Chapter 29: World War II and its Aftermath

Aim: What was

World War II?

A. Causes

Treaty of Versailles•Germany is solely responsible•$40 Billion•Surrender all colonies•Unable to militarize

Signature X _______________Germany

Hitler Goes Against the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany was not allowed to build up its army-Hitler did it any way

1936- Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland which France occupied

Totalitarianism

Militarism

Aggression

Fascism / Totalitarianism

Scenario #1Japan attacks Manchuria

(1931)

Japan Overruns Manchuria

Japanese military leaders and ultranationalists thought that Japan should have an empire equal to those of the Western powers

Japan seized Manchuria in 1931

League of Nations was against the action- Japan left the League of Nations

1937- Japan’s army overran eastern China

Began the Second Sino-Japanese War

Western protests did not stop Japan

I know this sounds all wrong, perhaps immoral, when Japan is infringing the League of Nations, but (1) she must look to expand somewhere, (2) for

goodness sake let (or rather encourage) her to do so there instead

of Australia and (3) her control of Manchuria means a real block against

Communist aggression.

-John Simon, the British Foreign Secretary

Reaction by League:

Scenario #2Italy attacks Ethiopia (1935)

Italy Invades Ethiopia

Mussolini acted on imperialist ambitions

1935- Italy invaded Ethiopia

Ethiopians resisted but lost because they had outdated weapons

Ethiopian king, King Haile Selassie- appeased to the League of Nations for help

League voted sanctions against Italy for violating international law

1936- Italy conquered Ethiopia

"I, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, am here today to claim that justice which is due to my people, and the assistance promised to it, when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in

violation of international treaties.

Reaction by League:Condemn Italy: Yes!

Stop Italy : No!

Scenario #3: Germany invades the Rhineland (1936)

De-militarized zone next to border of

France

Reaction by League:

NOTHING!

Scenario #3Annexes Austria (1938)

“The Anchluss”

Reaction by League:

NOTHING!

(Part 2):

Scenario #3Threatens Czechoslovakia

to give up the Sudentenland (1939)

Reaction by League:

NOTHING!

(Part 3):

Area of German speaking people

New Policy from League:

AppeasementBritish Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Aggression Goes Unchecked

Dictators took aggressive control and were only met by verbal protests

Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Japanese rulers believed that peace was a form of weakness

Policy of Appeasement

Western democracies adapted a policy of appeasement

Appeasement- giving in to the demands of an aggressor in order to keep the peace

Munich Pact 1938

Keeping the Peace

France- suffered from political divisions

Britain did not want to confront Hitler

Britain and France saw Hitler and Fascism as a defense against a worse evil- the Soviet Union and Soviet Communism

Great Depression

Pacifism- opposition to all war

Made all governments to seek peace at any price

The US Steps In

1930s- US congress passes Neutrality Act

Forbade the sale of arms to any nation at war

Outlawed loans to warring nations

Prohibited Americans from traveling on ships of warring powers

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

Britain, France, and the US, Germany, Italy and Japan formed the Rome- Berlin-Tokyo Axis

Axis powers- three nations agreed to fight communism

Also agreed not to interfere with one another’s plans for territorial expansion

Spain Collapses Into Civil War

1936

Population forced the king of Spain to leave

Government passed a series of reforms- took away land and privileges from the church and old ruiling classes

Conservatives rejected change

Spain plunged into civil war

Spain’s Civil War

1936- Francisco Franco- led a revolt

Hitler and Mussolini sent forces to back Franco

Soviet Union sent soldiers to fight Fascism

Britain, France, and US remained neutral

500,000 people were killed during the Civil War

Guernica

German air raid

April 1937

1,000 people were killed

Goal: test out the new planes to see what they were capable of doing

German Aggression

Hitler’s goal: bring all the German speaking people into one country and under one government- the Third Reich

