Download Road to world war ii

Road to
World War II
1920-1941
Peace attempts
► Treaty
of Versailles
 League of Nations
► Washington
Disarmament Conference (1921-
1922)
 Five Power Treaty
► Locarno
Pact (1926)
 Western Europe guaranteed existing borders
 Many Europeans believed "spirit of Locarno"
meant no future war in Europe
► Kellogg-Briand Pact
► Dawes
(1928)
Plan (1924)
 War debts and reparations
►Allies
owed US $16 billion
►Allies couldn't pay; depended on Germany's
reparation payments to pay back US
►U.S. tariff policies hurt European recovery
► Hoover declared
debt moratorium in 1931
► Great
Depression a major cause of
totalitarianism in Japan and Germany
 Stock Market Crash triggered world depression
 Germany: 50% unemployment & enormous inflation
 Japan exports fell by 50%
►Began
to attack the disarmament policy
►Military took control; assassinated prime minister in1930
American Foreign policy in early 1930s
► Good
Neighbor Policy
 Pre-FDR policies began an improvement of relations
with Latin America
 Clark Memorandum (1928)
►U.S.
will not intervene in Latin America for its own
national purposes (rebukes TR’s "Big Stick" policy)
 Policy of non-intervention and cooperation
► London
Economic Conference
 Summer of 1933
 Purpose: Confront the global depression
►Goals:
stabilize national currencies and revive
international trade
 FDR undermined the conference as he didn't want
return to gold standard
►Significance: showed
intervene in Europe
Hitler and Mussolini U.S. would not
► FDR
Recognizes U.S.S.R. (late 1933)
 Had already received recognition from other powers
 Hoped trade with U.S.S.R. would help U.S. economy
 Soviets promised no propaganda in U.S.
LENIN
STALIN
Failure of collective security
► Rise
of totalitarian regimes (sought to control
every aspect of people's lives)
 Fascism: glorified the state and sought to expand
("survival of the fittest")
►Italy
-- Mussolini (1922)
►Japanese military dictatorship (early 1930s)
►Germany -- Adolf Hitler (1933)
 Communism: ruthless dictatorship under Stalin in
USSR (1924-1953)
Mussolini
HITLER AS A SOLDIER IN WWI
HITLER ADDRESSING AN EARLY NAZI PARTY GATHERING
Cover page of German editions of Mein Kampf, written in
1924 while Hitler was imprisoned for staging a revolt
► 1931
- Japan invades Manchuria
 League of Nations condemns action; no enforcement
►Japan
violated Nine Power Treaty, Kellogg-Briand Pact
►Hoover-Stimson Doctrine: President Hoover refused
economic or political sanctions but did not recognize
Japanese conquest
►Japan withdraws from League of Nations
► Reasons
for Japanese aggression
 Badly needed raw materials (coal, oil, & iron)
 Space for large population
 Angry at US & others for limiting immigration
►National Origins
Act (1924) banned Asians from
immigrating to U.S. (Asian Exclusion Act)
 Anger at U.S. for Japan’s unequal status in 1921
naval treaties
►Anger
at U.S. for refusing to recognize "Manchukuo”
(Manchuria)
 1934, ended Washington Naval Treaty (1922);
started massive naval buildup
 1936, signed Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany
(anti-communism, USSR)
 1940, signed Tripartite Pact: Rome-Berlin-Tokyo
Axis
► 1935
- Italy invades Ethiopia
 Mussolini sought to reestablish glory of Roman
Empire
 League of Nations hit Italy with economic sanctions
except oil
 July, League lifts sanctions: seen as end of League of
Nations
American Isolationism
► Preoccupation with
► Nye
Great Depression
Committee
 Investigated charges US enter WWI for munitions
industry
 Resulted in the Neutrality
Acts between 1935 & 1937
► Neutrality Acts
of 1935, 1936, and 1937
 In existence of a foreign war, certain restrictions
would automatically go into effect:
►Prohibited sale
of arms to belligerent nations
►Prohibited loans and credits to belligerent nations
►Forbade Americans to travel on vessels of nations at war
►Non-military goods must be purchased on a cash and carry
basis
 Banned involvement in the Spanish Civil War
 America declined to build up its forces
►Navy
wars
declined in strength- believed huge navies caused
REASON FOR ISOLATIONISM
FROM EUROPEAN AFFAIRS
Spanish Civil War (1936)
► Nationalists, led
by Francisco Franco
 Sought to restore power of church & destroy
socialism & communism in Spain- want fascist state
► Italy
sent troops to help Franco
► Hitler sent air force to bomb cities held by
Loyalists
 Both Mussolini & Hitler use Spain as testing ground
for future aggression
► Rome-Berlin Axis
help Nationalists win (1939);
Franco imposes fascism in Spain
 Italy signs Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany in
1937
 Weakness of democratic
countries encourage
Hitler & Mussolini
► Japan
launches full-scale attack on southern
China (1937)
 Established "new order in Asia“; end of Open Door
 Chang Kai-shek, Chinese nationalist leader, heads
Chinese resistance to Japanese militarism in China
► Panay
Incident
 Dec. 1937, Japanese bombed and sank a U.S.
gunboat (the Panay) and three Standard Oil tankers
on the Yangtze River
►Two
killed; 30 wounded
►Japan testing U.S.
►Roosevelt reacts angrily, Japan apologizes, pays indemnity
► Roosevelt’s
"Quarantine Speech" (1937)
 Condemned Japan and Italy
 Urged democracies to "quarantine" the aggressors by
economic embargoes
 Criticized by isolationists- FDR backs off
German aggression
► Hitler
withdrew from League of Nations in 1933
► 1937, withdrew from the Treaty of Versailles
► Germany absorbs Austria in March 1938
("Anschluss")
 British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain,
adopted policy of appeasement toward Germany
►Appeasement:
Giving in to an aggressor in order to
preserve peace
► Germany takes
Czechoslovakia
 Hitler demands Sudetenland (German-speaking
province in Czechoslovakia)
REACTIONS OF GERMANS LIVING IN THE
SUDETENLAND TO HITLER’S TAKEOVER
► Munich
Conference (Sept. 1938): Attended by
Germany, France, Britain & Italy
►Czechoslovakia &
its ally USSR not invited
 Terms: Czechoslovakia lost the Sudetenland
►Hitler
would not take any more land in Europe
 Czechs mad fate of their country decided by others
 March 1939, Hitler invaded rest of Czechoslovakia
Soviet poster showing
Western powers giving
Hitler Czechoslovakia on
a dish. Inscription in the
flag: "On towards the
East!"
► Hitler’s
aggression toward Poland starts WWII
 1 week after invasion of Czechoslovakia Hitler
demanded return of port city of Danzig on Baltic
Coast
 Chamberlain declared Britain would aid Poland if
attacked; France followed suit
► Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact--Aug. 23rd,
1939
 Hitler wanted to prevent a 2-front war if he invaded
Poland
 Stalin was afraid of Hitler
 Provisions:
►Public
clause: Non-aggression agreement between the 2
countries
►Secret clause: Division of Poland between Hitler & Stalin
►USSR would sell Germany raw materials
 Pact allowed Germany to invade Poland without
Soviet interference
► Sept.
1, 1939, Germany troops invade Poland
► Two days later, Britain & France declared war
on Germany; WWII begins
► Sept. 5, 1939: FDR officially proclaimed U.S.
neutrality
World war ii
Axis
Germany (1939)
Italy (1939)
Japan (1940)
Hungary (1940)
Romania (1940)
Bulgaria (1941)
vs.
Allies
Great Britain (1939)
France (1939)
U.S.S.R. (1941)
U.S. (1941)
China
43 other countries
Axis offensives
► Germany invades
Poland--Sept. 1, 1939
 Blitzkrieg--"lightning war"--new type of warfare
►Combined
Luftwaffe, tanks, artillery, and mechanized
infantry
 Poland unable to successfully defend itself;
surrendered Sept. 27, 1939
► Soviet
Union expansion in the East
 USSR invaded Poland from east about a month after
Germany
 Stalin annexed Estonia, Latvia, & Lithuania (1940)
►Believed Hitler
would one day attack USSR
►Fortified defenses in Baltics
 Invaded Finland (November 1939) "Winter War" and
won in March 1940
► Neutrality Act
of 1939 (response to German
invasion of Poland)
 Britain and France desperately needed U.S. airplanes
and other weapons
►Neutrality Act
of 1937 forbade sale of weapons to warring
countries
 Sept. 5, 1939: FDR proclaimed U.S. neutrality (not
neutral in thought)
►84%
of public supported Britain and France
 Sept. 21, FDR persuaded Congress to allow U.S. to
aid European democracies in limited fashion
► Provisions
of Neutrality Act of 1939
 Sale of weapons to European democracies on a
"cash-and-carry" basis
►U.S.
would avoid loans, war debts, and torpedoing of U.S.
arms- carriers
 FDR proclaimed danger zones which U.S. ships &
citizens could not enter
► Results
 Democracies benefited as they controlled the
Atlantic
 U.S. economy improved as European demand for
war goods helped bring the country out of the
recession of 1937-1938
►Unemployment
crisis solved
► German
expansion in Western Europe
 April 1940: conquered Denmark & Norway
 April 1940, FDR declared Greenland, a possession of
conquered Denmark, was covered by the Monroe
Doctrine
►U.S.
supplied military assistance
 May 1940: Netherlands, Belgium, & Luxembourg
fall
 Fall of France (June, 1940)
►German
troops occupied 2/3 of France & took control of
its gov't
►Vichy gov't installed as puppet gov't "Vichy France"
GERMAN TROOPS ENTER PARIS
HITLER
VISITS
PARIS FOR
THE FIRST
AND LAST
TIME
► Battle
of Britain
 Hitler's demands to Britain:
►Return
of German colonies
►Agree to Germany's domination of continental Europe
►Britain refuses
 Hitler orders German bombers to attack Royal Air
Force (Aug.13)
►Reason:
Soften Britain
for German invasion
 Germans bomb London (beginning Sept.7)
of bombing tactics--major mistake: first of Hitler’s
fatal blunders
►RAF recovered from exhaustion; waves of German planes
lost
►Change
 Results
►RAF
defeated the Luftwaffe
►Plans are cancelled for German invasion of Britain
►British morale increased: Winston Churchill’s leadership
Firefighters put out flames after a
raid
Children evacuating London
Smoke above LondonTower Bridge
► Tripartite
Pact (September, 1940)
 Japan added to Rome-Berlin axis for mutual defense
and military support
► Germany &
Italy expand into Balkans & N.
Africa: Greece, Yugoslavia, Egypt
► Germany invades
Soviet Union in June, 1941
 Lebensraum: Hitler sought "living space" for new
German Empire in Eastern Europe
 Germany’s advance halted on outskirts of Moscow in
late 1941 (winter set in)
 Siege of Leningrad lasted two years
 U.S. eventually sent $11 billion of Lend-Lease aid to
the Soviets
 Russian invasion was Hitler’s second fatal error:
opened a second front before Britain was subdued
GERMANS ADVANCE ACROSS USSR
PHOTOS
FROM THE
BATTLE OF
STALINGRAD
U.S. response to the war in Europe
► FDR’s
"Arsenal of Democracy" speech (Dec
29, 1939)
 Proclaimed U.S. could not remain neutral: its
independence had never been in such danger
 Nazi war aim was world domination
 Many feel this speech marked entrance of U.S. into
the war
 The U.S. would become the "Great Warehouse" of
the Allies
► U.S.
