AMSCO AP World History 7.6, 7.7

7.6: Causes of World War II

Essential Question: What were the causes and consequences of World War II?

Adolf Hitler- Nazi leader, held extreme views on the Aryan Race which led him to conduct the persecution of Jewish people and other minorities
- Promoted ultranationalism and scientific racism
- advanced extreme Anti-Semitism
Rise of Nazism
- Weimar Republic- new German gov. that rose to power after WWI defeat in 1918. Became unpopular with the people b/c it appeared weak with no army
- Lots of unemployment after the war ended
- Nazis- National Socialist German Worker’s Party
- Nazis came to power legally in 1932
- Paul von Hindenburg, Nazi president, elected Hitler chancellor, and Hitler rose to power in 1934 after Hindenburg’s death
Nuremberg Laws
- forbade marriage between Jewish people and gentiles (non Jewish people)
- stripped Jews of citizenship
Axis Powers
- composed of Facist Italy, Rome-Berlin Axis, and Japan
Treaty of Versailles was broken by Hitler by creating an army for Germany

Diplomatic
- The imbalance of the Treaty of Versailles
- failure of appeasement (Germans did not pay)
- Failure of the League of Nations
Economic
- Global Depression
- The Treaty of Versailles
Political
- Japan’s militarism
- Germany’s militarism and the rise of Hitler

Essential Question: What similarities and differences were there in the methods governments used to conduct war?

Key Terms: