THE IMPACT OF WORLD WAR 1: CONTEXT FOR THE
I.
Course Themes-- Origins, Conduct & Consequences of WW2 in Aftermath of WW1
A. Declining British/French
response to aggressive
B. Did
C. Revolution: How did ideology
affect origins & conduct of war?
D. How did
E. Why did Allies win/Axis lose
& what was the role of the 2nd Front?
F. Is War Possible Again? Why WW1? When
& why did WW2 start? Was it inevitable?
II.
Total War Trauma: WAR IS NOT POSSIBLE: NEVER AGAIN! No Short War, No Long War
A. Demographic, Spiritual, Philosophical,
Psychological Destruction
B.
Social/Cultural/Political/Economic/Financial Instability--New War Risks Revolt
or Socialism
C. Strategic/Ideological/Moral
Dilemmas Make War Unthinkable: If War...
1. Win Short War Quickly/Offensive Thrust? NO: Trench Warfare Advantage to
Defensive!
2. Fight Long Total War? (Weaken Enemy Morale thru Blockade?): NO!
3.
a. Commies Published Treaties, Repudiated Debts, Quit, Betrayed
b. Suspect
c. So Where Will
d. British & French Disagree re Continental Commitment vs.
e.
D. Drawing Lessons from Studying
History: WW1, WW2 & Bosnia: NEVER AGAIN WAR
1. Learn & Prevent War! What Causes Wars? STOP IT! Pacifism/Appeasement--Prevention
or Cause?
2. Assume All Learn Same Lessons? Could Anyone Consider War Fruitful?
3. Collective Security Amplifies All Small Conflicts: War for Peace?
III. Realpolitik and the Importance of Power,
Leadership & Ideas--Does "Realism" Cause War?
A. Ingredients of Power:
Economic/Industrial/Technology/Geography/Demography
B. Leadership Civilian, Domestic,
Diplomatic (UN v Axis), & Military (Strategic/Tactical/Logistical)
C. IDEOLOGY: Liberal
Capitalist/Democracies v Nazi/Fascist LEADER v Communism
1. PreWW1 FREE Move of Goods, Money, & Migrants &
Stable Central Currency
2. Democracy Beats Monarchy 1919, Communism 1989, Terrorism...! New
Threats '30s/'00s?
3. Interwar Ideological Battle & Depression Shape Use of Power: WAR
IV. Why New War? WHEN? Was
A. Versailles Treaty Doesn't
Solve, But Worsens Situation, Reparations Stupid
1. Too Harsh: German Denied Input, Lost Land, Guilty
2. Inherently UNSTABLE, Balance of Power Gone; Minorities Weaken
3. Continuity of German Aims, 1914-41: Revisionist War: Hitler
B. Or
1. German Revisionist War Likely vs. Status Quo Powers: Nazi Holocaust Certain?
2.
3. Instability Potentially Solvable, But Depression Leads to Hitler!
4. Important LATE Western Shift from Acquiescence to Resolve
V. Origins of WARS & of WW1: Immediate Causes & General Origins: STOP
THEM! Do Solutions Solve?
1) Nation-States Exist
& Practice Realpolitik vs.
Int'l Law &
2) Kings Make Alliances Secretly vs.
Open Diplomacy & Democracy
3) German Q: Challenge SQ/League
of Nations vs. Victors Ally to Carve/Restrain Germany
4) Capitalist Econ Rivals/Empire
vs. Open Door to Raw Materials/Markets/Free Seas
5) Arms Races & Cult of
Offensive vs. Arms Control & Disarmament
6) Multinational Empire:
Autocrats Oppress Minorities vs. Self- Determination &
Democracy For All Whites
Alternative For ALL: Embrace Communism!
THE
I. Did
II.
A. 1918 Elections &
B. Secular Messianic USA & USSR
Pariah, Thanks to Debts, Betrayal, Communist Triumph
C. Open world: remove
antagonism's roots thru arms cuts; no secret diplomacy/allies; =, open
access to markets/RM, free navigation (2,4,5)
D. Self-determination: free
Alsace-Lorraine/Belgium; tyranny over Poles, Aus minorities: (Hapsburg/Romanov
successor states critical) (6)
E.
League of Nations: enforcement (& amendment?) mechanism (1-2)
F. Germans Accept as Basis for
Armistice: Feel Diktat Violates (3?)
III. How Restore Order & Prevent Future War? Realism vs. Moralism
A. Reestablish Pre-War Balance of
Power? Discredited Realpolitik
(1?)
1. Russian Outcasts & German Apprentices: Restrain Both?
2. Prevent Communist Spread: Intervene against
B. Make Peace Quickly to Restore
Stability: Errors Inevitable
C. Neither Victor's Carthaginian
Peace Nor One of Accommodation
D. Balance Destroyed: German Power
Remains:
E. Restrain
1. Arms Cuts Unequal, (Temporarily) Enforced,
2. French Goals: Security Guarantee vs.
3. British Hope: Pension Cash, Navy Eliminated,
IV. Peacemaking: Compromises of Secret Treaties & 14 Points
A. Italy Unsuccessfully Demands
Albania/Fiume/Dalmatia: Resentment Leads to Mussolini
B. Open Diplomacy & Sovereign
Equality vs. Big 3 & Diktat (2)
C. Mandates are Fig Leaf for
Colonial Expansion; Blockades Retained (3)
D. Racist Application of
Self-Determination Offends Japan (Racial Equality Clause Fails) (6)
E. Selective Self-Determination:
Germany Mostly Intact & Resentful (French Secure?) (3/6)
1. Demography & Geography: French Need Aid! Conditional/Worthless
US-UK Pledge
2.
3. German Military Unilaterally Shrunk: Numerically, Air, Subs, German
General Staff (5)
4. No
F. Germans Complain: Poles/Anschluss/Sudetens: "SubHumanOppressors"
(6)
1. Excluded from Conference, Diktat, Lose Territory/Colonies (Link to Bitter German Response, 1919)
2. But German Power Largely Intact: Prestige Damaged
3. Punished without Recognizing Defeat: Any Losses Unjust, See Brest-Litovsk Re
Complaints (More
Positive View)
V. USA Abdication: Treaty Defeated--Unilateralism Reasserted
A. Senate Defense of Prerogatives:
Advice & consent on treaties
B. Delegation: No Republicans
or Senators; Sick Wilson Refuses to Compromise
C. Congress' privilege to declare
war? Undermined by Article X of Covenant: preserve & respect
political
independence & territorial integrity of all vs. external aggression
D. Ideals Compromised at Paris &
Excessive Idealism: Link to
Assessments of Wilson's Legacy
VI. Security? Victors' Coalition Falters:
Economic/Military/Financial Power without
A. German Resentment Certain, But is
Hitler Necessary? Compare with
B. Washington Conference
Naval Cuts (US, British & Japan) & Construction Holiday on Capital
Ships
C. "Militarist France"
& Japanese Resentment w/o Effective Restraint: Status Quo Possible?
D. British/French
1. British Seek Continental French/German Equilibrium & Balance of Power,
Not French Hegemon
2. French Strict vs. British Lenient Application of Treaty
3. Treaty Not Fully Enforced: Loses Credibility with Victors! Did
Failure to Enforce Cause World War 2? Link
to One Historian's Assessment of Its Legacy
20'S ECONOMIC & SECURITY ILLUSIONS: THE
I. War’s Economic
Aftermath: Context of Political Insecurity: Trade/Investment/Migration Skewed
A. Extra Non-European
Agricultural/Industrial Capacity;
B. Political
Self-Determination's Economic Expression: Eastern European Autarky/Tariffs
C. Dead/Flu/Mutilé:
Demography; US Insists War Debts Repaid, Yet Increases Tariff & CLOSES
DOOR to EEurope
II. Reparations: French Exasperated with German
Recalcitrance & A-Am
A. Genoa Failure '22: British/French
B. Brits Swing Toward Keynes re Trade:
German Market for British Goods
C. France: Enforce
Treaty
D. German Reparations to
E. German Exports To Pay
F. Deadlock: Ruhr Occupied,
Jan ’23 Poincaré: ENFORCE
G. Franco/Belgian Army Seek
Reparations in Kind; German Passive Resistance/Printing Causes Inflation
1.
2. Stresemann Fulfills
H. US Multilateral Solution: Loans
Stabilize Temporarily
1. French Resent US Insistence on Loan Repayment: Is Gold More Precious than
Blood?
2. Financial Aid (From
a. Dawes Plan (1924): Evacuate Ruhr, Short Term US Loans:
b. Young Plan (1929): Reps Cut Again, Stretched Long Term to 1988
3. Stable Economic Recovery/Prosperity, '24-29: Illusive, Superficial, Dependent on US $$
III.
Security: Weak/Defensive
A. French Need Strong Germany
to Pay Reparations & vs Communism; Needs Weak
Germany to Ensure Security
B. NO USSR: Status Quo (SQ)
Powers Ally to Oppose Any Revisions: CORDON SANITAIRE
C. France: Belg
'20, Poles '21, Czechs '24, Rumania '26, Yugo
'27 Little Entente: Czech-Yugo-Rum '21 vs Hungary
D. Cordon vs. USSR/Germans,
Yet Foci Vary/Minorities; Fragile SQ Democracy/Geographically Weak vs.
Revisionists
E. League Enforce '23?: League
Wd Designate Aggressor/Signatories Respond on Own Continent (Br Oppose All?)
F. Geneva Protocol vs Aggressor: If Refuse Arbitrate, All Reply: But Would US
Resist If Sanctions Interrupt Trade?
G. Failed French/British
Co-Operation: Enables German Initiative: Concede Guarantee of French
Frontier; East?
IV.
"Spirit of Locarno," 1925: Optimistic New Beginning without Followup (Defines Next Battlefield)
A. Real End to WW1: A
"Peace Treaty" Germans Accept Willingly w/o Diktat
B. G Want to Keep Rearming
(Rapallo) & Get Cologne Evacuated, Yet Weak IMCC Reports Flagrant
Violations
C. Germans Guarantee Frontier:
Rhineland Pact: Br/Fr/Germany/Belgium/Italy Renounce War & Guarantee
Frontier
1. Settle Differences by Arbitration (Also in East)
2.
3. French Allowed Self-Defense Reply ONLY if Germans Breach the
Demilitarization of
4. Yet How Save
D. No Penalty For Reparations Default/Rearmament: Unenforceable! Yet
"Militarist
E. G-Polish & G-Czech
Arbitration Conventions ONLY: No German Pledge on Eastern Borders
F. No Joint British-French
Staff Planning Possible:
V. Stresemann's
Motives?: Is there Continuity in German Aims, Wilhelm
II to Stresemann to Hitler?
A. Individuals, Contingency
(1929 Death) & Inevitability: Was Stresemann a Good European?
B. NonUnilateral
Nationalist, Sought Peaceful, Moderate Revision of Polish Border (& US
Cash)
C. Entertained Mini-War As Last Resort vs Poles: Was This
Possible?
D. So: Would Any German
Challenge to
E. Turner/Parker Say No: What
Does This Say About 30 Yrs War Thesis?
F. So Do Dawes/Locarno Ensure
Stability or Do they Ensure the Nazis? Disarmament Possible?
VI. More
Evidence of "Spirit of
A. Kellogg-Briand Pact '28;
Briand's EuroUnion Idea; Maginot Line; Cordon Sanitaire to Idealism?
B. Link to Brief,
Favorable Biography of Andre Maginot
C. Maginot Impact On Pole/Czech Very Different From On US/UK: Passivity or NonMilitarism?
VII. Did Missed Opportunities/Failure To Establish Secure Political/Economic
Base Cause World War 2?
THE GREAT DEPRESSION: CAUSES, CONSEQUENCES & CONTEXT FOR IDEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS
I. External/Internal Economic Causes & Consequences of Depression: Link to Excellent On-line Summary & Another
A.
Destructive Dependence on Shaky US Leadership: '29 Crash/Hi
Tariffs/Reparations Loans End: Debts Delinquent: Link to Smoot-Hawley
B. Collapse of Business, Personal
Confidence, Credit, & Imports Affects Europe
C. Euro/Global Agricultural Glut
Leads to Falling Prices, Trade, Credit, and Failing Banks?
1. From Export Agriculture to Subsistence Agriculture: Govt
& Mercantile Revenue Fall
2. Banks/People/States Can't Pay (International) $$ Obligation
3. Prevent Trade Deficits: Exchange Controls, Tariffs Rise
4. Imports Fall 2/3: Laissez Faire Interdependence Replaced By Statism
D. From Confidence &
Cooperation to Cutthroat Competition
II.
