Prelude to WWII
Mein Kampf
• Aryans• Lebensraum—nations power depends on
amount and kind of land it occupied– Germany must prepare for inevitable war with the
Soviet Union
International Pacts
• Locarno Pacts (1925) made Germany respect her borders
• Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)– Proposed by US--Kellogg and France--Briand– Outlawed war
• Germany, Italy, and Japan violated these pacts
International Pacts
Fascist aggression (1931-1939)
• Manchuria– (1931-32) Japan
• Ethiopia– (1935) Italy
• German remilitarization– (1935-36)
Fascist aggression (1931-1939)
• Spain– (1936) Franco
• China– (1937) Japan
• Austria– (1938) Germany
NationalismNationalismNationalism
• Czechoslovakia– (1938) Germany
• Albania– (1939) Italy
• Poland– (1939) Germany
Fascist aggression (1931-1939)
WWII
Basic causes
•Militarism• Imperialism•Nationalism• Totalitarianism
Subsidiary causes• Failure of:–Appeasement•March 9, 1935—announced creation of
new air force, 1 week later—the intro of a military draft (100,000 to 550,000)• Anglo-German Naval Pact-June 18, 1935•March 7, 1936—sent troops into
demilitarized Rhineland
• 1936—Rome-Berlin Axis• November 1936—Anti-Comintern Pact
Mussolini and Hitler in 1936
• Anschluss• March 13, 1938• Immediately, Nazis began brutal crackdown
on Austrian Jews
Course of the War
Hitler at Reichstag after announcing Anschluss
• 1938 postcard-- "One People, One Reich, One Führer"
Anschluss
Course of the War
• Sudeten woman dutifully salutes parading Nazis, October 15, 1938
Course of the War
• Chamberlain with the agreement
Munich Agreement September 29, 1938
Chamberlain & Hitler
Course of the War
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact• August 23, 1939
Course of the War
German Foreign Minister Von Ribbentrop, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov, and Stalin
• Late 1939 postcard proclaiming "Danzig is German"
Poland
Course of the War
GERMANY: 1914-1920
Poland, September 1, 1939
• September 3—France and Great Britain declare war on Germany
• Two weeks later (September 17) the Soviet Union sends troops to eastern Poland
