1. The Causes of the Second World War

2. The Treaty of Versailles
After WWI, the Treaty of Versailles laid almost impossible conditions upon the German people.
Reducing the army to men and taking land from Germany, especially the Rhineland, greatly reduced morale.
Forcing responsibility upon the Germans for starting the War was also angered Germany.
But the most disastrous condition was the $30 Billion war reparations they had to pay.

3. The League of Nations
One positive thing that came out of Versailles was the creation of the League of Nations that would try to prevent wars by settling disputes between nations through peaceful talks.
Unfortunately, the League of Nations fell apart because of a number of problems, all of which are were direct causes of WWII.

4. Problems With the League of Nations
The League did not include every nation. Nations could choose to join or not.
Decisions required that all countries agree, which rarely happened.
The League could not raise an army to enforce its decisions and so it could not prevent major incidents like Japan invading Manchuria, or Italy from attacking Ethiopia.

5. The Great Depression Another cause of WWII was the Great Depression.
The U.S. stock-market crash of 1929 became a global event that caused world-wide unemployment.
Some countries chose rulers that promised hope and prosperity. That opened the door for dictators in Germany and Italy – Hitler and Mussolini who adopted Socialist policies. NAZI is the National Socialist Party
Germany accepted Hitler because he promised not to pay the war fine and to create jobs and to Make Germany Great Again. He spoke of a Third Reich – or 1,000 year German reign of power.

6. Germany Under Hitler
After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1934, he began to dismantle Versailles.
He kept his promise and stopped paying for the war damages.
In 1936 he sent soldiers into the de-militarized zone (or Rhineland), as well as re-armed Germany; he started training 1 million troops.
France and Britain did nothing. They feared another costly war.

7. Controlling People’s Minds
Once Hitler had control of the government, he began to control all aspects of life. Germany became a police state.
2 million Nazis now made up the SA, Hitler’s army of Stormtroopers. Along with the SS, these men vowed to Hitler that they would protect the Aryan race. They believed that the Aryans (blond hair-blue eyed people were the master race – all others were inferior)
Hitler used propaganda to instill fear in his people.

10. Controlling People’s Minds
Once he was certain he had control of the country, Hitler began restructuring the government to prepare for his master race.
In 1935, he created the Nuremburg Laws that denied Jews rights in Germany. The Jews were forced to wear armbands, were given a strict curfew, forbidden to own weapons or teach in schools.

11. B4 - Outside of Germany…
The Great Depression also caused other countries to abandon democracy.
In the Far East, increased population in Japan made the need for more space for the Japanese inviting. In 1931, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, a Chinese-controlled territory to the north of Korea.

12. The Manchurian Incident
The Chinese asked for League of Nations to do something. The League told the Japanese to withdraw their army, but Japan refused.
The invasion of Manchuria positioned the Japanese as a major military power in South-East Asia.
Between 1933 and ’36, the USSR felt threatened by the Japanese and asked China to support them if there were a war (Comintern Pact).

13. Japan invades China
The Japanese respond by signing an Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany in 1936.
In July 1937, the Japanese invade China and attack Nanking with a million soldiers. They loot, rape, torture, murder and caused mass destruction. Millions of Chinese civilians died.

14. The United States
Though the US was concerned about hostilities in Asia, the Americans were following a foreign affairs policy of isolationism where they would remain neutral or isolated from international relations.
All the U.S. government did was advise Americans to reduce their trade with Japan.

15. Back to Germany
In 1936, Hitler and Mussolini became allied through the Rome—Berlin Axis.
Hitler also wanted to re-establish the Anchluss with Austria, but the Treaty of Versailles forbade it. However, because of Britain’s concern over events in China, Hitler took a gamble that they would do nothing and on March 12, 1938 he began invading Austria.

16. B3 - Anchluss
“Not a shot was fired, and the German army entered Austria with bands playing and soldiers smiling.”
(Remember that Germany and Austria were allies during World War One.)

17. Czechoslovakia
Only weeks after Germany invaded Austria, Hitler set his sights on taking-over Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia was a country that was created after WWI. It was made up of various ethnic groups including Czechs, Slovaks and Germans, who lived mostly in the Sudetenland province near the German border.

18. What is Europe doing during all of this?
Britain was concerned with their ports in China.
France feared another war with Germany.
The Soviet Union was at war with Japan.
Since the League of Nations was not going to do anything, Britain decides to act.
British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain agrees to meet with Hitler.
(what would you do if you were Chamberlain?)

19. Appeasement
The British understood that a war with Germany would cause appalling damage.
Many Britons believed that Versailles was too harsh on Germany
So Chamberlain signs the Munich Agreement, allowing Hitler to seize Sudetenland. The strategy is called Appeasement.
Appeasement means to agree to whichever demands seem reasonable in order to prevent war.

20. The Munich Agreement
In September, 1938, Britain and Germany met to discuss Hitler’s aims in Munich.
Hitler said he would only take the Sudentenland and nothing else.
Britain agreed to this.
Chamberlain went back to London to a hero’s welcome with “the piece of paper, securing Peace in our Time.”

21. Non-Aggression Pact
Meanwhile, on August 23, 1939, Hitler and Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin signed the Non-Aggression Pact
Though Hitler hated Communism, the need to have more land forced him to sign the deal with Stalin in an effort to take Poland.
Hitler promised Stalin that if he invaded Poland, he would give Stalin the eastern part of the country and Germany would take the western half. Stalin agreed to the deal.

22. September 1, 1939
Germany invades Poland, and by the end of the month forces Poland to surrender.
Chamberlain is appalled – believing that Hitler lied to him when he signed the Munich Agreement.
Britain and France declare war on Germany two days later, but do not immediately act. They waited to see if Hitler would do more, which he did not for 3 months.
However he would soon attack Norway and Denmark before launching an all out attack on France.

26. Primary Allies and Axis Powers
Great Britain
France
Canada
China
United States (from 1941)
USSR (from 1941)
Axis
Germany
Austria
Japan
Italy
USSR (until 1941)

27. Theaters of War
World War II was fought in two theaters of war, meaning that there were two wars happening at the same time.
The main war with Germany was know as the EUROPEAN THEATER.
The other theater was the PACIFIC THEATER. This war was fought against Japanese aggression in the Pacific Ocean.

30. Pearl Harbor - Oahu, Hawaii

31. Pearl Harbor

32. USS ARIZONA

34. USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL

35. Pearl Harbor
December 7th, At 7:48 a.m. Hawaiian Time 353 Imperial Japanese fighters, bombers, and torpedo planes attacked the base by surprise. 20 ships and 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed, 2,403 Americans were killed and 1,178 others were wounded
The U.S. declared war on Japan the next day.