Road to World War II

1. Road to War

2. Rise of Fascism
 FDR knew that war may be inevitable in
Europe
 2/3 of Americans did not want another
war, citing they did not agree with entry
into WWI
 Nye Report, 1934
 Great Depression
 US still had a general policy of neutrality

3. Japan
 Japan invades China in 1937
 Already occupied Manchuria (1931-
1932)
 LON did not approve of Japan’s actions
but could not do anything to stop them
 Japan was not allowed to participate in
the league for a year, and they decided
to withdraw from the League!

4. Italy
 Mussolini was encouraged by what
Japan was doing
 Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935
 Italy had not received any colonies as
part of the Versailles Treaty
 Ethiopia was independent, but could not
stop Italy from invasion
 LON again not happy, but helpless

6. Hitler/Germany
 Came to power due to poor conditions and
large reaparations, also fear of Communism
 Socialist or Nazi Party took over in 1933
 Mein Kampf: Written by Hitler, discussed
overturning territorial settlements of the
Versailles Treaty, to restore a “German
Fatherland”, and to annex much of Eastern
Europe
 First concentration camp opened in 1933

8. Appeasement
 Policy from England
and France to avoid
war with Germany
 Munich agreement
in 1938 in which
England and France
agreed to allow
Hitler to annex the
Sudetenland
 JFK, Why England
Slept, 1940

9. Neville Chamberlain, Peace
for Our Time, Sept. 30, 1938
 “The settlement of the Czechoslovakian
problem, which has now been achieved
is, in my view, only the prelude to a
larger settlement in which all Europe
may find peace.”
 “We regard the agreement signed last
night….as symbolic of the desire of our
two peoples never to go to war with one
another again.”
 Chamberlain treated like a hero

10. Isolationism in the 1930’s
 Very uninvolved in this decade
 Formal recognition of Soviet Union in
1933
 Good Neighbor Policy: US renounced
the use of military force and armed
intervention in the Western Hemisphere
 What factors led to public support for
non-intervention internationally?

11. Neutrality Act
 1935 act that prevented a recurrence of
events of WWI
 Imposed an embargo on arms trading with
countries at war
 Declared that American citizens traveling on
ships were doing so at their own risk
 Banned loans to bullying countries
 Cash and carry: purchases of non-military
goods from US would have to be paid for in
cash, and picked up on own ships if at war
 Protested by many; esp. America First Committee

12. America First Committee
 Hundreds of
thousands of
members
 Led by Charles
Lindbergh, Henry
Ford, Father
Coughlin
 Dissolved after Pearl
Harbor

13. WWII Begins
 Germany expands into Austria, Czechoslovakia
 Then comes the Munich meeting: failure! Hitler
decides to expand anyway through force
 Hitler now moving towards Poland
 Aug. 1939: Hitler signs a non-aggression pact with
Soviets
 This assured Germany that they would not have a two-front
war

14. WWII Begins
 Poland invaded by Germany on Sept. 1, 1939
 Blitzkrieg, the world has never seen anything like it!
 http://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.24457
 Sept. 3, 1939, Britain and France declare war on Germany,
WWII officially begins
 “Phony War,” Allies wait
 German attacks continue on May 10,
1940
 Scandinavia, Belgium, Netherlands
 Occupied Paris by June of 1940
 Axis Powers formed in same month

15. Sudetenland

19. Nazi troops in
Warsaw, Sept. 1939
Wielun, Poland on Sept. 1, 1939

20. Maginot Line

22. US Reaction
 Looked at for our reaction
 FDR declared neutrality on Sept. 5, 1939
 By April 1940, Germany had defeated
Poland and Denmark
 Then, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg
 Even France by June 1940
 Only Britain is left
 Churchill is desperate for help

25. At this point…some action!
 FDR created the National Defense
Advisory Commission and Council of
National Defense in 1940
 Built military bases on British
possessions in the Atlantic
 Ended neutrality by doing this!
 Congress increased defense spending
and had a peacetime draft
 Selective Service & Training Act

26. Election of 1940

27. Lend-Lease Act
 After winning election of 1940
 President had power to lease, lend, or
otherwise dispose of arms and other
equipment whose defense was
considered vital to the security of the US
 When Germany invaded the Soviets in
1941, they expanded the program to
them

28. Four Freedoms Speech
 FDR’s State of the Union speech; Jan.
1941
 Four fundamental freedoms that people
everywhere should enjoy
 Freedom of speech
 Freedom of worship
 Freedom from want
 Freedom from fear
 Became a basis for war aims
 An attempt to gain public support

31. Atlantic Charter
 FDR and Churchill
 Off coast of Newfoundland
 Ideological foundation of the Western
cause
 Similar to Fourteen Points in that it:
 Called for economic collaboration
 Guarantees of political stability
 Free trade, national self-determination,
collective security