Chapter 9: Britain between the wars

Most countries went through difficult times between the FWW and SWW. Many of these
difficulties were caused by economic problems. These were peaceful years in Britain.

POST-WAR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

After the FWW, there was an improvement in the economy. Soldiers found jobs and industry
supplied the goods that couldn’t be produced during the war. However, this didn’t last long.
Older industries were the most affected since they had been established a long time ago and
their machines were getting out of date. Britain’s industries began to compete with other
countries and people had to look for foreign supplies and didn’t come back.
Return to the Gold Standard
Britain returned to the “Gold Standard”: the pound was backed by gold as it had been before
the war. Consequently, the pound was very good and stable. But the price of exports went up
so foreign customers weren’t able to buy British products.

POST-WAR PRICES
Welfare and housing
The Liberal Party started setting up welfare before the FWW. Promises were made to tackle
the problem of bad housing. The local government was responsible for housing needs in their
area, but not many houses were built. Improvements in health, education and welfare didn’t
come until after the SWW because of the economic crisis and politicians.
The decline of the Liberals
The Liberal Party had been ruling for many years before the FWW. Lloyd George split from
the rest of the party because he didn’t like how the government ran the war. He formed a
coalition with the Conservatives. He was a Prime Minister and after the war he won the
elections. While his supporters were the Conservatives, his oppositors were the Irish, the rest
of the Liberals and the Labour Party, who seemed the obvious voice for working people. The
government still remained Conservative. Later on, the Conservatives refused to back George
and a purely Conservative government was formed, led by Stanley Baldwin.
The first Labour government
The Conservatives became the biggest single Party. The King asked the Labour leader,
MacDonald, to become Prime Minister of the first-ever Labour government; however, he had
to rely on the Liberals. People were worried about a Labour government since MacDonald
wasn’t a “Red Revolutionary”. MacDonald could only pass laws which the Liberals would
agree to and the most important was the Wheatley’s Housing Act.: It gave loans to local
councils to build cheap, good houses to rent. Later on, the Liberals refused to back
MacDonald any longer so Baldwin returned as Conservative Prime Minister. During this time,
the General Strike was happening.

THE GENERAL STRIKE 1926

Why was there a General Strike?
The coal industry was one of Britain’s oldest industries and it used to be the basis of Britain’s
industrial strength. During the FWW, mines had been run by the government. Miners’ unions
wanted this to continue because of the good wages. However, mines were handed back to
their private owners. Because of the depression in British industry, coal demand fell and so
did its prices; but because of the Golden Standard coal prices were still too high for
foreigners. Private owners wanted a profit from their mines so they had to cut wages. Miners
suffered from hard conditions in mines so they didn’t want to compromise.
The Triple Alliance
Socialist trade unionists agreed with syndicalism: different Trade Unions should go on strike
together to stop the country and take over the government for working people. The miners’
union planned to combine with the railwaymen and the transport workers unions in a “triple
alliance”; if there was a strike in one, the other two also stopped. Once, owners proposed
wage-cuts so miners called a strike. But their two allies didn’t support them and they had to
keep working at lower wages (Black Friday). Prices dropped and the owners proposed an
increase in hours and a reduction in pay. But this time the triple alliance worked together.
Baldwin granted them what they wanted but only for a while (Red Friday). Since the
government couldn’t keep up with the help, it set up a system of volunteers who would keep
the country going in a crisis (OMS- Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies). On the
other hand, the miners asked for the support of the TUC (Trades Union Congress). The TUC
ended up agreeing when the mine owners announced terms of longer hours and lower
wages. The workers called for a General Strike but they weren’t prepared and hoped for the
government to pay up to prevent it, whereas Baldwin was already ready and wasn’t going to
make more offers. A General Strike was called.
The strike itself
A General Strike is a strike of workers from all the major industries. Miners, railwaymen,
transport workers, engineers, shipbuilders and many others joined. Industry, transport
–almost everything– stopped. The OMS tried to stick to their plan and kept things going by
making middle-class people work. Since the printing of newspapers also stopped, news was
difficult to get. Baldwin forbade MacDonald (Labour leader) and Canterbury's Archbishop to
speak. The British Gazette, put up by Churchill, gave the government’s point of view, while
The British Worker gave TUC’s. In fact, the Strike was very peaceful. Apart from some
destruction, no one was shot. The strikers felt they had solid backing for their strike. The
OMS could not keep things going for long. The TUC leadership did not like being accused of
attacking the constitution so they called off the strike because of Baldwin’s promises. Then,
the miners continued fighting. However, in the end, they were driven back to work. The strike
had been a failure.
Labour victory
The Traders Dispute Act made strikes in which one union struck in support of another
illegally. Union membership declined. Many working people turned instead to the Labour
Party. Labour became the biggest single party. MacDonald became Prime Minister.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

During the Wall Street Crash, MacDonald faced an economic crisis: the USA had lent dollars
abroad but these loans were now cut. This brought depression and unemployment to most
industrial countries. MacDonald took Britain off the Gold Standard, which lowered the value
of the pound and made exports less expensive. The most affected were the old industries.
MacDonald cut public spending, for example salaries. The Labour Party split over these
proposals. MacDonald became Prime Minister of a National Government, a coalition with
Conservatives and Liberals.

The National Government

The Labour Party felt he was putting the bankers before the people and expelled him from
the Party. Under the insurance scheme, an unemployed worker received fifteen weeks of
unemployment pay automatically. Afterwards, he received the dole. Living on the dole was a
constant worry and had its effect on family life. The government introduced a means test, in
which officials came round to investigate everybody who claimed the dole to see if it should
be cut. The means test saved some money but it was hated.
The Jarrow Crusade
There was some recovery in the economy. However, in certain towns there was a lot of
unemployment. In Jarrow, which was a shipbuilding town, nearly all workers lost their jobs.
200 Jarrow crusaders marched to London with a petition for the Prime Minister. They arrived
and delivered their petition asking for contracts for government ships to be placed at the
Jarrow yard. Their dole money was cut because they had not been ‘available for work’.
Agriculture continued to go through difficult times: corn prices were low, fewer workers were
needed and they were replaced by machines, their wages remained low. This was ‘the drift
from the land’.
Economic recovery
New industries prospered. Electrical and household goods, aeroplanes, cars and chemicals
did well. Workers in these factories and in the service industry did not have a bad time:
wages were steady and prices were falling, also cheap houses were built. Many people
began enjoying pleasures: they bought cars and radios, Holiday Camps opened up. There
were two Britains: the expanding, busy towns (south) and the run-down towns and cities
(north).
Political life
MacDonald gave way to Baldwin as Prime Minister of the National Government. Baldwin
retired and Chamberlain took over his position. Little was done for the unemployed: the cuts
made were removed. A system of loans for hard-hit areas was set up. The unemployed
made little real protest and extremist political parties had little support. The Communist Party
only had 1 Member of Parliament. Mosley (Labour Minister) set up a Fascist Party: British
Union of Fascists (BUF). It gained some support. The wearing of uniforms was banned by
the Public Order Act and Mosley’s private army was disbanded and he was arrested. British
People rejected fascism.
The abdication of Edward VIII
There was an Abdication Crisis. King George V died and the new King, Edward VIII, was
more relaxed and informal. He had also shown sympathy for the unemployed. He wanted to
marry an American divorcee (Mrs Wallis Simpson) but Baldwin and the Archbishop of
Canterbury did not accept her as Queen. So Edward abdicated to marry her and his brother
became King George VI.
The Second World War
Chamberlain’s policy of building up the armed forces brought employment back. Chamberlain
resigned so Britain turned to Winston Churchill.

Chapter 10: The USA between the wars

The years between the wars posed problems like unemployment to which only dictators
seemed to have the answer.

THE ROARING TWENTIES

Isolationism
The USA had been led into the First World War by President Woodrow Wilson. Americans no
longer wanted anything to do with the rest of the world, because many Americans had been
killed, and the war itself had disrupted trade with other countries. To them Europe meant
poverty and cruel government.
Communist ideas seemed to be sweeping Europe after the Russian Revolution. Many
Americans were deeply opposed to Communism. They thus wanted to avoid any contact with
Europe.
Wilson hoped that the USA would play a big part in world affairs, through his League of
Nations, but the USA never signed the Treaty of Versailles and never joined the League of
Nations. America's policy came to be called isolationism: the wish to stay out of any
involvement with other countries.
Intolerance
Immigration
American hostility to foreigners did not end with her isolationism. America had kept an
'open door' to immigrants. Now this policy began to change.
From 1921 the 'open door' began to close. ad The number of immigrants allowed into the
USA was gradually cut. There was also a quota system that made it easier for immigrants
from to western and northern Europe to enter, and discriminated against those wishing to
come from southern or eastern Europe. Americans who had come from north-western
Europe and had lived in the USA were known as WASPs. They held power and feared losing
control to Jews and Roman Catholics
Racism
A group called the Ku Klux Klan gained strength in the 1920s. Most of its members were poor
whites afraid of blacks and immigrant workers, who were willing to work for low wages. Klan
members attacked and terrified blacks, Jews and Roman Catholics.
The Klan's leader was called “The Imperial Wizard”
Why was there an industrial boom?
The 1920s was a boom time in the American economy. American industry expanded
enormously. Industrial goods such as steel, glass, chemicals and machine-tools were
produced on a huge scale.
There was also a boom in consumer goods. Radios, telephones, cameras, washing
machines, and hundreds of other items were produced in large numbers. Things which had
been. luxuries before the First World War were now made at a price that millions could afford.
The car industry
Henry Ford set up a fully automated factory, Each worker did only one small job on the
assembly line, and by 1925 Ford produced one car every ten seconds. The average cost of a
car dropped.
The cinema industry
During the 1920s, thousands of silent black and white films were produced. Hollywood
became the base of this new industry, and soon stars became known all over the world. In
the USA alone, a lot of cinema tickets were sold every week.
Government policies
Industry was also helped by America's isolationist policy. Americans wanted to
help their own industries and make trade difficult for foreigners: The government therefore
set up high tariffs or import duties. Items coming into the USA had an extra tax attached to it.
American industry was protected, because their products were cheaper and sold better.
With work available for most people, trade
unions declined. Union membership went down.
The Presidents preferred to leave American business to look after itself. Wilson was defeated
in the 1920 election by Warren G. Harding. He was taken advantage of by his corrupt
poker-playing friends called the Ohio Gang. He made no changes in the policies of high
tariffs and government help for industry.
Prohibition
In 1919, the US Congress declared the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages illegal.
This was called Prohibition. Many Americans were very religious people and felt that alcohol
was the root of social problems. Gangsters took over the entire alcohol business: They ran
illegal bars called speakeasies, imported alcohol drinks or had it made secretly. They made
millions of dollars by operating outside the law from the beginning and settled their business
rivalries in gunfights.
Prohibition not only provided opportunities for gangsters; it turned many ordinary Americans
into criminals.
Women experienced new freedom in jobs and fashions, the music of the black bands in the
illegal bars gave its name to this period: the Jazz Age.
Did everyone enjoy the boom?
The boom was all over. America was heading into the depths of a Depression.
The prosperity was not enjoyed by everyone. Farmers had never shared the boom.
The prices they received at home for their farm produce were very low. High tariffs prevented
foreign countries from selling goods in the USA, so foreigners did not have dollars to buy
American farm produce. Moreover, there was strong competition from other countries like
Canada on the world market. Many farms did not have electricity.
Black Americans did not share in the boom either. Many blacks had moved to the cities to
look for work. They joined poor whites in low-paid factory jobs, and poor people could not buy
consumer goods on a large scale.
The gap between rich and poor was very large. Too many goods were being produced and it
was not possible to switch to selling abroad.

