Readiness standards comprise 65% of the U. S. History Test

1
Readiness standards comprise 65 of the U. S.
History Test
19 A
2
Readiness Standard (7)The student understands
the domestic international impact of U. S.
participation in World War II.
The Student is expected to (A) Identify reasons
for U. S. involvement in World War II, including
Italian, German, Japanese dictatorships their
aggression, especially the attack on Pearl Harbor
3
THE ROAD TO WAR
American Foreign Policy in the 1920s and 1930s
The retreat from an active world policy in the
1920s turned into a headlong flight back to
isolationism in the 1930s. Two factors were
responsible. First, the Depression made foreign
policy seem remote and unimportant to most
Americans. . . . Second, the danger of war
abroad, when it did finally penetrate the
American consciousness, served only to strengthen
the desire to escape involvement. . . . The
growing danger by the mid-1930s of war abroad
led to a rising American desire for peace and
noninvolvement.
4
The United States emerged from World War I as
the richest nation on earth. . . . Each year of
the 1920s saw the nation increase its economic
lead as the balance of trade tipped heavily in
Americas favor.
During the 1920s, the U.S. was careful not to
make any binding commitments on behalf of world
order. The result was neither isolation nor
involvement but rather an cautious middle course
that managed to alienate friends and encourage
foes. . . . The financial crash of 1929 halted
the flow of American dollars across the Atlantic
and led to subsequent default on debt payments,
with accompanying bitterness on both sides of the
ocean.
5
Kellogg-Briand Pact
A treaty outlawing war except in cases of
self-defense (1928) initially, 14 nations,
including the U.S. signed the pact eventually,
62 nations were involved
On August 27, 1928, French Foreign minister
Aristide Briand (right) and U.S. Secretary of
State Frank B. Kellogg (above) signed the
Kellogg-Briand pact. This treaty outlawed war.
On the surface of things, the U.S. and the 13
other nations that signed this Treaty of Paris
appeared to be a high minded, idealistic
commitment to guarantee a world without
international conflict. In fact, it was the
culmination of an American effort to avoid
becoming entangled by obligations to its recent
ally of World War I, the French Republic
6
During the summer of 1927, Briand had approached
the United States with a proposal to formally
outlaw war between France and America. While the
idea appeared attractiveparticularly to
pacifistsBriands true intention was to bind the
United States closely to France in the event of
any future international conflict. Kellogg
adroitly guided negotiations so as to broaden the
terms of the agreement. Briand found himself in a
somewhat awkward position where he had no choice
other than to agree to Kelloggs
counter-proposal. The upshot was a diplomatic
charade finally culminating in the elaborate
ceremony in Paris. If the treaty signatories
agreed to renounce war as an instrument of
national policy in all matters except for self
defense, in practical terms, the impact of the
agreement was negligible. Enforcement rested
entirely on the moral force of world opinion.
Once U.S. senator described the treaty as nothing
more than an international kiss. The United
States continued to keep itself aloof from
involvement in international politics. It neither
picked up the mantle of world leadership nor
expended any effort to preserve world order.
Indeed, as conditions in Europe began to
deteriorate during the 1930s, the American
people retreated even deeper, searching for an
isolationist policy that would spare them the
agony of another great war. What Americans
failed to realize was that there was no place to
hide in the modern world. The period cartoon to
the left satirizes the ineffectiveness of the
Kellogg-Briand Pact.
7
Scorecard Continued

• Isolationismbelief that the U. S. should avoid
  any entangling involvements or agreements with
  other nations
• Internationalismbelief that as a great power,
  the U. S. should assume responsibility for events
  abroad

Events reflecting Americas willingness to
participate in international events in the 1920s

• Washington Naval
• Conference
• Kellogg-Briand Pact
• Dawes Plan
• League of Nations
• Conferences

8
Rise of World Dictators
Mussolini became dictator of Italy in 1922. He
exercised tight fascist control over entire
nation.
He was Hitlers role model during the early years
of Hitlers administration.
9
European Fascism
A form of radical authoritarian nationalism that
came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
Influenced by national syndicalism, the first
fascist movements emerged in Italy around World
War I, combining more typically right-wing
positions with elements of left-wing politics, in
opposition to communism, socialism, liberal
democracy and traditional conservatism.
10
How Mussolini Gained Power in Italy

