Gaddis Chapters 1-2:

Section 1:

-United States thrived after WWII, the Soviet Union did not (there were numerous differences between the two nations).

-Stalin felt that because Russia lost so much during WWII they should be compensated.

-United States had previously had isolation as a policy

-Stalin was the only original leader left after World War Two, of the Big Three.

Section 2:

-Stalin wanted Russian domination.

-He did not want any opposition. (Feared but worshipped)

-Wants land (old territories lost to Germans, and new territories)

-For the time being he needed cooperation from the US and Britain.

-He was a violent dictator who did not hesitate to use purges.

-He believed that history would repeat and Capitalists would fight each other

-Paranoia,

Section 3:

-had been naturally isolated because of geography

-Roosevelt had four great wartime priorities: sustain allies, secure allied cooperation in sharing the postwar settlement, new collective security organization, settlement sound have to be "sellable" to the American people.

-No reversion to isolationism.

-Britain wanted to simply survive, no matter the costs. Wanted a balance of power.

Section 4:

-During WWII Soviets were needed to create a second front (both political and military significance) (pg 19)

- Divided Europe into "spheres of influence", this included dividing Germany. (Britain, France, and the US shared the West and the Soviets got East Germany)

-leaders had different hopes

-US had little incentive to include Russia in the occupation of Japan (only US gets Japan)

-The common causes quickly diminished, meaning US and USSR do not have to work together.

-Beginning of arms race- bigger bombs (each side), US dropped atomic bombs on Japan. (Stalin knew about the bomb through spies)

-US starts the policy of containment: contain communism/Russia (came from Kennan's long telegram).

-Marshall plan- help rebuild Western Europe. (people would like Westerners more than the Russians)

Section 5:

-United States relied on the bomb to deter Russia

-China is communist, with USSR

-Sino-Soviet Treaty (each will aid the other in the event of an attack)

-ESPIONAGE!

-McCarthy- pointing fingers at people (maybe you are a spy)

Section 6:

-Korean war

-Stalin urged North Korea to attack, this blatant attack brought US backing for S. Korea.

Section 7:

-FEAR

-BOMBS- man will be its own enemy

Chapter 2

Section 1:

- Nuclear war could get back

-advancements change the nature of war

-Clausewitz

-many dangers of total war

-Humans are violent

Section 2:

-Harry Truman is the only person to ever order an atomic bomb to be dropped

-Made it so the President is the only one with the decision to drop the bomb

-change in human behavior- If weapons can be used they will (changed this)

Section 3:

- Wanted Stalin to see the bombs ability

-Soviets get their own bomb in August of 1949

Section 4:

- US concerned with Chinese troops chasing S. Koreans

-US has many more weapons than Russia (about 74:1)

- Did not detonate a bomb because of the political costs and military situation (also what would they target)

-Korean war lasted another 2 years (only after Stalin's death did they reach a cease-fire, Stalin wanted the war to continue).

Section 5:

- SUPER-BOMB (both US and USSR), US testing obliterated a Pacific Island ,and the birds.

- US- if you can build one....do it!

Section 6:

- Can be no rational use of weapons of this magnitude in war

- New Leaders for US and USSR

-Eisenhower had an original different idea than Roosevelt (did not believe the nature of war had changed, thought nuclear weapons could be used)

-BRAVO American test (this showed the capacity of what many weapons could do, if just one could do that much damage)

-Nuclear Danger

Section 7:

- Eisenhower will only plan for total war

- his ideas are changing

-nuclear war changed the meaning of "total war"

Section 8:

-Khrushchev in power (USSR), does not want to use weapons

- He likes to threaten with things he does not have (ex-rocket weapons, Suez Canal crisis) (pg 70)

- Wanted the West out of Berlin, US says no

- He visited the US

Section 9:

- US spy plane, the U-2- made flight over Russia to look at the Weapons (was not legal, but Russia could not really do anything about it0

- confirmed that Russia did not have as many weapons as they said

-J.F.K takes office- many mishaps in his first months

- Called Khrushchev's bluff

Section 10:

- Russia sends missiles to Cuba

- Khrushchev is emotionally committed to Cuba

- Cuba is communist (without the help/urging of Russia)

- Each side positioning missiles facing the other side

Section 11:

- Kennedy wants to get rid of Nuclear War

- McNamara creates a new plan (some problems)

- Limited test ban= no more nuclear testing in the atmosphere (1963)

- Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty= banned all defenses against long-range missiles (1972)

- because of the fear of a horrible nuclear war one did not materialize

Section 12:

- Might be a book about the Cold War

- Nuclear Weapons made countries see that they each had a stake in each other's survival (each had the trigger, but now have to learn to live with this.

Chinese Civil War political causes

Western supported Nationalists vs. the Soviet supported Communists.

Tension had been occurring for years.

The civil war began when Chiang Kai-shek decided to purge the Communists from the KMT-CCP (Chinese Nationalist Party-Chinese Communist Party) alliance to consolidate power.

The purge is know as the Shanghai Massacre of 1927 by the CCP and the Purging of the Party by the KMT.

Many prominent Communist members were imprisoned or executed by the KMT in an attempt to destroy the influence of the CCP.

The communists fled, preparing for the next stage of the Civil War.

Communists gained most of their strength from rural areas. The supporters were able to utilize guerrilla tactics to neutralize superior nationalist strength.