Wanted to gain “living space” for Germans

Hitler believed in the supreme Aryan Race

Austria Annexed

Hitler sent an army to Austria to “preserve order”

Hitler then became the leader of Austria

This act violated the Treaty of Versailles

The Czech Crisis

Germany turned to Czechoslovakia

Sudetenland- region of Czechoslovakia that was on the border of Germany

Czech- one of the remaining democracies in Eastern Europe

Hitler demanded that the Sudetenland get annexed to Germany

Europe Plunges into War

March 1939- Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

Democracies learned that appeasement failed

Nazi-Soviet Pact

Hitler formed a pact with Stalin in August 1939

Two agreed not to fight if the other went to war to divide up Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe

Hitler feared Communism, Stalin feared Fascism

Stalin sought allies with western democracies (Britain and France) while Hitler took over Poland

Invasion of Poland

September 1, 1939- Hitler invaded Poland

Britain and France declared war on Germany

World War II began

Section 2: The Axis Advance

The Axis Attack

Nazi’s stormed Poland and used blitzkrieg

Blitzkrieg is known as “lightening war”

Utilized tank and airpower to create a devastating blow to the enemy

Luftwaffe- German air force- bombed airfields, factories, towns, cities

Fast moving tanks and troops pushed their way into Poland, encircled them, forced them to surrender

**Within a month, Poland no longer existed- Germany took the land

Britain and France declared war on Germany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ha0qKquG2E

Actions of Hitler and Stalin

Hitler’s army rested for the winter

Stalin took Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania to gain more power

Miracle of Dunkirk

France moved military to the Maginot Line

Britain also began to militarize

Hitler launched blitzkrieg on Norway and Denmark in April 1940

May 1940- Germans went into Ardennes Forest in Belgium- area was considered invasion proof

Way for German troops to get into France without passing the Maginot line

Britain tried to help France- Britain sent troops to Dunkirk to help 300,000 troops to safety

France Falls

German forces surrounded Paris

France surrendered

June 22, 1940- Hitler forced the French to sign surrender documents

Germany then created a “puppet state”- Vichy

French government officials escaped to Britain

Operation Sea Lion

Britain had to fight Germany alone

Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of Germany at the time

Germany had an operation, Operation Sea Lion, which was to invade Britain

August 1940- Hitler began with daily bombardment of the English’s southern coast

Britain sent their troops to stop the Luftwaffe

Germany in response began bombing London and other major cities

Germany Launches Blitz

Germany bombs Britain for 57 consecutive nights

London was destroyed, thousands died

Parliament continued to meet throughout the blitz

Citizens carried on their lives

Hitler Fails to Take Britain

German planes continue to bomb London

Luftwaffe could not gain air superiority over Britain

Operation Sea Lion failed

Africa and the Balkans

Axis armies pushed into North Africa and the Balkans

Mussolini ordered forces to go to Egypt

Britain did not allow Italian forces into Egypt

Hitler ordered General Erwin Rommel (Desert Fox) into Cairo

Italy invaded Greece

Germany took over Greece and Yugoslavia

Brought under Axis empire

Germany Invades the Soviet Union

Hitler turned on the Soviet Union

June 1941- Hitler nullified the Nazi-Soviet Pact

Operation Barbarossa

Wanted to crush Stalin

Used blitzkrieg against Soviet Union

3 million German troops invaded

Soviets lost 2 ½ million soldiers

Winter- Hitler and his troops were not prepared for winter in Russia- thousands of German soldiers froze to death

Germany Sieges Leningrad

2 ½ year siege of Leningrad began in 1941

Food rationed- 2 pieces of bread per day

Millions died from starvation

Stalin urged Britain to attack Germany from the west

Hitler’s “New Order”

Hitler set up puppet governments in Western European countries

Slavs were of “inferior race”

Nazis stripped conquered nations of works of art, factories, and other resources

1930s- Nazis sent thousands of Jewish people and political opponents to concentration camps