3. Post WWI Problems The Treaty of Versailles Germans were angered and humiliated and they believed that they were punished too harshly Italians and Japanese were disappointed because they felt they didn’t gain enough territory or colonies The Great Depression Economic problems made people desperate They wanted strong leaders to help
4. Fascist Aggression Dictators in Germany, Italy, and Japan wanted to build empires so they invaded other nations Responses to Fascist Aggression Appeasement: giving into a nation’s demands in order to avoid war To avoid war with Germany, Great Britain and France allowed Hitler to rebuild his military and invade other nations Isolationism: when a nation keeps to itself and remains neutral in wars between other nations The United States ignored these aggressive actions and hoped to remain neutral when the war began
7. Theaters of Conflict European Theater In Europe and the surrounding areas Western Front – battles fought in Western Europe Mainly Britain, France, and U.S. vs. Germany and Italy Eastern Front – battles fought in Eastern Europe Mainly between Germany and the Soviet Union Africa – battles fought in deserts of North Africa Allies fought against Germany and Italy
8. Pacific Theater Fighting between Allies and Japanese on islands, water, and air of the Pacific Ocean Allies used “island hopping” or fighting island by island to push closer to Japan Aircraft carriers (large ships that planes could takeoff of and land on) were very important
9. Role of Geography The small islands of Japan had very few natural resources so the Japanese invaded other nations to get them. Germany’s location in Central Europe made it easy to expand in every direction. Great Britain was an island protected from invasion by surrounding waters. The Soviet Union was protected from invasion by lots of territory and extremely cold winter weather.
