Aggressors on the March

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Aggressors on the March

• Erica Takahashi Jennifer Yang

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Background

• After the WW1, all-powerful countries were going
  through Global Depression.
• Therefore, many people wanted to gain peace by
  League of Nations.
• Fascism spread in Europe, and powerful nation in
  Asia such as Japan moved toward a similar system.
• Japan fell under military rule.

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Democracy Struggles in Japan

• 1920s, Japan became more democratic.
• 1922, Japan signed an international treaty
  agreeing to respect China's borders.
• 1928, Japan signed the Kellog-Briand Pact.
• There were strict limits on the powers of the
  prime minister and the cabinet.

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Militarists Take Control of Japan?

• As long as Japan remained prosperous, the
  civilian government kept power.
• However, when global depression struck in 1930,
  the government was blamed.
• Therefore, military leaders gained support and
  won control of Japan.
• Militarists didn't try to make a new government.

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Militarists Take Control of Japan?

• They kept emperor as the symbol of state power.
• Militarists wanted to solve the country's
  economic problems.
• They did it by foreign expansion.
• Their first target was China.
• Why? because China was able to provide them raw
  materials and room for rising population.

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Japan Invades Manchuria?

• Manchuria was rich in iron and coal.
• 1931, army captured Manchuria eventhough the
  Japanese government disagreed
• Military leaders set up a puppet government.

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Japan Invades Manchuria?

• This invasion was the first direct challenge to
  the League of Nations.
• Members of the League protested, however, Japan
  ignored.
• 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations.

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PicturesMovies
http//www.youtube.com/watch?voSoL63GgR3U
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Japan invades China

• July 7, 1937, Japan and China had a battle at a
  bridge near Beijing.
• They started carving up the rest of the China.
• Even though China had many people, they couldn't
  win the better-equipped and trained Japanese
  soldiers.
• 1937, Nanjing fell to the Japanese.
• "The rape" of Nanjing.
• Jiang Jieshi set up a new capital at Chongqing.

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The rape of Nanking

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v8SOdGlHUtRI

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Mussolini Attacks Ethiopia

• Ethiopias Resistance in 1890s
• Mussolini dreamed of building a colonial empire
  in Africa like that of Britain and France.
• Britain and France wanted to keep peace in
  Europe.

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Hitler Defies Versailles Treaty

• The Versailles Treaty
• Reoccupation of the Rhineland
• British urged appeasement
• Weak response by France and Germany
• Rome-Berlin Axis
• Axis Powers

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Civil War Erupts in Spain

• Monarchy fell in 1931 and a republic was
  declared.
• Hitler and Mussolini helped Francos forces
  Nationalists
• Republicans received little help from abroad.
• Franco became Spains Fascist dictator
• http//www.century-of-flight.freeola.com/Aviation
  20history/WW2/images3/spain-cw5B15D.gif

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Western Democracies Fail to Halt Aggression

• Instead of fighting against these countries like
  Japan, Italy and Germany, Britain and France
  repeatedly made concessions for peace.
• They had serious economic problems.
• Horrors of WW1 created a deep desire to avoid
  war.
• It felt like allowing the three countries small
  territorial gains were a small price that they
  have to pay for peace.

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United States Follows an Isolationist Policy

• Many Americans refused to be the nations new
  position as a world leader.
• They had this belief called Isolationism.
• Isolationism- Political ties to other countries
  should be avoided.
• Isolationists in US said that entering the WW1
  was a mistake. They wanted to prevent it.

• 1935, Congress passed Three Neutrality Acts
• Neutrality acts on 1935 prohibited American
  citizens from selling arms to belligerents in
  international war.

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The German Reich Expands?

• November 5, 1937, Hitler announced that he will
  capture Austria and Czechoslovakia into the Third
  Reich (German empire)
• The Treaty of Versailles prohibited a union
  between Austria and Germany called Anschluss.
• March 1938, Hitler sent his army to annex
  Austria.
• France and Britain ignored.

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The German Reich Expands?

• Hitlers next target was Czechoslovakia.
• After WW1, Czechoslovakia developed to a
  prosperous democracy with a strong army.
• They also had a defense treaty with France.
• 3million German-speaking people lived in
  Sudetenland. (Western border of Czechoslovakia.)
• Hitler demanded that Sudetenland be given to
  Germany.
• However, Czechs refused and asked France for help.

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Britain and France Again Choose Appeasement

• Munich Conference
• The Czechs were not invited
• Britain and France agreed that Hitler could take
  the Sudetenland.
• Hitlers troops took Czechoslovakia.
• Hitler demanded that Poland return the former
  German port of Danzig.

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Nazis and Soviets Sign Nonaggression Pact

• Negotiation between Soviet Union and Britain and
  France
• Stalin resented having been left out of the
  Munich Conference.
• On August 23, 1939, a nonaggression pact signed
  by Germany and Soviet Union.