Aggression, Appeasement, and War The Path to WWII!

How did the Axis Powers become allies and challenge the World?

The Reasons: A Review  Germany  Resented the Treaty of Versailles  Economy in ruins  Military dismantled  Lost territory  Italy  Resented the Treaty of Versailles  Gained nothing despite siding with the Allies  Japan  Resented the Treaty of Versailles  Ignored by the western democracies

The Reasons: A Review  Germany  Adolf Hitler  Rose to power with the Nazi Party  Elected Chancellor in 1933  Italy  Benito Mussolini  Started the Fascist Party in 1919  Appointed Prime Minister of Italy in 1922  Japan  Hideki Tojo  Fast-rising general  Promised to lead his people to supremacy  Emperor Hirohito was Japan’s ruler

 Struggling economies  High unemployment  Overproduction  Pursuit of Peace  Locarno Treaties  Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928) International Scene – A Review

Moving Closer to War – Japan Invades Manchuria (1931)  Japan stages attack on South Manchurian Railway  Manchuria was resources rich  League of Nations was ineffective in dealing with the situation

Moving Closer to War – Italy Invades Ethiopia ( )  Despite a 1928 treaty, Italy builds a fort in Ethiopian territory (Walwal oasis)  Border clash leads to war  Italians used chemical weapons one time  League of Nations was ineffective in dealing with the situation

Moving Closer to War – Germany Occupies the Rhineland ( 1936 )  Hitler violated both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties  Germans rejoice  The European nations did not respond militarily

Spanish Civil War ( )  After WWI, working class, industrial class, and the military tried to remove the gov’t  1931: King Alfonso XIII allows elections  Socialists and liberals win  The king leaves Spain  Second Spanish Republic is set up  Govt. takes control of the church  Redistributes land to peasants  Women get right to vote  Ended privileges of old ruling class

Loyalist vs. Nationalist  1936: Francisco Franco  Leads a rebellion ( Nationalists )  Supported by Fascists  Loyalists (Republicans)  Communists and socialists  Supporters of democracy  Abraham Lincoln Brigade  George Washington Brigade  Hitler & Mussolini help Franco by sending the latest weapons to test in combat  Stalin send support to the socialist Republicans  Britain, France, & U.S. remained neutral

Outcome  Close to one million deaths  1939: Franco is victorious  Creates a Fascist dictatorship  Same tactics as Mussolini & Hitler

Moving Closer to War – Alliances are Made ( 1936 )  November 1 : Rome-Berlin Axis announced  November 25: Anti-Comintern Pact (Germany & Japan)  The United States passed Neutrality Acts of 1935, 1936, and 1937 banning the sale of war goods to warring nations

Japanese Aggression (1937)  Japan begins to invade eastern China  China was in a civil war (1930)  Nationalists (Chiang Kai-Shek)  Communists (Mao Tse Tung)  Both fought against Japan

German Aggression  Hitler continued his goal of expansion  Continued to defeat “inferior” people  Goal is to build the powerful Third Reich  Austria Annexed  1938 Anschluss: Union of Austria & Germany  Hitler appoints Nazis to cabinet post  Hitler sent army to control Austria  Western World did nothing

The Czech Crisis  Hitler demanded the 3 million Germans in the Sudetenland gain autonomy  September 1938: Munich Conference … Britain & France will do nothing (appeasement)  Czech government not invited  Czechoslovakia told to surrender Sudetenland  Hitler promises to halt expansion

British PM Neville Chamberlain…. We achieved… “peace for our time.”

French leader Edouard Daladier… “The fools, why are they cheering?”

British politician Winston Churchill…. “They had to choose between war & dishonor. They chose dishonor; they will have war”

Aggression continues...(1939)  March : Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia  April : Italy takes Albania  England and France begin to arm for war and make treaties with smaller nations  August : Germany signs non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union

Nazi-Soviet Pact  Agreement made in secret  Not to fight if another went to war  To divide Poland & parts of Eastern Europe  Pact based on need….not friendship  Hitler feared communism  Stalin feared Fascism  Hitler did not want to fight the West and Soviet Union  Stalin built up defenses & sought expansion

Aggression continues...(1939)  September 1 : Germany invades Poland  Fake an attack  Uses blitzkrieg tactics  September 3 : Britain & France declare war  September 17 : Russia invades eastern Poland  November :  US passes “Cash-N-Carry”  Russia invades Finland  WWII HAD BEGUN…