Black Tuesday

Today in 1929, the New York Stock Exchange witnesses the dramatic drop in value of its stock prices – costing thousands of investors to lose great sums of money. Commonly held as the cause of the Great Depression, Black Tuesday was only a symptom of a dying economy.

While a tragedy for Europe, World War I had been an economic boom for the United States. Producing war materials and food stuffs had helped the US economy grow. Following the end of the war, the nation immediately suffered a loss of market. No longer did it need to produce for Europe, farmers kept growing mass amounts of food, far outpacing demand. Prices fell and farmers relied on credit and debt to continue to buy more land, produce more goods, and fall further into debt. This, nearly a decade before the Stock Market crash, was the first sign of economic collapse.

The rest of the nation, however, continued to revel in the economic prosperity that war had brought them. Wishing to never again partake in the horrors of war or the complications of European politics, Americans lived a carefree life. Or at least appeared to live such a life. Credit grew in unprecedented ways, Americans far outspent what they could afford. At the same time, Americans heavily invested in the Stock Market. Ticker tape machines, spewing out stock rates, seemingly appeared everywhere – revealing the widespread appeal of stocks. The prices shot up, not realistically depicting their wealth – the bubble grew.

At the same time the US government continued to try to collect its debts from Europe. France, Great Britain, and others had borrowed heavily from the US during war and without collecting war reparations from Germany (shouldered with the burden of sole responsibility for the Great War) could not pay back their debts. At the same time, the US lent money to Germany to help it pay off its reparations and, in essence, the US paid Europe’s debts to itself. This system left much to be desired and masked a weak Western economy.

By 1929, Americans, their government, and Europeans had all fallen into debt. Farmers had been living in poverty for some time now, but other Americans had begun to default on their debt and the bubble was about to burst. The Stock Market crashed revealed what many had been denying for years. Despite only being a symptom, the Crash signaled panic to the rest of the nation and the downward spiral moved forward in full speed. It would take a combination of private, public, and New Deal efforts to steady the economy. And, as many historians have argued, not until after the United States entered World War II did we also pull ourselves out of the Great Depression.

 

Dropping The Bomb

Hiroshima after the Bomb

Today in 1945, the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb (the Enola Gay) on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later, the we did it again, dropping another atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Japan surrendered two days later.

What we learned about the atomic bomb that year changed the world’s understanding of warfare. Immediately, the bomb killed 80,000 people (60,000 in Nagasaki). However, those who survived the initial blast suffered for the rest of their lives. Many grew ill from radiation poisoning, some died soon, with the death toll reaching 140,000 by the end of 1945. Others suffered the effects for decades.  The U.S. chose Hiroshima as an atomic bomb target since it remained relatively untouched throughout the war but became the most devastated after August 6. Despite the horrendous results of the bomb, an enormous atomic arms race followed the end of WWII in the Cold War.

The dropping of those bombs remains controversial. Many claim it was unnecessary, that too many innocent people died and Japan would have surrendered without the bomb. Others claim that while it killed too many Japanese, it save hundreds of thousands of American lives in the event of a Japanese invasion and ended an already long and costly war. Historical documents lack proof that the U.S. government had planned for a Japanese invasion as an alternative to the bomb. Yet, the documents are also unclear on whether Japan had a surrender in the works. Even the Smithsonian has had difficulty in how it remembers the dropping of bombs. In 1995, controversy erupted over their plans for a 50th anniversary exhibition. What are your thoughts on the bomb? Did it prevent years of more war and the loss of even more lives? Or was it a horrendous decision that the U.S. should continue to regret?

On today, the sixty-fifth anniversary of the bomb’s dropping the U.S. paid tribute to the lives lost and the pain the atomic bombs caused Japan. For the first time, the U.S. sent a representative to the Hiroshima memorial ceremony. Unsurprisingly, Japan remains one nation steadfastly against nuclear warfare.

And on a different note, please give your thoughts about history here. Thinking about moments such as the dropping of the atomic bomb and how we understand/teach/learn about it seem all too relevant when thinking about how we define History.

Operation Overlord, commence!

