The Road to World War IIThe Result of a flawed peace

settlement at Versailles, but also other causes, including the Great

Depression

Decisive Steps Involving Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Future Allies

• With each step it became increasingly apparent that certain aggressive hostile nations would not curtail their ambitions through talk and negotiation

• The League of Nations was ineffective in dealing with these crises

First Step: Japan Seizes Manchuria, 1931

• Taken from China• U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson (1867-

1950): no gains made by force would be recognized

• League of Nations condemned aggression in 1932 – Japan withdraws from the league in 1933

Second Step: German Rearmament, 1935-6

• October, 1933, Hitler withdraws from League of Nations

• March 1935, Hitler denounces Versailles Treaty related to German Rearmament; a month later league formally condemned Germany’s repudiation of Treaty obligations, but Hitler ignores league’s stance

• 1936, Germany sends troops into the Rhineland, demilitarized by Versailles Treaty

Rhineland, 1936

• France and Britain did nothing – perhaps this was the last opportunity to avert war in Europe

Step 3 – Ethiopia, 1935

• Ethiopia – an independent state in Africa

• 1934 – an incident at a desert post in Italian Somaliland

• Protests of Emperor Haile Selassie (1891-1976)• Ethiopia a member of League of Nations• Italy invades Ethiopia in October 1935• Invasion with modern weaponry• Italian King becomes Emperor of Ethiopia

League of Nations Invoked Economic Sanctions

• December 1937 Italy withdrew from the League

• 1936 – Mussolini signs a pact with Hitler establishing the Rome-Berlin Axis

Fourth Step: Japan, China and the Marco Polo Bridge, 1937

• July, 7, 1937 – a skirmish turned a lull in the war between China and Japan into a full scale conflict again.

• Near Peking• Junior field officers caused this to happen• Peking and Shanghai fell to Japanese• China appealed to League of Nations with no

effect

5th Step: Austria and Anschluss

• By 1938 Hitler had built his military capability to challenge the allies

• Austrians had desired unity with Germany beginning in 1919

• Propaganda campaign in Austria for annexation

• In March, 1938, German military moved into Austria

Sixth Step: Czechoslovakia Dismembered, 1938-1939

• Czechoslovakia only eastern European state with a successful parliamentary democracy

• 3.25 million Germans lived there – Sudetenland• Big Four Power Conference, September 1938 in

Munich• Sudetenland back to Germany• “Peace in our Time” – Neville Chamberlin• Spring 1939 German troops moved into

Czechoslovakia

Days of Appeasement were over, however

• Britain and France guaranteed Polish Borders• Britain began a peacetime draft

Final Step, Poland, September, 1939

• Issue of Polish Corridor• Danzig• Summer of 1939 negotiations with Russians • An Alliance between the totalitarian left and

totalitarian right• September1, Germany invades Poland• September 3, Britain and France declare war on

Germany – the 20 year truce comes to an end

The “Phony War”

• Between September 1939 and the Srping of 1940

• Hitler is patient• May 10, 1940, Germany Invades and Defeats

France• Hitler now the master of Europe• Britain Remains• And Hitler is still eager to expand to the east