The document summarizes the rise of fascism in Europe in the 1930s and the path to war. It describes how Germany, Italy, and Japan invaded neighboring countries and withdrew from the League of Nations. Britain and France pursued a policy of appeasement by allowing Germany to annex parts of Czechoslovakia. Isolationism in the US grew due to the Great Depression and events of WWI. FDR began preparing the US for potential war by increasing defense spending in 1940 despite America First Committee opposition to intervention. WWII began with the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939.

1. Road to War

2. Rise of Fascism
 FDR knew that war may be inevitable in
Europe
 2/3 of Americans did not want another
war, citing they did not agree with entry
into WWI
 Nye Report, 1934
 Great Depression
 US still had a general policy of neutrality

3. Japan
 Japan invades China in 1937
 Already occupied Manchuria (1931-
1932)
 LON did not approve of Japan’s actions
but could not do anything to stop them
 Japan was not allowed to participate in
the league for a year, and they decided
to withdraw from the League!

4. Italy
 Mussolini was encouraged by what
Japan was doing
 Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935
 Italy had not received any colonies as
part of the Versailles Treaty
 Ethiopia was independent, but could not
stop Italy from invasion
 LON again not happy, but helpless

6. Hitler/Germany
 Came to power due to poor conditions and
large reaparations, also fear of Communism
 Socialist or Nazi Party took over in 1933
 Mein Kampf: Written by Hitler, discussed
overturning territorial settlements of the
Versailles Treaty, to restore a “German
Fatherland”, and to annex much of Eastern
Europe
 First concentration camp opened in 1933

8. Appeasement
 Policy from England
and France to avoid
war with Germany
 Munich agreement
in 1938 in which
England and France
agreed to allow
Hitler to annex the
Sudetenland
 JFK, Why England
Slept, 1940

9. Neville Chamberlain, Peace
for Our Time, Sept. 30, 1938
 “The settlement of the Czechoslovakian
problem, which has now been achieved
is, in my view, only the prelude to a
larger settlement in which all Europe
may find peace.”
 “We regard the agreement signed last
night….as symbolic of the desire of our
two peoples never to go to war with one
another again.”
 Chamberlain treated like a hero

10. Isolationism in the 1930’s
 Very uninvolved in this decade
 Formal recognition of Soviet Union in
1933
 Good Neighbor Policy: US renounced
the use of military force and armed
intervention in the Western Hemisphere
 What factors led to public support for
non-intervention internationally?

11. Neutrality Act
 1935 act that prevented a recurrence of
events of WWI
 Imposed an embargo on arms trading with
countries at war
 Declared that American citizens traveling on
ships were doing so at their own risk
 Banned loans to bullying countries
 Cash and carry: purchases of non-military
goods from US would have to be paid for in
cash, and picked up on own ships if at war
 Protested by many; esp. America First Committee

12. America First Committee
 Hundreds of
thousands of
members
 Led by Charles
Lindbergh, Henry
Ford, Father
Coughlin
 Dissolved after Pearl
Harbor

13. WWII Begins
 Germany expands into Austria, Czechoslovakia
 Then comes the Munich meeting: failure! Hitler
decides to expand anyway through force
 Hitler now moving towards Poland
 Aug. 1939: Hitler signs a non-aggression pact with
Soviets
 This assured Germany that they would not have a two-front
war

14. WWII Begins
 Poland invaded by Germany on Sept. 1, 1939
 Blitzkrieg, the world has never seen anything like it!
 http://archive.org/details/gov.archives.arc.24457
 Sept. 3, 1939, Britain and France declare war on Germany,
WWII officially begins
 “Phony War,” Allies wait
 German attacks continue on May 10,
1940
 Scandinavia, Belgium, Netherlands
 Occupied Paris by June of 1940
 Axis Powers formed in same month

15. Sudetenland

19. Nazi troops in
Warsaw, Sept. 1939
Wielun, Poland on Sept. 1, 1939

20. Maginot Line

22. US Reaction
 Looked at for our reaction
 FDR declared neutrality on Sept. 5, 1939
 By April 1940, Germany had defeated
Poland and Denmark
 Then, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium,
Luxembourg
 Even France by June 1940
 Only Britain is left
 Churchill is desperate for help

25. At this point…some action!
 FDR created the National Defense
Advisory Commission and Council of
National Defense in 1940
 Built military bases on British
possessions in the Atlantic
 Ended neutrality by doing this!
 Congress increased defense spending
and had a peacetime draft
 Selective Service & Training Act

26. Election of 1940

27. Lend-Lease Act
 After winning election of 1940
 President had power to lease, lend, or
otherwise dispose of arms and other
equipment whose defense was
considered vital to the security of the US
 When Germany invaded the Soviets in
1941, they expanded the program to
them

28. Four Freedoms Speech
 FDR’s State of the Union speech; Jan.
1941
 Four fundamental freedoms that people
everywhere should enjoy
 Freedom of speech
 Freedom of worship
 Freedom from want
 Freedom from fear
 Became a basis for war aims
 An attempt to gain public support

31. Atlantic Charter
 FDR and Churchill
 Off coast of Newfoundland
 Ideological foundation of the Western
cause
 Similar to Fourteen Points in that it:
 Called for economic collaboration
 Guarantees of political stability
 Free trade, national self-determination,
collective security