Transcript Depression, War, and Recovery

Depression, War, and Recovery
Unit 8B
By the 1930’s:


Dictators had taken control in
several countries (Italy,
Germany, Japan, and the
Soviet Union).
Dictators are also sometimes
called fascists.

World War I causes

Nationalism
Imperialism
Arms Races
Alliances

World War II causes







Nationalism
Sectionalism
Dreams of Expansion
The Great Depression
Fascism: government where the country is
more important than the people.
Fascists often use propaganda
(movies – TV – posters – speeches – radio)
to help make their government look great.
Two fascists in the 1930’s

Adolph Hitler

Benito Mussolini
Adolph Hitler





Born Adolph Schicklgruber
(in Austria).
Wanted to be a great artist, but
was told he had no talent.
Felt that his Jewish teachers had
plotted against him.
Blamed the Jews for many
problems and his hatred of Jews
grew.
An extra page in our packets tells
why Hitler and the Nazis felt the
way they did (ideology of Nazism)
By the time he was an adult, he
had moved to Munich




Hung around the beer
halls (popular political
places at that time)
1921: joined the Nazi
Party
1923: was arrested and
put in jail for helping a
group try and overthrow
the German government.
While in Jail: wrote
“Mein Kampf”
When he got out of jail:



Returned to the Nazi
party and used his
two great gifts:
Great political sense.
A great speaker who
seemed to know
exactly what to say
and do.
In 1932: Hitler won 30% of the vote
for President of Germany (so… some
people thought he’d be a good leader)

Offered the Germans: national pride, power, glory,
revenge, and a return to the great Germany of old.

Continued to attack communism, and continued to
blame Jews for the problems of Germany.


Hitler also felt he needed more “living space”
(Lebensraum) for the expanding German race – there’s
some extra reading about that in our packets.
By 1938: Had control of Germany
Benito Mussolini


Similar rise to power in Italy.
People wanted a new leader and he promised
them a return to power and glory.
Both Hitler and Mussolini would
make agreements with countries….




Then would invade those
same countries.
Countries would get
worried they’d be next or
be mad their neighbor
country was invaded.
So Hitler and Mussolini
would make nonaggression agreements
with them….
Which they would also
soon break.
This was called appeasement
(giving in to someone just to make them happy)

These countries would meet Germany’s demands –
just to avoid a war (which they really couldn’t avoid).
Hitler just kept invading countries and it
didn’t look like he was ready to stop.

This was still not yet
what we’d call World
War II though.

That came in 1939.
Hitler made an agreement with the Soviet Union
that they would not go to war against each other
(even though they were bitter enemies).



One month later,
Hitler invaded Poland.
Great Britain and
France finally had
enough of this and
declared war on
Germany.
And… WWII had
begun.
These Germans were great fighters


They used a strategy
called a blitzkrieg
(in German means:
lightning war)
This was fighting with
speed and surprise
using tanks, troops,
and planes.




Poland fell in one month.
France was next – they
were overcome in about
2 weeks.
All that was left of Europe
was Britain – but that
wasn’t as successful for
the Germans.
The British people were
pretty tough and fought
hard – even under
terrible conditions they
would not surrender.
The 2 sides:

The Axis Powers

The Allied Powers
Hitler decided one more country
he could attack was the Soviet Union
(led by Joseph Stalin).


Which didn’t work so
well for him.
It was one of the worst
Russian winters ever, and
Hitler’s men just had a
tough time fighting there.
No United States yet, but….


We were sending aid
to the allies.
(all together about
$50 billion worth
of war goods).
(The Neutrality Acts
and “Lend-Lease”).
Japan was another country that
wanted to expand their empire


To do so, they needed
resources .
Japan is a tiny island
nation and they didn’t
have many resources, so
to get them they also
decided to invade some
countries (in Asia).



The United States did not
agree with this
aggression and decided
to cut off trade with
Japan (who needed oil
and steel).
They got mad at us and
decided if we wouldn’t
trade with them, they
might as well attack us
and try and take what
they wanted.
The first place they
attacked the United
States was at …..
Pearl Harbor
President Roosevelt




“Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a day
which will live in infamy, the United States
of America was suddenly and deliberately
attacked by the empire of Japan”
War was declared on Japan
A few days later, Germany and Italy
declared war on the U.S.
The United States was now in World War
II