Download Between the Wars

Ch. 17- Between the Wars
The U.S. policy of avoiding European entanglements was known as isolationism.
After W.W. I, Europe was troubled by the continued problems with : Communism in Russia,
unrest in Germany. Many Americans wondered if the sacrifices that were made by us in W.W. I had been worth while.
Due to isolationism in the U.S., after W.W. I – America discontinued the draft, and dropped the size of the military.
-named for the five great sea powers in the early 1920s.
provided a ten year ban on the building of large warships.
Under this treaty, Japan could only have 3/5 as many large warships as the U.S.
Britain , France , and Italy could only have 1/3 as many.
In a Four
Power Treaty – Japan, Great Britain, France, and the U.S.
: agreed not to attack each others possessions in the Pacific.
In 1927- France and the U.S. signed a treaty agreeing that they would never go to war with each other.
By the end of W.W. I, America was an economic power.
Before W.W. I the United States was a debtor
nation - one that owes money to other nations.
By the end of W.W. I the United states had become a creditor
The U.S. became known as the
nation - one to which money is owed.
: by 1919 , European nations had borrowed
$10 billion from the U.S.
Great Britain and France owed the most to the U.S.
– These nations hoped to repay the U.S. by getting war reparations from Germany, but Germany was bankrupt.
- this was set up to ease the debt burden on Germany and allow them to stretch out
their debts from the war over a longer period of time.
After W.W. I the U.S. changed its relationship with Latin America.
We no longer had to worry about a European threat that would try to take over any of the Latin
American countries.
– The U.S. avoided direct intervention in Latin American affairs.
The policy aimed to improve economic relations between the U.S. and Latin America.
Roosevelt hoped that increasing trade would raise standards of living in Latin America.
The U.S. lent billions of dollars to Latin American governments to
build roads, bridges, hospitals, schools, and water/sewer systems.
Despite the move away from direct intervention, the U.S. retained huge influences in Latin America.
The U.S. Army still patrolled the Panama Canal Zone and American banks still controlled the Latin American plantations
and politicians, but the Good neighbor policy did win friends in Latin America.
When World War I was over –
A new source of unrest was the fear of
was a country in crisis.
They had fought on the winning side but had gained little of Austrian territory that it hoped for.
Their economy was falling and political tension divided its people.
Unemployment and inflation produced strikes across the country.
Communist ideas also spread among the countries poor. Workers took over factories.
The upper class Italians demanded stronger leadership.
took advantage of this.
He was a powerful speaker who played to the peoples fears and hatreds. He knew how to appeal to Italy’s wounded
national pride.
Mussolini blamed Italy’s collapse on :
Communists, corrupt business and labor leaders, and weak politicians.
Mussolini promised to restore Italy to :
The- Honor, Glory, and Prosperity of the Ancient Roman Empire.
In 1919, Mussolini founded the
He said power should rest in a single leader.
He promised to rebuild Italy into a great empire.
Mussolini organized a private army of angry young men.
– They broke up political rallies and beat up political opponents.
Mussolini and thousands of “Black Shirts” marched on Rome to take the government.
Once in power, Mussolini outlawed all political parties but his own.
Everyone in a leadership position in the country had to be a member of his Fascist Party.
His secret police crushed political dissent.
Fascist slogans told the people to
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The burden of paying war reparations and rebuilding after W.W. I caused hard times in Germany.
Many people saw the government as weak and shifted towards extremist groups that promised strong
leadership.
Germany The German Workers’ Party or
emerged - led by
Adolf Hitler.
Hitler had fought in W.W. I and blamed the German defeat on traitors, cowards, Jews, and
Communists. He was furious over the terms of the surrender.
He was a magnetic speaker who, like Mussolini, gave his followers the belief that he would restore Germany to its glory.
Hitler organized Nazi gangs which beat up Jews and other “enemies”
Hitler wrote a book,
(My Struggle), which played on anti-Communism and anti-Semitism.
He blamed Communists and Jews for all of Germany’s problems.
-This book became a best seller in Germany.
During a faked emergency, a group of bankers, business leaders and generals persuaded Germany’s president to name
Hitler chancellor (Prime Minister).
During the faked emergency, Hitler soon got unlimited power.
-He eliminated political opponents and put his people in office.
Once in power, Hitler promised to create a new German Empire.
He began a
. This helped the nations pride and pumped the economy.
-Unemployment
Plummeted
The Nazi party offered new opportunities to many.
