Causes of WW2 Flashcards

THIS MADE MANY AMERICANS TURN THEIR BACK ON EUROPE AND ITS PROBLEMS. THE UNITED STATES WOULD NOT BE THERE TO AID THE EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES IN THEIR CONFRONTATIONS WITH FASCISM IN THE 1930'S

THE PEACE TREATY ENFING WWI CAUSED MORE PROBLEMS THAN IT SOLVED AND LAID THE BASIS FOR WWII. THE ISSUES TO BE SETTLED WERE: TERRITORY, REPARATIONS, ARMAMENTS, WAR GUILT, AND LEAGUE OF NATIONS. THESE ISSUES TO LED TO BITTERNESS IN GERMANY AND ITLAY, GERMANY HAD TO PAY AN EXORBITANT AMOUNT OF MONEY, LOST TERRITORY, ACCEPT ALL THE BLAME FOR WWI. ITLAY DID NOT GET THE TERRITORY PROMISED TO THEM BY FRANCE AND ENGLAND

US FOREIGN POLICY UP TO WW II , DESIRE OF AMERICANS NOT TO GET INVOLVED IN ANOTHER FOREIGN WORLD WAR BY KEEPING A FREE HAND IN FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

SENATOR NYE FROM NORTH DAKOTA FORMED A COMMITTEE IN 1936 TO INVESTIGATE THE ACTIONS OF BANKERS AND MUNITIONS (WEAPONS) MAKERS FROM 1914-1918. THE NYE REPORT CONVINCED MILLIONS OF CITIZENS THAT THE BANKERS WHO HAD LENT MONEY TO THE EUROPEAN ALLIES HAD BEEN "MERCHANTS OF DEATH" AND HAD TRICKED THE COUNTRY INTO WAR BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO MAKE A PROFIT AT ANY COST.

SECRETARY OF STATE WHO HELPED ORGANIZED AMERICAN PEACE INITIATIVES #5 TO AVOID A NAVAL ARMS RACE BETWEEN THE US, GB AND JAPAN. HE WAS LATER CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT

HE USA HAD LOANED THE ALLIES OVER $10 BILLION AND WANTED THE MONEY PAID BACK. OUR FORMER ALLIES DID NOT HAVE THE MONEY AND DID NOT BELIEVE THEY SHOULD HAVE TO PAY IT BACK.

THE USA WENT FROM OWING MONEY BEFORE WW I (DEBTOR) TO HAVINC MONEY OWED TO IT (CREDITOR) AS A RESULT OF WW I.

MONEY A LOSING NATION HAS TO PAY THE WINNERS AFTER A WAR. GERMANY (LOSING NATION) WAS SUPPOSED TO PAY REPARATIONS TO THE ALLIES (WINNING NATIONS) WHO WOULD TAKE THE MONEY AND PAY IT TO THE USA BUT GERMANY HAD NO MONEY TO PAY REPARATIONS.

RUSSIA BECAME A COMMUNIST NATION AND HAD A PHILOSOPHY OF EXPANDING COMMUNISM TO OTHER NATIONS

FDR'S POLICY WHERE THE US WOULD BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR TO LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS AND AVOID INTERVENTION WITH TROOPS. IT ALSO STRIVES TO INCREASE TRADE AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY LENDING LATIN AMERICAN NATIONS MONEY TO IMPROVE THEIR ECONOMIES

ITALY FELT THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES HAD BETRAYED THEM. WIDESPREAD UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY LED WORKERS TO SEIZE FACTORIES AND PEASANTS TOOK OVER LAND. THE MIDDLE AND UPPER CLASSES FEARED THE COMMUNISTS MIGHT TAKE OVER ITALY

FOUNDED THE FASCIST PARTY, USING THE FEAR OF COMMUNISM AND OTHER ITALIAN PROBLEM. HE TOOK OVER ITALY IN 1922.

MUSSOLINI'S PHILOSOPHY, ANTI-DEMOCRACY, BELIEVED IN ONE RULER AND ONE PARTY. SET UP SECRI POLICE THAT CRUSHED ALL PROTESTS. MUSSOLINI BECAME THE DICTATOR OF ITALY.

