Transcript Causes of WWII

Causes of World War II
Economic Depression
• Widespread unemployment in Europe and
Japan helped to create totalitarian leaders
• Centralized and Dictatorial
• Must completely listen to the
government
• These governments forced the people
to do whatever they wanted
Inter-War Years
• Fascist parties legally gained power in Germany and
Italy
• Government is controlled by one person or small
group. The leader (dictator) pushes his people
towards his/her own goals
• Once in power, they eliminated their opponents
• Rival parties were banned, censorship was imposed, and
legislative bodies lost their power
• Germany and Italy were the first countries to become
fascist
Inter-War Years
• Germans and Italians had lived with high
unemployment and food shortages since the
end of World War I
• Fascist governments came in, promising to change
this and make a better future
• These countries felt cheated by the Treaty of
Versailles
• Italy felt they deserved more
• Germany felt they were punished too harshly
Adolf Hitler
“der Führer”
Country
Germany
Political Party
Nazi—National Socialist German Workers Party
Book
Mein Kampf (“My Struggle”)
How He Started WWII
Invasion of Poland (1939)
How Hitler Helped Germany
• Hitler flooded Germany’s
radio, press, and movies
with propaganda that
stressed military might
• Rebuilt the army and
helped the economy to
recover by ordering planes,
tanks, and weapons
• Left property rights intact
(people got to keep what
they already owned)
Benito Mussolini
“Il Duce” (the Leader)
Country
Italy
Political Party
Fascist Party
Goal
Restore the glory of Roman Empire
Country He Took Over
Ethiopia (1935)
How Mussolini helped Italy
• Solved Italy’s unemployment
problem by building up its
armed forces
• Promised to make Italy the
great power it had once been
during the Roman Empire
• Invaded Ethiopia in 1935,
creating a colonial and
imperial power out of Italy
How Japan becomes
Totalitarian
• Japanese army leaders
were responsible to the
Emperor, not Parliament
• During the Depression
Japanese leaders were
given permission to begin
creating a Pacific Empire
• This would make Japan
more self-sufficient
Hideki Tojo
Country
Japan
His Needs
Raw materials for industry and military
Countries Invaded
Korea (1905), Manchuria & China
Opposed by
US cut off oil supply when Japan invaded China
How Tojo helped Japan
• Invaded China
(Manchuria) in order to
gain more coal and iron
• Executed over 200,000
people I the Chinese
capital of Nanking
• Franklin Roosevelt
created a trade embargo
against Japan, stopping
all trade with the country