Gathering Storm
After WW1
Germany
Spain
Beginning of WW2
Japan
Italy
Wilson's League of Nations idea
Austria-Hungary - dismembered and divided
Germany - reduced and had to pay reparations
Viamar Republic
street battle & revolution attempts
1923 higher inflation
a) New politicians - Hitler
1923 attack against the Republic
9 months in prison
"My Struggle"
Nazism
b) Viamar Republic prosper
US stock marker crash
global econ. depression
German unemployment
1931 Nazis true mass movement - storm troops development
1932 election - Nazi party - biggest one
Hitler - no coalition & since 1933 - chancellor
Hitler - chancellor
baned other pol. parties
Hitler - president
- German economy rebuild
- public works
Meanwhile: huge rearming
Reoccupying Saarland and Rhine land
Jews laws
stable army and LN membership, but pol. contradictions, and economic struggle
1931 Japanese troops in Manchuria, China attack
No US respond because of Jazz age and the Great Depression
July 1937 Japan troops invaded China
Brutality, massacre
Attacking British, French and US ships
strikes, powerless democratic government
Mussolini
right wing nationalist party (fascist)
Dictatorial rule
massive public work programs
employment and infrastructure
more or less eliminated corruption and the Mafia
army build up
powerful navy
Roman empire recreation
1934 turns towards Ethiopia
Italian colonies around Ethiopia demanded reparations
Ethiopian emperor asked for help from the UN
Italy provoked a clash with Ethiopian troops
Refused help by Britain and France
Britain and France can't fight
Britain and France
Both emerged from WW 1 with shattered economies, strikes, unemployment and were traumatized by the heavy casualties
Britain
after WW 1 the British army was relatively stable
Great depression - prevents from restoring its power
economy and military shortages
France
declining birth rate - no further military power
defensive mentality
as series of fortifications along German border to Belgium
family vs. family; communist vs. fascist; believers vs. atheists
left parties unite against the Spanish monarchy and republic
communists take over
Franco
1936 new nationalist movement to safe Spain from communism
volunteers to defend the Republic
Republic
at first - stable
Franco - against the Republic
Hitler helps transporting Franco's troops from Morocco to Spain
then - Mussolini and Hitler started pouring troops to Spain
republicans call for help
Stalin responses
Attacks in Barcelona & Madrid
murdered Spanish Catholics & anyone refusing to be a nationalist
by 1937 16 000 civil deaths
Republican alliance - falling apart
communists and socialists want military victory, while syndicalists and anarchists - an opportunity for mass workers revolution
1939 - Franco officially declared hostilities.
Hitler
long term ambitions into action
massive expansion
secret allience with Russia for tank build up
better tanks
Army expansion
France and Britain - slowly rearming
next target: Austria
1939 Czechoslovakia
1938 - new Austrian Nazis party refusing joining Germany
Austrian Emperor - referendum
People choose to join
Hitler encourage the German minority in the Sudetenland to demand autonomy & threatened the Czech government with military force if it refused the demands
Poland
general mobilization in Czechoslovakia
British prime minister Chamberlain - act as a piece-man
Hitler assured him that after getting the Sudetenland, he'll not demand more
1938 Mussolini, France and Britain - agreement, passing the Sudetenland to Germany
Hitler wanted Dazing back to make the connection in the German empire
Poland refused
1939 Slovakia asked Hitler for help for establishing its independence
Hitler agreed to have Slovakia under his protection
Hitler again send his demand towards Poland
France and Britain declared that they'll declare war if Germany attacked Poland
Soviet union proposed an Alliance between Britain and France
Non-aggression pact between Germany and Soviet union
Soviet union to take over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
Germany invaded Poland with its armed forces