WWII Begins
What were the Causes of WWII?
#1 Treaty of Versailles destroys German nationalism and economy US Stock Market Crash - Sends Germany into a huge Depression! People are panicked and will listen to anyone! - Hitler rises to power
$1 worth 3 trillion Marks
Selling Money by Weight
Hitler promises a return to German Prosperity and Glory Becomes dictator in March 1933
#2 Rise of Aggressors Germany Italy Japan Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini
Japanese Aggression
1931 attacks Manchuria 1932 attacks Shanghai 1937 invades China
Chinese Prisoners being buried alive
Thirty girls were taken from language school last night, and today I have heard scores of heartbreaking stories of girls who were taken from their homes last night--one of the girls was but 12 years old....Tonight a truck passed in which there were eight or ten girls, and as it passed they called out "Ging ming! Ging ming!"--save our lives. (Minnie Vautrins diary, 16 December 1937) It is a horrible story to relate; I know not where to begin nor to end. Never have I heard or read of such brutality. Rape: We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval there is a bayonet stab or a bullet. (James McCallum, letter to his family, 19 December, 1937)
October 1935 Mussolini attacks Ethiopia Italian Aggression October 1935 Mussolini attacks Ethiopia
1936 Marches into Rhineland German Aggression 1936 Marches into Rhineland 1938 Anschluss of Austria 1939 Takes Czechoslovakia
“Well, two years ago when we marched into the Rhineland with a handful of battalions - at that moment I risked a great deal. If France had marched then, we should have been forced to withdraw. But for France it is now too late!” -- Adolf Hitler
Austria Welcomes Hitler
We Sing For Adolf Hitler
Giving in to an aggressor to avoid war #3 Appeasement Giving in to an aggressor to avoid war
League of Nations Does little to stop Japan, Italy, and Germany No one wants to go to war again
Example of Appeasement Munich Conference 1939 France and Great Britain meet with Hitler to persuade him to not go after the Sudetenland - end up allowing him to take it - Hitler promises it will be his last invasion - “This is the last territorial claim I have to make in Europe.”
“Peace in our Time”
After Munich Conferences Hitler Invades the rest of Czechoslovakia Announces future invasion of Poland
What event signified the beginning of WWII?
September 1, 1939 Germany Invades Poland
Countdown to War August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact - Russia agrees to help Germany invade Poland September 1 – Invasion Begins September 3- Great Britain and France Declare War
To the chancellor of the German Reich, Herr A. Hitler. I thank you for your letter. I hope that the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact will mark a decisive turn for the better in the political relations between our two countries. . . . J. Stalin
Axis Powers Hideki Tojo Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Germany Italy Japan Hideki Tojo Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini
Allied Powers Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Great Britain United States Russia Franklin D. Roosevelt Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin
Questions?