World War II

 Expansionism- desire to expand country by means of force. Expansionism – Empire of Japan invading China Empire of Japan – Germany’s desire to regain lost territories of WWI – Italy invading Albania and Greece.  Fascism- it believes that the government should control industry and people for the good of the country. Usually headed by a dictator.  Militarism- A highly militaristic and aggressive attitude prevailed among the leaders of Germany, Japan and the Soviet Unionmilitaristic  Racism- the Nazis believed that the Germans, the "Aryan race", were the master raceAryan racemaster race  Competition for resources- Japan lacked natural resources and needed them as they were the only Aisian industrialized nation. Causes of WWII

World War II  Treaty of Versailles was unfair to Germany  Created a situation where the German people were desperate  Due to unfairness of the treaty, Germans had a strong sense of “us against the world”  This allowed a strong political leader with militaristic views to come to power: Adolf Hitler

Video  5-world-war-ii-causes-and-aftermath- video.htm

World War II: Rise of Nazism  Hitler was the leader of the Nazi party  The Nazi Party was the organization that supported the rise of Adolf Hitler and created a totalitarian German government

World War II: Worldwide Depression  The Worldwide Depression was a drastic decline in the world economy resulting in mass unemployment and widespread poverty that lasted from 1929 to  Because of the $33 billion war reparations they had to pay to the Allies the Worldwide Depression (Great Depression) impacted Germany the most

Nazis Take Control in Germany (continued)  The Great Depression helped bring the Nazis to power  1933 Hitler was appointed the Chancellor of Germany  He dismantled the democratic Weimar Republic and replaced it with the Third Reich

World War II: The Rise of Adolf Hitler  Inflation was so high that the government had to print too much money (making that money worthless)  Because of this, the Germans allowed Hitler to increase the power of government that will eventually result in a dictatorship

World War II: The Rise of Adolf Hitler  With complete control of the government, Hitler stopped paying the Allies, secretly began building an army, and basically broke every part of the Treaty of Versailles  Hitler built trust with the German people by fulfilling almost all of his promises

World War II: The Rise of Adolf Hitler  Because Hitler fulfilled his promises and the German people had lost hope, the people were willing to follow him no matter what.  German troops had to swear an oath to Adolf Hitler “Der Fuhrer,” instead of to the nation of Germany

World War II: Appeasement  Hitler decided that he would unite all German speaking people  This would involve taking lands from other nations such as Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Austria.  Hitler took back the Rhineland from France

Appeasement  1936 Hitler invaded the Rhineland

Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall  In 1937 Hitler planned to absorb Austria and Czechoslovakia  March 12, 1938 German troops marched into Austria unopposed  Hitler then looked to Czechoslovakia where 3 million German speaking people lived on the Western border regions called the Sudetenland  Hitler charged that the Czechs were abusing the Sudeten Germans and massed troops on the border

Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall (continued)  France and Britain promised protection to Czechoslovakia  Hitler invited French Premier Edouard Daladier and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to meet with him in Munich

Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall (continued)  Hitler claimed this land would be his last territorial demand, and in order to avoid war, Chamberlain and Dladier agreed to let him have the Sudetenland, signing it to Germany in the Munich Agreement

Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall (continued)  Winston Churchill opposed the Munich Agreement and felt that it was an act of appeasement.

The German Offensive Begins  March 15, 1939 German troops invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia  Hitler claimed that German speaking Poles were being mistreated and looked to invade Poland next  Britain and France had promised aid to Poland  Hitler did not want to fight a two front war and was afraid that the Soviet Union would come in to aid Poland as well

The German Offensive Begins (continued)  Stalin signed a non-agression pact with Germany on August 23, 1939  The once bitter enemies secretly agreed to divide Poland  September 1, 1939, the German Luftwaffe, or air force, attacked with additional ground forces of tanks utilizing Germany’s new military strategy of blitzkrieg, or lightning war, Poland was completely taken by the end of the month, leaving Britain and France little time to send aid

The German Offensive Begins (continued)  “Sitzkrieg” or the “Phony War”: British and French troops awaited the German invasion of France along the Mignot Line  Instead, on April 9, 1940, Hitler launched a surprise attack on Denmark and Norway  Next he rolled his troops through Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg

Map of Europe

France and Britain Fight On  The Germans attacked France through the Ardennes, a wooded area thought to be impassable, and bypassed the Mignot Line  Some British and French were able to escape across the English Channel into Britain

France and Britain Fight On (continued)  Italy then invaded France from the south in order to aid it’s ally, Germany  June 22, 1940 Hitler gave France his terms of surrender, and set up a puppet government headed by Marshal Phillippe Petain under his control  French General Charles de Gaulle fled to Britain and set up a provisional French government-in-exile

France and Britain Fight On (continued)  August 15, 1940 Germany began the bombing of Britain, unable to compete with the British Navy, Germany used air attacks against Britain that lasted for two months without stopping the shelling

France and Britain Fight On (continued)  With help of the radar, the Royal Air Force fought against the German Luftwaffe  Hitler called off the invasion of Britain but continued to bomb its cities