THE WALL STREET CRASH

The end eventually came in 1929 with the Wall Street Crash. Wall Street is the financial
centre of the USA, where shares are bought and sold.
The investors could get a dividend from the profits.
In the 1920s, dividends went up and share prices went up.
By 1929, American industry was making goods faster than it could sell them and that profits
were falling. The panic spread: more and more people realised that their shares were worth a
lot only if someone was willing to pay for them. They began to turn their shares into cash.
In 1929, shares were sold on the Wall Street Stock Exchange, and prices of shares suddenly
fell.
Many Americans had borrowed money to buy shares, hoping to pay back their loans when
their shares rose in price. When shares fell, they could not pay back the loans: they were
financially ruined.
American banks are often small and independent.
If enough customers could not pay back their loans, the bank itself could go bankrupt.
Farm production was down, factories closed and workers couldn’t even buy food.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION

Depression in agriculture
With so many people unemployed, farmers could not get good prices for their produce.
Banks still demanded mortgage payments, and many farmers, with falling incomes, could not
pay them. This, combined with bad farming methods, turned the land into what was called
the “Dust Bowl”. Hundreds of small farmers packed up and went to California to find work as
farm labourers.
Opposition
Car workers fought with Henry Ford's police because they were locked out of the factory
when there was no work. In Washington, ex-servicemen marched to the White House to
claim their ex-servicemen's 'bonus'.
Unemployment benefits did not exist. Most people felt that no one deserved to be paid if they
had done no work.
President Hoover believed that American business had produced this boom because it had
been left alone by the government. He now believed that business would also produce the
solution to the Depression if it were left alone.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AND THE NEW DEAL

Roosevelt was a democratic candidate who stood against Hoover. He had a real sympathy
for the poor of the USA.
In his 1932 campaign, he promised action instead of words.
Roosevelt's phrase, 'a New Deal'. He won the election and was President until his death in
1945.
The events of the New Deal were the most inspiring response to the 1930s Depression.
The new deal
Roosevelt gathered around him men and women with fresh ideas and gave them
encouragement. Sometimes the new ideas worked, sometimes they did not. Through all the
ups and downs of the New Deal, he kept to three ideas: to help those people hard hit by the
Depression, to revive American business and to build a better America. He closed all the
banks and had them investigated. He cut salaries of civil servants and ended Prohibition.
Agricultural adjustment act
Agriculture was helped by the Agricultural Adjustment. Farmers had been over-producing,
with the result that prices fell and were too low for them to make a proper living. The AAA set
up a quota system: each farmer was to produce only a certain amount. This limit on supply
pushed up the price at which they could sell.
Any loss was made up by a government subsidy
Government money was used to help farmers. An effort was made to bring electricity to
farms.
National industrial recovery act
The NIRA's most important section was the National Recovery Administration, which
encouraged workers and employers to get together to work out a code of fair conditions:
minimum wages, maximum hours and standards were agreed, Goods made under the codes
were sold with a 'Blue Eagle' tag: buyers could tell they had been made under agreed
conditions.
Home owners loan corporation
Householders were helped by HOLG. The government took over people's mortgages, and
lent money to help people over the crisis period, in order that they would not have to leave
their homes.
FDR was prepared to try to increase government spending. Keynes had suggested that in
times of Depression, the government should spend money to get the economy going again.

Public works administration

The NIRA set up the Public Works Administration, with projects such as: airports, hospitals,
bridges, and battleships. The Works Progress Administration, the WPA, organised schemes
on a smaller scale.
Federal emergency relief administration
The FERA was founded to give quick relief where it was needed most. Millions of dollars
were spent on providing soup kitchens, nursery schools for the children of the poor and
schemes to provide employment.
Civilian conservation corps
Roosevelt was worried by the problem of unemployment among young people. He set up the
Civilian Conservation Corps, in which young men could work in the American countryside.
Tennessee valley authority
The Tennessee River valley had a number of
problems: erosion, flooding, lack of electric power and extreme poverty. Roosevelt therefore
set up the Tennessee Valley Authority, and a number of dams were built on the Tennessee
River. These sets had several effects, for example they could be used to prevent flooding
and the water could be used to provide hydroelectric power.
New industries such as aluminium smelting, started up. The water could also be used to
irrigate dry areas. New farming methods were introduced to combat erosion.
Social security act
In 1935, the Social Security Act set up pension schemes for old people, widows and disabled
people. An unemployed insurance scheme was also set up. This Act turned out to be one of
FDR's most lasting achievements.
The New Deal under attack
By 1935, both FDR and the New Deal were running into criticism. For some people, change
did not come quickly enough. Huey Long, wanted to attack the wealthy and to set up a
national minimum wage. Father Charles E. Coughlin, a popular radio speaker at first
supported the New Deal, then later proposed that America should adopt a form of fascism.
Dr Francis Townsend put a plan for retirement at 60 to give more job opportunities for young
people.
For other people, change had come too fast: government spending, higher taxes and
increased trade union membership were attacked by conservatives. The American Supreme
Court, made up of nine judges, had the right to decide if any new law was in line with the
Constitution of the USA or not. In 1935, they declared the NIRA unconstitutional, and all the
work under the Act had to stop.
The later new deal
FDR won the election of 1936.
Roosevelt was annoyed by the decision of the Supreme Court in declaring the NIRA
unconstitutional. He proposed to increase the size of the Supreme Court by putting in his
own men to out-vote the nine. He was forced to withdraw his proposal. Despite all efforts of
the New Deal, unemployment rose again. Farmers from the Dust Bowl drifting to California
found wages at poverty level. As the 1930s ended, the problems of the USA were far from
solved.
Was the new deal a failure?
Higher food prices helped farmers but hit the poor. Cutting public spending to balance the
budget led to more unem-ployment. Blue Eagle codes might protect the consumer, but they
made business less profitable.
Unemployment remained high, poverty was still common, big businesses were still powerful.
Roosevelt and the New Deal bought huge changes in the USA. The federal government had
to look after the weaker members of society and they had to build a better country. The New
Deal restored Americans' faith in their ideal of democracy.

Chapter 11: The League of Nations

The best idea to stop a war from happening again seemed to be for all the countries in the
world to join together in an organisation to keep the peace: THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

SETTING UP THE LEAGUE

President Wilson presented his “Fourteen points'' near the end of FWWI, as a basis for a
better world in the future. The league was made up of two main parts: an Assembly and a
Council. The Assembly was like a parliament: each country had one vote, they met once a
year and any decision had to have unanimous support (42 members countries at the start).
The Council met more often and made decisions on a majority vote. The Great Powers
(Britain, France, Italy, Japan) were permanent members and were joined by other countries
in rotation. Apart from these, the Court of International Justice was set up to settle legal
disputes between countries.
Aims of the league
The aims were:
1- to deal with disputes among nations
2- to prevent war
3- to protect independence of countries and safeguard their borders
4- to encourage each country to reduce armaments
The League would need to be able to apply some kind of sanctions or punishments to make
its decisions work.
Purpose of the league
The main purpose of the league was “to preserve against external aggression the territory
and existing independence of all members of the League. In case of threat of danger, the
Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled” (Article 6)
Other articles went to lay down three ways to make the decisions effective. First, it could
condemn a country and express disapproval of its actions. Second, it could impose economic
sanctions upon a country. Third, if nothing else worked, it could use military force.
However, the League could work properly only when all the Great Powers backed its actions.
Membership
Several of the Great Powers did not become members of the League in 1919. The most
serious blow was the refusal of the USA to become a member. As the Senate refused to sign
the Treaty of Versailles, the Americans never joined the League. Russia was another country
which did not become a member of the League in 1919. The Russian government had set up
an organisation called Comintern. Its purpose was to encourage Communist revolution all
over the world. The Russians would hardly be allowed to join an organisation such as the
League. Germany was not allowed to join when the League was first set up, and did not
become a member until 1926. Only Britain and France were left to bear the burden of running
the League with the help of two weaker powers, Italy and Japan. If any member of the
League was attacked, the whole League would come to their rescue.

The attitudes of britain and france

A great number of people in Britain supported the League. However, the Conservative
government and the military chiefs were less enthusiastic. The British had a vast empire to
look after. The League was supposed to uphold all the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. But
after 1919, Britain began to have second thoughts about one or two clauses in the treaty.
These doubts made some British politicians even cooler towards the League.
To the French, there was still only one enemy: Germany. If the League would help protect
them against Germany, they were in favour of it. If it would not, they would have to make their
own arrangements. Thus there were sometimes differences between what the League
wanted and what Britain or France wanted.
The agencies
A wide range of agencies was set up by the League in order to deal with the many problems
which threaten both nations and individuals in the 20th century.
The International Labour Organisation worked on suggestions for proper hours and
conditions for workers all over the world. The Mandates Commission looked after the people
in the mandated countries set up by the Treaty of Versailles.
Work was done by other agencies on famine relief, health, on the prevention of slavery and
on stopping the international drugs trade.
The war had also left the League with the enormous problem of 400,000 prisoners of war and
many thousands of homeless refugees. These had to be returned to their own countries if
possible. With the League's help, most were returned to their homes and families.

THE LEAGUE IN ACTION IN THE 1920S

Boundaries
Some of the League's first problems concerned boundary disputes, especially in eastern
Europe. imposible. Arguments over the decisions made at Versailles were referred to the
League. The Council made minor changes in the boundary areas of different countries and
areas. The League failed to stop the war between Greece and Turkey, but gave help to the
refugees.
The Corfu Incident, 1923
In 1923 came a worrying event usually called the Corfu Incident. A conference of
ambassadors from Britain, France, Italy and Japan was working on boundary problems
between Greece and Albania. They sent an Italian general to investigate, who was shot in
Greece. Mussolini
was furious and he sent forces to shell the Greek island of Corfu and demanded heavy
compensation. The League discussed the matter and offered a solution. However, the
ambassadors of the Great Powers stepped in. They altered the terms of the agreement in
favour of Italy. The Great Powers acted on their own, ignoring the League.
The 'Locarno Honeymoon'
In the 1920s both Britain and France signed agreements outside the League while trying to
look after their own positions in Europe. These
agreements both helped and undermined the League's own policies.
Germany had always rejected all the boundaries laid down at the Treaty of Versailles, but in
1925 it signed the Locarno Pact. In this treaty Germany promised to keep to the boundaries
on its western borders laid down at Versailles. However, the Locarno Pact made no mention
of Germany's eastern boundaries. By not including these, the countries who signed the
Locarno Pact with Germany, (like France and Britain) gave others the impression that if one
day Germany wanted to alter its eastern boundaries with Poland and Czechoslovakia they
would take no action. This worried France's allies in eastern Europe. Thus France and Britain
were ignoring the idea of collective security. In 1926 Germany became a member of the
League. In the same year, the Kellogg Pact was signed by 65 countries, including the USA
and the USSR. All those who had signed
promised never to go to war again. The five years from 1925 to 1929 have become known as
the 'Locarno Honeymoon'.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS IN THE 1930s

The Wall Street Crash and the Depression put an end to this honeymoon. Distrust between
Germany and France grew. France began to build a huge defence system along the German
border which it believed would protect France from German attack. Dictators came to
power in several countries. Most disturbing of these was Hitler in Germany. Before Hitler
started to alter the map of Europe others had ruined the peace-keeping hopes of the League.
Manchuria,1931
Another country badly hit by the Depression was Japan. The Japanese controlled Korea and
operated the railway into the northern Chinese province of Manchuria. China was weak and
split by civil war. Manchuria had iron and coal deposits and could be a market for
Japanese-made goods. In 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria.
China appealed to the League. In fact, the Japanese generals were acting without orders
from the government in Tokyo. The Japanese representative at the League promised to
withdraw Japanese
troops from Manchuria, but it was soon clear that the Japanese army was doing what it liked.
The Japanese army had captured Manchuria and was attacking the rest of China. The only
countries with power in that part of the world were Russia and the USA, but neither was a
member of the League. In 1933, the League condemned the Japanese invasion. Japan left
the League, and carried on with its conquests which led eventually into the Second World
War.
German rearmament
As soon as Hitler came to power he was anxious to rearm Germany. Germany had been told
to disband
most of its forces in 1919. In 1932 another attempt to discuss disarma-
ment was made and again the members failed to agree. In 1933, Hitler withdrew Germany
from the League itself. This action weakened the League. In 1935 Britain made a naval
agreement with Germany without consulting its allies. Hitler agreed to keep his navy to 35%
of the
strength of the British navy.
Ethiopia
The death blow to the effectiveness of the League of Nations was the Italian invasion of
Ethiopia in 1934-1935. In 1896 the Italians had invaded Ethiopia and been defeated.
Mussolini also needed a successful war to distract the attention from his government. In
1934, Italian troops attacked the poorly armed Ethiopians. Ethiopia appealed to the League.
Italy was obviously in the wrong. The League condemned Mussolini's actions and imposed
economic sanctions on Italy. Britain and France were in a difficult position. They were the
ones who would have to make the sanctions work and they were nervous about upsetting
Mussolini.
France was worried about Hitler's rearmament policy. Mussolini and Hitler were not yet allied
in 1935, and France did not want to drive them together by opposing Mussolini. The result
was that sanctions were never applied. Furthermore, oil (essential for war) had been left off
the list of goods which could not be supplied to Italy. The British Foreign Secretary even
worked out a deal for dividing-up Ethiopia the Hoare-Laval pact - which gave nearly
two-thirds of Ethiopia to Mussolini.
The aggressor was a powerful European country. Only collective action could have stopped
Italy, and the League did not provide it. Mussolini left the League and completed the
conquest of the
whole of Ethiopia in 1937. The British and French came off worst. Their efforts did not stop
Mussolini but the economic sanctions did push Mussolini closer to Hitler. They signed the
Rome-Berlin Axis of 1936. The Hoare-Laval Pact showed Britain and France in a bad light.
As a peace-keeping organisation the League of Nations was a failure. Japan and then Italy
had ignored the League and it was powerless to stop them. In 1936, the Palace of Nations in
Geneva was completed and intended to provide a permanent home for the League of
Nations.

