World History IV: Globalization, 1800-present_part III

Japan was ruled by a military class that took a pragmatic approach in seeing the Western challenge as essentially a military one.

The Western powers interfered little in Japan’s internal politics, thus not contributing to opposition to foreign influence

Japan was closer to the United States than China was and thus received Western influence more directly.

Japan was a relatively compact nation, which could shift course much more easily than China.

Japan was traditionally receptive to outside influences, having borrowed from China since the sixth century.

Pushing industrialization through small-scale projects integrated into communes.

Industrialization aimed at the production of tractors that were badly needed by the peasants.

Communalism promoted among peasants through barbeques and cookouts held at backyard furnaces.

Touting of the benefits of backwardness and the joys of mass involvement.

Systems of production based on manual labor rather than on machine-based operations.

Crush the Nazi uprising that had broken out.

Force Germany to pay full reparations according to the Versailles Peace Treaty.

Compel the German government to act against Adolf Hitler, who had just tried to overthrow the Weimar Government in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch.

Prevent German rearmament.

Demonstrate French superiority in occupation techniques.

It was a violation of the Versailles Peace Treaty;

It was a violation of the Locarno Pact;

it was done with the enthusiastic approval of the German General Staff;

British policy was to view it as Germany’s merely entering its own backyard;

The French military overestimated German strength.

Many Germans lived there;

It was believed that the Sudeten area was not worth a war;

England did not feel strong enough to fight Germany;

France had no treaty obligation to Czechoslovakia;

They believed that this would be Hitler’s last territorial demand.

It was the result of a few psychopathic individuals who took over the government of Germany and hypnotized the Germans, Poles, French, and other peoples of Europe into going along with it.

It represented the culmination of centuries of discrimination and was not just an aberration.

Ignorant stereotypes about the Jews as rich, smart, clannish, and sneaky were reinforced in literature, legends, religions, and organizations of the time.

Hitler’s Mein Kampf published in 1925 was a best seller that reflected the views about the Jews that Martin Luther wrote in the 16th century.

Anti-Semitism was promoted through propaganda and restrictive laws.

At the Wansee Conference in 1941, Hitler ordered the “Final Solution” (Endlösung), that is, the complete extermination of the Jews in Europe.

Maybe a few hundred Jews died in the concentration camps, but there was no “Holocaust” involving 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jews.

He managed to save thousands of Jews by rerouting them to Schindler’s armaments factory

Having met Anne Frank and being impressed with her insights into human nature, he saved her diary for publication after the war.

It was of the utmost importance that the preparation for the gas chambers of recent arrivals to the concentration camps be undertaken in a mood of complete calm.

American and British troops had not yet crossed the Rhine River;

The Soviet Union had already made a separate peace with Germany;

The Soviet army had occupied most of eastern Europe and was only fifty miles from Berlin;

The Western allies had not yet defeated Japan;

Stalin could base his claims on the Curzon Line of 1919, which was established to define ethnic boundaries.

Defeating the United States and taking over control of all Pacific trade itself.

Making limited gains, then agreeing to peace terms that would give Japan hegemony over East Asia.

Aiding Adolf Hitler in his plans to take over the world.

Taking the U.S. ships for the scrap iron and oil they needed.

It was a mistake; they meant to bomb Canada instead.

A series of major military defeats, beginning in early 1943 in the Soviet Union (Stalingrad) and in North Africa.

The assassination of Hitler by Nazi officials, who could no longer tolerate his irrational decisions.

The defeat of Germany’s Italian allies and the death of Mussolini.

The dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, which served as a warning of destruction if Germany continued to fight on.

Secret negotiations between Hitler and Churchill whereby Hitler would be allowed to escape to Argentina if he ended the war.

It was unnecessary to end the war, but it would teach the yellow race a lesson.

The use of the bomb by the United States would make the Russians more cooperative after the war.

It was seen as a way to end the war quickly and save American lives.

American scientists needed someplace to test the bomb and Japan was as good a place as any.

The bombs were dropped on Japan as a warning to Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Saddam Hussein, and other dictators who try the patience of the United States.

The realization that continued war would lead to the deaths of many Japanese civilians.

The loss of hope that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would be defeated in the elections of 1948.

The entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan on August 9, three months after the end of the war in Europe.

The difficulty in recruiting kamikaze pilots.

Guarantees that all the military leaders would all be allowed to maintain their positions after the war was over.

Fact that the country escaped the devastation of the war and that its industrial capacity was still intact;

Willingness of the Japanese to produce cheap items of poor quality for consumer nations, in order to increase profits;

Willingness of Japanese industry to adopt innovative ways of production, such as Edwards Deming’s methods of quality control;

Unwillingness of the Japanese to make sacrifices and their demand for the quick achievement of a high standard of living;

The influx of immigrants into Japan, which provided a cheap labor force.

