Chapter 17Chapter 17Section 4Section 4

War

Breaks

Out

The Response to Fascism

• Fearing the spread of Fascism, Maksim Litvinov of the Soviet Union mended diplomatic ties with the U.S. After years of hostility, the U.S. formally recognized the Soviet Union in November 1933

• The fascist powers also formalized their ties when in 1936, {Germany and Italy bonded together in the alliance known as the Axis Powers. Japan later joined the alliance}

• In September 1938, Roosevelt called for a conference with European leaders to reach an agreement of peace to be held in Munich

• At the {Munich Conference the leaders signed a pact giving Germany control of the Sudetenland}

• By doing this the European leaders adopted a policy of {appeasement- giving in to demands to avoid a larger conflict}

Continued….• Politician Winston Churchill of Great Britain was

afraid that appeasement would encourage Hitler to go after additional territories

• Britain and many other European countries began rearmament.

• U.S. Congress passed a series of neutrality laws that prohibited the shipment of munitions to warring nations and required warring nations that bought goods from the U.S. to transport the goods on their own ships

• In December 1937, Japanese planes attacked the U.S. gunboat Panay and three American oil tankers in China’s Chang River

• Despite this a majority of Americans thought the U.S. should reduce their role in China rather than risk becoming involved in the war

WAR!!! Fighting Begins

• Britain and France declared they would go to war if Germany attacked Poland

• They called on the Soviet Union to join them, but instead {Joseph Stalin signed a {nonaggression pact with Hitler} in which both men agreed not to attack each other}

• The reason was because Hitler agreed to divide Poland with the Soviet Union

• {On September 1, 1939, Germany moved into Poland.• Two days later {Britain and France, the Allied

Powers}, declared war on Germany}• Meanwhile the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the

U.S. Response• Shortly after the attack on Poland, Roosevelt asked

Congress to lift the neutrality act to allow us to send supplies to the Allies

• Roosevelt won the 1940 election with promises to do all in his power to keep out of the war, but he knew despite his promises of un-involvement in Europe was unavoidable

• By the end of 1940 a variety of war materials flowed from the U.S. to Britain, but the British had little money to purchase them

• Congress passed the {Lend-Lease Act in March 1941 which gave $7 billion for ships, planes and tanks to all non-axis countries}

Meanwhile…

• While Hitler carried on his {Blitzkrieg, “lightning war”} against Poland, the French mobilized

• In May 1940 German troops attacked the {Maginot Line, a line of defense between France and Germany}

• The Germans occupied Belgium, Denmark, northern France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway

• Hundreds of thousands of troops became trapped along the French coast. Only an evacuation across the English Channel prevented their capture.

• Germany then set up a pseudo-government in Vichy, France

• With the fall of France, Britain was alone against the Axis powers

• In June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France• In August, Hitler unleashed his bombers on Britain

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Tensions Mount • As German attacks increased, so did U.S. aid to the Allies• In September, Roosevelt issued “shoot-on-sight” orders to

warships in the Atlantic• In Aug. 1941 {Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston

Churchill secretly met off the coast of Newfoundland. • The two leaders agreed to the {Atlantic Charter}, a joint

pledge to not peruse territorial expansion from the war.} It also stated that after the war the aggressors would be disarmed and all nations should work together to rid the world of fear and poverty

• {Meanwhile in June of 1941, Hitler invaded the Soviet Union}• Caught off guard by the violation of the nonaggression pact,

Soviet troops did not fare well against German troops.

Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet

Union

Japan Attacks

• Japan continued its expansion in Asia. In July 1941 Japanese troops occupied French Indochina

• In response, the Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the U.S. and placed an embargo on all shipments to Japan.

• Japan responded by doing the same• In October Hideki Tojo became prime minister of Japan• Even as the Japanese went to Washington D.C. on a peace

mission they were plotting a secret attack on the United States.• All the while Japan was demanding that America unfreeze

Japan’s assets, the U.S. had broken the secret code to send messages between Tokyo and the Japanese embassy in Washington.

• They knew the Japanese planned an attack, they just did not know where

{“The Day that Will Live in Infamy”

• Just before 8:00am on December 7, 1941,} the {Japanese launched their attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands}

• The core of the Pacific fleet was stationed there at the time

• Almost 20 U.S. warships and nearly 200 aircrafts were destroyed

• Some 2,400 Americans were killed, including 1,103 sailors on the USS Arizona when the battleship sank

• The bombing shocked and united America• Roosevelt called on Congress to pass a declaration of

war against Japan.• Congress quickly approved the call for war

The USS Arizona TodayThe USS Arizona Today