Had Hoped Techno Rescue From Instability; Rather, Sci/Tech
Aggravate War's Impact
A. AirPower,
Car, Tank, Radio, Movies, Antibiotics; Genetics, Tobacco/Cancer & Nazi
Eugenics
B. Science No Liberator: Einstein,
Relativity/ism, A-Bomb: Govt Control vs. Free Exchange
of Ideas
III. Political Consequences of Great Depression As US &
A. Trade Reprisals Push Move
to Self-Sufficiency: Anti-Status Quo (In Extremity, Lebensraum)
B. Hitler in
C.
D. Ideological Divisions: Nat'lism/Communism/Fascism Gain vs. Liberal-Capitalist Int'lism
1. WEuropean/US Demos Turn Inward, Confidence
Shaken & Defense $$ DOWN: Crazy
2. Willpower to Cooperate & Resist Lacking; Balance
Budget to Restore Confidence Vs Aid to Poor?
3. Baffling Mindsets: Führer Idea, Struggle Glorified;
Dictatorships in E & C Europe--See Shift
4. Fascist Irrational Nationalism, Middle-Class Base, Top-Down Control
E. Did Great Depression Cause
World War 2?
IV. Ideological
Battlegrounds:
A. Domestic Context for Foreign
Policy: Borders Blurred By Shared Hate or Redirect Hatred Out
B. Fear: Compromise Means Enemy
Infiltration Amid Implicit/Explicit Extremist Co-op vs. Center
C. Violence as Solution to
Political Problems: Why?
D. So What
is the Importance of Ideology in Upcoming War?
V.
France: Delayed & Debilitating Effects: Neither Surrender VT Nor
Defend It: Will Disintegrate
A. Less Industrial/Less Dependent on
Trade; Delay Devaluation: Stagnation, Postpones Recovery
B. Imperial Preference Curbs Econ
Influence on EEur; Lingering Econ Collapse-- Social
Disharmony
C. Budget: Votes/Confidence: 11 Govts 1932-35, 24 1930-40 LEADERS? Avenue
for Extremists
D. Stavisky
Affair: Right v Left Extremes Empowered By
Police/Judiciary Corrupt, Inept Chamber
1. Long-Held Hates Blossom: Patriotism=Racism?:
Dreyfus Redux: Feb 34 Riots
2. Right Had Often Exploited Corruption
Protection/Suicides/Delayed Medical Care, Say Cynics
3. Dalimier Letters Threaten Chautemps Govt, Blames Others, Shifts Responsibility, Quits
4. Silenced Suspect Leads to Left/Rightist Riots, Premiers Chautemps,
Daladier Quit
E. Class/Regional Divides Influenced
By Econ Distress: Leftist Riot Draws Heavier Police Fire
1. Rival Paramilitaries: Right to Bear Arms...Army/Provincial Loyalty? Who're true Fr?
2. Similar Divisions Apparent in Death of Red
3. Link to Official Austrian Government Summary of "Red
Vienna"
4. Popular Front Wins (40Hr Week): Hitler, Not Blum!:
Fear Spanish Civil War, Reds, Air Attack
F. France Weak as
G. Obvious Dependence on
Anglo-Americans: No Independent Policy, Maginot Undermines EEur
Allies
H. Can't Act Resolutely versus
Foreign Dangers & Can't Rearm Until Forced
VI. League?: '31 Fails Test:
A. Demography, Geography, Politics,
Economics & Japan's Expansion
B. Pinpricks: Stimson Doctrine,
Lytton Commission (
VII. 1935-6
A. Sawdust Caesar's Revenge for
Adowa: Precedent For Bombings
B. France/Britain:
1. Peace Indivisible?: Can/Will League or Powers
Identify/Respond to Aggression? With War?
2. Can League Act On Issue That Exists Only Because League Does? Public Expects
Referral to League
3. Musso Attacks: British & French
Disorganized/Divided/Unwilling to Act/Unable to Ignore
4. Mussolini Thought British & French Consented @ Stresa: Colonial Hypocrites!
5. Sanctions: Weak/Inconsistent/Antagonize, US Uses Oil Loophole; Denies Arms
to Both
6. Bungled, Weak: Hoare-Laval Topples French Govt, so
None @
7. League Fails 2nd Test: Ignored @ Munich & Otherwise
C. Germany: Armed
1. Mussolini Driven To Depend On Hitler (Also By Aid to
2. West Exaggerates Italian Power: Brits Have 3 Enemies
D.
1. League's Ethiopian Sanctions/Credit Do Slowly Hurt Economic Recovery
2. Italian Dependence on British Coal Replaced By German;
Isolation=Subordination
VIII.
Germany: Short term US Loans Gone;
Unemployment Similar to
A. Stresemann/Young Plan Forgotten:
Allies Quit Rhine in 1930: So What! Nazis Multiply 8x in Elections
B. Nazi: Alienated, Violent,
Hopeless Youth: Before Full Depression: Extremists 40% '30, 50%+'32
C. Brüning/Papen/Schleicher
Rule by Decree '30-32: Nazi '32 Vote Falls!; CP Rises, Hitler Chosen
D. Right Hated Soc Support of
Hindenburg '32, Chooses Nazis; Democratic Suicide; Power Achieved Legally
E. Hitler/Savior: Rearm, Recover
Freedom/Honor Restored/Sacrificed
F. Xenophobic View of '19/'23/'29:
Food/RM/Race Security: Econ Stability, Lebensraum
G. Though War Post-Recovery,
Depression Unrest Aided
H. Machtergreifung
of Parties/Unions/Federal States Absorbed; Used
Old Guard Schacht/Reichswehr
1.
Link to Analysis of Nazism
2. Link to Calvin College Archive of Nazi Propaganda & Especially to Wartime Propaganda
I. 1934 "Night of Long Knives" Consolidates Power: SS Destroys
Röhm's Violent SA Brownshirts
1. Order Reassures German/European Right about NSDAP: Appeasers
Ignore Evidence of Brutal Hitler
2. Papen Typifies Herrenklub Blindness, Trying to Coopt Nazis!?!
3. Victims Left & Right: Complicit in Officers' Death, Army Corrupted,
Leads to Nazi Power Monopoly
4.
J. Dollfuss Dies, Mussolini
IX.
1936: Fears Realized: Spanish Civil War: A Dress Rehearsal
of Ideas/Arms
A. Link to Catalog
of SCW Posters at UCal-San Diego
B. Spanish Hates: Republic Hated by
Anarchists, Army, Clergy Link to Orwell's Account
X. 1935:
A. Brutal Terror Amid Social
Scientific Certainty: Is Cause Democratic Centralism, or CPSU, or Stalin?
B. Early '20s: Consolidate
Socialism in 1 Country: Wait for Revolution (NEP)
C. Late '20s: Consolidate
Stalin's Power: Collectivize/Rapid Industrialization Through Terror
D. Consumer Goods, Agr Population/Production Fall : Liquidate Kulaks to Break
Peasants/Labor
E. Int'l Context: Dictators
Rise/West Weak: Stalin Tries to Push West Forward: Popular Front
F. Domestic Context: Kill All
Possible Political/Military Internal Rivals: Opportunist re Kirov's Death '34
1. Stalin May Not Have Personally Authorized
2. Personality Cult (Venerate Stalin) Intensifies, Accused Old Bolshies of
Links w/Trotsky
3. '36: Purges Accelerate Amid Hypocritical Constitution:
Zinoviev/Kamenev/Connected
4. '37: Radek & Pyatakov;
'38: Bukharin, Rykov & Krestinsky
5. '37: Mil Purge (
6. False Evidence: SS versus Armies 1/3 Officer Corps Gone, Up to
80-90% Colonels/Generals
7. Cannibals' Kafkaesque Incomprehensibility: Spanish Vets Shot & NKVD
Investigators!
8. Also Ordinary/Foreign Communists & Acquaintances of Executed Shot
G. How & Why: Methods: What
is Truth? CPSU's Historically Determined Triumph:
Link to Official
Party History
1. Fictitious Defendants & Confessions: Knowledge of Other Crimes? Sense of Guilt?
2. Family Threatened; Confessors Implicate Others Quest for Control Spirals Out
of Control
3. Exclusion from Party Intolerable Even As It Killed You: Link to
Online Summary of Purge
H. Consequences: Impact on
1. Involved Include All Leaders to 1985/Cold War (Effects on USSR Initiatives
& Western Trust?)
2. Blind Loyalty to Stalin: Fear, Lies & Reality;
3. Affects British/French Options re
4. Western Right-Wing Willingness to Appease Hitler
I. If Choice
Forced, Which Would You Have Chosen to live Under? Nazism or Communism?
XI. Britain: Tempered Yet Real Class
Conflict: Economy, Trenches/BOMBER Dictate appeasement
A.
B. Labour
Wins '29, Falls '31: Aid 20% Unemployed or Balance Budget? Royal Navy Mutinies
over Pay
C. Imperial Preference '32: Econ/Pol Focus on
Empire; Retaliates for Smoot-Hawley; Influence on
D. Early Devaluation: Boosts Exports
Briefly, But Retaliation...Retain Markets?
1. Just Rearming Might Bankrupt: WAR? No, Can't Win Short/Can't Sustain Long
War
2. Trade Balance 4th Arm (Invisibles):
Treasury--Can't Rearm or Fight: Imports Up, Exports Down; Johnson Act Cuts Off US $
E. Imperially Vulnerable:
Mediterranean/Singapore: Need Allies vs Too
Many Enemies! Only
F. Befriend
G. National Gov't: Chamberlain Fears War Winners Labour in
H. Case Study: 1936: Long-term
Economic Decline in Jarrow:
Northeastern Shipbuilding Link
1. Uncompetitive Industry w/Extra Capacity: Lithgow's Perceived Role in Tyneside Tragedy/WW2
2. Red Ellen Protests in Constitutional Context, Parochials
Reject Jobs Enroute
XII. What is Overall Impact of Ideology? Does it Cause War? Does it
Shape War?
A. How Firmly Should We
Believe in Our Political Ideologies?
B. Does Preparation for War
Produce War? Or Does It Produce Peace?
FROM PEACE TOWARD WAR: THE DICTATORS' THREAT THROUGH SPRING 1938
I.
Hitler/Germans Defy
A. Go BEYOND
Versailles/Self-Determination/Military Parity/Polish Corridor...to What Kind of
War?
B. MEIN KAMPF: Enough Living
Space? Racial/Nat'l Hegemony: Lebensraum
1. "Racial Suicide" or Better Agriculture?
NO! Beyond 1914--Racial Emigration: Adjacent
Expansion East
2. From Stresemann's Revisionism to Hitler's
Racist Aggression
3. Racial Cleansing of Jews & Slavs ( &
Communists)
4. French Obstacle, Russian
5. British Ally?: Dislike German Methods, Not Apparent
Aims
a. Don't Clearly Object to
b. Accept Change Needed, Insist on Talks, Not Force (But Coercive Negotiations
Rely on Threats!)
c. US & USSR: Econ/Military/Ideological Threat to Both Germany &
Britain
d. Won't Repeat Kaiser/Tirpitz Surface Navy Contest
e. Germany Wants Bilateral Alliance to Unleash Germany on USSR
f.
C. Early Rhetoric &
Reality: Conciliation/Confrontation Mixed: How Hitler Bobbed
& Weaved
1. West Hopes for Restraint: "Can't Really Mean What He Said"
2. May 1933: Renews German-Soviet 1926 Treaty of Berlin & July 1933:
3. October 1933: Quits Disarmament Conference (Camouflage), Exits
4. German-Polish Treaty, Jan 1934: Flexible, Peaceful, End Isolation?... Or Disrupt Fr Alliances & Target
5. Long Knives (June 1934): Violent, But Eliminated Left Wing
6. Nazi Coup in
7. Denounce Military Clauses of Versailles/Open Rearming (March 1935)
II. Wider Context: The Weaker Challengers:
A. Italy: Ambitious Yet
Economy Underdeveloped & Dependent
1.
