PRE WWII AGGRESSORS Fascism in Spain/Italy/Germany

Totalitarian govt system Loyalty to state; obedience to leader Extreme nationalism (nations must struggle against

weaker nations) – flags, parades Authoritarian leader – military uniform, salutes, mass

rallies – evidence of national strength; Some were meant to rule, others to be ruled (Nietzsche)

No political opposition – one-party rule Emphasis on social hierarchy in society –

Germany/Italy/Spain keep social hierarchy; USSR – destroy social hierarchy

Use of terror; Secret Police; labor/prison camps

Spanish Civil War – 1936-39

Hitler and Mussolini supported Franco—sent airforce, troops, weapons and money

Used as a test case for airforce, chemical weapons, and fascism in general

USSR only country that supported the elected Republican gov’t International brigades – US/GB/France/Canada volunteer

troops who fought against Franco - Lincoln Brigade (US) 1939 Franco became totalitarian dictator – mixture of

fascism/conservative Catholic resurgence Franco did not assist Axis powers during WWII Franco died in Nov 1975. King of Spain returned from exile

and restored the Republic & Constitution

Italy

“Il Duce”

ITALY

1935 Mussolini invaded Ethiopia—wanted to expand Italian colonies in Africa

League of Nations did nothing – appeasement

Significance - Mussolini & Hitler inspired to continue their plans for expansion

Italian empire in 1940; Mussolini addressing troops

Nazi Germany – Hitler’s “Third Reich” – Third Empire to last 1000 yrs (only lasted 12 years)

Pro-Nazi propaganda posters

Mussolini & Hitler in Yugoslavia

Appeasement

Hoping to avoid war, France and Britain used the policy of appeasement Giving in to demands to keep peace

In 1935, Hitler announced that Germany would not follow the Treaty of Versailles; withdrew from League of Nations

1936—Nazi Troops Enter Rhineland (Border between France/Germ)

French did not want war—neither did Britain

AXIS POWERS

Nov 1936– Axis Powers created - military alliance – Germany, Italy, Japan

Hitler knew that Japan was strong and had grievances w/ West

Japan did not want to stand alone against the U.S. – desired military alliance

March 1936—ANSCHLUSS - Nazis troops occupy Austria – many Austrians cheered as Nazi troops marched into Vienna

Munich Conference 1938

Hitler asked Allied leaders for one last territorial demand - piece of Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland)

Czech people asked the French for help

British & French agreed to give the land to Hitler as his FINAL demand - APPEASEMENT

Six months later – March 1939 – Hitler’s troops march in & take over the rest of Czech and Albania

Hitler/Stalin Pact

1939—Non Aggression Pact

Germany promised not to invade the USSR

USSR would assist Germany in conquering Poland

Poland would be shared

Japan in the 1920’s

Japan democratic, growing industrialization & prosperity

Control of Manchuria – raw materials for industrialization

Japan controlled Pacific trade, had gained prestige & national honor – member of League of Nations

Japanese society emphasized loyalty to state & factory

Great Depression - exports fell & unemployment soared; conservative/military forces gain popularity in Japan w/ promises to fix the economy

Military controls Japan

Need for more natural resources Japanese nationalism spills over into Pan-

Asian effort – “Asia for Asians” – Japan promises Indonesia islands help in attaining independence from Western imperialists – Japanese treated other Asian peoples worse in most cases

1937—Used the “Manchurian Incident” (explosion along Manchurian Railway) to justify invasion

Rape of Nanking - 1937

Japanese soldiers allowed to torture, loot, pillage, rape, and murder Chinese civilians

Nationalist forces had fled the capital Between 200,000-350,000 killed, many more

wounded/tortured/raped Women and children were not spared of the horrors of

the massacres. Witnesses recall Japanese soldiers throwing babies into the air and catching them with their bayonets. Pregnant women were often the target of murder, as they would often be bayoneted in the belly, sometimes after rape. Many women were first brutally raped then killed.

There are even stories of Japanese troops forcing families to commit acts of incest: sons were forced to rape their mothers, fathers were forced to rape daughters. One pregnant woman who was gang-raped by Japanese soldiers gave birth only a few hours later; miraculously, the baby was perfectly healthy. Monks who had declared a life of celibacy were forced to rape women for the amusement of the Japanese. Instances of Chinese men forced to commit sex with corpses were heard of during the occupation. Any resistance would be met with instant shootings. (Robert B. Edgerton, Warriors of the Rising Sun)

Eyewitness Accounts from Nanking

Confession of Japanese officer

“To begin with, it is our policy not to take prisoners, so we decided to get them out of the way...”

Surviving Japanese veterans claim that the army had officially outlawed the rape of enemy women. But the military policy forbidding rape only encouraged soldiers to kill their victims afterwards.

One soldier's recollection: "It would be all right if we only raped them. I shouldn't say all right. But we always stabbed and killed them. Because dead bodies don't talk ... Perhaps when we were raping her, we looked at her as a woman, but when we killed her, we just thought of her as something like a pig." (Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking)

Rape of Nanking I saw various prisoners,

from younger ones to really old ones.... There were 20,000 of them. We took them out to the bank of the Yangtze River and machine-gunned them. It took us two nights to finish it off. We threw the bodies into the river later on, but the stream was so slow that many of them didn't float right away.

Pregnant with her first child, this 19-year-old woman was bayoneted when she sought to resist raping at the hands of a Japanese soldier. When admitted to a refugee hospital, she was found to have “no less than 23 wounds," noted an American Missionary

Japan/U.S. Hostility

Japan’s actions were condemned by U.S. and L.O.N.

China was U.S. ally and important for U.S. trade Japan hoped to remove US influence in Pacific –

Hawaiian Naval Base