Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Steps Towards War: Events Leading to World War 2

Welcome back!

We begin this semester with an examination of how, exactly, did World War Two begin? Wasn't World War One supposed to be the "war to end all wars"?

For this week's blog, do some independent research on the beginnings of World War Two. Answer the following four questions, with at least 50 words each.

1) How did Hitler rise to power in Germany?
2) How did Germany, Italy and Japan become what we call the "Axis Powers"?
3) Why did America side with the Soviet Union, even though their leader (Stalin) was an evil dictator?
4) Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor and what did we do in response?

16 comments:

  1. 1) Adolf Hitler attracted many people by his powerful speeches. Before Hitler’s rise to power, Germany was hit with an economic depression and had a weak government, which helped provide Hitler the chance to become a powerful leader. He promised a much better life for the Germans. Under Hitler’s leadership, the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, also known as the Nazi Party, grew very quickly. In 1933, he was appointed the head of the German government. He also gained more support by promising to overturn the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. (92)

    2.) It began when Hitler and Mussolini wanted to work with each other on a few international issues and Japan joined with them. The Axis Powers were formed as the three countries become allies and signed the Tripartite Pact. The Pact gave assistance to any of the three countries if they were to be attacked by any nation that wasn’t involved in the war already. The Axis Powers wanted to expand their territories. (72)

    3.) Although America and the Soviet Union became allies, they did not necessarily like each other. They mainly both wanted one thing which was to defeat Nazi Germany. Each country needed each other in order to defeat them. Only a couple years after World War II, there was the Cold War between the two countries. (54)

    4.) Japan attacked Pearl Harbor for several reasons. First, they needed more natural resources like oil and steel. The U.S. had also put restrictions on doing business with Japan. They also wanted to expand in the Pacific. After this attack, America decided to join the war. They also improved their military mobilization. (51)

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  2. Hitler's rise to power was based upon long-term factors. There was resentment in the German people, the weakness of the Weimar system, which he exploited through propaganda (paid for by his rich, Communist-fearing backers), the terror of his stormtroopers, and the brilliance of his speeches. During the 'roaring twenties' Germans ignored Hitler with his hatred towards Jews. But when the Great Depression ruined their lives, they voted for him in increasing numbers. Needing support, and thinking he could control Hitler, President Hindenburg made the mistake in January 1933 of giving Hitler the post of Chancellor. (90)
    Even before the Tripartite Pact, two of the three Axis powers had initiated conflicts that would become theaters of war in World War II. On July 7, 1937, Japan invaded China to initiate the war in the Pacific. The German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, unleashed the European war. Italy entered World War II on the Axis side on June 10, 1940, as the defeat of France became apparent. When Hitler became president, Germany felt like they were pressured to join. (80)
    The two countries did not like each other. It didn’t improve either, but in real terms in the period around World War II (Franklin Roosevelt had been the first president to recognize the USSR as legitimate, and he and Stalin had a working relationship). However, the two countries did have serious mistrust with one another throughout their whole history. Stalin's alliance with Hitler didn't make him very popular in the U.S., and when Hitler betrayed Stalin a lot of Americans thought it would be best to let the two destroy each other. (84)
    Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese on December 7th, 1941. The main reasons the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor is because the oil embargo was placed on the Japanese Empire by the United States of America. After the Japanese attacked the harbor the United States decided to join the war. When they joined many things has improved. For example, the military improved. (63)



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  3. 1. Hitler rose to power first by joining the German Workers' party who later became known as the Nazi Party. He then told the Nazis that if he didn't become the leader then he would just walk out. They made him the leader. Hitler told the Germans that they needed to rise up as a nation. Most Germans listened to him and some people joined the German military. Later on after Hitler invaded some of the countries such as Poland and the Netherlands, he threatened the parliament with his military force that if they did not let him become full leader then he would start a full out war on the parliament of Germany. They had no choice but to let him become the leader. He then took full control of Germany. (132 words)
    2. Germany, Italy, and Japan became what we call the Axis Powers because they all three wanted expansion of territory. They all three signed the Tripartite Pact which was then known as the Axis Alliance. The Axis Powers had two common interests: they wanted territorial expansion and wanted the overthrow of the post-World War 1 international order. They also had in common that they wanted the destruction or neutralization of Soviet Communism. (72 words)
    3. The reason that we sided with the Soviet Union was because we both wanted to take down Germany and Hitler. Roosevelt wanted to help the Soviets defeat Germany and used the Lend-Lease Aid to help give the Soviets some materials to help fight against Germany. Roosevelt made sure that we defeated Germany to end the War but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor Roosevelt completely thought that we should go to war against Japan. (74 words)
    4. Part of the reason that Japan attacked Pearl Harbor was because Japan was not able to get any resources from the United States. Roosevelt stripped all of that away from the Japanese. Roosevelt even took away American Oil and that completely ticked off the Japanese. The Japanese made a plan to attack the British and the U.S. main military bases. On December 7, 1941, Japan had over 414 planes along with a few aircraft carriers with bombs sent to destroy the base of Pearl Harbor. It was a suprise ambush attack on the Americans. Most of the Americans were very shocked at what had happened to the military base in Pearl Harbor. On December 21, 1941 just two weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt declared to his military commanders at the White House that he insists and demands that there be a bombing raid on Japan and declared war on Japan. (154 words)

