Transcript Chapter 13 A World in Flames

WWII is coming
fast…
 The Treaty
of Versailles wasn’t fair…
 The world-wide Great Depression made
matters far worse
 When people get desperate they are
more willing to believe that a single
person can solve their problems,
dictators often seem like easy answers.
 After WWI…this process began to
emerge in Europe and Asia
 In
1919 Benito Mussolini
started the Fascist Party
 Fascism believes that the
country is more important
than the person.
 Mussolini pledged to take
Italy back to the glory
days of the Roman
Empire.
 His nickname was il
Duce which means “the
leader.”
“Mussolini may have done many brutal
and tyrannical things; he may have
destroyed human freedom in Italy; he may
have murdered and tortured citizens
whose only crime was to oppose
Mussolini; but ‘one had to admit’ one thing
about the Dictator: he ‘made the trains run
on time.’”
 Joseph
Stalin became the
leader of the USSR in 1926.
 He imposed communism
ruthlessly and forcefully
killing 8-10 million
Russians.
 "Comrade
Stalin, having become General
Secretary, has concentrated enormous power
in his hands: and I am not sure that he always
knows how to use that power with sufficient
caution. I therefore propose to our comrades
to consider a means of removing Stalin from
this post and appointing someone else who
differs from Stalin in one weighty respect:
being more tolerant, more loyal, more polite,
more considerate of his comrades."
 Born
to very poor parents in Austria
 Very good in school, very serious, very
religious and considered becoming a monk
 Wanted to be top of class, didn’t make it…and
completely stopped trying
 Only class he liked – History…and he loved
German military history
 Dropped out of high school
 WWI occurred and he was happy…but
refused to fight for Austria and instead moved
to German and volunteered to fight for them
Adolf Hitler admired Mussolini and
how he came to power.
 Hitler began to associate with the
National Socialists German
Workers Party. Better known as the
Nazi Party.
 Hitler was arrested in 1923 for trying
to start a revolution.
 He was copying Mussolini’s March
on Rome
 While in jail, he wrote his
autobiography titled Mein Kampf
(my struggle).
 After prison, he became Chancellor
in 1933 and President in 1934.

 In
Mein Kampf, Hitler
describes what he
considers to be the
master race.
 Blonde hair and blue eyes
were considered superior
over everyone else.
 This master race was
called Aryans.
 He believed that Aryans
needed more living
space. That is one of his
many reasons for
invading Europe.
 Being
an island, Japan lacks many resources
 In the Depression other countries raised tariffs
and it crushed Japan because they rely on
many imports
 The military and the people blamed the
political system and corrupt politicians
 The military took over the government and
believed the only way Japan could prosper is
if they controlled more of Asia
 1931 – Japan invaded Manchuria, China for its
resources
 The
United States was still in the Great
Depression.
 They did not want to get involved in a costly war
with Europe.
 Congress would pass two Acts to remain neutral:
1. Neutrality Act of 1935
2. Neutrality Act of 1937
 The
U.S. sold materials to other countries based on
the cash and carry policy.
 Hitler
wanted to unify all German-speaking people.
 Both Austria and Czechoslovakia spoke German.
 If
Hitler were to take these countries, he would gain:
1. Food Supplies
3. More men to fight
2. Land
4. More natural resources
 In
March of 1938 Hitler invaded Austria declaring
Anschluss (means unification).
 Hitler
set his eyes on the Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia, but the Czechs were resisting
 France promised to fight for the Czechs, and
Britain had promised to help the French
 Representatives from Britain, France, Italy, and
Germany agreed to meet in Munich, 1938
 At the Munich Conference the sides agreed to
give Hitler the Sudetenland, but it had to be
the end of Hitler’s demands
 Appeasement – trying to make peace through
bribery
 Only
a month later, Hitler declared he wanted
Danzig—a German city given to Poland after WWI
 Now no more appeasement—if Poland got invaded,
France and Britain announced they would go to war.
 August 23rd, 1939 Germany and the USSR signed the
Nazi-Soviet Nonagression Pact agreement.
 This was done by Hitler so that he wouldn’t have to
fight a war on two fronts.
 September 1st, 1939, Germany invades Poland and
thus starting WWII.
 It
only took a month for the Germans to take
Poland
 Germany was using a new type of warfare
called Blitzkrieg – meaning “lightning
war”
 It combined several new technologies -Overhead bombing coordinated with tanks to
break through opposing forces quickly.
Paratroopers and radios connected the forces
for lightning fast speed.
 The polish army rode horses and had lances…
so they had a fighting chance.
 France
and Britain were prepared for an invasion
from Germany.
 After WWI, France had built a wall of concrete
bunkers and various fortifications on the German
border named the Maginot Line.
 What
is wrong
with the Maginot
line?
 Hitler
knew of this
wall and decided to
invade France
through Belgium.
 Britain and France
didn’t expect
Germany to attempt
to go thru the
Ardennes Forest
 Hitler easily won
Belgium and turned
toward France.
 June 22nd 1940,
Hitler accepted the
surrender of France.
 In
1940 Winston Churchill became the new Prime
Minister in England .
 Germany wanted to invade England, but you know,
it’s an island...so they had to first beat them through
the air.
 To invade England Germany had to win air control
over the English Channel
 The German Luftwaffe (airforce) began dropping
bombs on England.
 From
August 23rd until September 6th
Germany bombed London during daylight.
 From September 7th - November 3rd,
Germany sent 200 bombers every NIGHT
except for one.
 The British had developed an advanced radar
system…so they could protect themselves
with air fire and getting civilians into safe
places
 By the end of 1940, Hitler called off his
invasion of England.