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World War II 1931-1945
The Rise of Dictators
Why did dictators gain power?
• Resentment over the Treaty of Versailles
• Great Depression- offered hope to improve the economy
Mussolini & Italy• Fascism-
aggressive nationalism, nation is more important than the individual; anti-communist
• Italian Fascist Party founded by Benito Mussolini in 1919: former school master and journalist; “Il Duce”– Takes power in
1922– Blackshirts -
militia
Stalin and USSR• After Bolshevik
Revolution – (Lenin) Communist government in Russia
• 1922 Communists rename country Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• Joseph Stalin leader in 1926
• 8 – 10 million die
Hitler & Germany
• Germany after WWI-– Resentment toward Allies & German
government who surrendered– Huge debt (reparations)– Slow economy– Many new political parties start
Hitler & Germany
• National Socialist German Worker’s Party- Nazi Party- nationalistic & anticommunist
• Adolph Hitler– Austrian– Fought for Germany in WWI– Joins (one of the first recruits) & soon leads Nazi Party
Hitler & Germany
• 1923- Beer Hall Putsch – Nazi’s try to seize power - revolution in Munich .
• Hitler arrested• In jail writes Mein Kampf
– Calls for unification of all ethnic Germans
– Germans are “master race”- Aryanism– Need Lebensraum- living space– Jews are inferior & responsible for the
world’s problems
Hitler & Germany
• After prison, Hitler focuses on getting Nazis elected
• Many Germans vote for new radical parties after the Great depression hits.
• 1932- largest party in Reichstag (legislature)
• 1933- Hitler made Chancellor (Prime Minister)
Hitler & Germany
• Calls for new elections• Nazis intimidate voters
– SA- Stormtroopers- Brown shirts– SS- body guards– Gestapo- part of SS- secret police
• Nazis control government by 1934 when Hitler becomes President and gives himself new title of “Fuhrer” (leader)
Japan
• Island nation – little natural resources
• Great Depression hurts Japan (must import all raw materials- tariffs stop growth)
• Military blames government• Many officers believed democracy
was “unJapanese” & bad for country
Japan• 1931- Military invades
Manchuria (resource rich region of China) without permission of the government.
• Government tried to end the war – started negotiations.
• Military assassinates the Prime Minister & overthrows government
The Axis Powers
• Italy & Germany sign treaties– Hitler calls it the
“Rome-Berlin Axis”• Japan joins Germany• Called Axis Powers
America Turns to Neutrality
American Isolationism• The rise of dictators and militarism
discouraged many Americans• US policy was isolationism• The Nye Committee (1934):
created to investigate America’s involvement in WWI – presented the perception that arms manufacturers/business influenced America to go to war
• Neutrality Act 1935- made it illegal to sell arms to any country at war
Spanish Civil War
• Civil war breaks out in Spain in 1936 after a coalition of Republicans, Socialists and Communists were elected to power
• General Francisco Franco leads the rebellion – supported by Spanish fascists, army, landowners and church leaders.
• Soviet Union provides arms and advisors to the government
• Germany and Italy supports Franco with tanks, airplanes and troops
• Congress passed another Neutrality Act to keep the U.S. neutral
• Fascists win
• Neutrality Act of 1937: continued ban on arm sales and built upon 1935 Act
• Added “cash & carry” basis – if a country at war wanted nonmilitary goods it had to pay cash and provide their own ships
• Loans were not allowed
• FDR knew ending the Depression was first priority
• He was not an isolationist• FDR supported internationalism –
idea that trade between nations creates prosperity and helps to prevent war
• FDR did not veto the Neutrality Acts – isolationism to strong
World War II Begins
Appeasement
• Policy of many European leaders toward Hitler was appeasement- concessions for peace
• Why?-– Shadow of WWI– Thought Nazis would be peaceful
after they got what they wanted– Idea of uniting Germans reasonable
Austrian Anschluss• February1938• Hitler invades and annexes Austria
The Munich Crisis
• September 1938• Germany wanted Sudetenland
– region of Czechoslovakia – large German speaking population
• Fr & USSR promised to protect Czech.– GB promised to support Fr
The Munich Crisis
• GB, Fr, It, & Ger meet in Munich to talk about crisis (Munich Conference)
• Fr & GB give Sudetenland to Germ – abandon Czechoslovakia to fight Germany alone
• Feel they have stopped war• Br. Prime Minister, Neville
Chamberlain, says we have “peace in our time.”
Thank you for your promise of peace.
Sucker!
