS: Germany, Italy and from 1940, Japan.
Later joined by other countries.
ALLIED POWERS: Great Britain, France and Poland; later
joined by some of the Commonwealth members.
14. British Commonwealth
-It is an intergovernmental organisation of 54
independent member states. All members except Mozambique
and Rwanda were part of the British Empire, out of which
the Commonwealth developed.
-The Commonwealth is not a political union, but an
intergovernmental organisation in which countries with
diverse social, political and economic backgrounds are
regarded as equal in status.
15. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-On 1 September 1939, Germany attacked Poland. On 3
September France and Britain, followed by the fully independent
Dominions of the British Commonwealth, – Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and South Africa – declared war on Germany, but provided little
support to Poland.
-Britain and France also began a naval blockade of Germany on 3
September which aimed to damage the country's economy and war
effort.
-On 17 September the Soviets also invaded Poland.
Poland's territory was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union.
-In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to secure
shipments of iron from Sweden, which the Allies were about to disrupt.
Denmark capitulated, and despite Allied support, Norway was
conquered within two months. In May 1940 Britain invaded Iceland to
prevent a possible German invasion. British discontent over the
Norwegian campaign led to the replacement of Prime Minister
Chamberlain with Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.
16.
17.
18. At this time I feel entitled
to claim the aid of all, and
I say, "Come then, let us
go forward together with
our united strength."
Winston Churchill - May
13, 1940
19. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-Germany invaded France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxembourg on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands and Belgium were
overrun using blitzkrieg tactics in a few days and weeks, respectively.
-On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and
the UK; twelve days later France surrendered and was soon divided into
German and Italian occupation zones, and an unoccupied rump state
under the Vichy Regime.
-On 3 July, the British attacked the French fleet in Algeria to prevent
its possible seizure by Germany.
-With France neutralized, Germany began an air superiority
campaign over Britain (the Battle of Britain) to prepare for an invasion.
The campaign failed, and the invasion plans were canceled by
September.
-Italy began operations in the Mediterranean, initiating a siege of
Malta in June, conquering British Somaliland in August, and making an
26. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-Japan increased its blockade of China in September by seizing
several bases in the northern part.
-At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact united Japan, Italy
and Germany to formalize the Axis Powers. They stipulated that any
country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, not in the war which
attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all
three.
-The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia and
Romania joined the Tripartite Pact.
-In December 1940, British Commonwealth forces began counteroffensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa. The
Germans soon intervened to assist Italy. Hitler sent German forces to
Libya in February, and by the end of March they had launched an
offensive against the diminished Commonwealth forces.
29. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-In April, following Bulgaria's signing of the Tripartite Pact, the
Germans intervened in the Balkans by invading Greece and Yugoslavia
following a coup.
-During the Battle of Britain the Royal Air Force had successfully
resisted the Luftwaffe's assault, and the German bombing campaign
largely ended in May 1941.
-In Asia, despite several offensives by both sides, the war between
China and Japan was stalemated by 1940.
-With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany,
Japan, and the USSR made preparations. With the Soviets wary of
mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take
advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European
possessions in southeast Asia, the two powers signed the Soviet–
Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941. By contrast, the Germans were
steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union,
amassing forces on the Soviet border.
30. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-On June 1941, Germany, along with other European Axis
members, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa. The
primary targets of this surprise offensive were the Baltic region,
Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941
campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, connecting the
Caspian and White Seas.
-Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a
military power, exterminate Communism, generate Lebensraum
("living space") by dispossessing the native population and guarantee
access to the strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's
remaining rivals.
-Although the Red Army was preparing for strategic counteroffensives before the war, Barbarossa forced the Soviet supreme
command to adopt a strategic defence.
-The USSR joined the Allies.
31.
32. First phase: Axis offensives 1939-1941
-Japan planned to rapidly seize European colonies in Asia to create a
large defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific; the
Japanese would then be free to exploit the resources of Southeast
Asia while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive
war.
-To prevent American intervention while securing the perimeter it was
further planned to neutralise the US Pacific Fleet from the outset. On 7
December 1941, Japan attacked British and American holdings with
near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central
Pacific.
