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INTERWAR PERIOD [1919-1941] (WHII-11)
WORLD DEPRESSION (11b)
A period of uneven prosperity in the decade following World War I (1920s) was followed by worldwide
depression in the 1930s. Depression weakened Western democracies, making it difficult for them to
challenge the threat of totalitarianism.
Causes of worldwide depression
Impact of world depression
reparations
Expansion of production capacities and
unemployment in industrial countries
Bank failures and collapse of credit
Collapse of prices in world trade
Nazi Party’s growing importance in Germany;
Nazi Party’s blame of European Jews for
 German
 High


dominance of the United States in the global
economy
tariffs

 High protective
 Excessive expansion of credit
 Stock Market Crash in

1929 (date)
economic collapse
AN OVERVIEW OF THE FIRST FIVE DECADES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY:
The twentieth century (the century in which you were born) began in the midst of the Industrial Revolution with many
changes taking place due to numerous technological and scientific advances. Early in this century (1914-1918) was a
war known then as the Great War—and later known as World War I after a second world war followed. Competition
among industrialized nations and a lack of diplomacy started this war, but the unresolved issues at the end of this first
world war were partly to blame for the second world war. After a decade of uneven prosperity (1920s), followed by a
world-wide depression (1930s), the Western democracies were weakened and challenged to act on the totalitarianism
that was taking place in Europe and Asia. The first part of the 1940s focused on a second world war fought mainly in
Europe and the Pacific (World War II).
DICTATORS AFTER WORLD WAR I (11c)
 Economic dislocations following World War I led to unstable political conditions. Worldwide depression
in the 1930s provided opportunities for the rise of dictators in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and
Japan.
 A communist dictatorship was established by Vladimir Lenin and continued by Joseph Stalin
in the Soviet Union. The Treaty of Versailles worsened economic and political conditions in Europe and
led to the rise of totalitarian regimes in Italy and Germany. Japan emerged as a world power after
World War I and conducted aggressive imperialistic policies in Asia.
Identify the following leaders by filling in their name or their country below:
Hitler
Tojo
Mussolini
Stalin
Germany
Japan
Italy
U.S.S.R.
SOL INFORMATION
Germany during the Interwar
Period— ADOLF HITLER
depression
 Inflation and
 Democratic government weakened
Semitism
Extreme nationalism
National Socialism (Nazism)
 Anti

 German occupation of nearby
countries
EXPANDED INFORMATION
 In Germany, economic chaos was the result of the Treaty of Versailles.
With the American stock market crash, the world—and especially
Germany—sank into hopeless economic depression.
 The democratic government of Germany (the Weimar Republic) was
unable to cope with the hardships suffered by their citizens. Adolf
Hitler rose to power on promises to ignore the Versailles Treaty and
return Germany to its former glory. The National Socialist Worker’s
Party (Nazi Party) grew increasingly popular among Germans.
 Hitler became Chancellor (president) of Germany in 1933 and seized
all power in the country. Hitler began to convince Germans that Jews
were to blame for the nation’s problems (anti-Semitism).
 Hitler soon began to take territory surrounding Germany. Austria and
Czechoslovakia were soon taken over by Nazi Germany.
(Note: The League of Nations took no action as all this happened.)
Japan during the Interwar
Period—
HIROHITO AND HIDEKI TOJO
Militarism

 Industrialization of Japan, leading
to a drive for raw
 Invasion of Korea,
materials
Manchuria, and the rest of
 Tojo was the military leader of Japan while Emperor Hirohito was the
symbolic leader of the nation.
 Japan had become extremely militaristic. Extreme nationalism fueled
imperialistic tendencies.
 Japan’s industrial expansion increased demand for raw materials.
Japan invaded Manchuria (a northern providence of China which was
rich in natural resources) and other parts of China, Korea, and French
Indo-China to secure needed resources.
China
SOL INFORMATION
Italy during the Interwar
Period—BENITO MUSSOLINI
fascism
 Rise of
 Ambition to restore the glory of
Rome
 Invasion of
Ethiopia
U.S.S.R. during the Interwar
Period—JOSEPH STALIN
communism
 Entrenchment of
 Stalin’s policies (five-year plans,
collectivization of farms, state
industrialization, secret police)