THE REASONS POR THE FAILURE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

1. Membership
Not all the great powers were members of the League.
2. Organisation
Meetings were few and far between, decisions were made very slowly, and sometimes they
came too late for effective action.
3. Sanctions
Sanctions were never successful in controlling aggression . The reasons for this were partly
that some major powers were outside the League so no real collective security was possible.
4. The Treaty of Versailles.
The League was bound to uphold the terms of the treaty, to defend the peace settlement.
5. Britain and France.
The responsibility for making the League work fell on these two countries. And often, they
preferred to sign treaties outside the League, and sometimes went behind the League's
back.
6. The will to make it work.
In 1919 at Versailles people wanted to make a new and better world -but this world; idealism
soon disappeared, due to the economic depression and dictators.

However, despite all the failures, the good work of the League should not be forgotten.

Chapter 13: The second world war in Europe

WHAT WAS BLITZKRIEG?
In the Second World war soldiers moved rapidly from place to place. The most important
fighting machines were tanks and aeroplanes.
Hitler made the best use of tanks and aeroplanes in a war. Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics
were used by the Germans. First dive bombers would destroy important positions and if it
was possible enemy aircraft would be destroy on the ground. Also the bomber pilots could
capture and hold an airfield or a bridge. The invasion spearhead would be made up fast,
making it almost impossible for the enemy to organise the defence.

THE PHONEY WAR, SEPTEMBER 1939 TO APRIL 1940

Hitler had begun the war by invading Poland. After that, The Russians invaded the east of
Poland and then Poland was divided between the USSR and Germany.
British planes dropped leaflets on Germany, and in defence German U-boats began to sink
British shipping.
The USSR became involved in a war with Finland (The Winter War) of 1939-1940 and
Russia won. The British called this period the Phoney War because nothing seemed to be
happening. Both sides were not really ready for war (Germany and Britain).

THE FALL OF WESTERN EUROPE APRIL-JUNE 1940

The British Prime Minister (Chamberlain) in 1940 announced that the war would not continue.
A few days later, Hitler launched an attack against Denmark and Norway. Hitler shipped
Swedish Iron along the coast of Norway for the manufacture of weapons. The British decided
to mine the waters of Norway.
Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister
In May The Parliament turned against Chamberlain and he resigned. Churchill became Prime
Minister.
France Attacked
The Germans attacked the Low Countries and France. Holland surrendered within 5 days.
The Germans reached the Channel and Belgium surrendered.
Dunkirk
In Dunkirk the French prepared to make a stand while the British sent hundreds of boats
across the Channel to take their soldiers off the beaches. This evacuation was called
Operation Dynamo.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN, JULY-DECEMBER 1940

Hitler had hoped that Britain would accept surrender terms but it didn’t happen. Hitler was
going to invade England (Operation Sea-Lion) but the Channel was a difficult barrier. The
battle of Britain in August 1940 was between the Luftwaffe (German air force) and the RAF
for control of the air. The RAF was rarely caught on the ground.
The Luftwaffe aimed to bomb airfields and shoot down fighters so that the RAF would be put
out of action. Throughout the battle, the Luftwaffe had more fighters and pilots than the RAF
(short of pilots), so they could afford heavier losses.
The RAF did have two advantages: The Spitfire fighter (british aircraft) was more
manoeuvrable/handleable and better armed than the Messerschmitt (german aeroplane).
The RAF also had radar (radio detection and ranging). This worked by sending out radio
waves and recording the echo effect when the waves bounced back off enemy aircraft.
British scientists had been developing radar since 1935. By 1940 it could supply information
on aircraft 25 kilometres away. The RAF was, therefore, rarely caught on the ground.
In many ways, the Battle of Britain was an extraordinary battle. The numbers of men involved
were very few. The battlefield was the sky over England. At the end of August, the RAF was
still able to carry on fighting.
On 23 August German planes, lost in the dark, accidentally dropped some bombs on
London. The next night Churchill ordered the first air raid on Berlin, which killed a number of
German civilians.
Hitler was furious and ordered the Luftwaffe to switch their targets from British airfields to
British cities. There-fore, 13,000 tons of bombs were dropped on London alone and
thousands more on other cities.
On 17 September, Hitler called off Operation Sea-Lion. Britain was safe from invasion.
EVENTS FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER 1941
Invasion of Russia
Hitler turned his attention to the invasion of the USSR. In terms of numbers of soldiers
involved, numbers of dead and the effect on the outcome of the war, this was by far the most
important campaign of all. He detested the Russians as Communists; he loathed them as
Slavs, an 'inferior race'. He had said that he would carve a new German empire out of the
USSR.
Eastern Europe
Western Europe was conquered, except for Britain which was so weak that it would be in no
position to attack Germany for some years. Hitler now turned to eastern Europe. Austria,
most of Czechoslovakia and half of Poland had been taken into Germany in 1938 and 1939.
In 1939-1940, the USSR had seized all of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, half of Poland and slices
of Finland and Romania.
Germany, Japan and Italy had signed a Tripartite Pact in September 1940. The remaining
independent countries of Eastern Europe now hurried to seek protection from the USSR by
joining this pact. By early 1941, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria had joined. The
mainland of Europe was occupied by Germany or by one of its allies, or was neutral. Hitler
thus had a huge reservoir of men and industrial resources from which to launch his invasion
of Russia.
Italy enters the war
Italy was ill-prepared for war. Mussolini did not immediately bring Italy into the war. However,
by 1940 Hitler was so successful that Mussolini was afraid he would miss out on the rewards
if he did not join in. He declared war on Britain and France. The Italians intended to take over
British colonies in Africa while Britain itself was under attack.
The British navy retaliated by severely damaging the Italian fleet in its base at Taranto.
Italian troops then invaded Egypt. In spite of this, the Italian invasion was halted and its
troops were rapidly driven back. They surrendered to General Wavell, the British
commander, in huge numbers. At the same time, the Italians were driven out of Ethiopia.
For these reasons, in 1941 Hitler had to divert troops away from the invasion of Russia in
order to prop up his ally Mussolini. He came to the Italians' rescue in North Africa. These
advances weakened the German invasion forces.
Hitler's efforts to control other countries in eastern Europe were also nearly wrecked by
Mussolini. Mussolini attacked Greece in 1941, but he was defeated by Greek and British
forces. The German Blitzkrieg rapidly overran Yugoslavia and Greece.
Yugoslavia was split up and puppet governments set up; Greece was occupied by Italy. In
both countries, however, highly active resistance movements kept German troops busy and
were a drain on German resources.
Operation Barbarossa
The German attack on Russia, Operation Barbarossa, was launched in June 1941. Many of
the peoples under Soviet rule would welcome the Germans as liberators. The Blitzkrieg on
Russia thrust forward in three directions: in the north, to Leningrad, to cut off possible aid
from the Allies; in the centre, to Moscow, the centre of government and transport networks,
and in the south, to the grain-growing areas, the industrial Donbas region and the Soviet oil
fields beyond.
Stalin had put all his hopes on buying peace through the Nazi-Soviet Pact. He refused to
believe in the German invasion until it happened, despite being repeatedly warned by spies.
The Soviets could do nothing but retreat. The war in the USSR, however, was going to be
different from war in other countries. German forces had to travel hundreds of kilometres.
The poor road system of the USSR made this more difficult. They were in huge open spaces,
where villages had been burned, animals killed and stores carried off.
Sometimes Soviets (partisans) sabotaged the Germans supply lines. The Russian winter set
in, and because of that transport became impossible, petrol froze, and soldiers didn’t have
winter clothing.
The war at sea
In the Atlantic there was the battle between German U-boats and Britain.
USA and Lend-Lease
Roosevelt organised the scheme Lend-Lease, by which Britain could borrow military
equipment. Large numbers of ships and planes were sent to Britain. In 1941 Japan attacked
the American base at Pearl Harbour. Roosevelt declared war on Germany and Japan.

THE HOME FRONT

Was it a people’s war?
The war went further than the First World War in involving everybody. Making weapons was
as important as using them. It was a people’s war because people were killed in their own
homes in bombing raids; and because people’s everyday lives were disrupted as never
before, by evacuation, by shortages of food, and by being ordered what to do by the
government.
Evacuation
Plans were made to evacuate all children, pregnant mothers, mothers with young children
and disabled people from cities to rural areas. This made people realise how poverty had hit
some city children and contributed to the call for change after the war.
The Blitz
When German bombing of British cities started in 1940 many houses were destroyed and a
lot of people were homeless.
Sheltering
Rationing
Almost all the food British people ate came from abroad. During the war there were
shortages that meant higher prices that only the rich could afford. This was unfair so rationing
was introduced in 1940. Everyone had a ration book with a number of coupons for essential
items.
Women and the war
In 1941 the government realised that they needed more workers, and because of that all
unmarried women between 20 and 30 could be called up for war work. Married women were
not called up but could volunteer. By 1943 all women up to the age of 51 were registered for
employment. Women were paid less than men for the same work and received less
compensation for injuries.
The bombing of Germany
Industrial regions suffered heavy bombing. Fire bombs caused giant fire storms, whirlwinds
of flame, which were impossible to control.
TURNING POINTS 1942-1943
North Africa
The Soviets wanted The Allies to distract Germany by invading Europe. Between 1942 and
1943 Operation Torch took place. North Africa and the Mediterranean were the main
battlefields for the Allied troops.
The battle of El Alamein
The North African campaign began with an attack on the German forces in North Africa.
Britain was bringing massive reinforcements and in 1942 attacked Rommel at El Alamein
(Egypt).
Operation torch
American and British troops invaded Morocco and Algeria. They advanced to Tunis and
many Germans were taken prisoner.
Italy invaded
The Allies invaded Sicily, then Italy. Mussolini was not so powerful anymore. The Italians only
wanted peace.
The Russian Front 1942-1943
In the battlefront between the German areas of the USSR and those still in Soviet hands,
every Russian citizen had to work to resist the German attack. There was starvation and a lot
of Russians died.
Stalingrad
A two-pronged advance was planned by Hitler: one to the south-east where the Soviet oil
fields he needed were, and the other would turn on Stalingrad and then into central Russia.
In Stalingrad was the main Soviet resistance and the city was the centre of the battlefield.
The winter made things worse for the Germans and the Soviets cut off the Germans supply
line. The German General asked Hitler for permission to surrender to save the lives of the
men he had left but Hitler refused. He lost men and weapons in large numbers.
The Soviet advance stopped in 1943. Then Hitler counter-attacked and the biggest tank
battle of the war was fought.
The Tehran conference
In 1943, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill met in Tehran. Stalin promised to help the USA
against Japan once Germany was defeated.

THE NORMANDY LANDINGS 1944

The Allies invaded France. There was a successful invasion on the beaches of Normandy,
operated by the USA and Britain. General de Gaulle became the President of France.
There was an attempt to move across the Rhine and into Germany but it was a failure. The
allies had freed most of France and Belgium.
Thousand Londoners were killed and millions evacuated to the countryside. In 1944 there
was a plot to assassinate Hitler. Thousands of Germans were executed as a result of the
Bomb Plot.
The Battle of the Bulge
The Germans advanced and made the Allies retreat. It was called the Battle of the Bulge
because of its effects in the Allied front line.
The Eastern Front
In 1944 the Allies entered Rome and Florence. All along the line south to the Black Sea, the
Germans retreated. The Soviet advance drove the Germans out of Russia and into Poland.
When the Soviets reached Warsaw, the Polish resistance rose in revolt. 300,000 Poles were
killed. In the south the Soviet forces drove the Germans out of Russia. By the end of 1944
Germany’s enemies were pressing on all sides.

THE END OF THE THIRD REICH

The Yalta Conference
In 1945 the Allied leaders met at Yalta. They agreed that Germany, once defeated, should be
divided into four zones. Also Berlin should be divided into four zones. Later, the Allies were
criticised for handing over Eastern Europe to Stalin but there was little that they could do.
The Red Army was already in occupation of most Eastern Europe.
The fall of Germany
Germany´s resistance was weakened by the air-raids.
The British and Canadians advanced into north Germany while the Americans pushed into
central and southern Germany and Austria. The Soviets pressed westwards, reaching Berlin
and beyond.
Hitler had retired to his underground bunker in Berlin. He married Eva Braun and then they
committed suicide. Admiral Doenitz became the leader of Germany. The war in Europe
ended on 7 May 1945.
55 million people were killed during the war. The victors of the war were the USA and the
USSR.