response to fall of France and Battle of
Britain
 Fall of France forced a major change in strategy for
U.S.-- now U.S. would probably have to fight in the
war; not just be a "great warehouse”
 FDR called on America to build a huge air force and
2-ocean navy
 Congress appropriated $37 billion (more than total
cost of WWI) and 5X larger than any New Deal
annual budget
 Sept. 1940, Congress passed Selective Service and
Training Act
►America’s
first peace-time draft
 Men 21 to 35 were registered and many were called for
one year of military training
 Act later expanded when U.S. entered the war
► Internationalism
 Committee to Defend America by Aiding the
Allies
►Claimed
U.S. couldn’t let Axis powers dominate the world
►Urged direct aid to Britain
►Appealed to isolationists for "All Methods Short of War"
to defeat Hitler
 Roosevelt had strong internationalist sympathies but
had to temper them publicly
TWO DR. SEUSS CARTOONS AGAINST U.S.
NEUTRALITY
► Isolationists:
 America First Committee
►Slogan:
"England will fight to the last American.”
►Advocated U.S. protection of its own shores if Hitler
defeated Britain
►Charles Lindbergh
ANTI-WAR
PROPAGANDA
PRO-WAR
PROGAGANDA
► Destroyer-Bases
Deal
 Sept. 2, 1940, FDR agreed to transfer to Britain 50
WWI-class destroyers
 Britain promised U.S. 8 valuable defensive base sites
from Newfoundland to South America
►Remain
in U.S. control for 99 years
 Agreement achieved by simple presidential
agreement
►Critics charged
FDR had circumvented Congress and was
trying to get U.S. into the war
Election of 1940
► Republicans nominated
Wendell L. Willkie
 Accused FDR of being a dictator & criticized deficit
spending of the New Deal
►Willkie
not opposed to New Deal, just its excesses
 Like FDR, promised to stay out of war & strengthen
U.S.’s defenses
►Claimed
FDR was a war-monger
► Democrats
nominated FDR for a third term
 FDR vowed to keep U.S. out of the war
 Vigorously defended the New Deal and U.S. aid to
the Allies
► Result:
 FDR defeated Willkie 449-82; margin closer than
1932 and 1936 elections
 Democrats maintained their majority in Congress
► "Four
Freedoms" speech (January 6, 1941) -made to Congress
 Now elected, FDR did not have to worry as much
about critics
 FDR asked Congress for increased authority to help
Britain
 Four Freedoms:
►Speech
and expression
►Religion
►Freedom from Want
►Freedom from fear
 Congress responded with
Lend-Lease
► Lend-Lease
(April 1941) and increase in U.S.
involvement European war
 Provisions:
►Authorized President
to give military supplies to any
nation he deemed "vital to the defense of the US“
►Accounts would be settled after war
 FDR: "Loan a neighbor your hose to
save his house from fire; worry
about the hose later."
 Criticism
►Isolationists
saw it as "the blank check bill.”
►U.S. even closer to involvement in the war?
 Results:
►Effectively ended
U.S. neutrality
►U.S. war production immediately increased
►Hitler began sinking U.S. ships with German subs
 Convoy system between began in July
►By
war's end, U.S. gave $50 billion worth of arms and
equipment to nations, esp. Britain and U.S.S.R.
► U.S.
patrol of Western Atlantic
 April 1941, FDR started the American Neutrality
Patrol
►U.S.
navy would search German submarines in western
half of the Atlantic, warn British of location
 Convoys
►July
1941, FDR ordered navy to escort lend-lease
shipments
►Sept, FDR proclaimed a shoot-on-sight policy on
German U-boats
►Nov. 1941, Congress proclaimed merchant ships
could now be armed and could enter combat zones
 Neutrality Law of 1939 now obsolete
► Atlantic
Conference and the Atlantic Charter
(August 1941)
 Secret meeting between FDR & Churchill on U.S.
warship off Newfoundland
►Held
in response to Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union
► Atlantic
Charter
 Accepted by FDR and Churchill and endorsed by
Stalin later that year
 No territorial changes contrary to wishes of the
inhabitants (self-determination)
 Gov’ts abolished by the dictators would be regained
 Called for “a permanent system of general security”
►Foundation
for the United Nations.