Great Purge
EXPANDED INFORMATION
 Mussolini founded the Fascist movement—a militaristic form of
dictatorship in Italy. (Fascism is a totalitarian government headed by a dictator
with beliefs of extreme nationalism and the state placed above the individual.)
 Mussolini promised his people a return to the glory of the Roman
Empire.
 In an attempt to focus attention away from economic problems at home,
Mussolini ordered the invasion of Ethiopia.
 Stalin took over from Lenin and increased the strength of the
Communist government of the U.S.S.R.
 Stalin created new policies to improve industrial production (Five Year
Plans) and consolidated farms, bringing them under government control
(collectivization).
 The government made wide use of secret police to put down political
opponents
 Stalin began to arrest and execute his rivals (Great Purge).
WORLD WAR II (WHII-12)
Many economic and political causes led toward World War II. Major theaters of war included Africa,
Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Leadership was essential to the Allied victory.
WHAT WERE THE MAJOR CAUSES OF WWII? (12a)
SOL Essential Information
Expanded Information
 Aggression by
totalitarian powers
(Germany, Italy and Japan)
Hitler and Mussolini both appealed to the feelings of nationalism
to gain support from the people in their country.
 Nationalism
 Failures of the
All three countries acted in aggressive ways in the 1930s and the
League of Nations was unable or unwilling to stop them. For
example, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in violation of the
Treaty of Versailles, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, and the
Japanese invaded Manchuria.
Treaty of
Versailles
 Weaknesses of the
League of
Nations
The League of Nations could only use economic sanctions to
enforce its decisions. The League of Nations was also weakened
when the United States did not join it.
Appeasement is a policy of satisfying demands of an unsatisfied
party in hopes of keeping peace. The Western democracies did
not want another war in the 1930s and were willing to appease
Adolf Hitler to try and avoid war. The most famous example of
appeasement is the decision to allow Hitler to take the
Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia inhabited largely by
Germans. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain proudly
claimed that the agreement would mean, “peace in our time.”
Instead Hitler went on to take over other parts of Czechoslovakia
showing that appeasement did not work.
 Appeasement
 Tendencies towards
The Treaty of Versailles was considered a very harsh peace by
the Germans and the amount of reparations required was beyond
the German’s ability to pay. The new government of Germany,
the Weimer Republic, was unpopular. This created a situation in
which Adolf Hitler was able to gain popular support.
isolationism
and pacifism in Europe and the
United States
France, Great Britain, and the United States were eager to avoid
another war in the 1930s and this reluctance to act emboldened
totalitarian dictators like Hitler and Mussolini.
Quick Review:
fascist dictators where they glorified the state over the
individual, stressed the need for a strong central government, and suppressed any opposition.
 Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini were both
 What do you think?
Was Hitler a communist?
No—very much against communism
 Who were the totalitarian leaders of World War II?
Hirohito
WHAT WERE SOME MAJOR EVENTS OF WWII? (12a)
Hitler, Mussolini , and Tojo and
SOL Essential Information
 German invasion of
 Fall of
Poland
France
 Battle of
August 1940 to June 1941—With the goal of invading Great Britain,
Hitler bombed the country focusing first on the southern coast and
then on cities such as London. This German offensive proved to be a
failure. The British Prime Minister during the Battle of Britain was
Winston Churchill.
 German invasion of
the Soviet
Union
Pearl
Harbor

September 1, 1939—this event marks the beginning of WWII
France surrendered on June 22, 1940—this victory left Germany in
control of western and central Europe. German occupied France was
known as Vichy France.
Britain
 Japanese attack on
Expanded Information/ Underlined names are SOL People to Know
D-Day (Allied invasion of
Europe)
 Atomic bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union during World War
II. Hitler and Stalin had signed a Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in
August of 1939. Hitler surprised Stalin in June of 1941 when he
violated this pact and invaded the U.S.S.R. Hitler wanted access to the
raw materials of the Soviet Union, and he wanted to crush communism
in Europe. Ultimately this offensive would be a disastrous defeat for
Hitler.
The United States tried to stop Japanese aggression in the Pacific after
Japan seized French Indochina in 1940. The United States angered the
Japanese and hurt their plans to seize more lands in Asia and the
Pacific by banning the sale of war materials, such as iron, steel or oil.
Militarists grew in power in Japan during this crisis and ordered a
surprise attack on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The
attack took place on December 7, 1941, a “date which will live in
infamy” as U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it. The United
States declared war on Japan and a few days later Japan’s allies—
Germany and Italy—declared war on the U.S. The United States was
then officially at war. The Japanese emperor was Hirohito and the
Prime Minister was the militarist General Hideki Tojo.
June 6, 1944, at Normandy, France. This invasion opened up a second
front in Europe. The Allies were able to liberate France by the end of
August 1944, and then began to focus on defeating Germany. By April
of 1945 the British and American soldiers met the Soviet soldiers at the
Elbe River in Berlin. Germany was defeated. The war in Europe
officially came to an end on May 8, 1945, a day known as VE Day.
General Dwight D. Eisenhower was in charge of the D-Day operation.
Japan continued to fight on with fierce determination. The Allies
issued an ultimatum demanding the Japanese surrender or face
complete and utter destruction. The United States had successfully
developed and tested the world’s first atomic bomb. On August 6,
1945, an American plane, the Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb on
Hiroshima, Japan. On August 9th another atomic bomb was dropped
on Nagasaki. These bombs caused unbelievable devastation and death.
The Japanese surrendered on September 2, 1945, a day known as VJ
Day. World War II was over. The President of the United States who
authorized the use of the atomic bombs was Harry Truman.
MATCH THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTIONS OF LEADERS OF WWII TO THE CORRECT NAMES. (12a)
A. Adolf Hitler
__K____ 1. British Prime Minister
__E ___
B. Benito Mussolini
2. U.S. President during most of WWII
__D____ 3. U.S. general, Allied commander in Europe and leader of the
D-Day invasion
C. Douglas MacArthur
__J____
4. Soviet dictator
E. Franklin D. Roosevelt
__I____
5. Emperor of Japan
__A ___
6. Nazi dictator of Germany
D. Dwight D. Eisenhower
F. George Marshall
G. Harry Truman
__F____ 7. U.S. general, chief of staff of the U.S. Army during WWII,
and architect of the European Recovery Program after WWII
H. Hideki Tojo
I. Hirohito
__H____ 8. Japanese general and extreme militarist
J. Joseph Stalin
__C____
K. Winston Churchill
9. U.S. general in the Pacific Theater of WWII
__G____ 10. U.S. President after the death of Roosevelt. President when
World War II ended
Be prepared to tell something about
the person not used in the
matching.
THE HOLOCAUST (12b)
There had been a climate of hatred against Jews in Europe and Russia for centuries. Various instances of
genocide have occurred throughout the twentieth century.
TERM TO KNOW
Genocide: The systematic and purposeful destruction of a racial, political, religious, or cultural group.
WHAT WERE THE ELEMENTS LEADING TO THE HOLOCAUST?
 Totalitarianism combined with
 History of
nationalism
anti-Semitism (which means dislike or hatred of Jews)
 Defeat in World War I and economic depression blamed on