2. Rearm Early, But Swiftly Obsolete, for Spain/Africa Costly
3. Leadership & Training Poor: Liability for Germans
4. Fascist Emphasis on Rural Virtue Yet Divided Nation North/South
5. Underequipped, Mussolini Hopeless Manager,
Yet Perception of Strength
B. Japanese Threat
Underrated: Ongoing Econ Growth & Ambition
1. Trained, Spirited, Patriotic Troops; Carrier Strength Yet Interservice Bickering & Weak Civilian
"Control"
2. '31 Attack Undermines League; '37 Attack Distracts
3. Expansionist Policy: Making Wrong (Anglo-American) Enemies
4. Dependence on Imported Raw Materials: Context for
III. Hesitant French Response: Toward Collective
Security with Soviet Aid?
A. Security Over
Ideology: Barthou's Realpolitik
Effort (Link
to Brief online biography of Barthou)
B. Revives Old East
European Alliances, Seeks New: Italy & USSR
C. Tenuous Franco-Sovt Alliance Established (1934-35) Fear Unites: Status Quo
Power & Revisionist Ignore 1917-9
1. Germans Rearm 3/35, So
a. Barthou Tries Eastern Locarno With Parallel
Russian-French Pact
b. Polish Hatred of
2. Popular Front: Comintern Approval of Co-Operation
3. French Right Hates Popular Front, Inhibits
Co-Op; Implement w/o Staff Talks?
D. Does
E. Italo-French
Co-Operation? Amid Central European Rivalry?
1. Barthou Dies: Croatian Separatism Sponsored by Mussolini, Successor
2. Builds on Barthou: Establish Stresa
Front (4/35): No More Violations of VT Obligations (Austria/Arms)
3. Popular Front Govt & Ethiopian War Undermine
Franco-Italian Co-Operation
F. Defections:
1. Mussolini Angry at League Sanctions & British/French
Colonial Hypocrisy
2. Franco-Italian
3. Rhine Remilitarized:
IV. Germany: Aggressive, Capable, Terrifying, Overrated? Link
to Article about Myths of German Wartime Performance
A. Tremendous Record of
Victories ('35-) '39-41 Hides Flaws
B. Buildup Threatens
Breakdown: Fragile Recovery From 1914-25
C. Decision-Making
Chaos: Breakneck Expansion: Demands Overlap
D. Synthetics, Barter
& Exchange Controls, But Foreign $$ Needed for Raw Materials
1. Restrictive Trade Agreements Aim: Block Marks' Use
2. Eastern Europeans Sell
3. German Shortages Remain: Only Real Answer War
4. Consequences of Limits: Desire & Need Plunder/Booty
5.
6. So Hitler Causes WW2? What Does This Suggest About Marxist Analysis of
Capitalism?
E. Answer to
Contradictions: Blitzkrieg's Operational Doctrine, Relative Effectiveness
F. Tank
Concentration (Fewer than
G. Mobility &
Equipment Limited: Reliance on Horses, No Strategic Bomber
1. How Far Can You Go with Blitzkrieg/Nazi Racism? When Stop?
2. Rearming Wide Not Deep: LONG WAR? Strong Relative to Whom?
3. After Lebensraum: The Z Plan (1/39) and World Power
H. Yet
Western Perceptions of German Power Lead to Munich/Appeasement
I. Did
a Missed Chance to Curb Hitler's Ambition Cause WW2?
V. German Unilateral Assault on
A.
Remilitarizing Rhineland, 3/36: "
1. Does WW2 Begin Here?
2. Ostensibly Franco-USSR "Red Menace" Excuse;
3. Hoare-Laval Mess Overthrows French Govt, Divides
4. Contrast France at Ruhr '23 & Rhine '36: Will
a. Brits Perceive Self-Determination, Ignore Power
b. Govt Weak, Army Staff Adds to Intelligence on German Troop Deployment
c. Pivotal? Would Hitler Really Have Quit Without War?
d.
B.
German/Austrian Anschluss, 3/38: Does WW2 Begin
Here?
1. Austrian Identity? & Question of Self-Determination: Anschluss
Surrounds Czechs
2. Hitler's Opportunism: Intimidated Schuschnigg Provokes
3. Invited Enables Claim of Legitimate Form; Red
4. Link to
Austrian Views of Anschluss
& "Plebiscite"
5. Repeated Improvisations Suggest Bi-Yearly Schedule
6. Allies Will Eventually Resist Intolerable Subversion/Threats
7. Controversy over Hitler's Approach/Blame: Link to
Description of Taylor Thesis
8. German Economic Stranglehold over EEur Successor
States/Rivals Develops
C.
Have-Nots Emboldened to Challenge Status Quo: French
Bulwark Weak
1938: MUNICH & APPEASEMENT'S ROOTS, PRACTICE & FAILURE
I. Appeasement's Motives: Methodism, Markets, Many Dangers, Masses
II. German Pressure on Czechoslovakia:
Sudeten Self-Det Protests, 1938: Link
to Detailed Documentation & More Documentation
A. Czech Multinational State:
Only Real Democracy Left in Eastern Europe
B. Sudetens
Had Never Been Part of the Reich: Pretext for Power Grab
C. Konrad
Henlein Subversive, Totalitarian, Denies Nazi
Links
III. British/French Response: Munich &
Appeasement:
A. Defensive French Need
B. Britain: Reasonable
Conciliation Preferred over Deterrence
1. Balance of Power Approach Morally, Practically Impossible!
a. Ally Across Ideological Divide & WW1 Memories?
Encircle
b. Purges Weaken
c. Litvinov Promised Aid: Gambit To Trap West In War?
d.
e. Axis & Anti-Comintern Threat: Multiple-Front
War?
2.
a. But German Power Accretion Threatens
b. Is Eastern Europe Less Important to
3. Neville Chamberlain: Reason Over Passion: Passionate Hate of War
a. Confidently Negotiates From Weakness: No Long War, No War
b. Can't Make Obvious Wish To Avoid War at All Costs
c. Sic vis pacem para bellum: Hatred of War: Leverage?
4. Ducking Insufficient; Active Resolution Needed to Prevent Accident
C. 5/38 Crisis: Br & Fr Blame "Provocative
Czechs": Need Resolution: Link to
Summary w/Photo & Audio Links
D. 9/38
Escalation: Nüremberg Speech &
1. Innocent Hitler Furious at Perception of His Apparent Back Down 5/38: He
wants WAR!!
2. Though Satisfying Henlein Would Mean Detaching Sudetens, British Seek Settlement In
3. 1st Flight to
a. Hitler Excludes Polish/Hungarian Demands on Teschen/Slovakia
b. British & French Withdraw Support: Czechs Capitulate
4. Appeasement's Coercive Aspect: Hitler Creates Crisis; Brits Coerce Czechs!
5. Godesberg: Surprised Hitler Includes Polish
& Hungarian Demand
a. Hitler Seeks Immediate Occupation: Question Becomes the Method of
Transfer
b. Hitler Wants Quick Bilateral War; Britain/France Resist to Forestall
Unilateral Gains Made By Force
c. Western Public Outrage: The Shift Begins Now, Though Relief at Peace is Real
d. Evacuation/Gas Mask Horror: Chamberlain Determined to get PEACE
E. War
Imminent?: Munich Conference: Western Will Collapses at Last Minute:
1. Musso Sponsors Neville's Locarno: Mediate w/GERMAN
Plan
a. Hitler Sought War, Yet Opponents Aided
Racial Utopia w/ Multilateral Agreement to Nearly Identical Terms
b. Quick Military Occupation; Guarantee Czechs After Poles/Hungarians Get Their
Slice
2. Negotiate Legal Czech Surrender: No Fight for
3. Brits Abandon Czechs, Embitter Unwilling
4. British Euphoria/Regret: Link to Agreement
Text; Link
to "Peace In Our Time" Upon Return
a. Link
to Chamberlain's Speech in Defense in Commons
b. Illogical/Impractical British Guarantee of Truncated Czechia
c. Munich Not Better Than Godesberg: Cowardly
Sacrifice of Others for Peace Gradually Disillusions
d. Unhappy Hitler Determines to Get War Next Time: Link to 1997
Mutual Apology
F. Full
Evaluation of Munich Requires Look Ahead: Does Munich Cause World War 2?
IV. 1939
Disillusionment: German Actions Cause Western Re-Evaluation
A. Beyond
Civilization & Self-Determination & Liberation to Conquest
1. Kristallnacht, 11/38 (Link to US Holocaust
Memorial Museum & Controversy:
Use of Nazi Euphemism)
2. Hitler's Goals?: 1/39 Z Plan Involves Overseas
& Continental Goals
3.
4. 2-3/39: Liberal Hopes Gone: Guarantee POLES/Conscript; End of
5. End Limited Liability: Late Continental Commitment to French: Where Was This
Before? Lessons for NATO
6. 4/39:
7. Revisionists' Co-Operation Limited: Italy/Germany (not Japan Yet: Focused on
B.
German Pressure on
1. Demands:
2. Courageous Amoral (Teschen) Poles Will Fight &
Lose
V. Competition for
A. Sovt
Military Investment/Industr'l Growth at Great
Agricultural/Social Cost
1. Isolated from Great Depression: Public Relations Victory
2. Control over Innovation at Every Level: Purges Weaken
B. Catchup:
Effort, Purge Enemies, Get Friends: From Popular Front to
C. West Needs
Help to Fulfill Polish Pledge as Political/Military Talks w/USSR Crawl
1. Can't Let
2.
3. Can't Give
4. Chamberlain Fears
5. Polish Pledge Rules Out
6. Chamberlain Still Hoped Gestures Wd Be Enough, HalfHearted
7. British/French Peons Dally, Hitler Hurries: Stalin Wooed
8. 5/39 Signal: Molotov Replaces Jew Litvinov as Commissar
D. Nazis Offer
1. From Popular Front/Collective Security 1934-38 to
Nazi-Soviet Pact
2. Nazi-Soviet Pact: Appeases, Turns Nazis West Post-Poland: Link to Terms
3. Blueprint for Aggression: 4th Partition of
E. Evaluate Nazi-Soviet
Pact: Doomed France/Poles: Stalin Sensible? Inept?
1. Avoid Western Combination vs USSR & Delay
Invasion & Supplied Nazis
2. Revise Post-WW1
3. Never Enhanced Defenses Systematically: OK til
F. Where/When
Will Necessary Anti-German Coalition Arise?: Link to Scholarly Analysis
of Failure to Achieve Grand Alliance of Britain, France & USSR, Blaming
West & Mostly Exonerating USSR & to Online
Review of His Book
VI. Britain: Why War for
A. Labour/Dissenter Pressure that Hitler Cannot Be Trusted
B. Fight in '39:
We Can: Air Confidence Growing, RDF Developing, German Economy Thought
Weakening
VII. Hitler Goes
to War: Germans Cause War; British Decisions Dictate Timing
A. British Resolve
Post-Nazi/Soviet Pact Surprises Hitler: Delays 6 Days to Try & Detach
1. Nazi-Soviet Pact 8/23; Anglo-Polish
2. British Support for
B. Hitler Wants
Polish War, Expects British & French Concessions: NO!!
C. British
Resolve: Coerce & Deter Hitler to Backdown; If
Not: War!
D. British
Guarantee CAUSES Overdue 1939 War (1938 Context)
E. German Attack,
1 Sept '39: From Shaky Peace to WAR
F. British &
French Do Delay 2 Days to Co-Ordinate (& Perhaps Appease?): Audio
Link to Declaration of War
G. Peace Required
German Patience, Real British/French/Russian Alliance, or Continued
Appeasement
H. British/French
Keep Promise, Get Ultra Intelligence!
VIII. Nazi Methods' Eventual Impact Repopularizes Balance of Power Approach
A. Does
Appeasement = Peace at ANY Price, Or are There Limits?
B. We've Been Deceived!
Betrayed! Make Him Pay!
C. Is War
Declaration Abandonment or Fulfillment of Appeasement?
D. Mix of
Conciliation/Coercion Failed: Unbalanced, Disbelieved
E. Improvised
Bi-Yearly Subversions Eventually Resisted
IX. Assessment: Who Benefited Most From
A. Were They "Guilty
Men?" Was "The Gathering Storm" Unnecessary?
B. Or Was
C. What Motivates Our
View of Appeasement?
D. Appeasers' Case:
Breather Gained So Public & Dominions Ready in '39
1. Chamberlain Not A Wimp, Actually Too Confident
2. Spitfire Developed Meanwhile! Yet Slow Western Military Buildup
Overall
3. Chamberlain Sought Lasting Real Peace Not Delay; He was
Unrealistic
4. British Say Eastern Europe was Irrelevant, Yet Impeded France in
1938, Pledged to Aid in 1939
a. Britain Thereby Becomes #1 German Enemy '38-'41
b. Try To Avoid German Blame for 1914 (We Didn't Expect...)
c. British Coercion '38 (May Act) Leads to Peace/Dishonor Anyway
d. British Coercion '39 (Will Act) Leads to War Anyway
E. Year May Have Saved
Britain But Lost Europe, Embittered USA
1.
