Causes of WWII

• The causes of World War II are rooted in the unresolved issues following World War I.
• Economic instability in postwar Europe led to civil unrest in Italy and Germany.
• The rise of fascism in Italy was linked to the downturn in the Italian economy after World War I.
• Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party gained power in 1922 by promising economic renewal and an expanded Italian empire.
• The peace settlement after World War I imposed unsustainable terms on Germany, creating resentment among the German population.
• Fascism and militarism, as seen in Italy, spread to Germany and influenced Hitler and the Nazis.

The Path to War

• Adolf Hitler emerged from the broad economic and political trends.
• Hitler's extreme views on Aryan superiority led him to persecute Jews and minorities and seize land.

Rise of Nazism

• The Weimar Republic replaced the Kaiser's monarchical rule after Germany's defeat in 1918.
• The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to pay reparations and limited its army.
• The Weimar Republic appeared weak and became unpopular, especially during the Great Depression.
• High unemployment and lack of job prospects contributed to alienation and bitterness in Germany.
• Many Germans viewed the Weimar Republic as too weak to solve the country's problems.
• Hitler declared his antisemitic views in his book Mein Kampf.
• The National Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazis) gained power legally after the 1932 elections.
• In 1933, President Paul von Hindenburg invited Adolf Hitler to form a government as chancellor.
• Through manipulation, the Nazi Party instilled fear and panic in the German people.
• The Nazis staged the burning of the Reichstag and blamed radical extremists.
• Hitler outlawed all other political parties and forms of resistance, using domestic security as justification.
• Hitler promoted ultranationalism and scientific racism, claiming certain races were genetically superior.
• He advanced anti-Semitism, accusing German Jews of causing domestic problems.
• Nazi propaganda emphasized the need for a pure German nation of Aryans, purged of outsiders including Jews, Slavs, Roma, and LGBTQ+ people.
• Hitler suggested eliminating these groups, particularly Jews, was the only way for Germany to live up to its potential.

Nuremberg Laws

• Hitler's anti-Jewish campaign began with laws designed to disenfranchise and discriminate against Jews.
• The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 forbade marriage between Jews and gentiles and stripped Jews of their citizenship.
• Subsequent decrees pushed Jews to the margins of German society.
• German Jews, many of whom were successful and assimilated, were shocked by their treatment.
• Some Eastern European nations passed laws discriminating against their Jewish citizens.
• Hitler sought new allies to acquire Lebensraum for the new German empire.
• Hitler's ambition to conquer the continent brought the international community to the brink of war.
• He formed a military pact with Fascist Italy, the Rome-Berlin Axis, in October 1936.
• Germany created a military alliance with Japan based on mutual distrust of communism, known as the Anti-Comintern Pact.
• The alliances among the nations of Germany, Italy and Japan created the Axis Powers.

Kristallnacht

• Hitler's campaign to rid Germany of Jews predated land grabs in Europe.
• Propaganda and the Nuremberg Laws created an atmosphere of hostility, hatred, and distrust in Germany.
• This tension erupted in early November 1938 with Kristallnacht, the "Night of the Broken Glass."
• Anti-Jewish riots occurred in response to the assassination of a German diplomat by a Jewish teenager.
• Nazi leaders engineered the entire operation, despite it appearing as a spontaneous burst of outrage.
• The riots resulted in the deaths of over 90 German Jews and the destruction of nearly every synagogue in Germany and approximately 7,000 Jewish shops.
• Over 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
• Most prisoners were released on orders to leave Germany, but this option was later revoked fro concentration camp prisoners.

Nazi Germany's Aggressive Militarism

• The Treaty of Versailles severely limited the German military after World War I.
• Hitler wanted a stronger military to acquire more land.
• In March 1935, he broke the treaty by announcing the creation of a German air force and a policy of conscription to enlarge the army.
• The Treaty of Versailles established the Rhineland as a buffer zone between Germany and France where Germany was not allowed to station troops.
• Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland on March 7, 1936, violating the Treaty of Versailles.
• Some British believed Hitler was the anti-communist leader needed to keep order in central Europe.
• Britain followed a policy of appeasement, giving in to Germany's demands to keep the peace.
• Germany's military expansion and support of the fascist Spanish Nationalist government during the Spanish Civil War indicated that Hitler was increasing his power.
• Hitler felt confident about creating a new German empire, the Third Reich, with his revived military and alliances.
• His plan was to bring Austria under German rule.
• Hitler used the threat of invasion to pressure the Austrian chancellor into giving more power to the Austrian Nazi Party.
• The Austrian Nazis opened the door for German troops to occupy Austria with no resistance through the Anschluss (political union).
• Austria officially became part of the Third Reich in March 1938.
• Hitler issued a demand to Czechoslovakia for the border territory of the Sudetenland.
• Most of the people in the Sudetenland spoke German.
• Hitler argued that the area was a natural extension of his Aryan empire.
• Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, argued that appeasement would keep the peace.
• The Munich Agreement allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in return for a promise not to take over any more Czech territory.
• Hitler seized control of all of Czechoslovakia with an armed invasion in 1939.
• Hitler set his sights on the Polish port of Danzig.
• Britain agreed to protect Poland from a German attack, ending its policy of appeasement.
• Britain and France reached out to the Soviet Union to form a stronger alliance against Germany.
• With the signing of the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact on August 23, 1939, the two nations pledged not to attack one another.
• Hitler secretly offered Stalin control of eastern Poland and the Baltic States if Stalin would stand by during a German invasion of western Poland.
• Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, claiming that Poland had attacked first.
• Britain and France declared war on Germany, marking the official start of World War II in Europe.

Japan's Expansion in Asia

• By the time Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Japan had already been moving aggressively against Korea and China for almost 50 years.
• In 1931, Japan had invaded Manchuria.
• Successfully created the state of Manchukuo under its control after fighting.
• Then, in 1937, a small incident in this region between Japanese troops and Chinese troops quickly escalated.
• Soon, Japan had launched a full-scale invasion of China, marking the start of World War II in Asia.