The Outbreak of War How the world fell back into another World War…

Japan Before War  Ruled by parliamentary system  Restriction of the power of cabinet and Prime Minister  Emperor is a figurehead  Military leaders reported only to the emperor  When the Great Depression hit Japan, the people blamed the gov’t for their hardship  Military leaders gained control of the country  Wanted to restore Emperor Hirohito to power

Japan Before War  Plan of the new military gov’t  Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere – imperial concept created for Asian populations during Japan’s occupation  Promoted cultural and economic unity of East Asian race  Propaganda because of the European nations moving into the area  Wanted to put this in place throughout Asia to solve Japan’s economic problems through foreign expansion  Also would give it room for its growing population

Japan at War  Invasion of Manchuria 1931  Rich in iron and coal  Captured quickly and Japan put a puppet gov’t in place  First direct challenge to League of Nations  Protests invasion  So …1933 Japan leaves the League

 Marco Polo Bridge incident - July 1937  Japan’s lost soldier?  Blamed the Chinese for capturing a soldier when the Japanese were doing maneuvers and demanded to be able to look for him  Chinese refuse  Japanese try to look anyway and end up attacking the city of Wanping – lose  Then Japanese and Chinese both send troops to the area and the Japanese use the aggression as a reason to send their whole army!  Led to a full invasion of China 1937  Chinese general– Jaing Jieshi lost to Japanese and was forced to retreat The Conflict Expands

Japan in China  With Jieshi pushed back, it allows the Japanese to capture major Chinese cities  Japanese show their dislike for surrender  Anyone who surrendered was considered less that human in Japanese society  Rape of Nanking  Japanese spent six weeks killing civilians in China’s capital city of Nanking  Killed 300,000 out of the 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city  Japanese soldiers would hold killing contests  Known as the single worst atrocity during World War II in either theater of war

Japan, China, and the US  China in collapse  US aids Chinese over the Burma Road  Flying Tigers  Panay Incident – Dec 1937  Japanese soldiers fire on the USS Panay, an American ship anchored on the Yangtze River  Japanese apologized to the Americans and paid a reparation of $2,000,000  Americans don’t push it – don’t know what’s coming in a few years

Italian Expansion  League failures with Japan give Mussolini an idea  Mussolini seizes Ethiopia Oct  Haile Selassie (King of Ethiopia) asks League for help  League asks Mussolini nicely – he ignores them  Britain then allows Italy to use the Suez Canal in Egypt  Do this to help keep the peace (at the expense of the African people)

Hitler and Nazi Germany  Hitler defies the Versailles Treaty  Promised to end the treaty when he got into power  Started by building up an army which was not allowed (1933)  League of Nations let him because they thought (or hoped) it would satisfy his anger  By 1935, Germany left the League of Nations Josef Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Chief

Appeasement  APPEASEMENT - policy of giving in to an aggressor’s demands in order to keep the peace  March 1936 – militarized Rhineland  Britain and France appease  Thought it would be enough for Hitler  Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis (Oct-Nov 1936)  Agreement by the three nations to fight Soviet communism  Agreed not to interfere with one another’s plans for territorial expansion  Reason why they will be called the AXIS Powers

The Spanish Revolution… Well everyone else was doing it…  1931 – Republic replaced Monarchy  1936 – Socialists and Communists win seats  Attempt to de-Catholicize Spain  Angry Catholics and Conservatives rebel under Francisco Franco  Germany/Italy - Franco  USSR – Socialists, Communists  Democracies – stay out of it  Franco wins – dictator in 1939  This becomes a dress rehearsal for German and Russian militaries

The West Stands By  France and Britain both afraid of war  Still dealing with Depression  Trying to understand the point of the losses of WWI  US wants isolation  Neutrality Acts – bans loans and weapon sales to belligerent countries

Anschluss and the Munich Conference  March 1938 – Hitler annexes Austria  League sends strongly worded message  Czechoslovakia – 3 million Germans living in Czech region called Sudetenland  Czech refuse and go to France for help

A Line in the Sand  Sept Munich Conference  France and Britain convince Czech (who are not even at the conference!) to give up the Sudetenland to Germany  Neville Chamberlain was the representative for Britain

Appeasement – The Munich Agreement 1938

A Lone Voice – Winston Churchill

Hitler Keeps Pushing the Line  5 months later – Hitler occupies Czechoslovakia (allies make a new line in the sand)  Hitler demands Polish corridor and port of Danzig (Gdansk) to connect East Prussia  Lebensraum again…

The Enemy of My Enemy…  Hitler and Allies approach USSR at the same time  USSR sides with Hitler because they need to rebuild after the Purges  NON-AGGRESSION PACT 1939 – pact between Soviet Union and Germany that divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence  Germany removes threat of two- front war