WWII_Ch_1_Background

=**Danger Signals from Abroad **=

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, had punished Germany and to many in Germany (as well as others) the treaty was unfair. One reason that many viewed the treaty as unfair was that Germany had to surrender its colonies. Second, Germany had to demilitarize the Rhineland, which was the area of land in Germany between the Rhine River and France. Third, Germany had to pay large amounts of money in reparations. Fourth, Germany had to accept the war guilt taking the blame for starting the war. Finally, Germany had to demilitarize and cut their armed forces and only have an army of 100,000 soldiers without a draft, tanks, heavy artillery, poison gas, or aircraft. The navy had to limited to 100,000 tons and were not allowed to have submarines.The post-WWI League of Nations had been set up to keep peace in the world. However, it would fail to stop German and Japanese aggression and World War II. The League Covenant called for collective security and the peaceful settlement of disputes by arbitration. It was decided that any nation that resorted to war would be subjected to economic sanctions. However, the lack of power to settle military disputes would hurt the League. When issues came up, nations condemned by the League would threaten to withdraw. There had been attempts to fix some of the leftover problems of World War I, which included the size of navies in the world. At the Washington Conference, the Five Power Treaty was written in which the United States and Britain were allowed 500,000 naval tonnage, Japan 300,000, and France and Italy each 175,000. Japan would be upset because they wanted as much as the United States and Britain and believed that the western powers were trying to hold Japan down.The Great Depression in the world helped give rise to totalitarian dictators, those who controlled all aspects of life. Benito Mussolini would rise as Fascist dictator of Italy. Joseph Stalin would become the leader of the Soviet Union. Adolph Hitler would rise up to be the leader of Nazi Germany. In addition, a war mentality grew in Japan, which was also scarce on resources due to worldwide depression. Fascism and Communism would become more successful in Europe as people were looking for help. Hitler was able to rise to power due to the people being hurt by the depression and the unpopular Weimar Republic, which was the post-World War I German government.
 * Rise of Totalitarian Dictators **

Adolph Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 in Austria. His father died in 1903, but left a pension for the family. As a youth, Hitler had a bad record in school and did not secure the usual certificate. His goal was to be an artist, but failed twice to get into art school. He was able to make a small living painting postcards and advertisements as he went from one boarding school to another. He lived a lonely and isolated life. In his young life, he showed traits of his future with hatred for non-Germans, denunciatory outbursts, and readiness to live in a fantasy world to escape his poverty and failure. In 1913, he tried to join the Austrian army, but was rejected as unfit and seen as too weak to bear arms. When WWI broke out, he enlisted in the German army and rose to the highest noncommissioned rank. He was wounded in October 1916 and gassed two years later. Furthermore, he won the Iron Cross for bravery in battle. When word came of Germany's surrender, he was in the hospital and word of the surrender upset him (and others) and felt betrayed by the new government. The German government that formed after WWI was the Weimar Republic, which was a form of democracy in Germany. Several extremist groups were against this new government and either wanted the Kaiser back, Communism, or a variation of radical rule. The new government was hurt by signing the Treaty of Versailles. Paul von Hindenburg would be elected president and had popularity and some success but in the end worldwide depression would hurt the German economy with hyperinflation (Weimar Republic was printing money to meet their reparations obligations). Hitler was determined to take up political work in order to destroy a peace settlement, which he denounced as intolerable. He joined the NSDAP (National Socialistiche Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - National Socialist German Workers Party) a.k.a. Nazi Party. He led the Munich Putsch, which was an attempt to take over Germany by force, which was put down. The penalty for treason was death, but sympathy for Hitler got him put in jail for five years. While in jail, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), which was part autobiography and part political plans for Germany. He saw the greater enemy as the Marxists and the Jews as well as Gypsies and the handicapped. He wanted to expand the master race, the Aryan race. In addition, Hitler and the Nazis would blame the Jews for Germany's defeat in WWI, for economic problems in Germany, and for the spread of Communism throughout Europe. In his book, he discussed a Fuhrer Prinzip, which would be the leader of the whole German nation (Volkdeutsch). Furthermore, he laid out plans to gain control of a complete German nation by getting living space (Lebensraum).On January 30, 1933 Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor. Germany was weak due to the depression and Germany still resenting the treaty. The timing was good for Hitler to take over. In addition, the Nazi Party increased its votes for the Parliament. When Hindenburg died, Hitler combined the office of chancellor and president and proclaimed himself dictator, which he called Reichfuhrer.
 * Hitler forms Nazi Germany **