These
included
an
attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, landings in Thailand and
Malaya, and the battle of Hong Kong.
-These attacks led the US, Britain, China, Australia and several other
states to formally declare war on Japan, whereas the Soviet Union,
being heavily involved in large-scale hostilities with European Axis
33.
34.
35. Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43
-On Germany's eastern front, the Axis defeated Soviet offensives in
the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkiv, and then launched their main
summer offensive against southern Russia in June 1942, to seize the oil
fields of the Caucasus, while maintaining positions on the northern and
central areas of the front. The Soviets decided to make their stand at
Stalingrad, which was in the path of the advancing German armies.
-By mid-November, the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in street
fighting when the Soviets began their second winter counter- offensive.
By early February 1943, the German Army had taken tremendous
losses; German troops at Stalingrad had been forced to surrender and
the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position before the
summer offensive.
-In mid-February, after the Soviet push had declined, the Germans
launched another attack on Kharkiv, creating a salient in their front line
around the Russian city of Kursk.
38. Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43
-In August 1942, the Allies succeeded in repelling a second attack
against El Alamein and, at a high cost, managed to deliver
desperately needed supplies to Malta. A few months later, the Allies
commenced an attack of their own in Egypt, dislodging the Axis
forces and beginning a drive west across Libya. This attack was
followed up shortly after by an Anglo-American invasion of French
North Africa, which resulted in the region joining the Allies. Hitler
responded to the French colony's defection by ordering the
occupation of Vichy France; although Vichy forces did not resist this
violation of the armistice, they managed to scuttle their fleet to
prevent its capture by German forces. The Axis forces in Africa
withdrew into Tunisia, which was conquered by the Allies in May
1943.
39.
40. Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43
-In early May 1942, Japan initiated operations to capture Port Moresby
by amphibious assault and thus cut communications and supply lines
between the US and Australia. The Allies, however, prevented the
invasion by intercepting and defeating the Japanese naval forces in the
Battle of the Coral Sea.
-Japan's next plan was to seize Midway Atoll and attract American into
battle to be eliminated. In June, Japan put its operations into action but
the Americans, having broken Japanese naval codes in May, were fully
aware of the plans and force dispositions and used this knowledge to
achieve a decisive victory at Midway over the Imperial Japanese Navy.
-With its capacity for aggressive action diminished, Japan chose to focus
on a late attempt to capture Port Moresby by an overland campaign in
Papua. The Americans planned a counter-attack against Japanese
positions in Guadalcanal, as a first step towards capturing Rabaul, the
main Japanese base in Southeast Asia.
41. Second phase: Allied victories 1942-43
-Both plans started in July, but by mid-September, the Battle for
Guadalcanal took priority for the Japanese, and troops in New Guinea
were ordered to withdraw from the Port Moresby area to the northern
part of the island, where they faced Australian and US troops in the
Battle of Buna-Gona. Guadalcanal soon became a focal point for both
sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in the battle for
Guadalcanal. By the start of 1943, the Japanese were defeated on the
island and withdrew their troops.
-Following the Guadalcanal Campaign, the Allies initiated several
operations against Japan in the Pacific. In May 1943, Allied forces were
sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians, and soon after
began major operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding
islands, and to breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the
Gilbert and Marshall Islands. By the end of March 1944, the Allies had
completed both of these objectives, and additionally neutralised the
major Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands.
44. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-In the Soviet Union, both the Germans and the Soviets spent the
spring and early summer of 1943 making preparations for large
offensives in Central Russia. On July, Germany attacked Soviet forces
around the Kursk Bulge. Within a week, German forces had exhausted
themselves and, for the first time in the war, Hitler cancelled the
operation before it had achieved tactical success. This decision was
partially affected by the Western Allies' invasion of Sicily launched on 9
July which, combined with previous Italian failures, resulted in the
ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.
-On 12 July, the Soviets launched their own counter-offensives, thereby
dispelling any hopes of the German Army for victory. The Soviet victory
at Kursk announced the downfall of German superiority, giving the
Soviet Union the initiative on the Eastern Front. The Germans
attempted to stabilise their eastern front along the hastily fortified
Panther-Wotan line, however, the Soviets broke through it at Smolensk
and by the Lower Dnieper Offensives.
