Causes of World War II

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Causes ofWorld War II

• Global II

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Aggression, Appeasement, and War

• Allied leaders wanted to avoid war ? world peace
  no more war
• Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan glorified war
  and scorned peace

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Dictators Challenge World Peace

• Japanese military leaders wanted an empire as
  powerful as the western powers.
• Seized Manchuria in 1931
• Withdrew from League of Nations and continued to
  invade China

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Appeasement of Japan
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Italy Busts a Move

• 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia
• Mussolini used modern weapons to win
• Tanks, machine guns, poison gas, and airplanes
• League of Nations ordered sanctions (penalties)
• No power to enforce the sanctions

Appeasement of Italy

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Hitler Tests the Waters

• Hitler built up military
• Went against the Treaty of Versailles (stopped
  paying reparations)
• Invaded the Rhineland
• Appeasement-policy of giving in to demands of an
  aggressor to keep peace

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Appeasement of Germany
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Germany is on the Move

• Invaded Austria to combine the two countries
• Hitler scared anyone who opposed him in Austria
  a.k.a. Anchluss 1938
• Western democracies stood down

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Czech Crisis..Munich Conference 1938

• Czechoslovakia was one of two democracies in
  Eastern Europe
• Hitler wanted the 3 million Germans in western
  Czech to be given autonomy
• Hitler made a deal with Britain and France that
  he would not invade anymore if they gave up the
  Sudetenland

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Munich Agreement 1938Peace in our time???
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Hitler violates Munich Agreement
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Why Did Western Powers Back Down?

1. France was politically divided at home ? needed
   British support
2. Britain didnt want to confront Hitler
3. Thought Fascism was better than Soviet Communism
4. Great Depression hurt economies
5. Pacifism, opposition to all war

Why Appeasement?
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Why didnt the U.S. oppose Appeasement enter
WWII earlier?

• 1939 U.S. Army ranked 16th in world behind
  Romania
• May 1941 of combat ready divisions (10-15,000
  soldiers)
• US 1
• Germany 208
• of Military Aircraft in 1941
• US 471
• Germany 2,700 on Eastern Front alone
• Tanks
• US 200
• Germany 3,500 on Eastern Front alone

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Spanish Civil War

• Monarchy to Republic
• Catholic Church and military ran the show
• Revolt by peasants that forced the king to leave
  the throne
• Hitler bombed Spain and helped Francisco Franco
  become the Fascist leader of Spain

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Axis Powers are formed

• Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis 1936
• Agreed to fight Soviet Communism
• Not interfere with each others expansion

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Nazi-Soviet Pact

• 1939, Hitler makes a pact with Stalin
• Not to fight against each other, divide up Poland
• Germany gets guarantee of one-front war USSR get
  land and time to rebuild its military
• Germany invades Poland
• Britain and France declare war on Germany

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Why War Began?

• Axis Aggression
• Need for raw materials encourages expansion
• Western Appeasement
• Failures of Treaty of Versailles - Revise the
  1919 Peace Settlement