Hitler’s belief in the master race

Final solution—Extermination camps, gas chambers
German Jews
EXAMPLES OF OTHER GENOCIDES:
Perpetrator(s):
Ottoman Empire
Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union
Pol Pot in Cambodia
Hutu in Rwanda
Victims:
Armenians
Peasants, government and military leaders, and members of
the elite
The educated, artists, technicians, former government
officials, monks, and minorities
Tutsi minority
OUTCOMES OF WWII
(12c)
The outcomes of World War II included the war crimes trials, the division of Europe, plans to rebuild
Germany and Japan, and the establishment of international cooperative organizations.
OUTCOMES OF WWII
(SOL Essential Information)
 European powers’ loss of
Expanded Information
Countries such as India gained their independence in
the aftermath of WWII. (This will be studied in more
empires
detail in WHII-14)
 Establishment of the two major powers in the
world: The

Often known as superpowers—a superpower is a
nation that is strong enough militarily and politically
to influence others.
United States and the
U.S.S.R.
War crimes trials
The Allies had agreed to hold trials for crimes against
humanity that had been committed during WWII.
The Nuremburg Trials were held in Germany in 1945.
Trials were also held in Japan and Italy.
 Division of Europe—
Iron Curtain
 Establishment of the
United Nations
 The Universal Declaration
In a speech given in 1946, Winston Churchill described
the Soviet Union as an “iron curtain” dividing the
continent. This “iron curtain” became a powerful
symbol of the Cold War.
At the Yalta Conference during WWII, the Allies
agreed to form a United Nations.
of Human
Established and adopted by members of the United
Nations, this declaration provided a code of conduct
for the treatment of people under the protection of
their government.
Rights

Marshall Plan
The European Recovery Program is commonly
referred to as the Marshall Plan. This massive aid
package helped countries in Europe rebuild after
WWII.
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) and the Warsaw Pact
 Formation of
The United States and nine other western European
countries formed a military alliance known as NATO
in 1949. In 1955 the Soviet Union responded by
forming the Warsaw Pact.
HOW DID THE ALLIES PROMOTE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE DEFEATED POWERS?
Germany:
Japan:
 Democratic government was installed in West
Germany and West Berlin
 Germany and
Berlin were
divided among the
four Allied
powers
Did you know that… the
countries dividing
Germany and Berlin were
the United States,
England, France, and the
Soviet Union?
 U.S. occupation of Japan under
MacArthur’s
administration

Democracy and economic development
 The elimination of Japanese offensive
capabilities; United States’ guarantee of Japan’s
security
 Emergence of
West Germany as economic power in
postwar Europe
military
 Emergence of Japan as a dominant
economy in
Asia
What were the international cooperative organizations created after World War II?

The United Nations

The North

The Warsaw Pact
Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
 Name the document that was established and adopted by members of the United Nations. It provided a
code of conduct for the treatment of people under the protection of their government.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights