6.4 Why did war break out in Europe in 1939?

There are 7 documents below. Follow the directions for each one.

The League of Nations was weak.

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Review the Leage of Nations with your group. Answer the following questions on your paper.

What was the purpose of the League of Nations?

When was it created?

Why was it weak?

3. Discuss what you see in the political cartoon below. Then write the message of the cartoon on your paper.

Japan Invades China

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

The militaristic leaders of Japan wanted to build a Japanese empire. In 1931, Japan seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria. When the League of Nations condemned the action, Japan merely withdrew its membership from the League. This incident strengthened militarism in Japan. In 1937, the Japanese army invaded China. They established a puppet government in the former Chinese Nationalist capital of Nanjing. Their invasion of this city was so brutal that it became known as the “Rape of Nanjing.” Japan continued to gain territory during the period of war with China.

3. Discuss the photograph below. Write down what it is that you think makes this image so powerful.

Italy Attacks Ethiopia

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

In 1935, the Italian army invaded the African country of Ethiopia. The Ethiopians resisted the attack, but their weapons were no match for the armored vehicles, aircraft, and poison gas of the Italians. The Ethiopian king appealed to the League of Nations. The league agreed to stop the sale of weapons and other war materials to Italy. However, the agreement was not honored by all nations.

3. Discuss what you see in the political cartoon below. Then write the message of the cartoon on your paper.

German Aggression in Europe

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

Hitler glorified war as a means of restoring German national pride. This philosophy led to a policy of expansion. Hitler rebuilt the German army, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland. This was an area located on Germany’s border with France. The Treaty of Versailles had required that Germany remove its troops from this border region. In 1938, Hitler made Austria part of the German empire. In the same year, he also forced Czechoslovakia to give Germany a border area called the Sudetenland, where many Germans lived.

3. Read the paragraph below and discuss it with your group members. Then write the key ideas on your paper :[We] must hold unflinchingly to our aim in foreign policy, namely, to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth. And this action is the only one which, before God and our German posterity [future generations], would make any sacrifice of blood seem justified: before God, since we have been put on this earth with the mission of eternal struggle for our daily bread, beings who receive nothing as a gift, and who owe their position as lords of the earth only to the genius and the courage with which they can conquer and defend it… The soil on which some day German generations of peasants can beget powerful sons will sanction the investment of the sons of today, and will some day acquit the responsible

Failure of Appeasement

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

Western countries were recovering from the Great Depression and did not want any more war. The western democracies responded weakly to German aggression. They decided to adopt a policy of appeasement. Under this policy, nations gave in to aggressive demands to maintain peace. At the Munich Conference in 1938, western democracies agreed that Germany could take control of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. When Hitler realized that other European countries would not challenge him, he took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. It was not until Germany invaded Poland, in 1939, that western countries realized that the policy of appeasement had failed and that they had to stop Hitler with force.

3. Discuss what you see in the political cartoon below. Then write the message of the cartoon on your paper.

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and the document that follows it and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

Japan, Italy, and Germany formed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. These nations agreed to fight Soviet communism and not to stop each other from making foreign conquests. A summary of the agreement is shown below.

3.

Discuss what you see in the political cartoon below. Then write the message of the cartoon on your paper.

ARTICLE 1. Japan recognizes and respects the leadership of Germany and Italy in the establishment of a new order in Europe.ARTICLE 2. Germany and Italy recognize and respect the leadership of Japan in the establishment of a new order in Greater East Asia.ARTICLE 3. Japan, Germany, and Italy agree to cooperate in their efforts on aforesaid lines. They further undertake to assist one another with all political, economic and military means if one of the Contracting Powers is attacked by a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Japanese-Chinese conflict.ARTICLE 4. With a view to implementing the present pact, joint technical commissions, to be appointed by the respective Governments of Japan, Germany and Italy, will meet without delay.ARTICLE 5. Japan, Germany and Italy affirm that the above agreement affects in

Nazi-Soviet Pact

1. Write down the cause of WWII that is shown above.

2. Read the paragraph below and the document that follows it and discuss it with your group members. Then summarize the information on your paper:

In August 1939, Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. In the Nazi-Soviet Pact, the two enemies agreed not to go to war with each other and (secretly) promised to invade Poland and split it between them.

3. Discuss what you see in the two political cartoons below. Then write the message of each of the cartoons on your paper.