Chapter 23
Georgia and WWII
Causes of WWII
•
•
•
•
•
•
In the 1920s, European tried to overcome the
devastating effects of WWI. In the Pacific, Japan’s need
for raw materials to support its growing industries led
it to become aggressive.
In Germany and Italy, militaristic dictatorships
emerged.
All of these societies became dedicated to creating
empires.
After WWI, most Americans wanted to focus on their
own country. They wanted a trade relationship with
other countries but they did not want to get involved
in the affairs of those countries.
When the aggressions of Italy, Germany and Japan
began, Americans still did not get involved.
By the late 1930s, US leaders began to prepare for
military action. But it took an attack on American soil
to bring the country into WWII.
Foreign Policy in the 1920s
•
•
•
•
•
•
European economies were struggling in the aftermath of WWI.
The Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI, was not a treaty that
would create a peaceful world. Instead the Allied Powers had framed
the treaty with the goal of keeping Germany weak.
Under the terms of the treaty, Germany had to admit that it caused
the war, had to pay reparations to the Allies and give up some it its
territory.
In the 1920s the US tried to prevent another war by making
agreements that would lessen the chance that war would start.
The US hosted a conference in Washington D.C. and invited the major
world powers to attend. There they worked out three major treaties
and several other agreements.
In 1928, 15 countries signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which said that
nations would not resort to war except in self defense. Another 47
nations signed the document later.
Japanese Expansion in Asia and the
Rise of Dictators in Europe
• In 1931, Japan, in violation of the pact, took over an area of
northern China called Manchuria.
• In 1937 it invaded China, brutally killing thousands and taking
several key cities.
• In 1941, Japan invaded the French colony of Indochina in Southeast
Asia.
• Meanwhile in Europe, both Italy and Germany fell under the control
of fascist governments.
• Fascism is a philosophy of government characterized by a dictator.
Fascist believe in the superiority of a particular group, often a racial
or national group. Fascists do not believe in individual rights or
democracy.
• In Italy, the fascist leader was Benito Mussolini. In Germany, it was
Adolf Hitler and his Nazi political party.
• Hitler hoped to create an empire or Reich in Europe.
• Hitler first took aim at the areas Germany had lost in the Treaty of
Versailles.
• In 1936 he invaded the area between Germany and France called
the Rhineland. Two years later he send troops into Austria, and
then into Czechoslovakia a few months later.
• In 1936, Germany and Italy made an alliance called the Rome-Berlin
Axis. Japan became part of the alliance in 1940, so the three
became known as the Axis Powers.
• All three governments were very repressive to their people.
• Mussolini claimed to have “buried the putrid corpse of liberty.”
• In Germany, Hitler targeted groups that he considered inferior, not
part of the German master race, for concentration camps where
they were poorly fed and overworked.
• Jewish people in Germany and the conquered lands became
targeted not only for slave labor, but for genocide.
War in Europe and US Neutrality
• In the autumn of 1939, the German army invaded Poland in what
came to be called a blitzkrieg (lightning war.) WWII had begun.
• Both France and Great Britain declared war on Germany, although
they failed to stop it.
• Country after country fell to invading German troops—Denmark,
Norway, the Netherlands.
• Germany then invaded the Soviet Union. The US remained neutral.
• US sent guns and old warships to help Great Britain who was under
attack.
• In 1940, Roosevelt was the first president in the US to run for a
third term. He believed the emergency nature of the times made it
better to keep the same president.
Preparation for War
• The US Navy began to convoy British ships across the
Atlantic until they were about 400 miles away from Great
Britain.
• The Germans believed this violated any neutrality the US
claimed.
• In the Pacific Ocean, Japan had become a problem. When
the US began rearming in 1940, it built ships for a Pacific
fleet.
• In 1940, ships began to be based at Pearl Harbor Naval Base
in the US territory of Hawaii. Japan found that threatening.
The US stopped selling Japan goods and began to further
support China in its fight against Japan.
Pearl Harbor
• On December 7, 1941 over 350 Japanese planes
left aircraft carriers to attack the naval base at
Pearl Harbor.
• Completely surprised the US couldn’t
counterattack. Almost all US planes, along with 8
battleships and 11 other ships were destroyed.
• The next day, Roosevelt called December 7th “a
day that will live in infamy.”
• He asked Congress for a declaration of war on
Japan. The US had entered WWII.
Questions for Your Chapter 23 Graded
Question Sheet
•
Write on loose-leaf paper to be turned in (see
syllabus for due date)
6) In the autumn of 1939, the German army invaded
1)In the 1920s, European tried to overcome the
Poland in what came to be called a _________
devastating effects of WWI. In the Pacific, ______
(lightning war.) WWII had begun.
need for raw materials to support its growing
industries led it to become aggressive.
7) The US Navy began to convoy British ships across
the Atlantic until they were about ____ miles
2) After WWI, most Americans wanted to focus on
away from Great Britain.
their own _______. They wanted a trade
relationship with other countries but they did 8) Completely surprised the US couldn’t
not want to get involved in the affairs of those
counterattack. Almost all US planes, along with 8
countries
battleships and _____other ships were
3) By the late 1930s, US leaders began to prepare for
destroyed.
military action. But it took an attack on American soil
to bring the country into _______.
4) The Treaty of Versailles, which ended WWI, was
not a treaty that would create a peaceful world.
Instead the Allied Powers had framed the treaty with
the goal of keeping ______weak.
5) In 1928, _____ countries signed the Kellogg-Briand
Pact, which said that nations would not resort to war
except in self defense. Another 47 nations signed the
document later.