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Be sure to take careful
notes.
There MAY be a QUIZ
afterwards!
Events Leading to
World War II
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Treaties
Economic Factors
The Change of Power
The Treaty of
Versailles
•Marked the end of World War I
•Signed on November 11, 1918
•Left many of its signers unsatisfied
•France regained land lost in the war
•Germany lost land to France and had to pay large
amounts of $$$ for war reparations
•Italy felt that it did not gain enough territory
•Japan was ignored during negotiations of the treaty
Internal and External Weakening
of Europe
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Over 10 Million people perished in
World War I
Large fatality rate affected the
workforce and birthrates
Economy was weakened
Government borrowing to finance
the war left massive debts and
caused inflation
Reaction To and Effects of
the Treaty
•Many Germans angered about treaty
•From 1919-1923 there was a series of
attempted revolutions in Germany
•Many Italians were also angered by the
treaty
Economic Events
Stock Market
Crash
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October-1929
American Stock Market crash affected
European markets deeply
Banks failed
Unemployment rose and wages fell
The Soviet Union’s economy was one of
the few NOT greatly injured
The Depression
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By 1932, 6 million Germans were
unemployed
Public morale in Germany was low
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power
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1919-Hitler left the German army
He believed that the German army hadn’t
“lost” but were stabbed in the back by the
politicians who signed the Treaty of
Versailles
September 1919- Hitler attended a
meeting of the German Workers Party,
which was led by Anton Drexler who was a
known Anti-Semite
Anti-Semite-Someone who is is prejudiced
against Jewish people
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power- Continued
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Hitler joined German Workers Party
and became their leader in 1921
He then changed the name of the
party to the National Socialist German
Workers Party in an effort to attract
more members
This party would evolve into the Nazi
Party and would become known for
their violent ways
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power- Continued
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Hitler believed that the current government
of Germany was so unpopular that the
people would support him in an election
His attempt to become elected leader fails in
1923 and he is imprisoned for treason after
a failed attempt to force his way in to
leadership
A new German Chancellor, Gustav
Stresemann, is elected and brings inflation
and other issues under control
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power- Continued
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He served five years in prison and wrote his
book, Mein Kampf, (My Struggle) there.
In an attempt to gain political control of the
REICHSTAG (the German government) Hitler
appointed Josef Goebbels as head of
propaganda
Propaganda - information, ideas, or rumors
deliberately spread to people to help or harm
a person, group, movement, institution, or
nation
 Flyers
- advertisements
German Elections Hitler’s History and Rise to
1932-38
Power - Continued
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On October 3, 1929, Gustav
Stresemann died
Popularity of Nazi party grew from
1928-1933 as indicated by the pink
portion of the election graphs on
the left.
The Nazi party has the support of
millionaire Alfred Hugenburg who
owned 53 newspapers and uses
them to back Hitler
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power- Continued
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Hitler tells the German people that the
problems of the Depression were not their
fault
He blames the Jews for Germany’s
problems, thus turning them into scapegoats
Hitler promised the Germans to do away
with the Treaty of Versailles
On January 30, 1933, Hitler was appointed
chancellor by current president Hindenburg.
He was hoping to use Hitler to create a Nazi
majority in the Reichstag
Hitler’s History and Rise to Power - Continued
 In the election of March, 1933,
Hitler achieves greater political
power
 Hitler uses his new power to
eliminate all who oppose him.
 In 1934, President Hindenburg
dies and Hitler gains TOTAL
control by uniting the positions
of chancellor and president
How Hitler Uses His Newfound Power
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1935- He began the process of rearmament. He
did this by building up the German Army and
Navy.
This act had been specifically banned by the
treaty of Versailles
Hitler in Power - Continued
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1936-Hitler stations forces on the French border
1938-Hitler demands self-government for the
Germans living in Czechoslovakia
Neville Chamberlain, Britain’s Prime Minister,
agrees to this
Hitler in Power
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Hitler’s demands continue to escalate
September, 1938-Hitler and Chamberlain sign
an agreement never to go to war again
Hitler in Power
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March,1939 - Hitler breaks his agreement with
Chamberlain and occupies Western Czechoslovakia
April,1939 - Britain signs an agreement with Poland
and Romania which promises to defend them if they
are attacked
September, 1939 - Hitler invades Poland
The World At WAR!!!
