10/27 Bellringer 5+ sentences As the US was recovering slowly from the effects of the Depression, another threat loomed on the horizon in Europe. In reaction to the rise of dictators in several European nations, FDR addressed Congress and identified four “essential freedoms”: speech, religion, from want, from fear. Which of these do you think is most important and why?

In the 1930s, Japan, Italy, and Germany began aggressively expanding in Africa, Asia, and Europe

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and mainland China in 1937

In 1935, Mussolini began his campaign to create an Italian Empire by invading Ethiopia Ethiopian soldiers defending their country from the Italian military The League of Nations condemned Japan and Italy but did nothing to stop the attacks in order to maintain world peace

The failure of the League of Nations to stop Italy or Japan, encouraged Hitler to expand Germany too 1936  Rhineland 1938  Austria 1938  Sudetenland 1939  Czechoslovakia

The League of Nations used appeasement to avoid war with Germany, Italy, and Japan Mussolini Hitler Chamberlain At the Munich Conference, 1938

1939  Hitler wanted Poland but did not want war with Russia On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland Stalin and Hitler agreed to the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact in August, 1939 On September 3, 1939, Britain and France declared war on the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) and World War II began

When World War II began, German blitzkrieg tactics led to the conquest of Poland, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, France, the Balkans …the Axis Powers seized North Africa

In 1941, Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact and invaded the Soviet Union

Meanwhile, Japan conquered new territories in Asia and threatened Guam and the Philippines By 1941, Germany and Italy controlled most of Europe and North Africa

From 1939 to 1941, the United States remained neutral, but not isolated, from the global conflict

“Cash and Carry” Policy Allied nations could buy U.S.-made war goods but had to pay in cash and had to transport goods on their own ships

In 1940, Franklin Roosevelt was elected to an unprecedented third term as president He campaigned on a platform of neutrality but with “preparedness” FDR prepared for possible entry into the war by calling for the first peacetime draft

The fall of France in 1940 worried Americans that the Axis Powers might win World War II German Luftwaffe attacks on Britain meant that England needed U.S. aid more than ever

The USA responded with the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 The Lend-Lease Act allowed the USA to send war supplies to Allied nations and transport war-related goods to Europe on armed ships FDR promised the US would be an “arsenal of democracy”

Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill secretly drafted the Atlantic Charter which planned a war strategy if the USA entered the war and a post-war United Nations

Map: War in Europe