The Start of the War

Taught By: [Imperator]



Sections in order

1. Seeds of Conflict 1918-1932
2. Germany, Italy, and Japan
3. The U.S.A., Britain, France, Russia, and China
4. The Spanish Civil War 1936
5. Fall of Austria and Czechoslovakia 1938
6. Poland and Finland 1939-1940
7. Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway 1940



Seeds of Conflict 1918-1932

After World War I, Germany was left a defeated, bitter nation in chaos from economic crises. Ordered to pay huge reparations to the allies that it could never be able to afford, inflation in Germany exploded: a 5 million German Mark was worth less than a U.S. penny. Inflation got so bad that Germans had to bring wheelbarrows of cash to stores just to buy staple goods. The new democratic government was totally unable to support the nation in this desperate hour. But then a ray of hope shined through the clouds of depression. The economy began to stabilize and some new jobs were created as the economy began to expand slightly. Then, suddenly, the Great Depression hit. The German economy was in a worse state than ever before and the German people had had enough. They looked for a new leader to bring them prosperity and recreate the glory of Imperial Germany before its defeat in World War I. The time was ripe for a dictatorship to take hold.

During World War I, Japan had fought on the side of the allies and had taken some Pacific colonies from Germany. For its participation, it was awarded the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese however believed that they deserved more land for their actions. In 1931 they invaded Manchuria and China. The war continued and by 1937 Japan's war machine was stretched to its capabilities. Needing more raw resources, Japan turned to the Pacific islands to feed its war with oil and other supplies. This brought it into direct conflict with U.S. interests in the area, which would lead to the United States halting all exports of oil and other essential war materials to Japan on July 25, 1940.




Germany, Italy, and Japan

In Germany, the poverty stricken people supported the Nazi People's Party, which promised to bring back prosperity to the nation. On January 30, 1933, Hitler was named chancellor by the German president, Hindenburg. Through crafty political maneuvers, elimination of key opponents, and a steady stream of lies and accusation, Hitler solidified his control of Germany and the Nazi Party became the only legal political party in the country. In August of 1934, the president Hindenburg died of natural causes. Hitler took quickly took this opportunity to fuse the offices of chancellor and president into one position making himself the “Fuhrer” of Germany. Adolf Hitler was now in complete and undisputed control of the German government.

In Italy, a fascist leader called Benito Mussolini became premier on October 28, 1922. His charisma infatuated a downtrodden Italy, which allowed him to gain complete control of the Italian government. Soon Mussolini began pursuing his dream of recreating the Roman Empire and making the Mediterranean Sea into an "Italian Lake". His first show of power would be to conquer the weak nation Ethiopia (see The Mediterranean Theatre).

With Japan hit especially hard by the Great Depression, the military decided the only solution was territorial expansion to feed its economy. This decision lead to the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, a part of China, in September of 1931. Following on this attitude, a military coup succeeded in giving a group of generals control of the Japanese government in 1936. With them stood the powerless Emperor Hirohito who was only a figurehead and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo. Soon the country began a program of aggressive territorial expansion deeper into China and the Pacific islands.




The U.S.A., Britain, France, Russia, and China

In the U.S., the Great Depression had hit especially hard. Americans looked for a new leader to bring them out of the recession. In the early 1930's, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president. He quickly started government programs to create jobs and get the economy moving again. The "New Deal" as it was called, worked. Soon the United States economy was back on its feet.

In Britain, the British Prime Minister, Chamberlain, attempted to avert crises with Hitler by agreeing to his territorial demands in Austria and Czechoslovakia. After the Hitler demanded still more territory after promising that German expansion was over, Britain decided to stop appeasing Germany which would later lead to a declaration of war on Germany.

In, France, wary of another World War with Germany, the nation too tried to appease Hitler to avoid a conflict. This decision to give in to Nazi Germany was probably just as well for France's military was outdated and still used World War I era equipment. Unwilling to do anything about Germany without its ally, Britain, France largely just followed the political maneuvers of Chamberlain.

Russia turned to communism after its humiliating defeat in World War I. Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union and began to modernize its economy. He created many new factories to turn Russia from a largely agricultural state to an industrial state. These actions aided significantly the expansion of the Russian economy but also caused factories to focus on quantity, not quality in their products.