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  4. 1. Hitler got a job with the information unit in military intelligence which started him working with the German workers’ party. He began to gain power through his speeches because he was a very powerful, persuasive speaker. As time went on, Hitler was voted a chairman in the German workers’ party, known as the Nazi Party, and took total control.

    2. The Axis Powers originated with agreements between Germany and Italy. Next there was a German- Japanese Anti- Comintern pact against the Soviet Union. They are called the Axis Powers because of Rome and Berlin believing the world would rotate on their Axis. Germany and Italy had a full military and political alliance which was the connection among the Axis Powers. Soon after all three Powers signed the Tripartite Pact.

    3. In world war 1 America and the Soviet Union were brought together by the common goal to terminate the navy party. Although America hated the Soviet Union leaders for taking over Russia they hated the navy party more so they gained alliance with the Soviet Union.

    4. Japan and America had not been in good terms for a while before the bombing of Pearl Harbor took place. Japan had plans to take over China and when they called war on China to gain their land America did not like the aggression and responded with trade embargoes. Because Japan got 90% of their oil from these, it did not go over well with them so they attacked. America responded by sending 16 of our bombers to Japan.

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  5. How Hitler rise to power all started after ww1 on May 1919 Hitler first took up political work in Munich. He joined a small German workers party in Munich in September and in 1920s he was put in charge of the party’s propaganda but left it to get a better position within the party which he did. Later he renamed the party it was now call the National-sozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or better known as Nazi. In the current Germany was in was what Hitler needed to get going on his campaign to take over Germany. words 95
    How the axis powers got its name was because in November 1936 Hitler was the dictator of Germany and made friend who was also a dictator from Italy name Mussolini who was the one who came up with the word when the two of them decided to join forces in 10/25/1936. words51

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  6. After World War One, Adolf Hitler was serving as an army political agent. He was part of the small German Workers’ Party, later renamed the Nazi Party. He quickly was able to rise to the top of the party and expand it nationwide. This was due to the anger that surrounded the people of Germany after the war, and Hitler’s natural ability for speech.
    64 words
    As World War Two began, Germany, Italy, and Japan became known as the Axis Powers. These countries teamed up because of their similar forms of government and common interest. Along with hating the Socialist type of government now used by the Soviet Union, the three countries strode to dominate East Asia, Central Europe, and the Mediterranean.
    56 words
    Despite the Unites States and the Soviet Union being on bad terms ever since World War One, the two countries sided together in World War Two. The Soviet Union had an evil dictator named Stalin, but the much bigger threat was the Axis Powers. Russia and the U.S. had to form an alliance in order to defeat the greater enemy. President Roosevelt said he would “hold hands with the devil” if necessary.
    Before the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Japan declared war on China in 1937. America retaliated this with trade embargos and economic sanctions. Tensions were high, and Japan decided war needed to happen. They wanted to take out a large portion of the United States Navy in order to conquer the Philippines and other Pacific regions. This led to the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, being the first and only time in history nuclear weapons were used on humans.
    83 words

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  7. Why did the USA sided with the Soviet Union despite of their evil leader during ww2 was mainly because they had a common enemy by this relationship enable them the ability to defeat the Nazis more successfully which it was which this alliance of 1941-1945 which was point in time it happened. words52

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  8. Why japan attack Pearl Harbor was mainly because it was part of island hoping control plan the Japanese were doing the other reason why was because they needed to destroy major military fleets therefore preventing the US to attack Japan from the pacific to prevent them from taking over most of Asia. words52

