C-6.+Fascist+Aggression+in+Asia,+Africa,+&+Europe;+World+Reaction

Fascist aggression in Asia, Africa,and Europe and how the rest of the world reacted. toc media type="custom" key="3804095"

__**Other Countries fall and the world is divided**__
In the 1930's and 1940's Eastern Europe was changing. Countries with failing democracies were slowly reverting to dictatorships. Many Eastern European countries would fall to dictatorships. In fact, soon the last democratic nation in Eastern Europe was Czechoslovakia. Now, why would democracy so quickly disappear from all these countries? That was because the European countries were unfamiliar with democracy and preferred to keep stay as a dictatorship, or monarchy. Also, many major powers, like Benito Mussolini in Italy and Adolf Hitler in Germany, were running fascist governments or dictatorship states.(Beck 480)

 __Japan Seeks an Empi__re
 The civilian government in Japan kept power as long as Japan was doing well but when the Great Depression hit in 1929, the Japanese people blamed it on the government. The military leaders in Japan gained support from the people and quickly gained control of the country. However, the militarists did not try to create a new system of government, they wanted to restore traditional control of the government to the military. Instead of being a forceful leader like Hitler, the militarists made the emperor the symbol of state power. Japanese leaders had hoped to solve certain problems through foreign expansion and those were economic problems.(Beck 481)  

__Japanese Invasions__
The Japanese invasion was the first direct challenge to the League of Nations. In the 1930s, the leagues members included all the major democracies except for the U.S. When Japan seized Manchuria, many league members protested. Japan just ignored the protests and withdrew from the league in 1933.(Beck 481-482) In 1937, the Japanese launched an all-out invasion of China. They used massive bombings of villages and cities, which killed thousands of the Chinese. The destruction of farms caused many more to die do to starvation.(Trueman 1) By the 1930s Japan held control of a part of China. In 1931, The Japanese watched the power struggles with rising interest, as the Chinese fought the Chinese. The Japanese forces took advantage of Chinese situation that was weakened. They invaded Manchuria. Manchuria is an industrialized province in the northeast part of china. (Clare 1)

 **__European Aggressors on the March__**
**Why did Mussolini attack Africa** The year is 1935 and Mussolini has turned Italy into a power to be reckoned with. According to Mussolini, "war is to man as maternity is to woman". Still, there were other reasons to attack and conquer another country, even if the Age of Imperialism was nearly over. Mussolini was facing stressful affairs at home and felt that a war would divert attention. He also felt he needed to boost the regime's popularity and provide an outlet for over-population in Italy. Ethiopia was a prime target because it was still an independent country, one of only two in Africa. In 1896, neighbors Britain and France assisted Ethiopia in resisting an Italian attack, but they did not want to interfere with Italy in 1936. Ethiopian army was poorly equipped, and any resistance against it would end quickly. (Mussolini's 1)  The League of Nations, which was known for its inaction, did nothing to prevent Italy from attacking Ethiopia. One of the major problems for the League of Nations prior to World War II was its inaction to prevent aggression of any kind. This problem existed because many members of the League of Nations were the warring nations themselves. Both Ethiopia and Italy were League members at the time of the war. Two countries who could have figured prominently in the Italian-Ethiopian War, Britain and France, did their best to stay away from the War. While each nation owned land neighboring Ethiopia (and long treated Ethiopia as a buffer state), neither nation wanted to get on the bad side of a powerful fascist leader in Mussolini. Britain and France also feared that if they supported Ethiopia and angered Italy, Mussolini could ally with German chancellor Adolf Hitler, which could have had a devastating impact on World War II. The only action the League of Nations took was an oil boycott of Italy, which many countries disobeyed. (Mussolini's 1) [|http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us//cur/Baker_0][|0/03/baker-mc-03/ethiopia.htm] Mussolini and Hitler
 * What the League of Nations did.**

__**Hitler Defies the Versailles Treaty **__
 Hitler began rebuilding the German Army in 1935. He used a lot of new machinery to rebuild the army like the anti-tank guns and light machine  guns.(Trueman 1) Hitler next wanted to occupy the Rhineland<span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">, the buffer between Germany and France. During World War II <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; cursor: pointer;"> the British urged <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; cursor: pointer;"><span style="line-height: normal; font-size: 12px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">appeasement from Germany<span class="yshortcuts" style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; cursor: pointer;">, this means that they wanted to give in to Germany in order to have peace with them, because of the German forces that occupied the Rhineland. This was strange considering that The British won the first battle. The Axis powers were Italy, Germany, <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%; font-family: arial; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; cursor: pointer;">and Japan.(Beck 483)

__ <span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;">**Democratic Nations Try to Preserve Peace** __
Define Isolationism- The policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by avoiding foreign entanglements and responsibilities. Usually <span style="font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">refers to America's longstanding reluctance to become involved in European alliances and wars. (Isolation 1)

What the Neutrality Act did: Providing for the prohibition of the export of arms, ammunition, and implements of war to belligerent countries; the prohibition of the transportation of arms, ammunition, and implements of war by vessels of the United States for the use of belligerent states; for the registration and licensing of persons engaged in the business of manufacturing, exporting, or importing arms, ammunition, or implements of war; and restricting travel by American citizens on belligerent ships during war.(49 stat.1)

<span style="font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"> __**The German Empire Expands**__
Hitler just became the of Germany, and finally made his way to the top of the food chain.Using his persuasive speeches Hitler created his German Empire. And the German Empire, aka, the Third Reich was hungry for land and power. So, in March of 1938 Hitler annexes Austria finally accomplishing// Anschluss // or the union of Austria and Germany. But Germany didn't stop there. (Beck 484) Next, they demanded a portion of land from Czechoslovakia called Sudetenland, which is a heavily fortified area that defends the Czechs from Germany. Unwilling to give up their only defense, the Czechoslovak refused and sought out France for help. So France, Britian, Germany, and Italy, held a conference in Munich called the Munich Conference. In that Conference, Britain and France decided that that little piece of land wasn't important to start a war over and yielded that land to Germany, without any say from the Czechoslovakia. (Simkin 1)

__External Links:__
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Fascism.html - what fascism is. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1601.html - what Isolationism http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/interwar/neutralityact.htm - Neutrality Act http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/leagueofnations.htm - League of Nations http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/china_war.htm - Japan war against China http://www.johndclare.net/EL5.htm - Invasion of Manchuria http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/hitlergainspower.htm - Hitler's Rise to Power http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm - Treaty of Versailles http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERsudetenland.htm - Germany and Czechoslovakia Conflict

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