Chapter 34 Origins of World War II Notes

JIFF Productions 2/8/16 Social Studies Chapter 34 “Origins of World War II” Notes Section 1  Adolf Hitler became Germany’s chancellor & then dictator in the 1930’s; he stirred up German nationalism  Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles  Hitler demanded that Sudetenland was to be turned over to Germany  France and Britain distrusted Hitler  Appeasement: yielding to an enemy's demands in order to maintain peace  Leaders of France, Italy, Germany, and Britain signed the Munich Pact agreement in Munich, Germany on September 29, 1938 Section 2  Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles which gained him popularity in Germany  Nationalism helped strong leaders take power in Italy and Japan  In Soviet Union, dictatorship arose from communism  Joseph Stalin established a totalitarian dictatorship in early 1930’s  He set two goals- 1) He wanted to raise agricultural production 2) He wanted to modernize industry  Stalin established a Five-Year Plan to reach his goals: he took private land from farmers and forced them to move huge collective farms  If resistance was presence, violence would be present  Stalin used brutal methods to strengthen his control of the Communist party  He killed enormous amounts of party leaders, military officers, industrial managers, etc. in 1936  Benito Mussolini emerged as a national figure and eventually became a dictator  He founded the first fascist political movement in 1919  Fascism: a political movement based on an extreme nationalism in which the state comes first and individual liberty is secondary  Fascists are strongly opposed to communism and democracy  Fascism often arises in a time of crisis which promises to revive formal glory  Mussolini used his amazing skill of public speaking to promote fascism  Fascists dominated several areas of Italy and Mussolini was ready to take over the whole country in 1922  He banned labor unions, outlawed opposing political parties and censored press  He wanted to build Italy’s economy, hoped to bring Italy to great power  Adolf Hitler—Germany’s future leader—joined a small political party that later became known as the Nazi Party. Under his leadership, this party would direct a mass movement based on a form of fascism known as Nazism in 1919  Nazism: a form of fascism that promoted the belief that Germans and other Nordic peoples were superior to other races  Hitler laid out the Nazi philosophy in his book Mein Kampf, or “My Struggle.”  Germany’s economic depression gave Hitler the opportunity to spread his ideas  Hitler’s extreme nationalism appealed to many voters  Hitler was named chancellor, or prime minister. He moved quickly to dissolve the republic, replacing German democracy with a totalitarian government – this government was called the Third Reich  They passed new laws targeting Jews, barring them from certain jobs and exposing them to persecution  Japan relied on a strong military to obtain resources from other countries  Militarism: the glorification of military power and values  Japan’s growing militarism was combined with an extreme form of nationalism Section 3  Americans strongly favored isolationism during the early 1930’s  Franklin Roosevelt took no action against rising dictators in Asia/Europe  Japanese seizing a portion of China showed aggression in 1931  Japan withdrawal from the League instead from the region in 1932  Japanese army clashed with China forces outside of Beijing and went on a 6 week rampage called the Rape of Nanjing in July 1937  League of Nations failed to respond to Japan’s challenge  Germany pulled out of the League of Nations and Hitler began rebuilding his German military  Italy officially annexed Ethiopia in May 1936  In July 1936, a military rebellion started the Spanish Civil War  Spanish Civil War: a civil war from 1936 to 1939 in which the Spanish military and its right- wing allies, known as the Nationalists, overthrew Spain's democratic republic  Hitler’s army crossed the border into Austria without opposition. The following day he proclaimed Anschluss, or “political union,” with Austria on March 12, 1938  Hitler acquired the Czech region of Sudetenland by signing the Munich Pact on September 1938  The United States didn’t join the embargo because he signed a Neutrality Act of 1935 Section 4  Hitler broke Munich Pact by invading Czechoslovakia and seizing control of Prague, the Czech capital  France and Britain announced that if Germany made any further attacks on small states, then they would declare war  The German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact was signed in August 1939, which served interests in both leaders  Needed soviet union to cover Germany’s backside as they fought the war from two fronts  On September 1, 1939 the German army marched into Poland and France and Britain then declared war on Germany which marked the start of WWII  German armed forces used the strategy of Blitzkrieg: or "lightning war," the German military strategy during World War II of attacking without warning – these attacks were launched on any transportations to help prevent Polish mobilization  Mobilization: the assembling of troops and equipment for war  Germany’s method was to outflank, surround, and destroy  Germany and the USSR had complete control of the country on the first of October  On April 1940, Germany launched a series of surprise attacks on Denmark and Norway-within a few weeks, these countries were under German occupation  Germans burst through Luxembourg and Southern Belgium into France in 4 days  France surrendered to Germany on June 22  Puppet government: a government that is run by citizens of a conquered country who carry out the policies of the conqueror  Prime Minister Winston Churchill stood alone against the Axis powers(Britain)  German planes attacked British ships, ports, radar stations, etc. in the summer of 1940 and into the fall  British sent up fighter pilots called RAF (Royal Air Force) in an engagement called the Battle of Britain Section 5  Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact making Japan a member of the Axis powers  Roosevelt pushed a bill through Congress that repealed the arms embargo. This Neutrality Act of 1939 included a “cash-and-carry” provision on November 1939  After fall of France, US started to rearm itself in earnest  Hitler broke Nonaggression Pact by attacking Soviet Union  US tried to undercut Japans aggression in several ways  More than 300 bombers and fighter planes launched an attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941  Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan  Germany and Italy declared war on the US

*All notes prepared by a dedicated scholar from 2015-16 school year! Thank you JFR!