The March to War

Qualities of Fascism• Extreme loyalty to

one’s country• Total obedience to

the country’s leader• Harsh punishments

for those who speak out against the govt.

• “Glory” of the Country (state over the individual)

Fascism in Italy• Benito Mussolini• Italy’s economy was

weak=unemployment • People wanted a

stronger leader that would take action

• Used intimidation tactics (fasci di cambattimento or Blackshirts) w/ unemployed veterans

Fascism in Germany• Adolf Hitler & The

Nazi Party• German economy

was weak• Skyrocketing

unemployment• Nazi party came as a

reaction to Germany’s treatment after WWI (Treaty of Versailles)

Fascism in Germany

• Promised to revive Germany’s economy

• Promised to return lands Germany lost in WWI

• Used rallies to inspire awe and allegiance

• Paramilitary storm troopers or “Brownshirts” intimidate other parties

Impacts on Germany & Italy

• Totalitarian dictator for a leader (Hitler) ‘der Führer’

• Used ‘secret police’ to scare / enforce laws (Brownshirts)

• Revived economy through re-militarization

• Totalitarian dictator for a leader (Mussolini) ‘il Duce’

• Used ‘secret police’ to scare / enforce laws (Blackshirts)

• Revived economy through re-militarization

Nazi Germany’s Aggression

• Wanted to “free” German inhabited areas and make them part of Germany again.

• Hitler wanted more land for Germany (Lebensraum) in Poland, Ukraine and Soviet Union.

1st Move = Germany takes the “Rhineland”

• Rhineland was a De-Militarized Zone between Germany & France

• Supposed to be a “buffer” between France & Germany

• France’s reaction = Appeasement-giving in to an aggressive nation to keep peace

2nd Move = Unite Germany & Austria

• Hitler sends his armies into Austria and annexes as part of Germany

• 2nd & 1st Move = Violation of the Versailles Peace Treaty

• Great Britain, France, USA busy w/ Depression

3rd Move = Hitler Seizes the Sudetenland

• 3 million Germans in the Sudetenland (Northern Czechoslovakia)

• Munich Conference = England / France give in to Hitler/Mussolini (Appeasement)!

• “Third Reich” = Hitler’s German Empire

• League of Nations?

Final Move = Hitler Invades Poland European Theater of WWII Begins 1939

Italy’s Aggression

• Invades Ethiopia in 1935 and Albania in 1939.

• Teams up with Germany in 1937 to bomb civilians in Spanish Civil War (Fascist Franco)

• League of Nations?

Japan’s Aggression

• Japan wanted Asian Empire (Asia for Asiatics)

• “Militarists” take control of Japan (military govt.)

• Japan’s needs:– Natural resources (Oil)– New markets

(industrialized economy)– More land (rising

population while US bans Asian immigration)

Asian Theater of WWII

• Japan invades Manchuria (1931) = Natural Resources for Military

• Invades China (1937)

‘Rape of Nanking’ (4 Months = 370,000+ Chinese Massacred and 20K+ raped)

• League of Nations??