Q: Blood and Ruins – Professor Richard Overy – Intro:

A: 

• Born in shadow of WW2 

• Always interested in the big questions 

• Curious about European History 

• World War 2 – scope, violent, catastrophic 

Q: Global Order- Pre & Post WWI 

A: 

• State of transition 

• Industrial Revolution 

• Global Empires 

• USA Emerges as power post WWI 

• Collapse of Turkey, Hapsburg, Czarist Russia 

• USA turns back on Europe 

• France & Britain dominant empires 

• Germany, Italy & Japan seek Empire building 

Q: World War 2: 1931? – 1945?

A:

• 1930’s Japan wages war 

• Mussolini expands into Africa 

• Germany begins to flex muscles 

• So war predates 1939 

• Perspective of thirty year war 1914-1945 

• Theory that W2 is about empire building 

• 1920’s revisionist empires seeking countries 

• Ends in 1960 with collapse of empires 

Q: Why was WW2 a global event? 

A: 

• Global reach; around the world 

• Not limited to Western or Eastern Front 

• Pacific, Madagascar, Caribbean, Falkland Island 

• Global connections: Britain, USA, Russia 

• Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan 

Q:  Major Empires – Pre WWII? 

A:

• Empires made up 40% of world’s land mass 

• Britain: Commonwealth, India & more 

• French: Vietnam, Indonesia, West Africa, Caribbean, Pacific 

• Belgium Congo 

• Dutch Latin America, Caribbean 

• Italian Empire / Mussolini 

Q:  End of Empires – Why?

A:

• World War II main cause 

• Nations gave up on empires 

• Nationalism, Freedom 

• War for Democracy 

• Moral and Political Crises 

• War Accelerated demise of British Empire 

Q: USA / Japan – Pacific Empires? 

A: 

• Japan & USA – Long term rivalry 

• Japanese Imperialism 

• USA looks for free trade across the ocean 

• Pearl Harbor - Japan miscalculates 

• War inevitable 

• Roosevelt set against empire building 

Q: Is USA an Imperialist Empire? 

A:

• USA has been called an Empire 

• But both USA & Soviet Union are not classical Empires 

• They are not territorial empires 

• They are hegemonic, dominant 

• USA: Empire by bases 

• Soviet Union: dominated Eastern Europe 

Q: Nazi Germany – Genocide & Empire Building 

A:

• Nothing ordinary about Third Reich 

• Hitler pointed to historical empire building 

• Nazi Empire Building: impatient, radical, dangerous 

• Instances of genocide via empire building 

• Nazi different – Jewish race needed to be eliminated 

• Jews stopping Germany from building Germanic empire 

• Even while war is being lost, war against Jews continued 

Q: Post WW2 Tribunals – Good or Bad? 

A:

• Tribunals as Allied Justice 

• Important to define International Law 

• Crimes Against Humanity 

• Wars of Aggression, Genocide 

• Defines matters clearly 

• Founding moment for International Law 

Q: Post Empire World Order – Safer? 

A:

• We live in a different world 

• Nation Sates with their interests 

• Will not go backwards 

• Paradox – stable with potential instability 

• Competition for economic resources 

• Climate Change a big factor 

Q:  Emotional Geography of War? 

A:

• Study of war trauma 

• Emotional impact on military and civilians 

• How do you get soldiers to fight? 

• How do you get them to overcome fear? 

• How to overcome emotional crises 

• Psychological casualties of the war