Chapter 14: The Second World War in the Far East

The Second World War moved into the Far East with the Japanese attacks.
JAPANESE SUCCESSES 1937-1942
Japan's generals had decided to solve the problems of the Depression in Japan by seizing
an empire. They started in 1931 by invading Manchuria, part of northern China . In 1936
Japan joined Germany and Italy in the Anti-Comintern Pact: an alliance against Communism.
In 1937, Japan invaded China. And soon large parts of China were in Japanese hands.
The outbreak of war in Europe opened up
great possibilities for the Japanese. The British, French and Dutch empires in the Far East
could not be defended while they were under attack. The Japanese spoke of ‘freeing’ the
peoples of Asia from white colonial rule. They spoke of a 'New Order' in Asia. What they had
their eyes on were the food and raw materials which Asia could produce to boost Japanese
industry.
After France was defeated, the Japanese occupied Indo-China in 1941. Only two countries
could stop them: the USSR and the USA. By 1941, the USSR was fighting for its life against
the German invaders; only the USA was left.
Pearl Harbour
In mid-1941 President Roosevelt imposed a ban on all trade with Japan in iron, steel and oil,
and froze all Japanese money in the USA. His aim was to force Japan to keep the peace.
The Japanese realised that they would lose a war with the USA unless they could gain an
advantage. The military leaders in Japan planned a secret and surprise attack to knock out
the US Pacific Fleet.
They could seize all the territory they wanted in the Far East. They would be too strong to be
dislodged by the USA.
Spies had supplied the Japanese with details of the great US naval base.
The Japanese knew everything about American ships. Japanese bombers took off and flew
to Pearl Harbor in two waves early.
The US fleet was caught completely unprepared.
Eight battleships were sunk or damaged; ten other ships were sunk; aircraft destroyed;
aircraft damaged and people killed. The US commanders had half expected an attack, but
were completely wrong over the directions from which it would come. Japan had now taken
on the most powerful country in the world, the USA. President Roosevelt called the. attack 'a
day of infamy, American isolation ended suddenly and for good.
Japanese advances
The Japanese took the US bases of Guam and Wake Island in the Pacific. They captured
Hong Kong from the British and moved into Malaya, then a British colony. After Pearl Harbor,
a similar air attack sank two warships of the Royal Navy, the Repulse and the Prince of
Wales. The Dutch East Indies and the Philippines were invaded early in 1942. The big British
base at Singapore was heavily defended against sea attack. The approach by land was not
defended. The Japanese attacked Singapore, and in February 1942, the British surrendered.

JAPAN 1942-1944
The battle of the Coral Sea
In 1942, the Japanese fleet met the US Pacific fleet in the Battle of the Coral Sea. Both sides
suffered heavy damage.
Furthermore, the Japanese failed to capture the rest of New Guinea; from which they could
have attacked Australia. This was their first setback.
The battle of midway
A Japanese attack was launched on the US-held island of Midway. The US had broken the
Japanese radio code, so the Japanese had no surprise advantage. Yamamoto was badly
misled about the size of the US force he was attacking. At the Battle of Midway in 1942 four
Japanese carriers were sunk. It was the turning point of the war in the Pacific.
Allied counter-attack
The counter-attack on the Japanese positions was three-pronged. Nimitz by mid-1944; had
retaken the important base of Guam.
General MacArthur began to fight his way towards the Philippines: His strategy was called
'island-hopping': he could not hope to destroy Japanese positions island by island. He cut
Japanese supply lines. In 1943 MacArthur moved up to the Solomon Islands.
The third line of attack on the Japanese was launched by the British in Burma.
At first, they had little success. They also had to deal with the heat and the tropical diseases
of the jungle itself. The Japanese believed that surrender was shameful and that it was much
better to die fighting or even to commit suicide than to be taken by the enemy. The prisoners
they captured were regarded with contempt, badly fed and often worked to death or allowed
to die of disease.

JAPAN 1944-1945
In 1941, the Japanese had risked attacking the greatest industrial nation in the world. Their
tactics had clearly failed.
Battle of Leyte Gulf
In 1944, MacArthur invaded the Philippines. The Japanese lost four more carriers and two
battle-ships: their navy had now really ceased to exist. Many Japanese soldiers died trying to
prevent the American advance on Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Kamikaze pilots
At this stage, the Japanese began to send kamikaze (means 'divine wind') pilots against the
American fleet; pilots would deliberately crash their planes loaded with explosives onto an
American battleship. This was regarded as an honourable thing to do.
Japanese defeats
In 1944, the Japanese had invaded India. The invasion was stopped by General Slim at
Imphal. The British pressed on into Burma, driving the Japanese back. The "Burma Road'
was open. This was the only land route to China. Now US aid could reach China by land.
However, the Chinese leader, General Chiang Kai-Shek, was more interested in crushing his
own enemies, the Chinese Communists. If Japan were to be finally defeated, it would have to
be by the USA.
Attacks were launched against two islands used as bases for air-raids. In 1945 Iwo Jima and
Okinawa were taken.

THE END OF THE WAR 1945

Japan was clearly on its knees. The Emperor himself wanted peace, but his generals were
prepared to fight on. The US navy was by now able to prevent supplies getting through to
Japan, and there was widespread hunger throughout the country.
The atomic bomb
President Truman had at his command a way of ending the war rapidly: the atomic bomb.
The work on an atomic bomb was called the Manhattan Project, and scientists like Einstein
were working on this.
On 16 July 1945 an atomic bomb was successfully tested in the Nevada Desert.
Potsdam
In July 1945, Truman, Attlee and Stalin agreed that the USSR would join in the war in the
east within a month. The Allies also announced that the atom bomb would be dropped on
Japan if it did not surrender. The Japanese either did not understand or did not believe the
threat.
Tibbetts piloted his bomber, the 'Enola Gay', to Hiroshima and dropped a single atomic bomb.
The USSR declared war on Japan. A second atomic bomb was dropped in Nagasaki.
General MacArthur signed the Japanese surrender terms. Thousands died from
radiation sickness. President Truman has been heavily criticised for his decision to drop the
atom bombs. His main reason was that he wanted the war to be finished quickly, without
further loss of American lives.
What options did Truman have?
1- A blockade so that no supplies reached Japan at all and the country would be slowly
starved into surrender.
2- A demonstration of the power of the bomb to Japanese observers who could explain to
their leaders exactly what it could do to their country.
3- Demanding less than unconditional surrender from the Japanese.
4. Dropping the bomb.
What do you think Truman should have done?
The war in the East was over in 1945, but its effects were long lasting. First, the attack on
Pearl Harbour ended the isolationist policy of the USA forever. Second, the dropping of the
atomic bombs gave birth to a totally different world. Humankind now has the capacity to
destroy itself on an unbelievable scale.
The world has had to live with this threat of total destruction.
Chapter 17: The cold war
When the Second World War ended, the USA and the USSR were so far ahead of all other
countries in power and influence that they were called the Super Powers. The war had left
Britain, France, Germany, Japan and China crippled. As soon as the war ended, relations
between the USA and the USSR cooled. There was hostility between them for the next 45
years.
A cold war was a war of words, propaganda and threats. Several real wars were fought, but
by substitutes or allies: America,or America's ally, fought the USSR's ally for example, in
Korea and Vietnam.

HOW DID THE COLD WAR BEGIN?

Stalin, the ruler of the USSR. felt his country was always being threatened or attacked.
Russia had been invaded by Germany in 1914. After the 1917 revolution. several countries
had sent armies to help the Whites try to crush the new Communist state. In the 1930s no
country had joined him in opposing Hitler. Then in 1941 Germany had invaded Russia again.
Stalin was bitter that the western Allies had not helped relieve pressure on the USSR by
invading western Europe before 1944. By the end of the war, therefore, Stalin's main aims
were to make the USSR safe from invasion and to rebuild his shattered country. He was also
very suspicious of the West and had a deep hatred and fear of Germany.
Americans regretted their isolation in the years between the wars.

COLD WAR IN EUROPE 1945-1949

The three leaders. Roosevelt. Stalin and Churchill met at Yalta early in 1945. Roosevelt and
Churchill had worked out their aims during the war in the Atlantic Charter'. These included a
United Nations (UN) Organisation to keep peace in the world. Americans believed strongly in
democracy and were deeply hostile to Communism.
Yalta
At Yalta, the three leaders discussed the UN which Stalin agreed to join. He wanted the
frontiers of Poland moved so that the USSR should gain some of eastern Poland. Roosevelt
was not keen on this, but Churchill was ready to accept it if the USSR agreed to accept
British influence in Greece. It was agreed to divide Germany temporarily into four occupation
zones: Soviet. American, British and French. Churchill had pressed for a French zone to be
added to the other three. This would add another anti-Soviet voice to the armies of
occupation. At this stage the Allies had no plans for the permanent division of Germany.
Potsdam
Stalin met with Truman and Attlee. Arrangements were made for the trial at Nuremberg of
captured Nazis. Some were sentenced to death, others to terms of imprisonment. Other
Nazis were also punished: in the Soviet zone useful Nazis were kept on while others were
shot without trial.
Stalin was told about the atom bomb, which increased his suspicions and fear of the West.
The Allies were worried about his take-over of eastern Europe. The Polish Russian boundary
had been moved westwards. The USSR also gained territory by taking land from Finland,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Czechoslovakia and Romania. with Soviet armies all over eastern
Europe, there was little they could have done to stop it.
Eastern Europe
In Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, Communist governments took over. In Poland,
Communists joined at first with other parties. In Czechoslovakia the prime minister was
forced to accept Communists into his government.
The Communist Parties had often been leaders in the resistance against the Nazis. The only
countries where Stalin did not get his own way were Yugoslava and Greece. In Yugoslavia,
the local Communists had thrown out the Germans. Their leader, Tito, set up a Communist
state, independent of the USSR, ruling it himself until his death in 1980. He sent supplies to
the Greek Communists, who were fighting a civil war against the Royalists. Stalin stayed out
of this civil war as he had agreed with Churchill.
"Cominform' set up in 1947, made sure that their Communist parties were controlled from
Moscow. "Comecon” controlled their economies for the benefit of the USSR.
By 1948, the USSR was in control of half of Europe. Stalin, as a commander of the Red
army, may have felt that he had the right to do as he liked in order to rebuild the USSR.
Churchill stated those fears most sharply in a speech in the USA as early as 1946. President
Truman immediately declared his agreement with Churchill's speech. In 1947
Truman set up the National Security Council to unite all three armed forces, together with the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The job of the CIA was to work secretly to support
pro-Americans and undermine anti-Americans anywhere in the world.
The Truman Doctrine
In the same year, the British government said that it could no longer afford to help the
anti-Communist forces in Greece. Truman stepped in with what was called the 'Truman
Doctrine'.
The Truman Doctrine was the beginning of US policy for the Cold War. This policy was called
‘containment’. the USA would help any country threatened by Communism so that
Communism could not advance further.
Americans assumed that Communism could come to a country only through an armed
minority take-over or outside interference. They assumed that as soon as one country
became Communist, the neighbouring one would follow the ‘Domino Theory' . They assumed
that Communism would go on trying to expand unless it was stopped.
The Truman Doctrine also committed the USA to play a big part in world affairs. The USA,
not the UN. would be the world's policeman.
Marshall Aid
Truman felt that Communism did well when people were poor and suffering.
In 1947, his Secretary of State General George Marshall, put forward a plan to give billions of
dollars of aid to Europe. He saw that most of western Europe was still shattered from the war
and would need help to recover. If it did bot, the USA would be left on its own to face the
USSR. The US Congress was not keen on the idea, but just as they were discussing it came
the news of the brutal Communist take-over of Czechoslovakia.
There are differing views about Marshall Aid, as it was called. It could appear to be a
generous gesture to an ailing Europe. one aim was to build up strong anti-Communist
countries. Marshall Aid did rescue and restore prosperity in Britain, France, Italy and the rest
of western Europe.
Why did Berlin become a flashpoint?
The main problem thrown up by the bad relations between the USSR and USA was
Germany. Within a few months of peace, however. The Russians had refused to allow
anyone else into their zone. In the Soviet zone, factories were being dismantled and shipped
to the USSR. Britain and France were reluctant to give food and money to Germany. The
only solution seemed to be to allow some economic revival in the three Allied zones. Stalin
was furious: his hatred of Germany was immense. The problem of its defeated population did
not move him, and he accused the West of re-erecting the Nazi state.
The flashpoint was bound to be Berlin. When the Allies proposed to help revive their zones
by setting up a new currency, Stalin closed all access to Berlin. He hoped to force an Allied
retreat, but Truman was firm. The Americans thought of using their army, but decided to ferry
supplies into west Berlin by air.
Nato
The Soviet zone became East Germany, under Communist rule. The three Allied zones
became West Germany, which included West Berlin. In 1949, the western European
countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation This alliance was based on the USA,
which always provided its Supreme Commander. By the terms of NATO, the USA took on the
lion's share of defending western Europe against attack.

