1. European Aggressors on the March

2. 1935 – Mussolini invades Ethiopia Why?
Ethiopian ruler Halllie Selassie inspects his men.
1935 – Mussolini invades Ethiopia
Why?
- PROFIT: Mussolini dreams of creating an Italian colonial
Empire in Africa
- REVENGE: Bitter memories of Ethiopians defeating the
Italian army in the Battle of Adowa in 1896.
- WHY NOT? League of Nations had done nothing to stop
Japan’s aggressive Empire-building in Pacific.

3. three Neutrality Acts. They hoped to keep the U.S. out
1935 – U.S. Congress passes first of Why did isolationists want these laws?
three Neutrality Acts They hoped to keep the U.S. out
of another European War.
Americans in the United States preferred
Isolationism – choosing to “stay out of the tensions between other countries”
RESULT: Such an official policy prevented the U.S. from taking an immediate stand
against the Aggressors which might have prevented war’s escalation.
Britain and France chose
Appeasement – choosing to “give in to an aggressor in order to keep the peace”
RESULT: This policy only encouraged Japan, Italy, and Germany to keep taking more…
“give ‘em an inch; they take a mile”
Hitler’s growing military strength convinced Mussolini to seek an alliance with Germany
1936 – The two dictators sign the Rome-Berlin Axis agreement.
A month later Germany reaches an agreement with Japan.
Axis Powers – Germany, Japan, Italy
RESULT: Strengthened by their alliance, further aggression was inevitable.
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

4. 1936 – German troops move into the Rhineland.
1935 -
Hitler is cheered after telling the Nazi-controlled Parliament that Germany would no longer obey the Treaty of Versailles’ restrictions.
He had already begun rebuilding Germany’s military.
The League of Nations issued only a mild condemnation.
Banners throughout Germany read,
“Today Germany! Tomorrow the World!”
1936 – German troops move into
the Rhineland.
What were some of the effects of appeasing Hitler
after his invasion of the Rhineland?
- Strengthened his power among the Germans;
- Tilted the balance of power in Europe in
Germany’s favor;
- Encouraged Hitler to speed up his military
and territorial expansion.
1936 – Hitler & Mussolini lend troops, tanks, planes to help
Spain’s Fascist leader Francisco Franco and his Nationalists in Spain’s Civil War.

5. Spain had been a monarchy until 1931,
when it then became a republic.
Like all European nations,
Spain’s economy suffered during the Depression.
In 1936, army leaders backed a Fascist-styled leader in Spain
named Francisco Franco.
Civil War erupted.
1936 – Hitler & Mussolini lend troops, tanks, planes to help
Spain’s Fascist leader Francisco Franco and his Nationalists in Spain’s Civil War.
The liberal Republican government received little help from western democratic nations abroad.
In fact, only the Soviet Union sent equipment to aid the legitimate republican government
and also advisers to try to mediate the brutal conflict in Spain.
1939 – Franco becomes Spanish dictator.
Although Franco never formally allied Spain with the Axis Powers during World War II,
he openly sympathized with their fascist principles.

6. Guernica by Pablo Picasso

7. three Neutrality Acts. They hoped to keep the U.S. out
1935 – U.S. Congress passes first of Why did isolationists want these laws?
three Neutrality Acts They hoped to keep the U.S. out
of another European War.
“Let it be resolved
that upon the outbreak
or during the progress of war
between, or among,
two or more foreign states,
the President shall proclaim such fact,
and it shall thereafter be unlawful
to export arms, ammunition,
or implements of war
to any port
of such beligerent states…
nor shall these United States
feel compelled to intercede
in such international tensions
as they unaffect us.”
- U.S. Neutrality Act, 1935
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

8. lebensraum (living space) for the German people
1937 – Hitler plans to absorb Austria and
Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich – or, the new German Empire.
Pic below: Hitler's car passes through a triumphant crowd assembled in Vienna to celebrate the Anschluss,
March 1938.
lebensraum (living space) for the German people
“The Treaty of Versailles prohibited Anschluss
(union of Austria and Germany).
However, many German-speaking Austrians
supported the idea.
In March, 1938 Hitler sent his army into
Austria and annexed it.
France and Belgium ignored a former pledge to
protect Austrian independence.”

9. 1937 – Hitler plans to absorb Austria and
Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich.
Since WWI, Czechoslovakia had developed into a prosperous democracy with a strong army
and a defense treaty with France.
But 3 million German-speaking people lived in the Sudetenland - a western border region of
Czechoslovakia.
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

10. 1937 – Hitler plans to absorb Austria and
Czechoslovakia into the Third Reich.
- In September, 1938 Hitler demanded the Sudetenland be given to him.
- The Czechs refused and asked France for help.
- France and Britain were preparing for war when Mussolini decided to play mediator
and proposed a meeting….in Munich Germany.
Why was the Munich Conference unsuccessful?
The Czechs were not even invited;
Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain >>
thought he could appease Hitler and keep the peace;
After Hitler was given Czechoslovakia it was clear
he would not stop there and he now began
demanding Poland.
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

11. A historic example of the failings of appeasement is that of the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, shown here upon his return from Munich with the scrap of paper that was to "ensure peace in our time!” The Munich Agreement is generally regarded as the shameful culmination of the Allied refusal to confront Nazi aggression.
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

12. When the German tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia…
the Czech majority mourned as it was forced to offer up the Nazi salute,
“Heil Hitler!”
…while the Sudeten Germans cheered.
At the end of WWII, no Jewish life in Bohemia and Moravia was left. Out of the 90,000 Czech Jews more than 72,000 were deported to Auschwitz immediately.
Ecstatic Sudeten girls in traditional local costumes join in welcoming the German soldiers.
T.W. Loessin, Akins H.S.

13. One member of British Parliament was furious at what Chamberlain had done to the Czechs at the Munich Conference:
“You had a choice between war and dishonor and you chose dishonor.
You shall have war."
That Parliament member was Winston Churchill who will become Britain’s next Prime Minister and carry the country through WWII.

14. 1939 – Germany and Russia sign a Nonaggression Pact.
Why did Stalin sign an agreement with Fascist Germany, once a bitter enemy?
Stalin felt Russia’s former allies – Britain, France, U.S. – had snubbed him again and he resented having been left out of the Munich Conference;
He also wanted to avoid another war in Germany since the Soviet Union was in no way prepared for one.
1939 – Germany and Russia sign a
Nonaggression Pact.
The Secret Protocol was the agreement between
the Nazis and Soviets about what would take
place the moment Hitler invaded Poland.
For the Soviets, for agreeing to not join the possible
future war, Germany was giving the Soviets the
Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania).
Poland was also to be divided between the two.
The new territories gave the Soviet Union the buffer
(in land) that it wanted to feel safe from an
invasion from the West.
For the Nazis, when attacking Poland on September 1, 1939, the Soviets promised not to interfere.
Two days later, the British declared war on Germany and World War II had begun.
On September 17, the Soviets rolled into eastern Poland to occupy their "sphere of influence" designated in the secret protocol.