The Road to WWII:
Japan, Italy, and Germany pursue expansionist policies in the 1930’s. Reasons for these countries wanting to extend their territories are as follows:
- Japan needs:
o Resources
o To ensure economic security
o To fuel military expansion
o To further imperialist ambitions in Asia
- Italy wants:
o to redress grievances its had since 1919 (treaties not fully implemented)
o To ensure it becomes “great, respected, and feared”
- Germany wants:
o To erase the Treaty of Versailles
o To gain more living space (Lebensraum)
o To become the dominant power in Europe
o The unification of the German people
o Self-determination—the right to determine how Germans will be governed
Japan then, invades Manchuria and withdraws from the League of Nations
Italy expands into Abyssinia
Germany rearms, occupies the Rhineland, and withdraws from the League of Nations
In reaction:
- U.S.
o Creates neutrality acts to strengthen its isolationist policies. These neutrality laws prohibit Americans from trading with, or giving aid to any nation that was at war
- France
o Strengthens alliances with USSR and Italy
o Builds up the Maginot Line
- Britain
o Signs the British-German naval agreement (rather naively, because it forgot that aircraft are the wave of future war
- USSR
o Sees threats both from the east (Japan) and the west (Germany), so it attempts to make accommodations with Western democracies
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