World War II Aggression and Appeasement. Overview 1930s: Dissatisfaction with Treaty of Versailles – Germany, Italy, and Japan – England, France, and.

World War II

Aggression and Appeasement

Overview• 1930s: Dissatisfaction with Treaty of Versailles

– Germany, Italy, and Japan– England, France, and United States saw no reason to change it, but unwilling to uphold or

enforce it• Hitler and lebensraum

– Aryan race a term made up to mean German people• France

– The Maginot Line– Politically mixed (also Britain and U.S. but to lesser degree)

• U.S. isolationism– Congress forbid loans, export of weapons and use of American ships to any nation in

“recognized” war• USSR

– Resentful– Goal of international revolution– 1934 joined the League of Nations; urged communists to work with socialists to defeat

Fascism– 1935 signed pact with France and Czechoslovakia

• Most nations remained afraid of Communism

Manchuria

Manchuria• The Nationalist government of China led by Chiang Kai-shek was weak, corrupt and busy fighting the Communists.• Because of the Great Depression, Japan wanted to build an empire to secure supplies of raw materials.• The Japanese government was controlled by the army• China ruled Manchuria, but the Japanese army ran the railway there, and ruled in Korea.

Manchuria

Manchuria• Sept 1931: There was some vandalism on the Manchurian railway; Japan claimed the Chinese had sabotaged the railway. • They invaded Manchuria and set up the 'independent' (i.e. Japanese-controlled) state of Manchukuo under the former Emperor of China, Henry P'ui. • China appealed to the League.

Manchuria• Dec 1931: the League appointed a commission led by Lord Lytton to investigate. • He did not go to Manchuria until April 1932 and did not report until October.• Oct 1932: Lytton's report stated that Japan was the aggressor and should leave.• 24 Feb 1933: The Assembly voted that Japan should leave Manchuria • Japan walked out of the meeting.

Manchuria• Japan stayed in Manchuria. • The League could not agree economic sanctions or an arms sales ban. • In 1933 Japan resigned from the League, and

invaded/ conquered Jehol (next to Manchuria).

ManchuriaA SPECTACULAR failure:

1. The Japanese continued to expand: • they kept Manchuria • they invaded Jehol in 1933 and China in 1937.

ManchuriaA SPECTACULAR failure:

2. The League was discredited/ Manchuria showed: • It was slow (the Lytton Report took almost a year) • A country could get its own way if it ignored it • ‘Collective security' was useless against big countries - especially during the Great Depression. • Even the great powers within the League (Japan was on the Council) were happy to ignore it.

Abyssinia• Because of the Great Depression, Italy wanted to build an empire to secure raw materials. • Mussolini was a fascist, and wanted to revive the glories of Rome • France and Britain needed Mussolini’s support against Hitler (Stresa Pact 1935)

Abyssinia

Abyssinia• The border between Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland was uncertain and disputed - in Dec 1934 there was a small skirmish at Wal-Wal.• Mussolini demanded an apology and threatened to invade.• There was great anger in Britain; Hoare (the foreign minister) made a strong speech supporting sanctions and collective security.

Abyssinia• Feb 1935: The League set up a commission, which reported in Sept. It suggested giving part of Abyssinia to Italy. • Oct 1935: Mussolini rejected the plan and invaded Abyssinia. He used tanks and flame- throwers and attacked red Cross hospitals. • The League banned weapons sales, and put sanctions on rubber and metal (this hurt Abyssinia more than Italy). • It did NOT close the Suez Canal or ban oil sales, which would have stopped the Italian invasion.

Abyssinia• Dec 1935: Hoare-Laval Pact, a secret plan by Britain and France to give Abyssinia to Italy. • Britain and France asked that sanctions be lifted - only Abyssinia voted against. • March 1936: Hitler marched into the Rhineland; everyone forgot about Abyssinia.• May 1936: Mussolini conquered Abyssinia. • June 1936: Haile Selassie went to the League to ask it to reconsider its 'terrible precedent' of giving way to force. He was ignored.

AbyssiniaA SPECTACULAR failure:

1. The Fascists continued to expand: • Mussolini kept Abyssinia • Hitler began to expand in Europe. • Fascists took power in Spain • Britain and France abandoned the League as a way of keeping the peace - started to appease Hitler.

AbyssiniaA SPECTACULAR failure:

2. The League was ‘a useless fraud’ (AJP Taylor): • It was slow (the Report took 8 months). • A country could get its own way if it ignored it. • ‘Collective security' was useless against big countries - especially during the Great Depression. • Even the great powers within the League were

happy to ignore it (Japan was on the Council). • Even Britain and France would betray the League. • Nine countries left 1936-1939.

German Expansion

• 1933 withdrew from the League of Nations• 1934 signed a nonaggression pact with Poland• 1934 assassinated leader of Austria, Engelbert

Dollfuss– Hitler demanded that Austria form a union with

Germany

• Western nations gave verbal warning• Italy sent troops to Austrian border

German Expansion

• 1935 – expansion of German army; half million troops

• Violation of Treaty of Versailles– Signed naval agreement with Britain

• Germany would have 35 ships to every 100 English ships

• 1936– Invaded the Rhineland

• Demilitarized territory• British and French did not react

– England began to modernize military; Germany spent huge amounts on rearmament

Italy Expands

• 1935– Used discontent over the Treaty for propaganda

purposes• High imports• Increased hydroelectric production and auto manufacturing

– Invaded Ethiopia• Ethiopia pleaded with League for help• League set up sanctions on armaments and raw materials,

but oil was till allowed

– Meddled in Albania across the Adriatic

The League of Nations• Europe– Spanish Civil War– Mussolini signed agreement with Hitler forming an axis• Copies Nazi military• Began campaign against Jews

– British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain• Called Nazism a “great social experiment”

– 1938 Hitler annexed Austria• Anschulss–unification of Germany and Austria, forbidden in

Treaty of Versailles• League protested

The League of Nations• Japanese invasion of China– Military regime– Defeated Russia in 1905– Covertly advanced into China during WWI– Early 1930s openly seized Manchuria

• Left League of Nations• Signed friendship treaty with Germany; “anti-Communist”

agreement• Built up navy, including aircraft carriers

– 1937 open invasion of China• League did not reprimand; U.S. did not end support

– Sent supplies to China• Rape of Nanjing

After Munich• March 1939 Hitler took the rest of

Czechoslovakia– Next, Memmel, Lithuania; Danzig and the Polish

Corridor• Italy took over Albania; Somalia became a

military base; introduced mustard gas, and public hangings in Libya– British and French instituted a military draft– England turned out fighter planes

• German and Soviet Union Nonaggression Pact– Germany invades Poland September 1, 1939

The Phony War• Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939– France and Britain declared war on Germany– Did not fight for eight months

• Soviets occupied territory in eastern Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Finland– League of Nations expelled USSR– Britain and France sent aid to Finland

• Winter of 1939-40 remained quiet• April 1940: Germany attacked Norway and Denmark• May: invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and

Luxemburg

Surrender of France• The evacuation of Dunkirk

– Carried out in part by English civilians– Abandoned military equipment on French coast

• France surrendered June 22, 1940– Germany occupied Northern France– Southern third of the country run by Frenchmen, Pierre Laval and Marshal

Petain• Collaborators• Vichy France

– Free French, led by Charles De Gaulle• Mussolini attacked in June 1940

– Then moved into Greece and North Africa• Germany cultivated collaborators called “quislings”• Britain only free country in Western Europe

– Italy was an ally; USSR a friendly neutral

Turning Points in the War

British Hurricane and Spitfire Planes

Pearl Harbor and its Aftermath• 1940 Japan began seizing French bases in Indochina– United States stopped shipping raw materials to Japan

• Prime Minister Tojo Hideki sent representatives to the United States – Pearl Harbor attack December 7, 1941– U.S. declared war on Japan December 8th and Germany

and Italy 3 days later• Early successes for Japan– Singapore, British Malaya, the Philippines, the Netherlands