2. Yet Czech Raw Materials, Gold, Skoda Arms Plant, Army Lost, Stalin's
Paranoid View of West Accelerated
F. Alternatives: Chiefs
of Staff View of Military Balance was Excessively, Perhaps Deliberately Bleak
1. COS Never Considered Impact of Czech Loss
2. Another Win for Terror: Czech Gold/Equipment Used Against
G. Would German Generals
Have Overthrown Hitler (Prestige Growing): Enduring Myth
1. All Generals Hesitant: Ludwig Beck Resigns Yet West Feeble Too
2. Omits West's Hatred of War: Playing Chicken
3. Postwar Cold War Anti-Appeasers and Rehabilitation
of Germans Served By This Myth
H. So is
Honor/Character Relevant in Assessing Leadership?
X. Lessons Learned: Hitler Unappeasable: Are
All Dictators?
A. Is Appeasement Ever
Moral? Was Hitler A Rational Partner?
B. Future Leaders
Hampered By Reluctance to Ever Be Seen Appeasing! Memory
Too Good
1. US Appeasers Kennedy (& Bullitt): Impact on JFK Etc.
2. Ongoing Use of
C. What Can We Learn
From History?
D. Collective Security
Breaks Promises or Makes Every Little War= Big War
XI.
Declaration of War: Aquinas' Conditions: A Just War?
A. Declaration by a
Legitimate Authority (State): Yes
B. Just Cause: Yes
C. Right Intention: Yes
D. Last Resort: Yes--the
Virtue of Appeasement
E. Reasonable Hope of
Success: ????
XII.
Conditions for Conduct of a Just War
A. Due Proportion
Between Benefits Sought & Damage Incurred: ??
B. Non-combatant
Immunity: ??
PHONEY WAR?: POLAND & SCANDINAVIA
I.
Germany Defeats Poland: Axis Initiative Continues Thanks to Blitzkrieg
A. Poles Lose Quickly, 1
September-5 October 39: Outnumbered/outequipped/outflanked
(Cavalry Charge?)
1. No Western Front/Aid: France/Britain Mobilize Slowly, Germans Focus on Poles
2. British Request: Delay Mobilizing to Avoid Provoking
3. Political Need to Defend Corridor: Outflanked: Link to Map of
Divided Poland
a. No Defense in Depth Possible of Long Borders (
b. No Withdrawal Possible for Effective Counterattack, Fighting Retreat Invited
Envelopment Pincers
c. Panzers Breakthrough & Exploit & Infantry Follow-up
d. Crucial USSR Assault Ends War Early (Often Forgotten that USSR Was
Cobelligerent, Not Neutral) (Polish
View)
B. Horrific Aftermath:
Toll: 70000 Killed September 39; 4-5 million civilians Later
C. MassMurder
@Home Too: Euthanise "Defective"
Germans: Mentally Ill, Old, Wounded: Link to
Account
1. Bishop Galen's
Sermon Condemning Euthanasia & to Review
of Award-Winning Book on Nazi Euthanasia
D. More Die in
E. Contribution:
Role in
1. ENIGMA Codebreakers Evacuated &
Progress Kept Secret
2. Escapees Warned West of Holocaust in 1942 & Prominent Role at
Monte
3. Warned & Transported V-2 Engine to British
(Peenemünde)
4. Govt in Exile: Sikorski
PM & Commander-in-Chief until 1943: But No
Ukrainians on Ruling Council!
a. Undemocratic Govt Since 1926 Now Necessarily
Continues With Limited Credibility
b. Khrushchev Civilian Boss in Lwow Manages
Annexation Fraud
c. Katyn 1940: Soviets Massacre '000s of Officers: Link to Emotional
Appeal Illustrating Context
5. Katyn Revelation in 1943 Leads to Broken Relations
and
F.
II. Phoney War/Sitzkrieg/Bore
War: Only Real Fighting At Sea
A. Britain Won't Yet
Bomb Arms Plants, Since They're Private Property; Fear Revenge
B. Hitler Ready to Go
West, Wehrmacht Cautious: 29 Delays, Meanwhile USA
Sumner Welles Mission 3/40
III. Scandinavian War, 1: Winter War, 11/39 to 3/40:
A.
1. Stalin Wants
B. Inspired
Resistance/War: Purges, Arrogance, Little Daylight, Skis/White Uniforms
1. Finns' Defense Broken in Feb 40: No Effective Aid (Link to Finnish
Website on Winter War)
2. Draconian Peace Leads to Renewed War in 1941-44 as Nazi Ally: Link to Map of Finns'
Land Seized
C. Result:
D. British/French
Response: Proper Strategy? French Less Hopeful of
Results from Blockade
1. Delay Helps West Arm, But Stalin Supplies Hitler
2. French Indecision Criticized at Home: PM Reynaud Replaces Daladier,
3/40-6/40
3. French Fear Nazi-Soviet Pact Unleashes
Iron
IV. Scandinavian War, 2:
A. Though
B. British Failure
in
1. Tho German Naval Inferior, 1st on Scene: Wehrmacht Can't Be Dislodged
2. Br/Fr Win @Narvik, But Exit 6/40 Amid Fr Crisis,
Get Norwegian Fleet into Exile to Benefit Allies
3. Germans GAIN Norwegian Heavy Water (Deuterium Oxide [Atomic]) & Bases:
Pincer for
4. Link to Analysis of
Swedish Codebreaking & Efforts to Remain Neutral
FALL GELB: THE FALL OF
I.
Nazi Attack Thru Ardennes: Manstein/Rundstedt's
SICHELSCHNITT
A. French Fall
(5-6/1940): Ends European Balance of Power &
Endangers US &
B. WHY FALL?:
"Strange Defeat"? French Democracy Hollow,
Divided?
1.
2. Maginot Not Extended Behind Belg/Fr Border:
NE Fr Industrialized & Can't Abandon Unwise
3. French Aid to
4. German Army Not Superior Numerically: Surprise, Doctrine, Organization!
5. Link to Great Site for
War Maps: All onwar.com maps © Copyright Ralph Zuljan
2000
6. Link German
Propaganda: Why They Won in '40, & Why '40
Armistice was much Kinder than 1919 Treaty
C. Army Group A Panzer
Blitzkrieg into Ardennes: LOCALLY
1. Divisions: 44A 29B against NBelg;
17C against Maginot: Divides Allied Left & Right
2. Poor Staff Work: Missed Chance at Combined Counterattack
3. C-in-C HQ's Dispersed With Poor Communications
4. Panic: 8-10m Refugees Clog Roads & Kill Messengers
5. Belgian Retreat Prevents British Attack; French Misused Tanks
6. Reynaud Replaces Gamelin &
Defeatist Weygand Wastes Time
D. British Retreat to
1. Hitler Not Merciful: Sought to Annihilate, But Trusts Ineffective GAF
2. Hitler Wary of Counterattacks: Needed Armor vs
French: Halt Order
II. NOW WHAT? Internal Reaction to Fall of
A. Flee or Cooperate?: Defeatist Pétain Won't
Desert
B. Pétain
Heads New
C. Sacre
Coeur (vs. Commune 1871) Mentalité: Repent, Duty to
Erect a
D. From
E. Pétain
(84) Willing Collaborator, But DeGaulle Flees
to Head Free French
F. British Had Withheld
Fighters for Home Defence, Causes Recriminations
(Also over
G. German Occupation
Thievery: 20m Marks/Day, Augments German GNP
25%+
III. Pike: PCF (French Communists)
Resistance 6/40-6/41: Controversial Communist Role: After 6/41: Battle for
Memory
A. Puppets Twist: Popular Front (Support) to Nazi/Sovt Pact (Anti-war) to Fr Fall (Seek End) to Barbarossa
(Resistance)
B. PCF Indicts West: Criminally Lazy & Imperialist
Plot, Criticized Combatants as Equal, Dislikes British & DeGaulle
C. PCF Later Insisted It Began Resistance
pre-Barbarossa, to Emphasize its Patriotism & Maneuver for Postwar Power
D. Yet PCF Organ L'Humanite Promoted Fraternization w/Nazis
1. L'Humanite Offered to Publish Openly
Under Germans, But Petain's Veto Saved Them Later Embarrassment
2. Comintern Ordered Other Western European Communist
Papers to Run Openly, & They Did
3. To "Demoralize" Occupiers? No, To Obey Stalin
E. Ex Post Facto Counterfeit L'Humanite Issue of 10 July '40
1."Proves" Ongoing Total Resistance, But There are No
References in Subsequent Legitimate Issues
2. No News of Unsanctioned Resisters, so Honor Anonymous LATER
3. Yes, NO ONE (of Any Political Sympathy) Launched Armed Organized Resistance
prior to June 1941
4. Yes, Some Rebellious PCFs Did Sporadic Sabotage
Prior to June 1941Against Orders
5. Yet They Violated PCF/Comintern Order to Follow DeGaulle;
Nazi Surveillance for What It Was/Not What It Did
6. Link:
Review of Controversial Books about Resistance
Hero/Gaullist Jean Moulin & Survey of His Career
7. Link: Analysis of Moulin
Murderer Klaus Barbie & his Controversial 1987 Trial in Lyon: Is Holocaust
Unique?
IV. NOW
WHAT?: External Responses to the Fall of
A.
B. Germany: Atlantic Bases; Dominate
Continent; French Fleet's Future?
C. What Will
D.
E.
F.
THEIR
FINEST HOUR: THE
I. Myth & Reality of
"Never Surrender": British Wobble & Muddle On
A. Reynolds: Peace? British
/Churchill Statements on Peace Talks & US Differ Between Public Rhetoric
& Private Talks
1. Churchill Couldn't Ignore Peaceseekers, Since His
Political Base Was Uncertain
a. Link to the Official Churchill
Website & Journal: "Finest Hour"
2. Foreign Secretary Halifax, Pushed Aside from Premiership, Hoped to See Terms
And Reject If Need Be
a. Churchill 5/26: Would Yield (Some) Colonies If Independence Kept, But Hitler
Wd Want More
b. Churchill 5/28: Won't Get Worse Terms Later Even If Beaten: FIGHT!
c. Cabinet Move 5/26-28: Decide Examining Terms NOW Would Weaken Will
d. All Decide to Fight At Least Until RAF Wins
3.
4. WSC Publicly Denies Thought of Compromise: Privately, Gradually Moves to
Unconditional Surrender '43
5. By Then, Blitz, and US &
B. HOW Fight in 1940: How Beat
1. Rhetoric No Guarantee of Survival & Wars Not Won By Evacuations
2. War of Attrition & Big British Expeditionary Force
Unimaginable & Unnecessary
3.
a. BLOCKADE: Overestimated Vulnerability of German Economy!
(1) Misunderstood German Goal was in the EAST & Underrated German Economic
Capability
(2) German Economy Still in Blitzkrieg Mode: Fully Mobilizes in 1943
b. BOMB, Especially After Blitz
c. Special Operations Executive Undertakes SUBVERSION (But Undermines Law &
Order?)
d.
