Causes: Political, Ideological, and Economic

 

France:

 

Short Term:

 

-          France pledged to support Poland in the event of aggression, declared war on Germany two days later

-          Alarmed by German rearmament, France sought an alliance with the USSR

-          Under the pretext that this endangered Germany, Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland in 1936.

-          Britain and France took no action.

 

Long Term:

 

-          France followed a policy of appeasement before the war because neither was in any position to fight a war in 2 places (Japan, Europe).

o        Hoped to soften Hitler’s aggression policies

o        Failed.

 

United States:

Long Term:

-          Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal was a conscious and active attempt to impose a fascist type of economic order on America

-          Declared unconstitutional in 1935

o        Roosevelt administration continued on the collectivist road with economic regulation, deficit-spending, public works, welfare-status, and monetary central-planning through the Federal Reserve System

Short Term:

-          The attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941