Indies, New Guinea, and almost Australia– Access to oil and rubber through conquest– U.S. Pacific fleet badly damaged at Pearl Harbor

North Africa and the Pacific• Early 1941– British went into Libya and took Ethiopia– Germans sent Erwin Rommel

• Drove British back to Egypt– British finally held Germans at El Alamein, 70 miles from

Alexandria• 1942, the Grand Alliance• In the Pacific– General Douglas MacArthur led troops from Australia– Admiral Chester W. Nimitz commanded entire Pacific fleet– Victory at Battle of Midway and Battle of the Coral Sea– Island hopping

D-Day; The Normandy Invasion• Second front

– American and British bombers damaged Germany

• North Africa victory– Allies took Sicily and invaded Italy

• Mussolini overthrown– Later executed by his own people

• Massive invasion of French coast planned– 4,000 ships and 10,000 planes– Germans misled that invasion would

occur near Calais• French resistance

– General Dwight Eisenhower commanded combined forces

– Over a million men in France in first month• Freed Paris in August• German border by September

Advance on Berlin• Soviets move into Warsaw

– Bogged down in Poland• Yugoslavia kept Germans

occupied in Eastern Europe, then moved north to Germany

• West reached Berlin April 1945

• East and West met at Elbe River on April 26

• Hitler committed suicide on May 7 and war ended in Germany

Victory in the Pacific• Allies decided to defeat Germany first• Pacific began with Solomon Islands and advanced slowly

toward Japan– Kamikaze pilots

• Okinawa– Iwo Jima– Bombing missions

• Decision to use Atomic Bomb– Enola Gay– Hiroshima August 6, 1945– Nagasaki August 9th

– Japan surrendered three weeks later

Diplomacy During the War

• American neutrality legislation– Repealed in November 1939

• Franklin Roosevelt– Four Freedoms• Freedom of speech, of worship, freedom from want,

and freedom from fear

– 1941 Lend-Lease program• Britain primary recipient, extended to the Soviets after

1943

Diplomacy During the War• Peace terms worked out gradually;

series of conferences– Newfoundland August 1941

• Roosevelt and Churchill– The Atlantic Charter

– Casablanca, Morocco January 1943• Unconditional surrender

– Tehran, Iran December 1943• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin

– Postwar occupation and demilitarization of Germany

– United Nations– Invasion plans

– Yalta on the Black Sea, February 1945• Agreements about Poland and Eastern

Europe• Future of German• War in Asia• United Nations• Occupation zones• reparations

Diplomacy During the War

• Potsdam (a suburb of Berlin)– Roosevelt had died in April 1945; Harry Truman

new president– Truman, Stalin, Churchill, and France– Stalin made territorial demands

European Society During the War• Great Britain

– Society• “digging for victory” gardens• Food shortages, rationing• Interned German citizens

(including Jews)– Morale

• Churchill radio addresses• Air raids, community shelter• Community clean up brigades

– Economy• Mobilized female population• Planned economy; popular

support• Tank and aircraft production

went up

European Society During the War

• France– German occupation

• End of the Third Republic

– Vichy France• Deported Jews to

concentration camps

– Food shortages and other necessities

– French men and women used as slave labor in Germany

• Soviet Union– Huge loss of life both soldiers and civilians– Food and housing scarcity– Strict government control of economy– Women workers and soldiers– Rise in patriotism

European Society During the War

• Germany– Hitler refused to cut consumer production• Take food, armaments, and other supplies from

conquered and ship to Germany• Raise production levels through efficiency• Mobilization not implemented until 1944• Extra labor needs filled by prison laborers

European Society During the War

The Holocaust

• Emigration of Jews• Ghettos• Mass killings• Final Solution– Extermination camps, gas– Labor camps– Medical experimentation

Aftermath of the War

• Europe in shambles• Displaced persons (refugees)• Two superpowers remain: U.S. and U.S.S.R.• Eastern Europe under Soviet domination• Occupation zones– Berlin divided

• The “Iron Curtain”• Yugoslavia• Colonial independence