Transcript World War Dos (Two)

World War II
Japan grows more aggressive
• Japan thought it should have an
empire equal to the of the
western world
–Seizes Manchuria and withdraws
from the League of Nations
–Overrun eastern China
Italy Invades Ethiopia
• Mussolini uses military might to
exact revenge from long ago
–League of nations imposed
sanctions on Italy but had little
effect
–Ethiopia falls to Italy
Hitler’s Challenge
• Builds up military
• Sends troops into the
Rhineland (demilitarized)
• League of Nations
“appeases” Hitler
Appeasement and Neutrality
• France was demoralized
• Britain thought Hitler justified due to harshness of
Treaty of Versailles
• Saw Hitler as lesser evil against Communism
• Great Depression took away the energy of
Western nations
• Pacifism spread throughout the world
• U.S. passes series of Neutrality Acts
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
• Italy, German, and Japan form
the Axis powers
• Agree to fight Soviet
Communism
• Will not interfere with one
another's desire to expand
German Aggression
• Aide in Spanish Civil War
– Send troops, supplies, and bombing raids
• Goal of achieving Aryan race
– “Nature is cruel…so we may be cruel too…I
have the right to remove millions of an inferior
race that breeds like vermin.”
• Annexes Austria
German Aggression
• Annexes Czechoslovakia
–Munich Conference: France and
Britain cave to Hitler’s demands
–‘Surrender the Sudetenland without
bloodshed’
–Neville Chamberlain claims “peace
for our time”
Europe Plunges into War
• Nazi-Soviet Pact
– Secret nonaggression pact with USSR
• Will not fight if the other went to war
• Divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern
Europe
– Hitler fears Communism and Stalin fears
Fascism
– Hitler did not want war between the Western
nation & Russia
Invasion of Poland
• Sept. 1, 1939
–Nazi’s invade Poland
–Two days later Britain and France
declare war on Germany
• WORLD WAR II is under way
Why War Came
• Effort to revise the Treaty of Versailles
– Satisfied with not satisfied
• Western powers hoped war could be avoided
through diplomacy and compromise
• Western powers were distracted by the Great
Depression at home
• Did not take Hitler seriously
• World War I was still fresh in everyone's minds