The Russian Revolution

• These events shape future events but did not necessarily cause WWII.

The Russian Revolution

• A very important event with a wide and lasting impact on Russia and the entire European continent.
• The Russian Revolution happened in two phases.
• A first revolution erupted in February 1917, in Petrograd, known today as St. Petersburg.
• After the emperor abdicated, a provisional government was set up.
• The power of 'Councils of workmen and soldiers', called 'Soviets', increasingly grew.
• The provisional government was considered as representing the interests of the wealthy capitalists and aristocrats.
• Soviets were under control of the Bolsheviks, the communists led by Lenin.
• Lenin was in exile in Switzerland at the time of the first revolution in February.
• The Bolsheviks wanted an immediate end to the war, which was a heavy burden on Russia.
• The Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and took power in October 1917.
• The communist government signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty in March 1918, ending the war between the central powers and the Soviets.
• This allowed the Central powers (Germany and the Austro-Hungarian empire) to focus on the Western front only.
• The Americans decided to join the allied forces around the same time.
• People started to question the sacrifices made by ordinary people for wars conducted by wealthy leaders.
• This idea that the rich and powerful were exploiting the powerless masses also spread to other countries, including France, Belgium, and Germany.
• On the longer term, there was an important country actively supporting and spreading these revolutionary ideas, considered as a major threat to the other powers.

Lenin's Travels

• Lenin traveled back from his exile in Switzerland to Saint Petersburg in Russia.
• He traveled through Germany, with which his country was at war, because the Germans believed this would weaken Russia.

Brest-Litovsk

• After the October revolution of 1917, Russia ended the war with the Central Powers and entered civil war.
• Ending the war with the Central Powers came at the loss of a lot of important territory.
• New countries would be formed between Germany and Russia after the end of WW1.
• Under Stalin, the Russians would try to win these territories back.

The Versailles Treaty

• The Versailles Treaty came at the end of the Paris Peace Conference and set the conditions of the peace between the allies and Germany.
• There would be similar Treaties with Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Ottoman empire.
• It established the League of Nations, a precursor of the United Nations.
• The goal was to settle disputes through debate instead of war, but the League was ineffective.
• Germany faced territorial losses, military restrictions, and was forced to pay reparations.
• This caused very high inflation to the German economy.
• Germany was labelled the aggressor and responsible for WW1

WWI the Broken Vienna System

• The Vienna system was put in place after Napoleon was defeated by a coalition of the British, Dutch, and Germans.
• It refers to the multipolar world order after 1815, whereby the major powers tried to maintain a balance of power and prevent war between them in Europe.
• The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, revived the Concert of Europe to secure Germany's new gains and its position in Europe after the German unification.
• Reasons for the breakdown of the Vienna System include the rise of nationalism and the rigidity of the coalitions.
• Nationalism was a real threat to the existence of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires.
• Germany would stand by its ally, Austria-Hungary, even if this led them into war.

A Chain of Events

• Gavrillo Princip killed Franz Ferdinand, the son of the Austrian emperor, in Sarajevo.
• Princip; A nationalist who no longer wanted Bosnia to be ruled by the Austro-Hungarian empire, but wanted Bosnia to be part of a greater Serb nation.
• Austria-Hungary set an ultimatum to Serbia, which was declined.
• Austria-Hungary attacked Belgrade on July 28.
• Russia supported Serbia and mobilized its troops on July 30.
• Germany declared war on Russia on August 1st and Britain declared war on Germany on August 4th.
• By 1914, Europeans had gained control of 84% of the world through colonization.

Europe 1914 vs 1923

• The Austro-Hungarian empire collapsed creating new countries.
• The Allied powers at the Versailles Treaty decided to create relatively large and strong countries as a buffer around Germany and between Germany and the Soviet Union.
• Germany lost territory in the East.
• Russia, now the Soviet Union, lost territory compared to before the war started.

The Sykes-Picot Agreement

• The Sykes-Picot agreement of 1916 is important to understand why the Middle East looks the way it does today and also helps understand the roots of the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel.
• The British recruited Thomas Lawrence to help organize an Arab revolt against the Ottoman empire.
• The British and French divided Arab territories between themselves under the terms of the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which they had secretly negotiated in 1916.

WWII

• These events shape future events and will later also help to understand how the Cold War will develop.

Preparing for War

• Germany annexed Austria on 13 March 1938.
• On 30 September 1938, the Munich Agreement recognizes the German annexation of the Sudetenland signed by UK, France, Germany and Italy.
• Czechoslovakia disintegrates and Germany annexes the Czech part (Bohemia and Moravia) on 14 March 1939.
• On 23 August 1939, the German and Soviet ministers of foreign affairs, Molotov and von Ribbentrop, sign a neutrality pact.
• Germany invaded Poland on September 1st.
• British and French declared war on Germany on September 3rd.
• The Soviets invaded the eastern part of Poland on 17 September.
• In April 1940, the Germans invaded Denmark and Norway.
• On 10 May, German troops invaded Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxemburg and France.

