Chapter 23 WORLD WAR II
The Coming of War 1931-1942
 What events caused World War II, and
how did the United States become
involved?
Standards
 SSUSH19
 The student will identify the origins, major
developments, and the domestic impact of World War
II, especially the growth of the federal government.
 SSUSH19.a
 Explain A. Philip Randolph's proposed march on
Washington, D.C. and President Franklin D.
Roosevelt's response.
 SSUSH19.b
 Explain the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the
internment of Japanese-Americans.
Dictators and Wars
Section 1
 Why did totalitarian states rise after World
War I, and what did they do?
 Vocabulary:
-totalitarianism
-Spanish Civil War
-Benito Mussolini
-Adolf Hitler
-antisemitic
appeasement
Joseph Stalin
Anschluss
Munich Pact
Dictators and Wars
A Bitter Peace Unravels
Main Idea: After World War I, extreme dictatorships known as totalitarian states rose up in
many European countries.
Repression in the Soviet Union and Italy
Main Idea: Joseph Stalin rose to power in the Soviet Union and Benito Mussolini took
control of Italy. Both used repression to exert control over their country.
Aggressive Leaders in Germany and Japan
Main Idea: The depression helped Hitler rise to power in Germany and led to Japan
attempting to expand their empire with aggressive military action.
Dictators Turn to Aggression
Main Idea: The League of Nations was not able to stop rising aggression in Europe and
Asia, therefore, Germany, Italy, and Japan’s aggressive acts continued throughout the
1930s.
Aggression Goes Unchecked
Main Idea: The United States and other democratic nations tried to grant some concessions
to totalitarian nations in order to prevent another war.
Definitions
 Alliance – union or association of nations that is set up to
further the common interests of its members
 Appeasement– policy of giving in to the demands of a
hostile power to avoid conflict and maintain peace
 Democracy – government’s power and authority rest with
the people. People express their power through voting
 Fascism – political philosophy that calls for the glorification
of the nation above the individual – includes the use of force
against opposition
 Propaganda – media that supports the spread of ideas for
the purpose of helping or damaging a cause
 Totalitarianism – government that has total control of
society. Power rest in the hands of a few people
CHART
Characteristics of a Totalitarian State
Germany Faces Economic Collapse
 A Troubled Germany
 Treaty of Versailles
 Economic unrest
 Political Instability

Weimar Republic
 US Response
 Isolationism
 War Debt Repayment

Dawes Plan
Rise of Adolf Hitler
 Hitler’s Early Years
 Hitler and the Nazi Party
 Beer Hall Putsch
 Mein Kampf
 Aryan Race -
 Hitler Becomes Dictator
 Anti-Semitic Policies
 Nuremburg Laws 1935
 Kristallnacht – Night of the Broken Glass
 Hitler’s Policies
 US Response
 Focus on domestic concerns
 Security through disarmament
Germany
 Hitler, “Der Fuhrer” – a discontented Austrian painter who
joined the National Socialist German Workers’ Party,
became its head,, went to jail, wrote a book, and then won a
following who made him their leader
 Mein Kampf – “My Struggle” – Hitler’s best-selling first
volume of his autobiography which outlines Nazi
philosophy and plans for the nation
 Rhineland – region in western Germany along the border
of France and Belgium that had been closed to German
military after WWI. Hitler invades, we appease him in 1936.
 Sudetenland – region of eastern Czechoslovakia with a
large German population, given to Germany as part of an
appeasement deal in 1938.
German words to know…
 Reichstag – German Parliament, makes Hitler a dictator
 Luftwaffe – German version of the Air Force
 Sitzkreig – sit down war – sitting still and waiting while the enemy
makes battle plans and masses troops
 Blitzkreig – lightening war – used tanks, artillery, and soldiers on
foot to move rapidly into enemy territory before the enemy has time
to react
 Einsatzgruppen – German paramilitary forces, often called the SS.
 Lebensraum – living space – what the Germans claimed they
needed, why they are expanding…
Hitler Describes the Jews
 'The struggle between the people and the hatred amongst
them is being nurtured by very specific interested parties. It
is a small, rootless, international clique that is turning the
people against each other, that does not want them to have
peace ... It is the people who are at home both nowhere and
everywhere, who do not have anywhere a soil on which they
have grown up, but who live in Berlin today, in Brussels
tomorrow, Paris the day after that, and then again in Prague
or Vienna or London, and who feel at home everywhere.
[Man in audience shouts 'The Jews!'] They are the only ones
who can be addressed as international, because they conduct
their business everywhere, but the people cannot follow
them.'
Fascism in Italy
 Turmoil
 Same as rest of the world
 Cheated by the Treaty of Versailles
 Depression
 Mussolini and Fascism
 Why would Fascism appeal to anyone?



