Italy expanded its control over Africa in the 1930s while Germany increasingly violated the Treaty of Versailles by remilitarizing the Rhineland and annexing Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia. Japan also grew more aggressive during this time, invading Manchuria in 1931 and seeking to drive Western powers out of Asia as part of its goal to dominate the region and gain access to resources and living space. The League of Nations condemned these acts of aggression but was unable to stop them due to lacking enforcement powers.

1. Territorial Aggression

4. Italy expanded into Africa Ethiopia, Libya, and Somalia were under Italian control by 1936 The League of Nations condemned the invasions, but did nothing to stop Mussolini Italy

5. In 1935, Hitler announced that Germany would no longer obey the Treaty of Versailles and would rebuild the military Germany invaded the demilitarized zone in Rhineland (border of Germany and France) League of Nations – (especially France and Great Britain) did nothing to stop Hitler Anschluss – annexation of Austria into the German Empire (Reich), March 1938 Annexation of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, September 1938 German Aggression

8. Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere – theory that Japan’s manifest destiny was to drive out all Western colonial powers from Asia and to dominate Asia and the Pacific (territorial expansion to gain living space and natural resources) Japan's Manifest Destiny

9. Manchuria, China – invaded by the Japanese military (without consent of the government) in 1931 created a “puppet state” (one that had previously been independent that was now dominated by another nation) violated the Open Door Policy League of Nations condemned the invasion but was unable to step in to defend Manchuria because it did not have enforcement power Japanese Aggression