An Overview of the Marshall Plan (the Long Version)Damian Niolet
An interactive, overview of the Marshall Plan from WWII. If you are interested in the original version, with links and animations, please contact me and I'll get it to you.
Lecture SlidesGive Me Liberty! AN AMERICAN HISTORYFIFTH ED.docxcroysierkathey
Lecture Slides
Give Me Liberty!
AN AMERICAN HISTORY
FIFTH EDITION
By Eric Foner
1
Chapter 22: Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941 to 1945
The most popular works of art in World War II were paintings of the Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell. In his State of the Union address before Congress in January 1941, President Roosevelt spoke of a future world order based on “essential human freedoms”: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. During the war, Roosevelt emphasized these freedoms as the Allies’ war aims, and he compared them to the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, and the Emancipation Proclamation. In his paintings, created in 1943, Rockwell portrayed ordinary Americans exercising these freedoms: a citizen speaking at a town meeting, members of different religious groups at prayer, a family enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, and a mother and father standing over a sleeping child.
Though Rockwell presented images of small-town American life, the United States changed dramatically in the course of the war. Many postwar trends and social movements had wartime origins. As with World War I, but on a far greater scale, wartime mobilization expanded the size and reach of government and stimulated the economy. Industrial output skyrocketed and unemployment disappeared as war production finally ended the Depression. Demands for labor drew millions of women into the workforce and lured millions of migrants from rural America to industrial cities of the North and West, permanently changing the nation’s social geography.
The war also gave the United States a new and lasting international role and reinforced the idea that America’s security required the global dominance of American values and power. Government military spending unleashed rapid economic development in the South and West, laying the basis for the modern Sunbelt. The war created a close alliance between big business and a militarized federal government—what President Dwight D. Eisenhower later called the “military-industrial complex.”
And the war reshaped the boundaries of American nationality. The government recognized the contributions of America’s ethnic groups as loyal Americans. Black Americans’ second-class status attracted national attention. But toleration went only so far. The United States, at war with Japan, forced more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans, including citizens, into internment camps.
The Four Freedoms thus produced a national unity that obscured divisions within America: divisions over whether free enterprise or the freedom of a global New Deal would dominate after the war, whether civil rights or white supremacy would define race relations, and whether women would return to traditional roles in the household or enter the labor market. The emphasis on freedom as an element of private life would become more and more prominent in postwar America.
2
World War II Posters
Give Me Liberty!: An American H ...
I. Introduction | II. Prelude to War | III. War Spreads through Europe | IV. America Enters the War | V. On the Homefront | VI. Before the Armistice |
VII. The War and the Influenza Pandemic | VIII. The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations | IX. Aftermath of World War I | X. Conclusion |
XI. Primary Sources | XII. Reference Material
21. World War I & Its Aftermath
Striking steel mill workers holding bulletins in Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1919. ExplorePAhistory.com
*The American Yawp is an evolving, collaborative text. Please click here to improve this chapter.*
I. Introduction
World War I (“The Great War”) toppled empires, created new nations, and sparked tensions that would explode across future years. On the battle-
field, gruesome modern weaponry wrecked an entire generation of young men. The United States entered the conflict in 1917 and was never again
the same. The war heralded to the world the United States’ potential as a global military power, and, domestically, it advanced but then beat back
American progressivism by unleashing vicious waves of repression. The war simultaneously stoked national pride and fueled disenchantments that
burst Progressive Era hopes for the modern world. And it laid the groundwork for a global depression, a second world war, and an entire history of
national, religious, and cultural conflict around the globe.
II. Prelude to War
As the German empire rose in power and influence at the end of the nineteenth century, skilled diplomats maneuvered this disruption of tradition-
al powers and influences into several decades of European peace. In Germany, however, a new ambitious monarch would overshadow years of tact-
ful diplomacy. Wilhelm II rose to the German throne in 1888. He admired the British Empire of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and envied the
Royal Navy of Great Britain so much that he attempted to build a rival German navy and plant colonies around the globe. The British viewed the
prospect of a German navy as a strategic threat, but, jealous of what he perceived as a lack of prestige in the world, Wilhelm II pressed Germany’s
case for access to colonies and symbols of status suitable for a world power. Wilhelm’s maneuvers and Germany’s rise spawned a new system of al-
liances as rival nations warily watched Germany’s expansion.
In 1892, German posturing worried the leaders of Russia and France and prompted a defensive alliance to counter the existing triple threat be-
tween Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Italy. Britain’s Queen Victoria remained unassociated with the alliances until a series of diplomatic crises
and an emerging German naval threat led to British agreements with Tsar Nicholas II and French President Émile Loubet in the early twentieth
century. (The alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Triple Entente.)