NAME FOR MUSSOLINI'S PRIVATE ARMY OF FASCISTS. THEY HELPED HIM TAKE OVER ITALY

FOUNDED IN 1919 AND TAKEN OVER BY HITLER SOON AFTER. THEY BELIEVED THAT GERMANY HAD NOT LOST WW I BUT HAD BEEN BETRAYED BY JEWS, COMMUNISTS AND TRAITORS. BELIEVED THAT GERMANS WERE A SPECIAL RACE DESTINED TO RULE THE WORLD. WERE ANTI-DEMOCRATIC AND BELIEVED IN ONE PARTY AND ONE LEADER. ANYONE WHO DISAGREED WITH THEM WOULD BE IMPRISONED OR MURDERED

GERMAN LEADER OF THE NAZI PARTY AND LATER DICTATOR OF GERMANY. HE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WW II AND THE DEATH OF 60 MILLION PEOPLE. HE WAS A VICIOUS ANTI-SEMITE (HATES JEWS) AND ORDERED THE EXTERMINATION OF ALL JEWS IN EUROPE

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT OF GERMANY FROM THE END OF WW I TO HITLER'S TAKE OVER OF GERMANY IN 1933. LACK OF A DEMOCRATIC TRADITION IN GERMANY ALONG WITH THE SEVERE DEPRESSION AROUN 1930 CAUSES MANY GERMANS TO LOSE FAITH IN DEMOCRACY, WHICH THEY SAW AS WEAK AND INEFFECTUAL AND TURN TO THE DICTATORSHIP OF HITLER

BOOK BY HITLER ON HIS POLITICAL VIEWS. IN THE BOOK HE BLAMED JEWS AND COMMUNISTS FO ALL OF GERMANY'S PROBLEMS. THE BOOK LAID OUT HIS PLANS FOR WORLD CONQUEST.

NAZI RACIST CONCEPT THAT GERMANIC (ARYAN) PEOPLE ARE A MASTER RACE SUPERIOR TO OTHER RACES. THEY HAVE THE RIGHT AND DUTY TO CONQUER AND ENSLAVE THE INFERIOR RACES. ARYANS ARE WHITE PEOPLES WITH BLUE OR GREEN EYES AND BLONDE HAIR. HITLER DID NOT HAVE BLONDE HAIR OR BLUE EYES.

HATRED AND PREJUDICE AGAINST JEWS. HITLER AND THE NAZI'S WERE VICIOUSLY ANTI-SEMIT BLAMING JEWS FOR ALL THE PROBLEMS IN THE WORLD. WHEN THEY GAINED POWER THEY MURDERED 6 MILLION JEW

"NIGHT OF THE BROKEN GLASS", ANTI-SEMITISM BECAME THE OFFICIAL POLICY OF GERMANY ON NOV. 10, 1938 NAZI THUGS ATTACKED EVERYTHING JEWISH IN GERMANY KILLING JEWS, DESTROYING SYNAGOGUES AND LOOTING JEWISH OWNED BUSINESSES
22.

THOSE WHO BELIEVE A STRONG MILITARY (ARMY, NAVY, AIR FORCE) ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT GOALS FOR A NATION. ALL SOCIETY SHOULD BE GEARED TO CREATING A STRONG MILITARY WHO SHOULD RUN THE GOVERNMENT AND USE FORCE TO ACHIEVE ITS GOALS

A COUNTRY, LIKE MANCHURIA IN THE 1930'S, THAT IS FORMALLY INDEPENDENT BUT IS REALLY RULED BY ANOTHER COUNTRY (JAPAN ACTUALLY RULED MANCHURIA).

1936-1939, SPAIN BECAME A DEMOCRACY IN 1931. IN 1936 FASCIST SPANISH GENERALS BY FRANCISCO FRANCO STARTED A REVOLT AGAINST THE REPUBLICAN GOVT. (LOYALISTS) BOTH SIDES RECEIVED HELP FROM FOREIGN NATIONS. HITLER AND GERMANY SUPPORTED THE FASCIST GENERALS WHILE THE USSR SUPPORTED THI LOYALISTS UNTIL 1938. GERMANY AND ITALY PERFECTED THE WEAPONS AND TACTICS THEY WOULD LATER USE IN WORLD WAR TWO.

