Lead-Up to World War II

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Lead-Up to World War II
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What events unfolded between Chamberlains
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.
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Dictators took aggressive action in the 1930s.
Japan Military leaders Overran Manchuria and much of eastern China
Germany Hitler Rebuilt the military and invaded the Rhineland
Italy Mussolini Invaded and conquered Ethiopia
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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 Hitlers fascism as a
  defense against the spread of Soviet communism.
• The Great Depression exhausted Western nations.
• Disillusion with the previous war had led to
  widespread pacifism.
• In the United States, Congress passed a series of
  Neutrality Acts aimed at avoiding involvement in
  a European war.

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• Italy, Germany, and Japan became the Axis
  powers.
• The Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis agreed to fight Soviet
  communism.
• They also pledged not to interfere with one
  anothers plans for territorial expansion.

By the mid-1930s, the antidemocratic aggressive
powers formed an alliance.
Mussolini and Hitler
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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 Francisco Franco launched a
  revolt against the republic in 1936.

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Sides in the Spanish Civil War
Nationalists Fascists and the right wing Supported conservative Franco
Loyalists Communists, socialists, and those wanting democracy Supported the republic
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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.

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Meanwhile, Hitler took aggressive steps to bring
all German-speaking people into the Third Reich.

• One of Hitlers goals was the Anschluss, or union
  of Austria and Germany.
• In 1938, German troops entered Austria.
• Although Hitlers annexation of Austria violated
  the Treaty of Versailles, the Western democracies
  took no action.

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Hitler next threatened to annex the Sudetenland.
Britain and France protested, but they were
unwilling to go to war.
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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
  Nazi-Soviet Pact. This was a shaky alliance,
  since neither Hitler nor Stalin trusted the other.

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Aggression in Europe and Africa to September 1939