Events Leading to World War II: Military Aggression & Appeasement

1. Events Leading to World War II: Military Aggression & Appeasement US History: Spiconardi

2. Italian Aggression • Italy invades Ethiopia (1935) • Using mustard gas, Italians advance on Ethiopia and eventually • Ethiopia’s emperor, HaileSelassie, goes to League of Nations • League of Nations refuses to recognize Italy’s control of Ethiopia, but does nothing else. • League of Nations was ineffective, as countries were more concerned about their own economic crisis It will be you tomorrow. Italy would invade Albania in 1939

3. Nazi Aggression • The Third Reich • Hitler vowed to create a German-speaking empire in violation of the Treaty of Versailles • Nazi Violations of the Treaty of Versailles • Hitler begins to rebuild army • Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland in 1936 • Rhineland  land in western declared de-militarized under the Treaty of Versailles • Acted as a buffer between France and Germany Nazi soldiers march into the Rhineland to the cheers of Germans

4. Nazi Aggression • Annexation of Austria • In March of 1938, Germany annexes Austria as part of his building of a German-speaking Empire Crowds in Vienna, Austria cheering the arrival of Nazi troops

5. Appeasement Chamberlin (GB), Daladier (FR), Hitler (GER), Mussolini (ITA), Ciano (ITA) • The Munich Agreement • France & Great Britain began to fear Hitler’s tactics • Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia • In September 1938, France, Great Britain, and Germany make a pact • Hitler would be allowed to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, if he promised not to take anymore land

6. Appeasement

7. Lands acquired by the Third Reich as of September 30, 1938

8. Appeasement • Just six months after the Munich Agreement, Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia • Great Britain and France do nothing in response to Hitler’s violation of the Munich Agreement Czech woman weeping as she salutes the invading German forces

9. Appeasement There was no fighting between German and Czech forces. Two German soldiers drive past an unsettled group of Czech citizens

10. Appeasement • Appeasement  a policy of giving into the demands of an aggressor/potential enemy in order to avoid war. ‘Why should we take a stand about someone pushing someone else when it’s all so far away?’

11. Appeasement Why would European nations like Great Britain and France follow a policy of appeasement?

12. Soviet-Nazi Treaty of Non-Aggression • The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact • In August of 1939, the U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact • The two countries promised not to attack one another • Secretly promised to divided Poland among themselves Molotov signs the pact, as Ribbentrop and Stalin look on

14. Soviet-Nazi Treaty of Non-Aggression What did the West think of the Soviet-Nazi Treaty of Non-Aggression according to cartoonist David Low?

15. Soviet-Nazi Treaty of Non-Aggression What is the cartoon artist implying about the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? And the “honeymoon” doesn’t last. In June 1941, Germany invades the U.S.S.R.

16. Start of World War II • Invasion of Poland • On September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland • In response, France and Great Britain demand Germany withdraw from Poland • Germany refuses • On September 3, 1939, France and Great Britain declare war on Germany two days later