Download Buildup of WWII

The Road to WWII &
1.) Japanese, Italian, and German Drive for Empire
Emperor Hirohito:
• Ruled Japan (1923-1989)
• Came to power as next in line
to the throne of the oldest
remaining dynasty in the world
• His people thought he was
descended from God.
• Wanted to establish a New
Order in Asia led by the
Japanese Empire
• Began WWII in Asia when he
invaded China in 1931
The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere:
• Created by Japan between 1931-1945
• An attempt to create a Great East Asia
(Japan, China, and Southeast Asia)
• According to imperial propaganda: “establish
a new international order seeking ‘co
prosperity’ for Asian countries which would
share prosperity and peace, free from
Western colonialism and domination”
• However, this was a concept used to justify
the Japanese aggression in East Asia
• Today it is remembered as a front for the
Japanese control of occupied countries
during WWII.
• Japan manipulated local populations and
economies for the benefit of Imperial Japan
Poster of
Manchukuo
promoting harmony
between Japanese,
Chinese, and
Manchu. The
caption says: "With
the help of Japan,
China, and
Manchukuo, the
world can be in
peace."
Japan invades China:
• Wanted an empire equal to the Western Powers
• Seized Manchuria in 1931
• withdrew from the League of Nations
• Militarists and ultranationalists gained power
Rape of Nanking (Nanjing)
• In 1937 Japan murdered 300,000 civilians
and soldiers
Present day map of China showing location of Shanghai and Nanking (now
called Nanjing).
80,000 women and children were brutally raped and killed for
six weeks
• It became an animalistic hunt
•
Map of the Japanese Empire
at its peak in 1942.
•By 1937, Japan takes over
much of eastern China
One of the last humans left alive after
intense bombing during the Japanese
attack on Shanghai's South Station.
August 1937
2.) Italy invades Ethiopia:
• Mussolini
invades in 1935
•Uses tanks, machines guns, poison
gas, and airplanes
•Halie Selassie (Ethiopian king) pleads
for help from the League of Nations…
•…League of Nations had no power
to help
•By 1936, Ethiopia was conquered
by the Italians
•In 1939: Italy Invades and
annexes Albania:
Mussolini
Halie Selassie
3.) German
Aggression
• 1st move: 1935, Hitler
defies the Treaty of
Versailles and rearms his
military
• Banners throughout
Germany announced:
• The League of Nations
didn’t stop Hitler
•This convinced Hitler to
take even bolder actions!
•By March 1936, Germany
was ready to make its first
military move…
“today Germany!
Tomorrow the world!
• 1936: 2nd move
Rhineland (buffer zone between
Germany and France.)
• Europe was shocked, but did not challenge him for fear
of risking war
• Western democracies (Britain, France, and the U.S.)
adopted a policy of appeasement: giving into the
demands of an aggressor to keep the peace.
• 1938: 3rd move
Hitler starts to
pursue his
dream/goal to
bring all Germans
into one nation!
• Anschluss
Germany annexes Austria
This meant
uniting Germans
in Austria and
Czechoslovakia
under the Third
Reich!
(the union) of Germany and Austria violated the
WWI Treaty of Versilles
•Brief war scare
•Hitler sent in his army
•Hitler gets his way without a fight
• Later in 1938: 4th move
Germany takes
Sudetenland (border region of Czechoslovakia)
•3 million Germans lived there and Hitler demanded Czechoslovakia to
give it up.
•They of course refused and expected Russia, France, and Britain to back
them up…
•…However, at the 1938 Munich Conference, the British and French
believed Hitler’s claim to leave the rest of Czech. alone and choose
appeasement once again!
•Six months later, Hitler takes the rest of Czech.
•Finally, Great Britain and France realize Hitler can’t be trusted…big
surprise!
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis:
• 1940,
Rome-Berlin Axis-was extended to include Japan
•Stated purpose: to stop communism
•Truth: Italy, Germany, and Japan wanted an excuse to take
more foreign territory
In 1940, during World War II, the
military alliance of Italy and
Germany—the so-called Rome-Berlin
Axis—was extended to include Japan
and became the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo
Axis. The three countries and their
allies, known collectively as the Axis
Powers, fought against the Allied
Powers in the war. Here, Japanese
and Italian emissaries accompany
German dictator Adolf Hitler.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact:
•Aug. 1939: Nazi Germany and Communist
Soviet Union announce a 10 year
nonaggression pact …shocking!
Why was this so
shocking?
What could
these two guys
possibly get
from this pact…
•
Germany did not have to fight a two-front war
…Hitler may have been the devil himself, but
he was no dummy!
• Soviet Union would avoid war (for the time
being), bought time to build up his military, and
make territorial gains.
• Bound the countries to peaceful relations
• Secret pacts were made:
1. Not to fight if the other went to war
2. Divide Poland and Eastern Europe
3. Promised supplies from U.S.S.R. to Germany
Do you really think Hitler intended to keep his
promise…what is his track record anyway?
How smart are the leaders of these other
countries?
Above -- Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signs the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact
while German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop and Soviet leader Stalin look on under
a portrait of Lenin, August 23, 1939. News of the Pact stunned the world and paved the
way for the beginning of World War II with Hitler assured the Germans would not have
to fight a war on two fronts.
Spanish Civil War:
• 1920’s: monarchy
• 1931, after the king was forced to leave, a
republic was set up
• Controversial reforms passed
• Spanish public opinion was divided
• Leftists demanded more reforms
• Conservatives, rejected change
• Differences = tension = chaos
• 1936: A conservative general, Francisco
Franco, led a revolt with the support of
Fascists known as: Nationalists (rightwinged)
• Loyalists (support the republic):
communists, socialists,
and supporters of democracy
• Hitler and Mussolini helped
Franco
• Britain, France, and the U.S.
are… Neutral
• both sides committed horrible atrocities
•1 million died
•Germans used the opportunity to “experiment” with their new
planes
•Horrible air raids and bombings of Spanish towns
•1939: Francisco Franco won and created a Fascist
dictatorship …Hitler and Mussolini are proud!
Attacks on Guernica led Picasso to
paint this picture