1939 - 1945
Causes of WWII

Dictators come to power

Disputes over territory

Differences in social and political values
Rise of the Dictators
Benito Mussolini (Italy)
Born: 1883
Occupations: Teacher, journalist, editor,
Italian Army corporal
Political Beliefs:
 Resigned from the Socialist party in 1915
when it advocated support for the Allies
(Entente Powers) in World War I.
 Did not feel Italy was given what it
deserved from the Treaty of Versailles
 Organized right-wing, Fascist groups
Benito Mussolini (Italy)
• Founded Italy’s Fascist Party in 1919
• Considered the nation more important
than the individual
•Believed order in society would only come
through a dictator who led a strong
government
• Strongly anti-Communist
•Pledged to return Italy to the glories of the
Roman Empire
March on Rome 1922
• Claimed he was coming to defend Italy
against a communist revolution
• Backed by over 40,000 members of the
Fascist militia, known as the Blackshirts
• Over 14,000 men with 30 miles Rome
ready to march
• King Emmanuel III appoints Mussolini
prime minister
•With the support of industrialists,
landowners, and the Catholic Church,
Mussolini takes the title of Il Duce, or “The
Leader”
“Either the government will be given to us or we shall seize it by
marching on Rome”
-Benito Mussolini
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
Born: 1879

Studied theological seminary

Influenced by Marxist literature

Devoted his time to the
revolutionary movement against
the Russian monarchy

Political beliefs: Communist
Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union)
• After the Russian Revolution the Communist
Party established throughout the Russian Empire
• In 1922 they renamed these territories the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
•The Communists instituted one-party rule,
suppressed individual liberties, and punished
opponents
• After Lenin died in 1924, Leon Trotsky and
Joseph Stalin competed for power over the
Soviet Union
• By 1926, Stalin was dictator
•Changed his last name for Dzuhgashvili to
Stalin, meaning “steel”
Stalin’s Five-Year Plans
•Using Five-Year Plans, Stalin began a massive effort in industrialize his country
•From 1928 to 1937, steel production increased from 4 million to 18 million tons
• Industrial wages decrease by 43 percent between 1928 and 1940
•Family farms were combined and turned into government owned farms, known as
collectives
•Peasants who resisted faced show trials or death from starvation
•As many as 10 million peasants died in famines during 1932 and 1933
•The Soviet Union was a nation of internal terrorism, with public trials that forced
confessions
•Stalin targeted political enemies, intellectuals, and artists
•Many people were put in forced labor camps called gulags
•In 1936, a new constitution was passed that promised many freedoms but was never
enforced
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
Born: 1889
Occupation: Artist
• Studied under speaker Karl Lueger
-Anti-Semitic
-Preached “purity of the blood”
• Served in World War I
• Badly gassed and temporarily
blinded
• Sent to spy on political parties
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
• Member of the National Socialist German
Workers’ Party (Nazi Party)
- Nationalist
-Anticommunist
-Anti-Semitic
- Called for Germany to expand its territory
• Admirer of Mussolini
•November 1923, the Nazis tried to seize power
by marching in Munich, Germany
•The Nazi party was banned, Hitler was
imprisoned
•While in prisoner Hitler wrote Mein Kampf
Hitler’s Rise to Power
•Focused on getting elected to the Reichstag
•By 1932, the Nazis were the largest party in the
Reichstag
•In 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor
•He ordered the police to crack down on Socialist
and Communist Parties
•Nazis paramilitary units, called Storm troopers,
began intimidating voters
•The Reichstag voted to give Hitler dictatorial
powers
•In 1934, Hitler became president
•He gave himself the title of Der Fuhrer, or “The
Leader”
Militarists Control Japan
•Extreme nationalism fostered by the
Meiji and Showa Imperial
governments
•Extreme militarists in Japan’s army
and government pointed to samurai
traditions
•Militarists used intimidation and
assassination to achieve their goals
•Believed in military spending and
territorial expansion
Disputes Over Territories
Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Many Japanese military officers
believed Japan was destined to
dominate East Asia.