• Murdered or imprisoned his political opponents
• Suspended elections
• Supervised the economy
• Modernized Italys armed forces
• Supported active campaign of territorial
  expansion (e.g., invasion of Ethiopia)

11
With respect to Mussolinis 1935-1936 Italian
conquest of Ethiopia, the Leagues halfhearted
measures utterly failed to halt the invasion.
Collective security had failed its most
important test.
12
Adolf Hitler Leader of Germanys National
Socialist (Nazi) party
In 1932, Hitler was elected as German chancellor
(right). He was fiercely anti-communist,
anti-Semitic, and against the provisions of the
Versailles Treaty.
13
In 1923, Hitler was legally elected along with
war hero Eric Ludendorff (left).
Hitler enlisted the support of war heroes like
Herman Goering (right) whom he placed in charge
of the revived German air force or Luftwaffe. In
his book, Mein Kampf (center), published while in
jail for the infamous Beer Hall putsch of 1923,
laid out his plans for reassertion of German
power and establishment of a thousand year German
Reich.
14
Issues Giving Hitler Popularity in Germany

• Treaty of Versailles
• Communism
• Charismatic speaking style

15
The notorious peace settlement crafted at
Versailles in France sewed the seeds of a second
and even greater worldwide conflict. By laying
impossible reparation payments, all but exclusive
war guilt on Germany, and ignoring Wilsons
principle of self-determination in the
restructuring of postwar Europe, the diplomats at
Versailles all but guaranteed a future conflict.
Moreover, by stripping Germany of critical
territory and resources, they rendered the new
German republic incapable of meeting the
reparation payments that they demanded.
16
Totalitarian State
The government controlling every aspect of a
persons life state considered to be supreme
few rights extended to individuals all political
opposition forbidden
17
How neutrality Acts Became Progressively
Restrictive

• Neutrality Act of 1935forbid loans to nations at
  war and joint resolution banning aid to either
  side
• Neutrality Act of 1937banned shipments of
  non-military goods to warring nations
• Stimson DoctrineSecretary of State Henry Stimson
  declared the U.S. would not recognize Japanese
  territorial gains in China (but without any plan
  for action)

18
Stimsons failed to change Japans flouting of
the treaties aimed at preserving peace.
19
In 1937, Japanese bomber planes sank U.S. gunboat
Panay on patrol in Yangtze river, killing 2 crew
members government accepted official Japanese
apology and 2 million in damages (reflected
American desire to avoid war at any cost).
20
U.S Response to Japanese Attack on China, 1937
A Collision Course

• Japan lacked raw materials to sustain a
  developing industrial economy
• Japan sought to expand onto Asian mainland
• 1905took Korea
• 1931invaded Manchuria
• 1937invaded China