CONTAINMENT AROUND THE GLOBE

In 1949, the USSR had exploded its first atom bomb, so the US monopoly was broken. In
1949, too, China had become Communist. Communist take-over by Moscow. Spies were
caught in the USA and Britain, and Joseph McCarthy was leading a ‘witch hunt' against
suspected Communist sympathisers in the USA. The national security council of Truman
gave him a letter that recommended that the USA make a great effort to oppose Communism
anywhere in the world. Truman had to consider this policy within a year because of events in
Korea.
Why did Korea become a flashpoint?
In 1945, the Japanese in North Korea had surrendered to the USSR, those in South Korea to
the USA. Elections were to be held, but separate governments were set up. Both were
dictatorships, Communist in the north, capitalist in the south. In 1950, North Korean troops
invaded South Korea. Truman sent troops to nearby Japan and battleships to wait off the
coast. He also asked the UN to condemn the invasion.
Normally the USSR had a veto at the UN, but they had withdrawn in protest at the UN's
refusal to admit Communist China. The UN was therefore able to order its forces to drive
back the North Koreans.
Although the Korean war was a UN action, the USA provided a big part of the army,the navy
and the air force: The American, General MacArthur, who was in charge, took orders from
Truman, not the UN. MacArthur landed behind North Korean lines and soon defeated them.
Truman could not resist the attempt to push back the Communists. North Korea was invaded.
As the armies reached the Chinese border, Chinese leader Mao Zedong warned them to
stop. They did not, and a large Chinese army attacked MacArthur. Truman did not want to
get entangled in a war in Asia. MacArthur felt the battle against Communism should be
fought in Asia first.
As President of the USA, Truman was Supreme Commander. MacArthur was sacked in 1951
and a compromise cease-fire worked out in Korea in 1953.

THE DULLES YEARS

From 1953 to 1959, John Foster Dulles was American Secretary of State to President
Eisenhower. He was a determined Cold War fighter. He wanted to go further than just
"containing' Communism: he spoke of 'liberating certain areas from Commu-nism. This would
be done by using propaganda to stir up rebellions in the satellites. The launching of the
Russian 'sputnik’, a small satellite, into orbit around the earth in 1957 shocked the
Americans.
Dulles built up the ring of containment around the USSR by a series of alliances. In 1951, he
had negotiated an alliance with Japan. An alliance was made with Australia and New
Zealand. The South-East Asia Treaty Organ-isation (SEATO) linked the USA with Thailand,
the Philippines and Pakistan in 1954. In 1955, the Baghdad Pact joined the USA with Turkey,
Iran, Iraq and Pakistan( after Iraq left, this alliance was renamed CENTO)
From 1955, the USSR was ruled by Nikita Khrushchey. He announced that he intended to
live in 'peaceful co-existence' with the West and that he wanted to settle disputes through
'discussion, not through war’ In 1955, Soviet troops withdrew from their zone of Austria.
Khrushchev met Western leaders but little was done.
The Berlin Wall
Khrushchev in 1959 demanded that Allied soldiers leave West Berlin. At that time, the
contrast between drab East Germany and prosperous West Germany was so great that
some two million East Germans had crossed over to the West. This was disastrous for East
Germany and, in 1961, a wall was built across the city to make escape harder.

CUBA
One of the worst sides of the US Cold War policy was that they supported some corrupt
right-wing governments as long as they were anti-Communist. One of these was the brutal
dictatorship of Batista in Cuba. In 1959 it was overthrown by Fidel Castro. Castro only
wanted to be free of US control, but to the USA his only choice was to become an ally or an
enemy. He turned to the USSR for help. In 1961, the USA backed an attempted invasion of
Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
The new President, John Kennedy, told his armed forces to prepare for a nuclear attack on
the USSR, demanded that Khrushchev withdraw his missiles and sent the US navy to stop
any more missiles getting through to Cuba.
Kennedy agreed to Khrushchev's offer. The blockade was lifted, the missiles created and
sent back to the USSR. The Hot Line was set up: a direct telephone link from the White
House to the Kremlin in Moscow, in 1963. In the same year, the USSR and the USA signed a
Test Ban Treaty to stop further testing of nuclear weapons. Soon, however, the USA was
involved in another war in Asia.

VIETNAM
In 1954 the French were driven from their former colony of Indo-China. The rebels who had
driven them out were mainly Communists, led by Ho Chi Minh: Indo-China was divided into
four states:Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
Vietnams could later be united. Meanwhile North Vietnam became a Communist country
under Ho Chi Minh. In South Vietnam power was in the hands of a small group, usually from
the Roman Catholic landlord class and often corrupt. By the late 1950s rebellion had broken
out.
The rebels called themselves the Vietcong and received help from North Vietnam and other
Communist countries. The USA began to help the South Vietnamese government, Before
long, a major war was taking place. During Kennedy's presidency, American 'advisers' in
Vietnam were increased.
The Vietnamese war showed the oversimplification of US Cold War thinking. A policy formed
by events in Europe in the 1940s was not necessarily the right one in Asia in the 1960s. They
insisted on seeing the war as an attempt by North Vietnam, and behind them China, to take
over first South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. The domino' theory still held.
The Vietcong used guerrilla tactics. By day they mingled with the peasants in the rice-fields
of South Vietnam. By night they mined roads and passed on information. They were on
better terms with the South Vietnamese peasants than the Americans, who were foreigners -
‘long noses’.
Supplies were carried from the North on bicycles down jungle tracks, called the Ho Chi Minh
Trail'.
The war also showed what has been called the arrogance of power: the Americans could not
believe that they might not win. From 1965, there were massive bombing raids on North
Vietnam to try to stop supplies to the South. By 1970, more bombs had been dropped on
North Vietnam than were dropped during the entire Second World War.
Helicopter gunships, gas and napalm were all used.
In spite of all this the guerrilla tactics of the Vietcong and North Vietnamese worked.
By 1968, the cost of the war in deaths and money was becoming too great for the American
people. An anti-war movement gained strength. Press-dent Nixon proposed
"Vietnamisation"- handing over the war to the South Vietnamese. A peace was negotiated in
Paris in 1973.
Communists also took over in Laos and Cambodia. as a result of Nixon's decision to bomb
these countries, which had turned the people there against the USA and towards the
Communists.

DETENTE IN THE 1970s

Détente means an 'easing of tension', in this case between East and West. The USA built
closer relations with the USSR and China. Some agreement was reached on limiting the
arms race. Crises did not reach the brink of nuclear war as they seemed to in the 1950s and
1960s. reasons for this. A major One was the split between the USSR and China in 1900.
For the USSR and Chinese there was the danger of being isolated, of being the odd one out
of three. Both tried to come to terms with the USA.
It appeared that most Vietnamese preferred a Communist government without being bullied
or forced into it.
It appeared that most Vietnamese preferred a Communist government without being bullied
or forced into it. The problems of poverty at home remained unsolved. The USSR too wanted
to use its resources to raise the standard of living for its people. Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks (SALT) were held from 1969 between the USSR and the USA.
This resulted in an agreement in 1972, SALT 1, limiting nuclear weapons.
Throughout the Cold War both sides recog-nised that each has certain areas of influence. No
US help was given to Hungary in 1956 or to Czechoslovakia in 1968 when these countries
tried to throw out their Communist rulers, and were crushed by Soviet tanks. The USA
crushed left-wing governments in the Dominican Republic in 1965 and Chile in 1973 without
the USSR becoming involved.
The spirit of detente brought about the Helsinki Conference of 1975. The 35 states which
attended agreed to guarantee all frontiers and respect human rights. for the USA it meant
complaining about the suppression of the rights of individuals in the USSR. To the USSR it
meant being allowed to get on with running their own country in their own way without
interference. SALT 2, due for renewal in 1977, was not completed until 1979. Then in
December 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan and the USA refused to sign the treaty.
The 1980s saw a return to Cold War attitudes on the part of the USA, led by President
Reagan.
He called the USSR 'an evil Empire. A Second Cold War began. US forces intervened in the
civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
new Cruise and Pershing missile systems were invented and deployed among the USAS
NATO allies. The 1980s saw a return to Cold War attitudes on the part of the USA, led by
President Reagan.
He called the USSR 'an evil Empire. A Second Cold War began. US forces intervened in the
civil wars in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Even more dangerous, new Cruise and Pershing missile systems were invented and
deployed among the USA’s NATO allies.
In response, Reagan developed a massively expensive and complicated nuclear defence
system called "Star Wars'.

THE END OF THE COLD WAR

Gorbachev wanted to carry out radical changes in the USSR. To do what he wanted, he had
to remove the huge burden of the cost of the Cold War. One of his policies for the USSR was
glasnost, meaning trust or openness.
In two meetings between Corbachev and Reagan, at Reykjavik in Iceland in 1986 and at
Washington in 1987, the Cold War came to an end.
Gorbachev's policy for Eastem Europe has been called the Sinatra doctrine. This meant
letting countries decide their own forms of government and place in the world.
In 1989 Communist governments in East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania and Bulgaria all fell. The Berlin Wall was torn down. This time, no Soviet tanks
rolled in to stop them.
The West was taken by surprise. Nuclear weapons systems remained in place. NATO
wondered whether to ask the USSR to join. There was talk of a 'New World Order', of peace
for all. There was talk of the 'Peace Dividend’. Having geared up for war over 45 years,
however, Western countries were uncertain how to react to these rapid changes.

Chapter 18: The usa since 1945

In 1945 the USA was the richest, most powerful country. Industry and farming had prospered.
The USA possessed the atom bomb. American presidents had to spend a great deal of their
time in foreign policy. In 1945, American troops were stationed in many parts of Europe and
the Far East. Over the next 35 years, they were to find other battlefields: Korea, Vietnam and
elsewhere.

PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN 1945-1952

After Roosevelt died in 1945, the vice-president Harry Truman took over. FDR brought the
US government into economic affairs in a big way. Truman was a ‘new dealer’ and continued
his involvement. Government contracts continued to go out to American business in
peacetime. This kept up employment.
Prosperity
Through the 1950s and the 1960s prosperity increased. America’s lead over the rest of the
world was astonishing. A boom in consumer goods took place. Buying more meant more
jobs, and so more money to spend. Therefore a huge advertising business grew up.
Hire-purchase was arranged on a huge scale: you could buy more than you could pay cash
for.
The fair deal
Truman had plans of the kind of the New Deal; return to prosperity and help the less
fortunate. He called them the ‘Fair Deal’. He wanted to tackle poverty and civil rights.
However, FDR had had the US Congress on his side during the New Deal. As a Democrat,
he could count on a Democratic majority in Congress to pass the laws he wanted. Until 1948
Truman had to deal with a Republican Congress. Democrats regained control of Congress in
1948. Democrats from the south blocked Truman's hopes for civil rights. His only major
achievement was a law to stop segregation (racial separation) in the US armed forces.
Mccarthyism
Foreign affairs, especially the growing Cold War, began to have an effect on events inside
the USA. By 1950, American Cold War policy had suffered setbacks: China had become
Communist, the Korean War had broken out and the USSR had learned how to make atom
bombs.
A British scientist, Dr Klaus Fuchs, admitted giving atomic secrets to the Russians. Then an
American, Alger Hiss, was accused of spying for the SSR. Senator Joseph McCarthy began
to claim that the USA was riddled with spies. Unfortunately, very few people dared to oppose
Senator McCarthy. Not one of the hundreds of people accused by McCarthy was ever
actually convicted of spying. Politicians were careful.
When the Korean War was over (1955) people were shocked at McCarthy's rudeness and
bullying. He lost the public's support.

PRESIDENT DWIGHT EISENHOWER 1952-1960

He was a popular president. As a successful Second World War general, he won the
elections of 1952 and 1956 easily. Their main aim was to keep the economy booming. They
succeeded. Wages kept rising, and hours of work fell. This boom was mainly due to a world
trade revival, but Eisenhower received much of the credit for it.
Poverty
In 1960, many Americans, both black and white, were still poor. In the richest country in the
world, there were areas with bad housing and schools. There was no health service, no dole,
no social security. They thought that such welfare systems just encouraged people to be lazy.
Blacks in America
They were often poor and they suffered discrimination. After the abolition of slavery in 1856,
most blacks stayed in the South. The whites ruled the South, however, passing laws to make
separate white and black facilities legal. With bad education and white judges, it is not
surprising that few blacks voted.
During and after the Second World War, many blacks moved north to the cities and to
California. As blacks moved in, richer white city residents moved out to the suburbs. By 1960,
the crime rate in American cities had reached enormous proportions. Yet the cities did not
have the money to deal with these problems.

PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY 1960-1968

In 1960, John F. Kennedy, a young, vigorous Democrat won the presidential election. He
brought many new men from universities to work with him. He didn’t achieve much, but his
name and face still stand for a belief that American ideas and energy can solve any problem.
He appointed the first black ambassador, the first black naval commander and the first black
Federal judge. He announced plans for health care, care of the elderly and help to unions,
calling these plans the "New Frontier". However, his proposals were blocked by Congress.
Democrats from the South opposed change, opposed welfare and opposed racial equality,
voting with Republicans against him.
Martin Luther King
The battle for black civil rights in the South had been slowly gaining strength: In 1954, the
Supreme Court had judged that separate black and white schools were illegal. In 1957, there
were riots at Little Rock, Arkansas, when a black girl enrolled at the white high school.
Eisenhower used Federal troops to enforce the integration. In 1955, after a lady refused to
give up her seat to a white woman, and was arrested as a Communist agitator, a boycott of
the local bus service followed. This was led by Martin Luther King, a young black minister.
Discrimination on buses was declared illegal.

PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON 1968-1968

Kennedy's successor was Lyndon B. Johnson, a rough and ready Southerner. Kennedy men
did not like him. He had started his career as a New Dealer. In 1964, the Appalachian
Recovery Programme was passed, to deal with poverty and pollution in the Appalachian
Mountains. He passed the Civil Rights Act, 1964, for integration in shops, cinemas and
restaurants; the Education Act, 1965; and the Voting Rights Act, 1965. He introduced
'Medicare', a system of health care for the over-65s, and 'Medicaid", a health system for the
poor. He used the shock of Kennedy's assassination to push through these laws, claiming
that he was doing Kennedy's work. He also brought in a huge programme of government
help for the cities, which he called the ‘Great Society'. By the later 1960s, the Vietnam War
was taking more and more time and money. As American involvement in the war increased,
so the chance of dealing with problems at home slipped away.
At the same time, black Americans were turning to other leaders. Bitter over the death of
Kennedy, many blacks turned to the 'Black Power' movement.Some leaders were Muslim,
looking for a religion which non-white people could feel was their own. One famous follower
was Muhammad Ali. Others tried to teach their fellow blacks to be proud of being black.
In 1961, the campaign was on another front: discrimination in stations and eating areas.
'Freedom riders' went into the South to insist on their rights to equal treatment. The local
people met them with violence, supported by the local police. Some civil rights workers were
killed and their murderers let off by white juries.
Kennedy was able to help these campaigns through his brother, Robert Kennedy, the
Attorney General. In 1962, the President sent Federal marshals to enable a black student to
enrol at the all-white University of Mississippi. In 1963, he began a tour of the South to try to
influence people. He had a speech to make in Dallas, Texas, however the speech was never
made. He was assassinated that same day.
In the late 1960s, American universities and cities were centres for many protests. There
were two issues: civil rights for black Americans, and opposition to the Vietnam War. The
race issue flared into riots in Watts, California, in 1965, and in Newark, Detroit and Chicago
in 1966. In 1968, Johnson announced that he would not stand again for the presidency,
mainly because of opposition to the Vietnam War. There was more violence in that year, with
the assassinations of both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

PRESIDENT RICHARD M. NIXON 1968-1974

The 1968 election was won by Richard M. Nixon who promised to put an end to the Vietnam
War.
At first, Nixon continued the war, even extending it into Cambodia. This produced further
protests. In 1973, however, he withdrew American soldiers from Vietnam. It was a calmer
period. All over America, even in the South, blacks made progress: more went on to college
and more voted. By 1975, 120 cities had black mayors. There are still many poor blacks,
however, and much bad feeling remains which occasionally explodes into violent riots.
Watergate
President Nixon's peace efforts made him popular, but he was a suspicious man. He felt he
had to win the 1972 presidential election at any cost. Nixon's men broke into the Watergate
building (where his Democratic opponent's headquarters were), to see what plans his
opponent had. They were caught and put on trial. Nixon said he knew nothing about
Watergate and won the election.
However, the trials of the burglars and newspaper publicity led to Nixon being blamed. In
1973 Nixon's Vice-President resigned and was replaced by Gerald Ford. In 1974, Nixon was
forced to reveal his tape-recorded conversations about Watergate. In August 1974 he
resigned. Gerald Ford, the Vice-President, took over as President until the 1976 election.

PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER 1976-1980

The next President of America was Jimmy Carter, an unknown Democrat. He was honest,
and promised open, clean government. However, he had no solution for events in the future.
There was inflation and rising unemployment.
Oil prices were rising so Carter proposed an Energy Bill to cut down petrol consumption. This
was rejected by Congress. American diplomats in Iran were held hostage by Islamic students
in 1980. Carter's rescue bid failed when US helicopters broke down. At this stage the
American people were left uncertain and demoralised. In the 1980 presidential elections the
American people turned back to more old-fashioned views. The winner was the ageing
ex-Hollywood film actor and Governor of California, Ronald Reagan.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN 1980-1988

Reagan promised to reduce taxes and restore pride in being American. He did both these
things. He won both the 1980 and 1984 presidential elections easily. At home, the economy
picked up. In foreign affairs his forceful anti-Communist views were pursued in spectacular
plans for a multi-billion dollar defence plan known as 'Star Wars'. However, he found himself
dealing with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. Together they drew the Cold War to a close

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH 1988-1992

George Bush had served twice as Ronald Reagan's Vice-President and appealed to
Americans who wanted Reagan's policies to continue.

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON 1992-

Bill Clinton was much younger than George Bush. Clinton and his wife, Hillary, a career
woman in her own right, seemed to stand for new values in American politics, particularly in
helping poorer Americans with the cost of healthcare and improving their education.
However, he soon faced stiff opposition from a strongly Republican Congress.

Chapter 20: The United Nations

ORIGINS
In 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met on a warship in the North Atlantic. They drew up the
Atlantic Charter as the basis of their war aims. They put forward the 'Four Freedoms' as their
reasons for fighting: freedom from want, freedom of speech, freedom from fear, freedom of
religion. These ideals became their foundation for a better world after the war.
Despite the failure of the League of Nations, Roosevelt and Churchill proposed setting up an
international peace-keeping organisation. The 'Four Freedoms' became the Charter of the
United Nations. There were 51
member countries at the beginning.

ORGANISATION AND DIFFERENCES FROM THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

The General Assembly is where all member nations meet. Almost all countries in the world
are members, speeches are made on any issue, and each country has one vote.
The Security Council is the active part of the UN. Its members meet regularly to deal with
crises as they happen and recommend action.
The USA, USSR, Britain, France and China are permanent members. Other countries, in
rotation, also serve on the Security Council, but the five permanent members have a veto.
The veto was intended as an exceptional and rare necessity.
The Security Council could settle disputes in three ways: by offering to help in an argument;
by imposing economic sanctions or, by actually raising an army to give help to a country
which had been unfairly attacked. an energetic and determined Secretary-General can do a
great deal for the UN. The League had no such job.

THE UNITED NATIONS IN ACTION

Aid agencies
The aid agencies have continued to carry out important work in the needy areas of the world.
UNRRA (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) looks after the refugees
who have suffered from the many wars that have taken place since 1945.
The ILO (International Labour Organisation) tries to protect workers all over the world. It also
teaches people skills to enable them to support themselves.
The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) advises on all aspects of agriculture.
The WHO (World Health Organisation) trains people in fighting disease.
UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund) works for all aspects of
the health and welfare of children.
The IMF (International Monetary Fund) and World Bank act as bankers to poorer countries.
UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) deals with
education and attempts to bring the peoples of the world into a closer understanding of one
another.
The Disarmament Commission, International Telecommunications Union and Universal
Postal Union deal with their own important international issues.
Political issues in the early years
In the years since 1945 the UN has reflected changes in the world outside. The Cold War
was soon being played out in the Security Council. In the 1940s the. Western powers had a
majority in the UN. The USSR had not taken part in drawing up the Atlantic Charter. The
USSR used its veto many times in the Security Council. This permanent blocking of the
Security Council seemed to be crippling the new organisation. In 1950 a formula was
produced to get round it, and was called 'Uniting for Peace'. The 'Uniting for Peace'
procedure can thus take an issue out of the hands of the great powers and deal with it in the
General Assembly. In 1949, the USA would not admit China to the UN. For the next 23 years,
China was excluded and Chiang's government continued to occupy a Security Council seat.
When the Korean crisis occurred, the invasion of South Korea by North Korea was seen as
just the kind of aggressive act the UN was set up to stop. The USSR had withdrawn from the
Security Council. With the Soviet veto removed, the UN could act more freely. The General
Assembly condemned the North Korean invasion and the Chinese support for North Korea, A
UN army was sent to support South Korea. The USA provided most of the army, but other
nations contributed forces. The idea of a UN army was not impossible. The power of the
Secretary-General was an issue during the 1950s and 1960s. The first Secretary-General,
1945-1952, was -Trygve Lie of Norway. The USSR continually attacked him. They tried to get
the post replaced by a committee on which they would have a veto. Instead, the UN
appointed a man from neutral Sweden, Dag Hammarskjöld who was Secretary-General
1953-1961. He actively wanted to promote peace. After the Suez invasion of 1956, the
'Uniting for Peace' system was used to get round the British and French veto. The General
Assembly condemned the invasion of Egypt by Britain. France and Israel. Hammarskjöld
organised a UN peace-keeping army to stand between Israel and Egypt. In 1960, the Congo
became independent but soon law and order broke down completely. The UN army tried to
restore peace and order to the Congo. Hammarskjold also called on the other resources of
the UN, which tried to fill the gap left in the Congo. Gradually, law and order were restored.
The UN army also had to fight the province of Katanga to achieve this, as it was trying to
break away on its own. Hammarskjöld was killed in a plane crash and was replaced by his
deputy, U Thant, who held the job from 1961 to 1971. In 1964, U Thant ordered a
peace-keeping force into Cyprus to keep Greeks and Turks apart. He did not, however, have
Hammarskjöld's positive approach on some issues. When Nasser asked the UN to withdraw
their peace-keeping forces from Gaza and Sinai, he agreed. Within weeks, the 1967
Arab-Israeli war had broken out.
Changing membership
By the 1960s, the UN had changed in another way. The original 51 members had been
joined by many others. There are now 184 members.
“Third World” countries have a d
majority in the General Assembly. The UN has now become the voice of the weaker nations
of the world.
The UN: decline of an ideal?
It would be easy to list all the failures of the UN. There continue to be wars all over the world
and poverty and famine are as widespread as ever. It failed to play any significant part in the
Cuban crisis of 1962, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, or the Falklands War of
1982. In all these cases powerful countries preferred to act on their own to get the result they
wanted, rather than to refer the problem to the UN.
There have been some successes. The agencies of the UNO have made real improvements
in the health of the world's population. Killer diseases like smallpox have been eliminated.
However, important issues like population control and control of environmental pollution
divide the UN between rich and poor nations. So does controversy over the work of the
World Bank and the IMF. These organisations have been accused of increasing the already
huge wealth gap between rich and poor in the world. The UN is too large to work efficiently
on the small-scale schemes poor people in poor countries need The UN was set up with the
highest ideals. As the wars which brought them into being have faded, so has the idealism.
UN action can be obstructed by countries’ unwillingness to join in, to find their share of the
cost, or by the strict rules it has to follow.
Secretary-Generals of the UN
● Trygve Lie (Norway) 1946-1953
● Dag Hammarskjöld (Sweden) 1953-1961
● U Thant (Burma) 1961-1971
● Kurt Waldheim (Austria) 1971-1981
● Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (Perú)1981-1991
● Boutros Boutros Ghali (Egypt) 1991-

Chapter 23: The USSR and Eastern Europe since 1945

Introduction:
After the war, Europe was divided into two. In the east, the USSR controlled satellite
countries: Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. The
western countries were independent but close ties of trade and military alliance linked them
with one another and with the USA. Between the two there was the Iron Curtain (guns, wires,
watch towers).

