The road to war
In the 1930s, aggressive dictatorships rose in Europe and Asia while Americans tried to stay out of foreign conflicts.
The rise of dictators
The Great Depression and resentment over World War I's settlement helped fascist and militarist regimes rise. Benito Mussolini ruled Italy from 1922; Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party took power in Germany in 1933; militarists dominated Japan. In the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin ruled as a communist dictator.
Aggression in the 1930s
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and launched full-scale war on China in 1937, including the Nanjing Massacre. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Germany rearmed, remilitarised the Rhineland (1936), annexed Austria (1938), and took Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland after the Munich Agreement (1938), when Britain and France followed a policy of appeasement.
American isolationism
Many Americans believed entering World War I had been a mistake. Congress passed Neutrality Acts (1935-1937) banning arms sales and loans to nations at war. Groups such as the America First Committee argued against involvement even after war began in Europe.
War in Europe
Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939; Britain and France declared war. In 1940, Germany conquered France, and Britain fought on alone, surviving the Battle of Britain. In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union.
Moving toward intervention
Roosevelt gradually aided Britain: 'cash and carry' arms sales (1939), trading destroyers for bases (1940), and the Lend-Lease Act (March 1941), which let the US lend or lease war supplies to nations whose defence was vital to the US, making America the 'arsenal of democracy'. In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter outlining shared war aims.
Pearl Harbor
Tensions with Japan grew as the US imposed oil and steel embargoes in response to Japanese expansion. On 7 December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, killing about 2,400 Americans. Roosevelt called it 'a date which will live in infamy'. Congress declared war on Japan; Germany and Italy then declared war on the US.
The Holocaust
Nazi Germany systematically murdered about six million Jews, along with millions of others, including Roma, disabled people, Polish and Soviet civilians, and political opponents. It began with discrimination laws such as the Nuremberg Laws (1935) and violence such as Kristallnacht (1938) and escalated to mass shootings and death camps such as Auschwitz. The US accepted relatively few Jewish refugees in the 1930s.
Worked example
In 1940, an American who supported aiding Britain might argue that a Nazi victory would threaten the US and that sending weapons could keep America out of combat. An isolationist might reply that aid would drag the US into war and that the Atlantic oceans protected America. Lend-Lease reflected a middle path until Pearl Harbor ended the debate.
Key takeaways
Fascist and militarist regimes rose in Italy, Germany, and Japan. Aggression in Manchuria, Ethiopia, Austria, and Czechoslovakia met appeasement. The US passed Neutrality Acts. War began with Germany's invasion of Poland in 1939. Roosevelt aided Britain through cash and carry and Lend-Lease (1941). Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, bringing the US into the war. The Holocaust murdered about six million Jews.
Flashcard
Fascist dictator of Italy from 1922
Check your understanding
What was the purpose of the Lend-Lease Act (1941)?