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Forms and Transformations of Antisemitism among British Political Elites during World War Two
Trněná, Adéla ; Matějka, Ondřej (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Great Britain had to deal with a number of issues linked to European Jewry during World War II. Many Jewish refugees, seeking asylum from Nazi persecution, were trying to get to the country, creating the danger of triggering a wave of antisemitism in British society. Furthermore, members of the Government were compelled to react to news of the systematic killing of Jews by the Nazi regime. Nevertheless, anti- Jewish sentiment was present among British political elites even in this difficult situation. The aim of this thesis, therefore, is to examine manifestations of antisemitism among British politicians during World War II and to ascertain whether their antisemitic views could have affected their policy-making and whether this anti- Semitism was somehow specific.
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Public Image of the USSR in the US between 1947 - 1956
Pondělíček, Jiří ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
This thesis describes how Americans perceived the Soviet Union at the beginning of the Cold War, between 1947 and 1956. The aim of the thesis is to provide a comprehensive image of what opinions the American public held and to try to show what factors influenced the opinions. Three main topics that dominated the perceived image of the Soviet union are identified: espionage and ideological subversion, nuclear warfare, and the totalitarian nature of Communism i.e., its likeness with Nazism. The first chapter focuses on the espionage and the subversion: the era now called McCarthyism. Rather than analyzing the processes, it aims at finding connections between the so called witch hunt and the public opinion. The second chapter is concerned with civil defense campaign, which started after the successful Soviet atomic test. The main target is to determine what information the people responsible for the campaign had and to compare it with what they told the public. The third chapter, then, deals with how private media cooperated with the governmental agencies on said campaign and how they tried to show the Soviet Union and Communism as different forms of the Third Reich and Nazism.
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Analysis of the Decision-Making Process of the Kennedy Administration During the Second Berlin Crisis in 1961
Procházková, Michaela ; Sehnálková, Jana (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
The second Berlin crisis represents one of the important milestones in the development of the Soviet-American relations during the Cold War. After the World War II, Berlin was divided into four occupation zones. Following the establishment of the two German states, this situation resulted in the city being split into the Western and the Eastern part. At the end of 1958, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev threatened the Western powers that he would sign a peace treaty with the German Democratic Republic and hand over the control of access routes to the Western Berlin to the East German officials. The following four-power negotiations failed to find a solution to the Berlin question. After the 1960 presidential election, John F. Kennedy became the president of the United States and thereby inherited the Berlin question from his predecessor. The Bachelor's thesis "Analysis of the Decision- Making Process of the Kennedy Administration during the Second Berlin Crisis in 1961" concentrates on two key events of the crisis development - the first meeting of Kennedy and Khrushchev in Vienna in June 1961, and the closure of the borders between the West and the East Berlin followed by the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961. It aims to analyze the U.S. responses to these events using three...
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Czechoslovak - Polish split as an indicator of Soviet influence on Czechoslovak foreign policy in May 1943
Skála, Marek ; Vykoukal, Jiří (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
This paper examines the influence of the Soviet Union on the foreign policy of the Czechoslovak government in exile towards the Polish government in exile. The aim is to determine, whether the influence of the Soviet Union was a major aspect affecting decisionmaking of the Czechoslovak government. I primarily focused on the crisis in relations between Czechoslovakia and Poland in the spring of 1943, and secondarily on the genesis of the relationships and events, which determined the decisions made by the governments at the time of crisis. The issue was addressed on the basis of series of documents from various international meetings, and also on the basis of secondary literature and memories of the persons involved at that time. It is therefore a historical analysis of international relations seeking motivation for particular actions of the Czechoslovak government in exile. It was thus found out that the influence of the Soviet Union was the main factor behind the interruption of negotiations about ...
