Unit 16: Winds of WarOHS HISTORY TEAM

Learning Objectives

• Explain the international rise and spread of fascism, communism, and totalitarianism.

• Explain FDR’s response to world crises

• Analyze the response of the U.S. to the plight of European Jews before the start of the war.

• Explain the reasons for American Entry into World War II, including the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Big ConceptsEffects of World War I and the Great Depression led to the rise and spread of dictatorships in Germany, Italy, Russia (Soviet Union), and Japan.

The leaders of these countries promised their people improved lives at the lose of personal freedoms.

Germany under the leadership of the Nazi party began the persecution of political opponents, undesirables and Jewish people that culminates in the Holocaust.

Germany, Japan, and Italy began seizing neighboring territories for economic and military advantages.

Without the United States as a member the League of Nations was helpless to stop these aggressive nations.

The American public was more concerned about recovering from the Great Depression and urged policies of isolationism and neutrality.

Franklin Roosevelt felt that the United States must help its allies around the globe.

World War II begins in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland.

The United States maintains neutrality until December 7th 1941 when Japan attacks the Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii.

Key Vocabulary

• Yellow Must

• Green if time permits

Fascism

• one-party dictatorship.

• centralized government

• tend to be militaristic, and racist

• GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN

Communism

• One party political system

• Controls economy and society

• rejects any religion

• No private property

• SOVIET UNION (FIRST COMMUNIST NATION)

Totalitarianism

• Rule through propaganda and fear

• restricts individual opposition to the state and its claims,

• high degree of control over public and private life

• Fascist and communist countries are totalitarian

Benito Mussolini

• First fascist leader

• Italy

Adolf Hitler

• Fascist leader of Germany

• Nazi Party

Joseph Stalin

• Communist dictator

• Soviet Union (USSR)

Crisis in Europe Part I• 1930s - Nazi Germany rebuilds and seizes lands lost from World War 1

• 1930s - Italy builds military and invades Ethiopia

• 1938 – Munich Agreement -Britain and France attempt to appease and prevent war with Nazi Germany

FDR’s Quarantine Speech

• Quarantine Speech - 1937 aimed at Germany, Italy and Japan, called for a “quarantine” of aggressor nations.

Crisis in Europe Part II

• September 1939 - Germany invades Poland with the Soviet Union

• Great Britain and France declare war on Germany

• 1940 - Germany conquerors Europe (most importantly France)

• 1940 - Germany bombs Britain

• 1941 - Germany breaks truce and invades the Soviet Union

Blitzkrieg “Lightening War”

FDR’s Four Freedoms Speech

• 1940 Much of Europe had fallen to the advancing German Army and Great Britain was barely holding its own.

• Franklin Roosevelt presented his reasons for American involvement

• In helping Britain, President Roosevelt stated, the United States was fighting for the universal freedoms that all people possessed.

Lend Lease Act

• U.S. government could lend or lease (rather than sell) war supplies to any nation deemed “vital to the defense of the United States.”

• United States was able to supply military aid to its foreign allies during World War II while still remaining officially neutral

Atlantic Charter

• August 1941 -joint declaration by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

• provided a broad statement of U.S. and British war aims.

Winston Churchill

• Democratic leader of Great Britain

Hideki Tojo

• Prime Minister of Japan with permission of Emperor Hirohito

Crisis in Asia / Pacific

• 1910 – Japan annexes Korea

• 1931 – Japan invades Manchuria

• 1937 – Japan invades China

• 1941 – Japan attacks the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Allied and Axis Powers

• Allied Powers – United States, Great Britain, Soviet Union

• Axis Powers – Germany, Italy, and Japan