Benito Mussolini was born in Italy in 1883. Early in his life, he was a school teacher, but fled to Switzerland in 1902 to evade military service. He came back to Italy and was a journalist and a Socialist, but moved away from the ideology when Italy supported the Allies in WWI. After WWI, he formed the Fascist Party and was appointed to power by the king who feared a communist takeover. Fascism emphasized extreme nationalism, national unity, hatred of communism, admiration of military values and unquestioning obedience. Under Fascism, most potential sources of opposition were removed including political parties and trade unions. Mussolini, or Il Duce, would control all aspects of life in Italy.Problems took place between the U.S. and Japan after WWI since the Japanese were looking to expand in the Pacific. Japan first looked at Manchuria. They blew up a railroad and killed the regional ruler knowing they could manipulate his son. After the incident, Japan was not punished. In 1931, the Manchurian Incident increased Japan's authority when the Japanese army (Kwangtung) blew up a railroad bridge and blamed China. Japan took over Manchuria claiming punishment. In the meantime, the London Conference was looking at the Five Power Treaty, but still did not give Japan equal naval tonnage with the United States and Britain. As a result, the League of Nations found Japan to be the aggressors. Japan walked out of the League. Nothing happened to Japan. The Japanese government had not given the military authority to go into Japan, but also didn't punish the military. Japan's new prime minister was a navy admiral and began filling cabinet positions with military personnel. A war economy was being set up and continued to spark incidents to take more parts of China. A war mentality continued to grow in Japan. For example, anyone who opposed the policies of Japan would be arrested. Education taught loyalty to the emperor and taught military science as well. Japan was ready to begin war to expand. The emperor of Japan was Hirohito.Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito would eventually form the Axis.
 * Formation of the Axis **

Hitler referred to his empire as the Third Reich (first was the empire under Charlemagne and the second was the rule of the Kaiser). In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote about wanting to form a "thousand year Reich." As chancellor, he did a lot of public spending to help Germany. On February 27, 1933 a fire in the Reichstag building burned the Parliament. Hitler rounded up suspicious people. On August 2, 1934 Hindenburg died and Hitler made himself Reichfuhrer. In 1935, Hitler would begin moves, which violated the Versailles Treaty. On March 8, 1935 Hitler announced the existence of an air force known as the Luftwaffe, led by Hermann Goering. Goering was the leader of the Gestapo (secret police) and was Hitler's second in command. On March 15, 1935 Hitler announced he will increase the army (Wehrmacht) to 550,000 men. Leaders around the world saw Hitler as trying to improve his own nation and due to depression were in no position to enforce the treaty. In Britain, a member of Parliament, Winston Churchill, warned about Germany violating the treaty.Hitler's rearmed military would be new in two major ways. First, new equipment, tanks, would be a major part of his new army divisions. Second, new tactics would be practiced. Major Heinz Guderian studied tanks and their uses. Hitler's blitzkrieg, or "lightning war" was a tactic to strike hard and fast for short quick battles. The Luftwaffe was to give support for ground troops and tanks, which would storm the enemy target.Hitler would also violate the Versailles Treaty when he remilitarized the Rhineland. He claimed that he wanted to prevent any hostilities against his nation using a pact between France and the U.S.S.R. as an excuse. He made this decision against the advice of his general staff. On March 7, 1936 German troops remilitarized the Rhineland, which was unopposed, leading Hitler to two assumptions: he thought he was more intelligent that other world leaders and he believed his enemies were afraid of him. France responded to the remilitarization of the Rhineland by accelerating the construction of the Maginot Line, a defensive barrier of armored buildings in the hills of France for defense and border security. It was started by General Andre Maginot, who felt that another war would be like WWI (long in duration) and didn't think France was ready for a long war. The line begins at the border with Switzerland and extends north towards Belgium and the Ardennes Forest.Alliances began to form when the Rome-Berlin Axis was signed between Germany and Italy on October 25, 1936 in which the two nations agreed to have a common foreign policy since they were both against the Bolsheviks in Russia and were in support of General Franco and the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. Each was looking to expand (Italy into Ethiopia and Germany into Austria) without interference. The Anti-Comintern Pact was signed between Germany and Japan Nov. 25, 1936 (joined by Italy in Nov. 1937). The agreement was for a common foreign policy against the USSR. Germany, Italy, and Japan would form the Axis nations. Germany and Italy would agree with Japan to support each other in attacks in September of 1940 (war was already underway in 1940) in the Tripartite Pact.Germany extended its power into Austria with the Anschluss, or absorption of Austria into the German empire. Hitler put pressure on Austrian chancellor Kurt von Schussnig to give him a free hand in Austria, but Schussnig refused and later resigned and would be replaced by an Austrian Nazi. A measure was put on the ballot for the Austrian people to vote on as to whether or not to become part of the German Reich. The people voted yes and Austria became part of Nazi Germany on March 13, 1938. Austrian Ernst Kaltenbrunner was named Minister of Austria.Next, Hitler made his move to toward Czechoslovakia. He wanted the Sudetenland, which was part of Czechoslovakia that had 2 million Germans (1.5 million Nazi Germans). Hitler met with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and demanded British support or he'd invade Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain said it was unacceptable, but Hitler knew the French and British were unwilling to go to war for Czechoslovakia and doubted there would be USSR involvement since western democracies hated communism worse than fascism. Mussolini suggested a meeting between Britain, France, Italy, and Germany (no USSR or Czechoslovakia), which took place March 29, 1938. Desperate to avoid war, and anxious to avoid an alliance with Joseph Stalin, Chamberlain and French leader Edouard Daladier agreed that Germany could have the Sudetenland and Hitler promised not to make any further territorial demands in Europe. Czechoslovakia protested the decision, but Chamberlain told Eduard Benes they were unwilling to go to war over the matter. This appeasement policy kept Britain from war and Chamberlain announced "We've achieved peace in our time." In March of 1939, Hitler went in and took the rest of Czechoslovakia. He knew that in order to get anymore territory, he'd have to go to war, something he would be willing to do. At the same time, Japan was willing to go to war to expand in the Pacific.
 * Steps Toward War **

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