BRITISH AND FRENCH STRATEGY TO BUY OFF HITLER BY GIVING HIM PART OF WHAT HE WANTED HOPING HE WOULD NOT ASK FOR MORE. (1.E. BULLY DEMANDING MONEY TO LEAVE YOU ALONE)

HITLER DEMANDED THAT CZECHOSLOVAKIA HAND OVER A PART OF THEIR NATION CALLED THE SUDETENLAND THAT HAD MANY GERMANS. THIS AREA CONTAINED THE MAIN CZECH FORTIFICATIONS ANI WITHOUT IT CZECH WOULD BE DEFENSELESS. CZECH'S ALLIES BRITAIN AND FRANCE, INSTEAD OF BACKING THEM SOLD THEM OUT AT THE MUNICH CONF IN SEPT. OF 1938

BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WHO WAS AN ADVOCATE OF APPEASEMENT AND ENGINEERED THE MUNICH CONFERENCE

AUGUST 1939 AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE U.S.S.R. AND GERMANY PROMISING NOT TO ATTACK EACH OTHER. THIS CAME AS A SHOCK BECAUSE HITLER HATED COMMUNISM AND STALIN HATED NAZISM. THIS PACT FREED HITLER TO ATTACK POLAND AND RISK A WAR WITH THE ALLIES (UK AND FRANCE).

NEW GERMAN ATTACK STRATEGY THAT USED DIVE-BOMBERS, MECHANIZED (RIDING IN TRUCKS OR HALF-TRACKS) INFANTRY AND MOBILE ARTILLERY TO SURROUND AND DESTROY ENEMY FORMATIONS

USE OF THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY HELPED THE UK TO DEFEAT GERMANY IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN. RADA GAVE THE BRITISH THE ABILITY TO SEE GERMAN PLANES IN THE SKY LONG BEFORE THEY WERE VISIBLE TO GROUND OBSERVERS.

NATIONS THAT ARE FIGHTING EACH OTHER IN A WAR

SEPT. 1940 FDR TRADED 50 U.S. WW I DESTROYERS (SHIPS GEARED TO DESTROY SUBMARINES) FOR BRITISH BASES IN CANADA AND THE CARIBBEAN.

MARCH 1941, ALLOWED THE PRESIDENT TO SELL, LEND OR LEASE WAR MATERIALS TO ANY NATION WHOSE DEFENSE WAS VITAL TO U.S. SECURITY. IN REALITY THE U.S. GAVE WEAPONS ONLY THE UK AND ABANDONED NEUTRALITY

AUGUST 1941 AGREEMENT BETWEEN FDR AND CHURCHILL THAT SPELLED OUT THE HOPES FOR THE WORLD AFTER THE DEFEAT OF FASCISM.

GERMAN WORD FOR SUBMARINE. THE GERMANS WERE USING THEIR SUBS TO SINK BRITISH SHIPPING AN STARVE THE UK INTO SURRENDERING. THEY WERE SINKING HUNDREDS OF SHIPS AND THE BRITISH NAVY COULD NOT STOP THEM.

SPOKESMAN FOR AMERICA FIRST COMMITTEE WHO DIDN'T CARE IF HITLER DEFEATED GREAT BRITAIN AND WON WW II. HE HAD BEEN THE FIRST MAN TO FLY SOLO ACROSS THE ATLANTIC AND WAS A POPULAR HERO. HE HAD PRAISED HITLER AND ACCEPTED A MEDAL FROM HITLER.

COMMUNIST DICTATOR OF THE USSR WHOSE RUTHLESS METHODS AND FORCED INDUSTRIALIZATION STRENGTHENED RUSSIA AND HELPED HER DEFEAT GERMANY IN WW II.

COAL, RUBBER, TIN, WOOD, IRON ORE, OIL, FOOD, CHEMICALS, JAPAN HAD VERY FEW RAW MATERIALS AND NEEDED TO IMPORT THEM TO KEEP HER ECONOMY GOING. JAPAN DECIDED TO CONQUER OTHER ASIAN NATIONS TO GET THESE NEEDED RAW MATERIALS.

JAPAN'S WAR MINISTER WHO THOUGHT WAR BETWEEN THE U.S. AND JAPAN WAS INEVITABLE. HE WANTED JAPAN TO ATTACK FIRST BEFORE THE U.S. WAS MOBILIZED (PREPARED) FOR WAR. TOJO WAS HANGED AS A WA CRIMINAL AFTER THE WAR.

U.S. INTELLIGENCE HAD BROKEN THE JAPANESE MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC CODES AND KNEW THE JAPANESE WERE PREPARING FOR WAR. BUT THEY DID NOT KNOW WHERE THE JAPANESE WOULD STRIKE. THEY THOUGHT THE JAPANESE WOULD ATTACK U.S. BASES IN THE PHILIPPINES FIRST.

ON DECEMBER 7TH 1941 THE JAPANESE LAUNCHED A SNEAK ATTACK ON U.S. MILITARY FACILITIES IN THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. THE U.S. WAS CAUGHT UNPREPARED AND MUCH DAMAGE WAS DONE.