REVIEWING CAUSES OF WWII WWII - WAR BEGINS S. Helgeson, 2015 • • Inefficacy of the League of Nations • Rise of fascist govt.’s • Economic problems post WWI (everywhere) • Great (worldwide) Depression GREAT BRITAIN & FRANCE APPEASEMENT POLICY AMERICAN “GOOD NEIGHBOR” & ISOLATIONIST POLICY Encouraged fascists to grab even more power • Can’t we all just get along??? REBEL JAPAN • PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT “Rape of Nanjing” 1938 • FDR criticized Japan for being lawless • no declaration of war • But did little beyond that • purposeful attacks on civilian targets • • • notably vicious/cruel • killed 3 American military • Division between world powers gave Hitler opportunity to make his move but no real plan of action • Japan continues to attack East Asia VIOLATION OF THE MUNICH PACT HITLER TAKES ADVANTAGE • tried to make an alliance of nations • 1939 Hitler absorbs Czechoslovakia • Now Britain & France realize action is needed • Agree to protect Poland if Hitler comes Anschluss 1938 • when Germany forced(?) Austria to join them • Sudentenland falls to Germany via the Munich Pact HITLER ISN’T SCARED OF W. EUROPEANS EUROPE PRE-WWII • But he is worried about going to war w/USSR • Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, 1939 • Public agreement - to not go to war • Private agreement - to take Poland & split it BLIZTKRIEG • HITLER MOVES WEST, 1940 Sept. 1, 1939 • this starts WWII • “lightning war” • surprise, speed, and heavy firepower • Poland collapses within a month • Attacks Scandinavian & small northern European countries • put up very little resistance MAGINOT LINE, PROTECTING FRANCE GERMANY PUSHES THROUGH MAGINOT LINE • • Attacks France, pushing French & British forces up to the coast Miracle at Dunkirk they escape by grabbing every floating vessel they could find GERMANY CAPTURES FRANCE • Divides France in half: • Occupied France in the north • Unoccupied (Vichy) France • supposedly self-governed, but under control of Germany WINSTON CHURCHILL, PRIME MINISTER OF GREAT BRITAIN • Appeasement is over! • Britain prepares for battle • Germany attacks Britain by air • Bombed London itself for months at a time - laid to total waste • “the blitz” LONDON SUMMER, 1940 SHOULD AMERICA GET INVOLVED? • What is the “Neutrality Act?” • Make a chart that shows which countries were the allies, and which were the axis. • Make a chart that show reasons for staying isolationist, and reasons for becoming interventionist in WWII. • What is the Tripartite Act, and what message did it send to the rest of the world? • How did the “Lend-Lease Act” allow the U.S. to start getting involved in the war effort? • According to FDR, what are the “four freedoms?”