Order and control during chaos
Promise to revive the Roman Empire
Private Property
 Rise to Power
 Italian Imperialism
 US Response
 Neutrality Acts
 Moral Embargo
ITALY
 Mussolini, “Il Duce” – WWI vet who organized Fascist
groups. When he threatened to march on Rome, the
king panicked and made him Prime Minister.
 Black Shirts – Il Duce’s Fascist thugs who “controlled
the opposition”,
 “The Country is nothing without Conquest.”
 Ethiopia – March 1936 – Il Duce’s first conquest
Spanish Civil War
 Spanish Civil War
 Francisco Franco and the Nationalist
Party
 Hitler and Muss helped out
 Rome-Berlin Axis
 Military Alliance
 US Response
 Neutrality is tested
Rise of Militarism in Japan
 Militarism in Japan
 Depression and second
rate reputation led to
Military Leaders gaining
power
 Japanese Imperialism
 Attacked Manchuria 1931
 Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
 Shanghai 1937
 US Response
 Words w/o Deeds
 Quarantine Speech
JAPAN
 Unhappiness with their position in the world of the 1920s,




Japan expanded to fill their need for raw materials and
markets and land for their growing population.
1931 – Japan seizes Manchuria, and its conquest of Asia
begins.
Hideki Tojo – Minister of War for Japan, leader of military
after 1941.
Kamikaze – suicide airplanes used as strategic bombs to
take out ships in the pacific.
1940 – Japan controls most of Eastern China. Signs
neutrality agreement with Soviet Union as well!
The Rape of Nanking
 Totalitarian – governments that control every aspect
of citizens’ lives
 Fascism – political philosophy that places the nation
in a place of greatest importance, even over the
individual
 Tripartite Pact – neutrality pact and alliance between
the Axis powers, signed September 1940.
TRANSPARENCY
Reading Skill: Summarize
Violation and Appeasement
 Hitler violates the Treaty of
Versailles
 Reoccupies the Rhineland on the
French Border
 The Sudetenland
 3 million Germans lived in the
West Border of Czechoslovakia
 The Munich Agreement
 Appeasement of Hitler
 US Response
 Negotiation and appeasement
Invasion of Czechoslovakia
 Hitler Invades
 Goes against Munich promise
 Made demands of Poland
 Wanted Danzig and Polish
Corridor
 Nazi-Soviet Pact
 Non-aggression pact of Hitler
and Stalin
 Secret plan to divide Poland
 Plan to Invade Poland
 US Response
 Pressing for Peace
 Planning for War
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas
TRANSPARENCY
Political Cartoons: The Nazi Party
PM
TRANSPARENCY
Progress Monitoring Transparency
From Isolation to Involvement
Section 2
 How did Americans react to events in Europe
and Asia in the early years of World War II?
 Vocabulary:
-Neutrality Act of 1939
-Axis Powers
-Allies
-Winston Churchill
blitzkrieg
Tripartite Pact
Lend-Lease Act
Atlantic Charter
From Isolation to Involvement
Roosevelt Opposes Aggression
Main Idea: Roosevelt was against the aggression occurring in Europe and Asia,
but did not take direct action against the totalitarian countries.
War Erupts in Europe
Main Idea: When Germany invaded Poland, war broke out and eventually
expanded across Europe.
Americans Debate Involvement
Main Idea: Early on, most Americans were against getting involved in the war, but
slowly began supporting Britain
America Takes Steps Toward War
Main Idea: The United States began providing open support to Britain, and
received an aggressive response from Germany.
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Sequence
World War II Begins
 Invasion of Poland
September 1, 1939
 Blitzkrieg
 US RESPONSE
 Neutrality Questioned
 Cash and Carry Plan
 American Public
Opinion
FDR’s Quarantine Speech
 “When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the
community approves and joins in a quarantine of the
patients in order to protect the health of the community
against the spread of the disease.…War is a contagion,
whether it be declared or undeclared. It can engulf states
and peoples remote from the original scene of hostilities.
We are determined to keep out of war, yet we cannot insure
ourselves against the disastrous effects of war and the
dangers of involvement.”
President Franklin Roosevelt, Quarantine speech, October 5, 1937
Poland Falls to the Nazis
 Britain and France signed an alliance with Poland,
guaranteeing aid if Hitler attacked
 Hitler signed a Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact with the
Soviets on August 23, 1939 (agreed to divide Poland)
 September 1, 1939, war started with blitzkrieg
 War entered an eight-month period of quiet known as the
“phony war”
TRANSPARENCY
German Blitzkrieg
FALL OF
FRANCE
 French Maginot
Line
 Belgium
Corridor
 France Falls in 6
Weeks
 British and
French troops
escape from
Dunkirk
US Supports Great Britain
 Britain is Isolated
 France goes down early
 Britain was lone power with ability
to stop AXIS
 Atlantic Charter  Winston Churchill – New Prime
Minister of Britain
 FDR and Churchill Met