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Socioeconomic consequences of Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II
Vojtuš, Michal ; Anděl, Petr (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
Socioeconomic consequences of Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II Abstract This bachelor thesis describes the consequences of wartime internment of Japanese Americans in the USA. It is concerned with short- and long-term socioeconomic effects of the incarceration. The first part of the thesis introduces Japanese immigration to the United States and the struggle of the pacific states to reduce it. The next chapter informs the reader about the internment itself, including its causes, process and the reasons of its termination. The third part is concerned with the socioeconomic status of the community between the two world wars. The main focus of the chapter is to tell why Japanese Americans chose agriculture and small farming over other professional fields. The socioeconomic consequences of the internment are analyzed in the main chapter. The study reflects the short- and long-term effect of incarceration on Japanese Americans. The conclusion overviews the findings of the thesis and also provides a quick summary of the redress movement which achieved a formal apology and financial compensation to the survivors of the internment. The main focus of the work is to analyze the post-internment shift from agricultural occupations to other fields, to review the economic losses and...
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Edvard Beneš and Wenzel Jaksch. Reasons of unsuccessful cooperation
Romočuský, Martin Štěpán ; Smetana, Vít (advisor) ; Raška, Francis (referee)
In my bachelor thesis I focus on joint negotiations of Edvard Beneš as a representative of the Czechoslovak exile and Wenzel Jaksch as a representative of the Sudeten German exile. Since 1939, both politicians lived in exile in London and led talks on the post-war solution of the Sudeten German issue and the arrangements of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia and within Central Europe. At the beginning of the exile, both Beneš and Jaksch were willing to discuss a joint collaboration and their political actions, although their different ideas and visions were apparent right from the beginning and sometimes even collided. Yet, there was a good chance to create a compromise solution. The ongoing war, rising anti-German sentiment in the Protectorate and UK and also strengthening of Beneš's position, the agreement started to become increasingly unlikely and Jaksch started to lose his political influence on developments in the exile inevitably and thus on the future postwar politics. Beneš has managed to carry some of the key points of his political agenda - recognition of Czechoslovakia Government in Exile (1941), renunciation of the Munich Agreement (1942) and obtaining of the fundamental consent of the British Government with the expulsion of the German minority from Czechoslovakia (1942) - which sealed...
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U.S. and the Czechoslovak Crisis in 1938: Policy of Appeasement?
Jáč, Marek ; Calda, Miloš (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
This Master thesis, U.S. and the Czechoslovak Crisis in 1938: Policy of Appeasement?, examines the policy of the United States in 1938 during the dispute between Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany over the Sudeten German issue. This paper is a case study and it analyzes a diplomatic correspondence and public statements of key representatives of U.S. foreign policy in the period March to October 1938. The goal of the paper is to evaluate the U.S. policy towards the Czechoslovak crisis and to consider whether or not the U.S. policy could be labeled as a policy of appeasement. There are four chapters. The first chapter recapitulates U.S. foreign policy before 1938, briefly describes issues of appeasement and describes the Czechoslovak-U.S. relations before 1938. The second chapter deals with U.S. policy during the so-called May crisis. The third chapter focuses on U.S. policy during the Munich Conference. The fourth chapter analyzes attitudes and actions of U.S. representatives in the time of the Munich Conference.
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Comparison of the Policy of the Johnson and Nixon Administrations toward the Vietnam War
Šťasta, Adam ; Bečka, Jan (advisor) ; Smetana, Vít (referee)
This thesis examines the Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon Administrations' policies on the Vietnam War. The first two chapters describe and sum up their approaches to issues they had to face. Then the administrations' policies are compared from three different perspectives: their handling of the Vietnam War itself, their respective approaches to connection of Vietnam and the Cold War as a whole, and their presentation of the Vietnam War in the USA. It also shows that a number of factors that influenced the course of the war were out of reach of the power and influence of the American presidents. In the war itself the Johnson administration gradually enlarged the scope of its bombing raids on North Vietnam and sent the US Army to fight the Communist insurgents in the South, trying to damage the DRV enough so it would sign a peace treaty with the USA. The Nixon Administration, forced to gradually withdraw the American soldiers, tried to get Hanoi's concessions at the peace negotiations by threats and sudden escalations of the war. In the Cold War-Vietnam link Nixon was more successful, as he was able to establish relations with the People's Republic of China, which indirectly benefited the USA in the Vietnam War. The Nixon Administration's presentation of the war in the United States was more successful, as...
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