Europe and Japan 1930’s
1931- Japan starts imperialism with
conquering of Manchuria
1933- Hitler came to power with a
belief that Germanic people
should rule Europe
1935- he rearmed Germany
denouncing Treaty of Versailles
1936- Hitler remilitarized the
Rhineland; Spanish Civil War
1937- Rape of Nanking and
Japanese in control of China
(some of it)
1938- Hitler reunited Austria &
Germany, annexed the
Sudetenland after the Munich
Conference with Neville
Chamberlain
1939- Hitler and Stalin sign a mutual
Non-aggression pact
9/1/1939- Hitler invades Poland
Il Duce
Benito Mussolini (Il Duce)
mid-1920, fascism Grew rapidly and shed its initial
republicanism, thereby winning sympathy from the
army and the king.
Fascists marched on Rome, King Victor Emmanuel III
invited Mussolini to form a coalition government
(October 28, 1922).
1926 Mussolini had transformed the country into a
single-party, totalitarian regime.
"corporative state," party-controlled groups
The Lateran Treaty with the Vatican (1929) between
church and state and proved to be long-lasting.
With aggressive foreign policy, Mussolini defied the
League of Nations and conquered Ethiopia (1935-36).
(Il Duce)
He sent troops to help General Francisco Franco in the Spanish
Civil War (1936-39),
Linked Italy to Nazi Germany, enacted anti-Jewish laws, and
invaded Albania (1939).
Because of military unpreparedness, Mussolini did not enter
World War II until June 1940.
Italy fought the British in Africa, invaded Greece, and helped
the Germans in carve up Yugoslavia, attack the Soviet
Union, and declaring war on the United States.
After Italy's many military defeats, King Victor Emmanuel
dismissed Mussolini on July 25, 1943.
In September, 1943 the King obtained an armistice with the
Allies while the Germans rescued the sickly Mussolini and
made him organize a brutal puppet Social Republic in
northern Italy.
In the final days of the war Mussolini tried to escape to
Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci.
Italian partisans shot them on April 28, 1945
Benito Mussolini, the founder of Italian fascism and premier of Italy
from 1922 to 1943, was well known for his powerful and dramatic
speeches. Shown here, Mussolini speaks at the foot of a monument in
the city of Corridonia in 1936.
During the Spanish Civil War, General Francisco Franco was the
leader of the Nationalist forces that fought to overthrow Spain's
elected government. As a result of the Nationalist victory in 1939,
Franco became el Caudillo (the leader) of Spain and ruled the country
until his death in 1975.
Francisco Franco
Spanish military leader who rose to power during the Spanish
Civil War (1936-1939) & went on to rule Spain until 1975.
Franco has inspired contradictory opinions as Spain's most
distinguished statesman, saving Spain and as an opponent
of democracy, a comrade of Adolf Hitler and Benito
Mussolini during World War II (1939-1945), and as a
despotic ruler of Spain for nearly 40 years.
September 1923, King Alfonso XIII abdicates and is replaced
by a civilian government
Worldwide economic depression of the late 1920s further
eroded government’s power, and its rule came to an abrupt
end early in 1930.
1931 Alfonso XIII went into exile, and Spain's Second Republic
(the first had existed between 1873 and 1874) was
established, a radical departure from previous regimes.
By 1936-for five years Spain suffered economic downturns,
revolutionary insurrections, and government scandals.
Franco a loyal military officer avoids conspiracies until-
Francisco Franco
1936- Liberal direction of Italian government spurs Franco to lead Nationalists
The Nationalists were anti-republican military and civilian groups who believed
the traditionally defined Spanish society was threatened by 2nd Republic.
Military should take the lead with a strong authoritarian government.
The Republicans, some were loyal defenders of the republic while others were
left-wing revolutionaries, who were against Nationalist.
April 26, 1937, German aircraft under Franco's command bombed the small
Basque market town of Guernica.
1939 Franco decided neutrality although he openly sympathized with fascist
principles and acknowledged the enormous debt owed to Mussolini's Italy
and Hitler's Germany for assistance throughout Spain's civil war.
Once the war shifted in favor of the Allied Powers in 1943, Franco became
increasingly agreeable to Allied pressures to secure Spain's neutrality.
By avoiding WW II, Franco spared Spain the wide-scale death and destruction
suffered by most of Europe.
Yet Franco's relationship with the fascist regimes, left him and Spain branded
as outcasts by the international community and politically and economically
Adolf Hitler was one of the most powerful dictators of the 20th
century. His attempts to conquer territory for German Lebensraum
(living space) brought about World War II (1939-1945). He caused
the slaughter of millions of Jews, Sinti and Roma (Gypsies), Slavic
peoples, and others in the name of racial purification.
Joseph Stalin, known as a cruel dictator, was
supreme leader of the Soviet Union from 1929
until 1953.
Josef Stalin
1919 elected to highest decision-making body, the Politburo
1929- Stalin was hailed as the supreme leader
Five-Year Plans that year began the planned economy.
Its basic aim was to harness all economic activity to the systematic
development of heavy industry
Economic transformation was accomplished at staggering human cost; Stalin's
economic program relied on brute force
Farms nationalized and peasants forced to work together.
1932 to 1935, Ukraine, the Volga valley and Kazakhstan
5 million - 7 million peasants died in this famine.
Early 1930s Stalin had absolute power but worried by conspiracies
Stalin set in motion a massive purge
1934-USSR joined the League of Nations to work against NAZI expansion
1936-NVKD were arresting and executing party members by 1000’s
1937-1938 the terror spread to all of Soviet society
Deaths in the Great Purge range between 1.5 to 7 million.
1938 the purge left Stalin with a generation of officials loyal to him
1939- Soviets sign Pact with Hitler- use protection to take Finland and the
Balkans, expelled from League of Nations
June 22, 1941-Hitler invaded USSR
Decimation of the military left the country vulnerable to Adolf during
WWII
The drive on Moscow was stopped in December 1941 with German tanks about
20 mi from the city center
January 1942 -USSR and 25 Allied countries signed the Declaration by UN
Pledging their cooperation in the defeat of the Axis
May, 1943 the USSR dissolved Comintern.
January 1943 German forces were finally halted and defeated in the epic Battle
of Stalingrad
Spring and summer of 1944 the Baltic States and Ukraine
were cleared of enemy forces.
April 24, 1945, Soviet forces encircled Berlin;
The Soviet Union declared war on Japan on August 9, 1945
The Soviet Union suffered 27 million and 28 million
One of the big 3 and the Soviets also played a leading role establishment of the
(UN) in 1945.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, United States president Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and British prime minister Winston Churchill, seated left to
right, meet in Tehran, Iran, in 1943 to discuss their military strategy
and post-World War II policy for Europe. The leaders decided to
invade France in 1944, against Churchill's recommendations. The
meeting marked the apex of the East-West wartime alliance. Stalin,
Roosevelt, and Churchill, the leaders of the three major Allied
powers, came to be known as the "Big Three."
Europe and Japan WWII
9/1/1939- Hitler invades Poland
June 1940- Poland, Scandinavia, the Low Countries and France had fallen
December 7, 1941- Pearl Harbor bombed by Japan- US enters WWII
1942- Battle of Britain, Hitler’s invasion of USSR and retreat from Moscow
1943- US invades and captures Italy; Nazis hold out in Northern Italy
June 6th, 1944- D-Day Allies storm the beaches at Normandy
March 1945- Allies cross the Rhine
May 8, 1945- Germany surrenders
August 14, 1945- Japan surrenders after bombing s in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
USSR invades Manchuria.