1. From Neutrality to War

3. Fascism Spreads Mussolini was unable to solve the problems of poverty and unemployment in Italy; he turned his energies to conquering new territories 1935: the Italian army invaded Ethiopia (one of the few free nations of Africa) economic sanctions were the only punishment; League of Nations lost more power

4. Rome-Berlin Axis: Mussolini and Hitler formed an alliance (1936) 1939: Mussolini’s army invaded Albania

5. Spanish Civil War 1931: Spain switched from a monarchy to a republic; political unrest 1936: Francisco Franco led a group of Spanish officers who rebelled against the republic 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War: the republic loyalists fought the rebels led by Franco

6. The gray shows Franco supported areas of Spain at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War; the red the republic

7. Germany & Italy helped Franco’s forces; USSR helped the Spanish republic loyalists 1939: Franco won; democracy crushed in Spain (another dictator & another failure for the ideals from Versailles)

8. Expansion of Germany 1935: Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by re- arming Germany March 1936: Hitler sent the German army into the Rhineland, a demilitarized area on the borders of Germany & France

9. The Rhineland

10. Great Britain and France failed to act because: 1.they were exhausted by WWI-they did not want another war 2.many thought the Nazis should be strong to face the Soviet communists 3.some thought Germany was treated too harshly (the war guilt clause) 4.many thought he would be happy with the Rhineland & not take more land

11. 1938: the Nazis annexed Austria and moved into Czechoslovakia (Hitler wanted all Germanic people under the Third Reich) Czechoslovakia did not want to be annexed, and turned to ally France; France refused to help

12. Munich Conference: GB’s prime minister Chamberlain, France’s premier Daladier, and Hitler met in Munich; they agreed that Germany would receive the Sudetanland (a Germanic section of Czechoslovakia) if he promised to stop territorial demands (APPEASEMENT)

13. Chamberlain holding the signed agreement Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini at Munich

14. The Sudetanland Czechoslovakia after Munich

15. 1939: Hitler violated the Munich Agreement; he took the rest of Czechoslovakia and made his intentions for Poland known

16. Failure of Appeasement European countries thought that an appeasement policy would work with Hitler (by giving him a little of what he wanted he would not want more); appeasement did not work GB & France realized they needed to defend Poland; they tried to convince Stalin to join in their defense

17. Non-Aggression Pact: Hitler & Stalin agreed not to fight each other (the communists and Nazis were allies); they also had more secretive agreements about splitting Poland

18. Soviet & German foreign ministers sign the Non- Aggression Pact (Stalin was present in the background)

19. September 1, 1939: Germany invaded Poland; GB and France declared war; WORLD WAR II HAD STARTED