The document outlines the events leading up to World War II. It describes Japan's growing military aggression in the 1930s, including the invasion of Manchuria and establishment of a puppet state. As Japan continued its expansion into China, committing atrocities like the Rape of Nanjing, its actions isolated it from other countries. Meanwhile in Europe, Germany remilitarized under Hitler and annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia through appeasement. When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war, beginning World War II in Europe. Italy then joined the war on Germany's side while the U.S. pursued neutrality. Japan later attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in 1941, drawing the U.S

1. The Road to World War II

2. Japan’s Growing Military Power
• Japan fought w/
Allies in WWI
• Gained
possessions, &
accessed new
markets;
economy
prospered post-
war
• Joined League
of Nations &

3. Democracy in Crisis
• Recessions rocked Japan in 1920s &
1930s
• Foreign trade dropped off
• Layoffs, strikes, political discontent
• Nationalist groups arose, hoped to have
military take over of the government
– Also promoted a return a traditional ways &
the shunning of Western-style institutions

4. The Manchurian Incident
• Population of Japan was increasing quickly (1
million/year)
• B/c of this Manchuria was eyed as a prize
possession
• Incident started when Japanese army
detonated explosives near a railway & then
blamed the event on Chinese dissidents
• By 1932 the Japanese army took all of
Manchuria from China, not approved by gov’t
officials
• Shocked other countries, isolated Japan
• Event was labeled as the “Manchurian
Incident”

6. The Manchurian Incident
• Japan est. a puppet state called
Manchukuo
– Puppet state=A supposedly independent
country under the control of a powerful
neighbor
• Japanese moved to Manchuria in large
numbers, became a colony
– Sent 1 million+
• League of Nations told Japan to leave
Manchuria, but they refused to do so

7. Military Gains Power
• Naval officials assassinated the prime
minister in 1932
• Several gov’t officials were murdered by the
military in 1936
• The Japanese military received greater
power, but never officially took control of the
government; gov’t officials feared for their
lives
• “The military are like an untamed horse left to
run wild. If you try head-on to stop it, you’ll
get kicked to death. The only hope is to jump
on from the side and try to get it under control
while still allowing it to have it’s head to a

8. War Against China
• War broke about between China & Japan
in 1937
• Japan’s superior weaponry overcame
China’s advantage in manpower
– Warplanes bombed cities
– “Rape of Nanjing”
• Japanese killed or brutalized at least 100K
Chinese civilians (up to 300K), roughly 20K women
were raped

9. War Against China
• Japan’s actions were condemned by U.S.
& others
• Congress passed Neutrality Acts
preventing U.S. from becoming involved in
foreign wars
• Britain & the Soviet Union sent supplies to
China
• War reached a stalemate by 1939, thanks
to guerilla tactics by Chinese

10. Looking Beyond China
• Japan’s prime minister announced the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in
1940
• Japan declared it would liberate east Asia
from European powers
• In reality Japan needed the supplies from
the region to continue its war with China
• Japan allied w/ Germany & Italy in 1940
via Tripartite Pact

11. Looking Beyond China
• Next Japan moved troops into French
Indochina (Vietnam) & the Dutch East
Indies
• In 1941 Japan signed a neutrality act with
the Soviet Union

14. Germany/Hitler/Nazis
Hitler rises to power in 1934
Remilitarizes the Rhineland in 1936
Creates alliance w/ Italy in 1936 (Rome-Berlin Axis)
Nazis move into Austria in 1938, “Anschluss”
Hitler acquires Sudetenland in 1938

15. Mussolini/Italy
Fascist Party formed in 1919
Mussolini becomes prime minister in 1922
Italy invades Ethiopia in 1935
Italy joins alliance w/ Germany

16. Britain/France
Followed a plan of appeasement (giving in to
Hitler’s demands)
Continued policy of appeasement at Munich
Conference in 1938; Germany allowed to
keep Sudeteneland
Had to choose between “war and dishonor,”
Winston Churchill said “They chose dishonor.
They will have war.”

17. Increased Invasion
Hitler takes western half of Czechoslovakia
Italy invades Albania
Above actions prompted Britain & France to end
policy of appeasement
 Told Hitler that further invasions would create war

18. Hitler’s Pact w/ Stalin
• Germany feared
a two-front war
• Hitler & Stalin
signed a non-
aggression pact
in August, 1939;
plan was to last
ten years
• Agreed to split
up eastern
Europe

20. Invasion of Poland
• Hitler invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939
• New invasion unveiled in
Poland=“blitzkrieg” or lightning war
 Fast, concentrated air attack
 Then tanks & mobile artillery
 Then infantry
• Polish army of 700K was not ready
• Britain & France declared war on Germany
on Sept. 3, 1939

21. Invasion of Poland
• Germany had complete control of
Poland w/in a month; split country w/
Soviet Union
• Britain & France were unable to react
quick enough
• German laws implemented & Jews
were murdered or imprisoned

22. Wielun, Poland on Sept. 1,
1939
Nazi troops in Warsaw, Sept. 1939

23. War in the West
• After Poland fell, the war entered a quiet
period
– American press called it the “phony war”
• French forces waited at the heavily fortified
Maginot Line
– Underground rails, air conditioning, thick concrete
walls, extra-heavy artillery
• But didn’t protect French from a German
attack through Belgium
• Guns were pointed east toward Germany

26. Germany Attacks
• April 9, 1940—Starts an attack on Denmark &
Norway
• May 10, 1940—Hitler launches a blitzkrieg on
the Netherlands, Luxembourg, & Belgium
– All three were conquered in less than 3 weeks
• From Belgium Hitler attacked France
– The Germans split the Brit/French troops into two
– The group in the north retreated to the coastal city
of Dunkirk