Saw seizing territory as the only way
Japan could get resources they
needed

Invaded Manchuria September 1931

Converted Manchuria into a
Japanese puppet state called
Manchukuo

Japanese Prime Minister
assassinated when he tried to stop
the war
Italy Invades Ethiopia, 1935
•Mussolini wanted to build a new Roman Empire in Africa
•In 1935, the Italian army invades Ethiopia, then known as Abyssinia
•Haille Selassie goes into exile May 1936
•He does not return to Ethiopia until 1941
The Spanish Civil War
1936-1939
•In 1936, Fascist General, Francisco Franco attempts a
military coup
-The military coup fails
-Civil war begins
•The Nationalists, as the rebels were called, received
aid from Hitler and Mussolini
-Tested new military ideas, such as air strikes
•The Republicans received aid from the Soviet Union
•On April 26, 1937 planes released 100,000 pounds of
bombs, destroying 70% of Guernica
•15 days after the bombing, Pablo Picasso began
painting Guernica
The Austrian Anschluss
•In 1937, Hitler called for the unification of all German speaking people.
•In February 1938, the Austrian Chancellor agreed to greater Nazi police
presence in Austria, appointed a Nazi minister of police, and announce amnesty
for all Nazi prisoners.
•Austria’s chancellor tried to put the unification of Germany and Austria to a vote.
•Fearing the outcome of the vote, German foreign minister, Hermann Goering
faked a crisis and plea for help from inside the Austrian government.
• Hitler sent troops to Austria in March 1938.
•The vote was held April 10, resulting in a 99.7% approval rating for the unification
of Germany and Austria.
The Munich Agreement
•Hitler announces German claims to the
Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia due to its
large German speaking population.
•The Czechs strongly resist Hitler’s
demands.
•France and the Soviet Union promise
Czechoslovakia aid if Germany attacks.
•Britain pledges support of its ally,
France.
•Representatives from France, Britain,
Italy, and Germany meet in Munich to
decide Czechoslovakia’s fate.
•On September 29, 1938, Britain and
France agree to Hitler’s demands. This
policy is known as appeasement.
Hitler Demands Danzig
•One month after the Munich Agreement, Hitler demands the city of Danzig.
•Although Danzig was over 90% German, it had been part of Poland since WWI.
•Hitler demands a highway and railroad build across the Polish Corridor.
•Britain and France promise attack to Poland if it chooses to defend its territory
against Germany.
•In May 1939, Hitler orders the German army to prepare to invade Poland
•Hitler orders his prime minister to begin negotiations with the USSR.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
•Stalin agrees to a non-aggression
treaty with Germany
•He believed the best way to protect
the Soviet Union was to turn capitalist
nations against each other.
•The Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed
August 23, 1939.
•The world was shocked since
Communism and Nazism were
supposed to be opposed to each
other.
•The pact included a secret deal to
divide Poland between Germany and
the Soviet Union.
American Values
• FDR supported internationalism, the
idea that trade between nations creates
prosperity and preserves peace.
• Most Americans supported
isolationism and tried to avoid
international conflicts.
• Many Americans believed arms
manufacturers tricked the United States
into entering World War I.
• The Nye Committee documented huge
profits made by arms dealers during
World War I.
The Neutrality Acts, 1935 - 1937
Nye Committee report
shows huge profits
made by arms dealers
during WWI
•mandatory embargo on selling/ exporting arms, ammunition, or
implements of war to nations at war
•travel restrictions
•set to expire after 6 months
Italy’s invasion of
Ethiopia
•arms embargo with countries at war
•ban on loans to nations fighting, short-term credits exempt
•republics in the Americas exempt
•travel restrictions
Spanish Civil War
•arms embargo against nations at war
•trade with countries at war on a cash-and-carry basis, as long as goods
were not contraband or sent to foreign ships
•travel ban on warring nations’ ships
Agreements creating
the Axis alliance