WWII: Background of the Conflict

The Versailles Treaty

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations No control of major conflicts. No progress in disarmament. No effective military force.

The Weimar Republic (1919-1933) Post-War Germany: The Weimar Republic (1919-1933)

Price of one egg in Germany Price of a loaf of bread in Germany 1914---0.9 marks 1921– 1.6 marks 1922– 7 marks July 1923– 5,000 marks Sept 1923– 4,000,000 marks Nov 1923—320,000,000,000 marks Price of a loaf of bread in Germany 1918---0.63 marks 1922– 163 marks Jan 1923– 250 marks July 1923– 3,456 marks Sept 1923– 1,512,000 marks Nov 1923—201,000,000,000 marks

European Debts to the United States

The Dawes Plan (1924)

“War? HUH, Good God, yall…” “Come on in, I’ll treat you right. I used to know your Daddy.”

Kellogg-Briand Pact: 1928 15 nations committed to outlawing aggression and war for settling disputes. Problem  no way of enforcement.

Washington Naval Conference (1921-1922) U. S. Britain Japan France Italy 5 5 3 1.67 1.67

1930s University of Chicago Anti-War Protest

American Foreign Policy 1933 - 1941 Neutrality Acts: 1935 – Prohibits sale of arms to belligerent nations. 1936 – Prohibited loans to belligerent nations. 1937 - “Cash and Carry” basis.

America-First Committee Charles Lindbergh

U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

DESTROYERS FOR BASES (1940) U.S. will gives Britain 50 old WWI destroyers Britain gives the U.S. the right to build bases on its possessions

U. S. LEND-LEASE ACT (1941) Great Britain.........................$31 billion Soviet Union...........................$11 billion France......................................$ 3 billion China.......................................$1.5 billion Other European.................$500 million South America...................$400 million The amount totaled: $48,601,365,000

WORLD WAR II BEGINS

Japanese Aggression 1931 – Japan invades Manchuria. 1934 – Japan pulls out of Washington Naval Treaty. 1937 – Japan launches full-scale invasion of China. 1937 – Japan bombs U.S.S. Panay.

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935 “It is us today. It will be you tomorrow.” -Emperor Selassie, speaking to the League of Nations

Germany Invades the Rhineland March 7, 1936

The Austrian Anschluss, 1936

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939 National Front [Nationalists] The Popular Front [Republicans] Carlists [ultra-Catholic monarchists]. Catholic Church. Falange [fascist] Party. Monarchists. Anarcho-Syndicalists. Basques. Catalans. Communists. Marxists. Republicans. Socialists.

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939 The American “Lincoln Brigade”

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939 Francisco Franco

The “Problem” of the Sudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain “Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.”

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: March 1939

Hitler and Mussolini: The “Pact of Steel” Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939 Hitler and Mussolini: The “Pact of Steel”

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, 1939 Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop & Molotov

Germany Conquers Europe September 1939: Invasion of Poland. May 1940: Invasion of Norway, Belgium, Holland, and France. July – October 1940: Battle of Britain. June 1941: Invasion of the Soviet Union.

America Responds to Japanese Expansion U.S. responds (July 1941): U.S. places oil and iron embargo on Japanese U.S. demands withdrawal from conquered territory Japanese response: Negotiations in Washington Navy plans attack on U.S. Pacific Fleet Secretary of State Hull with Japanese emissaries, Aug. 1941

ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR Dec. 7th, 1941: Japanese attack U.S. Pacific Fleet “Battleship Row” decimated, carriers escape. Congress declares war on Japan the next day Germany and Italy declare war on the U.S.

“I fear all we will do is awaken a sleeping giant, and fill him with a terrible resolve.” -Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Imperial Japanese Navy