China had been under European influence and battled over by various warlords from 1911 ending in 1928 when Nationalists took control of the nation. The leader of China, General Chiang Kai-Shek, planned to reclaim all of China's territory and was therefore a danger to Japanese ambitions in China resulting in the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and China.




The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

In Spain, Francisco Franco led a rebellion against the democratically elected Spanish government. Franco was determined to become the totalitarian ruler of Spain and the resulting civil war lasted from 1936 to 1939. At first the

In Spain, a group of exiled Spanish generals led by Francisco Franco began a revolution against the democratically elected government. Forces under Franco became known as Nationalists and government troops were known as Republicans. Germany and Italy sided with the Nationalists, sending financial and material aid as well as German Luftwaffe units. Russia sided with the Republicans but sent useless equipment at vastly inflated prices. The Spanish gold reserves, at the time the largest in the world, would shrink to one third its former size by the end of the war.


Spanish Nationalist aircraft bomb Madrid in 1936.



Fall of Austria and Czechoslovakia 1938

In 1938, Hitler began to demand the union of Germany and Austria to the Austrian chancellor, Schuschnigg. In a desperate attempt to stave off Germany, Schuschnigg put the question to the popular vote of the Austrian people. Worried about the outcome of this vote, Hitler invaded Austria and gained control of the nation without a shot being fired. On March 13, Hitler annexed Austria.

It wasn't long after Austria that Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, a region on the German border, from Czechoslovakia that German speakers lived in. To try to avoid war, Britain and France agreed to give in to Hitler's demands and in return, Hitler declared this his last territorial acquisition. On September 30, 1938 the Sudetenland was ceded to Germany. In March 1939, however, Hitler broke his promise and invaded and annexed the remainder of Czechoslovakia causing Britain and France to decide not to give up any more territory to Germany. To try and stem the expansion of Hitler's Germany, Britain and France guaranteed the borders of Poland, Romania, Greece, and Turkey.




Poland and Finland 1939-1940

In 1939, Hitler demanded Poland turn over control of the “Polish Corridor” and the Danzig free port to Germany. Poland however had received a guarantee of military action from Britain and France if it was attacked by Germany. Confident that this would not happen and that the west would turn to appeasement once again, Hitler prepared plans for the invasion of Poland. Only the Soviet Union remained a problem. To clear the way for an imminent invasion of Poland, Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact and agreed to partition Poland between them on a prearranged line. With no more obstacles to oppose him, Hitler declared war on September 1, 1939 and the German Army slammed 62 divisions into Poland. Although large with 40 divisions, the Polish Army was extremely outdated with almost no tanks or aircraft and many units using weapons from the first World War. Within days the German “Blitzkrieg” cut the enemy opposition to shreds. The fate of Poland was sealed as the Soviets from the east took control of their area of new territory and the German's took theirs from the west. The capital of Poland, Warsaw, surrendered to Germany on September 27, 1939. Although the speed of the German attack made it too late to save Poland, Britain and France honored their guarantees to Poland and declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. The second World War in Europe had begun.


German troops march through Warsaw, Poland in September 1939.

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With German-Soviet Non-aggression Pact in place, Stalin could turn his attention away from a potential German attack and focus on Finland to the north. Stalin began massing troops on the Finnish border and demanded territorial concessions from the Finns. The government refused and Russian forces invaded Finland on November 30, 1939. Despite the Soviets huge numerical advantage (Finland: 250,000 men, Russia: 1,000,000 men), the Finnish Army held off the Soviet attacks and inflicted massive losses on the Red Army. Finnish troops who were fully equiped for the harsh winter conditions, used skis to encircle Soviet units, cut them off from supplies, and then destroy the beleagerued enemy.


Finnish ski troops in northern Finland on January 12, 1940.

Despite Soviet defeats, the Red Army had managed to break through Finland's main defensive line. Additionally, Finland was low on supplies, especially ammunition. Sweden and Germany encouraged negotiations to begin and peace was made on March 13, 1940 with fighting continuing until the day the treaty was signed. The terms called for to Finland cede areas of border territory to the Soviet Union and 422,000 Finns lost their homes.


Finnish territory lost to the Soviet Union lies in red.




Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway 1940

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