WWII Key events: East

• The Molotov-Ribbentrop Agreement was to avoid fighting on two sides and to reorganize the Red Army.
• Germany and Soviet Union both annexed piece of Poland.
• One week after signing the agreement, the Germans invaded Poland, the Soviets followed soon.
• Shortly after, the Soviet Union would also occupy Finland and the three Baltic States.
• Reasons for Operation Barbarossa:
  • Russia's weakness: Hitler wanted to attack the Soviets before the Red army become too strong.
  • Germany want to remove British hope that the Soviet Union would join the war against Germany.
  • Hitler wanted to take strategic supplies and resources for which he did not want to depend on Stalin and the Russians.
• The largest military operation in history:
• Operation Barbarossa: To invade and occupy the European part of the Soviet Union
• Soviet Union did not expect to be attacked
• Hitler underestimated the resilience, military capacity and strength of the Soviets.
• Soviets had a large army and a vast amount of supplies.
• Three main “targets" and the German army was divided in three parts: - Industrial heart of the USSR (Leningrad) - Political heart (Moscow, the capital) - Natural resources in the south (oil and grain)

WWII Key Events: The Pacific

• Japan sided with the axis powers by signing a pact with Germany and Italy.
• When Japanese attacked the American naval base of Pearl Harbor on December 1941.
• The Japanese wanted to heavily destroy the American fleet so they would have free game in the Pacific.
• Japanese wanted to dominate the Pacific and eliminate any other threat.

Pearl Harbor

• The attack was carried out by 350 aircraft in two waves departing from 6 aircraft carriers

WWII Key Events: West

• In July 1943, the Allies invade Sicily and Italy from the South moving up.
• In June the Anglo-American landings in Normandy, commonly known as D-Day (6 June).
• Germans positions in France collapsed after the American army broke through their defenses.
• Allies only accepted unconditional surrender from the Germans.

Preparing Post WWII

• Allies needed to coordinate their efforts to make more important advances towards winning the war.
• The question arose how to deal with Germany, Europe and even the world after the end of the War.
• Concerns about a Soviet takeover of Europe.
• Allies needed to agree how to reconstruct or rebuild Europe.

Conferences

• To coordinate their efforts and address the questions of the war the allies organised a series of conferences.
• Many bilateral meetings took place with Churchill meeting with Roosevelt or Stalin.
• Casablanca: aimed at establishing a coordinated strategy among the allies.
• Yalta and Potsdam: The Allies discussed how to deal with the post-war world.

Casablanca Conference

• Stalin was invited but could not join, confirmed that he had a profound fear of flying.
• French general Giraud, commander of the French forces, as well as general De Gaulle, leader of the French resistance, were invited to reconcile.
• Decisions Made:
• Doctrine of unconditional surrender: The Soviets were afraid that the other allies would try to negotiate peace with Germany.
• Invading Sicily was a first step against Italy: To pull back troops from the Western and Eastern front.

Different Perspectives

• Interests and perspectives of the main powers were very hard to reconcile.
• Differences lead to what will become the Cold War.
• The Soviet perspective: Spheres of influence: being responsible for the security in areas of interests, especially Poland and Romania.
• The United States: To replace the power politics and spheres by liberal principles, which would eventually serve the American interest better.
• Great Britain: spheres of influence and close co-operation with the United States, laying their interests in the Middle East and the Mediterranean.

Tehran Conference

• The Tehran Conference focused on opening a 2nd Western front and possible Russian engaging in the Pacific to help the Americans fight the Japanese.
• The possibility of a United Nations was first discussed.
• The discussion about spliting Germany into different part was first developed.

Yalta Conference

• The UK had made (secret) deals with Stalin about dividing Eastern Europe

Yalta: Discussions and Outcomes

• Four-power Security Council: The US, SU, Britain and China, would act as the world's policemen, enforcing their definition of peace there would be in each goverment.
• Stalin insisted for each Permanent Member to have a veto right.
• Stalin agreed to pledge war against Japan after Germany surrendered.
• It agreed that the liberated European populations, including Eastern-Europeans, would hold free elections and create their own democratic institutions
• Stalin supported the (re-)creation of a strong and big Polish country.

Potsdam Conference

• War in Europe was over but the one in the Pacific was not
• Leadership; Truman replaced Roosevelt
• Churchill was replaced also during the conference by the leader of the victorious labour party, Clement Attlee.
• The Soviet Union was strengthening its grip on Eastern Europe
• Truman learned that a successful atomic bomb had been tested and informed Stalin
• The allied leaders decided to create a special four-power occupation zone in Berlin.
• Germany needed to be a militarily weak and heavily controlled state.
• The allies told Japan to surrender otherwise total destruction.

The end of the War

• Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945, completely destroyed. Europe main parts were destroyed.
• The discovery of the German extermination camps put a stigma on Germany and the German population.
• Americans dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered soon after.
• The fastest way to end the war:
• Without causing any American casualties
• Waiting on the Soviet Union was not a viable option

End of the War (II)

• The Second World War caused between 60-80 million deaths, including around 20 million military and 50 million civilians.
• The United States emerged as the key global player, the most important and most powerful country
• The Soviet Union was the only challenger.
• In terms of casualties, the Soviet Union suffered most, with about 25 million deaths. -Closely followed by China with 20 million, Poland and Germany each with estimated losses of 5 million and Japan with around 3 million