1. ROAD TO WWII

2. Japanese Aggression
Military leaders gained support & won control of the country
Were extreme nationalists
Wanted to solve the country’s economic problems through foreign expansion
Manchuria (in China) had iron & coal that Japan needed

3. Japanese Aggression Withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933
1931 army takes Manchuria
Set up a puppet gov’t
Withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933
Full-scale war with China
Better equipped & trained than the Chinese

4. Japanese Aggression
1937 Rape of Nanjing (capital of China) – they killed 200, ,000 soldiers & civilians, & destroyed everything

6. Italian Aggression Mussolini wanted a colonial empire in Africa
Invasion of Ethiopia in 1935
Took over Albania

8. German Aggression & Appeasement
1935 Hitler would not obey the Versailles Treaty’s restriction on size of the army
1936 troops moved into the Rhineland (area between Germany & France)
French were unwilling to risk war & did not fight over it

9. German Aggression & Appeasement
Appeasement –giving into an aggressor to keep peace
Hitler felt more confident & continued expansion & military building
Germany, Italy, & Japan form an alliance called the Axis Powers

10. German Aggression & Appeasement
1938 took over Austria
1938 demanded that Czechoslovakia give Germany the Sudetenland

11. German Aggression & Appeasement
Munich Conference – meeting of Germany, France, Britain, & Italy on Sept. 29, 1938
Czechs not invited
Neville Chamberlain (Britain) believed that he could preserve peace by giving into Hitler’s demand
Britain & France agreed that he could take the Sudetenland
Hitler promised to respect the new borders & not take more

12. German Aggression & Appeasement
6 months later, he took Czechoslovakia
Demanded that Poland return the port of Danzig

14. Failure of the League of Nations
Some nations were not allowed to join
U.S. did not join
Had no power to enforce its decisions
Did nothing to Japan when it invaded China & did not protect China
Japan withdrew

15. Failure of the League of Nations
Did nothing to Italy when it invaded Ethiopia & did not protect Ethiopia
Did nothing to Hitler when he did not obey the Versailles Treaty
Did not stop Hitler from taking over the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia & did not protect these areas