4. Tools: British Economy, Currency, Navy, Merchant
Marine Weaker: NEED
a. Churchill Hopes For Early
b. Yet Blitz Deaths Lower than Expected & Duplicitous FDR Constrained By
Isolationist Sentiment
c. FDR Maybe Hoped Atlantic Aid & USSR Entry Wd Be Enough
d. WSC Haggles over Destroyers/Bases & Implies Lost Fleet; Will Have to
More Directly Appease US in '41
e. Bombing of French Navy at Mers-el-Kebir:
Mistrusts Hitler & Impress US
C. Decision to Fight On For Wrong Reasons Enables US Eventual Intervention
D. Early Focus on Air,
Invasion & MidEast Ignores
Ship Supply
E. RAF Must Win: Royal Navy
Would Be Vulnerable & Army Unequipped
II. Battle of
A. Battle of
1. Though Baldwin Said Bomber will Always Get Through, Fighters Ready:
2. Cheaper, Bigger ## Impressed Commons: Qualitative British Air Superiority: Spitfire
3. Homefield Advantage: Flight Time
& Returning Downed Planes/Pilots
4. Technology: Radar Warning: Concentrate & Reserve Air
5. Cost of Rapid German Rearmament: Tactical CoOperation
Emphasized and No True Strategic Bomber Developed
6. Beaverbrook's MAP Ensures Enough Spitfires
7. Pilot Shortage & Airfield/Radar Damage Threatens Brits: Link
to Statistics
8. Assess Damage Poorly & Seek Revenge: German Shift from Counterforce to
B. London Blitz 9/7 Saves
RAF; SEELÖWE Postponed, Since No Control of Air
1. Targets: Resources & Morale: 43000 Dead 8/40-5/41
2. Knickebein Navigational System Jammed by
Electronic War
C. From Quick Decision to Long
Campaign:
THE EARLY
I. Keys to the Early
"British"
A. Issues: Secure
Lines/Communication for Imports & Power Projection
B. German Gains & Successes:
Norway/Channel/French
1. Subs Directed By German Codebreakers:
Knowledge of Convoy Moves
2. Wolfpacks Outsmart Underequipped Escorts For Awhile
3. ASDIC Targets Submerged, But U-boats Often On Surface
4. Results: Imports Fall from 55mt 1938 to 42m 1940 to 31m 1941 to 23m
1942 and continue falling
5. But Does
C. Maritime Mistress of Blockade Now
Herself Vulnerable:
1. British Absorb/Requisition Fleets of Conquered Nations
2. British Shipbuilding/Repairing Falters: Poor Productivity
D. 4/41 Turning Pt: Weather Improves
Seasonally, Import Program Reviewed/Cut, Lend/Lease, Barbarossa, Cryptography
1. Some Historians Argue that Losses Look Bad, But
a. Their conclusion: Thereafter, Only U-boat Hope is to Prevent
Offensives
b. Slow-Developing German Attack Gave British Time to Respond/Innovate
2. Br Escorts Coordination Better; Add RDF, Convoy TransAtlantic,
Cut Import Fat, Mgmt/Ports/RR
3. Arrogant German Certainty Enigma Can't Be Broken: Link to PBS NOVA
Transcript 1999 & Companion
Website
a. Theft of Actual U-110 Enigma helpful early to gain settings
b. 1st Computers Aid Calculation to Enable Evasion or Battle
c. New German Rotor Complicates
E. BRITS NEED US HELP:
$$, Naval & Merchant Ships, Food, RM, Arms,
II. What Can/Will
A. Industrial Strength
Underused/Depression & Prefer Isolation/Neutrality: Will US Rearm
Effectively?
1. Euro-US Friction: Trade/Tariffs, Debt/Johnson Act, Neutrality Acts,
Immigration
2. Depression & Historical Revisionism about WW1 Origins/Results:
Disillusioned/Pacific > Isolate/Am 1st
B. Aid British Unsinkable A/C
Carrier: Redress & End European Balance of Power/Globalize It
1. Neutrality Acts of 1935-1937 Remain: Domestic Politics
2. Provide Weapons?: Sell "Surplus" Arms:
"Hanging From a Lamppost?" to Destroyers-Bases Deal, Sept 1940
3. British Takeover Expensive French Arms Contracts: $ Will Run Out in
1941
4. Lend/Lease December 1940-March 1941: Dispose of $$ sign: Link to Roosevelt's Press
Conference Rationale
5. Atlantic Charter/Newfoundland 8/41: Wilsonianism
& FreeTrade
C. Terms of Endearment:
Not-So-Special Relationship Commercially...Strategically?
D. Viscose/Consideration: Competitive
CoOperation/No Empire Preference
1. April '41: Naval Patrols in West Atlantic Report German Positions to RN;
5/41 Role in
2. July 1941: Garrison & Convoy to
3. September 1941: U-boat Attacks Greer: Shoot-on-Sight & Extend
Lend-Lease to Russian "Democracy"
4. October 1941: U-boats Attack
F. Americans Opposed to Entry Leak:
Kent in Embassy; Isolationist Generals
"Victory Program" 12/41
III. What is Vital? Hemisphere &/or
A. Without
B. Evaluate Roosevelt's Handling: LBJ Uses
As Model for
IV.
A.
B. British Must Yield Initiative to US;
1941 Japanese Entry into
C. Any Account of
HITLER'S MEDITERRANEAN OPTION & THE DECISION FOR
BARBAROSSA
I. Hitler's
Choice: All-out Mediterranean Attack on
A. Attack
1. Indirect Strategy To Replace SEELÖWE & Maintain a One
Front War
2. Kriegsmarine: Yes, Beat
a. Complementary or Contradictory to Barbarossa? Hitler Thought Complementary
(1) July 1940 URGENT Focus
(2) Hitler Would Eventually Use as a Springboard Westward Across Atlantic
(3) September 1940 US-UK Destroyers/Bases Deal Aggravates G Worry about SW
Flank
b. Ongoing Quest for Lebensraum Would Lead to Endless RaceWar
with No Geographical or Time Limits
c. US: View of Tripartite Pact Implies Common Axis Program
B. Western Mediterranean Option
Missed: Spain's Franco Manipulates German Limits Better
Than Mussolini
1. Hitler Tries To Fool Customers Pétain & Franco
About His Ambitions
a. Franco Wants Explicit Pledges About Spanish Possession & German
Aid! BUT
b. Hitler Won't Promise Franco French Morocco, For He Wants It via
c. German Plan FELIX would Lead to a Permanent G
Presence in Morocco & Canary Islands
2. German Need for Afr/Atl Base Antagonizes Franco,
& German
3. Hitler Remains Concerned about French NW Africa Defecting to Allies (TORCH
Fulfills)
C. Britain Remains in
II. The Balkan/Mediterranean Theater, Winter
1940-41: Italian, British, & German Overextension, Victory & Defeat
A. Mussolini in the Mediterranean,
His
B. British Initiative & Defeat:
11/40: Bold British
1. Desert War: O'Connor Disgraces Graziani, Winter '40-'41, Yet This 1st Brit Winner is Captured Soon
Thereafter
2. Hitler Bolsters
3. Musso Idiocy: Attacks
4. Hitler Worries about Bombing of Romanian Oil: Conquer Greece
C. Yugoslavia Defies Nazi Path to
D. Hitler into Balkans 4/41 Creates
Tough Poor British Choice to aid Greeks, who suffer FAMINE/INFLATION
1. Overextended British Fail in
2. Long Supply Line:
3. Did Balkan Battles Prevent Conquest of
E. German Conquest of Continental
III. Hitler's Ideological Strategy: Extend Blitzkrieg to
A. Ideologically Inflexible after
Pragmatic Flexibility: Destroy Bolshevism NOW! Get Lebensraum!
1. Also,
2. If Control All Euro, Unassailable by US in 1942 & a
3. Stalin's Willing Supply of Raw Materials Insufficient
4. All Depends On Beating
B. Delayed Final Decision 7-12/40:
Stalin's Excessive Interest in
C. Stalin SURPRISED! Ignores
Hints/Warnings of Nazi Assault: Was He Preparing an Attack? No New Defense
Line: Molotov's Reaction
BARBAROSSA TOWARD
I.
Barbarossa: Largest
A. 3.6m Germans Assault 2.9m
Russians: 6/22/41: Wehrmacht
Link
1. Link to Overview of Inadequately Studied Battles
2. Huge
3. Kiev & Vyazma Encirclements
660K+ Each, Commanders Shot
B.Wehrmacht
Tactically Superior & Stalin's Leadership Terrible
1. Wehrmacht:
2. Red Army: Fear/Alienation/Illiteracy/Rigidity/Conformity
3. Stalin was Wrong: Overrated French in 1940 & Mistrusted Brits' ULTRA
Warnings in 1941
4. Stalin: NO WITHDRAWALS in 1941, Since Forward-Deployed Red Army Impervious
to Blitzkrieg
a. Order 270: Soldier Taken POW is a Traitor? Vlasov's Fate
b. This Stupidity Usually Aided German Advance to 12/41, But Helped
Avoid Total Collapse
II. Disparity Not Enough For Germans To Win Quickly ( &
Maybe They Had To Do So!), Or At All
A. HITLER Underestimated Sovt #'s & Tenacity...DID HE LOSE OR DID
B. A Limitless War: Time, Weather,
Distance & Communications
1. Initial Delay: Balkan Campaign & Slush/Mud: From May 15 to June
22
2. Excessive Strategic Flexibility: Panzer Diversions North & South
a. 7/29-9/6 Shifted Panzers From Centre (
b. Hitler Obsessed with Ukrainian Resources (Lessons of WW1 Haunt Axis Too)
3. Operation TYPHOON 10/41 Slowed By Autumn Rain, Poor Russian
Lines/Communication Tough to Exploit
4. Winter Snow, -40 Fahrenheit Paralyzes Poorly Shod Troops; War Perhaps
Already Lost
C. Blitzkrieg Falters Before Moscow:
From Battle of Annihilation Favoring Nazis to Battle of Attrition
1. Zhukov's December Counterattack Saves
a. Uninformed, Confused
b. Japan Needs Southern Resources & Signed Non-Aggression Pact, 4/41
2. Soviet Survival Saves Democracy & Communism
III. The Wehrmacht
Digs In: Is New Blitzkrieg Possible in 1942?
A. Longer-Term Factors Contribute to
Nazi Loss in '41 & Later
1. Nazi Exterminations/Savagery Hinders Economic/Political Exploitation:
Mistreat Possible Native Allies
a. Some Become Partisans Attacking German Lines of Communication: Link to U.S.
Army Study
b. Einsatzgruppen & Kommissarbefehl
Murders (Link to Order
1 and Order
2); Chance to Implement Final Solution
c. Stalin Ideological Oppressor; Hitler Racial Tyrant; Katyn
Forest Massacres Discovered Too
2. Most
B. WINTER: Hitler Orders Hedgehog:
Prevent Retreat Turning into Rout Just as Stalin Had Done in '41
1. Stalin's Winter Offensive Brings Only Terrible Mutual Casualties
2. Survival Shows Nazis Aren't Invincible! But Also Stalin Errors
C. 1942 Nazis Retain Enough Strength
To Attack: But WHERE? SUMMER Target: Stalingrad & Caucasus
1. Oil & Grain Desired, But Overextended Lines
of Communications, Overambitious
2. Stalin Finally Allows Retreats, Trade Space For
Time/Men in Caucasus, But Stand Firm at
IV. The Impact of German Occupation of the Western Soviet Union:
Conquered 40% People, 60% Arms Factories, 63% Coal, 33% Rail, 38% Cattle, 71%
Iron Ore, 42% Electricity Generation, 50% Grain & Meat
A. Lend/Lease Vital: Trucks, Phone
Wire, Food, Cloth, Steel, Aviation Fuel
B. Chance for Mass Slaughter of
Jews/Slavs Remains Available & Siege of Leningrad Continues
ALLIED HOPES FOR VICTORY:
ECONOMICS, TECHNOLOGY, LEADERSHIP, DIPLOMACY, & A NOBLE CAUSE
I. Overwhelming Statistics 12/41
Mean Inevitable Win? Levine: YES, of course!
A. Or Do Pearl/Barbarossa Make
Victory More Likely, But Not Inevitable?
B. Germans
C. If
D. '42 Axis Ahead: Win Before
E. Time Lag from Production to
Victory: Axis
II. Economies At War: US/USSR
Improvisation, Standardization, Scale
A. German Relative Failure: British Outproduce Germans in Major
Categories '41-2
1. Quality/Quantity: Hundreds of Types w/o Standardization
2. Stagnates Thanks to Business/Nazi Rivalry & Chaotic Chain of Command:
Dictatorship vs. Democracy
3. Army Too Responsive to Battlefield; Micromanages Custom Built Design
4. Arms Czar Albert Speer Forces
Standard/Production, But Too Late As BOMBS FALL
5. Lots of Allied Low/Medium-Tech Beats Less of Axis High-Tech
a. German Technology Fastidious But Mass Production Better
b. Luftwaffe Stuck With Original Models as Udet
Insists: All MUST Dive-BOMB
6. German Arms/Tactics/Use of Technology Imitated & Surpassed by Allies'
Rapid Learning Curve
B. DiNardo:
Equine Dependence Fatal: Fodder Availability; Reproduction/Maturity Lead
Time; Unfamiliar Climate
1. Plunder New Sources '38-41: 600000 in 6/41as Basic Army Transport
2. Operations:
3. Pz Divisions: Tanks 300 1940, 150
in '41; 73 in '43: Army 1/2 Modern Truck/Tank; 1/2
Horse/Cart/Foot/Rail
a. 600000 Vehicles 6/41; 75000 by 11/41 Tanks 6:1W 3:1E 1945
ratio in favor of Allies
b. 1945 Panzer Divisions Have Horses/Vets, Fighting Soviets Equipped by
Lend/Lease with Quality Trucks
c. 1944 US-UK Fully Motorised Armies v German Horses
C. Desperate USSR Revives:
Standardize Few Models, Equipment, Procedures
1. From Improvised Evacs to
Effective Central Planning & Regimented Scarcity
2. Coercion/Fear Reign: Factories Battlefield Under
Military Law
3. USSR Tanks Get Air/Land Radio Links & Diesel Engine Radii & Armor
Increased
D. USA: Big Corps Coopted by Profits: Creative Chaos, Averse to Central
Planning: Rapid/Huge
Armament Achieved
1.