Most of the Germans became devoted to Hitler.
Members of the government that had signed the Treaty of Versailles were hunted down and murdered.
Gangs of Nazis burned all Jewish books and democratic books.
The schools came under Nazi control and children learned things that would make them good Nazis.
Anti-Semitism became the official government policy of Germany.
New laws deprived Jews their rights and their jobs.
They also became targets for brutal attacks.
On Nov. 10, 1938 Many Jews were killed or wounded when Nazi thugs went on the rampage destroying Jewish homes
and stores. This is known as The night of broken glass.
Militarism was on the rise in Japan.
During the 1920s Japan had made close ties to the West.
Japan had taken many of the democratic ideas.
Many Japanese opposed these trends.
Extreme nationalists in Japan glorified the nations past.
They called for a return of absolute
rule by an :
Military leaders claimed that it was Japan’s destiny to drive out the western colonial powers and rule all of Asia.
This was supported by many business leaders in Japan.
Japan had a booming population but due to the size of their nation.
But they lacked many natural resources like oil, coal, and iron for its industries.
Once Japan started to struggle, the extremists gained power and support.
Military officers bullied and murdered the democratic leaders.
Germany was being led by :
Hitler
Italy was being led by :
Mussolini
In Japan a small group of leaders made policy. They allowed no opposition to their views.
They were business and military leaders.
These men censured the media and demanded total obedience to the state.
In 1931, Japan
invaded the mineral rich Chinese province of Manchuria.
With America in the Great Depression, we did little to stop this.
Japan was a member of the League of Nations, the League of Nations condemned Japans conquest of Manchuria – so
Japan dropped out of the league.
Japan had gambled that no nation that was a part of the league would come to
China’s aid, their gamble paid off
-No one did
This country was being ruled by a Communist dictator.
the new Soviet Leader focused less on world revolution and more on
modernizing his nations backwards economy.
The U.S. saw the Soviet Union as a place to make profit.
America started selling goods and helping the Soviet Union build factories.
Even though the Soviet Union was Communist -We thought it would be wise to have them as an ally to counter
Japans ambitions to control Asia.
The U.S. and the Soviet Union, though having completely different governments, united due to economic need and also
by a common fear of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
From Neutrality to War –
Territorial expansion was the chief interest of Europe’s dictators in the 1930s.
In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia.
They signed a
- promising not to attack each other.
Germany went on its own land-grabbing expedition.
1 - In 1936 he seized the Rhineland, “the land between Germany and France.”
2 - He then annexed Austria, and the 3 - German-speaking part of Czechoslavakia.
Britain and France feared another costly war, so they did nothing to halt the German aggressions.
Both Britain and France hoped they would satisfy Hitler by giving him part of what he wanted.
This policy is called :
By 1939 Hitler had taken the rest of Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland.
Having promised to defend Poland, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany.
World War II had begun.
Hitler’s tanks smashed Poland’s resistance quickly and then proceeded to roll across Western Europe.
Germany had developed a new method of attack. –
or
Germany used highly mobile ground forces, supported by dive-bombers to punch holes in the enemies defenses.
By June, 1940, Hitler had conquered Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France.
Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis.
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American isolationism started to weaken in the face of Hitler’s conquests.
In the U.S.
we approved the draft.
Pres. Roosevelt transferred all of our surplus military supplies to Britain.
After taking control of Western Europe
“We gave them 50 Destroyers” – ships
Hitler turned his attention to the East.
In June, 1941, Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union.
He hoped for a quick victory over the Russians, but the Russians were tough.
____________This made Germany fight a TWO front war._________________
With Europe in German hands, Japan was free to attack the European controlled colonies in the Pacific and in Asia.
America was the only threat that stood in the way of Japan.
The U.S. responded to Japan’s invasion of Manchuria by cutting off all oil exports to Japan.
Japan saw that war with the United States was inevitable, so the Japanese war minister,
Hideki Tojo, prepared to attack the U.S.
Japanese plains surprisingly struck the American Naval Fleet at
– Hawaii. America’s largest naval base.
353 Japanese bombers, fighters, and torpedo planes attacked the base, crippling our Navy.
The American ships were anchored like sitting ducks.
It was a Sunday morning,
A quiet day and no one expected the attack.
The following day, The U.S. declared war on Japan.
2300 American servicemen were killed
150 Aircraft were caught on the ground
18 Ships were destroyed
Three days later, Japans allies, Italy and Germany declared war on the U.S.
The U.S. was once again at War.