Just How Did WWII Get Started?

Italy Suffered greatly under the worldwide depression after WWI

Benito Mussolini Mussolini captures Rome with his Blackshirt Party in 1922 Fascism - Single person leads the country Totalitarianism - Govt. controls every facet of your life

Germany Germany was destroyed after WWI Were blamed by the World for the war and following depression Treaty of Versailles had them paying $33 billion, which they do not have Very angry as a people

Adolf Hitler Dad sent Hitler to Vienna, Austria at 12 to study - Learns to hate Jews Fails as an artist, joins the military to fight in WWI While in jail after WWI, he writes Mein Kampf (My Struggle) - blamed communists, intellectuals, and Jews for Germany’s defeat

Hitler and the Nazi Party Hitler’s Nazi Party gets 32% of vote in elections in 1932 1933 - Hitler is elected Chancellor Takes dictatorial power and forms a fascist, totalitarian state Rebuilds army to show power and pride in Germany

Japan Suffers greatly during the Depression Lack of natural resources Attacks mineral-rich Manchuria (North of China) League of Nations condemns attack, but can do nothing 1937 - Japan invades China 1940 - Japan joins Germany and Italy in Axis Alliance

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Communist country 1924 - Lenin dies and Joseph Stalin wins a power struggle to become leader Stalin’s Purges - In the 1930s, Stalin creates a personal police force of kill millions and send others to force labor camps in Siberia

United States US is stuck in the Great Depression FDR and most Americans are concerned about Germany, Italy, and Japan, but choose to be isolated Neutrality Acts (1935 and 1937) - Banned weapons sales with countries who are at war

Germany on the Move Lebensraum - Hitler wants living space for Germans, free Germanic people in other countries 1936 - Creates the Axis Powers (a military alliance) with Italy 1936 - Rhineland Recaptured - in violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany takes land between it and France 1938 - Austria (3/1938) - Hitler claims Germans in Austria should be part of Germany, so he takes it 1938 - Sudetenland (9/1938) - This area in Czechoslovakia was home to German speakers and Hitler said they were being mistreated.

Reaction to German Expansion Munich Conference - France and Great Britain meet with Germany and agree to give Hitler the Sudetenland as long as he promises to stop expanding Appeasement - giving in to the aggressor to keep peace - BAD IDEA Hitler takes over Czechoslovakia anyway in March 1939 Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact (8/1939) - Germany and USSR agree not to fight one another Hitler now free to take Poland

“The government had to choose between shame and war “The government had to choose between shame and war. They have chosen shame and they will get war.” -Winston Churchill, a British official and soon to be Prime Minister of the Munich Conference

Anti-Semitism Nazi Party bans Jews from govt. and takes away citizenship Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) 11/9/1938- 91 Jews killed Hundreds seriously wounded 7500 Jewish businesses destroyed 200 synagogues destroyed Took place in Germany and Austria

The burned-out synagogue of Aachen, Germany,one of nearly 200 synagogues destroyed during Kristallnacht.

The Fighting Begins 9/1/1939 - Germany attacks Poland with a new style of fighting - Blitzkrieg (lightning war) Poland was conquered in three weeks Poland was spilt up between the USSR and Germany by the end of the month

Britain and France begin to Move Begin to mobilize their forces Maginot Line - Defensive structure along France’s border with Germany

Germany Kicks into High Gear April 1940 - Denmark and Norway fall May, 1940 - Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands fall Allows German troops to avoid the Maginot Line 330,000 Allied troops escape to Great Britain June 1940 - France falls to Germany June, 1941 - Germany attacks USSR, violating the Non-Aggression Pact Germany takes 500,000 Soviet troops captive Soviet citizens burn and destroy everything so that Germany cannot use it

Battle of Britain With most of Europe under his control, Hitler looks to the island of Great Britain Luftwaffe attacks Royal Air Force (RAF) and Britain for 2.5 months British repel the attack with the help of radar and blackouts

US Begins to Notice Trouble Most Americans oppose Hitler, but still believe in isolationism FDR re-elected in 1940 and promises not “send our boys to foreign wars” FDR decides to prepare for war just in case Selective Service and Training Act - first peacetime draft in US history, called on men from 21 to 35 Lend-Lease Act - Allows FDR to loan $7 billion in war supplies to Great Britain as long as they come and get the goods

Pearl Harbor 12/7/1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, and US naval bases in the Philippines, Guam, Midway, and Wake Islands 12/8/1941 - FDR asks Congress to declare war, calling 12/7 “a day that will live in infamy.”