Lead-Up to World War II

1. Lead-Up to World War II

2. Objectives • Analyze the threat to world peace posed by dictators in the 1930s and how the Western democracies responded. • Describe how the Spanish Civil War was a “dress rehearsal” for World War II. • Summarize the ways in which continuing Nazi aggression led Europe to war.

3. Terms and People • appeasement – giving in to the demands of an aggressor to keep peace • pacifism – opposition to all war • Neutrality Acts – a group of laws enacted by the United States to avoid involvement in a European conflict • Axis powers – Germany, Italy, and Japan

4. Terms and People(continued) • Francisco Franco – a conservative Spanish general supported by Fascists and Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War; later became dictator • Anschluss – union of Austria and Germany • Sudetenland – a region of Czechoslovakia • Nazi-Soviet Pact – a nonaggression pact uniting Germany and the Soviet Union

5. What events unfolded between Chamberlain’s declaration of “peace for our time” and the outbreak of a world war? After the horrors of World War I, Western democracies tried to preserve peace. However, Germany, Italy, and Japan were preparing to build new empires, and the world was headed to war again.

7. Dictators took aggressive action in the 1930s. • The Rhineland • Manchuria • Korea • Taiwan • Ethiopia Japan Germany Italy

8. The Rhineland The Rhineland had been designated a demilitarized Zone by the Treaty of Versailles

9. Western democracies denounced these invasions but chose a policy of ____________ appeasement. • France could not take on Hitler without British support, and Britain did not want to confront him. • Both countries viewed Hitler’s fascism as a defense against the spread of Soviet communism.

10. The Great Depression exhausted Western nations. • Disillusion with the previous war had led to widespread ______________. • In the United States, Congress passed a series of ________________aimed at avoiding involvement in a European war. pacifism Neutrality Acts

11. Italy, Germany, and Japan became the _____________. • The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis agreed to fight Soviet communism. • They also pledged not to interfere with one another’s plans for territorial expansion. By the mid-1930s, the antidemocratic aggressive powers formed an alliance. Axis powers Mussolini and Hitler

12. What would each of these leaders gain by signing an agreement with the others? Axis Powers It’s all about World War I

13. Japan: If the Axis Powers defeated France and Britain then Japan could pick up their colonies in Asia. For example British Burma and French Indochina. Japan

14. Italy: If they defeated France and Britain then Italy could pick up their colonies in Africa. For example French West Africa and Anglo Egyptian Sudan Italy

15. Germany: If they defeated France and Britain then Germany could pick up lands that the Central Powers lost in World War I. Germany

16. A civil war in Spain increased tensions. • In 1931, a rebellion ousted the king of Spain. • Reformers created a republic with a liberal constitution, and took land and privileges from the Church and old ruling classes. • Conservative general ______________launched a revolt against the republic in 1936. Francisco Franco

17. Left Wing Goals: Wanted radical reforms like those imposed by Lenin in the Soviet Union Groups: Loyalists, Communists Socialists, Liberals who want democracy Spanish Civil War Right Wing Goals: Extreme nationalism (Fascism) conservatives Groups: Supporters of Francisco Franco, Fascists, Mussolini and Hitler

18. The Spanish Civil War became a “dress rehearsal” for a wider European war. • Hitler and Mussolini sent arms and forces to support Franco, while the Soviet Union sent soldiers to help the Loyalists. • Nazi leaders used the war to test new bombers. • More than 500,000 people died in the struggle. • By 1939, Franco had won. He created a fascist dictatorship similar to those of Germany and Italy.

20. Meanwhile, Hitler took aggressive steps to bring all German-speaking people into the Third Reich. • One of Hitler’s goals was the _________, or union of Austria and Germany. • In 1938, German troops entered Austria. • Although Hitler’s annexation of Austria violated the Treaty of Versailles, the Western democracies took no action. Anschluss

21. Sudetenland Hitler next threatened to annex the ____________. Britain and France protested, but they were unwilling to go to war.

22. Munich Conference At the _________________in 1938, British and French leaders gave in to Hitler’s demands. Hitler promised that he had no further plans to expand. British Prime Minister ________________announced that they had achieved “peace for our time.” Neville Chamberlain

24. Europe rapidly plunged toward war. • After gaining the Sudetenland, Hitler broke his promises and took the rest of Czechoslovakia. • The democracies accepted that appeasement had failed. They pledged to protect Poland. • In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin announced the _________________. This was a shaky alliance, since neither Hitler nor Stalin trusted the other. Nazi-Soviet Pact

25. On September 1, 1939, a week after the Nazi-Soviet Pact, German forces invaded _______. Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War II had begun. Poland

26. Aggression in Europe and Africa to September 1939