World in Flames

World War Two Begins

1931-1941
 Terms to Know
 Allied Powers
 Axis Powers
 Neutrality Acts
 Lend Lease Act
 Four Freedoms Speech
 Nuremburg Laws
 The St. Louis
 Origins of World War Two
 Depressions hit Europe hard, opening the door
for some nations to embrace dictatorships,
either fascist or communist.
 Italy is the first to become Fascist under Benito
Mussolini.
 Stalin became the second dictator of the
communist USSR.
 In 1933 Adolf Hitler is elected chancellor of
Germany.
 Under the guise of Aryans as the master race and
antisemitism, the Nazi Party dominates Germany
and Hitler assumes the role of Fuehrer by 1934.
 Military leaders take power in Japan, citing the
need for more territory and Hideki Tojo
overpowers the Emperor
Hitler becomes aggressive
 Still bitter over the Versailles treaty from WW1,
Hitler began to openly defy it.
 Wanting to reunite Germanic peoples (and reclaim
lost territory) Hitler invaded Austria, Sudetenland
and Czechoslovakia.
 Meanwhile the League of Nations responded with
appeasement.
 After signing a non-aggression pact with the Soviet
Union in secret, both invade Poland in 1939 and
Britain and France declare war.
 The Nazi “blitzkrieg” swiftly conquers France and
the remaining British troops barely escape at
Dunkirk.
 The Battle of Britain rages on as Hitler considers
invasion.
 Axis Powers formed.
 From Neutrality to War
 As war waged overseas, Americans sought isolation
again as FDR signs the Neutrality Acts in 1935,
1936 and 1937.
 Following Axis invasions of Ethiopia and China,
FDR gives his Four Freedoms Speech.
 In wake of Hitler’s betrayal and invasion of the
Soviet Union, America switches over from previous
legislation to the Lend Lease Act.
 Hostility picks up between the USA and Japan.
 America places embargos on Japan who is already
upset about US territory in the Pacific.
 Japan launches the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
 Germany and Italy declare war on the US and
America joins the Allied Powers.
The Holocaust
 Early Nazi persecution of the Jews began as soon
as they took power with the Nuremburg Laws.
 Kristallnacht happens all throughout the German
territories as Jewish homes and businesses are
raided.
 A number of factors restricted Jewish
immigration to America.
 The St Louis fails to save 930 Jews.
 Hitler’s Final Solution included sending Jews
from German ghettos to Concentration and
Extermination Camps.
 Buchenwald and Auschwitz are the worst, the
latter designed to kill 12,000 a day.
 Ultimately, 12 million would die in camps
including handicaps, homosexuals, gypsies,
political prisoners and over 6 million Jews.
 Band of Brothers Video