Australia at war.

Why did we go to war?

• When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, he exploited the anger that Germans felt as a result of their treatment in the Treaty of Versailles. He also played on their feelings of despair brought on by the effects of the Depression to build up support for his foreign policy. Hitler set out to destroy the Treaty of Versailles and challenge the other countries of Europe:

Policy of Appeasement• Neville Chamberlain was horrified at the prospect

of a second war; he had lost a son during the Great War

• believed that Hitler would keep his promise and that the sacrifice of Czechoslovakia was worthwhile.

• He was playing for time and sacrificed Czechoslovakia to put war off for as long as possible.

• Find Czechoslovakia on the map???

Axis of EVIL

Japan

• Japan was ruled by a military dictatorship, politicians had little influence, the army wanted to build an empire in the Pacific. Japan had a growing population and very little inhabitable land - only 15% of Japanese land could be lived on. In 1931, despite criticism from the League of Nations Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This showed the rest of the world that the League of Nations was incapable of controlling the actions of major countries.

• Where is Manchuria???

Japanese Soldier executing a Chinese farmer during the occupation of Manchuria

Italy

• Exactly the same thing happened in 1935 when Italy invaded Abyssinia. On this occasion the League did order economic sanctions, which meant that member countries could not trade with Italy, but oil was left off the list. This was the one sanction that would have forced Italy to withdraw. Italy resigned from the League of Nations in 1937.

So why did we join in?

• Robert Menzies speech.

Allies and Axis powers

• Work sheets

At war with Japan

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz3hODNrnKk

The Manchurian Incident 1931• The Great Depression in the USA was devastating to Japan.• Many people were in poverty, and half the factories had

closed.• The Japanese army saw conquest as a way out of this.• The army was also afraid of Chiang Kaishek’s moves to unify

China. They thought he would take Manchuria from them.• Claiming Chinese sabotage of a railway, the Japanese army

occupied Manchuria. They renamed it Manchukuo and put the deposed Chinese Emperor Pu Yi up as a figure head.

• This was the run-up to the Sino-Japanese war 1937-45