PostWorld War I Problems leftover from WW I

Post-World War I Problems leftover from WW I I – World-wide feelings of hatred – Extreme Nationalism – Fear of Communism by Western countries – Depression • Inflation and unemployment

Totalitarian Government a form of government in which the political authority exercises absolute and centralized control over all aspects of life, the individual is subordinated to the state, and opposing political and cultural expression is suppressed

Soviet Union Joseph Stalin Soviet Communism – “Stalinism” • Command Economy – Built up Industry – Built a large military – “Collectivization” of all farming • World Leadership International Communism • Promotion of Atheism – Outlawed popular Russian Orthodox Church – All public display of any religion

Stalin’s Totalitarian State Control Over the Individual - Obedience The Great Purge Counter-Revolutionaries and “enemies of the People” A paranoid Stalin feared any rival party leaders and dissenters

Japan Emperor Hirohito Hideki Tōjō 東条 英機 1941 to July 22, 1944 directly responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor Emperor – Military • Responsible to imperial ancestors • Japan lacked raw materials – Supported Territorial expansion / Japanese Imperialism – Aggressive military campaign in the 1930’s • • • China Manchuria Korea

ITALY Benito Mussolini Fascism • Hated Communism – – threat to private property • Glorification of State (state over individual) • Militarism is ultimate expression of power • Rejection of liberalism and democracy Dreamed of Italian empire like the ancient Romans

Germany Adolf Hitler (1933) NAZI - National Socialist Workers Party “The Third Reich” • Came to power with a Parliamentary Democracy • Eliminated P. Democracy once in power • Became Dictator • Police state to control population • Aggressive elimination of all opposition • Rearmed Germany – against Versailles Treaty

Germany Adolf Hitler 1935 – Passed the Nuremberg Laws Deprived Jews of German citizenship and prohibited racially mixed marriages between Germans and Jews. 1935, the laws were extended to "Gypsies, Negroes or their bastard offspring" 1936 – Moved troops into the Rhineland (France) France and Great Britain did nothing…

Germany Adolf Hitler (1933) Appeasement • a diplomatic policy aimed at making concessions to an aggressor Munich Conference (pact) - 1938 • • permitted Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland Hitler promised to go no further

Soviet Union (Russia) Joseph Stalin Germany (Adolph Hitler) Treaty of Non-aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Hitler said he would not attack the Soviet Union Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (left), Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Soviet foreign minister Viacheslav Molotov at the signing of the nonaggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. Stalin knew it was only a matter of time …. so he prepared for war

Great Britain Winston Churchill Did not believe it…. “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war. ”

Japanese Aggression Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi Assassinated by ultra-national Army invades Manchuria League of Nations condemns it but powerless to do anything about it

Japanese Aggression Rape of Nanking 1937 - The Nanking Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanking, was an episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against Nanking (China) Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250, 000 to 300, 000 people were killed.

United States Neutrality Act prohibited the sale of weapons to warring countries

AXIS POWERS The Tripartite Pact Germany, Italy and Japan sign agreement The Pact provided for mutual assistance should any of the signatories suffer attack by any nation not already involved in the war. This formalizing of the alliance was aimed directly at “neutral” America. The Pact also recognized the two spheres of influence. – – Germany and Italy in the establishment of a new order in Europe Japan was granted lordship over “Greater East Asia. ”