Axis Powers of World War II

• European Axis Powers• Fascist Italy:

1922-1943• Nazi Germany:

1933-1945

•Militaristic Japan

Fascist Italy

• Benito Mussolini [1883-1945] governed Italy as its Fascist dictator from 1922-1943. He was executed by Italians in 1945.

Great Depression radicalized the politics of Germany and Japan in the 1930s

Germans hated Versailles Treaty

A Weak League of Nations

A Weak League of Nations

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations

y No control of major conflicts.y No progress in disarmament.y No effective military force.

The “Stab-In-The-Back” TheoryThe “Stab-In-The-Back” Theory

German soldiers are dissatisfied.

France – False Sense of Security?

France – False Sense of Security?

International AgreementsInternational Agreements

Locarno Pact – 1925y France, Germany, Great

Britain, Italy

Guarantee existing frontiers Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on East

bank of Rhine River Refrain from aggression against each

other

Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928y Makes war illegal as a tool of

diplomacy No enforcement provisions

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Emperor Haile Selassie

Nazi Germany• Adolph Hitler [1889-

1945] ruled Germany from 1933, when he came to power through the political process of Weimar Germany, until he committed suicide in April 1945 in his Berlin bunker.

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

U. S. Neutrality Acts:What did they say?

U. S. Neutrality Acts:What did they say?

America-First Committee

America-First Committee

Charles Lindbergh

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936

The “Pact of Steel”

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The American “Lincoln Brigade”

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

Francisco Franco

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

The Austrian Anschluss, 1938The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do

business with.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop &

Molotov

Japan

• Hirohito ( 裕仁 ), also known as Emperor Shōwa ( 昭和天皇 ), (29 April 1901 – 7 January 1989) was the 124th Emperor of Japan according to the traditional order, reigning from 25 December 1926 until his death in 1989.

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The Japanese Invasionof China, 1937

The Empire of Japan

Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941