2. Annual New Model Cars Facilitate Adjustments to Tanks/Machine Guns/Planes,
3. Car-Obsessed Culture Breeds
Mechanics: 8x Non-tank
Vehicles in Comparison with Initially Equipped Panzer Divisions
E. OIL:
1.
2. Allied Access to Oil Maintained Despite Soviet Losses
a. US Pipelines Built & 100 Octane Fuel Supplied
b. British Focus: Suez & North Atlantic In Part To Defend Oil Lines
F. Axis Technological Near Misses:
Ballistic/Cruise Missiles, Atoms, Subs, Jet
III. Success of Efforts to Deny
Resources to Enemy Also Crucial
A. Compare US Submarine War vs Japan With Germans v British
& USA
B. Anglo-American Bombing of Germans
Diminishes Increased Production
IV. Axis Fails to Lead &
Coordinate: Mistakes Close Window of
A. No Room for Ideological/Cultural
Errors, such as Wasting Women/Ukrainians
B. Ineffective Decision-Making
Within & Between "Allies" (Geographical Distance Impedes)
1. Nazi-Sovt Pact Concluded While Russia/Japan Fight
@ Nomonhan;
2. SE Europe: Germans Occupy
a. But This Threatens Mussolini's Sphere, So He
Attacks
b. Drawn Into Balkans, May Have Delayed Barbarossa
3.
4. Hitler's WILL Overrules All!? Won't Delegate; Early Wins Make Him Deemed Infallible! But 6&12/41
Mistakes
5. Stalin/Roosevelt/Churchill Rely More on Military Managers: Marshall, Brooke
6. Using Forces: 2-Front Wars & Strategic Priorities
a. Japan's Army/Navy Battles: Army Focus on China, Navy on West
b. Japan's Navy Neglects ASW--Contrast with British
c. German Stress on Holding Ground: Leads to Overextension & Exposes to
Counterattacks Everywhere
7. Germans: Better Tactical Leaders? But Battlefield Bribes
V. THE GOOD WAR: Faith,
Patriotism, Liberalism Vital Despite or Perhaps Because of
A. Moral Conscription/Sacred
Hatred Limited: WW1 Memories
B. Hate of Hitler Cements: Residual
Sympathy for Germans re
C. Moral High Ground: Cohesive
Morale Allied or Axis? Parker vs
Overy
1. German & Japanese Cohesiveness & Prestige?
Versus
2.
3. Western Morale: Defined by Blitz/Beveridge
Report on Domestic Postwar: The New Jerusalem
4.
5. Great Patriotic War: Submerge Collectivization Memory?
D. Should Christians Openly Seek
Defeat of Own Unjust Rulers? (Versus Barbarossa as Crusade)
E. Vatican Ambiguity, Catholic vs Orthodox in
VI. Grand
A. Can They Stay Together Until War
Won?
B. Stalin: Central Planning &
Terror Extracted Sacrifice
C. Roosevelt
:Charismatic Transformed By Polio into Idealist & Powermonger
1. Juggler: Costly Improvisational Administrative Habits
2. Appalling Chaos Amid US Averse to
Centralization
3. Often Uses Plenipotentiaries as Eyes/Ears/Icebreakers
4. Key Decisions Firm:
5.
D. Churchill: Manic Romantic Drunk?
Warrior Lost Empire, Saved Western Civilization
1. Gallipoli Memories:
2. Amateur Strategist, Skeptical of Professionals: Clear
Administrative System: ACTION THIS DAY
3. CIGS Brooke Curbs Churchill's Erratic Pugnacious Whims Like
4. Relies on Air/Enigma/USA; Less Important as War Goes On
E. Ongoing 3-Way Struggle:
COLD WAR SUBMERGED, YET KATYN/WARSAW/2nd Front
1. Alternatives: Red Scares, Nazi Soviet Pact Had Destroyed Second Front
in 1940
2. Myth of "New
3. Rebuilt 2nd Front '42-44:
4. Litvinov, Pre-'39 FM Until N/S, Now Soviet
Ambassador to
F. "Proper Application of
Overwhelming Force"?
G. Sustaining "Special
Relationship" of Roosevelt/Churchill: Also KEY to 2nd Front
H. From Foundations to Campaigns: Winning
the War
THE
I. Multiple Mutually Reinforcing
II.
III. Goal: Avoid Battle & Measure Success by Amount of Cargo & Number
of Ships Arrived, NOT BY # of U-boats sunk!
A. Campaign: Obsession With Battles
Then & in History Books Masks MANAGEMENT Trials: Railroads/Ports
B. CONTEXT/Tactics: "Wimps
Avoid Combat" So Find & Fight Them (Bowling's
View of Mahan)
1. Capital Ships Seek Big Fleet
2. WW1: British Delay Convoy & Germans Delay Sub Focus: Jutland Key
C. WW2:
D. German: Z-Plan Balanced Fleet,
Not 300 U-Boats! Slow Start
E. Chance to Beat British Gone in
'40-'41?: Hope Now to Prevent Operations!
F. Britain: Few Escort Vessels &
Churchill Still Obsessed w/Hunter/Killer Approach: Adapt Slowly
G. USN '42: Anglophobe Mahanians Ignore Evidence: Is this Dereliction of Duty?
IV. 1942-43 Struggles: Terrible Weather &
Worst Sinkings of War
A.
1. Blackout & Convoy Inexplicably Delayed by Mistrust RN/RCNand USN/RN
2. USN Wanted Full Destroyer/Escort Complement
3. Link to Superb if Optimistic
Online Narrative of Intelligence Cooperation
B. Subs Shift to Mid-Atlantic in Summer '42: Loiter in AIR GAP: Where Best Use Bombers?
1. Germans Read British Codes, & 4th Rotor Denies Allied Access
2. Milch Cows/Radio Bursts Designed to Protect, Yet
Merchant Ships Sunk Per U-B On Duty Fall
3. "Blind" Winn Tracks Partly Without Codes;
Efforts Mitigate Huge Losses:
C. Imperial Supply Lines Threatened
in Mideast &
1. TORCH Saves & Costs Escort Vessels & Merchant Ships
2. Winter '42-43 Crisis: British Less Fat to Cut/US Never Cuts
3. All '42-'44 Ops Rest on
D. 1/43: Raeder Sacked, German Focus
on Subs; Horton Demands VLR, H/K & Well-Equipped Escort Vessels
1. Winter '43: Better Coverage, Losses Continue--Fight On
2. Too Many to Evade: Must Fight Through: Hunter/Killer ONLY NOW POSSIBLE
V. March-May 1943 Cumulative Victory Keys: Technology &
Tactics
A. US MERCHANT BUILDING Surmounts
Losses & Demands--does it make Loss Rate Irrelevant?
B. Maybe Not: Enough Trained,
WILLING Crews? Links to Overview
of US Crews/Ships & Tribute to Them
C. Escorts' RDF & HF/DF (High
Frequency Direction Finding) Enable Some Location without Codebreaking;
D. ULTRA Recovered Too; Better
Weapons, Better Used: Hedgehog, Leigh Light on B-24: Link
to Historiography of Intel Revelations
E. VLR (Very Long Range Aircraft):
Patrol, Searchlight, Radar, though RAF Reluctant to Give B-24
1. MYOPIA 1st
2. Centimetric Shortwave Air-to-Surface RDF:
Accuracy
3. Subs' Target Acquisition Required Surface Cruising: Can't! Link to NOVA Site on Recently
Found Sub
F. National Joint Combined
(Separated) Forces: British Win in Spring, US in South Atlantic in Summer
G. Escort Carriers Enter Late, &
with VLR prevent Re-Entry, BUT: What If Germans Build True Submarines?
VI. Results: 5/43: Merchant Ships
Loss Rate 1/4 of 11/42 & 41 U-Boats Lost
A. 1944 Merchant Ships Losses
3% of 1942: Implications for Offensives
B. Resource Imbalance
Therefore CAN Pay Off in '44 with PROPER APPLICATION!
VII. Smith: Logistics Diplomacy: Conflict Over USMerchant
Shipbuilding: British Fall/US Rise
A. Delayed
1. British Logistically Dependent, Seek Strategic Control
2.
B. 1/43: SYMBOL: Merchant
Ships "Stranglehold on All Offensive
Ops"; Atlantic
THE 2ND FRONT CONTROVERSY &
ALLIED INITIATIVE IN THE
I.
US-
A. Churchill's Historiography
Dominates: "Special Relationship" Real?
1. Axis Beaten & Then Democratized, Atlanticism Postwar
2. Origins Between 6/40-12/41, As Neutral US Undergoes Slow Shift to
Belligerency
B. REAL & Unusual Co-Op
in Intelligence/Atoms Amid Divisions
C. Victorian Imperialist Tory
Appeases Liberal Democrat
1. Churchill & Roosevelt: Flawed Collaboration Yet
Essential to WIN
2. CCS/CPRB/CSAB/CFB/CMAB/CRMB: Bureaucratic Catch-Up: Combined Chiefs of
Staff, Combined Production Resources Bd, Combined
Shipping Adjustment, Combined Food, Munitions
Assignment, & Raw Materials Boards
II. Reynolds: Issues Include Imperialism,
Econ Rivalry, Postwar, Strategy
A. Competitive Co-operation Amid
US Rise & British Decline
1. Domestic Political & Bureaucratic Restraints
2. Limits to Roosevelt/Churchill Friendship & USN Acquiescence in
Allied Strategy
3. Roosevelt Eventually Woos Stalin at Churchill's Expense
B. Imperialism: Save
1. Both Prefer Informal Empire, US Push But Not Too Hard On
C. Economic Rivals:
Merchant Ships, Commodities (Oil/Meat), Civil Air, Postwar
1. Yet British Allowed to Rescind
2. Postwar Security: Int'l Idealism or 4 Policemen?
D. Yet Anglo-Am Cooperate Far Better
than Axis: Key to Victory
III. SECOND FRONT NOW: The Early
Anglo-American Planning Debate
A. Germany 1st Precedes
B. How Help
1. MacArthur's Pacific 2nd Front Instead of
2. British & American Ways of War: Indirect/Direct
a.
b. Equipment Shortages & Tactical Difficulties: Will British Ever Really
Back Cross-Channel?
c. Air, Merchant Ships, Landing Craft Shortages & British Memories of
Weakness
d. British Need US Food/ Merchant Ships /$/Supply; US Need British Base,
Trained Troops
C. Who Decides? CCS
Integrated Mil Command Devised: '42 Joint Chiefs of Staff & Joint Staff
1. Brooke, Pound, Portal, Mountbatten; Marshall, King,
Arnold: Suspicions of Vehicle for Others' Influence
2. Brooke/King Fear Subordination;
3. Roosevelt/Churchill Impetuous; 1943
Conferences: CCS=COS/JCS, JSM (except Dill) Insignificant
4. Combined & Joint Operations & Ike's Unified
Commands
D. What is Strategy:
Pacific/BOLERO/SICKLE/British Imports/
E. What Does
1.
