Prelude to WWII

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Prelude to WWII

• Unit 4
• Honors US History

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What are the Main Causes of War?

1. ___
2. ___
3. ___
4. ___

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What are the Main Causes of War?

• A common enemy to a nation
• An outside threat to a nation
• Mob mentality, or the power of inspiration in the
  masses
• Inspiration concerning a common cause
• Can you use this formula for the causes of WWII?

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Common Enemy to the Nation

• The Treaty of Versailles had been a thorn in the
  sides of Germans for almost twenty years
• Hitler was an opportunist when it came to
  building upon this shame and humiliation.
• Blamed France, Great Britain, Russia for
  Germanys ills

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Outside Threat

• Hitler and Nazis brought about fear that the
  communism would spread from the USSR
• Many of the forces which Hitler was able to bring
  under control in Germany were actually opposed to
  Nazi rule, but accepted the rule for the greater
  goal of eliminating the spreading Bolshevism in
  Russia.
• Hitler often expounded upon these fears in his
  propaganda , promising an end to Bolshevism and
  the threat of communist takeover.

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Outside Threat AND A Common Enemy

• Anti-Semitist policies of Nazi Germany were
  closely tied to Anti-Communism and the "Red
  Scare," and the Jews were blamed for Bolshevism
  and its spread.
• Anti-Semitism, too, was magnified in German lands
  by the use of subtle and not-so-subtle
  propaganda.
• Ideas of the evil and sub-humanity of other
  races, such as the Slavs and Jews, Hitler gave a
  sense of pride to all Germans, who, he claimed,
  were innately superior.

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Mob Mentality

• The Lost Generation from WWI
• World War I had produced an entire generation of
  youth who had gone into a war of an extent which
  none could have guessed.
• This youth had no training in peace time careers,
  and, when the first Great War ended in 1918, knew
  nothing but the art of war.
• Thus, the "Lost Generation" of German youth,
  displaced by its own society, played a major role
  in supporting Nazi rule and the onset of WWII, as
  well as many of the brutalities which occurred
  under Nazi occupation of other countries.

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Inspiration

• In claiming to rebuild Germany to its former
  glory Hitler was able to add to the sense of
  pride
• Many Germans felt at the acknowledgement of their
  "pure and superior Aryan blood" by claiming
  responsibility for the growing economy after the
  Great Depression

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Germany Elects Nazi Party

• Hitler appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933
• Nazi Party
• Nazis passed the Nuremburg Laws which caused Jews
  to
• Lose German citizenship
• Lose all political rights
• Be banned from school
• Be segregated in public places
• Wear a yellow star as identification of ethnicity

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Adolph Hitler's charisma

• Inspiration
• Hitler seemed to have a hold over his people by
  use of a steady and unwavering charisma.
• Even when the war was inevitably lost and the
  people of Germany were disgusted with the entire
  war, many blamed the other Nazi leaders, never
  removing Hitler from his pedestal.
• Furthermore, Hitler had a strongly developed
  understanding of the desires of the German
  people, and was always able to aim his promises
  in exactly the right directions.

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Hitler Speech- 1939
http//www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/thr
eat.htm
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Propaganda used by the Nazi Party

• Mob mentality
• Hitler made explicit use of the mob mentality to
  rally the masses behind the Nazi flag.
• Hitler stated many times that the only way to use
  propaganda effectively was to aim it at the
  stupidity of the masses rather than the
  intellectuals.
• He used short slogans repeated again and again to
  drive ideas home into the minds of his followers.
  
• More importantly, however, Hitler staged massive
  Nazi support rallies such as the Nuremburg
  Rallies in November each year, in which the
  people could look around and see how many "fellow
  countrymen" were upholding the ideals of the
  Nazis.

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Nuremberg Party Rally 1933
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1936 Berlin Olympics
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Leni Riefenstahl making Olympic movie (1936)
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Jesse Owens
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Hitler's Statements on Foreign Policy 1933-39
(extracts)

• May 17, 1933 "The German Government wish to
  settle all difficult questions with other
  Governments by peaceful methods . . . Germany
  will tread no other path than that laid down by
  the Treaties . . . The German people have no
  thought of invading any country."
• Nov 10, 1933 "I am not crazy enough to want a
  war."
• Aug 17, 1934 "The German Government, like the
  German people, are filled with the unconditional
  wish to make the greatest possible contribution
  to the preservation of peace in this world."

