Do Now What was World War I called when it was finally over?

Do Now What was World War I called when it was finally over?

Brainstorm about this question What caused World War II?

The Causes of the Second World War It is a complicated story and it begins at the end of World War I

In 1918 Germany was defeated by the Allied Powers: Great Britain, France, Italy and the U.S.

The Treaty of Versailles According to the Treaty of Versailles Germany had to take full responsibility for starting the war Germany had pay to 33 billion dollars to the winners. These funds were called reparations World War I took a heavy toll on the German economy and the reparation payments were way more than it could handle.

To pay the debt Germany printed more money. But that caused inflation to spin out of control and make German money worthless. The inflation crisis was eventually resolved but Germany still faced lots of other problems.

Unemployment was high The new democratic government did not have broad support from the people There was frequent civil unrest.

The Great Depression And then the great depression began in 1929. Although it started in the U.S., it caused economic hardship around the world.

Adolph Hitler In these tough times, the German people were looking for leaders to restore order and prosperity. So they turned to Adolf Hitler. He was the leader of the Nazi party, a fascist political movement.

What is Fascism? Fascism is a form of government were power is concentrated in a single dictator.

Fascism It is concentrated around an extreme form of patriotism and celebrates militarily strength and brute force. Nationalism is normally a good thing and there is nothing wrong with having s strong militarily either. But fascism takes away people’s individual freedoms. It also holds that strong countries have the right to invade and conquer weak ones.

When Hitler took power, he immediately started building up his army and manufacturing tanks and warplanes. This kick started the economy and made him popular amongst the Germany people. It also violated the Treaty of Versailles, which forbade Germany from building a stronger army. But the leaders of Britain and France let Hitler do it anyway.

WHY? World War I was not only taught on Germany. The British and French lost 2 million soldiers in the war and spend the equivalent of $60 billion on it. They wanted to avoid another war at all cost. They assumed that Hitler felt the same way and that he would not start a new war as long as they did not provoke him. This policy of letting Hitler do what he wanted to do was called appeasement.

The Axis Powers Hitler soon allied himself with Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy. And later, the two of them made a pact with Imperial Japan. Whose government was controlled my militarily Generals. Together they formed what became known as the Axis Powers. During the 1930s, all of these countries took over other nations.

Japan took over parts of China, Italy invaded Ethiopia and Germany annexed Austria. Since the international community let them get away with it, Hitler started pushing to acquire even more territory.

“Peace for our time.” In 1938, the leaders of Italy and Great Britain met with Hitler and agreed to let him take over Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlin, the prime-minister of Great Britain claimed that this would bring “peace for our time.” Of course, it turned out that he was wrong. But, at the time, the agreement had wide popular support. Most people didn’t think that Austria and Czechoslovakia were worth fighting a big war over. And some believed that Hitler was rightfully reclaiming land that was lost during World War I.

Germany Invades Poland However, when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 Great Britain and France finally declared war. That was the beginning of World War I in Europe. The United States shipped weapons and supplies to France and England. But it would not declare war or send troops.

TRADE EMBARGO Meanwhile the U.S. tried to stop Japanese expansion with a trade embargo. WHAT IS A TRADE EMBARGO? It means that the U.S. ended all trade with Japan.

Pearl Harbor Japan’s reply came on December 7, 1941, when Japanese warplanes attached American ships at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The U.S. declared war on Japan the very next day. A few days later Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. And that was the beginning of World War II for the U.S. (Click on picture for clip)