The other great threat to European peace was the Ottoman Empire, in Turkey. While the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire sho ...
An Overview of the Marshall Plan (the Long Version)Damian Niolet
An interactive, overview of the Marshall Plan from WWII. If you are interested in the original version, with links and animations, please contact me and I'll get it to you.
Lecture SlidesGive Me Liberty! AN AMERICAN HISTORYFIFTH ED.docxcroysierkathey
Lecture Slides
Give Me Liberty!
AN AMERICAN HISTORY
FIFTH EDITION
By Eric Foner
1
Chapter 22: Fighting for the Four Freedoms: World War II, 1941 to 1945
The most popular works of art in World War II were paintings of the Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell. In his State of the Union address before Congress in January 1941, President Roosevelt spoke of a future world order based on “essential human freedoms”: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. During the war, Roosevelt emphasized these freedoms as the Allies’ war aims, and he compared them to the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, and the Emancipation Proclamation. In his paintings, created in 1943, Rockwell portrayed ordinary Americans exercising these freedoms: a citizen speaking at a town meeting, members of different religious groups at prayer, a family enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner, and a mother and father standing over a sleeping child.
Though Rockwell presented images of small-town American life, the United States changed dramatically in the course of the war. Many postwar trends and social movements had wartime origins. As with World War I, but on a far greater scale, wartime mobilization expanded the size and reach of government and stimulated the economy. Industrial output skyrocketed and unemployment disappeared as war production finally ended the Depression. Demands for labor drew millions of women into the workforce and lured millions of migrants from rural America to industrial cities of the North and West, permanently changing the nation’s social geography.
The war also gave the United States a new and lasting international role and reinforced the idea that America’s security required the global dominance of American values and power. Government military spending unleashed rapid economic development in the South and West, laying the basis for the modern Sunbelt. The war created a close alliance between big business and a militarized federal government—what President Dwight D. Eisenhower later called the “military-industrial complex.”
And the war reshaped the boundaries of American nationality. The government recognized the contributions of America’s ethnic groups as loyal Americans. Black Americans’ second-class status attracted national attention. But toleration went only so far. The United States, at war with Japan, forced more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans, including citizens, into internment camps.
The Four Freedoms thus produced a national unity that obscured divisions within America: divisions over whether free enterprise or the freedom of a global New Deal would dominate after the war, whether civil rights or white supremacy would define race relations, and whether women would return to traditional roles in the household or enter the labor market. The emphasis on freedom as an element of private life would become more and more prominent in postwar America.
2
World War II Posters
Give Me Liberty!: An American H ...
I. Introduction | II. Prelude to War | III. War Spreads through Europe | IV. America Enters the War | V. On the Homefront | VI. Before the Armistice |
VII. The War and the Influenza Pandemic | VIII. The Fourteen Points and the League of Nations | IX. Aftermath of World War I | X. Conclusion |
XI. Primary Sources | XII. Reference Material
21. World War I & Its Aftermath
Striking steel mill workers holding bulletins in Chicago, Illinois, September 22, 1919. ExplorePAhistory.com
*The American Yawp is an evolving, collaborative text. Please click here to improve this chapter.*
I. Introduction
World War I (“The Great War”) toppled empires, created new nations, and sparked tensions that would explode across future years. On the battle-
field, gruesome modern weaponry wrecked an entire generation of young men. The United States entered the conflict in 1917 and was never again
the same. The war heralded to the world the United States’ potential as a global military power, and, domestically, it advanced but then beat back
American progressivism by unleashing vicious waves of repression. The war simultaneously stoked national pride and fueled disenchantments that
burst Progressive Era hopes for the modern world. And it laid the groundwork for a global depression, a second world war, and an entire history of
national, religious, and cultural conflict around the globe.
II. Prelude to War
As the German empire rose in power and influence at the end of the nineteenth century, skilled diplomats maneuvered this disruption of tradition-
al powers and influences into several decades of European peace. In Germany, however, a new ambitious monarch would overshadow years of tact-
ful diplomacy. Wilhelm II rose to the German throne in 1888. He admired the British Empire of his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and envied the
Royal Navy of Great Britain so much that he attempted to build a rival German navy and plant colonies around the globe. The British viewed the
prospect of a German navy as a strategic threat, but, jealous of what he perceived as a lack of prestige in the world, Wilhelm II pressed Germany’s
case for access to colonies and symbols of status suitable for a world power. Wilhelm’s maneuvers and Germany’s rise spawned a new system of al-
liances as rival nations warily watched Germany’s expansion.
