WORLD WAR II
1939-1945
•Political instability and economic devastation
in Europe resulting from World War I
4 CAUSES :
1. Worldwide
depression
2. High war debt
owed by
Germany
3. High inflation.
4. Massive unemployment
-German money became worthless.
Children played with stacks of money while housewives
burned it for fuel.
To help you remember the
4 CAUSES That Led to WWII :
War
Has
Hurt Millions
Rise of Fascism:
Fascism is political
philosophy in which
total power is given
to a dictator and
individual freedoms
are denied and
nationalism and,
often, racism are
emphasized.
Fascist dictators included:
• Adolf Hitler (Germany)
• Benito Mussolini (Italy)
• Hideki Tojo (Japan)
These dictators led
the countries that
became known as
the Axis Powers.
Hitler
Mussolini
Tojo
Dictator
Adolf
Hitler
Joseph
Stalin
Benito
Mussolini
Hideki
Tojo
Country
Germany
Soviet Union
Political
Party/Political
Philosophy
Nazi Party
Fascism
Communism
Threats to Peace
1. Racist government.
2. Blamed Jews for problems in Germany.
3. Suppressed opposing views and controlled
peoples’ lives.
4. Built up military.
5. Expanded territory.
6. Formed an alliance with Italy.
1. Used force to demand obedience.
2. Sent people to labor camps/killed opposition.
3. Forced people to work on government owned
farms.
Italy
Fascism
1.
2.
3.
4.
Banned all political parties.
Ended freedom of the press.
Ended all civil liberties.
Invaded Ethiopia and Albania.
Japan
Militarycontrolled
government
Fascism
1. Attacked Manchuria.
2. Formed an alliance with Italy and Germany
called the Axis Powers.
•Democratic Nations: The United States (at end of 1941,
Great Britain, Canada, France were known as the Allies.
•The Soviet Union joined the Allies after being
invaded by Germany in June 1941.
Allied Leaders Included:
• Franklin D. Roosevelt later Harry S.
Truman (US)
• Winston Churchill (Great Britain)
• Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
•Germany invaded Poland, setting off war in Europe.
•Great Britain and France then declared war on Germany.
•The Soviet Union also invaded Poland & the Baltic nations.
• Germany
invaded
France and
captured
Paris.
• Germany bombed
London, and the Battle of
Britain began.
Gradual change in American Policy
… from neutrality to Direct Involvement:
At first, the
United
States was
neutral and
isolationists.
Isolationism
Philosophy
was Due To:
• Great Depression
(problems in our own
country).
• Legacy of World War I
(we became involved in a
European war once
before).
• Economic Aid
to Allies.
What is this cartoonist
saying the U.S. trade
policy with England
will lead to?
Great Britain
needed help from
the U.S.
• Destroyers for Bases
(1940)
The U.S. gave Britain war
supplies & old naval
warships in return for
military bases in Bermuda
and the Caribbean.
•Lend - Lease (1941)
The U. S. gave Britain
war supplies and old naval
warships in return for
military bases in Bermuda
and the Caribbean.
United States Direct Involvement:
Rising tension developed between the U.S. &
Japan because of Japanese aggression in East Asia.
The “Rape of Nanking”
Analyzing
Political
Cartoons:
1. Discuss with
your partner:
What do see?
2. What is the
cartoonist
trying to say
about the
U.S.’s ability to
“stay neutral”
during WWII by
halting trade
with countries
like Japan?
•On December 7,
1941 Japan attacked
the U.S. at Pearl
Harbor without
warning.
“A date which
will live in
infamy.” ~
F.D.R.
War is Declared
•The United States declared war on Japan.
•Germany declared war on the United States.