1. Introduction to WWII

2. When?
US involvement
1939
1941
1945
Sept.1 - Germany invades Poland (official start to the war)
Sept. 3 -Britain & France declare war on Germany
Dec. 7 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbor; US enters the War
May - Germans Surrender
Sept. - Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japanese Surrender

3. Axis Allies Germany Great Britain Soviet Union Italy United States
Who?
Allies
Axis
Great Britain
Germany
Soviet Union
Italy
United States
Japan
France
(note: France surrendered to Germany in 1940 (after 6 weeks of fighting)

4. Major Leaders
Adolf Hitler
Nazi Germany
Benito Mussolini
Italy

5. Major Leaders Hideki Tojo Winston Churchill Japanese Prime Minister
British Prime Minister

6. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Major Leaders
Joseph Stalin
Russian Leader
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
US President

7. Why? 1. Treaty of Versailles
A. Germany lost land to surrounding nations
B. War Reparations
-Allies collect $ to pay back war debts to U.S.
-Germany must pay $57 trillion (modern equivalent)
-Bankrupted the German economy & embarrassed Germans
Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, and Woodrow Wilson during negotiations for the Treaty

8. 1923 - Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks
Why?
2. World-wide Depression
A. The Depression made Germany’s debt even worse
B. Desperate people turn to desperate leaders
-Hitler seemed to provide solutions to Germany’s problems
Wallpapering with German Deutchmarks

9. 2. World-wide Depression
Why?
2. World-wide Depression
C. Hitler provided scapegoats for Germany’s problems (foreigners, Jews, communists, Roma (Gypsies), mentally ill, homosexuals) -Kristallnacht – “Night of Broken Glass”
vandalism & destruction of Jewish property & synagogues

10. 3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes
Why?
3. Rise of Totalitarian Regimes
A. In a Totalitarian country, individual rights are not viewed as important as the needs of the nation
Communist Dictatorship (USSR)
Fascist Dictatorship (Germany, Italy)
Fascism: military government with based on racism & nationalism with strong support from the business community
Totalitarianism
Military Dictatorship (Japan)

11. Why? 4. Isolationism of Major Powers A. Why was the U.S. Isolationist?
i. Great Depression (problems at home)
ii. Perceptions of WWI
-did not seem to solve much
-people began to think that we’d got into WWI for the wrong reasons

12. Why? 4. Isolationism of Major Powers iii. Opposition to war (Pacifism)
Kellogg-Briand pact - condemned war as a way to solving conflicts
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war signed on August 27, Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed, the pact was one of many international efforts to prevent another World War, but it had little effect in stopping the rising militarism of the 1930s or preventing World War II.

13. 4. Isolationism of Major Powers
Why?
4. Isolationism of Major Powers
B. This led to policies of “Appeasement”
i. Appeasement: give dictators what they want and hope that they won’t want anything else
ii. Begins with Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Italian invasion of Ethiopia, and continues with Hitler . . .

14. The Rise - Third Reich The Rise & Fall – Preview