In 1892, German posturing worried the leaders of Russia and France and prompted a defensive alliance to counter the existing triple threat be-
tween Germany, Austro-Hungary, and Italy. Britain’s Queen Victoria remained unassociated with the alliances until a series of diplomatic crises
and an emerging German naval threat led to British agreements with Tsar Nicholas II and French President Émile Loubet in the early twentieth
century. (The alliance between Great Britain, France, and Russia became known as the Triple Entente.)
The other great threat to European peace was the Ottoman Empire, in Turkey. While the leaders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire sho ...
2. The war that began in Europe in 1939 and inquired the intervention of the Isolationists America at the end of 1941 “WW II changed Americans from a nation of provincial innocents, ignorant of the great world, into a nation that would often have to bear the burdens of rescuing that world” The aftermath of war brought the collapse of all overseas Western empires, a cold war between communist and noncommunist nations, and finally, the arrival of Japan at the world’s economic and political center The end of American isolationism and the emergence of American rivalry with Japan WW II
3. 1930s - Adolf Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles and boldly reasserted Germany’s military power. The Nazi leader took Germany out of the League of Nations; formed an alliance with Italy’s fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini; and began a series of territorial seizures that culminated with the invasion of Poland in 1939, which plunged Europe into war 3 days later 1939 – Neveille Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, flew to Munich and made an appeasement that gave Hitler half of Czechoslovakia in exchange for pledges that he would make no further territorial demands and that Britain and Germany would never fight each other again but Hitler didn’t keep his words WW II
4. March 11, 1941 - Congress passed Roosevelt’s Lend-Lease bill which gave billions of dollars of military aid to Britain and the Soviet Union, which Hitler invaded in June 1941 “An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States” December 1941 – Japanese launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii America declared war on Japan, and Hitler, in turn, declared war on America WW II
5. How did the leaders of two Western democracies put aside their prejudices, surmount their domestic political obstacles, and negotiate their conflicting national interests in order to fight together against Hitler’s Germany? After France fell to the German onslaught in June 1940, US resolved to save England at all costs The British were encouraged by Roosevelt’s plans for rearmament and his condemnation totalitarianism Roosevelt convinced Congress to permit the sale of arms to England on a “cash and carry” basis, for the British the revised Neutrality Act was a welcome improvement Sept. 2, 1940 Us lend 50 destroyers to British and in return wanted 99 yr leases on 8 British possessions in the Americas on which the US could build air and naval bases to strengthen its own defenses WW II
6. Atlantic Charter – Issued in August 1941, 8 common principles of American and British for WWII and ensuing peace 1 No territorial gains were to be sought by the United States or the United Kingdom 2 Territorial adjustments must be in accord with the wishes of the peoples concerned 3 All peoples had a right to self-determination; 4 Trade barriers were to be lowered 5 There was to be global economic cooperation and advancement of social welfare 6 The participants would work for a world free of want and fear 7 The participants would work for freedom of the seas 8 There was to be disarmament of aggressor nations, and a postwar common disarmament WW II
7. The rapid acceleration of the movement of goods, capital, people and ideas across national boundaries Promoted by America’s aggressive free-trade policies and dominated by its mass culture industry Created a worldwide consumer culture that spread American music, TV programs, clothing, and fast food everywhere English as the true international language and the medium for 90% of transactions on the Internet, the “World Wide Web” that facilitated global exchange and came to symbolize it Globalization and Empire
8. American leaders moved form the nation’s “multilateral” tradition of pursuing international alliances and agreements toward “unilateral” economic decisions and military interventions United States must take on greater responsibilities in the new, hyperconnected world where local crises had immediate global repercussions and where terrorism threatened the rule of law Comparative and transnational approaches can place current trends in broader perspective and may also suggest “lessons” – both positive and negative – for us to consider as we debate America’s future and that of the world to which it is inextricably tied Globalization and Empire
9. Its disastrous war in Vietnam was evidence of imperial “overreach,” the situation where military commitments outrun economic resources The U.S. was poorly prepared by its history and culture for the “multipolar” diplomacy and lowered economic expectations that this change would bring 1980s-1990s – the American economy surged from gains in productivity, the rise of the computer industry, and booms in banking and real estate In terms of both production and consumption, the U.S. is already a vastly wealthier empire than Britain ever was Globalization and Empire
10. The U.S. showcased its free-market economy and limited national government as the model for survival of the “fittest” global competitors In the sphere of international relations, when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet Union disintegrated 2 yrs later, the U.S. became the world’s only superpower When American presidents announce that they are intervening to supportfree trade, representative government, human rights, and international law around the world, they are promoting institutions that British officials successfully planted in their dominions Globalization and Empire
11. Empire – “a hierarchically organized political system with a hublike structure within which a core elite and state dominate peripheral elites and societies by serving as intermediaries for their significant interactions” 3 level global power besides the political Military power – America dominates Economic power Transnational relations outside government control Globalization and Empire