2. SLEDGEHAMMER?!? Br, 4/42 Say "Yes"; in 6/42
Say NO! Will ROUNDUP '43 Be Possible?
a. Ike/Marshall: Focus on Western Europe to Prevent Dispersion/Effort
b. Br Concern: MacArthur & King: Accept SLEDGE v Pacific, 4/42 to Prevent
Dispersion Outside West
c. Br Troops Wd Be Used:
3. Roosevelt Promised Molotov a 2nd Front in Europe in 1942 & Faces
an Election Year
a.
b.
c. Arctic Convoy Loss Rate 7% Highest of Any Route (PQ17 the worst)
d. Br VETO of SLEDGEHAMMER Brings Stalemate to FDR/WSC: TORCH: Bitter USArmy Hates Brit WIN
e. Churchill Won't Acknowledge TORCH Delays Cross/Channel until 1944
f. FDR Orders Marshall to Hide Records of JCS Discussion of Abandoning West for
Pacific
g. Dieppe Shows Amphibious Operations Difficult
F. Churchill: Mideast Focus v USA
Benefactor; Obsession With RANKIN
IV. The Mediterranean Theater: Context for
TORCH
A. Is Middle Eastern Oil Vital? (Caribbean
& US Alternative Sources): Or This Fight For
India/Empire?
B. Egyptian Front Swallows Escorts &
Merchant Ships As TORCH Will Too
C. Pendulum War in Desert, '41-42: British
Distracted to Crete/Greece
D. Tobruk:
Rommel Disobeys: Going to Nile Before Malta: Missed Opportunity or
Insubordinate?
E. Should Have Assaulted MALTA 1st: Supply
Interrupted N/S & Maintained E/W (Airborne Lost at Crete)
F. British Intelligence/Supply Gradually
Better in '42 Than '41
G. US Supply Reinforces
V. Smith: TORCH: 2nd Front Outside
A. Need Operations Mounted & Get a Win
to Reassure Public & USSR; Yet Theater
Self-Perpetuates
B. Premature Operation Narrowed Future
Options: Ship/Supply Nightmare
1. Supply Not Integrated Into Strategic Talks; TORCH Politically Motivated,
Logistically Untenable
2. BOLERO & British Imports Falsely Seen as Adversaries
Battling for Port Capacity
3. Supply Costs Rise & Escorts & Merchant Ships Diverted &
Procured over Landing Craft
4. USN Revises Priority; Surface Ships for Pacific at Expense of Landing Craft:
Shortage for Assault/Supply
5. Xmas Cut Br Shipments to
C. TORCH: Shoddy Planning/Design &
Weak Exploitation
1. Strategically Bold US Turns Tactically Cautious & Strategically Cautious
Brits Turn Tactically Bold
2. US Fears Gibraltar Line Cut Unless Atlantic Landfall; Expects
3. British: Go East & Boldly Threaten
4. British Victory Pyrrhic: Depends on US Implementing
Hated Overall Strategy
D. Improvised
"Success" Despite Resistance & Poor RR Lines
1. Vital "Blooding" @Kasserine Provides
Important Lessons, But Slows US in Tunisian Slog
2. Belated German Reinforcements TRapped & Axis
Med Supply Lines Cut, But Also Slows Allies
3. Germans & Allies Diverted: No Cross-Channel into
4. Several Potent Panzer Divisions in
5. Lost Air Transport Unavailable Subsequently Too
E. "Unconditional Surrender"
& SOVIET ANGER Because this is No Real 2nd Front
F. Darlan Deal Defeat: Separate Peace?: Reassure USSR & WIN a Complete Victory: No Dolchstosslegende
G. Where Go From Here? How Far Into the
VI. Brooke Genius? ALWAYS Argued
A. Foresaw Iron Curtain? Thwart Reds
Through
B. British Reluctance to Go Cross-Channel
Was Not Cold War Foresight, But WW1/Dunkirk Despair
C. Spring 42: Skeptical of TORCH: He
Saw it Would Postpone Cross/Channel, Not Enable It
D. Winter 42: Being Slowed Down in Tunisia
Was Bad (vs Churchill, who saw it as a useful trap of
Nazis)
E. Expected German Withdrawal in Italy
& EASY victory which wd NOT have worn down Nazis to aid OVERLORD
F. Fall 43: Saw Further Operations in
Italy as Alternative to Cross-Channel Not Prerequisite
G. Strategically Opportunistic Brits v
Rigid Americans; Logistically Rigid Americans v Opportunistic Americans
H. Real Accomplishment Was Foil:
Stolid Brooke Restrains Crazy Churchill, Exploits Brilliant Churchill
VII. What Next: Mediterranean Strategy Argued From
A. British Commitment to OVERLORD: 5/43
Vague; 8/43 Yes & Reservations; 11/43 Check with
B. MULTIPLE BOTTLENECKS PREVENT 1943
ROUNDUP CROSS-CHANNEL
1. Shortages of Ships, Trained
2. Roosevelt Accepts More Mediterranean Operations Over Cross-Channel Attack:
Coalition Unity Key
a. 1/43 at
b. Naval & Air Arguments Cinch Sicily/HUSKY:
c. British Win over Divided
d. How Far Into
3.
4. Somervell Greedily Seeks BOLERO over British Imports: False View of Merchant
Shipping Capacity
5. British Insist that Roosevelt's 11/42 Pledge Be Met: A Bitter Harvest
C. TRIDENT 5/43: OVERLORD
"Fixed" & No More Troops into Mediterranean: Brooke Curses US
Inflexibility
D. QUADRANT 8/43:
E. FIXED DATE FOR OVERLORD?
VIII. Mediterranean Operations in Sicily & Italy Evaluated: REAL
Second Front Delayed?, '43
A. Expensive Diversion, Essential
Prerequisite, or Missed Chance?
B. Germans Always Escape to Fight Again:
Failure in Pursuit
C. HUSKY 7/43:
1. Goals: Turk In, AirBase v Ploesti, Beat Italy,
Balkans Aflame, Clear Med, Divert Germans from E/W
2. Slogging through
3. Amid Planning Chaos, Monty Insists on Concentration on Commanders' Role
4. Alex/Monty, Remembering US Incompetence at Kasserine,
Anger US By Reserving Road for 8th Army
5. Germans Escape as Patton Goes West
6. Mussolini Forced Out: Link to Photos of his Fate: 1,2,3 WARNING: THESE ARE
GRAPHIC!
D.
1. AVALANCHE? No, Tremor: Complacent
2. Battles of Attrition: Weather/Terrain/Tenacious Nazi Defense: Flexible Cmdrs Ignore Hitler Sometimes
3. Prudent Tactics Waste Potentially Daring Strategies & Inexperienced
4. US Resists British Diversion of Landing Craft
to Eastern Mediterranean/Rhodes
5.
6. US Ready to Retaliate for Chemical Warfare, as Exposed by Bari Raid 12/43
E. SHINGLE 1/44 at Anzio:
Lucas/Clark: Which is Main Thrust?: Link to Excellent
Online US Army Official Overview
1. EUREKA Decides USSR Help v
2. Stranded Whale Instead of A Wildcat: LST Kept to Supply
3.
4. DIADEM Crowns None: US 5th Cuts Off Br/Allied 8th Army & German Xth Army Escapes;
5. D-Day Overshadows
F. ANVIL/DRAGOON 8/44: British
Oppose, US Insists on Shift to
1. British Not Interested in
2. US Insists on LOGISTICAL SUPPORT & French Role
3. Rest Anticlimax amid Wins Elsewhere: Link to US Army
Narrative of Concluding Operations
IX. Evaluate: Costly Diversion
& Needed Experience & Missed Chances
A. German Diversion Partly Achieved,
Yet Distracts Both Sides
B. Intent: Could Flank Attack Become
Main Axis? Churchill Sincere?
C. Shipping Gain Unclear &
Allied Improvisation Weak
D. Poor Command & Tactics Mar
Modest Successes w/Limited Tools
E. Crucial Development of Expertise
Validates Theater; See D-Day in NW
F. Doing Nothing Unacceptable: Act,
& Once Theater Opened, Keep Fighting
STRATEGIC BOMBING
I. Context:
Only USA & UK, Most Democratic, Stress Strategic Bombing
A. USSR & Nazi Focus on FrontLine Air/Army Tactical Support Dive Bomber
B. US/UK Seek A Quick WarWinner: LowCost in $/Men
& Exaggerated Fear & Hope
C. Why: Revenge for Conquest,
Retaliation for Bombing, Win War
D. Can/Should We? NChamberlain: No, Avoid Reprisal Churchill:
Yes, It's All We Can Do!
E. RN Can Blockade, Army Only Good
for Evacuations: We Must ACT! But Little Accomplished '40-2
F. Substitute for Delayed 2nd
Front? Hit Germans, Appease
1. Army's 3 Ejections:
2. 8/42: Churchill-Stalin Meet: Since No SLEDGEHAMMER, "Pay Our Way"
But Is It Right???
II. Overcoming Early Failures & Obstacles in
European Theater
A. Allies Benefit from Unthreatened
Space to Train & Build
B. Anti-Clausewitz: Focus on Enemy
State/Econ/People, Not Army
C. Precision Bombing: Economic/Military
Targets Like Oil/Electric/Chemicals/Arms/Transport
D. Yet Only 1/5 Planes Bomb Within
75 Sq Miles in 1941; So Shift to Area Bombing vs. Civilians
E. Limited By: Weather, Nights, Navigation (Need Radar/BombSights)
1. US-UK Conflict: Night v Day B-17 Flying Fortress, Prefer Area Vs. Precision (Especially in
a. Key US (&
2. Distracting Missions (Properly So?)
3. Focus: Developing Critical Mass, Technology & Tenacity
4. Technology: Gee/Pathfinder/Oboe/H2S/Window (
5. High Casualties: 5% & Up: British Raid
F. Clausewitzian
Refocus on Luftwaffe: Defeat Fighters in the Air & On Ground (2-3/44)
1. P-51 Mustang Disposable Fuel Tank: Speed/Maneuverability
2. BIG WEEK '44: Plane & Fuel Production on Ground (
Context for D-Day Success)
3. GAF Fighter Lost 12% in 1/44; 18% (2/44) 21% (3/44) 20 (4/44) 25% (5/44):
Air Superiority
G. Spaatz Targets Synthetic Oil vs Harris' Focus on German Towns vs
Ike's Insistence on "Transportation Plan"
1. Win It Alone v Interdict Enemy Resupply & Support
Troops on D-Day
2. Invasions Still Necessary: The Limits of Air Power
III. Japan: Spring 1945: US Bases/B-29 Area Vs Weak Air Defense
A. Shift From High-Level to
Low-Level Incendiaries 4-8/45: Wood Cities Aflame
B. Japanese Production Cut
& Sub Action v Merchant Ships Also Interdicts Supplies
C. USN Victory at Midway...Bombing
Hiroshima & Nagasaki Avoids Invasion
D. Area or Atomic Moral? OK
to Disorganize/Dislocate/Terrify?
IV. Assessments Vary: Liability,
Waste, Atrocity or Decisive, Leading to Win? Views of Heroes: HARRIS?
A. Link
to Dambusters Raid: Ethical?, Link to Discussion
of Morality of Area Bombing , Link to Defense of Military
Morality & Link to Official
Contemporary US Strategic Bombing Survey
B. Ends War in Pacific After Early Navy/Marine/Army
Wins
C. Collateral Damage Hurts Morale in
Mussolini's Italy, Impact on Germans Later & Indirect
D. Limited Early Impact on German
Output 3x 1941-44, Didn't Prevent Speer's Expansion, But Put Lid On It
1. Labor Absent/Scared/Inconvenienced, Hit German V-1 &
V-2 Staging Area, Transport/RR
2. Occupied Areas Encouraged, Resistance Before
Invasion;
3. More German Men Deployed on A/A Defense in West Than
Armies Fighting in
4. 88mm Anti-Tank Shifted to Anti-Air; Aircraft Production Shift Bomber to
Fighter ( <Trained Pilots/Fuel>)
E. Cut Dead? Uses Scientific/Economic
Capital, Not Human; 50k Br/50k US Airmen Die, 750k+ G Civs
(
F. Drains GAF Power in
USSR/Med/West:
THE RUSSIAN FRONT: STALINGRAD TO
I. Hitler's
Blunder (?): Strategic Decision to Turn SE in 1942
A.
B. Southern Industry, Oil, Grain, &
PRESTIGE of City Name: Link
to Article on Hitler's Failure to Bomb Soviet Oilfields Effectively
C. More German Victories, Yet Soviet
Withdrawals Prevent Rout
1. 1942 2nd Front Controversies Comprehensible In Context of
Desperation
2. Stalin Allows ONLY Withdrawal of War to Avoid More POWs
3. NO MORE: No Unit Retreats, No Soldier Surrenders
a. Order 270 8/41: POWs Are Traitors (GULAGs Postwar)
& Order 227 7/42:
b. Are These Orders A Dangerous Admission Order is
Breaking Down?
