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conflicts in postwar nation building

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Germany

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divided up into military zones of occupation

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no separate East and West Germany yet, just different zones occupied by different armies

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Soviet Union

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moved west annexing West Ukraine (former East Poland), West Belorussia (former East Poland), Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, liquidating the Baltic Republics which had been created after World War I

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Poland was moved west

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Germans in new Poland are uprooted and flee westward

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Soviet troops playing a key role in all of these places

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Asia

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capital of Nationalist China had been at Nanjing

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but had to move their capital during the war to the center of China

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Japanese move out of large areas of Eastern China as prisoners, leaving a void for the Chinese to fill

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Africa

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many colonies remained

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French Algeria

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French West Africa

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French Equatorial Africa

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Belgian Congo

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Portuguese Angola

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South America

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countries mainly stayed out of WWII

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Southeast Asia

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a very dynamic postwar area of the world

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is in turmoil as civil war is reigniting in China

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Japanese had

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pushed the French out of Indochina

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pushed the British out of Burma and out of the Malay States and the capital, Singapore

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pushed the Dutch out of the East Indies and occupied the Philippines

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when Japanese leave as prisoners, a vacuum is created

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Indochina

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the French are trying to reclaim their position in French Indochina (Vietnam)

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Americans are ambivalent

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French soon locked into warfare against a Viet Minh resistance ("League for the Independence of Vietnam") which is increasingly receiving communist support

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Burma

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British trying to reclaim their position there

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Malay States

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revolts

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Philippines

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1946 Americans grant independence to the Philippines, but this republic faces resistance in the Hukbalahap Rebellion (The Huks) which started in 1942 against the Japanese, is intrigued by the Communist example, but was ended in 1954

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India

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British were deeply divided about what to do about India

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the war had intensified all of that

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Britain promised India that if they fought on their side in the war, Britain would give them self-government when the war was over

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the question was: what should an Indian state look like?

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how to reconcile between princely rulers and democratic rulers

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in 1947 the British threw up their hands and quit

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violent partition of the country

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heavy Muslim areas of India created themselves as a new state called Pakistan

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exchanges in populations

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millions of lives lost

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resettlements on both sides of the lines

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princely state of Hyderabad (center of India) retained some autonomy but annexed by India in 1948

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disagreements on border with China and what should happen to Tibet

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The Near East

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turbulent post-war period

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British

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direct mandatory rule in Palestine and Trans-Jordan

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British alliance and protectorate with local rulers in Iraq and Egypt

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British military occupation in former Italian colonies of Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia

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1945-1946 focal point: Iran

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war of nerves

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Russians had occupied the northern part of the country

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British and Americans had occupied the southern part of the country

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during the war, the Allies were fearful that a government allied with the Nazis would take control in Iran and cut off their supply to its oil

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when the war was over, the military forces of all side had promised to leave

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Americans and British were moving out but British retained extremely valuable concession to get oil out of Southern Iran

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the Russians were slow to leave, creating spheres of influence and groups of allied supporters

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1946: Russians finally agreed to leave but this skirmish contributed to the rising tensions of East and West which led to the Cold War

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origins of the Cold War

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actually an older struggle that was going on before WWII

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but useful to boil it down to dilemmas of people trying to solve real and concrete problems such as "what are we going to do in Iran?"

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no one worked harder to solve problems like these than George Marshall

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had the most prestige

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given the most difficult tasks

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China

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met with Zhang Qun (Nationalists) and Zhou Enlai (Communists)

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Americans had a sympathy with the Chinese Nationalists

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trying to help the Nationalists relocate and fill vacuum left by departing Japanese occupiers

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Soviets were divided in helping their Communist friends since the Soviet Union wanted to get a hold in Manchuria as well

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Marshall wanted to see if the two sides would share power somehow, but concludes that it won't work, blames both sides for seeing it as a zero-sum game

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comes away with a negative image of the Nationalists

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both Soviets and Americans thought that Nationalists would control the game

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Germany

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moving towards the edge of starvation

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British and French are themselves broke and having trouble feeding their own people

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but who is going to benefit from chaos? the communists

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Marshall in Moscow

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talked with Bevin, British Foreign Minister

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British have concluded Marshall's plan to get an agreed effort between the Soviets and the Western powers is a hopeless adventure

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Marshall talks to Vyacheslav Molotov, foreign minister

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Moscow negotiations fail

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Marshall had plan on table to disarm Germany for 25 years with multi-national police forces

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America would pay reparations to the Soviets

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Allies don't think Marshall's ideas of cooperation will work and the Soviets are unresponsive

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Marshall leaves Moscow in failure

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Stalin is content with folding his arms, watch Germany collapse into starving chaos and reap the benefits from that disorder

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Marshall feels he has to do something else

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1947: Marshall gives an address to the American people: the patient is dying while the doctors are deliberating, and he needs to find a way for American to grab the strategic initiative in a world that seems to be disintegrating