The Reluctant Empire? - Universität Heidelberg

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Curt-Engelhorn Chair in American History
Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg
Winter Term 2008/2009
The Reluctant Empire?
U.S. Foreign Relations in the
20th Century
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
1
The U.S. and the
Second World War
 The Debate between
Internationalists and Isolationists
 The Road to Pearl Harbor
 The War Effort
 War Aims and Peace Plans
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Franklin D. Roosevelt,
1882-1945
 US Asst. Sec. of the Navy,
1913-1920
 New York Governor,
1929-1932
 US President, 1933-1945
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
German Blitzkrieg, 1940
 German soldiers advance into France May, 1940
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American Neutrality,
1939-1940
 Neutrality in Action but not in Thought
 Cash and Carry of War Materials
 Destroyer-for-Bases Deal
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America First
 “Fortress America”

Charles Lindbergh addresses the
America First Committee
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Lend-Lease, 1941
 Arsenal of Democracy
 Sale, transfer, lend or lease “to any
country whose defense the President
deems vital to the defense of the
United States.”
 Initial amount $7 billion, total amount
in Word War II $50 billion.
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Shoot on Sight!
 “It is time for all Americans to stop
being deluded by the romantic notion
that the Americas can go on living
happily and peacefully in a Nazidominated world.”
 FDR, September 11, 1941
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East Asia, 1937 - 1941
 Japanese Expansion in East Asia and the Pacific
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Toward Pearl Harbor
 July 1940: U.S. embargo of steel and
scrap iron against Japan
 August 1940: Japan claims Greater
East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
 September 1940: Tripartite Pact
between Japan, Germany, and Italy
 July 1941: Japan occupies French
Indochina – U.S. freezes Japanese
assets and imposes total trade
embargo
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“A Day that will live in Infamy!”
 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941
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The Home Front
B-24 Assembly line production at Consolidated-Vultee Plant, Fort Worth, Texas
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Rosie, the Riveter
 “We Can Do It” poster
showcasing Rosie the Riveter
by Howard Miller, 1942
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D-Day, June 6, 1944
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Iwo Jima, 1945
 The Battle of Iwo Jima, Feb.-March, 1945
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Hiroshima, August 6, 1945
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Sir Winston Churchill,
1874-1965
 First Lord of the Admiralty,
1911-1915/1939
 Chancellor of the Exchequer,
1924–29
 British Prime Minister,
1940-1945/1951-1955
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Joseph Stalin, 1878-1953
 General Sec. of the
Communist Party of
the Soviet Union,
1922-1953
 “Uncle Joe”
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Atlantic Charter, August 1941
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
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Nonaggression
Self-Government
Collective Security
Free Trade
Destruction of Nazi Tyranny
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Casablanca and Cairo, 1943
 Churchill and Roosevelt
demand “unconditional
surrender” of Germany
and Japan
The two leaders negotiate in Casablanca
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The Big Three at Teheran,
November 1943
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Henry J. Morgenthau,
1891-1967
 Germany should become
a “country primarily
agricultural and pastoral
in its character.”
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The Big Three at Yalta,
February 1945
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Yalta Protocol
 World Organization
 Declaration on Liberated Europe
 Germany demilitarized and divided
into four occupation zones
 Reparations
 Punishment of War Criminals
 Territorial Readjustment of Poland
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Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972
 US Senator, 1935-1945
 US Vice President 1945
 US President 1945-1953
 Harry Truman April 19, 1945
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The Potsdam Conference,
July-August 1945
L to R: Churchill, Truman and Stalin at the outset of the Potsdam Conf.
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The Greatest Generation
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