World War II

CAUSES

• WWI peace settlement fails• Economic instability increases around the

world• Nationalistic dictators gain control in Europe

& Japan• Appeasement fails• Germany invades Poland

EFFECTS

• Germany invades numerous European countries

• US passes the Neutrality Acts (Kellogg-Briand Pact rejected war)

• Congress increases defense spending & establishes draft

• Lend-Lease Act: US provides aid to Great Britain & Soviet Union

WWII

Axis Powers• Germany• Japan• Italy

Allies• Great Britain• Soviet Union

(Communist Russia)• USA• France• Others

US Enters the WWII

• Dec. 7th, 1941: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (US naval base in Hawaii)

• US involvement: 1941-1945• WWII ends in Europe first• WWII ends in the Pacific due to dropping of

two atomic bombs (Only nuclear weapons ever used in world history)

Hiroshima & Nagasaki