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Still Making Claims in 1939

• Jan 1, 1939 "In general we have but one wish--
  that in the coming years we may be able to make
  our contribution to this general pacification of
  the whole world."
• Jan 30, 1939 "Only the war-mongers think there
  will be a war. I think there will be a long
  period of peace."
• Apr 1, 1939 "(We) do not dream of attacking
  other nations, providing they leave us alone . .
  ."

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Germanys imperialistic plans

• Germany strengthened military and markets.
• Created massive army
• Decided to control the North Atlantic region
• Believed they were racially and culturally
  superior to other nations and peoples
• Used European Jews as slave labor

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More Of Hitlers Statements

• May 21, 1935 "Germany neither intends nor wishes
  to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria,
  to annex Austria, or to conclude an Anschluss
  political union"
• Mar 15, 1936 "The German people do not wish to
  continue waging war to readjust frontiers. Each
  readjustment is bought by sacrifices out of
  proportion to what is to be gained."
• Sep 26, 1938 "We have assured all our immediate
  neighbors of the integrity of their territory as
  far as Germany is concerned. That is no hollow
  phrase it is our sacred will . . . The
  Sudetenland is the last territorial claim which I
  have to make in Europe . ."

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Germany Takes Rhineland in 1936

• German troops entered the demilitarized zone
  between France and Germany called the Rhineland.
• This was a direct violation of the Versailles
  Treaty
• No one stopped them

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Munich Pact

• Britain, France and Germany signed pact
• Hitler promised not to take any more land.
• Britain and France gave in.
• Called appeasement.
• Famous quote from British Prime Minister
  Chamberlain
• peace in our time.

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British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Peace in our time
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Germany

• In 1937 Germany annexed Austria to unite the
  German people.
• This was called the Anschluss
• Nazis silenced opposition to the Act by threats
  and violence
• Later that year, Germany annexed the area of
  Czechoslovakia known as the Sudentenland

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Sudeten woman, unable to conceal her misery as
she dutifully salutes the triumphant Hitler
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Kristallnacht- 1938

• A massive, coordinated attack on Jews throughout
  the German Reich on the night of November 9,
  1938, into the next day, has come to be known as
  Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass.
• Mob violence broke out as the regular German
  police stood by and crowds of spectators watched.
  
• Nazi storm troopers along with members of the SS
  and Hitler Youth beat and murdered Jews, broke
  into and wrecked Jewish homes, and brutalized
  Jewish women and children.

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Kristallnacht- 1938

• All over Germany, Austria and other Nazi
  controlled areas, Jewish shops and department
  stores had their windows smashed and contents
  destroyed. Synagogues were especially targeted
  for vandalism, including desecration of sacred
  Torah scrolls.
• Hundreds of synagogues were systematically burned
  while local fire departments stood by or simply
  prevented the fire from spreading to surrounding
  buildings.
• About 25,000 Jewish men were rounded up and later
  sent to concentration camps where they were often
  brutalized by SS guards and in some cases
  randomly chosen to be beaten to death.

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• "In the course of my life I have very often been
  a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for
  it. During the time of my struggle for power it
  was in the first instance only the Jewish race
  that received my prophecies with laughter when I
  said that I would one day take over the
  leadership of the State, and with it that of the
  whole nation, and that I would then among other
  things settle the Jewish problem. Their laughter
  was uproarious, but I think that for some time
  now they have been laughing on the other side of
  their face. Today I will once more be a prophet
  if the international Jewish financiers in and
  outside Europe should succeed in plunging the
  nations once more into a world war, then the
  result will not be the Bolshevizing of the earth,
  and thus the victory of Jewry, but the
  annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!"
• -Adolph Hitler

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The War Starts1939

• Germany annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia in
  1939
• ThenGermany invaded Poland.
• Beginning of WWII in Europe.
• Britain and France declared war on Germany.
• Russia and Germany sign a non-aggression treaty
• Will be broken as well when Germany invades
  Russia in 1941

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The War Grows in Europe-1940

• The Nazis invade Netherlands, Belgium, and
  Luxembourg on May 10).
• Chamberlain resigns as Britain's prime minister
• Churchill takes over (May 10).
• Germans cross French frontier (May 12) using
  air/tank/infantry Blitzkrieg tactics.
• Dunkerque evacuationabout 335,000 out of 400,000
  Allied soldiers rescued from Belgium by British
  civilian and naval craft (May 26June 3).
• Italy declares war on France and Britain invades
  France (June 10).
• Germans enter Paris city undefended (June 14).
• France and Germany sign armistice at Compiègne
  (June 22).
• Nazis bomb Coventry, England (Nov. 14).

