Notes

1
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TEACHER: The lesson question that we're going to be trying to answer is right up here. How was Europe changed by the war, and how did the Allies plan for the postwar world? To answer that, this lesson will have three parts. The first part's going to focus on a divided Europe. Then we're going to talk about Allied plans for the future. Third, we're going to talk about the effects of the war.
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But we're going to begin by looking at a divided Europe. Let's get started.
Section 2
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TEACHER: There were a number of challenges facing postwar Europe, especially between the United States and the Soviet Union because there was a history of distrust between the two. Well, why was that? It was actually for a number of different reasons. The United States opposed the ideas of communism. Stalin had tried to make a secret deal with Hitler in 1939
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to keep Russia out of the war. Stalin had actually been dissatisfied with early British and American efforts in World War II. The United States and Britain were wary of totalitarian governments. The United States and Britain were concerned about Stalin's postwar plans. So the big takeaway here is that these differences,
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they would affect the peace process, especially because of this history of distrust between the two sides.
Section 4
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TEACHER: In the spring of 1945, Germany was on the brink of defeat. The US and Great Britain, they were advancing from the east. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union advanced from the west. And so you can see, Germany's being squeezed between these Allied powers. Both of the Allied powers, they occupied territory as they continued to move toward Germany.
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And finally, in May of 1945, Germany surrendered. But before they surrendered, in February of 1945, the Allied leaders-- that you can see here, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin-- they met in the Ukrainian city of Yalta to plan for the end of the war. And there were three main outcomes here. The first was the plan to divide Germany
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temporarily into occupied zones that each of the Allied powers would occupy. Secondly, the plan was for-- let me clean this up for you, one and two-- the second was issuing the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which called for free elections in areas that were occupied by the Soviets. And the third one was to create a new international peace
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organization called the United Nations. Let's pause and check your understanding of what you've learned so far.
Section 6
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TEACHER: The leader of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was actually ill at the conference in Yalta in February of 1945. And after that, in April, he traveled to Georgia to rest and recuperate. However, tragically he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in April of 1945. And as a consequence of this, the Americans,
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as well as the Allies, well, they were stunned. And they were extremely uncertain about the future, especially because Franklin Delano Roosevelt had led the United States through World War II. And this would have huge implications for the end of World War II.
Section 7
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TEACHER: Wonderful work, students. We've reached the second part of the lesson. We just finished talking about a divided Europe, about the mistrust between the Soviet Union and the United States and its allies. And we also talked about some of the plans that were going to take place after Germany was defeated in May of 1945.
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Recall our lesson question up here. How was Europe changed by the war, and how did the Allies plan for the postwar period? Well now that we've talked about a divided Europe, let's focus in on the second part of this lesson and look at Allied plans for the future. You're doing great. Let's keep going.
Section 8
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TEACHER: After the death the Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman became the president. Truman had been vice president for just a few weeks. And as vice president, he had no role in war planning. But he was able to overcome that deficiency quite quickly because he helped arrange for Germany's May 8 surrender. He traveled to Potsdam, Germany, in July
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to actually meet with other Allied leaders. And at this conference, which was held in July of 1945 in Potsdam, Germany, there were a couple of these big-three world leaders. There was Truman, you can see here. There was Stalin, right here. And then there was Clement Attlee, right there. So some new people.
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Britain had lost its wartime leader, as well. Winston Churchill had actually lost an election and was replaced by Clement Attlee that you see right here. The major goals of the Potsdam Conference, there were a few of them. The first was to deal with the future of Germany. What would be done with it? Secondly, they want to reorganize European borders.
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And finally, the third, they wanted to establish reparations or who would pay for the damages done during World War II. So those were the major goals. Well, what were the outcomes? To begin with, there would be occupation zones. Germany would be divided into different occupation zones. New borders would be drawn. And Poland's size would actually be increased,
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the country of Poland. War crimes would have to be prosecuted. So German leaders would stand trial for the war crimes that they had committed. And finally, reparations, Germany would pay reparations to the Allies. That's a lot of information. So I'm going to pause real quick.
