The Second World War

1
The Second World War

• War process and development

2
The Situation before 1939

• The Wall Street had crashed in 1929, the Great
  Depression had followed
• Hitler had come to power in 1933
• Crisis in Eastern Asia between the Empire of
  Japan and communistic China since 1931
• Fascistic Regimes had come to power all over
  Europe
• ? The League of Nations was extremely weakened

3
East Asia Crisis

• On 18th of September in 1931, Japanese forces
  invaded Manchuria, a region in the north-east of
  china. Within 5 months, the Japanese forces under
  the leadership of the secret federation Black
  Dragon (Kokuryukai) conquered the whole region
  without instruction by the Japanese government.
• In consequence, the parliament in Japan
  decomposed and nationalist right-wing members
  gained power. Japan then left the league of
  Nations and undersigned an anticommunist-pact
  with the German Reich.

4
Fascistic governments in Europe

• After the fascist march on Rome in 1922,
  Mussolini had gained power in Italy and
  established a fascistic government
• At the end of September in 1936, Franco gained
  power with support of the German Reich and
  established a pro-German and fascistic government
  which was first accepted by Italy and the German
  Reich in October of 1936.

5
Antikomintern-Pact

• The Antikomintern-Pact was an anticommunist pact
  which was undersigned by the Empire of Japan and
  the German Reich in 1936. Later on Spain, Finland
  and Denmark joined the pact too.
• Together with Italy (Axis Berlin-Rome) these
  Nations formed the Axis Powers.

6
Hitler-Stalin-Pact

• On 23rd of August in 1936 Wjatscheslaw M. Molotow
  and Joachim von Ribbentrop undersigned this pact
  between the German Reich and the USSR.
• Subject of the pact was not to attack each other
  (nonaggression treaty)
• The pact included a secret chapter, by which
  Europe would have been divided and shared by the
  German Reich and the USSR in case of wining an
  arising war. Main subject of this chapter was
  Poland which would have been completely dissolved.

7
The Munich Agreement

• We, the German Führer and Chancellor and the
  British Prime-Minister had have a further meeting
  today and all agree in recognizing that the
  question of the Anglo-German relations is at the
  first important for the two countries and for
  Europe. We regard the agreement signed last night
  and the Anglo-German agreement as symbolic of the
  desire of our two peoples, never to go to war
  with one another again.
• the British Prime-Minister Neville Chamberlain on
  the Munich Agreement, undersigned on 30th of
  September in 1938.

8
The Munich Agreement

• In the Munich Agreement, France, Great-Britain,
  the German Reich and Italy agreed to give the
  Sudetenland (a part of Czechoslovakia) back to
  Germany as there were mostly living Germans.
• Germany also guaranteed the existence of the
  Czechoslovakian Republic.

9
Weakened League of Nations

• Because of distrust between many nations in the
  world, the Alliance of the Axis Powers and the
  fact that Hitler boycotted every try to safe the
  security in the world the League of Nations was
  extremely weakened.
• Hitler had already occupied Czechoslovakia as a
  Reichsprotektorat (September 1938) by doing this
  he broke the Munich Agreement.
• Austria had been attached to the German Reich
  (12th of March in 1936) Der Anschluss
• The Empire of Japan established a puppet
  government in Mandschuko (former Manchuria) and
  no member of the League of Nations had done
  anything against this.

10
Foreign policy of Hitler

• Antikomintern-Pact in 1936
• Break of the Locarno-Pact in 1936 (invasion of
  the demilitarised Ruhr-Area)
• Steel-Pact with Italy in May of 1938 (Axis
  Berlin-Rome)
• Hitler-Stalin-Pact in August of 1939
• Combination of all Germans in one single German
  State (Anschluss Österreichs Reichsprotektorat
  Böhmen und Mähren (Czechoslovakia))

11
The war begins

• Second World War (1939-1945)

12
1939
13
Attack on Poland

• On the 1st of September in 1939 Hitler said, that
  the Wehrmacht would now shoot back at Poland in
  reality the Wehrmacht had attacked Poland by
  instruction of Hitler without any declaration of
  war.
• Hitler had already given a reason for this in
  Mein Kampf Sicherung von Lebensraum im Osten.