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What did the League of Nations do? They officially disapproved. Then, Germany and Italy signed
a military alliance in 1936, also in violation of Versailles. Silence. Germany and Italy both sent
aid to the fascist leader of Spain during that nation's civil war, though the League had forbidden
foreign involvement. In 1938, Hitler's Anschluss, the reunification of Germany and Austria, went
unopposed. Then, in September of 1938, Great Britain and France, eager to avoid another costly
war, signed the Munich Agreement approving Germany's occupation of the Sudetenland, which
was a German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, because Hitler promised he wouldn't try to
take any more territory. And then, for a few months, Europe thought that might be the worst of
it.
Trouble in Asia
But, Europe wasn't the only part of the world dealing with aggressive, ultra-nationalistic leaders.
By 1931, China had been embroiled in civil war for four years, and Japan took advantage of this
instability. In 1931, they fabricated an excuse to invade Manchuria and seize control of its
resources. The international community did little to intervene until Japan invaded Shanghai the
following year, where a large population of expatriates lived. When the League of Nations
protested, Japan withdrew from the organization and sporadic fighting continued.
By 1937, China and Japan were in an all-out war, beginning with the reinvasion of Shanghai.
Quickly, Japanese forces moved in on the capital city of Nanking in 1937, and America
evacuated its citizens. The U.S. gunboat, Panay, and three corporate-owned oil tankers were
leaving Nanking with the last of the civilians when they were attacked by the Japanese navy.
Now, in order to avoid a diplomatic crisis with the United States, Emperor Hirohito claimed that
the sinking of the Panay was an accident and apologized.
But, Americans were further horrified by unspeakable Japanese atrocities carried out upon the
Chinese capital in the coming weeks, an event known as the 'Rape of Nanking.' So, the United
States passed economic sanctions against Japan and sent aid to China. By 1939, Japan's war
against China was floundering, and the nation, now under the influence of a military mastermind
named Hideki Tojo, looked for a way to combat American intervention.