Essential Questions: Why were the totalitarian states able to exert control in Asia and Europe?
Why did America remain neutral?
I. Nationalism Grips Europe and Asia
A. After WW I, new democratic governments failed
1. People turned to dictators to solve their problems
B. The rise of totalitarian states during the 1930s
1. War began in Asia first
a. Stemmed from Japanese aggression in China
-Seized control of Manchuria
2. Aggression also in Europe
a. Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933
-Adolf Hitler
-Renounced Versailles Treaty because it blamed
Germany for starting the war
b. Aggressive rantings also from Fascist Italy
-Benito Mussolini
-Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935
II. The US Responds Cautiously
A. U.S. wanted to remain neutral
1. Legacy of World War I was isolationist sentiment
2. Congress enacted Neutrality Acts 1935, 1936, 1937
a. Arms embargo against nations at war
b. Prohibited loans to nations at war
3. Britain also pursued isolation and eventually appeasement
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Chapter 24 War in Europe
Essential Questions: What moves did Germany make in its quest for empire?
What was appeasement and how did it lead to German aggression?
I. Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
A. Germany and Italy created �Axis� alliance in Oct 1936
1. In August of 1939, Hitler signed a nonaggression pact with
the Soviet Union
a. Both countries committed to never attack each other
B. Germany annexed Austria in Mar 1938 and announced plans to
take Sudetenland (Czechoslavakia)
II. The outbreak of war in Europe
A. At Munich Conference in Sep 1938, Britain and France sought to
avoid war with Germany through appeasement
1. Hitler promised that the Sudetenland would be his last
demand
2. Promise destroyed when Germany invaded and conquered all of
Czechoslovakia in March 1939
B. Blitzkrieg War
1. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland
2. Britain and France declared war on Axis powers
3. By June 1940, Germany had overrun Denmark, Norway, the
Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France
4. In the fall of 1940, Germany bombed Great Britain on a daily
basis
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Chapter 24 America Moves Toward War
Essential Questions: What impact did the war in Europe have on US policy?
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor?
I. The US musters its forces
A. Officially the US was neutral, but FDR clearly favored Allied
powers over Axis
1. Deep down Roosevelt wanted to support Britain�s war effort
2. First peacetime draft initiated in 1940
3. US ultimately abandoned all pretense of neutrality and began
providing war material to Allies (�cash and carry�)
II. An �arsenal of democracy�
A. Lend-lease Act, 1941
1. Response to Britain�s near bankruptcy
2. Would make United States a �great arsenal of democracy�
3. Provoked great opposition in Congress, but passed anyway
III. Japan attacks the US at Pearl Harbor
A. Japanese threats to European colonies in Asia (Southeast Asia) caused
the US to take firmer measures
1. US halted sales to Japan of aviation fuel and scrap iron in
1940
2. US froze Japanese assets in mid-1941
B. Japan decides on war
1. Only the US prevented Japan from expanding in the Pacific
2. Surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 Dec. 1941
a. US expected Japanese attack elsewhere, not at Pearl
Harbor
C. US declared war on Japan on 8 Dec. 1941
1. Germany and Italy (Axis Powers) then declared war on US
a. Japan had previously signed the Tripartite Pact with Italy and Germany in 1940.