Chapter 19 Section 1 NotesHealing the Wounds of War

Both Germany and Japan were decimated by the warGermany

The Potsdam Conference was held by the Allies in Potsdam, Germany to work out the details of their joint occupation of Germany.•The British, French and UD divided up the Western side•The USSR occupied the Eastern and rural part•Berlin, in the Soviet zone, was divided likewise•Austria was also divided up

Pledges, Promises andIssues with German Occupation

• Both side agreed to crush the Nazi Party• Re-establish local governance• Rebuild industry• The Allies agreed to repatriate German Refugees

Soviet Actions that Caused Tensions• The Soviets demanded that Poland be given German

territory won in the war• They also wanted reparations from Germany• The Soviets had taken over the countries between them

and Germany

The Occupation of JapanFrom 1945 to 1952

• Emperor Hirohito was confined to his palace and had no power

• Several million Japanese troops were demobilized

Democracy in Japan• In 1947 a new democratic Constitution was adopted:• Voting rights to women• Freedom of Religion• Abolished the army and navy- forever• Land redistribution and unions were legal• Broke up the “zaibatsu”- huge corporations run by

single families- Japan made a huge recovery

War Crime Trials

Nuremburg Trials (Germany)- Before an international military court horrible testimony resulted in the

sentencing of 12 to death and 7 to jail sentences.Many Nazis like Adolf Eichmann escaped to Latin AmericaInternational Tribunal for the Far East (Japan)- General

MacArthur set these up and they last for over two years. In the end Hideki Tojo (Japan’s Premier) and many others were sentenced to death

*The #1 lesson is that countries and individuals can be held accountable for atrocities during war

The United Nations

*The number 1 goal of the UN is world peace*• April 1945- 50 nations met in San Francisco to draw up the

charter• General Assembly- includes all member nations- deals with day -

to -day stuff• Security Council- 15 nations, 5 permanent with veto power over

the general assembly. The SC deals with military and political problems- US,GB, USSR, France, China

• The US overwhelmingly joined in October of 1945 and Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the US’s first delegates

• Many critics thought the UN would fail because of lack of enforcement powers

The Founding of Israel

GB controlled Palestine and after WW2 many European Jews moved there and GB turned over the issue to the UN

• The UN decide to divide Palestine into two parts- one for the Jews and one for the Arabs-against Arab opposition

• The UN plan was a victory for Zionism- a movement looking for a Jewish homeland in Palestine led by Ben-Gurion- formerly of Poland

• The British withdrew in 1948 and the US and the USSR quickly recognized Israel

The Arab-Israeli War

The Arab states joined together and went to war with Israel

• Israel was well-armed from the support of the American-Jewish community

• Ben-Gurion led the Israelis to victory• In 1949 Ralph Bunche a US diplomat

persuaded both sides to accept an armistice and he won the Nobel Peace Prize

• Even after this the Arab countries refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist