The Road to World War II

World Attitudes

• United States – Isolationism – Johnson Act & Nye Commission

• England– Deeply in Debt– Difficulty in converting from a war

time economy– Blamed mainland Europe for their

involvement in WWI

• France– Deeply in Debt– Isolated and Abandoned

• Russia– Attempting Reform– Needed time

• Germany– Bankrupt– Crippled, Humiliated,

Frustrated and Extremely Nationalistic

– Blamed the Jews and the Communists

• Italy– In Debt, Received little in

Reparations– Frustrated, Allies didn’t keep

promises

• Japan– On the World Scene– Imperialistic

Causes of World War II• Germany

– Treaty of Versailles• Germans called it a “Diktat” (Dictated Peace) • Lost all colonies and territory• Wounded German Pride• Guilt Clause (Germany 100% to blame)

– Lebensarum (Living Space for the Aryan Race)

• Italy– Fascism leads to Imperialism– Allies went back on their promises of World

War I

• Japan– Imperialism (Dominate the Pacific)– US stops all trade with Japan

Powers in Each Group

Allies• England• France• United States• Russia

(Eventually)

Axis• Germany• Italy• Japan

- Road to War! - Germany

– Hitler rearms in 1935 (He gambles successfully that England and France would not do anything)

– Remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936 (England secretly approves, always questioned the Treaty of Versailles)

– “Anschluss” of Austria

– Anti-Comintern Pact - Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis

– The Munich Pact

– The German-Russian Non-Aggression Pact

• September 1, 1939 – Germany Invades Poland

• September 3, 1939– England and France Declare War on Germany

• Blitzkrieg - Poland falls within 1 month– Eventually Germany succeeds in six weeks, what it

failed to do in four years during WWI

• Russia Joins Germany (Non-Aggression Treaty)

• Sitzkrieg (England and France Unprepared)

Germany turns on Russia!

World War II

United States ReactionEurope

• Neutrality Act 1939– Cash and Carry

Basis

• Selective Service Act

• “Destroyers for Bases”

• Lend Lease Act 1941

• Isolationism Still Strong in September 1941

Pacific• Japan violates Open

Door, Kellogg-Briand Pact, and defies the League of Nations.

• Denounces Japanese Aggression into China

• Breaks the Commercial Treaty of 1911

• American Consumers Boycott Japanese Goods

• Embargo on Steel, Aviation Fuel, and Oil

• Freezes all Japanese Assets in the US

“A Day that will Live in Infamy”

The U.S. Navy did not allow much from the photographic records of the Pearl Harbor attack to be made public in 1941. Why do you think they made that decision? What do you think was the reaction of the American public when

they saw this image published in their local newspapers?