World War 2 Warlords

1
World War 2 Warlords

2
Think.

• "In Germany, they came first for the
  Communists, And I didnt speak up because I
  wasnt a Communist
• And then they came for the trade unionists,
  And I didnt speak up because I wasnt a trade
  unionist
• And then they came for the Jews, And I didnt
  speak up because I wasnt a Jew
• And then . . . they came for me . . . And by
  that time there was no one left to speak up."

3
Good Leaders in Low Supply

• After World War I, defeated Germany, disappointed
  Italy, and ambitious Japan were anxious to regain
  or increase their power
• all three eventually adopted forms of
  dictatorship that made the state supreme and
  called for expansion at the expense of
  neighboring countries.
• These three countries also set themselves up as
  champions against Communism, thus gaining at
  least partial tolerance of their early actions
  from the more conservative groups in the Western
  democracies.

4
Why no one tried to stop them

• There was a strong desire for peace on the part
  of the democracies, which resulted in their
  military unpreparedness (no I dont know if
  thats really a word)
• The League of Nations, weakened from the start by
  the defection of the United States, was unable to
  promote disarmament
• the long economic depression sharpened national
  rivalries, increased fear and distrust, and made
  the masses susceptible to the promises of
  demagogues.

5
Fascism in Italy

• Fascism is a totalitarian philosophy of
  government that glorifies the state and nation
  and assigns to the state control over every
  aspect of national life.
• The name was first used by the party started by
  Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1922 until
  the Italian defeat in World War II.
• Fascism has also been applied to similar
  ideologies in other countries, e.g., to National
  Socialism in Germany and to the regime of
  Francisco Franco in Spain.

6
Benito Mussolini

• In the troubled postwar period Mussolini
  organized his followers, mostly war veterans,
  which advocated aggressive nationalism, violently
  opposed the Communists and Socialists, and
  dressed in black shirts.
• Amid strikes, social unrest, and parliamentary
  breakdown, Mussolini preached forcible
  restoration of order and practiced terrorism with
  armed groups
• 1921 he was elected to parliament and the
  National Fascist party was officially organized.
• 1922, Mussolini sent the Fascists to march on
  Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III permitted them to
  enter the city and called on Mussolini, who had
  remained in Milan, to form a cabinet.
• As the new premier, he gradually transformed the
  government into a dictatorship
• Opposition was put down by an efficient secret
  police and the Fascist party militia, and the
  press was regimented.

7
Japan

• In Japan, Emperor Hirohito, after a failed
  assasination attempt, put an ambitious General
  named Tojo.
• Tojo was responsible for serious Imperialistic
  movements of the Japanese army into Mongolia and
  into China
• He will be promoted to Prime Minister of Japan by
  1940, and will be a headstrong supporter of
  alliance with Germany and Italy.

8
Fascism in Spain

• In July, 1936, Franco joined the military
  uprising that precipitated the Spanish civil war.
  He flew to Morocco, took command of the most
  powerful segment of the Spanish army, and led it
  back to Spain.
• He became head of the Insurgent government in
  Oct., 1936.
• In 1937 he merged all the other Nationalist
  political parties and assumed leadership of the
  new party.
• With German and Italian help he ended the civil
  war with victory for the Nationalists in Mar.,
  1939.
• Franco dealt ruthlessly with his opposition and
  established a firmly controlled corporative
  state. Although close to the Axis powers and
  despite their pressure, Franco kept Spain a
  nonbelligerent in World War II.

9
Now How the War got Rolling

• Germany occupied all of Czechoslovakia
  (Mar.1939), Italy seized Albania (Apr.1939)
• Great Britain and France abandoned their policy
  of appeasement and set about creating an
  antiaggression front, which included alliances
  with Turkey, Greece, Romania, and Poland, and
  speeding rearmament.
• Germany and Italy signed a full military alliance
  (May,1939), and after the Soviet-German
  nonaggression pact (Aug., 1939) removed German
  fear of a possible two-front war, Germany was
  ready to launch an attack on Poland.

10
Its on!

• World War II began on Sept. 1, 1939, when
  Germany, without a declaration of war, invaded
  Poland.
• Britain and France declared war on Germany on
  Sept. 3, and all the members of the Commonwealth
  of Nations, except Ireland, rapidly followed
  suit.
• The fighting in Poland was brief. The German
  blitzkrieg, or lightning war, with its use of new
  techniques of mechanized and air warfare, crushed
  the Polish defenses
• The conquest was almost complete when Soviet
  forces entered (Sept. 17) East Poland.
• This campaign ended with the partition of Poland
  and while the USSR defeated Finland in the
  Finnish-Russian War (193940), the British and
  the French spent an inactive winter behind the
  Maginot Line, content with blockading Germany by
  sea.