Download Causes of World War II - Sonoma Valley High School

The March to War
Qualities of Fascism
• Extreme loyalty to
one’s country
• Total obedience to
the country’s leader
• Harsh punishments
for those who speak
out against the govt.
• “Glory” of the
Country (state over
the individual)
Fascism in Italy
• Benito Mussolini
• Italy’s economy was
weak=unemployment
• People wanted a
stronger leader that
would take action
• Used intimidation
tactics (fasci di
cambattimento or
Blackshirts) w/
unemployed
veterans
Fascism in Germany
• Adolf Hitler & The
Nazi Party
• German economy
was weak
• Skyrocketing
unemployment
• Nazi party came as a
reaction to
Germany’s treatment
after WWI (Treaty of
Versailles)
Fascism in Germany
• Promised to revive
Germany’s economy
• Promised to return
lands Germany lost
in WWI
• Used rallies to
inspire awe and
allegiance
• Paramilitary storm
troopers or
“Brownshirts”
intimidate other
parties
Impacts on
Germany & Italy
• Totalitarian dictator
for a leader (Hitler)
‘der Führer’
• Used ‘secret police’ to
scare / enforce laws
( Brownshirts)
• Revived economy
through remilitarization
• Totalitarian dictator
for a leader
(Mussolini) ‘il Duce’
• Used ‘secret police’ to
scare / enforce laws
(Blackshirts)
• Revived economy
through remilitarization
Nazi Germany’s Aggression
• Wanted to “free”
German inhabited
areas and make them
part of Germany
again.
• Hitler wanted more
land for Germany
(Lebensraum) in
Poland, Ukraine and
Soviet Union.
1st Move = Germany takes the
“Rhineland”
• Rhineland was a DeMilitarized Zone between
Germany & France
• Supposed to be a
“buffer” between France
& Germany
• France’s reaction =
Appeasement-giving in
to an aggressive nation
to keep peace
2nd Move = Unite Germany &
Austria
• Hitler sends his armies
into Austria and annexes
as part of Germany
• 2nd & 1st Move =
Violation of the
Versailles Peace Treaty
• Great Britain, France,
USA busy w/ Depression
3rd Move = Hitler Seizes the
Sudetenland
• 3 million Germans in the
Sudetenland (Northern
Czechoslovakia)
• Munich Conference =
England / France give in
to Hitler/Mussolini
(Appeasement)!
• “Third Reich” = Hitler’s
German Empire
• League of Nations?
Final Move = Hitler Invades Poland
European Theater of WWII Begins 1939
Italy’s Aggression
• Invades Ethiopia in
1935 and Albania in
1939.
• Teams up with
Germany in 1937 to
bomb civilians in
Spanish Civil War
(Fascist Franco)
• League of Nations?
Japan’s Aggression
• Japan wanted Asian
Empire (Asia for
Asiatics)
• “Militarists” take control
of Japan (military govt.)
• Japan’s needs:
– Natural resources (Oil)
– New markets
(industrialized economy)
– More land (rising
population while US bans
Asian immigration)
Asian Theater of WWII
• Japan invades
Manchuria (1931) =
Natural Resources for
Military
• Invades China (1937)
‘Rape of Nanking’ (4
Months = 370,000+
Chinese Massacred
and 20K+ raped)
• League of Nations??