WORLD WAR II

How did WWI end?

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I.

Germany would have to pay all the debt for the war.

How would this possibly impact WWII?

Events that led to the start of WWII

After World War One ended in 1918, Germany had to give up land and was banned from having armed forces.

WWII was started by Germany in an unprovoked attack on Poland.

Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler had refused to abort his invasion of Poland.

CASUES OF WORLD WAR 2

CAUSE #1 Hitler’s GOALS

To unite Germany

He wanted to dominate Europe and the World

To achieve any of these aims would involve breaking the Treaty of Versailles and this could lead to war.

CAUSE #2 The aggression of Hitler’s Allies

Italy – Mussolini wanted a Fascist-Roman empire in the Mediterranean and Africa (e.g. Abyssinian invasion in 1935.)

Japan – Japan wanted a Nipponese empire in the Pacific, extending into China and Australia (e.g. Manchurian invasion in 1931)

Germany, Italy and Japan were hostile to Communism (USSR), and this way a cause of war and vice versa

CASUES OF WORLD WAR 2

CAUSE #3

Democratic powers were passive

USA – Isolated France – France was unlikely,

and reluctant, to intervene against Germany, because she could not rely on Britain’s and America’s support.

Britain – Between 1934 and 1937, Britain was sympathetic to German recovery. Between May 1937 and March 1939, Britain appeased Germany.

These powers could have stopped Fascist aggression earlier than 1939

CAUSE #4

The League of Nations failed to keep peace

Countries Involved

The Axis German

Italy

Japan

The Allies England

Russia

United States

ALLIED LEADERS OF WORLD WAR 2

Winston Churchill Prime Minister of

Great Britain during most of the war, from 1940 to 1945, Churchill led Britain to victory.

During the Battle of Britain, Churchill's speeches boosted the British morale during the darkest moments.

ALLIED LEADERS OF WORLD WAR 2

Stalin was very brutal Communist dictator of Russia (1928-1953). In the years before World War 2.

Stalin murdered or imprisoned almost all of Russia's senior military officers, and millions of other Russian citizens, in a paranoid and unprecedented wave of political terror.

ALLIED LEADERS OF WORLD WAR 2

FDR President of the United

States of America (1933-1945).

He declared war on Japan after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, but unfortunately he did not live long enough to celebrate the Allies' victory in September of 1945.

AXIS LEADERS OF WORLD WAR 2

Hitler served in the Bavarian army during World War I and rose to become the leader of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Under his leadership, the Nazis sought to make Germany the most powerful empire in the world and exterminate all they viewed as inferior.

AXIS LEADERS OF WORLD WAR 2Hideki Tojo Prime minister of

Japan (October 1941 - July 1944).

Benito Mussolini Prime minister of Italy

(1922-1943). He joined forces with Adolf Hitler to fight the Allied powers.

Eventually, he was sacked as prime minister and executed by his own people.