Alliances During World War II

I can explain how aggressive Axis expansion led to World War II.

Red=Height of Axis Territory

Axis Powers?

Germany

ItalyJapan

Objective

Axis PowersItaly and Germany formed a pact to oppose communism. [1936]

Then Japan and Germany created another pact against the Soviet Union.

In 1937, the three powers signed an agreement of friendship and alliance.

Axis Powers Called the Axis powers, they united

against communism and democracy.

Partner Question

1. What 3 countries comprise the Axis Powers?

NONAGGRESSION PACT: AUGUST 1939, AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE USSR AND GERMANY IN WHICH THEY PROMISED NOT TO ATTACK EACH OTHER.

THIS CAME AS A SHOCK BECAUSE HITLER HATED COMMUNISM AND STALIN HATED NAZISM.

THIS PACT FREED HITLER TO ATTACK POLAND AND RISK A WAR WITH THE ALLIES (UK AND FRANCE).

Partner Questions

2. Who is the nonaggression pact between?

3. What is the nonaggression pact?

4. Why would Hitler risk a war with the U.K. and France, but not the Soviet Union? [Think Geography]

Isolationism

Isolationism ISOLATIONISM: MAJORITY OF AMERICANS

WANTED TO STAY OUT OF THE WAR. THIS WAS A CONTINUATION OF THE U.S. ISOLATIONISM TRADITION WHICH PREVENTED THE U.S. FROM HELPING THE WESTERN DEMOCRACIES IN THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST HITLER.

NEUTRAL: WHAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICAN PEOPLE WANTED TO MAINTAIN AT THE START OF WW II. MEANS NOT JOINING EITHER SIDE, STAYING OUT OF THE FIGHTING.

Partner Question

5. Explain U.S. isolationism.

Allies In 1939, German forces attacked Poland. France and Great Britain, allies that had guaranteed

Polish independence, declared war on Germany.

Change on the horizon with the idea of isolationism in the U.S.

Lend Lease Act

LEND LEASE ACT: MARCH 1941, ALLOWED THE PRESIDENT TO SELL, LEND OR LEASE WAR MATERIALS TO ANY NATION WHOSE DEFENSE WAS VITAL TO U.S. SECURITY.

IN REALITY THE U.S. GAVE WEAPONS ONLY TO THE UK AND ABANDONED NEUTRALITY.

ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY: CONCEPT THAT THE U.S. WOULD SUPPLY THE WEAPONS FOR THOSE FIGHTING AGAINST HITLER AND JAPAN WHILE KEEPING ITS MEN OUT OF THE ACTUAL FIGHTING.

Partner Questions

6. What is the lend-lease act?

7. Does the U.S. practice neutrality with regards to the lend-lease act? Explain.

Allies The next year, the German army

swept across France, soon forcing the French to surrender.

French Reaction

Look at the expression of their faces.

Allies The British now stood alone against Hitler,

who tried to bomb them into submission. Britain’s air defense of its skies, called the

Battle of Britain, prevented Hitler from moving ahead with plans for an invasion.

Evacuation of the Children-London

Allies In 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union—an

action that resulted in the Soviets and British becoming allies.

Japanese forces bombed the U.S. base in Pearl Harbor. Soon the Allies (Britain, the Soviet Union, and the

United States) were all fighting against the Axis powers and their allies.

Great Britain

Soviet Union

United States

Partner Questions

8. Who violated the nonaggression pact?

9. Who becomes allies because of the violation of the nonaggression pact?

10. What is the final straw to pull the U.S. into World War II?

11. What 3 countries comprise the Allied Powers?

Journal Entry

Entry #205/4/15Imagine you are at Pearl Harbor when the surprise attack by the Japanese is taking place. How would you adapt to the unknown situation on the morning of December 7th, 1941?