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  9. 1. Adolf Hitler was born into a lower class family with an abusive father. Hitler never graduated high school and failed to get into art school in 1907. In 1909 he ended up homeless and started selling cheap paintings to get by. In 1913 Hitler fled Austria avoided the military where he went into Germany joined the military. Hitler became a main proponent Nazi party where he flourished because he is a good speaker. He quickly convinced the people that his views were corrects and slowly introduced his policies that over time the people, that were not hurt by them, were okay with. (103)
    2. All if the Axis Power, Germany, Italy, and Japan, wanted more land for their empires. The three of them all signed the Tripartite Pact which was the same thing as the Axis Power that was the formal name for it. Germany, Italy, and Japan all wanted more land and they all wanted to tear down the boarded that came with World War One. (64)
    3. Although Stalin was a horrible dictator we had a common enemy. We both were trying to beat Germany for power. We realized that we needed their help to take down Germany. We used a loophole in the Lend Lease Act saying that we can give them materials and supplies. (50)
    4. Japan atacked the states because they stopped getting supplies from us and they were not happy that they were cut off. We even took away the oil that we used to let them use. So Japan sent 414 planes to the Pearl Harbor base to show us that they were not happy about us not giving them stuff anymore. Two weeks later America pronounced war on Japan entering us in World War Two. (74)

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  10. 1. Hitler began his rise to power via speeches he gave as the Germans hit a serious depression after world war 1. He was in a great position to pursuade the germans to side with him and his ideas as he promised a greater future. The Nazi party soon took him in as their leader, and in 1933 he became a distinguished govt. official. 64 words

    2. all 3 of the axis powers, germany, italy, and japan, had a similar goal, gain more land and dictatorship. the 3 countries signed the Tripartite act and became the Axis powers. Mussolini and Hitler both were completely in control of their countries and mussolini knew if he didnt join hitler, he would be forced and taken over by him. 62 words
    The United States and the Soviet Union sided together under odd circumstances. they did not agree on much, but the one thing that brought them togerther was to defeat Nazi Germany and that they needed each other. later, they stayed enemies and the Cold war kept them that way for decades. 51 words
    4. japan attacked pearl harbor for many reasons. we cut off their supplies and stopped shipping things to them as they were enemies to our "allies in disguise" as the US tried to stay nuetral. then sent over 400 planes at pearl harbor and blew it up as a way to come back at us as we stopped supporting them. within weeks japan was at war with the US. 69 words

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  11. 1. Hitler was thrown in prison early on and while he was in there he wrote a book that contained a lot of his ideals and things that he did while he was the ruler over Germany. Before he because the ruler he was elected the chancellor in 1933. When civil liberties were nullified it allowed the way for a dictator to rule according to on website.
    (word count: 66)
    2. When Germany, Italy, and Japan all decided to join forces they became known as the Axis of Powers. Italy sided with Germany because the ruler at the time was trying to get territories in North Africa and the only was that he would not lose those territories was by siding with Germany. Japan joined both Italy and Germany to ensure their safety.
    (word count: 62)
    3. One of the main reason that we sided with the Russians and they sided with us was because we had one common goal, which was to defeat the Nazis in Germany. It would have been harder to defeat them without the help from Russian. Roosevelt so them as the greatest threat so he thought it was essential at the time.
    (word count: 60)
    4. One of the most famous attacks in America’s history is the attack of Pearl Harbor. Japan attacked us so easily because we left that part of our country for a certain amount of time because we were too busy protecting another part that we thought Japan would attack. We responded by entering WW2 a little bit after this happened.
    (word count:60)

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  12. Hitler was a very smooth talker so we entice people with his words. During his speeches he talked about how Germany was in a great depression and how through his government and through his rise of power he would fix it all they become a dominant nation. During his term of power he invented a new party called the Nazi party and it grew very quickly. His military was very strong, the people in the military were known as storm troopers.(81)
    Germany Italy and Japan became the axis of Powers’s under the control of Hitler. This happened because Italy and Japan worn a Sapir your has Germany was so they thought if they partnered with Hitler they would have a better chance of winning World War II (58)

    The US sided with the Soviet union not because they liked the Soviet union. They did it because they had the same want, to over throw Germany. They need each other to do it because they both helped each other strengths and weaknesses(50)

    Japan attacked us because we can stop by and you utilities from them such as oil, and due to this they sent 414 planes to Pearl Harbor to Bomb us. They did that to show their dominance over us, but it didn’t quite work out how they thought it would. We came out of being neutral entered the war the next week and we became a dominant power almost immediately (77)

