The Second World War

(1939-1945)
Form 4
Legacy of WWI
• WWII was a continuation of WWI
Italy’s discontent with the unfair re-distribution of the spoils

Germany’s desire for revenge

The serious economic and social problems faced by both of them

Led them to the road of totalitarianism極權主義 and eventually war

 • First phase of War: US
stayed neutral status 🡪
traded with both sides
🡪 gained money

• 🡪 After the WWI, the

US became very rich.

Great Depression 1929-1933

• Largest producer and creditor in the
world
Lent money to Britain and France (help
them recover their economics)
Lent money to Germany (help it pay
the war indemnity)

• A major market

• Played a leading role in the economic

development of the world
American economy: prospering

To increase profits

Issued shares on the stock market to

raise money

Bought the shares

Stock prices increase rapidly

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1B441157kF/?spm_id_from=
333.788.videocard.1

• What happened after 1929?

• Stock Crash
• Jumping from a building
• Factory closure
• Being unemployed
• The sidewalks were ripped out and used for
fuel
• Farmers destroyed their own produce
• Bankrupt
• Homeless
• ….

Wall Street Crash

24/10/1929 “Black Thursday”
28/10/1929 “Black Monday”
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FQ4y1K7Zw?from=search&
29/10/1929 “Black Tuesday”
seid=2531298707595951296
Great Depression 1929-1933
• The Wall Street Crash touched off a serious financial crisis

• To protect its local industries 🡪 US began to impose high tariffs關稅 on all foreign goods
🡪 free trade stopped

the Great Depression started around the world (it got worst in 1932, and lasted until
1933)

A decline of 44% in global industrial production

World trade volume declined by 66%, back to the level of 1913

US dollars and various European currencies were greatly devalued

Helped the rise and growth of totalitarianism 🡪 threatened world peace.

Question
• Defeated powers of WWI, such as Germany, suffered the most. Why?
Germany borrowed money from the US to pay indemnity and recover its
economy, however, the US stopped doing so due to the Great Depression.

Meanwhile, Britain and France were also influenced by the Great Depression,
so they kept demanding Germany to pay its indemnity.

As a result, the German economy collapsed.

Rise of
totalitarianism
What is totalitarianism?

• A political system

A dictator or a political party rules the

state with absolute power;

The state has total control over most

aspects of people’s lives;

The state suppresses all opposition;

The state follows an expansionist

foreign policy
Fascism in Italy
• Post-war Italy
Was not satisfied of the Paris Peace Settlement
serious economic problems: inflation

government could not solve these problems

Wanted a strong leader
🡪 Benito Mussolini墨索里尼 rose to power
 • In 1919, Mussolini formed
Mussolini a political party called the
and his Fascist Party
Fascist Party • Fascism
• In 1922, he seized power
and later declared himself
Il Duce (the leader) of Italy
Fascism
• Fascism (and Nazism as well) is a political philosophy, movement, or
regime that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by
a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation and
forcible suppression of opposition.

• Fascists believe in placing their nation and race before themselves

• The Nazis were fascists who controlled Germany under Hitler

• Post-war Germany
• Serious problems in the society: civil
unrest, worker strikes, communist
revolutions
• Weimar Republic 魏瑪共和國: Treaty of
Versailles
🡪humiliation
• The Great Depression 🡪 economy
collapsed

• People did not believe their government,

and wanted a new government to solve
these problems
Rise of Nazism in Germany
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFICRFKtAc4

• How did Hitler rise to power?

• Problems in Germany – humiliation, collapsed
economy…
• Blame on Jews
• Public speaking – took advantage of people’s
anger 🡪 offering scapegoats and a promise to
restore Germany’s former greatness

• Hitler 🡪 a gifted speaker

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMbd-UYyEd0&t=12s
 Germany under Hitler
• What political reforms did the
Nazi Party work on Germany after
1933?
Republic 🡪 dictatorship

(Weimar Republic 🡪 the Third Reich)

Broke the separation of powers

One-party dictatorship: Nazi

• The Third Reich 第三帝國
The First Reich (Holy Roman Empire)

The Second Reich: founded by Bismarck that had ended with the war
in 1918

• Separation of powers
Swastika

•comes from the Sanskrit梵文 svastika, which

means “good fortune” or “well-being.”
•An ancient symbol in the form of an equal-armed
cross with each arm continued at a right angle.
•used as the emblem of the German Nazi Party.
Germany under Hitler
• Was the Nazi Party successful in recovering the German economy?
Why or why not?
Yes, solved unemployment problem by
◆ controlling economic activities

◆ banned unions, strikes and demand wage increase

At what cost??
◆ People’s freedom and living standard
Trade union/ labor union: an association of workers
• A labor union is an organization that acts as an intermediary中間人
between its members and the business that employs them. The main
purpose of labor unions is to give workers the power to negotiate for
more favorable working conditions and other benefits through
collective bargaining.
 Germany under Hitler
• What does it mean that Germany had
became a police state?

Secret police (Gestapo 蓋世太保) to

arrest opposition

Concentration camps 集中營

Political propaganda 政治宣傳 to

control mind of people (media,
school, Hitler Youth)
Nazi Propaganda
• Nazi salute https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8iujof6IL8
Hail Hitler!; Hail, my leader!; Hail, victory!

Show their support and loyalty to Hitler

Express national glory

Germany under Nazi rule

• Politically:
a dictatorship under Nazi rule; • No freedom: Gestapo;
the government controlled all concentration camp 集中營
power; 🡪police state
Nazi was the only lawful party
• Controlled people’s mind; all
• Economically: kinds of media; education
Solved the serious unemployment
problem
Controlled al economic activities
Banned unions https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1C4411G7Dg?t=292
Militarism in Japan
• Militarism軍國主義: a desire to strengthen and

use the armed forces of one’s country to make it

more powerful.
Militarism in Japan: background
• After the Meiji Reforms (Meiji Restoration 明治維新), Japan changed
to be a modern country.

• 🡪 followed an expansionist foreign policy

• https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gt411S7Bt

• https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1gt411i74q/?spm_id_from=333.78
8.videocard.0
 Militarism in Japan:
background
• In the early 1930s, Great Depression
🡪 serious economic problems 🡪 the
government could not solve these
problems 🡪 Japanese militarists
gained support from the people (set
up a military dictatorship and expand
abroad 🡪 save the economy)
 Planned to invade first the
Northeast Provinces 東北三省,
and then the whole China

18/09/1931 九一八事變

1932-1945 滿洲國
State of Manchuria/ Empire
of Manchuria
(a puppet regime)
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere 大東亞共榮
圈
Causes
of WWII
Causes of
WWII