American Response to World Events in the 1930s
World Event
Date
1931
Japan invades Manchuria
1932
Japan conquers Manchuria
A puppet government is set - up
1932
Japan attacks Shanghai,
China
The League of Nations
requests that Japan
withdraw from Manchuria
1933
Japan withdraws from the
League.
1935
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Emperor Haile Salassie appeals
to the League of Nations for
help. Ethiopia falls to Italy
1935-36
Germany Rearms
Violates the Treaty of Versailles
Sends troops into the Rhineland
(buffer zone)
Civil War in Spain Breaks
Out
Hitler and Mussolini aid the
Fascist Franco in overthrowing
the Republican government of
Spain. The Soviet Union tries to
aid the loyalist government, but
aid is insufficient. Dress
rehearsal for WWII.
193639
American Response
Japan begins full invasion
of China
1937
Japan gains control of coastal
territories, moves up the rivers,
spreading inland. World War II
begins in Asia.
Japan attacks the
American gunboat Panay
1937
American gunboat is attacked
on Yangtze River in broad
daylight. Two Americans are
killed and others wounded.
Germany annexes Austria
1938
Hitler seizes Austria claiming its
people want to be part of Nazi
Germany.
Hitler demands the
Sudetenland
1938
Munich Pact - Hitler received
Sudetenland with the promise
that this would be his last
territorial claim. APPEASEMENT
Hitler annexes all of
Czechoslovakia
1939
Appeasement looks really foolish
now.
Hitler demands the free
city of Danzig and the
Polish Corridor
1939
This is territory that had been
part of the German Empire
during World War I and given to
Poland as part of the Treaty of
Versailles.
Germany and the Soviet
Union announce a nonaggression pact
Marriage of convenience surprise!
1939
Germany invades Poland
1939
Poland falls in 3 weeks - the
Soviet Union receives a portion.
Great Britain and France
declared war on Germany. The
Soviet Union invades Finland.
Germany conquers
northern Europe
1940
Blitzkrieg - by April Denmark,
Norway, Holland, and Belgium
fall. France falls in June.
Battle of Britain
1940
In desperate need of equipment
and under constant attack from
the German airforce. Britain is
severely weakened but holds
on. German submarine warfare
threatens the British with
starvation.
1940
Japan began to attack
European possessions in
SE Asia
Japan signed a treaty of
alliance with Germany and
Italy
Japan invaded southern
Indo-China
1940
1941
1941
Germany invades the
Soviet Union
1941
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor