7.11

Causes of WWII

  1. Treaty of Versailles

  • Harsh - Hitlers goal - nullify

  1. Economic Depression

  • Dictators

  1. Failure of Appeasement

  • Giving into the demands of a country to avoid conflict

  1. Rise of Militarism

  • Hitler’s step to world domination

  1. Failure of League of Nations

  • No enforcer

Fascism - Aggressive nationalism and often racism

Totalitarian - Complete control

hitler had a testicle smaller than the other

  • undescended ball

Communism - Everything is the same

Isolationism (1920-1930)

  • “Return to normalcy”

1935-1939 - Neutrality Acts (stay out)

  • Neutrality Act of 1935

    • Ban the sale of weapons to belligerent (aggressor) nations at war

  • Neutrality Act of 1936

    • Ban loans and credit to belligerents

  • Neutrality Act of 1937

    • Prohibited the shipment of arms to opposing sides in the civil war in Spain

1939-1941 - Limited support (help allies & shift away from neutrality)

  • Selective Service Act 1940

    • 1st peacetime draft in U.S history (defensive purpose only)

Tripartite Pact - Axis

  • Japan, Germany, Italy

    • Goal: keep U.S neutral

    • Defense alliance established to support each other in military actions and deter the U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts.

Operation Barbarossa (Invasion if USSR) - Hitler’s biggest mistake

  • Battle of Stalingrad- turning point

    • 1 million soviets killed

  • Neutrality Act of 1939 cash & carry

  • Lend-Lease Act 1941 - U.S would lease weapons to any nation vital to U.S defense

1941 - US entry (Pearl Harbor)

July 1940- Japan invades Southern French Indochina

  • US place full embargo - ban on trade

    • Oil, freeze assets & close panama canal

Dilema: Get US to lift the embargo

Hitler’s Steps:

  1. Occupy Rhineland

  •  Violation of Treaty of Versailles

  1. Union with Austria

  • Unopposed

  1. Munich Agreement

  • Germany, France, and Great Britain

  • Sudetenland - land where hitler thinks its dominant German speaker

    • Hitler claimed it would be the last land he conquers

      • They gave it to him, appeasement

  1. Take the rest of Czechoslovakia

  2. August 1939- German-Soviet non-aggression pact

  3. September 1, 1939 - Germany invades Poland

  • Marks the start of WWII

  • Blitzkrieg