Section 1: Paths to War

Would you let a bully pick on a classmate as long as he didn’t pick on you or anyone else? A.Yes B.No

 Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by creating a new air force and expanding Germany’s army. France, Great Britain, and Italy condemned these actions.  Hitler’s first aggressive move occurred when he invaded a demilitarized zone in Germany known as the Rhineland.demilitarized

 Great Britain adopted a policy of appeasement and did not take military action against Germany. appeasement  Mussolini and Hitler created the Rome-Berlin Axis, a pact recognizing their shared political and economic goals.  By November of 1936, Hitler formed an anti- communist alliance with Japan known as the Anti-Comintern Pact.

 Hitler annexed his homeland of Austria on March 13,  Hitler announced, in 1938, that he would wage a world war if he was denied occupation of Sudetenland (NW Czech)  France, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany all agreed to Hitler’s plan at the Munich Conference, abandoning the Czechs.

 Hitler continued to advance into Czechoslovakia and eventually demanded the Polish Port of Danzig.  Great Britain and France soon realized they would need help from Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union to contain Nazi aggression.

 To avoid fighting a war on two fronts and to gain access into Poland, Hitler signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact on August 23, 1939, with Joseph Stalin.  On September 1, 1939, German forces invaded Poland, causing Britain and France to declare war on Germany two days later.

 The need for natural resources fueled the Japanese plan to seize other countries.  Seized Manchuria