4. Or Evidence Of A Belief that Firmness Would Force
People to Choose Between Terrors
D. Germans Divide Forces between
Caucasus & Stalingrad to Protect Flank
II. Russian Survival Prevents Endless War: How
Accomplished After Initially Poorly Equipped/Trained/Mismanaged?
A. Decimated System Produces
Leadership (Zhukov & Chuikov)
& Qualitative Gains in Equipment/Tactics
B. Close-In & Night Combat,
Intelligence, Artillery Improved; Patriotism & Hate, Orthodox Revival Spur
Morale
III.
A. Germans Lose Qualitative Mobile
Edge in Urban Warfare as Long Supply Lines/Weather Impair Maintenance
B. German Response to URANUS
Counteroffensive: Airlift & Overland Attack Fails ( 1/2
Air Transport Lost)
1. Paulus Surrenders 1/43 Amid Huge Losses: Could
Have Broken Out
2. Impact on Romanian & Italian Allies; German Factory Productivity Rises But Total War Too Late
C. Stalingrad: Essential Foundation
for Victory, Not Really Yet Decisive
D. German CounterPunch
in 2-3/43 Pushes
IV. Kursk/CITADEL, 7/43: Decisive Soviet Victory: Modest German
Offensive Becomes Hinge of War in East
A. German Attack Delayed By
Wait for Tank Reinforcement
B. Stalin Prefers Preemptive Attack,
But Listens to Zhukov--Key Shift: Delegation to Professionals
1. Stalin (Somewhat) Willing Slowly to Learn, Hitler Doesn't Think He
Needs To
2. Zhukov: Await Attack/Absorb in Defensive Barriers
& Then React
3. Better T-34: Modified Hatch & Added Radio & Flank Assaults on
4.
C. Not Just German Mistakes, But Also
Soviet Improvement
D. Cold War Impedes Acknowledgment &
Merely Credits Clumsy Bludgeon
E. Mussolini's Arrest: Troops Redeployed
to
V. Soviet 1944 Offensives: Frontal Assaults Still Needed
A. Not Just German Mistakes, But Also
Soviet Improvement
B. Deportations of Suspected German
Sympathizers Continue
C. Warsaw Massacre 1944: Exception to
Stalin's Offensive PUSH (Polish
View)
D. SU Lost 2/3 of 21m Horse; Rely on
US L/L Trucks to Keep Moving Despite Thaws
E. Loss of Air Superiority Key, Planes
Diverted to Mediterranean/West
F. Soviet Advances Toward SE Europe Seek
Political Control & Buffer States
G. Evaluating Stalin: Determination &
Inspiration Yet Savagery: Link
to More Positive Assessment of Stalin
OVERLORD TO
I.
Background: DECISION, Defenders, Deception, InterDiction,
A. US/USSR Demand & GET
OVERLORD: British Dominance Fades From TRIDENT to
1. Earlier or Elsewhere Possible? Cold
War Ramifications
2. 1943? BA UnWon,
<Materiel/Manpower>, Soviets Further East, NAfrica
Slows West & Weakens Germans
3. Mediterranean Theater Gains: Combat Experience, Air Bases, Keeping
4. Sovt Amphibious Ops Were Chaos: Most Prepped in 1
Day Across Rivers, But Accuse W of BAD FAITH!
5. Continue Mediterranean/Balkans in '44 Instead of Cross-Channel?
a. Med Logistic Drain & Awful Terrain: Not Soft Underbelly: German Could
Have Redeployed There
b. Distraction, Not War-Winner: Inadequate Air Support There
c. US/British in
6. But Why Didn't Stalin Invite West into Balkans & Take WEurope: WHOSE ERROR?
B. Why Were Germans Still Fighting?: Hope to
1. Belief in Secret Weapons: Jets, Better Subs, V-Weapons
2. Can Nazis Repel Invasion/Concentrate Forces?Static @Beaches or
a. Atlantic Wall Resources Wasteful? Osttruppen:
Croat, Hungarian, Romanian, Pole, Lithuanian, Estonian, Finn, Latvian, Russian,
Central Asian, Ukrainian, Indians, Koreans, etc.
b. Allied Command of Air Vital to Prevent Counterattack
c. Command Confusion: Rommel/Rundstedt/Geyr over
Panzers
d. Access to Weather Forecasts Key/Atlantic WIN Enables Denial
e. Germans Waste Late V-1 on London, Not Beaches
f. Deception & Interdiction vs Concentration of
Forces
C. Deception = FORTITUDE
North in Norway & SOUTH with FUSAG against Calais (Link to Video)
1. Can We Ever Understand How Vital ULTRA Was?
a. Added to Brit Confidence Regarding Nazi Strength (See McClellan vs. Lee
'62)!
b. XX (Double-Cross) "Twenty" System Fed False Info/ULTRA Confirms
Bait Taken
c. FUSAG Made More Credible By Early Summer Invasion, Travel & Traffic
Restrictions On True Info Too
2. BA WIN/Deception Allowed Amphibious Buildup to Triumph over German Railway
Advantage
D. Soviet Resistance In East Is
Necessary Precursor!
E. Interdiction by Bombers &
Resistance/SOE/OSS & T-Plan Argument
F. Air (12000-300) & Naval Superiority;
Army Outnumbered at 5v34
II. D-Day: Gliders, Paras,
Pipers, Gadgets, Amphibians at SWORD/JUNO/GOLD
A. Amphibious Failures: Mongols,
Armada, Gallipoli, & Recent Amphibious Successes vs
UNfortified Coasts!
C. Weather Uncertain: Ike Gambles
Wisely; Gale 2 Weeks Later!
D. Leigh-Mallory Too Skeptical on
Airborne: Ike Gives Go-Ahead
1.
2. US Airborne Contributes Chaos, Not Objectives Reached
E. OMAHA Near Defeat: B-17/24
Bombardment Fails,
1. Air/Sea Bombs Missed Target & 352 Div Moved There
2. "Firing Jeeps": Naval Artillery/Infantry Leaders Vital (D-Day Audio Link?)
3. "2 Kinds On This Beach: The Dead & Those
About to Die": Description
of Action at Omaha
F. Reinforce & Supply: MULBERRY
Hit By Storm, Air Interdiction vs. Enemy Rail Damaged Allied Advances
G. June 6, 1944: 175000 Men/50000
Vehicles; 326000 by 6/11, 1m in Month
III. Stalemate Beyond Beachhead:
Mid-June to Mid-July 1944
A. FUSAG Delays Nazis @Calais, Yet
Progress to
1. Monty's Revisionist View of
2. Excess Focus on Getting Ashore Costly, Bocage
Tactics Not Considered
3. Troops Who Had "Done Their Bit" Rested Rather Than Push
B. Behind Schedule, Allies Ship Fewer SOS
& More Combat Troops
C. British @Caen: GOODWOOD Distracts
Germans, US CarpetBombers Spark COBRA Breakout
D. US Gadget: Rhinoceros Breaks Through
Hedgerows in Bocage
E. German Lack Of Initiative & Failure
to Withdraw Aggravates Defeat
IV. Breakout Choices: Allied Supply Neglect
& Nazi Counterattack
A. Future Supply Crisis: Failed to Focus
on Breton Ports/Antwerp
B. US Advance on
C. Gap Not Fully Closed: Avoid Friendly
Fire & Secure
D. Commit Resources to Pursuit to
Seine/Paris/Beyond to German Border
E. With RR Out/Ports Denied, Red Ball
Express Inadequate, So War Goes On Past Xmas
F. Single Thrust Vs Broad Front: Managing
Monty (Original Overall Ground Forces Commander)'s Genius
1. ##'s & Allied Solidarity Damage Monty's Ongoing Quest for Overall Command
2. MARKET-GARDEN: A Bridge Too Far @
3. Panzer Divisions Refitting Repel British 1stAB; USAB Gains Held
4. German Retribution for Dutch RR Strike: Hunger Winter
G. Shifts Men/Supply from Scheldt
Clearing: Delay, 1st Supply Convoy Arrives in
1. Monty Fails:
2. DRAGOON Enables Supply of Southern Armies: Ike Was Right!
3. Landing Craft Shortages Postponed ANVIL/DRAGOON to August
4. Momentum Slowed: Winter on the
V.
VI. Endgame: Hitler's Hopes:
V-Weapons, Jets, Schnorkels All Too Late
A. Keeps Power Despite 7/20/44 Plot:
Bolstered Perhaps By Bombing, Morgenthau Plan, Unconditional Surrender
B. V-1&2 Cause Casualties, But
Too Late: Launching Areas Overrun
C. Last Gasp: Ardennes Offensive
Leads to
1. DeGaulle Insists Ike Can't Withdraw From
2. US Mobility, Air, Flexible Command, Tenacity Key
D. Monty Again Demands Single Thrust
& Monopoly of Credit, But Never Could Move Fast Enough to Justify It
E. Allied Envelopment of Ruhr
Utilizes Remagen Bridge & Into Germany
1. Ike Ignores
2. British Conscious of Weakness, Had Pushed Zonal Deals @
3. Ike/US: Why Spend Lives For
4. Monty Seals Off
5. Stalin Accelerates Renewal of Winter Offensive for
F. Complete Collapse of
VII. Significance: Free Men HAD to Help Beat Hitler
A. Opposite Dangers:
B. Unconditional Surrender
Impossible Without Invasion
C. Ike: Transportation
Plan/Normandy/Airborne Use/June 6/Pursuit/BroadFront: Correct; M-G: Unwise
WHY DID THE ALLIES WIN? COSTS & CONSEQUENCES?
I. Costs
& Consequences of the War: Absolute & Relative
Dead/Wounded/Displaced: See Statistics
A. Democratic Cooperation
w/Dictatorship Breaks Down: Cold War
B. War Acceptable Again, &
"Necessary"...But Limited
C. Technological Acceleration:
Strategic Bombing & the A-Bomb
D. Medicine: More Die From Wounds
Post-Battle Than Sick/Ill
II. The FINAL SOLUTION Evolves: Toward
A. Anti-Semitism: Religious,
Political, Cultural, Social, Economic, Racial
B. Expel/Emigrate to Ghettoize to
Murder/Einsatzgruppen to Wholesale Organized
Extermination
1. Slave/Forced Labor @
2. 11% of Jewish Children in Euro '39 Survive: 1.2m Die; 13m Abandoned DP
Children of All Races in Euro '45
3. 10% of Hitler Youth Fighting for
4. Jewish Adult Culture & History Obliterated in Much of Europe
C. Death Totals/Responses Vary
Outside
1. Assimilated German Jews Die, Unabsorbed Elsewhere Die
2. Who Killed? Who Helped? Who Knew? Who Denied Entrance?
3. Legacy of Atrocity Tales WW1: Believable?
D. What Does Holocaust Say About
God? About Mankind?
III. Keys to Allied Victory in WW2: Inevitable?!
Nazis Can't Win Because They Fight on Multiple Fronts?
A. Totalitarians DO Rule in Eastern
Europe Postwar; US Fights on 6 Fronts
B. Limits to Hitler's 1940 Victories
& Barbarossa/Pearl Defeats
C. Allies WIN Key Victories:
Atlantic, 2nd Front, Med, Bombing , East , D-Day
D. Disproportionate Allied Economic/Technological
Superiority
1. US &
2. Germans'
3. Allied Marginal Better Handling of Logistics
E. Disproportionate Allied Success
in Resource Interdiction
1. Strategic Bombing in
F. Allies Adapt/Tactical Learning
Curve: Overcome Mistakes If Allies Stay Together: Coherence & Willpower
IV. Limits to Allied Victory in WW2:
Decolonization & Cold War
A. Fall of
B. British Win & Fall: Should
C. War Termination &
Unconditional Surrender:
1. Reassure
2. Can/Should Germans Be Kept Down? How Ensure Never Again?
3. Costs of Total Victory: Lengthened War? Power Vacuum
4. The ImBalance of Power: The Future of Poland &
Germany
D. USSR Penetration into
E. US Rise, US Role & the Cold
War: Poland & Germany
1. Anglo-American Relations:
2. Global Free Trade & Freedom v Trade Limits/ Catch-Up; Spheres of
Influence, Bipolarity & Ideology
3. Soviet Intentions Beyond Defensive Sphere....CONTAINMENT
4. Cold War: Marshall Plan & NATO, Not War Debts & Isolationism
