Transcript Aggressors on the March

Aggressors on the March
Final Years before WWII
Japan’s Democracy
• 1920s Japans signed agreements to
not use war as a policy tool
• But Japan’s gov. had little control
over the military
• When the Great Depression hit the
Government was blamed and military
leaders took control of the nation
• Unlike, Other totalitarian leaders
(Stalin, Hitler or Mussolini), Japanese
did not want a new system of
government instead they wanted
control to go back into the hands of
the Emperor
Like other Totalitarian systems
• Ultra-Nationalistic
• Militaristic
• Wanted to conquer
neighbors (China)
to end economic
crisis
• Wanted room for
the Japanese
people at the
expense of others
Invasion of Manchuria (China’s
Northeastern Province)
• Rich in Coal and Iron
• 1931, Japans Military
occupied the province and
set up a Puppet Government
• League of Nations protested
this violation of international
peace but did nothing to
stop Japan
• 1933 Japan withdrawals
from the League of Nations
Japan invades China
• On the boarder of Manchuria and China
shot are fired between the Japanese Army
and the “Chinese” Army (it was faked by
the Japanese Army to start the war)
• China’s large army was no match for the
better trained and equipped Japanese
forces
• The Chinese civil war between the
nationalist and the communists is put on
hold as all of China unites to fight the
Japanese.
• In less than 6 months Beijing and Nanking
are captured by Japan
• The Rape of Nanking, where 300,000 to
600,000 civilians were killed by the
Japanese Army for fun
Mussolini attacks Ethiopia
• Why? revenge for Italy’s loss
in the 1889 and to build an
empire
• Ethiopian army is no match
for Italian tanks, airplanes
and poison gas
• Haile Selassie, Emperor of
Ethiopia, asks League of
Nations for help
• League does next to nothing,
Selassie warns “It is us today.
It will be you tomorrow.”
Hitler Defies Versailles Treaty
• 1935 announces that Germany is
rebuilding Armed Forces
• 1936 German Troops occupy the
Rhineland
– part of Germany
– but demilitarized after WWI
– buffer zone between
Germany/France
• Scared of starting a world war
France does nothing
• 1936, Hitler, Mussolini and Japan
form an alliance called the Axis.
This what these nations will be
called in WWII
Civil War in Spain
• Nationalist (Fascists) under
General Francisco Franco rebels
against the Republicans (Liberals
and Socialists)
• Germany and Italy send
airplanes and soldiers to help
Franco and test new weapons.
• France, the UK, and the US do
nothing to support the
Republicans.
• Only the Soviet Union sends
equipment and advisors.
• Franco wins. Rules until 1975.
United States Isolates itself from the World
• Many in the US
argued that it was a
mistake to enter
WWI
• Passed 3 Neutrality
Acts that banned
loaning or selling
weapons to nations
at war
Hitler creates a Greater Germany (the Third Reich)
• 1938, Anschluss
– Openly breaking the Versailles
Treaty
– Hitler orders German troops into
Austria
– absorbs the nation into Germany
• 1938, Demands that
Czechoslovakia give up the
Sudetenland
– many natural resources
– most of Czechoslovakia’s military
bases
– populated by 3 million German
speaking people
• Czechs refuse and ask their ally
France for help
Appeasement and the Munich Conference
• Britain and France were preparing for
war when Mussolini called for a meeting
to settle the issue
• Britain, France, Italy and Germany met
in Munich to decide the fate of
Czechoslovakia
– the Czechs were not invited
• British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain
– believed that by giving in to Hitler world war
would be avoided
– this policy is called appeasement
• Hitler promises to be satisfied with the
Sudetenland
• In less than six months Hitler occupies
the rest of Czechoslovakia
Mussolini takes Albania
• Jealous that Hitler has gain so much without firing
a shot
• Kicks out King Zog of Albania (one of the poorest
nations in Europe), part of Italy
• Hitler continues his push for a greater Germany
and claims the port city of Memel from Lithuania
• Cancels nonaggression pact he had with Poland
Poland…
• Hitler, encouraged by all
his success without war
eyes Poland as his next
conquest.
• But Invading Poland
would anger the Soviet
Union and might even
risk war.
• Hitler is confident that
France and Britain would
do nothing like before
Nazis and Soviets at Peace????
• In August of 1939, Hitler and
Stalin sign a public
nonaggression pact promising
not to attack one another.
Secretly:
• Poland is divided between the
two.
• Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and
Finland are given to the Soviet
Union for future conquest
• Germany gives USSR plans for
naval vessels, subs, airplane
engines
• USSR will supply Germany with
many raw goodsb