27. Germany Attacks
• In late May/early
June one of the
greatest rescues in
history took place
• A makeshift fleet of
tugboats, yachts &
other private boats
carried some 340K
soldiers across the
English Channel to
Great Britain
• Saved Brit/French
forces from certain
capture

28. Fall of France
• June 10, 1940—French
gov’t fled Paris
• Italy then declared war on
France & Britain
• June 14, 1940—German
troops entered Paris
• June 22, 1940—France &
its 1.5 million troops
surrendered
• Germany now occupied
the northern 3/5 of France
& the entire Atlantic Coast
southward to Spain
• The French gov’t
supervised the unoccupied
south of France
• Now as Vichy France
• Adopted a policy of close
cooperation w/ Germany,
known as collaboration

29. Fall of France
• Free France, gov’t-in-
exile, operated from
London
• Supported
underground
Resistance movement
in France
– Anti-German
propaganda &
sabotaging German
operations
• Hitler had
experienced nothing
but success
• German armies had
taken almost all of
Western Europe
• At the time Great
Britain stood alone

31. The Battle of Britain
• Churchill refused to
surrender:
• “We shall fight on the
beaches, we shall fight
on the landing
grounds, we shall
fight in the fields and
in the streets, we shall
fight in the hills; we
shall never
surrender.”
• Appointed Prime
Minister in May of
1940

32. The Battle of Britain
• Difficult for Germans
to reach British land:
– English Channel
– Powerful British navy
• Hitler instead used an
aerial assault w/ his
“Luftwaffe”
– Day after day, up
1,000 planes bombed
Britain
• By September of 1940
Hitler was bombing
cities/civilians
– Included “fire-
bombs,” chemicals
aimed at starting fires
• British responded by
bombing Berlin

33. Battle of Britain
• The RAF was able to
hold its own against the
Luftwaffe despite being
outnumbered
• “Never in the field of
human conflict was so
much owed to so
few.”—Churchill
praising the RAF
• Despite huge losses,
Brits continued to fight
• 20K Londoners were
killed & 70K were
injured
• Brits ability to hold out
was tied to fact that
they had cracked
German codes & could
anticipate attacks

35. American Neutrality
• Focus on domestic concerns
• Great Depression, unemployment, New Deal
programs
• FDR seeking re-election in 1940
• Bitter taste left from WWI
• History of isolationism

36. Neutrality Acts
• 1935—Banned U.S. from providing weapons
to belligerent nations
• 1936—Banned loans to belligerent nations
• 1937—Permitted trade w/ belligerent nations,
but Cash & Carry only
• Didn’t help countries fighting aggression
• U.S. was part of the appeasement problem

37. Europe in 1940

38. Some action!
• Built military bases on British possessions in
the Atlantic
– In exchange for 50 destroyers given to Brits
– Ended neutrality by doing this!
• Congress increased defense spending and
had a peacetime draft
– Selective Service & Training Act—Sept. 1940
• 1st ever peacetime draft
• Ages 21-35; later 18-45
• U.S. had 2.2 million sailors & soldiers by Dec. 1941
• Roughly 10 million inducted via draft during WWII

39. Election of 1940
• FDR ran for an unprecedented 3rd term
– Not a constitutional amendment yet (22nd/1947)
• Wendell Willkie, lawyer & industrialist, no
political experience, darkhorse candidate, flip-
flopped on American intervention in WWII,
very critical of FDR’s New Deal & his attempt
at a 3rd term
• WWII was central issue
• FDR did esp. well in large urban areas

40. Election of 1940

41. Lend-Lease Act
• After winning election of 1940
• President had power to lease, lend, or
otherwise dispose of arms and other
equipment whose defense was considered
vital to the security of the US
• When Germany invaded the Soviets in
1941, they expanded the program to them

42. Four Freedoms Speech
• FDR’s State of the Union speech; Jan. 1941
• Four fundamental freedoms that people
everywhere should enjoy
– Freedom of speech
– Freedom of worship
– Freedom from want
– Freedom from fear
• Became a basis for war aims
• An attempt to gain public support

45. Atlantic Charter
• FDR and Churchill
• Ideological foundation of the Western
cause
• Similar to Fourteen Points in that it:
• Called for economic collaboration
• Guarantees of political stability
• Free trade, national self-determination,
collective security

47. Opposition to War
• America First Committee
– 800 K members in 1940
– Hoped to block further aid to Britain
– Charles Lindbergh=spokesperson

48. Japan/Pearl Harbor
• In July of 1940 FDR limited sale of supplies to
Japan
– Steel, iron
• Hoped to limit Japanese aggression; didn’t
work
• Later cut off all oil shipments
• War seemed inevitable

49. Japan/Pearl Harbor
• Hideki Tojo, militant
army officer, rose to
power in Japan in
October of 1941

50. Japan/Pearl Harbor
• Thanks to code-
breaking the U.S. knew
Japan was planning an
attack…but didn’t know
when
• Japan hoped to cripple
America’s Pacific Fleet
& achieve goals before
U.S. Navy could recover

51. Japan/Pearl Harbor
• Attacked at 7 AM on
December 7, 1941
• A Sunday
• Japanese airplanes were
detected on radar, but
ignored
• W/in an hour 180 planes
had arrived
• ½ of the Pacific Fleet was
located there
• Attack was over by 9:45
AM
• 2,400 Americans killed
• 200 warplanes
damaged/destroyed
• 18 warships
sunk/damaged
• Japan lost only 29 planes

52. Japan/Pearl Harbor
• FDR declared war on
Japan the next day.
• “A date which will live in
infamy.”
• Germany & Italy
declared war on the
U.S. on December 11,
1941