WWII: The Road to War (1931-1941)

A. Setting the Scene a. Rise of Tolitarian Rule, which is where the government uses total power to control a nation i. Hardcore Communism - Joseph Stalin uses communism as a form of tolitarian rule to control Soviet Union ii. Rise of Facism, which was the idea of spreading the importance of the nation/ethnic group and the ruler 1. Examples: Germany, Italy B. New Dictators a. Stalin i. Joseph Stalin took control of the Soviet Union after Lenins death in 1924 ii. Stalins New 5 Year Plan 1. Modernizing agriculture a. Turn small family farms to huge state run farms i. Stalin met resistance, so people were forced off their land ii. In Ukraine, Stalin confiscated all the food and sent millions of peasants to labor camps in Siberia/N. Russia. 1. Millions of people died from starvation iii. The takeover caused crop production to drop and Stalin had to use rationing throughout the Soviet Union 1. Rationing- equal distribution 2. Building Industry a. Millions of assigned laborers built and ran industrial centers i. Centers produced coal, iron, oil, steel iii. The standard of living in the Soviet Union dropped greatly because of the lack of government money for living needs iv. Stalins Purges 1. Purge: process of removing enemies 2. Stalin got rid of any opponents in the Communist Party 3. By 1939 he had arrested 7 million a. 1 million were killed b. Millions more ended up in forced labor camps b. Mussolini (Il Duce aka The Leader) i. Rose to power because of WWI failures ii. Mussolinis Blackshirts terrorized anyone who opposed him iii. Mussolini was appointed Prime Minister out of fear

iv. Mussolini was successful in fixing the Italian economy, but his real goal was to bring back the Roman Empire (Invaded Ethiopia) c. Adolf Hitler (Der Fuhrer The Leader)) i. Hitler was an Austrian who was upset at the punishment Germany received after WWI. ii. The Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers Party) 1. Nazism- form of fascism combined with German nationalism and racial superiority. iii. Hitlers Beliefs were outline in his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) 1. Hitler blamed Jews for losing WWI 2. Proposed strengthening German Military 3. Aryan Race only (Blond haired, blue eyed) iv. By 1932, Hitler was appointed Chancellor (head of government) and the Nazi Party was the largest in the Reichstag (German Parliament) v. Hitlers first action was get rid of freedom of speech and press vi. Brownshirts- Hitlers thugs that silenced any opposition vii. 1934- President dies and Hitler becomes both Chancellor and President viii. Prosperity under Hitler 1. Unemployment= 0% 2. Building of massive highway 3. Depression ended 4. German military rearmed ix. Hitler used his success to promote the need for more living space which meant expansion x. Remilitarization of Rhineland (area between Germany and France) 1. Violation of Versailles Treaty, but no one did anything xi. Axis Powers- Treaty with Germany Italy and Japan xii. German Expansion 1. Anschluss (connection with Germany) a. Hitler wanted to join with Austria, when denied, Germany invaded with military 2. Chamberlain Appeasement a. Hitler wanted Sudetenland because of the important fortifications and German roots. British Prime minister Neville Chamberlain and French government resolved the issue by giving Hitler what he wanted. C. Start of WWII a. Hitler takes over the Western part of Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland b. Invasion of Poland/ Britain and France back Poland c. Stalin agrees with Hitler to divide Eastern Europe i. Stalin and Hitler signed a peace treaty and divide all countries between Germany and the Soviet Union

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d. Allies had more soldiers and Axis Powers had more firepower e. German blitzkrieg attack overwhelms Poland i. Blitzkrieg: means lightning war/ quick concentrated attack War in the West a. Maginot Line- string of fortifications along German and French border. i. Protected only part of the border with Germany ii. All guns were pointed towards the East b. Blitzkrieg on France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg and Netherlands c. This divided French and British troops d. Battle at Dunkirk i. Dunkirk- Coastal city in France ii. Under attack from Luftwaffe (German Airforce) troops assembled makeshift rafts and escaped to England Fall of France a. June 14, 1940- Germans took Paris b. Vichy France- only non-German governed part of France, worked closely with Nazi Battle for Britain a. After France, Hitler turned his attention to Great Britain b. Battle of Britain included the greatest air assault in history (1,000 planes bombed/day) c. At first the raids only targeted key infrastructure and military targets, but soon cities like Berlin and London were targeted. d. British were greatly outmanned and overpowered, but were more resilient and inflicted damage to German forces e. Britain also cracked the code for German communication, which gave them an upper hand in the battle and in turn stopped the Germans from conquering Britain. Japanese Role a. When the US forced the Japanese to open up to foreign trade it forced Japan to strengthen their army and by the start of WWI was the strongest Asian country b. In the 1920s a recession (because of foreign tariffs) and corruption caused people to blame the government for the problems c. Nationalist movements called for a return to the old government, especially young people d. Manchurian Incident- Japan, in need of space for population growth, says that Chinese troops tried to blow up a bridge so they used military force to take over the area north of Korea. e. Japan set up Manchuko which was a puppet state i. Puppet State: independent country run by a foreign government f. The military began a takeover of the government through assassinations and uprisings g. War with China i. Japan took a small military conflict and turned it into a reason to takeover China ii. Japan had superior weapons and prevailed over Chinese manpower

iii. Rape of Nanjing- Japanese soldiers raped, beat and killed 100,000 civilians in the city of Nanjing iv. China had two leaders, Mao and Jiang, who put their differences aside to fight Japan together, Japan was winning in the cities, but lost the country side v. By 39 the war had ended in a stalemate vi. Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere- Japan declaration to expand their country to free Asia from colonialism. Japan also wanted the natural resources vii. Tripartite Pact- (1940) Japan becomes allies with Germany and Italy H. United States a. During the 30s the US focused mainly on the Great Depression and not foreign policy b. Isolationism grew during the Great Depression c. Neutrality Acts i. Banned US from providing warring nations with weapons ii. Banned loans to nations iii. Cash and Carry- allowed nonmilitary goods to be traded as long as the other countries paid cash and transported the purchase iv. FDR was against isolationism and believed Neutrality Acts encouraged stronger nations to take advantage of weaker nations 1. Examples: Japan-Manchuria, Italy-Ethiopia, Germany-Czechoslovakia d. As the economy recovered little by little, FDR looked for ways to help the Allies e. The Neutrality Acts were revised after Germany invaded Poland and US provided guns to the French and British. When France fell, the US sent 50 old ships to Britain f. America First Committee- 800,000 isolationists who wanted to block any more war aid g. FDR won his third term as President in 1940. h. Lend Lease Act- passed in 1941 and said the President could aid any nation vital to the security of the US. i. In total the US would lend $49 billion dollars to 40 nations i. Attack on Pearl Harbor i. December 7th 1941, 180 Japanese airplanes bombed, strafed (used machine guns) and used the planes as suicide missions with the aim of destroying the US fleet in Oahu, Hawaii. ii. In the months leading up to the attack FDR had limited/stopped trade and froze assets with Japan which created lots of tension iii. By the Numbers 1. 2400 Americans killed, 1200 wounded 2. 200 warplanes damaged/destroyed 3. 18 warships damaged/sunk (8/9 battleships) j. US Response i. FDR speech about Pearl Harbor, A date that will live in infamy. ii. US entered WWII on December 8th on the Allied side.