Transcript The Road To War

The Road To War
America’s Foreign Policy 1931 1941
 ISOLATIONISM:
– The Great Depression
– Americans not wanting a
repeat of WWI
– Divided country
• Some favored the ideas of
demagogues like Hitler
– Father Coughlin
• Some felt for the victims
of aggression.
America chooses
NEUTRALITY
 Neutrality and
Isolation:
– Hawley-Smoot
Tariff isolated
America.
• We couldn’t buy
other countries
goods and they
wouldn’t buy ours
because of the
tariff.
America Chooses
NEUTRALITY
 Neutrality Acts (19351937):
– Banned the US from
providing weapons to
nations at war.
– Banned loans to
nations at war.
– Trade with countries at
war as long as:
• Cash and carry
• Non-military items
What was going on in Europe to
make America favor Isolation?
 Totalitarianism
– Government that
exerts TOTAL control
over every aspect of
life in the country.
 Fascism
– Emphasizes the
importance of nation
or of an ethnic group.
Fascism and Totalitarianism
 Strong dictatorial
governments.
 Little respect for
individual rights and
freedom.
Hitler’s Rise to Power: The Nazi
Party
 Founded in 1919
– Belief in Hitler
– Belief about German
nationalism
– Belief in racial
superiority
– 1923, tried and failed
to take over German
government.
Germany Rearms and Expands
 1936: Germany took
back the Rhineland.
 1936: Created the
AXIS with Italy
 1938: Annexed
Austria
 1938: Invaded and
took over
Czechoslovakia
What did the world do as Hitler
did this?
 APPEASEMENT
– Giving in to a
competitor’s demands
to keep the peace.
Appeasement
 Britain’s Prime
Minister: Neville
Chamberlain.
 Thought once Hitler
had Czechoslovakia
Hitler would “be
content”
 “Peace in Our Time.”
Invasion of Poland
 Poland was next on
Hitler’s list of
countries to invade.
 BUT
– France and England
had said they would
not go along with this
invasion.
– Stalin was also a
problem.
Hitler’s BLITZKRIEG
 “Lightning War”
 Fast and concentrated
land and air war.
 Take enemy by
surprise.
 Terrorize civilian
populations and
troops.
France
 April 9, 1940
Germany attacks.
 They went round and
attacked through
Belgium.
 Blitzkrieg!
Fall of France
 June 10, 1940
 Reaction of the
French?
– Collaborators (worked
with the Nazis)
– Resistance ( fought the
Nazis as guerrillas /
insurgents)
Battle of Britain
 August 1940 – May
1941
 Luftwaffe attacks day
and night.
 1,000 planes bombed
Britain
Japan Builds an Empire
 US Great Depression
affected industry in
Japan.
 1930s – rise of
nationalism and
fascism in Japan.
1940 Japan finds new allies
 Germany and Italy
 The Axis Powers
What was America doing in
1940?
 America First
Committee
– Blocked any aid to
England.
– Strict Isolation
– Charles Lindbergh a
leader
1940 Election
 Roosevelt won.
 “Your boys are not
going to be sent to
any foreign war.”
Lend Lease
 November 1940
 “If your neighbor’s
house is on fire, you
don’t sell him a hose.
You lend it to him and
take it back after the
fire is out.”
– FDR
– $49-billion in aid
given.
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
 Most American
attention was on what
was happening in
Europe.
 That included FDR
Before the Attack
 Roosevelt did use the
Neutrality Acts to
keep iron, steel and
oil from being
exported to Japan.
 1940 froze all
Japanese investments
in the United States.
America: The Sleeping Giant
 “America is a
sleeping giant. Once
awakened, his wrath
will by mighty.”
– Yamamoto
Why Pearl Harbor?
 Little known port
 Half the fleet would
be there in December
 The harbor is only 3
miles square
Specifics of the Attack
 The Arizona
 Hit by 1,760 lb. Bomb
in the forward ammo
magazine.
 Went down in 9
minutes
 Half the dead of Pearl
Harbor
Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941
 By 9:45 the attack was
over.
 2,400 lives lost
 1,200 injured
 200 warplanes destroyed
 18 warships sunk or
heavily damaged
– 8 of the nine battleships of
the fleet.
FDR
 “December 7, a day
that will live in
infamy.”
– FDR, Declaration of
War speech