Chapter 24: A World in Flames

1. Chapter 24: A World in Flames Section 1: America and the World

2. The Rise of Dictators: • Two reasons for the rise of dictators. • The Treaty Versailles • The economic depression that followed the war. • 1919 Benito Mussolini • Founded the Italian Fascist Part. • Fascism was a kind of aggressive nationalism. • Fascism- • Believed that the nation was more important than the individual. • A nation became great b expanding its territory and building its military. • Fascists were anti-Communists. • Mussolini was backed by the militia known as the black shirts. • Mussolini became the premier of Italy and set up a dictatorship.

3. Joseph Stalin • In 1917 the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, set up Communist governments throughout the Russian empire. • The Russian territories were named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922. • The Communists set up a one- party rule. • By 1926 Joseph Stalin became the new Soviet dictator. • In 1928 he began a massive effort to industrialize the country. • Millions of peasants who resisted the Communist policies were killed.

4. Adolf Hitler • After World War I, the political and economic chaos in Germany led to the rise of new political parties. • The Nazi party was nationalistic and anti- Communist. • Adolf Hitler, a member of the Nazi Party, called for the unification of all Germans under one government. • He believed certain Germans were part of a “master race” destined to rule the world. • He wanted Eastern Europeans enslaved and felt Jews were responsible for many of the world’s problems. • In 1933 Hitler was appointed prime minister of Germany (Chancellor). • Storm troopers intimidated voters into giving Hitler dictatorial powers.

5. Difficult economic times in Japan after WWI undermined the country’s political system. • Many Japanese officers and civilians wanted to seize territory to gain needed resources. • In 1931 the Japanese army, without the government permission, invaded the resource- rich Chinese province of Manchuria. • The military took control of Japan.

7. America Turns to Neutrality • Americans supported isolationism because of: • The rise of dictatorships in Europe and Asia after World War I. • The refusal of European countries to repay war debts owed to the United States. • The Nye Committee finding that arms factories made huge profits. • Many Americans just wanted to avoid international commitments.

8. The Neutrality Acts • Neutrality Act of 1935 • Passed by Congress. • Made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to any country at war. • Neutrality Act of 1937 • Continued the ban of selling arms to countries at war and required warring countries to buy nonmilitary supplies from the U.S. on a “cash and carry” basis.

9. FDR supported the idea of Internationalism- • Internationalists believed that trade between nations creates prosperity and helps prevent war. • Japan aligned itself with Germany and Italy became known as the Axis Powers. • After Japan launched a full- scale attack on China in 1937, FDR authorized the sale of weapons to China. • FDR said that the Neutrality Act of 1937 did not apply, since neither China nor Japan had actually declared war.

10. Section 2: World War II Begins Chapter 24: A World in Flames

11. “Peace in Our Time” • In February 1938, Adolf Hitler threatened to invade Austria unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. • In March 1938, Hitler announced the Anschluss or unification of Austria and Germany. • Hitler claimed the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a large German speaking population. Czechs strongly resisted Germany’s demand for the Sudetenland. • France, the Soviet Union, and Britain threatened to fight Germany if it attacked Czechoslovakia.

13. The Munich Conference • The Munich Conference September 28, 1938- • A meeting between France, Great Britain, and Germany. • France and Great Britain, hoping to prevent war, agreed to Hitler’s demands for the Sudetenland in a policy known as appeasement. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XETp-PaWea8 • In March 1939, Germany sent troops into Czechoslovakia, bringing the Czech lands under German control.

14. Hitler then takes appeasement another step forward and demands the return of Danzig, which is Poland’s Baltic Sea port. • He also wanted a highway and railroad across the Polish Corridor. • These demands convinced the British and the French that appeasement had failed. • In May 1939, Hitler ordered the invasion of Poland by the German Army. • On August 23, 1939, Germany and the USSR signed a nonaggression treaty, with a secret agreement to divide Poland. • Called the Nazi- Soviet Pact.

15. The War Begins • On September 1, 1939, Germany and the USSR invaded Poland. • On September 3, Britain and France declare war on Germany- starting WWII. • The Germans and Blitzkrieg- • Blitzkrieg- lightening war • Rapid moving tanks, aircraft and troops to overrun and destroy the enemy. • Germans learned from WWI and are trying to avoid trench warfare. • October 5, 1939- The Polish army was defeated. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f2lIZil6VA

17. The Maginot Line • The Maginot Line- • Built by France after WWI. • Concrete bunkers and fortifications. • Located on the French- German border and was designed to stop a German invasion. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9lhFO6k9D8 • When Hitler decided to attack France, he went around the Maginot Line by invading the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. • The French and British troops quickly went into Belgium, becoming trapped there by German forces.

19. Miracle at Dunkirk • May 1940, Germany begins the invasion of France. • German soldiers will cut through the Arden Forest in Belgium and drive the Allied Armies back to the port city of Dunkirk. • The Miracle at Dunkirk: • The French and British troops were pushed back by the Germans into the city of Dunkirk. • Surrounded by the Germans, the British and French needed to be evacuated by boat in order to be saved. • June 4, 338,000 British and French troops were evacuated from Dunkirk by all different types of ships and were taken back across the English Channel to England. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSoDLfQKhGI • With Allied Army saved, Germany will turn south and attack France. • On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to the Germans. • Battle last 1 month and 12 days. • Germany installed a puppet government in France.

20. Britain Remains Defiant • With the surrender of France, Hitler thought that the British would negotiate peace. • Hitler doesn’t anticipate the bravery of the British people and their Prime Minister Winston Churchill. • On June 4, 1940, Churchill delivered a defiant speech that rallied the British people and alerted the United States to Britain’s plight.

21. Battle of Britain • In order for German to invade Britain with an army, Hitler knew that he would have to defeat the British air force (RAF). • In the Battle of Britain, the German air force (Luftwaffe) under Field Marshall Hermann Goring launched an all-out battle to destroy the British Royal Air Force. • The Germans bombed English cities including London. • In return the British bombed Berlin. • Last from July to October 1940.

23. The RAF was greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe. • The British had radar stations and were able to detect the incoming German aircraft • This allowed the British to direct fighters to intercept them. • The British would outlast the Germans and this victory will boost British moral.

24. Battle of Britain • British • 544 aircrew killed422 aircrew wounded1,547 aircraft destroyed • German • 2,698 aircrew killed967 captured638 missing bodies identified by British Authorities1,887 aircraft destroyed