MR. LIPMAN’S APUS
POWERPOINT CHAPTER 34
The Road to World War II
Keys to the Chapter
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Isolationism
Nationalism
Totalitarianism
Tripartite Pact
Spanish Civil War
Neutrality Acts
Germany Starts War 9/1/39
Lend-Lease
Atlantic Conference
Japanese Embargo
Isolationism -Nationalism
• London Conference- USA first agrees to go to
help world economic crisis then backs away
• Philippines Independence- We agree to their
independence in 12 years (1946) –TydingsMcDuffie Act of 1934
• Recognize Russia to help trade and have allie
against Germany (1933)
• Good Neighbor Policy – To reduce hatred and
increase trade with Latin America - make S.A. an ally
against Europe:
– Endorse non-intervention in domestic issues in
Latin America (renouncing Roosevelt Corollary)
– Withdraw from Haiti
– Reduce enforcement of Platt Amendment
– Not intervene in Mexico when it nationalizes oil
companies (tells companies to negotiate)
• 1934 – Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
– FDR could lower tariffs if others did the same
No approval of Senate to avoid politics &
time delays
– By 1939 – 21 countries had trade agreements with
US; US trade increased as a result
BELIEF IS THAT INCREASED TRADE REDUCES THE
CHANCE OF WAR AND IMPROVES ECONOMIES OF
ALL PARTICIPATING NATIONS
Totalitarianism
• USSR – Joseph Stalin
• Germany – Adolf Hitler
• Italy – Benito Mussolini
They rise to power from chaos caused by WWI
and in 1936 Hitler aligns with Mussolini in the
Rome-Berlin Axis.
Mussolini
and Hitler
following
the RomeBerlin Axis
of 1936
• Nationalist militarists in Japan
– Resented Europe/America limit on growth
– 1934 – Japan terminated Naval Treaty that
had set a limit of ships on 5:5:3
– 1935 – Naval conference in London
• Japan demanded equality with US and
Britain (5:5:5) but is refused and walks out
– Japan begins crash naval build-up of ships
– 1935 – Japan withdrew from League of Nations
– 1940 – Tripartite Pact between Japan,
Germany, and Italy
• Isolationism in the US increased in
response to problems in Asia and Europe
– Believed oceans protected the US
– Disillusionment from false hopes of “democracy”
after World War I
– Anger at Allies who had defaulted on WWI debts
– Many support amendment requiring people vote
for War directly
• Neutrality Acts
– Isolationists were majority in Congress
through 1938
– 3 separate laws (1935, 1936, 1937)
• Neutrality Act of 1935
– President authorized to prohibit all arms shipments and
forbid US citizens to travel on ships of belligerent nations
• Neutrality Act of 1936
– Outlaw extension of loans and credit to belligerents
• Neutrality Act of 1937
– Ban shipment of arms to opposing sides in Spain civil war
No Foreign
Entanglements
------------A False Hope
• US and the Spanish Civil War 1936-39
– At first, because this was a civil war, US could ship
munitions to Loyalist government
– 1937 Neutrality Act forbade shipment to either
side and Loyalists will loss war
– US stays out but Germany and Italy don’t so
dictators are encouraged by their victory and the
placement of Francisco Franco as Spain’s dictator
• 1937 – Japan invades China; FDR says not a war
– Allowed the US to continue shipping small amount of
munitions to China (which US wanted to help)
– Japan could purchase war material (because the US
had to be neutral, even though US opposed to Japan
fighting and winning this war)
– Japan commits atrocities against the Chinese people
October 1937 FDR makes Quarantine
Speech: OK’s use of Economic Embargoes
against aggressor nations - angers
isolationists
Germany Gets Aggressive
• Hitler’s violates Treaty of Versailles claiming he only
wants what “rightfully belongs to Germany”:
– 1935 – introduced draft in Germany
– 1936 – troops marched into demilitarized Rhineland
– 1930s – progression of attacks on German Jews
– 1930s – built German mechanized army and air force
– 1938 – The bloodless takeover of Austria
– 1938 – Munich Conference and British appease Hitler
who promises he wants no further land. Chamberlain
“we have achieved peace in our lifetime”
{Churchill ridicules this in Parliament)
Neville Chamberlain: “Peace in Our Life Time” after Munich
Sept. 1938
March 1939 – Hitler takes Rest of Czechoslovakia
So much for “Peace in our Life time”
August 1939 they sign non-aggression pact
• Late August 1939 – Hitler demands German
land given to Poland after WWI
– Poland refuses and asks for help
– Britain and France promise to defend Poland
– Hitler no longer fears Russia & their pact allows
Russia a little of Poland while Hitler grabs the rest
• September 1, 1939 – Hitler attacks Poland
(blitzkrieg – lighting war) and WWII Starts
– Britain and France declare war against Germany
– Poland defeated in 3 weeks (brutal massacre of
tanks against horses)
– USSR entered from east to split Poland with
Germany
• part of a secret agreement Hitler & Stalin made
Why is Poland
surprised at
what was the
obvious result
of Hitler/Stalin
Pact?