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September 3rd, 1939 - Britain
declares war on Germany!!
Winston Churchill - Britain
Who’s Who?
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Allies:
Britain
 France
 USSR
(Russia)
 America
(later)
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Axis:
 Germany
 Italy
 Japan
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Who Leads These Nations?
Britain - Chamberlain and Winston Churchill
 France - Charles de Gaulle
 USSR - Joseph Stalin
 America - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and
Harry S. Truman (later)
(Churchill, FDR, Stalin)
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Germany-Adolph Hitler
Italy-Benito Mussolini
Japan-Hirohito
(FDR, de Gaulle, Churchill)
(Mussolini, Hitler)
Churchill
Roosevelt
How did America view
things?
Why and When did America Get Involved?
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When: December 7th, 1941
Where: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Why: Japanese planes attacked
3,400 Americans were killed
America declared war immediately
Pearl Harbor - December 7, 1941
Hitler, The Nazi Party, and the
Treatment of the Jews
•Hitler professed a belief in a “Master
Race” and sought the extermination of all
who were not part of it, particularly the
European Jews
•The Nazi Party ruled through fear,
cruelty, and violence
•Many Jews were rounded up and sent to
concentration camps
The Concentration Camps
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Some of these camps were designed for the
extermination of prisoners
Others were designed as labor camps
In the labor camps, the prisoners were used
as slave workers
Some of the more infamous camps were:
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Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau and
Natzwiller
•1933-American newspapers report the existence
of camps when Dachau, an infamous camp, was
used to imprison Communists and other enemies
of the Nazis
•1940-Hanz Frank, Nazi governor of occupied
Poland, announces that “the Jews must vanish
from the face of the earth.”
Actual photograph from inside a
concentration camp
Elie Wiesel, author
of Night
•1944-American reporters visit Lublin, Poland
and stories with pictures of a warehouse
bursting with 800,000 shoes that once
belonged to Nazi victims were widely
published
Aerial View of a Camp
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1944-The American military inspect Natzwiller (a
camp) and report their findings
Some doubt their report and believe that it was
exaggerated
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April, 1945-Units of the American Army discover
the first of the camps still containing prisoners and
corpses
Near the end, the SS (members of the Nazi Party)
had marched the prisoners to other camps. This
was known as a “Death March” Those who did not
march were killed.
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April, 1945-Generals George Patton and Dwight
Eisenhower tour a camp
Eisenhower insists on seeing the whole camp,
including:
•the graves of 3,200 victims
•a shed piled to the ceiling with bodies
•various torture devices
•a butcher’s block used for smashing the gold
fillings from the mouths of prisoners
•Patton, a decorated war veteran, vomited behind the
barracks
•Eisenhower would later become president.
Crucial Events of the War
•By 1940, German forces had defeated Poland,
Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France
• Hitler over-stretched his resources by invading
Russia
• 1942-The British and American forces pushed the
Germans and Italians back while Russia began to
have successful counter attacks against Germany
• 1944-The Allies invaded and recovered France and
surged into Germany
May, 1945-Germany Surrenders!
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A few months later, Japan surrendered after
the American use of atomic bombs on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The bombings of Hiroshima killed over
78,000 people
WWII Casualties
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USSR-20,000,000
CHINA-10,000,000
GERMANY-6,850,000 TOTAL
JAPAN-2,000,000
FATALITIES YUGOSLAVIA-1,706,000
FRANCE-810,000 Over 52,000,000!
USA-500,000
ENGLAND-388,000
ITALY-410,000
Some technological advances during
WWII:
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The Jet Engine
The Jeep
Tanks
Planes
Some War Propaganda