CHAPTER 34: The Origins of World War II

CHAPTER 34: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Shadow of WarAmerica Becomes a Good NeighborPhilippine Independence by 1946More freeing US from the Philippines than freeing THEM from usFormal recognition of the USSR in 1933Motives: Trade and to balance the power of Japan in Asia and the threat of Germany in EuropeThe Good Neighbor PolicyFDR renounces armed intervention in the Western Hemisphere (undoing the Roosevelt Corollary?)Pulls marines Some businesses took a hit but it paid dividends in goodwillEurope After World War IWWI caused the deaths of millions and the destruction of numerous cities and farms. The European economy was in ruins.The Treaty of Versailles left many European nations unhappy.Germany was most affected by the Treaty of Versailles.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso In 1937, German planes, aiding Franco in the Spanish Civil War, bombed and destroyed Guernica. The indiscriminate killing of women and children aroused world opinion. The bombing of Guernica became a symbol of fascist brutality.

The Military Takes Control of the Government in JapanPre World War I, Japan industrializes with the help of a strong military to gain natural resourcesAfter WWI, Japan is a member of the League of Nations and signs the Kellogg-Briand PactWorldwide depression renews militarismExtreme nationalism and a need for raw materials (like oil) put Japan on the path toward warPrime Minister Hideki Tojo continued to develop the military

Military Aggression is Met with a Weak Response in AsiaJapan takes control of Manchuria in n. ChinaThe League ordered Japan to leave (they did not)Soon Japan occupied all of Chinas major cities and withdrew from the weak League of NationsFDR speaks out against the epidemic of world lawlessness in his Quarantine Speech hoping to get Japan to stop expanding (they did not)

Military Aggression is Met with a Weak Response in EuropeHitler begins rebuilding the German military against the orders of the Treaty of VersaillesHitler reoccupies the Rhineland against the orders of the Treaty of VersaillesHitler annexes Austria (the anschluss)Hitler wants to take the Sudetenland which was taken from Germany after WWIIn the Munich Pact (appeasement) , British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appeases Hitler and gives it to himHitler then takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

Peace in our time (Neville Chamberlain) never came to be

Congress Legislates NeutralityNeutrality Acts in 1935, 1936 and 1937No American could legally sail on a belligerent ship, sell or transport munitions to a nation at war or make loansAmerica was not going to get sucked into WWII like WWIBy not helping anyone, the aggressors WERE helped and the victims suffered

MeanwhileMussolini was expanding into EthiopiaThe League of Nations imposed weak economic sanctions to get Italy to leave (they did not)In May, the Rome-Berlin Axis is formed by Hitler and Mussolini in a treaty of friendshipBoth help Franco in SpainIn the U.S. its all about neutralityno arms, ammunition or weapons of war to nations in conflictNo one wanted to repeat WWI

Hitler Plunges Europe into WarWinston Churchill becomes Prime Minister in Great BritainAlong with France, no more German territorial demands would be toleratedAugust, 1939: Hitler signs a Non-Aggression Pact with StalinNeither would attack the otherDivide PolandSeptember, 1939: Hitler invades PolandBlitzkrieg (lightning war) tacticsGreat Britain and France declare war on Germany

British forces cross the English Channel to helpThe phony war begins then ends in April 1940 with German surprise attacks in n. and w. Europe338,000 British troops have to evacuate at DunkirkJune 1940 Paris falls to the Nazis while Italy declares war on Great Britain and France, too (they form the Axis Powers)A French puppet government is formed in VichySpring 1941: Britain stands alone

A Third Term for FDR?

Americans Move Away from IsolationismJapan joins Germany and Italy in an alliance of mutual supportThe Tripartite Pact signed in September 1940Now who would have to fight a two front war?Selective Service and Training Act (1940)1st peacetime draft in American historyLend-Lease to Great Britain (lend, not sell, arms)The U.S. would become the arsenal of democracy and send guns, not sons to EuropeAtlantic Charter (FDR and Churchill)Promise not to use war to expand territoryReaffirm a belief in self-governmentA new permanent system of general security (U.N.)Yesterday, December 7th, a date which will live in infamy - F.D.R.Japan had tried to establisha new order in East AsiaThe U.S. responded with aidto Japans enemies, blockingexports (oil), freezing Japanese assets in U.S. banksAt Pearl Harbor, 300 Japanese bombers and fighter planes sank or damaged 18 American ships and 300 aircraft2400 Americans killed, 1200 wounded