Download Formation of the Axis Powers

Formation of the Axis Powers
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
The Policy of Appeasement
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
• When Japan invaded Manchuria, they were
worried that Russian troops would attack from
Eastern Russia
• Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with
Germany in 1936-they agreed to co-operate
against any threat from Comintern (the world
communist movement led by Russia)
• In 1937, Italy joined the pact creating the RomeBerlin-Tokyo Axis they would become known as
the Axis powers throughout the war
Appeasement
• Neville Chamberlain,
Prime Minister of Great
Britain favoured a policy
of appeasement,
satisfying Hitler’s
demands to maintain
peace
• He believed Hitler was
an reasonable man who
would stick to the
agreements he made
Appeasement
• Britain and France believed the treatment of
Germany after WWI had been too harsh and
Hitler was trying to ease some of the discontent
caused by the Versailles Treaty
• Chamberlain met with Hitler in 1938 in Munich,
Germany
• Chamberlain agreed to the German occupation of
the Sudetenland (German speaking part of
Czechoslovakia) if Hitler agreed to leave the rest
of the country free
Appeasement
Appeasement
• Chamberlain was later strongly criticized as
being weak because of his appeasement
policy
• But those who were desperate to avoid war
supported his policy
• Optimism over the agreement known as the
Munich Pact was short lived
• Hitler soon signed a non-aggression pact with
the Soviet Union delaying war in the east
Appeasement
• By March of 1939
Germany had invaded
the rest of
Czechoslovakia
• On September 1939,
Hitler sent troops into
Poland in a Blitzkrieg
attack
• On September 3, Britain
and France declare war
on Germany