► Reaction:
 Liberals applauded the charter as they had Wilson’s
14 Points during WWI
 Isolationists condemned neutral U.S. conferring with
"belligerent" Britain
Escalating tensions with Japan
► Japan’s
conquest of Asia resulted in tensions
with U.S.
 US refused to recognize Manchukuo
 U.S. concerned Japan signed Anti-Comintern Pact
with Germany in 1936
 Condemned Japanese attack on China in 1937
 Roosevelt's famous "Quarantine speech" in 1937
largely aimed at Japan
► Japan
outlined the Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere
 Sought a vast empire in east Asia and Western
Pacific
 Declared the Open Door policy ended
► Embargo
of 1940 passed by Congress against
Japan (July)
 U.S. placed embargo on export of aviation gasoline,
scrap iron and steel to Japan
► Sept
1940, Japan signed Tripartite Pact: RomeBerlin-Tokyo Axis
 All agreed to support each other if attacked by the U.S.
► Early
1941, FDR moved U.S. Pacific Fleet from West
Coast to Pearl Harbor to demonstrate military readiness
► Embargo of 1941
 July, Japan gained military control of southern Indochina
 U.S. froze Japanese assets in the U.S., closed the Panama
Canal to Japan, placed
embargo on export of oil to Japan
► Japanese-U.S. negotiations
 Japan offered withdrawal from southern Indochina if
US resumed economic relations
►Japan
insisted on remaining in China
 US demanded Japanese withdraw from Indochina &
China, promise not to attack any other area in
western Pacific, and withdraw from Tripartite Pact
 No agreement reached
 Negotiations an attempt by U.S. to buy time to
fortify Philippines and build two-ocean navy
authorized by Congress in 1940
 October, 1941 Hideki Tojo, expansionist, became
Prime Minister
 Japanese decided if no
agreement by November 25,
Japan would attack U.S.
► Japanese
decision to attack
 Made during unsuccessful negotiations with U.S.
 Felt war with US inevitable
►Tried
to seize initiative rather than wait and later be in
weaker position
►Felt surprise attack would cripple US
 Japanese war plan:
►Take
Dutch East Indies, Malaya, and Philippines to gain
oil, metals and other raw materials
►Attack on Pearl Harbor would destroy U.S. Pacific fleet
and keep it from interfering with its plans
 U.S. experts cracked the top-secret code of the
Japanese
►Expected
Japan to attack in early December the Dutch
East Indies and Malaya
►U.S. thought Japan would avoid direct attack on U.S. to
avoid provocation
►Evidence that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor
unsubstantiated and misleading
Pearl Harbor
► Dec.
7th, 1941 (7:55 A.M. Sunday -- second
wave at 8:50 A.M.)
► Damage:
 Japanese sank or badly damaged all 8 battleships
inside the Harbor including the Oklahoma and the
Arizona
 Damaged 10 other ships; destroyed 188 planes
 Over 2,500 Americans killed; 1,100 wounded
 3 aircraft carriers escaped destruction--out at sea
Photograph from a Japanese aircraft of Pearl Harbor
including Battleship Row at the beginning of the
attack. The explosion in the center is a torpedo
strike on the USS West Virginia
► Roosevelt
asked Congress for Declaration of
War against Japan (Dec. 8)
 "a date that will live in infamy”
 Congress quickly complies
► Germany &
Italy declare war against U.S. (three
days later)
 Ally with Japan
 Hitler's 3rd fatal blunder: Germany didn't have to
declare war on U.S.; FDR and Churchill agreed to
defeat "Germany first" rather than concentrating on
Japan
► U.S.
increase of troops--2 to 12 million (1946)