E VENTS L EADING TO W ORLD WAR
II: M ILITARY A GGRESSION &
A PPEASEMENT
I TALIAN A GGRESSION

It will be
you
tomorrow.
Italy invades Ethiopia (1935)

Using mustard gas, Italians advance on Ethiopia and
eventually

Ethiopia’s emperor, Haile Selassie, goes to League of
Nations

League of Nations refuses to recognize Italy’s control of
Ethiopia, but does nothing else.

League of Nations was ineffective, as countries were more
concerned about their own economic crisis
Italy
would
invade
Albania in
1939
N AZI A GGRESSION

The Third Reich


Hitler vowed to create a German-speaking empire in
violation of the Treaty of Versailles
Nazi Violations of the Treaty of Versailles

Hitler begins to rebuild army

Hitler sends troops into the Rhineland in 1936

Rhineland  land in western declared de-militarized
under the Treaty of Versailles

Acted as a buffer between France and Germany
Nazi soldiers march into the Rhineland to the cheers of Germans
N AZI A GGRESSION

Annexation of Austria

Crowds in
Vienna,
Austria
cheering
the arrival
of Nazi
troops
In March of 1938, Germany annexes Austria as part of his
building of a German-speaking Empire
A PPEASEMENT

The Munich Agreement

France & Great Britain began to fear
Hitler’s tactics

Hitler threatened to invade
Czechoslovakia

In September 1938, France, Great
Britain, and Germany make a pact

Hitler would be allowed to annex the
Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia,
if he promised not to take anymore
land
Chamberlin (GB), Daladier (FR), Hitler
(GER), Mussolini (ITA), Ciano (ITA)
A PPEASEMENT
Lands
acquired by
the Third
Reich as of
September
30, 1938
A PPEASEMENT

Just six months after the
Munich Agreement,
Hitler invades the rest of
Czechoslovakia

Great Britain and France
do nothing in response
to Hitler’s violation of
the Munich Agreement
Czech woman weeping as she
salutes the invading German
forces
A PPEASEMENT
There was no
fighting between
German and
Czech forces. Two
German soldiers
drive past an
unsettled group of
Czech citizens
A PPEASEMENT

‘Why
should we
take a
stand about
someone
pushing
someone
else when
it’s all so far
away?’
Appeasement  a policy of giving into the demands of
an aggressor/potential enemy in order to avoid war.
A PPEASEMENT
Why would European
nations like Great
Britain and France
follow a policy of
appeasement?
S OVIET -N AZI T REATY OF
N ON -A GGRESSION

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

In August of 1939, the
U.S.S.R. and Nazi Germany
signed a non-aggression
pact

The two countries
promised not to attack
one another

Secretly promised to
divided Poland among
themselves
Molotov signs the pact, as Ribbentrop
and Stalin look on
S OVIET -N AZI T REATY OF
N ON -A GGRESSION
What did the
West think of
the SovietNazi Treaty of
NonAggression
according to
cartoonist
David Low?
S OVIET -N AZI T REATY OF
N ON -A GGRESSION
What is the cartoon artist
implying about the MolotovRibbentrop Pact?
And the “honeymoon”
doesn’t last. In June
1941, Germany invades
the U.S.S.R.
S TART

OF
W ORLD WAR II
Invasion of Poland

On September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland

In response, France and Great Britain demand Germany
withdraw from Poland


Germany refuses
On September 3, 1939, France and Great Britain declare war on
Germany two days later