1. 1931 – 1941 Chapter 11

2. What changes were taking place in the world after WWI and how was America responding to those changes? What were the causes for WWII? What was the Holocaust? Why did the United States enter the war?

3. Rise of Fascism in Italy  Fascism – a very aggressive, nationalistic socialism  Fascists believed the state was more important than the individual  Fascist states believed in expansion through the military  Fascist leader in Italy – Benito Mussolini aka “Il Duce”  Received support from Catholic Church

4. Fascine - A bundle of rods wrapped around, or accompanying, an ax Ancient Roman symbol of state power

5. Stalin and the USSR  Russian Revolution 1917 won by Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics established (USSR) aka Soviet Union  1926 Josef Stalin took over after Lenin’s death and a subsequent power struggle  Stalin backed rapid industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture  Millions died during social turmoil and famine

6. Hitler and the Nazis  Adolf Hitler admired Mussolini  Hitler helped found the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (Nazi)  1923 – Nazis attempted to seize power in Munich – Hitler arrested  In prison wrote Mein Kampf (my struggle)  The German Volk  Aryans

7.  Lebensraum (living space)  Hatred of Jews  After prison, Hitler began political rise in Nazi party  1933 Hitler appointed Chancellor  1934 Hitler could rule through edict under Enabling Act  Hitler also became president and now in control of the German Army  Der Fuhrer began to rebuild the army in violation of the Treaty of Versailles

8. Militarists Gain Control of Japan  Many Japanese military officers blamed democracy and civilian politicians for the Depression  Japan needed resources for industry – military wanted to take them  1931 Japan invaded Manchuria – officers assassinated the Japanese prime minister  Military now in control  Military backed by the Japanese emperor, Hirohito

9. American Neutrality  Americans overwhelmingly isolationist  1935 Neutrality Act – illegal for US to sell arms to any country at war  1936 Spanish Civil War – Fascists led by General Francisco Franco supported by Italy and Germany; Communists/Republicans supported by Soviet Union  US banned weapons sales to countries in civil war

10.  Hitler and Mussolini signed friendship pact  Japan aligned itself with Germany and Italy in Anti-Comintern Pact  Japan, Germany, and Italy became known as the Axis Powers  1937 Neutrality Act – US still banned arms sales but now any sales of goods were “cash and carry”  FDR supported internationalism - trade creates prosperity and helps prevent war

11. The Austrian Anschluss  1938 – Hitler called for the unification of German-speaking peoples  German troops marched into Austria and united it with Germany  Hitler next demanded the Sudatenland – a region of Czechoslovakia dominated by ethnic Germans

13.  Czech crisis resulted in Munich Conference  Convinced Hitler would be satisfied, Britain and France gave in to his demands (appeasement)  “Peace in Our Time” – British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain  1939 Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia

14. 1938 – Hitler demanded the return of the city of Danzig and transportation rights through the Polish Corridor Britain and France announced they would come to Poland’s aid if Germany attacked 1939 – Germany and USSR signed the Non-Aggression Pact Secret deal would divide Poland between Germany and USSR

15. September 1, 1939 – Germany invaded Poland from the West and USSR invaded from the East Britain and France declared war on Germany Germany used mobile combined arms warfare called Blitzkrieg (lightning war) By October 1939 Poland was defeated

17. The Conquest of Western Europe  After fall of Poland Allies sat facing Germany  France defended with Maginot Line  April 1940 - Germany attacked Norway and Denmark to secure its iron supply from Sweden  May 1940 – Germany attacked Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg

19. French and British forces moved north to confront German forces in Belgium German armored units burst through lightly defended border at the Ardennes Forest – bypassed Maginot Line French and British forces were trapped in Belgium

22. Trapped Allied forces evacuated at Dunkirk using anything that could float ~338,000 troops saved Allies had to leave behind all their vehicles and heavy weapons June 1940 – France surrendered Northern France occupied by Germans Rest of France placed under control of French puppet government at Vichy

24. 1940 Battle of Britain  Hitler expected Britain to surrender – Britain refused  British Prime Minister Winston Churchill defiant  Hitler prepared to invade – needed control of the air for success  German Luftwaffe attacked airfields then switched to cities  British air force inflicted great damage to Luftwaffe – invasion called off

25. Shoah – Jewish word for catastrophe Anti-Semitism strong in Europe since Middle Ages Hitler blamed Jews for Germany’s defeat in WWI Nuremberg Laws – stripped Jews of citizenship, restricted jobs and freedoms, forbade marriages with Jews Jew = anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent

26. Kristallnacht  Night of broken glass  Hitler sanctioned attacks on Jewish people, businesses, and synagogues  Over 20,000 wealthy Jews arrested by Gestapo (German secret police)  Jews forced to pay fines for the “damages”

27. Jews attempted to leave Germany Some migrated successfully to US including Albert Einstein Countries refused to take many of them including US SS St. Louis, filled with Jewish refugees, was turned back from Cuba and the US – returned to Europe

28. The Final Solution  Wannsee Conference – meeting that arrived at decision to exterminate Jewish population  Concentration Camps – detention centers where prisoners used as slave labor  Extermination Camps – usually attached to concentration camps; those not able to work: sick, old, children were executed usually in gas chambers

29. Neutrality Act of 1939  US officially neutral after Europe went to war  Despite neutrality, FDR did what he could to help Britain  FDR got Congress to lift ban on arms sales but it had to be “cash and carry” 1940 Destroyers-for-Bases  US traded 50 WWI destroyers fro bases in the Caribbean

30. Isolationism  American public divided over involvement in European affairs  America First Committee strongly opposed to helping Britain  Election of 1940 – FDR walked tightrope between neutrality and helping Britain  FDR re-elected to unprecedented third term

31. The Lend-Lease Act  Britain out of money  Under the Act, US lent war materiel to Britain and, later, to the USSR Hemispheric Defense Zone  Britain losing ships to German U- Boats  US could not directly help b/c it was neutral  US declared the eastern half the Atlantic a Hemispheric Defense Zone and used US military to patrol it

32. The Atlantic Charter  FDR and Churchill discussed the relationship between US and Britain  US promised to help Britain more  Fall 1941 German U- Boats attacked US warships  USS Reuben James sank with 115 sailors

33. United States & Japan  US angry at Japanese invasion of China  1940 Export Control Act – US blocked sale of scrap metal and oil to Japan  US sent lend-lease materiel to China  US froze all Japanese assets in US  US would not lift embargo until Japan made peace in China

34. Pearl Harbor  Japan needed to secure resources in Asia without interference from US  Decided to knock out US fleet at Hawaii  December 7, 1941 – attacked US at Pearl Harbor  Attack knocked out bulk of US Pacific fleet and killed 2,403 Americans  US declared war on Japan – Germany and Italy declared war on US