17-4+USH

Abby Regan 5/17/12 USHCP Mr. Masterson

Key Terms: Axis Powers: Military alliance formed by Italy and Germany in 1936; later joined by Japan. Munich Conference: Meeting between British, French, German, and Italian leaders in which Germany was given control of the Sudetenland in exchange for Adolf Hitler's promise to make no more claims on European territory. Appeasement: Giving in to demands in an attempt to avoid a larger conflict. Nonagression Pact: Pact signed by Joseph Stalin and Hitler in which they agreed not to attack each other, and to divide Poland between them. Allied Powers: WWII alliance between Britain and France, and later the United States and other countries, that fought against the Axis Powers. Lend-Lease Act: Law that allowed the US to offer weapons and other war supplies to the Allied Powers to fight against the Axis Powers in WWII. Blitzkrieg: "Lightening war"; type of very fast moving war used by German forces in 1939. Maginot Line: Line of defense built by France along it's border with Germany after WWI. Atlantic Charter: An agreement between Roosevelt and Churchill that they would not pursue territorial expansion.

Key People: Winston Churchill: A British politician who feared that appeasement would encourage Hitler to seize more territory. Hideki Tojo: The minister of war in Japan who became Prime Minster.

Summary:

The Response to Fascism
 * Because they were both concerned about "averting the Japanese danger", the Soviet Union and the US mended diplomatic ties between them.
 * The fascist powers also teamed up.
 * President Roosevelt got the European leaders to meet and resolve their conflicts peacefully, so they called the Munich Conference.
 * Many politicians miscalculated Hitler's goals to expand his country, but some saw potential for trouble and encouraged Britain and France to speed up their rearmament.

War!
 * American public opinion didn't change quickly as fascist agression continued.

Fighting Begins
 * Because they saw the growing threat to European security, Britain and France said that they would go to war if Germany attacked Poland, but when they called on the Soviet Union to help, their leader signed a nonagression pact with Hilter instead.
 * Germany and the Soviet Union attacked Poland, and France and Britain declared war on Germany, marking the start of WWII.

US Response
 * After the war began, Roosevelt and Congress agreed that any nation could buy military supplies from the US, but the goods had to be transported by foreign ships.
 * Roosevelt won the 1940 election, and although he promised to keep the US out of the conflict, he saw that uninvolvement in the war wasn't an option.

Lend-Lease
 * Since Britain had little money to pay for the war supplies from the US, the US passed the Lend-Lease Act.
 * After they attacked Poland and the French mobilized, the Germans attacked and occupied Belgium, northern France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Norway, trapping hundreds of those countries troops.
 * Germany organized a "puppet govt." in Vichy, France, but a secret French group called the Resistance continued to oppose the Germans.

A New British Leader
 * Winston Churchill became prime minster of Britain in 1940, and fought in the front lines during WWI.
 * After the war Churchill continued his career in politics, and when other leaders were pushing for appeasement with Hitler, he warned of how dangerous Hitler was.
 * On 6/20/40, Italy declared war on France and Britain, and in August, Hitler unleashed his bombers against Britain, which were combatted by the Royal Air Force.

Tensions Mount in the Atlantic
 * As German attacks increased, so did the amount of help the US gave to the Allies.
 * In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met off the coast of Newfoundland secretly, agreed to the Atlantic Charter, and affirmed that every nation can choose it's own form of govt., freedom of trade, and that agressor countries should be disarmed.
 * When Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, concerns continued to rise, and the Soviets were caught off guard because he violated the nonagression pact.

Japan Attacks
 * Japan continued it's expansion in Asia, and when the US responded by freezing all Japanese assets in the US, and Japan did the same to American assets.
 * Japan's military leaders secretly planned to attack the US, and although the US figured out the code that Japan was using and saw that they were going to strike the US, they didn't know where.
 * The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor on 12/7/41, and 20 warships and over 200 airplanes were destroyed.
 * The bombing "shocked and united Americans", and the US declared war against Japan.