Transcript Aggressors Invade Nations

Ch 19 Sec 1
Review
 Mid-1930s
 Germany and Italy focused on military
conquest
 Major democracies distracted by
Depression
 Countries look to League of Nations to
maintain peace
 Japan moves towards military rule
European Aggressors on the March
 European Fascists encouraged by
League of Nations failure in Japan
 Mussolini invades Ethiopia
 Hitler violates Treaty of Versailles
 Civil War Erupts in Spain
Mussolini Attacks Ethiopia
 Mussolini invades Ethiopia in Oct 1935
 Spears and swords no match for planes,
tanks, guns, and gas
 Ethiopian emperor appeals to League
 Condemns action but does nothing to help
 British let Italians use Suez Canal
 British and French hoped to keep peace in
Europe
Hitler Defies Versailles Treaty
 Provisions of Treaty
 Limited size of German army
 Created Rhineland

Buffer between Germany and France
 Hitler ignored provisions
 Moved troops into Rhineland (March 7,
1936)
Britain responds
 Appeasement?
 Giving in to an aggressor to keep peace

Let Hitler build army and invade Rhineland
 Would keep France and Britain out of war
with Germany
 Hitler admitted he would have backed down
if they challenged him
 Rhineland occupation was turning point
 Strengthened Hitler’s power and
prestige
 Shifted balance of power in Germany’s
favor

France and Belgium open to attack
 Hitler encouraged by weak response

Sped up expansion ideas
Axis Powers
 Mussolini seeks alliance with Hitler
 Oct 1936 – Rome-Berlin Axis
 November 1936 – Germany makes
agreement with Japan – Comintern Pact
 Germany, Italy and Japan become Axis
Powers
Civil War in Spain
 1936 – Francisco Franco leads revolt in Spain
 Favored Fascism
 Begins three year civil war
 Hitler and Mussolini send aid to Franco and
Nationalists
 Troops, tanks, airplanes
 Western democracies remained neutral
 1939 – Franco becomes Fascist dictator of Spain
Democratic Nations Try to Preserve
Peace
 US Follows Isolationist Policy
 Belief that political ties to other
countries should be avoided

Entry into WWI was a mistake
 1935 Neutrality Acts

Banned loans and the sale of arms to
nations at war
The German Reich Expands
 Nov 5 1937 Hitler announces plan for
Third Reich
 Wanted to absorb control of Austria
and Czechoslovakia
 Violated Treaty of Versailles

Forbade union of Austria and Germany
 March 1938 Hitler invades and annexes
Austria
 September 1938 demands Sudetenland
be given to Germany
 Western border regions of Czechoslovakia
 Czechs refuse and ask French for help
Munich Conference
 September 29, 1938 - Germany, France, GB,
Italy
 British PM Neville Chamberlain believes he
can maintain peace by giving in
 Britain and France agree Hitler can take
Sudetenland
 Hitler agreed to respect Czech borders
 6 months later Hitler invades
Czechoslovakia
Nazis and Soviets
 USSR approached to help Britain and France
stop Hitler
 Hitler bargained with Stalin
 Publicly pledged never to attack one
another
 Offered eastern Poland and the Baltic states
 Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed
August 23, 1939
Japan Seeks an Empire
 1920s – Japanese gov’t more democratic
 1922 signs treaty with China to
respect borders
 1928 signs Kellogg-Briand Pact

War no longer used to solve problems
Weaknesses of Democracy
 Limits on power of prime minister and
cabinet
 Civilian leaders had little control over
military
 Military leaders reported only to emperor
Militarists Take Control of Japan
 Japanese blame gov’t for Great Depression
 Military leaders wanted traditional control
given to military
 Made emperor symbol of state power

Keeping Hirohito won popular support for
army leaders
 Extreme Nationalists
 Economic problems solved through
expansion into Pacific
Japan Invades Manchuria
 Northeast province of China
 Rich in iron and coal
 1931 seized by Japanese army
 Set up puppet government
 Built mines and factories
 League of Nations protested
 Japan left league in 1933
Japan Invades China
 1937 – Border dispute sets off war w/China
 Chinese military no match for Japanese
Chinese military larger
 Japanese better equipped and better trained
 Chinese focused on Communist threat from
within

The New Asian Order
 Japan would establish new system of
control in Asia
 Japan, Manchuria, China
 Japan guiding Asian neighbors to
prosperity
 Plan to conquer Siberia
 1930s - Japan begins to cooperate w/Nazis
 Believed the two countries would launch
attack on USSR
 Nonaggression Pact changed that idea
 Japan looks to Southeast Asia for empire
Japan Launches Attack
 Attack to South would anger colonial
empires
 Mainly US
 1940 – Japan demands right to exploit
economic resources in French Indochina
 US objects
 Would apply economic sanctions unless
Japan withdrew