THE USSR
The Soviet Union after 1945
Large parts of western USSR were destroyed because of the war. All the achievements of
the pre-war Five-Year Plans were gone. Stalin had to rebuild his country. A new Five-Year
Plan was launched, Russians had to meet their production targets and build up heavy
industry. The USSR was a world superpower which produced nuclear weapons to challenge
the USA. This was very expensive. Rebuilding the country was a long process.
Joseph Stalin
Stalin’s dictatorship and the secret police work (KGB) continued. The KGB suppressed the
idea that Communism might not be the best form of government. Independent points of view
were crushed and labour camps began to fill up again. The worship of Stalin also continued:
all his rivals were dead. The dictator remained in the Kremlin and relied on films and reports
to keep him informed. He talked about new purges and arrests. But before the trials, Stalin
died.
Nikita Khrushchev 1955-1964
There was no successor to Stalin. There was a collective (shared) dictatorship. The secret
police boss was removed and executed. There was a struggle for power and Nikita won. He
had been in charge of building the Moscow Underground and the boss of the Ukraine region.
In foreign policy he spoke of peaceful co-existence with the West (competition in trade and
ideas, not weapons). This would suit the USSR, which could not afford massive arms
spending at the same time as improving living standards. Goulash communism was Nikita’s
plans for improving material things by giving people prosperity while still retaining the
Communist system.
1- Agriculture: increase in grain production by opening up acres of Virgin Lands. New
collective farms were set up.
2- Industry: Stalin’s centralised planning system for industry was inefficient. He
transferred more power to local planning councils (sovnarkhozy).
3- The space race: the USSR had put a satellite (sputnik) in space. The first man sent
was Yuri Gagarin. Nikita made the most of these propaganda successes.
Nikita wanted a peaceful rivalry with the West but it led to the space race with the USA.
There was a military side because rockets could launch missiles and satellites.
Nikita changed policy and at the 20th Communist Party he talked about Stalin. He accused
him of encouraging a cult of his own personality, and of killing his rivals in the purges. This
was followed by a relaxation of censorship and the release of prisoners. However, it was not
so relaxed so that Soviet control was not loosened too much. After Stalin’s death and Nikita’s
speech there were riots in East Berlin and Poland. A Polish Communist removed by Stalin
was brought to power.
Hungary 1956
There was unrest. The Communist takeover was gradual but the country was safely in the
hands of Rakosi (dictator and Stalin’s followers). Agriculture was neglected in favour of
industry to benefit the USSR. Farms were collectivised. Nikita’s speech brought
demonstrations. A government was formed, led by Imre Nagy, and included some
non-Communists. They talked about leaving the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev sent Soviet tanks
to crush the Hungarians. Nagy was executed and Soviet control was reimposed.

THE FALL OF KHRUSHCHEV

Things were going wrong for Khrushchev. Soil erosion in the Virgin Lands led to crop failures.
The sovnarkhozy were not that efficient. He was blamed for the split with China and the
near-nuclear war over Cuba. He was dismissed.
The Brezhnev years 1064-1982
After Khrushchev’s attempts to reform the system, the USSR returned to 20 years of no
change. Brezhnev (Stanlist) did not want changes.
Czechoslovakia 1968
It tried to reform Communism to make it work better. The Stanlist leader was replaced as
party First Secretary by Alexander Dubcek. He wanted less censorship, less control by the
secret police and more open discussion. He was a Communist and did not want to go as far
as Hungary. This caused great excitement in the Prague Spring. But the USSR sent tanks to
remove Dubcek. Despite the passive resistance of the Czechs, Soviet rule was reimposed.
Poland
A demand for free trade unions started among the workers. It was eventually allowed and
called Solidarity. It became the focus of all opposition to the government and it was helped by
the Roman Catholic Church. It was an embarrassment to them because a Communist
government is supposed to rule in the name of the workers. The Polish army took over the
country. This was preferable to a Soviet Army invasion.

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV
After Brezhnev died, he was followed by Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko. But then
Gorbachev took over the USSR. He was deeply critical of the corruption and the stagnation
of the Brezhnev years. He wanted to reform the USSR.
Why did the USSR need reform?
Low standard of living
The USSR failed to give its people a better standard of living. The economy was still centrally
planned and run and was very inefficient. There were plentiful supplies of raw material and
fertile land, yet there were still shortages of food and goods.
Lack of freedom
Managers of factories were expected to do what Moscow told them. Prices were fixed by the
government at artificially low levels, so managers had no idea whether they were making a
profit or not. Many people were corrupt. Party officials (nomenklatura) had special privileges.
There was neither freedom nor free speech.
Military spending
The cost of the war (Afghanistan and Cold War) was destroying the Soviet economy.
Ecological disaster
Chernobyl was one of a series of ecological disasters. Rivers and lakes were polluted and
industrial effluent was poisoning people.
Gorbachev’s reforms
Gorbachev was a Communist who believed that the system could be made to work. He
wanted two great changes:
1- Glasnost (openness): more democracy, more freedom of speech.
2- Perestroika (restructuring): changing the Soviet economy so that wanted goods were
made at a price which reflected what they cost to make (free market).
What were the results?
1- The Cold War: Gorbachev ended the war in Afghanistan. He successfully ended the
Cold War in meetings with US Presidents.
2- Eastern Europe: Gorbachev believed people should be allowed to choose their own
form of government (Sinatra Doctrine). Communist governments fell peacefully in East
Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. Berlin people pulled
down the Wall and the two parts of Germany were united again. The Warsaw Pact was
dissolved.
3- The USSR: Gorbachev’ problem was how to move from a completely controlled
economy to a free one.
Glasnost undermined perestroika. Free elections and openness took power away from the
people who had been running the system. The USSR started to have free speech and free
elections but also enormous price rises, crime, speculation, a black market and a fall in most
people’s standard of living. Nationalism was the most powerful force Gorbachev’s reforms
gave freedom. The USSR had taken over and continued to rule the Tsar’s empire of different
peoples and regions. The republics which went to make up the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics now wanted to rule themselves. The ruler of Russia was Boris Yeltsin and he was
more powerful than Gorbachev, President of a collapsed USSR. The old Communists tried to
take over the government in a coup. It failed when Yeltsin defied them. Gorbachev resigned.
Yeltsin did not try to reform Communism, he abandoned it. The Communist Party was
banned and efforts were made to go over to a market economy.

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY 1917-1963

He was not an outstanding Senator but stood as the Democratic candidate in the 1960
election against Richard Nixon. The campaign was unusual in one way: Kennedy and Nixon
held four debates on television, the first time TV had been used in this way. Kennedy just
won, by only 100,000 votes out of the 68 million cast. He was the youngest President ever
(43).
Kennedy gathered people of ideas around him. His youth, his humour and his young family
brought fresh air into the White House. One real achievement was the Peace Corps: an
organisation where young Americans could serve a year or more as teachers or nurses
helping poorer people in Africa, Asia or South America. He made it quite clear, however, that
he was keen to help the poor, the old and the black people of America.
In foreign policy, he was as tough as any other president. Over Cuba, Berlin and Vietnam, he
stood very firm against the USSR. In 1963, however, after the Cuban crisis, he did sign the
Test Ban Treaty and improved contacts with the Soviet Union.
He would probably have won a second term of office in the 1964 election. His assassination
in 1963 was a blow to millions, inside and outside the US.

Chapter 24: Britain and Western Europe since 1945

During the war years, Britain had been the partner of the USSR and USA in the victory over
Hitler. Churchill had sat with Stalin and Roosevelt in the great meetings of the Allies at
Tehran and Yalta. But Britain was not the equal of the new superpowers. The power and
might of Britain, had received a terrible blow from the First World War. The decline had
continued with British industry in serious trouble for most of that time. The British empire has
gone; industry and commerce have had to adjust to new situations in the world.

WHY DID LABOUR WIN THE 1948 ELECTION?

In July 1945, after the defeat of Germany and while the war against Japan was still going on,
an election was called. It was the first since 1935. Most people expected the Conservatives
to win, because Winston Churchill was the Conservatives' leader. However, there was a new
feeling in the country once the war was over.
The voters looked back with disgust to the bad times of the 1930s, with so much
unemployment and hardship.
During the war, the Beveridge Report had proposed a scheme of 'national insurance'. The
author William Beveridge, intended to defeat what he called 'the five giants on the road to
social progress'. These were: want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. His plan was
to extend the insurance scheme started by the Liberals in 1911 to cover everyone in Britain.
Although Churchill had been wartime Prime Minister, the Labour leaders were not unknown
to the people, as there had been a coalition govern-ment. For once, Churchill misread the
mood of the nation and tried to frighten people by comparing life under Labour with life under
the Gestapo. Labour won with a majority of 146, the first ever Labour government with a
working majority.

THE LABOUR GOVERNMENTS 1945-1951

There were huge problems to be faced: five million homes had been bombed; half the
merchant shipping fleet had been sunk; industry had been organised for war and had to
return to peacetime conditions: there were soldiers to be demobilised.
Most of all, the war had been paid for by selling off British assets abroad. The result was that
the country owed £1,000 million more than it owned. Nevertheless, the Labour government,
led by Clement Attlee as Prime Minister, set about fulfil-ing its promises.
NATIONAL INSURANCE, 1946
In 1946, the National Insurance Act was passed.Every working person paid a small amount
each week for a stamp which was put on a card. In return, everyone could claim benefits. All
these benefits were paid ‘as of right' and were not means-tested.
NATIONAL ASSISTANCE, 1948
This system still left some people in need. For them, the National Assistance Board was set
up in 1948. Anyone who was in difficulty could apply for National Assistance. Money was
given weekly, with grants for special items such as clothing. It was intended that everyone
should be kept to a minimum standard of living.
NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE, 1948
Another of Beveridge's 'giants' was attacked by the National Health Service Act, 1946.
This came into effect in July 1948. The National Health Service (NHS) gave medical attention
to everyone. The scheme was opposed by the doctors, who did not want to come under state
control. The Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan, was determined to set up the system and
bought them off by allowing private patients as well.
When the NHS started in 1948, people rushed to receive free treatment. Not only doctors,
but opticians and dentists suddenly had hundreds of customers. Nine months' supply of
spectacles went in six weeks. Years of neglect were shown up and the job of putting things
right began.
All these measures added up to a huge increase in the Welfare State. The government had
taken on the task of looking after the well-being of the people 'from the cradle to the grave'.
Housing
During the Second World War nearly half a million homes were destroyed or made
uninhabitable. As a result, there was a housing crisis in 1945. There was a boom in
marriages and babies. In des-peration, 46,000 people moved illegally into disused army
camps as squatters.
Bevan also wanted to ensure that good-quality council housing had a high priority. Private
house building was restricted. In the five years after the war, Britain built more houses than
any other European country.
However, many people still wanted to buy a house, and not enough private housing to sell
was being built. This complaint was heard a good deal when the next election became due in
1950.
Another achievement of the Labour government was the New Towns Act of 1946. The idea
was to build new towns away from the old cities. All the latest ideas could be used: housing
and industry were separat-ed; houses were grouped in areas, each with their own shops,
pubs and other facilities; public transport was good, and cars and pedestrians were
separated.
Economic policy
The British people had made tremendous sacrifices during the Second World War. Now they
wanted to get on with building a better life. But it was not going to be easy.
In the words of Clement Attlee, the country was in a mess. Factories and houses were in
ruins.
Industry now had to adjust to peacetime production.The costs of the war had left Britain with
debts of £3,300. Britain had lost some of its trading links as a result of the First World War
and the long interwar depression left British industry run down, old-fashioned and
uncompetitive. As if these short-term and long-term problems were not enough, the new
Labour government was committed to spending large sums of money on building the Welfare
State.
However, the legacy of the war years was not all bad. Wartime controls in industry had been
necessary and an important cause of eventual victory. Labour was now prepared to direct the
economy to deal with the problems. There were also new technologies developed in wartime.
How did Labour tackle these economic problems?
EXPORTS
Controls were put on industry, requiring goods to be made for export only. By 1951 British
exports were up 77 per cent on the 1939 figure.
NATIONALISATION
The Labour government was also determined to nationalise several key industries. This
meant that they would be taken over by the government.
In 1945, the Bank of England was nation-alised. In 1947, the coal industry was nationalised
and the National Coal Board was set up. The railways were nationalised in 1947. Electricity,
gas, air-lines, and cable and wireless were also nationalised in these years. In 1949, the iron
and steel industries were nationalised. This last was bitterly opposed by the Conservatives,
as was the road haulage side of transport nationalisation. They promised to denationalise
both as soon as they came to power. However, most of the nationalisation was not unpopular
at the time. Industry had been controlled by the government in the war.
Austerity
All this tremendous programme of welfare and nationalisation was carried out against a
background of great economic difficulties.
There were shortages in the shops. There was no petrol and no foreign exchange for private
individuals. Most ex-soldiers soon found jobs successfully, but wages were restricted. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Stafford Cripps, kept taxes high, and the period became
known as 'austerity '. Then came the bad weather of 1946-1947. With temperatures low and
transport blocked, coal supplies ran short. This affected gas and electricity, which was often
cut off for several hours a day.

