world war ii early years. aggressiveness and allied appeasement mussolini attacks ethiopia – late...
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Aggressiveness and Allied Appeasement
• Mussolini attacks Ethiopia– Late 1800s Italy tried to establish Ethiopia as a
colony• Ended in humiliating defeat for Italy• Many Italians bitter about defeat and wanted revenge
– Italy conquered Ethiopia– League of Nations response: nothing• Why not?
Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles
• Rebuilds Army• Rebuilds Navy with
British approval thanks to the Anglo German Naval Pact (June 18, 1935)
• Remilitarizes the Rhineland (March 7, 1936)
Hitler Continues Expansion and Defiance of Treaty
• Anschluss – union between Germany and Austria
• (March 12, 1938)
Sudetenland• Part of Czechoslovakia
with many German speaking people– Czechoslovakia turned to
Britain and France for help
– At the Munich Conference Great Britain and France agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland to avoid war• (example of appeasement)• September 30, 1938
‘Peace in our Time
5) 6 Months later Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia and Italy took Albania
Alliances• Rome Berlin Axis –
Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany)– October 1936
• Nazi Soviet Non-aggression pact– Germany agreed not to
attack Russia and give Russia soon to be conquered parts of Eastern Europe
– Russia agreed to stay out of Germany’s way
– August 1939
Hitler Demands Poland• Hitler used Blitzkrieg
(lightening war) – massive air and land strike
• Polis fought but not match for German military and technology
• Great Britain and France declared war on September 3, 1939 once Hitler pushed into Poland– Not enough time to
mobilize to save Poland
Phoney War• Allied Strategy – wait for Hitler’s next move• Period of inactivity• Germany was planning how to attack France
and decided to go through the Ardennes
– Allies had massive troop levels to the north of the Ardennes along the Belgium and French border
– French/German border protected by bunkers and fortresses called the Maginot Line
– Allied forces did not have forces along the Ardennes because the thought it would be too treacherous for Germany to attack here – they were WRONG
• Phoney War ended when Hitler took Denmark and Norway to control seas
Hitler takes France• May 1940 German
troops swept through Netherlands and Belgium
• While France’s attention on the North, Hitler sent troops through Ardennes– German troops able to
trap Allied forces in Northern France
– Allies rescued at port city of Dunkirk
• By June France had surrendered
• German occupied much of France
• The unoccupied part of France was known as Vichey France–Vichey France was
ruled by officials who obeyed Hitler
Charles DeGaulle• French General
Charles DeGaulle fled to Great Britain to organize resistance to Hitler–He created the
Free French military and battled Hitler until France’s liberation
Battle for Britain• Winston Churchill had
become British Prime Minister
• Hitler’s plan was to destroy British Royal Air Force
• Hitler failed due to 2 secret weapons– 1) Radar– Enigma – gathered secret
German messages
• German Air Force then began bombing civilians in the city of London– Nation kept spirits up
and Hitler called off attacks
– Hitler did not sense easy victory so turned sights to Eastern Europe and Mediterranean
Balkans (Eastern Europe)• Bulgaria, Romania,
and Hungary joined Axis Powers in 1941
• Yugoslavia and Greece resisted so Hitler invaded
Hitler Invades the Soviet Union
• Soviets unprepared for attack due to Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact– Not equipped or trained
despite warnings from Allies that Hitler was going East
• Germany reached 500 miles inside the Soviet Union– In September they
surrounded the city of Leningrad
– 1 million died that winter alone
– 800,000 civilians died in the battle for Leningrad
– Leningrad would not surrender so Hitler turned attention to Moscow (capital)
• Germans advanced to outskirts of Moscow where they met counterattack and winter– Germans retreated due
to being unprepared for Russian winter
– Hitler ordered them to not retreat so Germans held the line 125 miles outside the city
US Aides Allies• Congress passed Neutrality
Acts which made it illegal to sell or lend money to nations at war – trying to remain isolated
• Roosevelt was not an isolationism and did not want to remain neutral but he needed isolationists’ political support
• After Japan invaded China in 1937 Roosevelt decided he had to speak out– He urged the US to work
with ‘Peace loving countries to quarantine aggressive nations and stop the spread of war’
• Roosevelt got Congress to establish and new policy called Cash and Carry– This allowed countries to
purchase goods if they paid in cash and picked them up at American ports
• Congress passed Lend Lease Act, which allowed the US to send weapons to Great Britain regardless of their ability to pay
• Roosevelt and Churchill then met and issued a joint declaration called the Atlantic Charter which upheld free trade and the right of people to chose their own government
US Entry to War• American leaders
convinced a war with Japan was likely
• American officials wanted American forces to be prepared for an attack
• Hideki Tojo, Japan’s Prime Minister, was planning a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor– Pearl Harbor caught off
guard and unprepared to defend partially due to no single commander in charge
Pearl Harbor• December 7, 1941
(Sunday Morning) Japan’s strike went into action– Many US planes never got
off ground– A complete defeat for the
US
• December 8 FDR asked Congress to declare war– 3 days later Germany and
Italy declared war on the US
American Mobilization• Military spending
increased in 1940– This spending largely
responsible for ended the Great Depression
– Many found work in factories making military supplies
• Millions volunteered to serve after Pearl Harbor– Women joined and
performed clerical work, tested, and delivered aircraft, repaired equipment, and worked as electricians
– African Americans served in war but were in segregated units• Not one received a Medal
Honor until 50 years later
• Women began working outside the home in factories– Working women of the
war were represented by symbolic figure Rosie Riveter