Causes of WWII WWI The Great Depression Italian Japanese and German aggression Appeasement giving in to an aggressor to keep peace Nonaggression Pact August 23 1939 Stalin and Hitler signed a ID: 551970
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Slide1
The Beginning of WWIISlide2
What happened in the Interwar Years in Europe?
The Great Depression happened because of the Wall Street Crash in the USA in 1929.
The Great Depression affected Germany the most because they were also paying large sums of money in reparations for WW1. Italy was also badly affected. This allowed Fascists to come to power.
Mussolini took power in Italy. His Fascist party marched on Rome and demanded the King put him in power. Mussolini abolished democracy and banned other political parties. Slide3
Cont’d
In the Soviet Union Lenin died in 1924 and Stalin became leader. He industrialized and collectivized Russia. He purged many people who were against the Communist government.
Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933. His Nazi party ended democracy and eliminated other political parties. The Nazis attacked minorities such as gay people, gypsies and black people-They hated Jewish people most of all.
Hitler began to seize land around Germany from other countries. The League of Nations was weak and did not stop him. Britain took a policy of appeasement, they tried to avoid war with Hitler by giving in to some of his demands.Slide4
Causes of WWII
WWI
The Great Depression
Italian, Japanese, and German aggression
Appeasement: giving in to an aggressor to keep peaceSlide5
What is Fascism?
Fascism emphasized loyalty to the state and obedience to its leader. There was no clearly defined theory or program however most Fascists shared several ideas.
They followed an extreme form of nationalism
Believed nations must struggle and fight
Pledged loyalty to an authoritarian leader who guided and brought order to the state
Wore uniforms, held rallies and used special salutes.Slide6Slide7
Timeline
1922- Mussolini forces the King to make him leader of Italy.
1933- Hitler elected chancellor of Germany.
1935- Mussolini invades Ethiopia and takes over.
1936- Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland, an area of Germany near France. Germany was banned from putting troops there in the Treaty of Versailles.
1938- Hitler forces Austria to join with Germany, by invading, because the people there are mostly German ethnically. The League of Nations does nothing.
1938- Hitler says the German people living in the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia should be part of Germany. He threatened to invade. Britain and France agreed Hitler could have the Sudetenland in the Munich Pact.
1939- Hitler invades the rest of Czechoslovakia even though he promised not to in the pact.
September 1939- Chamberlain became frustrated with Hitler. The invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March had convinced him that Hitler could not be trusted to stick to his promises. Britain and France gave Germany an ultimatum. If they invaded Poland, as they planned, there would be war. Hitler made a deal with Stalin and Germany jointly invaded Poland, with the USSR, on September 1
st
,1939. Slide8
Nonaggression Pact
August 23, 1939: Stalin and Hitler signed a
nonaggression pact
, agreeing not to attack one another
Also agreed to divide Poland, and that the USSR could take Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and EstoniaSlide9Slide10
Germany Sparks a New War in Europe
Sept 1, 1939: Hitler invaded Poland
Sept 3: France and GB declared war on Germany but too late for PolandSlide11Slide12
Hitler’s Lighting War
Germany’s newest military strategy:
blitzkrieg
lightning war
moving fast to take enemy by surprise, overwhelm them
worked efficientlySlide13Slide14
The Soviets Make their Move
Sept 17 USSR sent troops to occupy Eastern half of Poland, annexed Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia
Finland resisted-Stalin sent almost 1 million troops.
Finns able to hold them off for a while, but in March 1940 they surrendered Slide15Slide16
The Phony War
GB and France stationed troops along the
Maginot Line
, system of fortifications along France’s border with Germany, waited for Germans to attack but nothing happened
German soldiers waited from their Siegfried Line a few miles away; called the
sitzkrieg
, “sitting war” or “phony war”Slide17
Denmark and Norway Fall
April 9, 1940 Hitler launched surprise invasion of Denmark (fell in 4 hours) and Norway (fell in 2 months)
now Germany could build bases along coast to attack GBSlide18
The Fall of France
May 1940 Hitler began attacking through Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in order to reach France
He sent tanks and troops through the Ardennes, a wooded area in Northern France, Luxembourg and Belgium
German troops were able to squeeze between Maginot Line, move across France
By End of May 1940 Germans had trapped Allied forces around northern French city of Lille-outnumbered, outgunned, retreated to beaches of Dunkirk, a French port city near Belgian border-trapped thereSlide19
The Fall of France
May 1940 Hitler began attacking through Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in order to reach France
He sent tanks and troops through the Ardennes, a wooded area in Northern France, Lux and Belgium
German troops were able to squeeze between Maginot Line, move across FranceSlide20
Rescue at Dunkirk
GB set out to rescue the army: fleet of ships sent across English channel to Dunkirk; May 26-June 4 it sailed back and forth rescued about 338,000 soldiersSlide21
France Falls
France surrendered on June 22, 1940
Germans took control of northern part, left southern part to a puppet gov’t led by Marshal Philippe Petain
Headquarters in city of Vichy (Vichy gov’t)Slide22
Charles de Gaulle
: a French general, set up gov’t-in-exile in London, committed to reconquering FranceSlide23
The Battle of Britain
GB stood alone against the Nazis!
Winston Churchill
new Prime Minister in May 1940
Summer 1940 Germany’s air force, the
Luftwaffe
, began bombing GB, focusing on airfields, factories, and citiesSlide24
GB’s
airforce
known as the Royal Air Force (RAF)
badly outnumbered but began to fight back with help of 2 new technologies:
Radar
: an electronic tracking system, could tell number, speed, and direction of incoming warplanes
Enigma
: German code-making machine, enabled them to decode German secret messagesSlide25
End of Battle of Britain
Oct 1940 Germany gave up daylight raids
Battle of Britain
continued until May 10, 1941
Hitler called off attacks, shifted focus to Mediterranean, E. Europe
Showed Hitler’s attacks could be blocked!