Today in 1944, D-Day! Allied troops stormed Normandy in German-held France. D-Day was supposed to take place in May 1944, but poor weather conditions and an insufficient buildup of supplies delayed the landing until June. The battle for Normandy would continue for two months, concluding in late August 1944, effectively ending the war in Europe (although it should be noted that Germany would not surrender until April 1945).

General Dwight Eisenhower led the Allied preparations for what was known as Operation Overlord, the invasion of Europe from the English Channel. The Allies gave themselves the upper hand by working to confuse Germany, up until the attack, German leadership believed that the attack would happen not at Normandy but at another beach, Calais. Believing this, Hitler delayed sending two reserve divisions to Normandy, allowing for the Allies to gain a foothold in France.

Three million men, 11,000 aircrafts, and 2,000 vessels were all a part of D-Day! Talk about fire power! The troops included men from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. There were also smaller forces from Free France, Poland, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, the Netherlands, and Norway. The original Operation Overlad plan was for a ninety-day campaign in Normandy with the goal of reaching the River Seine, pushing Germany out of France. Historians debate when the actual end of the combat in Normandy occurred, ranging from July 24 to August 25, to August 30, 1944. This is largely due to the start day of Operation Cobra on July 24, with Americans leading the battle. However, the ultimate goal of pushing the German troops to the Seine was not achieved until August 30, leading to the confusion. To add to this, the United States, Canada, and Great Britain also all hold different definitions of when the battle ended, with Canada claiming the latest date, September 1. This is what historians argue about! We are fun at parties!

The Victory in Normandy was followed by pushing Germany out into the Western Front, requiring them to pull support from their Soviet and Italian fronts. This eased some of the pressure the Soviet Union had been facing at its front. For years, Stalin had been demanding the Allies to open a second European front to deflect some of Germany’s troops and allow the Soviet Union to recoup from years of defending its own borders. Until 1944, the requests had been denied. Stalin requested the additional front so often that the running joke was that he knew only knew four English words: “yes,” “no,” and “second front.”

The cost of Normandy was high for all sides, with over 200,000 casualties for the Allies (10% of the forces landed in France) and between 288,000 and 450,000 casualties for the Germans.
D-Day not only was the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany, it also flagged the start of the race for Europe, which some consider to be the start of the Cold War.

Spoils of War, the Lessons of WWI Shape the WWII’s V-E Day

Today in 1945: Victory in Europe Day! The previous day, Germany surrendered to the allies ending World War II in Europe. This began a series of peace conferences.
When World War I, or the Great War as it was known at the time, came to an end, the peace treaties focused punishment. Germany was held responsible for the four-year-long war that had devastated Europe and its inhabitants. Germany was financially responsible and required to pay off the war debts. Not surprisingly, they were unable to make such expensive payments and defaulted on their loans. The U.S. loaned Germany some money that allowed Germany to pay other European nations back. These European nations then used this money to pay the U.S. back, so essentially the U.S. was paying its own loans. The detriment that this debt caused Germany to become, some have argued (including myself), susceptible to a leader like Hitler and the Nazi party. This of course led directly to the second World War.
In the World War II peace treaties, despite protests from countries like France who wanted to reap the benefits of victory (although they fell to Germany within a matter of a few weeks), the decision was made to not hold Germany financially responsible. Instead, Germany was divided into four parts, with the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each receiving leadership of one part. This will eventually lead to the creation of West Germany and East Germany.
After World War I, Wilson persuaded the leaders to create the League of Nations. This group of counties (the U.S. excluded, as Congress did not ratify its entry) was supposed to link the world together and prevent future world wars. However, it lacked any real power, as was seen in the 1930s with respect to Germany and Japan’s actions. The Big Three (U.S., Great Britain, & U.S.S.R) at the WWII conferences also recognized this problem. They instead created the United Nations and included a Security Council that could actual enforce its rules. Unlike the the League of Nations, the U.N. retains its power (though limited at times) until this day.
This was not the end of the second World War, Japan would not surrender until August 1945, after the dropping of two atomic bombs. But this day marked the beginning of our modern global community.