The Roots of War

Treaty of Versailles, 1918 Created a set of small new nations in Eastern Europe = vulnerable to aggression from larger neighbors (Germany & Soviet Union) Italy & Japan = failed to recognize their stature as world powers Germany = betrayed (Stab in the back myth) rather than defeated (this leads to the unconditional surrender demand), harsh war reparations and loss of lands

1920’s & 30’s Economic crisis and political instability fueled the rise of right-wing dictatorships that offered territorial expansion by military conquest as way to redress old rivalries, dominate trade, and gain access to raw materials (Hitler, Germany; Mussolini, Italy; Franco, Spain; Stalin, Russia; Emperor Hirohito, Japan)

Japanese Nationalism Wanted to expel Europeans and Americans from Asia and create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (Asia controlled by Japanese) Japanese ambition in Asia was to create a Pan-Asian empire with Japan at the center as an imperial power and a defensive ring of 500 miles to protect the homeland. Most of Japanese territorial gains would be in China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands Earliest national aggression in WWII was when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 In 1937 Japan launched a brutal invasion of China

European Nationalism Expansion of territories through military aggression Italy: conquest of Ethiopia in 1935 & intervention in Spain in support of Gen. Franco Germany: Hitler made himself the German Fuhrer, 1934 (absolute leader) Thousand Year Reich – combined historic German interest in eastward expansion with tradition of German racial superiority Lebensraum (living space) created by taking land from the Russian Slavic peoples

European Nationalism Genocide (systematic murder) of the Jewish people of Europe Nuremburg Laws, 1935 denied civil rights to Jews NAZI government took Jewish property and excluded Jews from most jobs Concentration Camps were prisons created by the Nazis to punish political dissidents, Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and other ethnic groups considered undesirable The camps evolved into harsh labor camps and finally into extermination camps

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936 Alliance between Germany & Italy Grew into the Tripartite Act, 1940 which included Japan Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan became known as the Axis Powers (aggressor nations)