Download Napoleon Bonaparte - MrForbes Socials 11

Background to
World War II
Background to WWII
 Hitler’s Rise to Power
 Failure of the League of Nations
 Policy of Appeasement
 German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
 Invasion of Poland
Hitler’s Rise to Power
 Treaty of Versailles
 Economic Causes
 Political Causes
Treaty of Versailles
 Germany’s territory and military
power was reduced.
 Germany must pay war reparations.
Economic Causes
 The war and Treaty of Versailles had
ruined the German economy by the 1920s.
 Germany was struggling to pay war
 Inflation: paper money that was printed
was essentially worthless.
 Unemployment: by 1932, nearly half of
Germany’s workforce was unemployed.
Political Causes
 Current gov’t didn’t have a solution (or at
least one that worked!)
 Hitler claimed he had the solutions to pull
Germany out of the Depression
 In 1930, Hitler and his Nazi Party gained
the 2nd most seats in the German
Parliament
 In 1933, Hitler became German Chancellor
Hitler Takes Control
 Once in power, Hitler:
– expanded the armed forces
– improved conditions for farmers
– funded public works projects (ie. highways)
 Unemployment dropped; economy improved
 Hitler abolished all other political parties
Failure of
the League
of Nations
1932 – Japan Invades Manchuria
 League of
Nations unable
or unwilling to
intervene
 Japan withdraws
from League
1935 – Italy Invades Ethiopia
 League does nothing
 Hitler watches
carefully and
recognizes the
impotence of the
League
Appeasement
 Appeasement is “the policy of settling
international quarrels by admitting and
satisfying grievances through rational
negotiation and compromise, thereby
avoiding the resort to an armed conflict
which would be expensive, bloody, and
possibly dangerous.”
 Giving in to (German) desires in order to
maintain peace
– “Give Hitler what he wants and he’ll
eventually be satisfied and we won’t have to
go to war with him”
Appeasement in the late 1930s

1935: German re-armament
–





Creates an Air Force and announces plans for
military conscription.
March 1936: Occupation of the Rhineland
March 1938: Annexation of Austria
October 1938: Annexation of the Sudentenland
March 1939: Occupation of Czechoslovakia
Summer 1939: Threats against Poland
German Appeasement
Appeasement Cartoons
German-Soviet Non-Aggression
Pact
 Hitler and Joseph Stalin, leader of the
Soviet Union, agreed not to fight each
other if one of them went to war
 They also agreed to divide Poland between
them
Invasion of Poland
 After WWI, territory was taken from
Russia and Germany to create the country
of Poland.
 Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide Poland
between them and take back this land in
1939.
 The German “Blitzkrieg” surprised and
defeated the Polish military.
 As they had promised to support Poland
against invasion, Britain and France
declared war on Germany