45.
46. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-In early September 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian
mainland, following an Italian armistice with the Allies. Germany
responded by disarming Italian forces, seizing military control of Italian
areas, and creating defensive lines. German special forces then
rescued Mussolini, who established a new client state in German
occupied Italy. The Western Allies fought through several lines until
reaching the main German defensive line in mid-November.
-German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May, as Allied
counter-measures became increasingly effective, the resulting sizable
German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German
Atlantic naval campaign. In November, Roosevelt and Churchill met
with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo and then with Stalin in Tehran. The
former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory,
while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade
Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan
within three months of Germany's defeat.
47.
48. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-From November 1943, the Chinese forced Japan to fight a costly
war, while awaiting Allied relief.
-In January 1944, the Allies launched a series of attacks in Italy against
the line at Monte Cassino.
-By the end of January, a major Soviet offensive expelled German
forces from the Leningrad region, ending the longest and most lethal
siege in history.
-By late May 1944, the Soviets had liberated Crimea, largely expelled
Axis forces from Ukraine, and made incursions into Romania, which
were repulsed by the Axis troops.
-The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and, at the expense of
allowing several German divisions to retreat, on 4 June Rome was
captured.
49. Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-The Allies experienced mixed fortunes in Asia. In March 1944, the
Japanese launched the first of two invasions, an operation against British
positions in India. In May, British forces mounted a counter-offensive that
drove Japanese troops back to Burma. The second Japanese invasion
attempted to destroy China's main fighting forces, secure railways
between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.
-By the start of July, Commonwealth forces in Asia had repelled the
Japanese sieges. In China, the Japanese were having greater successes.
-In the Pacific, US forces continued to press back the Japanese
perimeter. In June they began their offensive against the Mariana and
Palau islands, and decisively defeated Japanese forces in the Battle of the
Philippine Sea. It led to the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Tōjō
and provided the US with air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber
attacks on the Japanese home islands. In late October, US forces invaded
the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after, Allied naval forces scored another
large victory during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles
in history.
50.
51. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-On 6 June 1944 (D-Day) the Western Allies invaded France. These
landings were successful, and led to the defeat of the German Army in
France. Paris was liberated on 25 August and the Western Allies
continued to push back German forces in Western Europe. The
Western Allies slowly pushed into Germany, unsuccessfully trying to
cross the Rur river in a large offensive. In Italy the Allied advance also
slowed down, when they ran into the last major German defensive line.
-On 22 June, the Soviets launched a strategic offensive in Belarus that
resulted in the almost complete destruction of the German Army Soon
after that, another Soviet strategic offensive forced German troops from
Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. The successful advance of
Soviet troops prompted resistance forces in Poland to initiate several
uprisings, though the largest of these, in Warsaw, as well as a Slovak
Uprising in the south, were not assisted by the Soviets and were put
down by German forces.
52.
53.
54.
55. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-In September 1944, Soviet Red Army troops advanced into
Yugoslavia and forced the rapid withdrawal of the German Army in
Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia. By this point, the Communist-led
Partisans under Tito, who had led an increasingly successful guerrilla
campaign against the occupation since 1941, controlled much of the
territory of Yugoslavia and were engaged in delaying efforts against
the German forces further south.
-In northern Serbia, the Red Army, with limited support from Bulgarian
forces, assisted the Partisans in a joint liberation of the capital city of
Belgrade on October. A few days later, the Soviets launched a
massive assault against German-occupied Hungary. In contrast with
impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans, the Finnish resistance to
the Soviet offensive denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led
to the signing of Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions.
56.
57. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-On December 1944, Germany attempted its last desperate measure
for success on the Western Front by using most of its remaining
reserves to launch a counter-offensive in the Ardennes. By January, the
offensive had been repulsed with no strategic objectives fulfilled. In Italy,
the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In
January 1945, the Soviets and Poles attacked in Poland. On February,
US, British, and Soviet leaders met for the Yalta Conference. They
agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany, and on when the Soviet
Union would join the war against Japan.