Jubilation in the streets of Moscow because of Russia’s invitation to participate in this Western club.

The subsequent signing of the Warsaw Pact uniting Eastern Europe under the Soviet military umbrella.

The blockade by the Soviet Union of Berlin, which was relieved only by an airlift.

The occupation by Soviet troops of what would become North Korea.

Agreeing to a non-aggression pact with Japan so the Soviet Union would not have to fight a two-front war.

Increasingly western European nations withdrew from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and established self-sufficient military defensive systems.

Western European nations rapidly lost their fear of Soviet aggression leading to the weakening of NATO.

Western European nations rapidly expanded their military expenditures to equal and exceed those of the U.S.

Western Europeans came to rely on the military protection of the U.S. and develop civilian values and goals.

Western European countries in NATO allied themselves with eastern European countries in the Warsaw Pact to combat Soviet expansion.

Except for Germany and Italy, political stability was restored through the institution of more authoritarian governments.

New constitutions established in western Europe uniformly established effective parliaments with universal adult (including female) suffrage.

Constitutions formed after World War II were noteworthy primarily for the lack of durability.

As late as the 1980s, France and England clung to authoritarian regimes ruled by communists and strongwomen.

Coalition governments formed in eastern Europe between 1945 and 1948 showed themselves to be effective in preventing communist takeover.

The European economy stagnated shortly after the withdrawal of the U.S. from European affairs.

Overall growth in gross national product surpassed the rates of any extended period since the Industrial Revolution began.

With the exception of a major depression from 1958 to 1964, the European economy grew.

While southern European nations, long the least developed of the continent, demonstrated remarkable growth, northern Europe slid into economic recession.

Eastern European countries easily surpassed western European countries in terms of economic growth.

Peasants were presented with real market incentives for increased production.

Kulaks (well-to-do farmers) were able to achieve control over most of the agricultural lands of Russia.

Agricultural production remained a major weakness in the Soviet economy, demanding a higher percentage of the work force than was common in other industrialized countries.

Agricultural planning was non-existent, as small independent farmers continued to control most of Russian productivity

The Soviet Union always had a surplus of wheat, which it was able to export too the U.S. and Canada when those countries were having difficulty feeding their respective populaces.

Rapidly reached the same status as males.

Were less likely to be in the work force than women in the West.

Dominated, in terms of numbers, some professions, such as medicine.

Were afforded the same type of domestic idealization typical of women in the West.

Found Russian men eager to help them with the housework.

He thought attempts to warn him were Western tricks of provocation and disbelieved them.

He was confident Soviet forces could quickly repel any German invasion.

His spies in the German High Command told him that Hitler was now looking to Africa for Lebensraum instead of Russia and Ukraine.

Soviet scientists were nearing completion of the atom bomb, so Stalin thought he could just nuke the Germans.

He was expecting Hitler to be overthrown in 1940 after his losing the Battle of Britain.

Due to government controls, the depression never affected the Japanese.

The Japanese government failed to take any direct action to modify the impact of the depression.

Increasing military domination of the government led to the creation of a regional empire within which Japan sold 50% its exports and from which it derived 40% of its imports.

The total concentration of the government on military aggression led to an ineffective response to the depression.

The Japanese economy was so totally devastated by the depression that Japan could not mount an effective effort during World War II.

Giving women the right to vote.

Abolishing Shintoism as the state religion.

Outlawing labor unions.

Making the emperor a symbolic figurehead.

Breaking up the large landed estates in order to benefit the small farmers.

Japanese culture threw off its connections with the past and wholeheartedly embraced Western styles in literature, drama, and the arts.

Japanese culture was defined by its conservatism and retention of old forms to the extent that Western forms particularly in art and architecture were unknown.

Aside from interior decoration and film, Japanese contributions to world culture were negligible.

Buddhism and Shintoism were officially banned because of their association with the warlike Japanese past.

Japanese style of gardening led to the Romantic movement in Europe.

Military expenditures remained a minuscule part of the Japanese budget.

Japan failed to regain its former level of industrialization.

Japanese technology continued to lag far behind that of the U.S.

Japan’s economy was directly controlled by an authoritarian government.

Japanese industry was only able to copy but never able to innovate in terms of methods and products.

Women in Japan participated more actively in leisure activities with their husbands than women did in the West.

Apanese women had higher rates of divorce than their Western counterparts.

The Japanese feminist movement was less widespread than in the West, being confined to a small number of intellectuals

Japanese women concentrated less on domestic duties than women in the West.

Japanese women’s work outside the home was more integrated with men’s work than in the West.