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  13. Hitler rose to power in Germany because there was a worldwide depression. The Treaty of Versailles destroyed Germany with debt. He promised the Germans a better life. He appealed to the unemployed, young people. In the 1932 elections, the Nazi’s won the election with 33 percent of the vote. Then in 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor.(56)
    The Axis partners had two common interests. One was the territorial expansion and foundation of empires based on military conquest, and the second is the destruction of Soviet Communism. Germany and Italy announced the Rome Berlin Axis. Then, Nazi-Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact directed at the Soviet Union. Then on September 27, 1940, they formed the Tripartite Pact, which became known as the Axis Alliance.(66)
    The US and the USSR had one common. That was to defeat Nazi Germany. Because Russia was a geographical, and they had a large population, they posed the biggest threat to Germany. Roosevelt believed that Germany was the bigger threat. He confided that he “would hold hands with the devil,” if necessary. (52)
    In 1937, Japan declared war on China. The US did not like this very much. We responded with trade embargoes and economic sanctions. America organized with the British and the Dutch to cripple Japan. Japan’s only element of surprise was to plan a surprise attack on America’s navy. Then they hoped to conquer the Philippines and Malaysia to create a fortress along the Pacific Rim. (65)

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  14. 1. After their defeat in WWI, Germans lacked confidence in their weak government, which was called the Weimar Republic. These conditions provided the chance for the rise of a new leader, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis (his “party”) otherwise known as the National Socialist German Workers' Party. Hitler was an amazing speaker. Which gave him a wonderful way of attracting people. He appealed to Germans desperate for a change. He also appealed to the liver middle class, unemployed, and young people. After the Nazis received a lot of votes Hitler was appointed chancellor, the head of the German gov. (88)
    2. There were three countries that all wanted the same thing. They all wanted to build there territory, destroy soviet communism, and gain power. They all joined forces and these three countries signed the Tripartite act which was (directed towards the Soviet Union) they became known as the “Axis Powers.”(50)
    3. Although we weren’t too fond of each other because of WWI and Stalin America and the soviet had 1 common interest. And that was to defeat the Germans. We each needed each other to work together. So we pushed our differences aside and even though we didn’t like what Stalin had done/ was doing the Axis Powers were a much bigger threat. (58)
    4. A lot of things led up to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. FDR convinced the government to pass many acts which prevented trading with other countries. Japan wasn’t to happy with us for not giving them oil which was a big part of income. Japan also was mad at us for trading with China when they hated them. So they wanted to pull us in to the war with them and decided to bomb us leaving us no other choice than to retaliate. (82)

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  15. The main way that Hitler attracted his audiences was through his extremely powerful speeches. Another reason he rose to power was his timing. When he started to rise, Germany slipped into depression and their government was not doing so well. This provided Hitler the perfect opportunity to convince the country with his crazy tactics while they were vulnerable. (59)
    When a group is formed, it is usually out of a common interest. In this case, the Axis Powers' common interest was that they all wanted expansion of territory. What brought them together as the Axis Powers was the Tripartite Pact, also commonly known as the Axis Alliance. (50)
    The sole reason that we teamed up with the Soviet Union was in order to try to destroy Nazi Germany. The countries also knew that they needed as much power as they could get in order to destroy them, so they all had to team up in order to do so. (51)
    One of the main reasons behind Japan bombing Pearl Harbor was because they needed some of our supplies. The main two supplies that they needed was oil and steel. Another main reason this happened was because America had made restrictions against doing any trade with Japan.(52)

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  16. 1) Hitler did not start out as a big name person of power but started as a army political agent. He ended up joining the German Workers party which was small when he joined. As this was happening Germany was in a economical crisis and Hitler promised a better Germany if he was leader. Eventually he was head of the Nazis and head of the German government.(66)

    2) The axis powers started as just Hitler and Musolinni of Italy wanting to come together to work out international issues. Eventually Japan came into the mix and they became allies. They eventually signed the Tri-Partite pact which said that they would help each other if one of them got attacked. These nations became known as the axis powers.(58)

    3) America was not too fond of the Soviet union. But, they eventually became allies and worked together in the war. The reason they agreed to being allies is due to the fact that they had a common goal which was defeating Germany and Hitler. They couldn't achieve this if they weren't together. There was even a cold war between America and the Soviets a few years after the world war.(70)

    4) There were a few reasons Japan attacked and bombed Pearl Harbor. The main reasons were that America restricted their business with Japan and Japan did not like that. Also, Japan was in need for some resources like steel and oil. This attack on Pearl Harbor was a catylyst for America joining the war.(53)

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