-In February, the Soviets invaded Silesia and Pomerania, while Western
Allies entered Western Germany and closed to the Rhine river. By
March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine, encircling the German
Army, while the Soviets advanced to Vienna. In April, the Western Allies
finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across Western Germany,
while Soviet forces stormed Berlin in late April. On 30 April 1945, the
Reichstag was captured, signalling the military defeat of the Third Reich.
58.
59. Third phase: final Allied advances 1943-45
-Several changes in leadership occurred during this period. On 12
April, Roosevelt died and was succeeded by Harry Truman. Mussolini
was killed by Italian partisans on 28 April. Two days later, Hitler
committed suicide, and was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz.
-German forces surrendered in Italy on 29 April. The German
instrument of surrender was ratified on 8 May in Berlin.
-In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied advanced in
the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on
Luzon in January 1945 and captured Manila in March following a battle
which reduced the city to ruins.
-In May 1945, Australian troops landed in Borneo, overrunning the
oilfields there. British, American and Chinese forces defeated the
Japanese. Chinese forces started to counterattack in Battle of West
Hunan that occurred in June. American forces also moved towards
Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by the end of June.
American bombers destroyed Japanese cities, and American submarines
60. Third phase: final Allied advances 194345
-On 11 July, the Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They
confirmed earlier agreements about Germany, and reiterated the
demand for unconditional surrender of all Japanese forces, specifically
stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction".
During this conference the UK held its general election, and Clement
Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.
-As Japan continued to ignore the Potsdam terms, the US dropped
atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in
early August. Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the
Yalta agreement, invaded Japanese-held Manchuria, and quickly
defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the largest Japanese fighting
force. The Red Army also captured Sakhalin Island and the Kuril
Islands.
-On 15 August 1945 Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents
finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri
on 2 September 1945, ending the war.
66. 3.2. Spain during the war
-The Spanish State under General Franco was officially nonbelligerent during World War II.
-This status, although not recognised by international law, was
intended to express the regime's sympathy and material support for
the Axis Powers, to which Spain offered considerable material,
economic, and military assistance.
67. -In October 1940 Hitler and Franco met at Hendaye to consider a
possible spanish intervention in the war.
-Franco asked Hitler for many concessions to join the Axis, so Hitler
refused, and Spain remained neutral.
-Although neutrality, Franco supported the Axis by sending volunteer
troops, the Blue Division, to fight against the Soviet Union (until
1943).
69. -No intervention allowed Franco to focus on spanish
problems after the civil war, that included:
.Economic crisis -> destruction of agricultural lands,
industry, infrastructure, etc.
.Demographic crisis -> thousands of casualties
during the war and also emigrations due to political
retaliations. The birthrate fell during the war.
.Political opposition -> spanish society remained
divided into two groups: Franco's supporters, and those
who had fought against him.
71. 4- The wartime economy
-A war economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a
modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe
Le Billon (geographer, author and assistant professor at the
University of British Columbia) describes a war economy as a
"system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources to
sustain the violence."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt said that if the Axis Powers win, then "we
would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic
power on the basis of war economy."
-On the supply side, it has been observed that wars sometimes
have the effect of accelerating progress of technology to such an
extent that an economy is greatly strengthened after the war,
especially if it has avoided the war-related destruction. This was
the case, for example, with the United States in World War I and
World War II.
72. Rationing
-Rationing is the controlled
distribution of scarce resources,
goods, or services. Rationing
controls the size of the ration,
one's allotted portion of the
resources being distributed on a
particular day or at a particular
time.
-A reason for setting the price
lower than would clear the
market may be that there is a
shortage, which would drive the
market price very high. High
prices, especially in the case of
necessities, are undesirable with
75. 5- The human impact of the war
5.1. Social Disruption
-Evacuation
-Blackouts and shelters
-Emigration
76. 5.2. Resistance and collaboration
-In German-occupied areas, there were two possibilities for
people (apart from being neutral):
-Resistance fighters -> secret resistance movements
-Collaborators -> they collaborated with the Germans
78. 5.3. The Holocaust
-The Holocaust (from the Greek ὁλόκαυστος holókaustos: hólos,
"whole" and kaustós, "burnt") was the mass murder or genocide of
approximately six million Jews during World War II, a programme
of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party, throughout German-occupied
territory.
-Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the
Holocaust, approximately two-thirds were killed. Over one million
Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust, as were
approximately two million Jewish women and three million Jewish
men. A network of over 40,000 facilities in Germany and Germanoccupied territory were used to concentrate, hold, and kill Jews
and other victims.
-Recent estimates based on figures obtained since the fall of the
Soviet Union indicates some ten to eleven million civilians and
82. 6- Peace and its consequences
6.1. The peace agreements
THE YALTA CONFERENCE, Feb 1945
It was a WWII meeting of the heads of
government of the USA, the UK, and the
Soviet Union, represented by President
Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and
General Secretary Stalin, respectively, for
the purpose of discussing Europe's postwar reorganization.
All three leaders were trying to establish an
agenda for governing post-war Germany.
Churchill's attitude towards the Soviet
Union differed vastly from that of
Roosevelt, with the former believing Stalin
to be a "devil"-like tyrant leading a vile
system.
83.
84. The Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of
Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam,occupied
Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945.
Participants were the Soviet Union, the UK and the US. The three
powers were represented by Communist Party General Secretary
Stalin, Prime Ministers Churchill, and, later, Clement Attlee, and
President Truman.
They gathered to decide how to administer punishment to the
defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional
surrender nine weeks earlier, on 8 May.
The goals of the conference also included the establishment of postwar order, peace treaties issues, and countering the effects of the
war.
85.
86.
87. The birth of the UN
The United Nations is an
international organization whose
stated aims include promoting and
facilitating
cooperation
in
international
law,
international
security, economic development,
social progress, human rights, civil
rights,
civil
liberties,
political
freedoms, democracy, and the
achievement of lasting world peace.
The UN was founded in 1945
after WWII to replace the League of
Nations, to stop wars between
countries, and to provide a platform
for dialogue. It contains multiple
88. The UN has 4 main purposes
•
•
•
To develop friendly relations among nations;
To help nations work together to improve the lives of poor
people, to conquer hunger, disease and illiteracy, and to
encourage respect for each other’s rights and freedoms;
•
To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations to
achieve these goals.
To keep peace throughout the world;
91. 6.2. The consequences of the WWII
-DEMOGRAPHIC CONSEQUENCES
Greatest loss of human life in history (more than 50% civilians).
-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES
Heavy damage on lands, cities, industry and infrastructure.
-POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES
Changes in politics, the USA and the USSR became the new
superpowers, and the world was divided into two spheres of
influence.
-TERRITORIAL CONSEQUENCES
111. 7- Functionalism and Abstract Art
7.1. Functionalism
-Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should
design a building based on the purpose of that building.
-The Functionalist creed is especially associated with the modern
style of architecture, which developed during the 2nd quarter of the
20th c. as a result of changes in building technique, new types of
buildings required, and changing cultural and aesthetic ideals. In fact,
as architects began to show discontent with the historical revivalism, a
type of architecture based on the clear outward expression of the
function of the building was bound to develop.
-The slogan “form follows function,” coined in the 1880s by one of the
pioneers of modern architectural design, Sullivan, and the dictum of
the architect Le Corbusier “a house is a machine for living,” which dates
from 1920, both state the idea firmly.
112. Characteristics of Functionalism
-Building's design is functional.
-Decoration is not necessary (but possible).
-Horizontal and vertical lines are emphasised.
-Use of simple geometric shapes.
-Usual materials are reinforced concrete, steel and glass that
allow architects to design very tall buildings (skyscrapers).
BAUHAUS
-It was a school of design, architecture, and applied arts that
existed in Germany from 1919 to 1933. It was based in Weimar
until 1925, Dessau through 1932, and Berlin in its final months.
The Bauhaus was founded by the architect Walter Gropius.
-It was the origin of Functionalism in Germany, but moved to
the USA from 1933 running away from the nazi regime.
113. Main functionalist architects
-Mies Van der Rohe, a German-American architect. He served as
the last director of Berlin's Bauhaus, and then headed the
department of architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology in
Chicago, where he developed the Second Chicago School. He
created an influential twentieth century architectural style, stated
with extreme clarity and simplicity.
