Transcript Causes of World War II

Causes of World War II
I. The Treaty of
Versailles
(1919)
A. Officially ended
World War I
B. Severely
punished
Germany
1. Germany lost territory
2. Germany had to accept fault for the war
3. Germany had to pay reparations to the Allies
a. $33 billion (about $400 billion today)
C. Created the League of
Nations
1. International
peacekeeping
organization
2. Purpose was to
prevent another
world war
II. Worldwide
economic
depression
III. Totalitarianism
A. Definition: system where the
government has total control over the
lives of the people
B. Powerful nations with totalitarian
governments after World War I:
1. Soviet Union (Russia)
a. The Bolshevik
Revolution in 1917
established a
communist
government
2. Japan
a. Japan established a
military state after
Hirohito became
emperor in 1926
3. Italy
a. Benito Mussolini
seized power and
established an
extremely
nationalistic form
of government
called fascism in
1922
4. Germany
a. Adolf Hitler seized
power and
established a form
of fascism called
Nazism in 1933
IV. Imperialism
A. Definition: when a stronger nation
dominates a weaker nation
B. Japan
1. Invaded Manchuria in 1931
2. Invaded China in 1937
a. Murdered over 300,000 Chinese civilians
in the “Rape of Nanking”
C. Italy
1. Invaded Ethiopia in 1935
D. Germany
1. Moved troops into the Rhineland in
1936
2. Invaded Austria in 1938
3. Invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939
V. Appeasement
A. British and French policy in the years
before World War II
1. They hoped that by giving in to Hitler
they could avoid war
B. Enabled Germany to easily conquer its
weaker neighbors
Munich Agreement
Prime
Minister
Neville
Chamberlain
VI. Isolationism
A. The foreign policy
of the United
States after World
War I
B. The United States
refused to join the
League of Nations
1. This made the
League of
Nations weak
and ineffective
Woodrow
Wilson
Senator Henry
Cabot Lodge
C. The United States
refused to get
involved with trying
to stop Japanese,
Italian, and German
aggression