• US response to Germany attack on Poland:
– Roosevelt issues statement of neutrality
– US opinion overwhelmingly anti-German, but did
not want to be sucked into the war
– US debated whether to assist Britain and France
• Neutrality Act of 1936 barred US from sending
these countries arms or other assistance
• Neutrality Act of 1939 favors European democracies
– Set up “cash-and-carry” policy
• Europeans could buy US war materials, but
would have to pay cash and transport them in
their own ships to avoid attacks on US ships
• Effects of cash-and-carry is to help allies because
they control the seas but hurts China since Japan
controls the Pacific
• October 1939 to March 1940 Hitler “quiet” as he
realigns troops to attack France while at the same
time “hinting” he would like to achieve peace.
1933-40 as
seen
through the
eyes of an
America
isolationist
War Heats Up
• April 1940 – Hitler attacks Denmark and Norway
• May 1940 – Hitler attacks Netherlands and Belgium
• May/ June 1940 – Germans attack and defeat
France, with Italy attacking from the South
– British evacuate most of their troops in frantic transport
across English Channel at Dunkirk
• Chamberlain resigns and Winston Churchill elected
as prime minister of England
British Evacuation at Dunkirk
• America takes action with fall of France because
fear that if British fall Germany would become
master of Europe and Oceans:
• Congress appropriates $37B for military
build up
–5X larger than New Deal annual budget
– June 1940 – conscription (draft) started for first
time ever during peacetime
-August 1940 Battle of Britain begins &Royal air
force prevents quick German invasion
-America agrees to help British by any means
short of war
German Bombers over London During the Battle of
Britain - 1940
“America
First”
the fight for
isolationism
• September 2, 1940 – Destroyers for bases
– US transferred 50 old destroyers to Britain
– Britain gives US 8 valuable defensive bases in Western
Hemisphere (99-year rent-free leases)
– Americans okay anything “short of war”.
FDR says he wants to retire but instead runs for
third term because of war threat---Promises that “our boys will not fight”---beats
Willkie with slogan “better a third termer rather
than a third rater”.
Congress Passes Lend-Lease Law March 1941
Defended as law that would keep us out of war:
• US sends weapons instead of soldiers
• US would be “arsenal of democracy”
• Britain to give used weapons or equivalent back
when war was over
– Criticism from isolationists or anti-Roosevelt Republicans
– FDR compares it to lending a hose to a neighbor when his
house is on fire – just give it back when fire over
– Isolationists argue it is more like lending chewing gum
• no one will want it back
• Effects of the Lend-Lease Law
–
–
–
–
Billions worth of supplies sent to Allies
Abandonment of even pretense of neutrality
Increased production in factories; helped prepare for war
Germany began sinking US merchant ships
• June 22, 1941 – Hitler attacked USSR
– (Operation Barbarossa) – a three prong attack
– Hoped to knock USSR out and use their supplies (oil) to
defeat Britain
• Roosevelt used lend-lease to give USSR $
• Hitler held back at Moscow in December 1941 by
Soviet army and early Russian winter
The
world’s
view of
Hitler’s
attack on
Russia
• August 1941 – the Atlantic Charter
– Roosevelt secretly met Winston Churchill on
ship off Newfoundland; USSR agreed to it
later that year
– 8 points outlined plans for postwar world
• Self-determination for former colonies
• Restoration of govt’s taken by dictators
• Disarmament
• New League of Nations (eventually U.N.)
DEALING WITH JAPANESE WAS DIFFICULT:
• Mid-1940 – Roosevelt bans sale of aviation
fuel and scrap metal to Japan
• September 1940 – Embargo extended to
steel and other materials
• July 1941 – Freeze all Japanese assets and
bank accounts in US and impose total
trade embargo with Japan
• Fall 1941 talks with Japan to negotiate
trade and peace but Japan unwilling to
back away from territory gained
AMERICA KNOW’S ATTACK COMING BECAUSE CODE
BROKEN BUT DIDN’T KNOW WHERE IT WOULD BE
• December 7, 1941 – attack at Pearl Harbor
– 3 hour attack on Sunday morning
– 2,400 Americans killed & 200 planes destroyed
– 3 aircraft carriers out of harbor and not hit
– Roosevelt – “a date which will live in infamy “
• December 11, 1941 – Italy, Germany declared war
on America