-Le Corbusier, was an architect, designer, painter, urbanist,
writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern
architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French
citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings
constructed throughout Europe, India, and America. He was a
pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to
providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities.
He was awarded the Frank P. Brown Medal and AIA Gold Medal in
1961.
114. Lake Shore Drive Apartments, Chicago, M. V. der Rohe,
1951.
The 2 towers of glass and steel were
paradigmatic for its time. They clearly
reflect the International Style. Trend, its
design, as well as the structural
resolution, was translated and imitated
throughout the world in the years after
its construction. The towers, despite the
modest scale of its functional units and
criticism for his picture in the beginning,
were a commercial success.
The project is distinguished by the
synthetic and functional ideas that Mies
developed throughout life. These towers
are a new way of looking at housing,
and that what he was recognized as
their location, visual, and above all,
certain utilities group.
115. Seagram Building, New York, M.V. der Rohe, 1954-58.
It is a modern office tower designed by van der
Rohe, in collaboration with Philip Johnson.
This office skyscraper is in many ways the
culmination of the purification process of
expression, without any compromise in the
ornamental, for high-rise buildings that van
der Rohe had started with the Apartments
Lake Shore Drive and had continued after
this. It is a sign of his rationalist mentality, an
exercise in architectural elegance that use
few elements measured results in one of the
most beautiful jewels of 20th century
architecture.
It
is the headquarters of the Seagram
corporation, originally belonging to a rich
bootlegger during Prohibition by selling
116. Villa Savoye, Poissy, Le Corbusier, 1928-31.
It was designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, and built
using reinforced concrete.
A manifesto of Le Corbusier's "five points" of new architecture, the villa is
representative of the bases of modern architecture, and is one of the
most easily recognizable and renowned examples of the International
style.
117. Le Corbusier's Five Points of
Architecture
During his career, Le Corbusier developed a set of architectural
principles that dictated his technique, called "the Five Points of a New
Architecture" which were most evident in his Villa Savoye. These
were:
•
Pilotis – The replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced
concrete columns that bears the load of the structure is the basis of
the new aesthetic.
•
Roof gardens – The flat roof can be utilized for a domestic purpose
while also providing essential protection to the concrete roof.
•
The free designing of the ground plan – The absence of supporting
walls means that the house is unrestrained in its internal usage.
•
The free design of façade – By separating the exterior of the building
from its structural function the façade becomes free.
•
The horizontal window – The façade can be cut along its entire
118. It
comprises 337 apartments
arranged over 12 stories, all
suspended on large piloti. The
building also incorporates shops
with architectural bookshop,
sporting,
medical
and
educational facilities, a hotel
which is open to the public, and a
gastronomic restaurant.
Unite d'Habitation,
Marseille, 1947-52
119. Unite d'Habitation, Marseille, 1947-52
Inside, corridors run through the centre of the long axis of every
third floor of the building, with each apartment lying on two levels, and
stretching from one side of the building to the other, with a balcony.
Unlike many of the inferior system-built blocks it inspired, which lack
the original's generous proportions, communal facilities and parkland
setting, the Unité is popular with its residents and is now mainly
occupied by upper middle-class professionals.
The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with sculptural
ventilation stacks, a running track, and a shallow paddling pool for
children. There is also a children's art school in the atelier. The roof,
where a number of theatrical performances have taken place,
underwent renovation in 2010 and since 2013 it hosts an exhibition
center. It has unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille
and can be accessed by the public.
120. Functionalism in Spain
-GATPAC or GATEPAC (Grupo de Artistas y Técnicos Españoles
Para la Arquitectura Contemporánea) was a group of architects
assembled during the Second Spanish Republic. Its most
important members were: Josep Lluís Sert, A. Bonet Castellana, J.
Torres Clavé, J. Manuel Aizpurúa, F. García Mercadal and Sixte
Illescas.
-The group was formed in the 1930s as a Spanish branch of C.I.A.M.
(International Congresses of Modern Architecture).
121. 7.2. Abstract Art
Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create
a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from
visual references in the world.
