US History: Spiconardi
EVENTS LEADING TO WORLD WAR II: MILITARY AGGRESSION & APPEASEMENT
ITALIAN AGGRESSION
Italy invades Ethiopia (1935)
Using mustard gas, Italians advance on Ethiopia and eventually
Ethiopia’s emperor, Haile Selassie, goes to League of Nations League of Nations refuses to recognize Italy’s control of
Ethiopia, but does nothing else.
League of Nations was ineffective, as countries were more concerned about their own economic crisis
It will be you
tomorrow.
Italy would invade
Albania in 1939
NAZI AGGRESSION
The Third Reich
Hitler vowed to create a German-speaking empire in violation of the Treaty of Versailles
Nazi Violations of the Treaty of Versailles
Hitler begins to rebuild army
Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland in 1936 Rhineland land in western declared de-militarized
under the Treaty of Versailles Acted as a buffer between France and Germany
Nazi soldiers march into the Rhineland to the cheers of Germans
NAZI AGGRESSION
Annexation of Austria
In March of 1938, Germany annexes Austria as part of his building of a German-speaking Empire
Crowds in Vienna, Austria
cheering the arrival
of Nazi troops
APPEASEMENT The Munich Agreement
France & Great Britain began to fear Hitler’s tactics
Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia
In September 1938, France, Great Britain, and Germany make a pact Hitler would be allowed to annex the
Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia, if he promised not to take anymore land
Chamberlin (GB), Daladier (FR), Hitler (GER), Mussolini (ITA), Ciano (ITA)
APPEASEMENT
Lands acquired by
the Third Reich as of September
30, 1938
APPEASEMENT
Just six months after the Munich Agreement, Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia
Great Britain and France do nothing in response to Hitler’s violation of the Munich Agreement
Czech woman weeping as she salutes the invading German
forces
APPEASEMENT
There was no fighting between
German and Czech forces. Two German soldiers
drive past an unsettled group of
Czech citizens
APPEASEMENT
Appeasement a policy of giving into the demands of an aggressor/potential enemy in order to avoid war.
‘Why should we
take a stand about
someone pushing
someone else when
it’s all so far away?’
APPEASEMENT
Why would European nations like Great Britain and France follow a policy of appeasement?
SOVIET-NAZI TREATY OF NON-AGGRESSION
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
In August of 1939, the U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression pact The two countries
promised not to attack one another
Secretly promised to divided Poland among themselves
Molotov signs the pact, as Ribbentrop and Stalin look on
SOVIET-NAZI TREATY OF NON-AGGRESSION
What did the West think of
the Soviet-Nazi Treaty of
Non-Aggression
according to cartoonist
David Low?
SOVIET-NAZI TREATY OF NON-AGGRESSION
What is the cartoon artist implying about the Molotov-
Ribbentrop Pact?
And the “honeymoon” doesn’t last. In June
1941, Germany invades the U.S.S.R.
START OF WORLD WAR II
Invasion of Poland
On September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland
In response, France and Great Britain demand Germany withdraw from Poland Germany refuses
On September 3, 1939, France and Great Britain declare war on Germany two days later