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Adolf Hitler visits Paris with architect Albert
Speer (left) June 23, 1940. (Photo credit U.S.
National Archives)
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British prisoners at Dunkerque, France, June
1940.
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The Blitz in England
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The Blitz in England
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The Blitz in England
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Adolf Hitler and Italian Fascist leader Benito
Mussolini together in Munich, June 18, 1940.
(Photo credit U.S. National Archives)
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Nazi Mercy Killings

• In October of 1939 amid the turmoil of the
  outbreak of war Hitler ordered widespread "mercy
  killing" of the sick and disabled.
• The Nazi euthanasia program to eliminate "life
  unworthy of life" at first focused on newborns
  and very young children

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Aktion (Action) T4

• Hitler suspended Aktion T in 1941 but it had
  already accounted for nearly a hundred thousand
  deaths.
• However, the Nazi euthanasia program quietly
  continued, but without the widespread gassings.
  Drugs and starvation were used and doctors were
  encouraged to decide in favor of death whenever
  euthanasia was being considered.

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The Role of the USPre-1941

• Most are isolationists in the US
• In an attempt to remain neutral, FDR pushed
  aggressive nations away from the US
• Tried to quarantine the nation
• The Quarantine Speech was FDRs 1939 response to
  aggressive actions by Italy and Japan, and
  suggested the use of economic pressure, a
  forceful response, but less direct than outright
  aggression.
• It caused protests by isolationists and foes of
  intervention.

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So. why did US Become Involved BEFORE Pearl
Harbor?
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Why did US Become Involved BEFORE Pearl Harbor?

• Close relationship with England
• Language, customs, traditions
• Worried about Hitler and the rising German nation

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Atlantic Charter 1941

• Churchill and FDR met on a battleship off the
  coast of Canada.
• Made alliance for war
• They planned for organization of the United
  Nations.

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Lend-Lease Act 1941

• How did the US help Britain and France without
  breaking the Neutrality Acts?
• We would LEND them weapons, ammunition, ships,
  etc., and they would LEASE lands to us in the
  Atlantic for military bases.

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Burke-Wadsworth Act

• U.S. established the draft (Selective Service) in
  1940
• All men 21-35 register for military service.
• Later, the ages were 18-45.
• Today 18-year old boys must registerbut there
  currently is no draft

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Japans Imperialistic Plans

• Japan needed raw materials and markets
• Decided to control the Pacific region
• Believed they were racially and culturally
  superior to other nations
• Took Korean peninsula and used Koreans as slave
  labor

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Imperial Japan

• Beginning in the late 19th century, Japan fought
  a series of wars that expanded its control over
  the Asian mainland.
• By the beginning of World War II in 1939, Japan
  had a sizeable empire in East Asia.

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Strained US-Japanese Relations

• Stimson Doctrine U. S. would not recognize any
  territory taken by force
• Japanese invaded northern China (Manchuria)
  beginning WWII in Asia
• Japan established the puppet state Manchuko in
  China (Manchuria)
• Panay Incident
• U.S. gun boat on Yangze River shot at by Japanese
  pilots. U.S. sailors killed. After U.S. protest,
  Japan pays reparations to U.S. and families
• Hedecki Tojo became leader of Japanese war lords

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Japanese Aggression in the Pacific

• Japan needed oil, rubber, steel, and food
• Aggression against China, French Indochina, Dutch
  East Indies, British Malaya
• US Response
• Cancelled commercial treaty w/Japan
• Stopped exporting gasoline and scrap metal

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Pearl Harbor

• December 7, 1941 755 a.m. Japanese attacked
  U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters at Pearl Harbor,
  Hawaii.

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Pearl Harbor Attack
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Pearl Harbor Attack
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Pearl Harbor Attack
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Pearl Harbor Attack
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Famous Words by FDR

• Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will
  live in infamy - the United States of America was
  suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and
  air forces of the Empire of Japan.
• The United States was at peace with that nation,
  and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in
  conversation with its government and its Emperor
  looking toward the maintenance of peace in the
  Pacific.

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The US Enters WWIIDecember 9, 1941

• I ask that the Congress declare that since the
  unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on
  Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, a state of war has existed
  between the United States and the Japanese
  Empire.

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The World Plunges into WarThe Results will be
DevastatingThe total estimated human
loss of life caused by World War II, irrespective
of political alignment, was roughly 62 million
people