1. Chapter 24-1 Dictators Threaten
World Peace
Mr. Wells

2. Overview
Video: The Road to War

3. Causes of World War II 2. Economic instability in Europe
3. Rise of extremists
4. Failure of appeasement
5. German invasion of Poland
6. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor

4. World War I Treaty of Versailles
Germany lost land to surrounding nations
War Reparations
1) Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S.
2) Germany must pay $33 billion
3) Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed Germans

5. Economic Instability in Europe
World Wide Depression
The Depression made Germany’s debt even worse
Desperate people turn to desperate leaders
German people turn to
to Adolf Hitler
Hitler placed blame on
Jews, Communists, foreigners, mentally ill, homosexuals (Scapegoats)
3) Kristallnacht - vandalism & destruction of Jewish property & synagogues
Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks

6. Rise of Extremists
In a Totalitarian country, individual rights are not viewed as important as the needs of the nation
Mussolini
Hitler
Stalin
Communist Dictatorship (USSR)
Fascist Dictatorship (Germany, Italy)
Totalitarianism
Hirohito
Military Dictatorship (Japan)
Tojo

7. Failure of Appeasement
Appeasement: giving dictators what they want and hope that they won’t want anything else
Japan invades Manchuria in 1931
Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935

8. German invasion of Poland 1939
Return of German Speaking Lands
Nonaggression Pact Russia stays out of the war in return for 1/2 of Poland
Great Britain & France declare war on Germany

10. France and Great Britain go to war against Germany

11. Cause for United States: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 12/07/41

12. Rise of Dictators Soviet Union – Joseph Stalin
Death of V.I. Lenin (1924)
Against all private enterprise –
state owns everything
Five Year Plan: USSR becomes an
Industrial Power
* purges 8-13 million people in the
process
Stalin’s last name means “Superman”

13. Italy – Benito Mussolini
1921 – forms the Fascist Party
Played on fears of economic collapse
and communism
Followers of Mussolini
called themselves “Black
Shirts” (uniforms)
II Duce – “the leader”

14. Fasces Word: From the Latin word fasces meaning “bundle of rods”
History: The ancient Roman symbol of authority

15. Germany – Adolf Hitler  Drifted around after WWI  Joined National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NAZI)  Became Der Fuher – “the Leader” of Party  Nazism: extreme nationalism – based on racial purificaiton  Hitler’s private army called storm troopers “Brown Shirts”  1933: Millions unemployed – elected Hitler chancellor (Prime Minister) of Germany

16. Adolf Hitler
Video: The Road to War

17. Militarists take control in Japan
Failure of the League of Nations
Militarists take control in Japan
invade Chinese province of Manchuria in
1931
Japan quits the League of Nations

18. Japan invades Manchuria

19. Dictators in Europe Take Notice of Japanese
Hitler violates Treaty of Versailles – sends
troops in the Rhineland
Hitler signs Rome-Berlin Axis Pact
Italy/Mussolini targets Ethiopia (1935)
- Ethiopia’s emperor appeals to League
The League of Nations does nothing in
response to any of these acts.
“It is us today, it will be you tomorrow” –
Haile Selassie (ousted emperor of Ethiopia)

20. Hitler cancelling the Treaty of Versailles

21. Panay Incident (1937) December 12, 1937.
Japan bombed USS Panay gunboat & three Standard Oil tankers on the Yangtze River.
The river was an international waterway.
Japan was testing US resolve!
Japan apologized, paid US an indemnity, and promised no further attacks.
Americans were satisfied with the apology.
Result  Japanese thought the U.S. wouldn’t do anything about further aggression

23. The American “Lincoln Brigade”
Civil War in Spain
Led by General Francisco Franco
3,000 Americans form Abraham Lincoln Battalion to fight against Franco
500,000 dead
Franco declared victory in 1939  established another totalitarian government
The American “Lincoln Brigade”

24. The U.S. Responds Cautiously
Congress passes Neutrality Acts in 1935
 to keep out of wars
Neutrality breaks down
 Americans against Franco in Spain
 The U.S. begins sending arms and
supplies to China (against Japan)

25. US Neutrality