By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a
new kind of art which would include the fundamental changes taking
place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which
individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and
reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of
Western culture at that time.
Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and
nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, but
perhaps not of identical meaning.
Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of
imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be only
slight, or it can be partial, or it can be complete.
122. Wassily Kandinsky
He was an influential Russian painter
and art theorist. He is credited with
painting the first purely abstract works.
In 1896 Kandinsky settled in Munich,
studying first at Anton Ažbe's private
school and then at the Academy of Fine
Arts. He returned to Moscow in 1914, after
the outbreak of WWI. Kandinsky was
unsympathetic to the official theories on
art in Moscow, and returned to Germany
in 1921. There, he taught at the Bauhaus
school from 1922 until the Nazis closed it
in 1933. He then moved to France where
he lived the rest of his life, became a
French citizen in 1939, and produced
some of his most prominent art. He died in
123. Two kinds of painting in Abstract Art:
-Geometric Abstraction: is a form of abstract art based on the use of
geometric forms sometimes, though not always, placed in nonillusionistic space and combined into non-objective compositions.
Kandinsky, one of the forerunners of pure non-objective painting, was
among the first artists to explore this geometric approach in his abstract
work. Other examples of pioneer abstractionists such as Malevich and
Mondrian have also embraced this approach towards abstract painting.
-Abstract Expressionism: was an American post–WWII art movement.
It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international
influence and put New York at the center of the western art world.
Technically, an important predecessor is surrealism, with its emphasis on
spontaneous, automatic or subconscious creation. Jackson Pollock's
dripping paint onto a canvas laid on the floor is a technique that has its
roots in the work of André Masson or Max Ernst.
127. Abstract sculptures
-Abstract sculptures represented human figures
or animals by simplifying their shapes.
-Two important sculptors were Brancusi, and
Henry Moore.
The kiss, Brancusi
Bird in space, Brancusi
Socrates, by
Brancusi
130. Recommendations. Movies
Schindlers List (1993) - A must see, however it is worth noting for this
list that it is based on the efforts of Oscar Schindler to save Jews
during the holocaust and therefore does not feature frontline battle
scenes for those that like lots of action in there WWII films.
Life Is Beautiful (1999) - Historical drama with a comical feel, Life is
Beautiful is different to many on this list but is a touching film about a
family trying their best to cope in desperate times and during WWII
and well worthy of a mention.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008) - Following along similar lines
to Life is Beautiful, this movie follows a young German boy who
makes an unlikely friend in the form of Jewish boy. However the
camp his friend is in is also run by his father.
Downfall (2005) - A very accurate German film about the downfall of
Hitler and the Nazi's. Bruno Ganz's performance as Hitler is first
class, one of the best WWII films for sure.
131. Documentary
"The Second World War in Colour" is a very good documentary
about WWII and how it affected life around the world between 1940-45.
The entire documentary is a collection of authentic images of which a lot
have been previously unreleased. Some images can be quite shocking
at times and no doubt leave you with a bitter impression on how horrible
war can be. The commentator also reads out a lot of letters or diary
fragments from people who lived or died during World War II. Knowing
this, you might think that the documentary in a whole would lose
coherence but it's quite the opposite because even though "Colour of
War" is mainly a collection of authentic images and letters it felt like
everything fitted together very well.
About all the major events which happened during the period 193645 are included. For example the German invasion in Poland and
France, the bombing of London, Pearl Harbor, the confrontation between
the American fleet and the German U-boats, Stalingrad, the American
invasions of the Japanese islands, D-day, the Holocaust, Japanese
Kamikazes, Hiroshima, ... it's all there.
132. Series
En español, documental alojado en la web de RTVE titulado
"Memorias de la guerra".
En youtube, en inglés o español, la serie de seis capítulos:
Apocalypse The Second World War
133. Recommendations. Books
You can check this website for a list of WW2 related books.
The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank - Discovered in the attic in
which she spent the last years of her life, Anne Frank's remarkable
diary has since become a world classic—a powerful reminder of the
horrors of war and an eloquent testament to the human spirit.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, by John Boyne - When Bruno
returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings
are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and
the family must move from their home to a new house far far away,
where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence
running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him