Villa and Zapata: Conclusion

Ten years. between 350,000-1 million died. There were three strands in the Revolution.

1. improving the hacendados and those against it

2. Village movement- free peasants

3. least clear cut, cowboys, miners, and other marginal people

It was Madero's strand that was the most successful (the first one). Villa and Zapata won at best partial victories. The Revolution broke up old political monopolies, great sociological change. However, the largest change were the popular attitudes (pg 403). Many great men involved.

Villa and Zapata: Epilogue

Obregon won the Presidency. Villa had four new ambitions (pg 386). Villa ran his estate on military lines. Obregon was always a capitalist. Obregon was for education, the Mexican realist movement (Rivera..) occurred during his presidency. Obregon was anti-clerical. As Villa got older he revealed himself as a man of the Right. Villa's first two years out of the public life he was only concerned with his tangled private life (women and their kids). For the next Presidential election there were two candidates, Obregon favored Calles. Obregon asked Villa to tell the press that he was not interested in running in the election. Villa gave a press interview but he did not do what Obregon wanted (to snub Obregon), he said he would either run himself, or give his support to de la Huerta. This greatly angered Obregon. Obregon began to think of how to kill Villa. Villa was assassinated. Calles became the President, de la Huerta fled to the US. During Calles' presidency there was a great deal of bloodshed. Meanwhile Obregon decided he wanted to be the President again. Obregon became a target for assassination attempts. Obregon was eventually killed in 1928. With Obregon the great leaders of the Mexican Revolution were gone forever.

The Decline of Villismo

After Villa was injured people thought his days with any type of power were limited. However, Villa reappeared. The harvest had just ended so people flocked to help him. Villa had three main advantages over Carranza (pg 363). Villa was more humane than Carranza in that he released his prisoners that were not officers. However, one of his officers, Uribe, clipped ears of prisoners so they would be recognizable if they fought against Villa again. Villa lived by the policy, "my enemy's enemy is my friend". The unemployed and disaffected flocked to Villa. Villa took town after town, including Chihuahua and Torreon (people continued to flock to him). Villa was anti-American. Villa gained a new amount of brutality, allowed his men to rape women, kill women....This alienated people who had previously supported Villa. Carranza would win towns and Villa would win towns (back and forth). Angles came back (from the US) and urged Villa to switch from guerilla warfare to regular campaigning. Angles was someone who could have untied everyone. He eventually attempted to go back to the United States after he saw the amount of American hatred towards Villa (they would never let him gain all power). He was captured by Carranza and executed in a mock trial. Obregon came back after being in retirement and announced his candidacy for President. Carranza vs. Obregon. Carranza was eventually killed, de la Huerta became the provisional President. de la Huerta granted Villa an agreement (Villa had to retire from public life, was allowed a body guard of 50 men). Obregon eventually said he would honor the agreement when he became President. Villa laid down his arms and agreed to the terms. The death of Carranza and the surrender of Villa effectively ended the Mexican Revolution.

Villa and Zapata : The Twilight of Zapatismo

Pablo Gonzalez was horrible, he looted, murdered (a lot), burned things down... Zapata went on the offensive, however, not all of his chieftains wanted to go back to war. Many of Gonzales's troops died from disease. Mexico was in a state of chaos. There was famine, disease, and there was a great financial crisis that occurred. During the revolution the leaders printed a great deal of money causing hyper-inflation. Carranza dealt with the hard times, but continued to push is political agenda. Villa and Zapata were limited by the village and hacienda, Carranza was not! Carranza wanted to modernize and mobilize. He was anti clericalism, he wanted the catholic church under his control. He wanted Mexico to stay neutral in WWII. His main problem was the military, he had to make sure the army was reliable (proven difficult throughout the Rev). His greatest new threat was Felix Diaz, Porfirio Diaz's nephew, the US kind of liked him. The felicistas were as hard to defeat as Villa and Zapata. The felicistas movement was helpful to Villa and Zapata, it drew Carranza's focus away from them. However, Zapata's aims were extremely similar to Diaz's so they were in competition for support. Zapata became paranoid. Carranza wanted to get rid of Zapata at all costs, even killing him. He did just that, had Zapata killed. Zapata was gunned down by a group of shooters, however, he became an icon in Morelos.

Keegan chapter 3 (Blitzkrieg):

Polish were not a good test of the German's capabilities. Case yellow was to ATTACK! it was for a western offensive..the plan was shelved and a new one was created it was called the Manstein plan. Reversal of the Schlieffen plan. The BIG German strength was their equipment, planes, tanks (Panzers)... The planes made a horrific scary noise (intimidate the enemy). The French army was still mainly a marching army, many divisions, not a lot of structure. They created the Maginot line, western front in concrete (not enough money to finish). The French had to prepare for a defensive battle. The German army had three divisions and a lot of structure. The dutch tried to be neutral. Germany attacked, quick defeat of the Dutch in a raid. British had almost ZERO armor. French would not give up! Hitler called for a halt on the advance. The Allies feared defeat and occupation. New prime minister (Churchill). MATERIAL weakness. Evacuation of Paris. Called the war of 1939-1940, no part of France had been spared, many people had been killed. German moral was WAY up! Churchill believed the Battle of Britain was soon to come.

HIT HARD, HIT FAST, SURPRISE!!!