Commodore Perry, Treaty, 1853
• End Japanese Isolation by
demonstrating superior naval force
• introduced interchangeable weapon
parts
• Japan begins rapid industrialization &
modernization
Root-Takahira Agreement, 1908
• U.S. interpretation =
honor status quo in
Pacific
• Japanese
interpretation = U.S. T.R
sanctioning
Japanese “sphere
of influence in Far
East” except for
Philippines
T. R. mediated Peace
Russo-Japanese War
Lansing-Ishii Agreement, 1917
• Recognize Japan’s special
interests in Manchuria
• Admonish Japan to honor
Open Door Policy in China
Summary of Diplomatic
Problems with Japan
• Language Barrier
• Discrimination of
Japanese
Immigrants
• Cultural Arrogance
The Versailles Treaty
A Weak League of Nations
The Ineffectiveness of the
League of Nations
 No control of major conflicts.
 No progress in disarmament.
 No effective military force.
The “Stab-In-The-Back” Theory
German soldiers are dissatisfied.
Decadence of the Weimar Republic
France – False Sense of Security?
The Maginot
Line
Italy, 1922
• Mussolini & his
“Black Shirts”
march on Rome
• Beginning of
Fascist
Dictatorship
Washington Conference, 1922
• U.S.:Britain:Japan scrap warships
5:5:3
International Agreements
Locarno Pact – 1925
 France, Germany, Great Britain,
Italy



Guarantee existing frontiers
Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on East
bank of Rhine River
Refrain from aggression against each
other
Kellog-Briand Pact – 1928
 Makes war illegal as a tool of
diplomacy

No enforcement provisions
The Great Depression
The Manchurian Crisis, 1931
Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931
Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931
• Creates “puppet state” Manchukuo
• China asked League & U.S. to intervene
• Stimson Doctrine = U.S. not recognize
territory seized by force
Japan attacks Shanghai,
1932
• U.S. embargo on munitions sales to belligerents
1933
• Hitler Seizes Power in
Germany
• F.D. R. elected President
T.R
Tydings-McDuffie Act, 1934
• Grants Philippine Independence in 10 yrs
• Japanese Interpretation = U.S. no longer
interested in Pacific Basin
• Japan terminates Washington Treaty, 1934
Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935
Emperor
Haile
Selassie
Germany Invades the
Rhineland
March 7, 1936
U. S. Neutrality Acts:
1934, 1935, 1937, 1939
America-First Committee
Charles Lindbergh
The Austrian Anschluss, 1936
The Spanish Civil War:
1936 - 1939
The
National
Front
The
Popular
Front
[Nationalists]
[Republicans]
 Carlists [ultra-Catholic
monarchists].
 Catholic Church.
 Falange [fascist] Party.
 Monarchists.
 Anarcho-Syndicalists.
 Basques.
 Catalans.
 Communists.
 Marxists.
 Republicans.
 Socialists.
The Spanish Civil War:
1936 - 1939
The Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939
The American “Lincoln Brigade”
The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939
Francisco Franco
The Spanish Civil War:
A Dress Rehearsal for WW II?
Italian troops in
Madrid
“Guernica”
by Pablo Picasso
The Japanese Invasion
of China, 1937
Japanese Invasion of China,
July 1937
• No formal declaration of war
• FDR allows munitions sales to continue
China--7 million, Japan—2 million
Panay Incident, 1937
• Japan mistakenly bombs American gunboat on
Yangtze River = issues formal apology
• U.S. aid to China increases—Volunteer Air
Force
• U.S. manufacturers boycott Japan
The “Problem” of the
Sudetenland
Appeasement: The Munich
Agreement, 1938
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr
Hitler is a man we can do business with.
Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of
the Third Reich: 1939
Rome-Berlin Axis, 1939
The “Pact of Steel”
The Nazi-Soviet
Non-Aggression Pact, 1939
Foreign Ministers
von Ribbentrop & Molotov
Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939
Blitzkrieg [“Lightening War”]
German Troops March into Warsaw
European Theater of Operations
The “Phoney War” Ends:
Spring, 1940
Dunkirk Evacuated
June 4, 1940
France Surrenders
June, 1940
A Divided France
Henri Petain
The French Resistance
The Free French
The Maquis
General Charles
DeGaulle
Fall of 1940
• Rapid fall of Belgium, Holland, France,
Denmark, Norway to Blitzkrieg
• Battle of Britain
• sinking of Robin Moor & Reuben James
Japan invades Indochina, 1940
• Congressional Ban on selling gasoline
& scrap iron to Japan
Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis:
The Tripartite Pact
September, 1940
Now Britain Is All Alone!
Winston Churchill
• Led lone battle
against
appeasement
T.R• Prime Minister at
moment Britain
plunges into War
U. S. Lend-Lease Act,
1941
Great Britain.........................$31 billion
Soviet Union...........................$11 billion
France......................................$ 3 billion
China.......................................$1.5 billion
Other European.................$500 million
South America...................$400 million
Totaled: $48,601,365,000
Lend-Lease
Battle of Britain:
The “Blitz”
Battle of Britain:
The “Blitz”
The London “Tube”:
Air Raid Shelters during the Blitz
The Royal Air Force
British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
The Atlantic Charter
Roosevelt and
Churchill sign
treaty of
friendship in
August 1941.
Solidifies alliance.
Fashioned after
Wilson’s 14 points.
Calls for League of
Nations type
organization.
Operation Barbarossa:
Hitler’s Biggest Mistake
Japanese American Talks,
Spring 1941
• Cordell Hull & Ambassador Nomura
• U.S. demands Japanese withdrawal in
exchange for removal of trade restrictions
Japan resumes take-over of
Indochina
• FDR freezes Japanese assets
March, 1941
• Hideki Tojo & War Party
Control Japanese
Government
Operation Barbarossa:
June 22, 1941
 3,000,000 German soldiers.
 3,400 tanks.
Hull & Nomura Talks
Continue, June 1941
• Nomura:
– Japan stops further expansion
– U.S & Britain stop aid to China
– U.S. lifts embargo
– Japan pulls out of Indochina after
“just peace” with China
• Hull (Nov. 26, 1941)
– Japan must “withdraw all military,
naval, air, and police forces” from
China & Indochina
Ultra Secret: Enigma Machine
• U.S. breaks
Japanese Code
(Col. W.
Friedman)
• Knows war is
eminent
• Expects attack
on Malaysia &
Philippines
Pearl Harbor
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
Pearl Harbor from the Cockpit
of a Japanese Pilot
Pearl Harbor - Dec. 7, 1941
A date which will live in infamy!
President Roosevelt Signs the
US Declaration of War
Pearl Harbor: Dec. 7, 1941
• Yamamoto plan of attack
• Also invade Philippines & Malaysia
• U. S. Losses:
–
–
–
–
–
–
2 battleships destroyed
6
“
near destruction
12 “
out of action
150 planes destroyed
2,300 killed
1,100 wounded
• Not present during attack: U.S. aircraft
carriers
USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor Memorial
Germany
& Italy
Declare
War on
United
States