World War II

An Introduction

The Inter-war Years

The Treaty of Versailles (1919) - Post WWI settlement was very harsh on the Germans:

•De-militarization

•Could not fortify their border with France

•Forced to pay huge amounts of reparations

How do you think the Germans felt about this?

The Rise of Benito Mussolini in Italy

Italians felt they had been shortchanged in the peace settlement after the war (they gained very little territory)

Mussolini uses this dissatisfaction to gain political support. He is named prime minister.

Soon, he gains enough support to claim a dictatorship.

1935 - Mussolini begins his expansion by attacking and occupying Ethiopia (in Africa)

The Rise of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Worker’s Party)

Appealed to Germans who were suffering through Great Depression, which was made worse by war debt.

Adolf Hitler - Becomes leader of the Nazi party.

1933- Nazi party wins plurality (not majority) in the German government. Hitler is named chancellor and immediately begins to clamp down on opposition parties.

Nazi Ideology

Militarism - military virtues are good virtues - discipline, obedience, self sacrifice

Anti-Semitism

•The hatred of Jews.

•Form of prejudice with deep roots in Western civilization

Racial/National Pride - The Aryan race (blond, blue-eyed Germans) was the “master” race.

Mein Kampf - “My Struggle” - Written by Hitler, it spells out his Nazi beliefs.

Nazi Party Rally at Nuremburg - 1934

Der Fuhrer - (The Leader) Il Duce - (The Leader)

Both Hitler and Mussolini created fascist governments.

Fascism - a political philosophy that values the nation or the race above the individual.

Nazi Aggression

1936 - Germany re-militarizes the Rhineland, a direct violation of the Versailles Treaty

Response: None. France and Britain were not prepared to go to war over this issue.

Nazi Aggression

Anschluss - The German annexation of Austria - 1938 - Another direct violation of the Versailles Treaty

Why? - Germany had long wanted to incorporate Austria into a larger German state because of their similar heritage. The Austrian government offered little political and no military resistance.

Nazi Aggression

The Sudentenland Crisis:

1938 - Germany demanded possession of a region of Czechoslovakia called the Sudentenland, because the population was ethnically German

The Munich Agreements and Appeasement

At a conference in Munich (Germany) Britain and France agree to allow Hitler to occupy the Sudetenland in exchange for a German promise not to seek any other territorial gains.

Appeasement: French and British policy throughout the 1930s where they attempted to keep the peace in Europe by giving into Hitler’s demands.

Hitler soon broke his promise and took over all of Czechoslovakia

From left to right: Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured before signing the Munich Agreement.

Stalin and the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (1939)

Hitler and Stalin surprised everyone when they formed an

alliance.

Both Germany and the USSR had their eyes on parts of

Poland. With Germany’s biggest threat to the east taken care of, they could begin plans for further expansion.

Why would an alliance between the USSR and Germany surprise many people?

Developments in Asia

Japan had long been frustrated by their limited role in Asia due to the Imperial influence of Western nations. They also felt they were racially superior to their Asian counterparts.

Greater East Asian Co Prosperity Sphere - Japan’s idea that they would spread into the East Asian region where they would dominate economically and politically

1931 - Japanese attacked Manchuria - region in northeast China. They continued expansion into mainland China in the late 1930s.

Developments in Asia

The Rape of Nanking

Historians estimate that between 200,000 and 400,000 Chinese civilians were killed during the Japanese Army occupation of this Chinese city in 1937.