21
Although technologically able, Japan found itself
without a wealth of resources. This deficiency
led to imperialist behavior.
22
Deterioration of Events in Europe
Munich Pact that bought temporary peace
A conference in 1938 in which the British and
French agreed to allow Hitler to take
Czechoslovakias Sudetenland (which had a
majority of German population)
23
Municha Monument to Failed Foreign
Policy British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain) fell under Hitlers charismatic
spell (as had many others including famous
American aviator Charles Lindbergh).
Upon debarking from the airplane that brought
Chamberlain home from Munich, he triumphantly
waved treaty papers in the air and (like Benjamin
Disraeli in an earlier generation) proclaimed
that he had brought Great Britain peace in our
time. The subsequent flow of events revealed the
folly of appeasement when applied to unscrupulous
leaders whose word could not be trusted.
24
(No Transcript)
25
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
A non-aggression pact signed between Germany and
Russia in 1939. The agreement spared Germany a
two-front war.
Unlikely Bedfellows
26
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pace shocked the
world. Heretofore, official Nazi policy was
decidedly anti-Soviet. Moreover, Mein Kampf
revealed Hitlers dismissive evaluation of both
the communist system and the Slavic peoples. As
the cartoons of the period reveal, the
German-Russian alliance was a cynical
undertaking. Hitler would turn on Stalin in 1941
when the Wehrmacht invaded Russia.
As for America, while the U.S. government largely
ignored the Soviet Union during the 1920s,
President Roosevelt finally extended official
recognition to the Bolshevik government in 1933.
27
The successful aggression by Nazi Germany
brought into question the isolationist assumption
that American well-being did not depend on the
European balance of power. . . . The long retreat
from responsibility was about to end as Americans
came to realize their own democracy and security
were at stake in the European war. . . .
Americans were stunned at Hitlers conquest of
France. Hitler had taken only six weeks to
achieve what Germany had failed to do in four
years of fighting in World War I. Suddenly they
realized they did have a stake in the outcome if
England fell, Hitler might well gain control of
the British navy.
28
MunichA Cynical Bargain
Notions that the situation in Europe would work
out were "destroyed on August 23, 1939, by the
news of a Nazi-Soviet pact. Fascism and
communism were political philosophies supposedly
in deadly opposition. Many Americans had
secretly hoped that Nazi Germany and Soviet
Russia would fight it out, neutralizing each
other."
Cynicism of Pact exhibited pre-pact quotes by "
It is quite possible to course that there are
madmen in Germany who dream of annexing the
Soviet Ukraine. If there really are such
lunatics in Ger., rest assured we shall find
enough straitjackets for them in our country"
Stalin
29
"The ideas by which we are governed are
diametrically opposite to those of Soviet
Russia....our task is to destroy Marxism. We
will fight it to the death...Bolshevism is the
most malignant poison that can be given to a
people. Any treaty with the present Russian
government would be completely worthless" Hitler.
One is reminded of the old adage, Tis time to
fear when tyrants seem to kiss.
30
Winston Churchill
Churchill became British prime minister after
Chamberlains resignation when policy of
appeasement became discredited. In fact,
Churchills political career had been largely in
decline. As a younger man, he had held many
important government posts before becoming
persona no grata. During his wilderness years,
he was virtually a lone voice warning of the
dangers that Nazi Germany posed to the peace of
Europe and the world. It was only under the
extraordinary circumstances of the late-1930s
that his popularity revived and he became
acceptable as the national leader.
31
Appeasement
The policy adopted by Allies in dealing with
Hitlers Germany give in to Hitlers demands for
territorial gains hoping Hitler would eventually
be satisfied (or, as Churchill put it, feeding
your neighbors to the crocodile, hoping that he
would eat you last)
32
Blitzkrieg
Lightening war introduced by Hitler in 1939
involved sudden, fast moving attacks with planes
and tanks
The combination of Panzer tanks and planes proved
unstoppable.
33
Nations Conquered by Germany by 1940

• Czechoslovakia
• Poland
• Denmark
• Norway
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• France

34
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

• An imperial concept created and promulgated for
  occupied Asian populations during the first third
  of the Showa Period by the government and
  military of the Empire of Japan.
• It promoted the cultural and economic unity of
  the East Asian race. It also declared the
  intention to create a self-sufficient bloc of
  Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of
  Western powers.
• It was announced in a radio address entitled The
  International Situation and Japans Position by
  Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita on June 29, 1940.

35
American Entry into World War II
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese
galvanized pro-war sentiment in the U.S. It gave
FDR the pretext that he needed to do what he had
known for a long time that he would have to lead
America into the fray and militarily support the
Allied cause.
36
Why the U.S. Finally Entered the War
The bombing of Pearl Harbor by the Japanese
galvanized pro-war sentiment in the U.S.
37
Why Did the U.S. Go to War?
Pearl Harbor was the immediate cause
What about the long term causes?
38
The Alliance Structure
The three totalitarian nations that signed the
Anti-Comintern pact formed the so-called
Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis

• The Allies
• Great Britain
• France
• Soviet Union
• The Axis Powers
• Germany
• Italy
• Japan

39
The Road to War

• In 1940, Japan sought to incorporate its
  possessions into a greater East Asia
  co-prosperity sphere
• Nature of the conflictU.S. wanted Japan to
  evacuate China
• Japan wanted a free hand in China
• The Rome-to-Tokyo Axis (September 1940) fused
  the conflicts in Europe and Asia turning the
  struggle into global war
• Fearing a two front conflict, and hoping to
  postpone war with Japan, the U.S. engaged in a
  kind of diplomatic shadow boxing