THE 1950 GENERAL ELECTION

By 1950 there was considerable dissatisfaction with the Labour government. Some people
objected to the high taxes which were necessary to pay for the Welfare State. Others felt that
the government was playing too great a part in people's lives. Emigration to Australia, New
Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa increased in these years. After the 1950 general
election, the Labour majority in Parliament was reduced to just six.

THE 1951 GENERAL ELECTION

Attlee carried on, clinging to his narrow majority. When the Korean War broke out, Attlee felt
Britain, as a great power, ought to take part. He put up government spending on the armed
services, and introduced charges in the NHS. Bevan bitterly opposed this, as it went against
his principle of a completely free health service and resigned. Attlee called another general
election late in 1951. This time, the Conservatives won more seats and ruled for the next 13
years.
"You've never had it so good”
The main feature of the 1950s and early 1960s was the recovery of the British economy. In
the 1959 election, Macmillan's remark 'You've never had it so good' was very true. The
prosperity was spread through nearly all of society. The upper and middle classes did well.
Average wages rose from £6.40 per week in 1950 to £11.121/2 in 1959.
There were plenty of things to spend the money on: car ownership doubled, ownership of
television sets went up by thirty times. Cheap air travel brought continental holidays within
reach of many more families. Advertising helped to show people new things to spend their
money on. Many more women went out to work, which helped the family income even more.
Hire purchase was frowned upon by most people before the war, but became very common
in the 1950s.
ECONOMIC PROBLEMS:”THE BRITISH DISEASE”
The post-war boom was heavily dependent on oil for heating, transport and power. One third
of the world's oil supplies came from the Arab countries. When the Arab attack on Israel in
1973 failed Arab oil producers decided to cut back supplies to countries which supported
Israel. There was an immediate energy crisis and inflation went up to 30 per cent in 1973 to
1974. Since then, energy has never been cheap, and world trade has become much more
competitive.
Britain has found it hard to compete in this stringent economic climate. Productivity in the
British car industry was low. In 1976 each British car worker made five cars, compared with
eight cars for every worker in Germany and 28 in the highly automated US car industry. Many
people were aware of the problem of low productivity but it was not tackled.
High prices, unreliable delivery and poor after sales service has been called the 'British
disease'. But who was to blame for the poor health of British industry?
Inevitably, everyone blamed everyone else.
Employers blamed the trade unions. They said unions were more interested in holding on to
jobs and pushing up wages than modernising industry by introducing new technology.
The unions blamed their employers. In the old industries like shipbuilding, relations between
employers and employees were bad and unions were tough.
The government was blamed by everyone.
Governments were not sure what their aims were.
Governments had to make a difficult choice: industry to be more competitive or to provide a
social service. It was the nationalised industries like coal and the railways that suffered the
most from these confused aims.

THE WELFARE STATE AFTER 1951

The first success of the Welfare State was to win the support of most people in Britain.
Furthermore, although the Welfare State was established under a Labour government, it was
supported by the Conservatives from early on.
This was known as 'Butskellism' after the Conservative, Butler and Hugh Gaitskell. The
Conservatives were in power from 1951 to 1964 and from 1970 to 1974, yet they made no
attempt to dismantle the Welfare State.
As wages increased during the 1950s and 1960s, a problem emerged: many working people
earned far more than the levels of benefit paid by National Insurance. So people out of work
could see their incomes drop dramatically. Graduated pensions were introduced in 1961 so
that people on higher incomes paid higher contributions for a larger pension. Other benefits
became earnings-related in 1966. More and more people took out private insurance for
health and old age.
The persistence of poverty
By the 1970s it seemed as if economic prosperity and the Welfare State had almost
eliminated poverty. Then surveys showed that old age pensioners, single parents and large
families living on a low wage were still in real difficulties. Four out of ten widows and
pensioners were getting Supplementary Benefit to bring their income up to a decent level.
The cost of health
Expectations for higher standards of health care have put a greater burden on the
NHS. In 1974 the NHS was reorganised, putting all under the supervision of local health
authorities. In the 1990s the Conservative government reorganised the NHS again, in an
attempt to cut costs.
The all-party agreement over the Welfare State was broken in the 1980s. Some right-wing
politicians began to criticise the whole idea of the Welfare State. They said it was ruinously
expensive and that the high taxes needed to pay for free health and welfare were reducing
people's incentive to show initiative and earn higher salaries. They also maintained that
people dependent on the Welfare State never learned to stand on their own feet, they called
it the 'nanny state'.
In 1973 the Child Poverty Action Group claimed that three million children were living in
poverty and that poverty was increasing.
Today, the Child Poverty Action Group has evidence that children born into poverty have a
shorter life expectancy. They have less privileged lives. Cutting benefits and making claiming
procedures more difficult may make people take more control of their own lives.

MRS THATCHER'S GOVERNMENTS 1979-1991

Mrs Thatcher's Conservative Party won the 1979 election. These were popular policies, but
she was also committed to an economic theory called monetarism. This claimed to keep
inflation down and drive inefficiency out of businesses. Unfortunately one result of
monetarism was higher unemployment, which reached three million people by 1982. This
brought her great unpopularity and she would not have won a second term as Prime Minister
but for the 'Falklands Factor'.
THE FALKLANDS WAR
In April 1982, the Argentine government landed troops on the Falkland Islands. This group of
remote islands in the South Atlantic, had been claimed by Britain in 1765. However,
Argentina also claimed the islands, which they called the Malvinas. The UN immediately
applied sanctions against Argentina. Mrs Thatcher, chose to use military force to remove the
Argentine troops. So the Falklands Islands were recaptured after six weeks of fighting. There
were quite heavy losses of men, ships and planes on both sides.
Her aggressive handling of the war won her widespread support, and she increased her
majority in the 1983 election.
THATCHER'S POLICIES
Mrs Thatcher despised the 'Butskellite' consensus of the previous 30 years. She felt it was to
blame for Britain's industrial problems and uncompetitive-ness. Her solutions were:
1. To weaken trade unions. Strikes were made harder and union membership fell. She took
on the National Union of Mineworkers and its leader, and defeated them in a long and violent
strike in 1984-1985.
2. Privatisation. Selling off nationalised industries. This produced millions of pounds for the
government. This was to encourage people to be more enterprising.
3. Welfare changes. She believed that the Welfare State made people lazy and dependent.
Cuts were made.
The Thatcher years brought a huge upheaval. Some people got rich; others were made
much poorer. Her successor from 1991, John Major, tried to continue her policies. His
government was dogged by scandals and the opposition of its own supporters to the
European Community.
Northern Ireland
Ireland became independent in 1921.
The population of Northern Ireland is made up of two-thirds Protestants and one-third Roman
Catholics. From 1921, the Protestant majority ruled Northern Ireland with their own
parliament at Stormont. They did not treat their Catholic minority well.
Protestants were favoured. Elections were organised so that Catholics were kept out of
power. An extra police force, the 'B Specials', made up of Protestants, helped suppress the
Catholics.
In 1967, there were civil rights marches by Catholics. They were attacked by Protestants. 'B
Specials' raided Catholic areas.The Provisional IRA arose as a Catholic counter-attack, and
soon law and order had broken down. British troops were sent in to keep order in 1969.
At first, they were welcomed by the Catholics, but then they moved against the IRA. This
brought violence between the army and Catholics, notably on 'Bloody Sunday', 1972, when
13 people were killed by soldiers.
The Provisional IRA, the 'Provos', stepped up their campaign for a united Ireland. IRA
violence made life dangerous for the ordinary people.
The British Government tried to find a solution. They abolished the Stormont Parliament in
1973 and tried to set up a power-sharing system.This was blocked by a Protestant General
Strike.
Then in 1994 John Hume of the SDLP negotiated terms for discussions between the British
and Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein. Peace came to Northern Ireland for the first time in 27 years.
Multi-cultural Britain
In the 1950s, there was a shortage of workers in Britain as the economy grew. To meet this,
workers from the West Indies, India and Pakistan came to Britain.
These new immigrants soon began to feel the results of racial discrimination. Black people
were frequently treated unfairly.
The reaction of British governments was to cut immigration and attack racial discrimination.
The Commonwealth Immigration Act, 1962, only allowed immigrants who had a job to come
to or a close relative to join.
The Race Relations Act of 1965 made it illegal to practise racial discrimination or to incite
racial hatred. The 1976 Race Relations Act set up the Commission for Racial Equality.
Defence
One aspect of British policy which governments have clung to is the 'independent nuclear
deterrent'. This means that Britain should have its own atom bomb.
Enormous amounts of money have been spent on this. In 1952, Britain tested it. By the late
1950s, missiles with nuclear warheads were being developed. In 1957, Britain began to work
on its own missile, called Blue Streak. It was cancelled in 1960, but not before £100 million
had been spent. Instead Macmillan made an agreement in 1962 to buy Polaris missiles from
the USA and fit them with British warheads.
Many British people opposed this, and in the 1960s the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
(CND) held large protest meetings and marches.
After a decline in the 1970s CND revived dramatically in the 1980s. US intentions worried
many people. Women who were particularly concerned set up a 'peace-camp' at Greenham
Common, one of the cruise missile bases. The collapse of the Cold War took the heat out of
the arguments, but the Trident programme was not cancelled.

EUROPEAN UNITY
In 1914 Europe had been the centre of world affairs; by 1945 the great European powers
were in ruins and exhausted. World leadership had passed to the superpowers, the USA and
USSR. In this situation several people in Europe put forward the idea of uniting the whole
continent.
There were good reasons for uniting Europe. It seemed ridiculous in the 20th century to have
so many small countries in such a small area. They had so much in common from their
history.
On the other hand, even as Churchill spoke, the USSR had split Europe in two. Also, the
history of western Europe had left many suspicions and resentments. Unity was not going to
be easy.
THE OECD
Economic links came first. Marshall Aid was given by the USA to help rebuild Europe. The
OEEC (Organisation for European Economic Co-opera-tion) was set up to run the Marshall
Aid programme. Sixteen western European countries joined. Later, the organisation became
the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). It helped the gradual
economic recovery of Europe.
The Council of Europe was set up in 1949. It was intended to be a European Parliament, and
several Europeans strongly wanted it to work: Monnet of France, Spaak of Belgium,
Adenauer of Germany, de Gasperi of Italy. Britain was unwilling to go too far. An attempt was
made to unite the armies of Europe in the EDC (European Defence Commun-ity). Again,
Britain was unwilling to join. France was suspicious of Germany and the idea collapsed.
THE SCHUMAN PLAN
The French Foreign Minister, Robert
Schuman suggested linking the coal and steel industries of Europe. If these two industries
could combine then it would be impossible for any country to build up an army without others
knowing.
In 1952 the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was formed. Its members were
France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It helped areas where
the coal industry was declining.
In its first ten years trade between its members increased by 170%.
The European Community
One lesson of the ECSC was that economic unity was easier than political unity. In 1957 two
more plans were put forward: first: cooperation in the growing nuclear power industry,
Euratom. Again Britain refused to join as its own nuclear industry was well advanced.
Second: was a proposal for a united trading and business area. This would be called the
European Economic Community (EEC).
The six members joined by signing the Treaty of Rome, 1957. They were the same six who
had joined the ECSC. It was always intended that the economic unity it produced would lead
eventually to a political unity, a United States of Europe.
Britain had stayed out of these organisations. They did not feel as close to their European
neighbours. The British economy would be difficult to combine with Europe's. British
agriculture was very different from the rest of the EEC countries. In 1959 Britain joined with
Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal in a free trading area:
European Free Trade Area (EFTA).
Gradually, conditions changed. The EEC was successful, but Britain was having economic
problems. In 1961 Britain applied to join. Some Europeans were keen to have Britain. Some,
however, still had doubts.
One of these was Charles de Gaulle, President of France. He felt that Britain was still too
isolated, too closely linked to the USA and anyway would threaten his leadership of Europe.
He vetoed the application and did the same in 1967 when Britain applied again.
In 1969, de Gaulle fell from power and Britain joined the Common Market in 1972, followed
by Denmark and Ireland. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Austria,
Sweden and Finland in 1995.
The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) has meant higher food prices and problems for the
highly efficient British agricultural industry. Mrs Thatcher negotiated Britain's exemption from
social and political aspects of growing European unity. Under John Major, Conservative
'Buro-sceptics' have opposed him, arguing against further integration into Europe.