The Outbreak of War
How the world fell back into another World War…
Japan Before War
 Ruled by parliamentary system
 Weak b/c of restriction of Cabinet
and Prime Minister power
 Emperor = figurehead
 Military leaders reported only to
Emperor Hirohito
 Great Depression hits Japan,
people blame gov’t
 Military gains control
 Become fascist
 Restore Hirohito to power
Japan Before War
 Plan of the new military gov’t
 Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere
 Cultural and economic unity of East
Asia
 Created for Asian populations
during Japanese occupation
 Meant to fix Japanese economic
problems with foreign expansion
 Also give it room for growing pop.
Japan at War
Invasion of Manchuria
1931
 Rich in iron and coal
 Japan put in puppet
gov’t
First direct challenge
to League of Nations
 LoN Protests invasion
1933 Japan leaves
LoN
The Conflict Expands
 Marco Polo
Bridge incident July 1937
 Japan’s lost
soldier?
 Led to full invasion
of China
 Chinese general
Jaing Jieshi
forced to retreat
 Japanese
Nanking
Japan in China
 To Japanese, surrender
made you less than human
 Rape of Nanking
 Japanese spent six weeks
killing civilians in capital city
 Killed 300,000 civilians and
soldiers
 Single worst atrocity during
World War II
Japan, China, and the
US
China in collapse
 US aids Chinese
 Flying Tigers
 American pilots who fly for
Chinese
Panay Incident – Dec 1937
 Japanese fire on USS Panay,
American ship anchored on
Yangtze River
 Japan apologizes, US forgets
it
Italian Expansion
Mussolini seizes
Ethiopia 1935
 Haile Selassie (King of
Ethiopia) asks League
for help
 League asks Mussolini
nicely – he ignores them
 Britain allows Italy to use
Suez Canal
 Done to keep peace
Appeasement
 APPEASEMENT - agreeing to aggressor’s demands to keep peace
 Discussion question:
 Britain and France practiced appeasement with Germany and Italy,
was that the best course of action?
 Things to think about:
 Hitler and Mussolini were hyper-nationalistic (would they have stopped?)
 The tragedy of WWI
 Societal ideas of war after WWI
 Groups (4.5 minute discussion):
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Michela, Alex, Jacob, Max, Jenny H.
Colin, Noah Darby, Jenny M, Carter
Kevin, Cameron, Jena, Jack
Matt, Lexi, Ethan, Mason
Lewis, Noah A, Patrick, Noah D, Madison
Hitler and Nazi
Germany
Hitler defies Versailles Treaty
 Promised to end treaty
 Started by building up army
(1933) – not allowed by treaty
 LoN let him because they
thought it would be enough
 1935, Germany left LoN
Josef Goebbels,
Nazi Propaganda
Chief
Hitler Advances
 March 1936 – militarized
Rhineland (on French
border)
 Britain and France appease
 Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
(1936)
 Nations agreed to fight Soviet
communism
 Will NOT interfere with plans
to
expand
The Spanish
Revolution…Well everyone
else was doing it…
 1931 – Republic replaced
Monarchy
 1936 – Socialists and Communists
win seats
 Try to de-Catholicize Spain
 Angry Catholics and
Conservatives rebel under
Francisco Franco
 Germany/Italy – support Franco
 USSR – support Socialists,
Communists
 Democracies – stay out of it
 Franco wins – dictator in 1939
The West Stands By
 France and Britain afraid of war
 Dealing with Depression
 Still trying to figure out WWI
 US wants isolation
 Neutrality Acts – bans loans
and weapon sales to warring
countries
Anschluss and the Munich
Conference
 March 1938 – Hitler annexes
Austria
 Anschluss – union of Austria
and Germany
 League sends strongly
worded message
 Czechoslovakia – 3 million
Germans living in Czech
region called Sudetenland
 Czech refuse and go to
France for help
A Line in the Sand
 1938 - Munich
Conference
 France and Britain
convince Czech to
give up the
Sudetenland
 Neville Chamberlain representative for
Britain
 Churchill is the only
one to speak AGAINST
Appeasement – The Munich Agreement
1938
Hitler Keeps
Pushing the Line
 5 months later – Hitler
occupies Czech
 New line in the sand
 Hitler demands Polish
corridor and port of Danzig
to connect E. Prussia
 Lebensraum is reason
The Enemy of My
Enemy…
 Hitler and Allies approach USSR
 USSR sides w/ Hitler b/c want land
 NON-AGGRESSION PACT 1939 –
Divided E. Europe into German and
Soviet spheres of influence
 Germany removes threat of
two-front war