Transcript 1935

1) Japan drifts from constitutional monarchy to
militaristic rule, headed by Emperor Hirohito:
• Japan’s constitution limited
the powers of the executive
(prime minister), and there
was no civilian control of the
military (which reported only
to the Emperor).
• The government was blamed for inadequately
dealing with the effects of the Depression.
• Military leaders gained popular support by using
nationalism and appealing to a sense of tradition
of the Emperor as a “symbol of state power”.
2) Japan addresses the Depression:
Seeks “foreign expansion” (imperialism),
establishing a “Pacific Empire” (including China),
providing Japan with:
• raw materials for its industries
• captured markets for its goods
• land for its growing population to colonize
3) Japan expansion & international reaction:
• Japan seized Manchuria (NE China) in 1931,
and set up a puppet government there.
• The League of Nations condemned &
protested the invasion; Japan ignored the
complaints and withdrew from the L.O.N.
4) Japan expands beyond Manchuria:
In 1937, Japan further expands with a full-scale
invasion of China following a staged “border incident”,
seizing vast territory all along their coast.
Japan occupies China
despite being outnumbered:
The Japanese military was
better equipped & trained
than the larger Chinese
military.
The League of Nations
& international community
continued to do nothing.
Japanese occupation of China (1937 – 1945):
The existing Chinese government & military
retreats west, to the interior of China.
The Chinese communists remain in the east, to
conduct guerrilla warfare against the Japanese
(winning the support of many Chinese citizens,
which will help them in their communist
revolution & civil war after WWII ends!)
5) Japanese treatment of Chinese during the
occupation:
“Killed tens of thousands of captured soldiers and
civilians”…
“Rape of Nanking”: Japanese murder approximately
200,000 Chinese civilians in 6 weeks.
6) Mussolini seeks an “Italian Empire”:
Already has Libya & Somalia… Italy then conquers
Ethiopia in 1935.
7) Reasons for success:
• Superior industrialized weapons (planes, tanks,
poison gas, machine guns) against non-industrial
weapons (spears, swords).
• An impotent League of Nations condemned the attack,
did nothing to stop it.
• Britain sacrificed Ethiopia
for presumed “peace in
Europe”, even allowing
Italy military access
through the Suez Canal
on its way to Ethiopia.
Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, in a speech at the
League of Nations:
“It is us today. It will be you tomorrow”.
8) Hitler violates the Treaty of Versailles:
1935: Builds up Germany military capacity (enlarges
army, rapid weapons build-up)
1936: Sends German troops to occupy the Rhineland
(German territory on French border).
1938: Germany annexes Austria
(the “Anschluss”)
9) British & French reaction to German aggression:
A policy of APPEASEMENT: making concessions
(or, giving in) to an aggressor in the hopes of
keeping the peace.
10) AXIS POWERS
Germany
Italy
Japan
11) Spanish Civil War (1936-1939):
• The Republicans (pro-democracy liberals &
socialists) vs. the Nationalists (pro-fascist military
leaders, led by Francisco Franco).
• The Nationalists (Fascists) won, w/ the aid of
Germany and Italy, who both sent military assistance
(in part to gain experience and test out their new
weapons in anticipation of further imperial expansion
in Europe).
• The Republicans received marginal support from the
USSR, and an “international brigade of [anti-fascist]
volunteers”… it wasn’t enough. Western democracies
(U.S., U.K., France) remained neutral.
Abraham Lincoln Brigade: American citizens who
fought against fascists in the Spanish Civil War:
2800 volunteers, 700 dead
12) The Spanish Civil War and the build-up to WWII:
• It resulted in more fascism and less democracy in
Europe.
• Western democracies stayed neutral, sending a
message that they would back down as fascism
expanded.
• It made Hitler & Mussolini stronger and more
confident in their larger goals of imperial conquest in
Europe.
• It provided the militaries of Germany and Italy with
more experience for combat and effective use of their
weapons.
13) U.S. foreign policy during the Depression:
• ISOLATIONISM (political disengagement)
• Lesson of WWI – stay out of global problems
• U.S. passed a series of Neutrality Acts, banning
financial assistance or arms sales to any warring
nations.
Unrealistic: you cannot be disengaged politically while
being engaged economically… politics and
economics are intertwined!
14) Munich Agreement, September, 1938:
(WWII is exactly one year away)
• Germany demanded the right to annex the
SUDETENLAND, Czechoslovakian territory on
the border w/ Germany, which was the home to
a majority of ethnic Germans.
• War was (temporarily) avoided when Germany,
Italy, France, and Britain (NOT
Czechoslovakia!) met in Munich to “resolve”
the crisis, by allowing Germany to take the
Sudetenland in return for pledging to then
respect the new Czech borders.
• Germany was APPEASED in order to avoid
military conflict!
15) Munich Agreement, September, 1938:
Failure for the Western democracies, who
continue to appease Hitler!
Six months after the Munich Conference, in
March of 1939, Germany annexed the rest of
Czechoslovakia; Hitler then had his sights set
on reclaiming land lost to Poland from the
Treaty of Versailles. He respected NO treaties
or agreements… this will finally change when
Britain & France pledge support of Polish
sovereignty.
16) Why appeasement toward Hitler & fascists?
• Non-fascist nations preferred peace to war, particularly
in the context of the recent memory of WWI.
• Nations were distracted and pre-occupied with the
economic crisis of the Depression.
• Belief and hope that an appeasement approach would
be effective.
• As Germany got stronger, no one nation could stop
them anyway
• A bigger fear of communism than fascism, initially 
Communist revolution had already occurred in Russia,
and might appeal to the working class during the
Depression, furthering its aims of spreading on a
global level.
17) Failure of appeasement:
• It encouraged Hitler to be more belligerent (esp. in
violating the terms of the Treaty of Versailles!)
• It made Hitler more popular among German citizens,
giving him more “power and prestige” in Germany,
solidifying his grip on power.
• It sent a message that democratic nations would back
down when challenged, shifting the “balance of power”
to fascist nations.
• No consequences for bad behavior = no change in
bad behavior (psychology 101!).
• It gave Germany more time to build up its military and
become even more dangerous as it implemented its
imperial goals (Mein Kampf!).