40
War Guilt

• Most of the responsibility lies at Germanys
  door, specifically charged to Adolph Hitler
  (whose whole policy had been war-oriented)
• A peace of more than 25 years would do great harm
  to Germany. . . in eternal peace, mankind
  perishes
• Social Darwinismwar ridded mankind of unfit
  speciesthe primal law of life and death and
  gaining at the expense of others
• To his generation, who were products of World War
  I, the idea of peace seemed unpleasant. . . There
  was a fascination with hostility
• The Western Allies were also to blame to a lesser
  extent, especially France and Britain
• Russiaher Non-Aggression Pact with Germany made
  the war well-nigh inevitable

41
FDR declared that the security and peace of 90
of the world is being jeopardized by the
remaining 10
42
Areas of the World in Which Most of the Fighting
Occurred
The Pacific Theater
43
Contrasts with World War I It Differed in
Origins and Major Events

• World War II was far more a world war, involving
  more territory in Asia, China, Africa, and Europe
• World War I had been largely a war for position
  WW II was in almost constant movement
• Weapons that were chiefly new were responsible
  for greater speed and mobility in WW II.
• the airplane revolutionized war on land and sea
• almost 25 of the casualties in WW II were
  airmen, e.g., those caught in
  "Flack Alley" amounted to
  70,000
• bomb targets were the manufacturing backbone of
  the 3rd Reich, the industrial centers

44
Contrasts Continued

• The use of air warfare against civilian targets
  eradicated the distinction between the fighting
  and home fronts. . . World War II was more of a
  total war than World War I.
• The production of planes, ships, munitions,
  weapons, food, and clothing drew in civilians.
• World War I was in part a clash of ideologies and
  systems of rule World War II was a more acute
  clash in a doctrinaire fashion, a kind of
  worldwide civil war to decide not so much the
  kind of power that would henceforth rule the
  world as the kind of morality

45
Comparisons with World War I

• Both wars were tied to the follies of Versailles
• Both were tied to the Great Depression
• World War I was a cause of the Depression
• World War II was in part the result of it
• The desire for German hegemony was a key motive
  in both wars In this, Hitler becomes
  representative of a general German imperialistic
  drive as remote as the Bismarckian period that
  drive culminated in Hitler who radicalized
  "flight from fears of the socialist menace" into
  expansionist ideas

46
Comparisons Continued

• Eastern Lebensraum had long been a part of German
  ideology the big question was whether hegemony
  would fall to the Teuton or Slav.
• The concept of English neutrality to wage
  successful war against France with
  simultaneous conquest in the Eastthis had roots
  in the Wilhelmian period

47
Six Causes for World War II

• Versailles Treatyplanted the seeds of a new and
  greater war. One historian calls World War II
  the "war over the settlement of VersaillesThe
  peace left many national and international
  problems unsolvedthey all contributed to the
  coming of war in 1939
• Struggle between the Right and Left in
  Europeboth were against democracy
• Rioting and the threat of communist revolution
  scared those on the Right
• Communism and Fascism were alternative solutions
  to cope with dissatisfaction over inefficient
  government
• In times of crisis, people turn or lean to
  extremist solutions and powerful leadership

48
Causes Continued

• Economic ills
• post-war inflation, especially in Germany and
  Italy
• the Great Depression which followed inflation
• Fatiguea lack of desire to become involved with
  international problems. This led the main
  democracies to bury their heads in the sand, to
  respond with appeasement, i.e., the giving of the
  aggressor what he wanted

49
Causes Continued

• Failure of the League of Nations to preserve
  peace
• 1931Japanese invasion of Manchuria
• 1935Italian invasion of Ethiopia
• The League was powerless to prevent warit had no
  armed forces and had to depend on the military
  support of France and England who were unprepared
  for war, and lacked large
  armies
• The League wouldn't render unified support to
  check the actions of the aggressor states
• Rise of Aggressor Nations which Tested the
  Strength of the Democraciesintense nationalism
  was given purpose by a drive for conquest and a
  hatred of minority groups

50
MussoliniWe have buried the putrid corpse of
liberty. . . war alone sets the stamp of nobility
on the peoples who have the courage to face it.
FDRthe security and peace of 90 of the world is
being jeopardized by the remaining 10.
51
(No Transcript)
52
Fini