Why Expand Build their empires Expand their borders Need for natural resources

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

International Agreements Locarno Pact – 1925 y France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy  Guarantee existing frontiers  Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on East bank of Rhine River  Refrain from aggression against each other Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928 y Makes war illegal as a tool of diplomacy  No enforcement provisions

Italian Expansion

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935 Emperor Haile Selassie Why Ethiopia - Revenge for defeat in 1898

The Testing Ground to WWII

yCatholic Church. y Falange [fascist] Party. y Monarchists. y led by – Francisco Franco y Communists. y Marxists. y Republicans. y Socialists. y those who want democracy The National Front [Royalists ] The National Front [Royalists ] The Popular Front [Loyalists] The Popular Front [Loyalists] The Spanish Civil War:

The Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War: Francisco Franco

The Spanish Civil War: A Dress Rehearsal for WWII? Italian troops in Madrid

“ Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936 The “Pact of Steel”

German Aggression

Most Important Early Goals Defiance of Treaty of Versailles Lebensraum Rebuild the Economy Enlarge the Army, Navy & Air Force

Germany Invades the Rhineland March 7, 1936 Violated Versailles Treaty Nothing Done – Why? France – unwilling to enforce the treaty w/o British aid G.B. – didn’t want another war

The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

The “Problem” of the Sudetenland Hitler demands: all German speaking provinces or else war

Munich Conference Who? –Great Britain, France, Germany, & Italy Appeasement –Policy of giving in to someone’s demands in order to maintain the peace Why Appease Hitler? –WWI –Financial difficulties –USSR was a greater threat than Germany

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

Effects of Appeasement March 1939 – Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia –Double crosses Chamberlain

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

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

The Nazi-Soviet Pact Agreement b/w Germany and Soviet Union shocked the world Hitler avoids a 2 front war partition of Poland

Japanese Imperialism

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931 Japan pulls out of the League

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Second Sino-Japanese War 1937

Rape of Nanking

Hundreds of thousands of civilians and unarmed Chinese were murdered 20,000 – 80,000 women were gang raped and mutilated, then murdered Why? –terror = fear = submission = total control

Japanese Expansion in SE Asia

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940 The Tripartite Pact

Start of WWII Sept. 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

German Troops March into Warsaw

U. S. Neutrality Acts: 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939