Causes of WWII

1930s Depression- Most countries focusing on their own economic problems U.S. Isolationism Foreign policy was not the most important thing on American’s minds Concentrating on getting through the depression Many attempts at creating peace, reducing arms and economics cooperation by the powers of Europe

Dictators Stalin- Soviet Russia, USSR Adolf Hitler- Germany Benito Mussolini- Italy Tojo (Prime Minster) and Hirohito (Emperor)- Japan

Dictator Country Philosophy Characteristics Josef Stalin Soviet Union Communism Rapid industrialization; state control of farms and industry; violent political purges Benito Mussolini Italy Fascism Loss of individual freedoms; need for expansion; violent gang raids Adolf Hitler Germany Nazism Extreme German nationalism and racial superiority; expansion through military conquest

Cause #1- Aggression Aggression by totalitarian powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) Japan invades Manchuria (China) and sets up a puppet government (Manchukuo) Italy and Germany set up dictatorships

Cause #2- Nationalism German desire to unite all Germans (get the territory they lost from the Treaty of Versailles back. Germany lost about 13% of her land and 6 million people living there) Japanese desire for expansion

Cause #3- Failures of the Treaty of Versailles Germany was angry over disarmament, reparations, blame, and territory lost

Cause #4- Weakness of the League of Nations The U.S. never joined The League cannot enforce its decisions

Cause #5- Appeasement Appeasement= giving into an aggressor’s demands Britain and France appease Germany because they cannot afford to get into another war Examples: Ethiopia, 1935 Rhineland, 1936 China, 1937 Sudetenland, 1938

Cause #6- Isolationism and Pacifism The US = isolationist during the 20s and 30s Britain and France disarm during the 20s and 30s Kellogg-Briand Pact- international agreement in which conflicts would be resolved peacefully signed by 26 nations

Hitler War Breaks Out Hitler invades Poland in 1939 Poland

Sides Allied Powers  Britain France Smaller European countries Axis Powers  Britain France Smaller European countries Germany Italy Japan Soviet Union

The War in Europe 1939 invasion of Poland by Germany and then Soviet Union During the first 2 years of the war, the U.S stayed neutral, while Germany overran France and pounded Britain from the air In mid-1941 Hitler turned on his former partner and invaded the Soviet Union

U.S. Feelings Despite strong isolationist sentiment at home, the US increasingly helped Britain. It gave them war supplies and old warships in return for naval bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean The Lend- Lease Act gave the President authority to sell or lend equipment to counties to defend themselves against the Axis powers FDR likened this to “lending a garden hose to a next-door neighbor whose house is on fire.”

The War in Asia During the 1930s, a militarist Japan invaded and brutalized Manchuria and China as it sought military and economic domination over Asia The U.S. refused to recognize Japanese conquests in Asia and imposed an embargo on exports of oil and steel to Japan Tensions rose, but both nations negotiated to avoid war…

Pearl Harbor While negotiating with the U.S. and without any warning, Japan carried out an air attack on Pearl Harbor, HI on December 7, 1941 The attack destroyed much of the American Pacific fleet and killed several thousand Americans FDR called it a “date which will live in infamy” as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan

It’s on! After Pearl Harbor, Hitler honored a pact with Japan and declared war on the U.S. The debate over isolationism in the U.S. was over. WWII was now truly a world war, and the U.S. was fully involved