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Add those notes into your eNotes. And I'll see you in one second.
Section 9
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TEACHER: While in Potsdam, Truman learned the first atomic bomb test had been successful. And knowing that, he issued the Potsdam Declaration, which called for Japan's unconditional surrender in the Pacific. But remember, we're focused on Europe right now. So let's zoom in and look at the occupation of Germany, which was divided into four occupation zones, where
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each of the Allied powers occupied certain parts, like France here, Britain in the north, the United States in the south, and Russia in the east. Berlin, the city, which lied completely in East Germany, was also divided into occupation zones. These divisions were meant to be temporary. But they did not-- the end result was not to establish two separate countries.
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However, tragically, Germany eventually emerged as two separate countries, as a West Germany, which encompassed all of this territory right here, which allied with the West, as well. On the other side was East Germany, over here, which allied with Russia and became communist. Postwar Europe also looked much differently.
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The Polish border was shifted west. New nations, including Yugoslavia that you see down here, were created. But the Soviet Union, it insisted on controlling all of these conquered lands, which soon became communist states. Recall that during World War I and World War II, Russia had been invaded twice by Germany.
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So seeing that, they wanted to have a buffer zone or have some countries, like Poland and these other countries along here, that would act as a buffer if Germany or the West wanted to invade Russia again. The big takeaway, students, is that after World War II, Europe looked much different. Let's check your understanding of the Potsdam Conference.
Section 11
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TEACHER: Great job, students. You finished the second part of this lesson. I'm really proud of you. Let's keep going on. Remember our lesson question. How was Europe changed by the war, and how did the Allies plan for the postwar period? We finished talking about a divided Europe.
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And we also chatted about Allied plans for the future, as well as the division of not only Germany but also the new map of Europe that took place. The final part of the lesson will focus on the effects of the war. Let's keep going.
Section 12
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TEACHER: The damage that was caused by World War II was vast. Take a look at this. 30% of the buildings in Poland had been destroyed. Agriculture had suffered heavily in all of the occupied countries. There were an estimated 21 million refugees and an estimated war cost of one trillion dollars.
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Take a look at this image right here, where you can see a city. And if you look closely at all of the different buildings, they're all missing roofs. And they've all been blown out. And then if you look at this main street right here, on either side of the street, look at the side. Those are massive piles of rubble that has just been pushed out of the way
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and dumped, essentially, on the sidewalk. Well, these are the effects of the war on infrastructure. But how about on pure battlefield deaths? These are only deaths that occurred through battlefields, not through disease or other factors. So for example, Germany, in military deaths, lost over three million people, over 700,000 civilians, and in total, over 400 million.
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Great Britain lost enormous numbers of people, over 300,000. The United States, down here, in military deaths, almost 300,000 Americans died during this war. An absolutely astounding number, the Soviet Union, if you look at it, 11 million military deaths and almost 18 million total deaths. There are some estimates that show this at 35 to 60
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million people perished during World War II, an absolutely astounding number. And it really gives you an idea of how heinous and how dramatically violent World War II actually was. Let's pause for a second and check your understanding.
Section 14
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TEACHER: After the end of World War II, you see the birth of the United Nations, which is an international organization that was established in 1945 as part of the postwar peace process. And it includes almost all of the world's countries to this very day. The UN building is actually in New York City. And if you're ever there, I really
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suggest you go and visit. It's a fantastic place to see. Well, the United Nations, it had a number of different goals. The first was to promote world peace and also to reduce poverty and suffering. Remember especially this first goal because it happened right after the end of World War II. Here's its preamble from the Charter of the United Nations.
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"To save succeeding generations from the scourge of war... and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights." That's what the United Nations is really trying to do. Another major issue that came out at the end of the war were the tensions between Western nations and the Soviet Union. They began to increase, even as the war came to a close. So even before the war ended, tensions were increasing.
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The Western nations and the Soviet Union, they had fundamentally different ideologies or how they saw the world. The Soviets believed in a communist-style government. While the United States and the Western powers, they stressed a democratic style of government. And this competition and this potential conflict would lead to the Cold War between the United
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States and the Soviet Union.