From Appeasement to War 14-1

During the 1930s, Western nations followed a disastrous policy of Appeasement : Giving in to an aggressor in order to avoid war

A. Japan tries to create Greater Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 1. 1931 invasion of Manchuria 2. 1937 invasion of China 3.Mao and Chaing Kai-Shek fight back 4. U.S. boycott on oil imports

B. Italian Aggression 1. Mussolini sought to recreate the Roman Empire 2. 1935 invasion of Ethiopia 3. Economic sanctions by League of Nations are of little help

C. 1936 militarization of the Rhineland 1. Hitler marches troops into border area in direct defiance of Versailles Treaty 2. 1938-Axis Treaty between Germany and Italy

D. Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 1. Prelude to WW II 2 .Nationalist vs. Republicans 3.Phalange- Spanish Fascists led by Francisco Franco

4.Mussolini and Hitler send troops and weapons to help Franco 5. Western democracies fear socialists in Republican forces-send nothing 6. Bombing of Gernika 7. Fascists win-Spain devastated

E. German Aggression Hitler expands German power with no direct military confrontation Allies engage in Appeasement tactics,

1. Austrian president Dolfuss assassinated 2. Austria annexed F. March 1938 Anschluss 1. Austrian president Dolfuss assassinated 2. Austria annexed

G. Czechoslovakia 1. Hitler demands Sudetenland September 1938 2.Munich Agreement France and Great Britain appease Hitler by giving up 1/3 of Czech. in exchange for peace

March 1939 Germany invades Czechoslovaia

H. Coming of War 1. 1939 German/ Soviet non-aggression pact- to avoid a two-front war 3. September 1939 invasion of Poland 4.Britain and France declare war-Beginning of World War II

I. September 1939 1. September 1939 invasion of Poland 2.Britain and France declare war-Beginning of World War II