Poland
• 1939• Hitler wants to connect Germany to
East Prussia (Danzig – 90%German)• Threatens Poland• Fr & GB agree to protect Poland – see
that policy of appeasement has failed
Poland
• Hitler doesn’t want to fight GB, Fr & USSR
• Signs Non-aggression pact with USSR– Also agree to split Poland
• Invades Poland on Sept 1, 1939• September 3, 1939 GB & Fr
declare war on Germany
C. The War Begins
Blitzkrieg
• Germany used Blitzkrieg (lightning war)to defeat Poland quickly – Oct 5
• 34 days• Used air power, fast armor &
mechanized infantry• In April 1940, Germany invaded
Norway & Denmark
German troops in Warsaw
Fall of France
• Fr & GB prepare for war• Fr relies on Maginot Line- series of
forts on Fr/Ger border• 1940- Ger attack Belgium,
Luxembourg & Netherlands, go around line
• Trap much of Fr army
Dunkirk
• Fr & GB retreat to Dunkirk, a town on the English Channel
• Germans delay attacking• Allows the “Miracle at Dunkirk”
– Make shift fleet evacuates many soldier to GB (45,000 hope - 338,000 actual)
• Fr surrendered 3 weeks later - Versailles
Battle of Britain• Hitler prepares to invade GB• British Prime Minister, Winston
Churchill, promises to resist
• “Even though large tracts of Europe have fallen…..we shall not flag or fail….we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” Winston Churchill
Battle of Britain
• Hitler uses the Luftwaffe (air force) to bomb Britain
• Eventually, bombed Br. cities, especially London
• British fighter pilots (RAF) attacked bombers– Secret weapon- radar
• Hitler cancels plans after 4 months
The Holocaust
Persecution Begins
Nuremberg Laws
• September 1935- Nuremburg laws passed– Took away citizenship, right to work,
own property, or marry non-Jews– Defined Jews (one Jewish grandparent)– Prohibited from voting or holding office– Compelled Jews with German sounding
names to adopt “Jewish” names
Kristallnacht
• Nov 7, 1938 Jewish refugee kills a German diplomat in Paris
• “Night of Broken Glass”• Nazis smashed windows, looted
shops (7500 destroyed), destroyed over 180 synagogues
• Made Jews pay for damage
Jews Try to Flee
• Between 1933 and 1939 – 350,000 Jews escape Germany: Albert Einstein, Otto Frank
• Many tried to immigrate to the US but not allowed – “public charges”
• S.S. St. Louis – May 27, 1939, ship with 930 Jewish refugees – not allowed to dock in Cuba or US – returned to Europe
The Final Solution
What was the Final Solution?
• Final Solution- Nazi plan to efficiently exterminate undesirables in Nazi controlled territory– Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs,
Jehovah's Witness• German goal was to cleanse
lebensraum of undesirables
What was the Final Solution?
• Wannsee Conference Jan 2, 1942: Germany decides to send Jews to one of two special camps– Concentration camps: healthy
individuals worked until dead (Buchenwald)
– Extermination camps: young, elderly and sick
Extermination Camps
• Camps designed to kill efficiently• Used gas, then cremated bodies
– Treblinka & Auschwitz (Auschwitz – 1,600,000 died, 1,300,000 Jewish)
• About 6 million European Jews were killed by the Nazis (1 million children, 2 million women, 3 million men)
• 10 – 11 million Russians were killed
America Enters the War
FDR’s position• Said US was neutral• Knew US would have to get involved • Wanted to help allies• Neutrality Act of 1939 – amended
law to allow sale of weapons on “cash and carry” basis
• Sept 3, 1940 destroyers for bases deal with England – no actual sale
• Leads to America First Committee – staunchly isolationist – Lindbergh, Nye
Election of 1940
• Roosevelt decides to run for re-election in 1940
• Would be his 3rd term• Wins in a landslide
– Many didn’t want a change in uncertain times
Edging Toward War
The Lend-Lease Act
• Allows US to lend arms to countries “vital to the defense of the United States”
• If GB stops Axis; the US won’t have to
• US should be “arsenal of democracy”• L-L loaned arms to GB then USSR
The Atlantic Charter
• Aug 1941 FDR & Churchill met in Newfoundland
• Decided what the post-war world would be like– Free trade– Democracy
Japan Attacks the US
China
• Japan invaded China in 1937• “Nanjing Massacre”1937 – 250,000 –
300,000 civilians killed• FDR gives China aid under lend-lease• 1940, FDR starts an embargo
against Japan • 1941- stopped oil exports to Japan
(80% Japans oil from US)
Pearl Harbor
• Nov 26, 1941- 6 Japanese carriers, 2 battleships set sail for Hawaii
• Nov 27, 1941, war warning from Washington – does not mention Hawaii
• December 7, 1941• Japanese government in negotiations
with the US• Japan attacks Pearl Harbor naval
base in Hawaii
Pearl Harbor
• Destroyed much of US Pacific fleet – however, no aircraft carriers
• FDR asks Congress for war• Congress declares war on Japan• Germany & Italy declare war on US• Germany: did not have to,
underestimated America – expected Japan to easily win – then join Germany against Russia
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