1. World War II

2. Japan grows more aggressive
Japan thought it should have an empire equal to the of the western world
Seizes Manchuria and withdraws from the League of Nations
Overrun eastern China

3. Italy Invades Ethiopia
Mussolini uses military might to exact revenge from long ago
League of nations imposed sanctions on Italy but had little effect
Ethiopia falls to Italy

4. Sends troops into the Rhineland (demilitarized)
Hitler’s Challenge
Builds up military
Sends troops into the Rhineland (demilitarized)
League of Nations “appeases” Hitler

5. Appeasement and Neutrality
France was demoralized
Britain thought Hitler justified due to harshness of Treaty of Versailles
Saw Hitler as lesser evil against Communism
Great Depression took away the energy of Western nations
Pacifism spread throughout the world
U.S. passes series of Neutrality Acts

6. Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
Italy, German, and Japan form the Axis powers
Agree to fight Soviet Communism
Will not interfere with one another's desire to expand

7. German Aggression Aide in Spanish Civil War
Send troops, supplies, and bombing raids
Goal of achieving Aryan race
“Nature is cruel…so we may be cruel too…I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin.”
Annexes Austria

8. Annexes Czechoslovakia
German Aggression
Annexes Czechoslovakia
Munich Conference: France and Britain cave to Hitler’s demands
‘Surrender the Sudetenland without bloodshed’
Neville Chamberlain claims “peace for our time”

10. Europe Plunges into War
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Secret nonaggression pact with USSR
Will not fight if the other went to war
Divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe
Hitler fears Communism and Stalin fears Fascism
Hitler did not want war between the Western nation & Russia

11. WORLD WAR II is under way
Invasion of Poland
Sept. 1, 1939
Nazi’s invade Poland
Two days later Britain and France declare war on Germany
WORLD WAR II is under way

12. Why War Came Effort to revise the Treaty of Versailles
Satisfied with not satisfied
Western powers hoped war could be avoided through diplomacy and compromise
Western powers were distracted by the Great Depression at home
Did not take Hitler seriously
World War I was still fresh in everyone's minds