PREPARATIONS FOR WAR

FOCUS QUESTION:Explain the best way to handle bullies.

TOTALITARIAN STATESSoviet Union (Stalin)

• Dominated by the CommunistsItaly (Mussolini)

• Dominated by the FascistsGermany (Hitler)

• Dominated by the Nazi PartyJapan (Military Leaders)

RISE OF NAZI GERMANYNazism built on a strong sense of German destiny

• All Germans should live in one country• Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer • One People, One Country, One Leader

• Germans (Aryans) a “Master Race”, destined to rule

• To thrive, Germans needed living space (Lebensraum)

NAZI RISE TO POWERAttempted abortive putsch in 1923

• Armed revolt did not work• Ideas outlined in Mein Kampf (My Struggle)

• Use democratic means to suborn democracy

Played on desperation of the German people• “stabbed In the back by traitors”• Promised economic stability• Promised greatness

GAINED POPULARITYUse of simple arguments and nationalist imagery

• Continued to gain seats in the Reichstag• By 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the Reichstag

Nazis demanded Hitler be appointed Chancellor (Head of Government)

SEIZED CONTROLReichstag fire, February 1933

• Used as an excuse to take power• Banned left-wing political parties• Passed the Enabling Act, giving

the cabinet legislative powerAssumed control

EXPANSIONSlowly overturned Versailles• Reoccupied the Rhineland (1936)• Rebuilt German army• Anschluss (unification) of Austria (1938)• Turned sights of the Sudetenland

APPEASEMENTLargely German district in Czechoslovakia

• Germany demanded the region• Czechoslovakia refused

Conference held in Munich in 1938• Britain and France agreed to the transfer• “Peace in our time”

PROMISE BROKENMarch 1939: Germany annexed the rest of the countryAugust 1939: Nonaggression Pact with USSR

• Secret agreement to divide Poland• Shocked the world

September 1, 1939: Germany invasion of Poland

SPLENDID ISOLATIONU.S. retreated to isolationism after WWI

• U.S. disgust with the war• Strong sense of anti-military fervor• Perception that U.S. interest weren’t at risk

U.S. refused to take role in League of Nations

RISE OF BELLIGERENT POWERSAs war threatened, many became concernedFear of U.S. involvementSenate hearings on World War I

• War blamed on arms manufacturersTook steps to prevent

the U.S. involvement

NEUTRALITY ACTSDesigned to keep U.S. from war

1935: No arms sales to belligerent nations1936: No loans or credit to belligerent nations1937: U.S. could not ship goods to belligerents

Tied the hands of the U.S.

FDR’S EFFORTSFDR and his cabinet recognized the threatPrepare the U.S. for involvement

• Quarantine Speech 1937• Cash-and-Carry 1939• Lend-Lease 1940

Atlantic Charter August 1941

PEARL HARBORJapanese attack brings U.S. into the warU.S. sets strategy in motion

• Initial outrage against Japan• Determined to defeat Germany first