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Mein Kampf
This book was written by Adolf Hitler and translates to "My Struggle." This book was written while he was imprisoned and talks about his life, although it makes him seem glorious to other people and explains his views on the inferior people. This book helped to lead to World War II because it persuaded many people to like Hitler and think that he was a good person and the book helped them to believe that Jews were the cause of German suffering, etc. -
Stock Market Crash
Confident people who believed that the stock market would continue to rise, used easy credit to buy shares in popular countries. The Federal Reserve bank tightened available credit which caused brokers to immediately demand for money from the investors. All stocks were then sold to cover the funds, therefore, leaving the market to collapse. This led to the Great Depression, and in turn, caused the U.S. to be unable to continue financing Europe, leading to European economic degradation. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was an economic crisis and time period of low business activity, not just in the United States because of the stock market crash, but all over Europe because of U.S.'s inablility to finance European coutnries. People were left without support and needed something to help them so they latched on to ideologies, including Nazism, which contributed to Hitler's support and followers. (They were willing to do anything.) -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
This began when the Japanese were gaining economic strength and wanted to chase out European countries from Asia, in order to gain more control of the surrounding areas. This began when the Japanese first invaded China through Manchuria. Japan agreed of the unfair Western domination in Asia. (Japan spent 47% of its budget on arms) This action from Japan raised tensions internationally.This led to World War II because Japan's action of demanding land influenced Hitler and Mussolini to do the same -
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Japanese Expansion
Japanese expansion was when the Japanese were gaining economic stablility and military power which enabled them to attempt to chase the Europeans out of Asia because they were controlling so much of it. It began with the Invasion in Manchuria and continued to raise tensions between the competing economic powers. This movement created a sense of action for all countries and specifically helped the U.S. to start their part of WWII on Japan. -
Hitler Comes to Power
This was when Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany, his official rise to power, even though he was part of the Nazi party since 1919. His rise to power was the most contributing factor that led to World War II because his supreme power and position he was able to create by being Chancellor of Germany helped him carry out many decisions he wanted to make such as the initiation of World War II and the Holocaust, etc. -
Enabling Act
The legislation passed in 1933 suspending the consitutional government for four years in order to meet the crisis in the German economy. This allowed the Nazi laws to flourish because there wasn't the need for parliamentary approval anymore. By abusing this Act, Hitler was able to control and take on full power and stay in leading position until his death, therefore, significantly helping the ability of World War II to arise. -
The Nuremburg Laws
Legislation enacted by the Nazis that deprived Jewish Germans of their citizenship and imposed many other hardships on them. These laws fueled for the further persecution of Jews as they helped to persuade Germans that Jewish people were the cause of everything bad and led to the mass executions that later happened and concentration camps, a major part of World War II. Jews were the scapegoat of Germany. -
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Ethiopian War
The choice by Mussolini to invade Ethiopia, one of the few African states not overwhelmed by European imperialism. This was in an effort to gain power from the colony, and raise Italy's ranking and status in the world. Hitler used the this conflict with the League of Nations to send forces into the Rhineland which helped him expand his power during WWII. -
Remilitarization of the Rhineland
This action taken by Hitler was a very daring one, also provocative in some cases. This was a huge scenario because previously, the Treaty of Versailles prevented Germany from having military forces in the Rhineland and was only used as a buffer zone betweem Germany and the countries it earlier invaded. However, Hitler commanded for the remilitarization with very strong military forces. This action broke the Treaty of Versailles and upsetted many European countries which contributed to WWII. -
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Spanish Civil War
A revolt against the Republican govenment of Spain which was supported by conservative elements within the country. Due to the conflict, Mussolini and Hitler were able to use Spain during this conflict as a training ground for troops and their general arms. Also, it was used for terrorizing citizens and improving military tactics which helped Hitler in WWII. -
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The Rape of Nanjing
Japan held another attack on China in 1937, and justified its offensive attack as being a way of liberating China from Western imperialism. This battle was given the name it has because of the brutality towards women and children. This led to WWII because of the breaking of moral law and values, and being seen as the worst by other powers, leaving them wanting revenge. -
Anschluss
This also means German-Austrian merger and was hoped for by many Austrians who were stripped of their empire after the Paris peace settlement. So, Hitler's troops just marched on in to Austria and annexed it. This gave the Aryans a place to live and many gold supplies to Germany. This contributed to WWII as it increased Nazi support, in now a completely seperate population. -
The Munich Conference
A conference in Munich between the leaders: Chamberlain, Daladier, Mussolini and Hitler which led to an agreement that Hitler could have the Sudetenland, if he stops threatening Czechoslovakia and the others saw it as a peaceful victory. However, this contributed to WWII because Hitler had more land and power, and he also broke the conference by later invading the rest of Czechoslovakia. -
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Appeasement
The strategy of preventing war by making concessions for legitimate grievances. Even though it has been used throughout history, it was most relevant from the Munich conference and on. This contributed to WWII because it allowed some countries to abuse their grants and gain a stronger hold on other countries such as Hitler getting not only Rhineland, but invading Czechoslovakia. Also, Sudetenland.
