Axis Aggression

Aggression in Asia 1931—Japan Invades Manchuria Japan leaves the League of Nations By 1938, Japan has control of major cities along Chinese coast Japan’s brutal attack on China from 1937-1945 caused about 20 million deaths

Background of German Jews 500,000 Jews made up .8% of German population Jews were loyal patriots linked to the German way of life Same language Same culture 24% of German Nobel Peace Prize winners were Jewish Jews believed that their contributions would prevent Germany from excluding them.

New Policies 1933 1935 Government sponsored boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses Jews lose the right to be German citizens Jews are refused protection by police It becomes illegal for Jews to inherit land. New laws enforce segregation Jews are banned from parks, swimming pools, restaurants, public buildings It is illegal for Germans to marry Jews. 1933-1939 School children are openly ridiculed and humiliated in front of class on a regular basis

The Holocaust Hitler’s policy of Nazi racism targeted Jewish people and fed on European anti-semitism Hitler viewed Jews as a national enemy and began implementing his Final Solution—elimination of Jewish people by sending them to concentration camps as slave laborers and then executing them in gas chambers The extermination of nearly 6 million Jews, as well as Gypsies, Slavs, and other people deemed undesirable came to be known as the Holocaust

Genocide - the systematic destruction of all or part of a racial, ethnic, religious or national group. Buchenwald concentration camp was not an extermination camp, though it was responsible for a vast number of deaths

German Expansion 1936 Hitler begins rebuilding German military and marches troops into the Rhineland (had lost in WWI) violating Treaty of Versailles 1938 Germany annexes Austria and claims parts of the Sudetenland Great Britain and France pursue policy of appeasement (making political concession to an enemy power to avoid conflict)—rather than challenge Hitler’s aggression In 1939, Hitler invades Poland “blitzkriegs” (fast, surprise attacks combining ground forces and air support). Britain and France declare war on Germany—thus beginning World War II

Italy took over Ethiopia (1935) annexed Albania (1939)