5Mr. Dunbar
AP European History
Chapter 28: World War II Outline
Chapter Overview
· The origins of World War II
· The course of the war
· Racism and the Holocaust
· The impact of the war on the people of Europe
· Relationships among the victorious allies and the preparations for peace
Section One: Again the Road to War
· Section Overview
· German discontent over economic depression that struck Germany in 1923 and again in 1930 was attributed to the Versailles settlement
· Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party denounced the treaty and used strict discipline to attract people to their platform
· Hitler’s Goals
· Racial theory was at the core of Hitler’s ideology as he sought to strengthen the nation of the volk—a racial group composed of ethnically German people
· Involved the removal of inferior groups, like Jews, in order to purify the new Germany
· Hitler sought to extend the boundaries of the German nation to include parts of the old Habsburg Empire, especially Austria
· Lebensraum (“living space”)
· additional land needed to expand the power of the German nation
· inhabitants of that land, like the Slavs, would be forced into servitude
· Germany Rearms
· In 1933, Germany withdrew from an international disarmament conference and also from the League of Nations.
· In 1935, Germany formally renounced the disarmament provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and began building a modern air force and reinstated conscription (army grew to 500,000 men)
· League of Nations Fails
· Japan invaded Manchuria (in China); China pleas to the League of Nations to impose sanctions against Japan; the League condemned the act put failed to impose sanctions; Japan withdraws from the League and maintained control of Manchuria
· The League of Nations condemned Hitler’s rearmament program but took no actions to deter it.
· Britain and France felt hypocritical in enforcing this as they both refused to disarm
· Stresa Front—Britain and France met with Mussolini promising to use force to maintain the status quo in Europe
· Britain violated the Stresa Front by making a pact with Germany that allowed Hitler to build a navy 35% the size of that of Britain’s.
· Italy Attacks Ethiopia
· In 1935, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia and it became clear that the Western Powers had little motivation to resist this action.
· League of Nations did condemn the act and imposed an arms embargo that limited loans and credit to Italy.
· France and Britain refused to embargo oil, which would have forced Italy to withdraw from Ethiopia.
· Britain allowed Italian troops and munitions to reach Ethiopia through the Suez Canal
· The League of Nations and the idea of collective security were discredited.
· Public opinion in western Europe turned against Italy which led Mussolini to seek closer ties with Germany and they formed the Rome-Berlin Axis.
· Remilitarization of the Rhineland
· Hitler sent a small armed force to the demilitarized Rhineland which violated both the Versailles treaty and the Loca...