1. Post-World War I Problems leftover from WW I –World-wide feelings of hatred –Extreme Nationalism –Fear of Communism by Western countries –Depression Inflation and unemploymentInflation and unemployment

2. Totalitarian Government a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed

3. ITALY Benito Mussolini Fascism Hated Communism – –threat to private property Glorification of State (state over individual) Militarism is ultimate expression of power Rejection of liberalism and democracy Dreamed of Italian empire like the ancient Romans

4. Japan Emperor Hirohito Hideki Tōjō Hideki Tōjō 東条 英機 the leader of the Taisei Yokusankai Prime Minister of Japan during most of war 1941 to July 22, 1944 directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor Emperor – Military Above all political parties or laws Responsible to imperial ancestors Japan lacked raw materials –Supported Territorial expansion / Japanese Imperialism –Aggressive military campaign China (1937) Manchuria Korea

5. Soviet Union Joseph Stalin Soviet Communism Soviet Communism – “Stalinism ” Command EconomyCommand Economy –Built up Industry –Built a large military World Leadership International CommunismWorld Leadership International Communism “Collectivization” of all farming“Collectivization” of all farming –Provided machinery Promotion of AtheismPromotion of Atheism –Outlawed popular Russian Orthodox Church –All public display of any religion

6. Stalin’s Totalitarian State Dictatorship Dictatorship - Absolute Authority State Control Over All Sectors of Society –Economy and Business (anti-capitalism) –Labor and Pay –Housing –Education –Youth groups (Propaganda) –Arts

7. Stalin’s Totalitarian State State Control Over the IndividualObedience The Great Purge The Great Purge Counter-Revolutionaries and “enemies of the People” According to the declassified Soviet archives, during 1937 - 1938, the NKVD detained 1,548,366 victims, of whom 681,692 were shot - an average of 1,000 executions a day in 1937/38 alone…

8. Germany Adolf Hitler (1933) National Socialist Workers Party - NAZI Dictator Eliminated Parliamentary Democracy Police state to control population Aggressive elimination of all opposition

9. Germany Adolf Hitler Nuremberg Laws 1935 – Passed the Nuremberg Laws Deprived Jews of German citizenship and prohibited racially mixed marriages between Germans and Jews. 1935, the laws were extended to "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring" Rhineland 1936 – Moved troops into the Rhineland (France) France and Great Britain did nothing…

10. Germany Adolf Hitler (1933)Appeasement a diplomatic policy aimed at making concessions to an aggressor Munich Pact Convinced Czechoslovakia to give Hitler the Sudetenland Hitler promised to go no further

11. Soviet Union (Russia) Joseph Stalin (1927) Non-Aggression Pact (1939) Hitler said he would not attack the Soviet Union Stalin knew it was only a matter of time …. so he prepared for war Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (left), Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Soviet foreign minister Viacheslav Molotov at the signing of the nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union.

12. Great Britain Winston Churchill Did not believe it…. “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war.”

14. Japanese Aggression Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi Assassinated by ultra-national Army invades Manchuria League of Nations condemns it but powerless to do anything about it

15. Japanese Aggression Rape of Nanking The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking (China) 1937 Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed.

16. United States Neutrality Act prohibited the sale of weapons to warring countries

17. AXIS POWERS Germany, Italy and Japan sign agreement