Seek no territory
Support self-rule
 US Response
 Lend-Lease Act – March 1941


Arsenal of Democracy
Garden Hose
 Germany Attacks US Destroyers
Great Britain
 Winston Churchill – PM of GB during the war.
 “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on
the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields
and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we
shall never surrender.”
 The Bombing of Great Britain – Battle of Britain
Hitler attempted to destroy GB’s will to fight back
against German advances. (Remember the Lion,
the Witch and the Wardrobe? That’s why the kids
were sent from London to the country!)
Battle of Britain 1940
European Theater
Isolationists and Interventionists
 Isolationists wanted complete neutrality
 America First Committee criticized FDR’s pro-British policies
 Charles Lindbergh was a leader, who feared the Soviet Union
and Japan
 Interventionists wanted to help Great Britain and the Allies
in order to stay out of the war, but they believed that the
U.S. should prepare for war
 Election of 1940 – FDR defeated Republican Wendell Willkie
ANALYZE
Political Cartoons: The Only Way to Save Democracy
QUICK STUDY
Should the United States Enter World War II?
United States
 FDR – the president.
 “We look forward to a world founded upon
four essential human freedoms. The first is
freedom of speech and expression--everywhere
in the world. The second is freedom of every
person to worship God in his own way-everywhere in the world. The third is freedom
from want . . . everywhere in the world. The
fourth is freedom from fear . . . anywhere in
the world.”
 Neutrality Act – we will stay out of it both by not
fighting and not selling military stuff to countries who
are fighting
 American Pacific Fleet moved from California to Pearl
Harbor. (bad decision!)
 Lend-Lease Act
 German U-boats attack American ships
 “The Great Arsenal of Democracy” – the idea that
the US military’s assets are available for use for defense
of democratic countries against foreign aggressors
 December 7, 1941, “A day which will live in infamy.”
PM
TRANSPARENCY
Progress Monitoring Transparency
America Enters the War
Section 3
 How did the United States react to the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?
 Vocabulary:
-Hideki Tojo
-Pearl Harbor
-WAC
Douglas MacArthur
Bataan Death March
Battle of Coral Sea
America Enters the War
Japan Attacks the United States
Main Idea: After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, the
United States officially entered the war.
Mobilizing for War
Main Idea: The attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of the
war led to a wave of patriotism, and a large number of
Americans volunteered for service or created goods needed.
Fierce Fighting in the Pacific
Main Idea: Early on, the Japanese seemed to have control of
the fighting in the Pacific, but by 1942 the United States had
won some ground.
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
 Japanese Aggression
 China, French Indochina,
Dutch East Indies, British
Malaya
 Japan needed Oil,
Rubber, Food
 US Response
 Cancelled commercial
treaty w/Japan
 Stopped exporting
gasoline and scrap metal
 December 7, 1941
 US Response
 Declaration of War
Tojo
Pearl Harbor
Japanese attack Pearl Harbor
 General Hideki Tojo – prime
minister in 1941
 Send 6 aircraft carriers under
Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo
to end American naval and air
presence in the Pacific
 Americans lost nearly 2500
killed, 8 battle ships
damaged, 160 aircraft
destroyed; aircraft carriers
survived
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Causes and Effects
A Date Which Will Live in Infamy
Drawing found on a
Val shot down during
the attack.
Translated, it says,
"Hear! The voice of
the moment of death.
Wake up you fools."
The United States
Goes to War
FDR
Chester Nimitz
TRANSPARENCY
Women and the War Effort
Mobilizing for War
 16 million Americans served in the military
 Women’s Army Corps (WAC) 350,000 women
 War Production Board (WPB) oversaw conversion of
industry to war materials
 Ford Motor Company built B-24 Liberator bombers
 Henry J. Kaiser’s shipyards produced “Liberty Ships”
GRAPH
World War II Aircraft Production
Douglas MacArthur
Bataan Death March
US Strategy in the Pacific
 Pearl Harbor Launched
the Pacific War
 American stronghold in
the Philippines was lost
 MacArthur – “I shall
return”
 Bataan Death March
 Island Hopping
Campaign
 Doolittle (Tokyo)
Raids
 Lieutenant Colonel James
Doolittle
Doolittle Raid 1942
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Sequence
TRANSPARENCY
The Battle of Midway