Essential Question:

What factors led to the outbreak

of World War II in 1939?

Warm-Up Question:
Considering the short comings
of the Treaty of Versailles, what
do you think will cause the
Second World War?
 The Causes of World War II
WWI was not the war to end all
wars as a series of problems from
1919 to 1939 led to World War II
Resentment in Germany over
the Treaty of Versailles
The failure of the League of
Nations to maintain world peace
A global depression & intense
nationalism led to the rise of
dangerous, aggressive dictators
 Cause of World War II
Huge reparations slowed Germanys
ability to rebuild after the war

The punishing terms of the Treaty of

Versailles (war guilt & demilitarization)
led to anger & resentment in Germany
Causes of World
Britain Warwere
& France II leaders
of the League of Nations, but
war debts & post-war
rebuilding meant that they
could not afford another war
European
Thenations
Causeswere dependent
of World Warupon
I U.S.
investment to help rebuild, butIntheGermany
Great
inflation was
Depression led to a world-wide depression in
so bad, that
the 1930s, especially in Europe
money
became
worthless;
Here German
children use
stacks of
German
money as
play toys
 The Rise of Totalitarianism
These desperate conditions led to
the rise of totalitarianism in Europe
Dictators seized total control over
the govt & the lives of citizens
Promoted nationalism to win
support & promised a return of
jobs, national pride, & empire
Used propaganda, police terror,
& persecution to maintain power
Totalitarian Regimes in Europe & Asia
 Mussolini & Hitler
Totalitarian both believed
Regimes in Europein fascism
& Asia
the idea that nations need strong dictators,
total authority by one political party, but that
Communists
people canlike
keep their private property
Lenin & Stalin in
the Soviet Union
believed that the
govt should
control all property
& business
 In the 1920s &
Totalitarian 1930s, Japan
Regimes was the & Asia
in Europe
strongest & wealthiest nation in Asia;
Prime Minister Hideki Tojo created a
military dictatorship in Japan
 Causes of World War II
In the 1930s, territorial expansion in
Europe & Asia contributed to WWII
In the 1930s, Japan
began to build a
In the 1930s, large Asian empire
Mussolini directed to provide resources
the Italian military to for their industry &
seize Libya & Ethiopia military; Japanese
in Africa, then forces attacked
Albania in Europe Manchuria, northern
China, & East Indies
To fulfill Hitlers dream of Lebensraum
(living space); Germany annexed
Austria & Czechoslovakia in the 1930s
 Failure of the League of Nations
This expansion threatened world
peace, but the League of Nations
failed to intervene effectively:
Britain & France relied on
appeasement (giving in to an
aggressor to avoid war)
The League condemned Japan,
Italy, & Germany but resisted more
severe actions to halt expansion
 The Outbreak of World War II
In 1939, German expansion led to
the outbreak of World War II:
Hitler negotiated the Nazi-Soviet
Nonaggression Pact allowing
Germany to seize half of Poland
World leaders were shocked by
the agreement & horrified by
German military expansion
 England & France could not use
On September 1, 1939
appeasement any longer &
Germany invaded
declared warPoland
on Germany
In 1940, Germany, Italy, & Japan signed the
Tripartite Pact ( Axis Coalition) to protect
each other in case any nation was attacked
 Expansion in Europe & Asia
Once WWII began, the Axis Powers
used modern militaries to seize
large territories in Europe & Asia:
The Germans used blitzkrieg
tactics to take most of Europe
Italian forces seized north Africa
Japanese military gained an
empire in Southeast Asia
Blitzkrieg (lightning war) tactics used air raids
followed by infantry & tanks invasions
 By 1941, the AxisInPowers controlledbegan
1940, Germany
almost all of Europebombing
& northern Africa
Britain, the
strongest Allied nation

In 1941,InGermany
1940, France
broke the
fell to&the
Nazi-Soviet Pact Nazisthe USSR
invaded
Meanwhilein the Pacific
Japan took full advantage of the
European war to expand in Asia
 Conclusions
By the end of 1941, the Axis
Powers appeared close to victory:
Germany & Italy were in control
of Europe with Britain & USSR
as the only opposition to victory
Japan seemed to go unnoticed
in their conquest of Asia
From 1939 to 1941, the USA
remained neutral, but not isolated,
from the global conflict
 Closure Activity
On your map, label the following:
The 3 main Axis Powers
The territories under the control of
the Axis Powers by 1942
On your timeline, identify the 5 most
important events that contributed to
World War 2; For each event, provide
a brief summary & an image