Italian, German, & Japanese Drives for Aggresion

Mr. Tran

WARM UP

What do you think will cause World War II to occur? List some reasons

WARM UP

Do you believe Hitler and Stalin will be on the same side during the Second World War? Why or why not?

WARM UP

Do you believe the United States will get involved in the Second World War? Why or why not?

CA Standard 10.8.1

Compare the German, Italian, and Japanese drives for empire in the 1930s, including the 1937 Rape of Nanking, other atrocities in China, and the Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939.

Objective

Students will be able to understand the Italian drive for empire through the construction of a Foldable

Student Engagement

Create a brochure foldable using construction paper.

Label the top of each page Japanese, German, & Italian (as the aggressor nations).

Increasing Power

After World War I, Italy, Japan, and Germany all sought to increase their might.

Italy and Germany still suffered the effects of the war, and Japan wanted to further the power it had gained during wartime.

By the 1930s, all three were led by military dictatorships in which the state held tremendous power and sought to expand that power by invading neighbor nations.

Italy

Leader: Benito Mussolini

Drive: Mussolini wanted to expand his empire and create a “New Roman Empire” of colonial land. Italy also needed natural resources.

Conquests: Ethiopia in 1935; Albania in 1939

Italy

Actions of Mussolini October 3, 1935: Italy invaded

Ethiopia without declaring war and claims it as a colony by occupation

Italy failed to claim Ethiopia as a colony before and wanted to redeem it's former glory (and reputation). [revenge]

Italy

Ethiopia’s spears and swords were no match for Italian tanks, planes and poison gas.

Ethiopia’s Emperor pleaded for the British to stop Italian ships using the Suez Canal for purposes of attacking his country.

The League of Nations ignored his request…

Germany

Leader: Adolf Hitler (Chancellor)

Drive: Hitler wanted to gain back former land lost in WWI.

Germany also needed natural resources and had extreme hatred fueled by Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Hitler wanted to bring Germany back to being an empire after being punished by World War I

Adolf Hitler

Actions March 1936: Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland

and conquers it March 1938: Hitler annexes Austria September 1939: Germany acquires the

territory of Czechoslovakia through the Munich Agreement (with Britain & France)

Hitler pledges to respect Czechoslovakia’s new borders-six months later he conquers the entire country

Germany

• To the west, France and Britain, desiring peace at any cost, did not at first try to stop German aggression.

• To the east, Russia posed no threat after the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939, in which Germany and Russia agreed never to attack one another.

Stalin-Hitler Pact of 1939

August 23, 1939 The Soviet Union and Germany

sign a non-aggression pact Both sides agree not to fight or go

to war with each other Several territories were divided

among the two countries.

Hitler

Hitler demands the former German Port of Danzig from Poland-Poland refuses

Hitler invades Poland-September 1, 1939 (TRIGGERING WORLD WAR II)

On Facebook

Germany’s early expansion before 1939

In One Year’s Time

Japan

Leader: Emperor Hirohito & Various military leaders

Drive: Japan needed natural resources and more land because of their growing population (and new markets for their goods).

Japan

Actions September 19, 1931: Japanese troops

invaded Manchuria and continued a full scale invasion of China in 1937.

From December 1937 to March 1938, Japanese troops massacred an estimated 350,000 Chinese civilians in what became known as the Rape of Nanking.

• During the Japanese occupation, millions of Chinese were killed and tens of millions became homeless.

Japanese Expansion

The Military blamed the Japanese government for the 1929 economic depression.

Extreme Nationalists, who reported only to the emperor, the Military planned a Pacific Empire to solve their economic problems.

In 1931, Japan invades mineral rich Manchuria and sets up a puppet government.

Mainland China was invaded in 1937 and easily defeated Jiang Jieshi’s million man army.

Japan 1939

Japan vs. the United States

Japan’s main weakness was it’s lack of minerals and raw materials.

Prime Minister Tojo wanted Japan to be self sufficient in raw materials.

FDR would lift the United States’ embargo of scrap metal and oil if Japan left China.

Admiral Yamamota begin’s secret plans to attack American navy base (Pearl Harbor).

Rape of Nanking From December 1937 to March 1938, Japanese

troops massacred an estimated 300,000 Chinese civilians

Japan invades China

The Rape of Nanking1937-1938

Genocidal War

Atrocities include: Rape Looting Arson Execution of POW

and civilians

Nanking Massacre Rape

80,000 women, including infants, children, the elderly and the pregnant

Killed brutally

Murder 1,000’s of presumed soldiers and civilians are taken Machine gun fire, landmines, fire, beheading, drowning,

disemboweled Mass execution “Ten-Thousand Corpse Ditch” Sport

Arson

Death toll 300,000 – 800,000 Unclear because of the secrecy of the event