CAUSES

• Economic crisis of the 30’s.

• Hitler’s rise to power, abandonment of the Disarmament Conference in 1933,
compulsory military service and beginning of the expansion to get the lebensraum
with the annexation of the Saarland in 1935.
• Weakness of the western democracies and the League of Nations, shown by a
series of localized conflicts: Italian invasion of Ethiopia, remilitarization of the
Rhineland, Japanese occupation of Manchuria and Spanish Civil War.
• The ties between the fascist regimes are tightened: the Rome-Berlin axis and the
Antikomitern Pact in 1938.
• After Austria was annexed to the Reich, Germany forced a conference in Munich in
which France and United Kingdom gave in to their demands to annex the
Sudetenland.
• In 1939, Hitler completed the dismemberment of Czechoslovakia, Mussolini
occupied Albania and both dictatorships signed the Pact of Steel.
• In August 1939, Germany and the USSR signed a non-aggression pact.
• On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
 ROME-BERLIN AXIS ANTI-COMINTER PACT
25 OCTOBER 1936 25 NOVEMBER 1936

Declaration in which both countries Declaration in which both countries

proclaimed their friendship and the proclaimed their friendship and the
maintenance of common points of maintenance of common points of view
view in international politics. in international politics.
 The League's refusal to sanction Japan.
“This inefficiency (of the society of nations) would serve to
encourage bellicose governments in the future. Without this
inertia regarding Manchuria, Mussolini would doubtless have
hesitated before embarking on the conquest of Ethiopia, and
Chancellor Hitler successively denouncing the clauses of the
Treaty of Versailles. With no confidence whatsoever in the
League of Nations, even peaceful states relied more and more
on their own forces, and this was the beginning of the arms
race…”
Cahen, Ronze, and Folinas: World History, 1937.
 International Disarmament Conference, 1932-1933
The Entente countries, with the exception of the US, had committed to disarmament
in the Treaty of Versailles and in the Pact of the League of Nations. Finally, in February
1932, a Conference was held in Geneva in which the members of the League of
Nations, the USA and the USSR participated. Disagreements over the definition of the
categories of war material (…) continued to hamper the work of the Conference.
France, worried about her safety from Germany, was particularly reluctant to agree
to any kind of military limitation. Germany, whose military power had been severely
curtailed at Versailles, responded to French aspirations by proclaiming its right to
equality with the other powers and threatening rearmament if the other powers did
not carry out disarmament similar to the one it had applied. Germany after Versailles.
Given the impossibility of advancing, the Conference was suspended. Upon
reopening in October 1933, the new Hitlerian Germany, which had already begun
rearming, withdrew from the Conference and the League of Nations. The Conference,
although it continued to meet intermittently until 1937, had definitely failed.

History of international relations during the 20th century. Historiasiglo20.org.

 The passivity of Western democracies.
“British and French have held each other responsible for their fatal inactivity. Mr.
Churchill, in his Memoirs, reproaches the French ministers for not having decreed
general mobilization. If he had been up to his task, they would have done so and thus
forced the other countries to follow. This was, for France, a question of life and death,
but they were unable to act without the effective support of Great Britain. This is an
explanation, but not an excuse." The reproach is severe. It is only partially deserved.
Well, Great Britain has, in this passivity, a fairly large part of the responsibility. As
Locarno's guarantor, she owed her assistance to France, and that assistance seemed
indispensable in the event that war had broken out as a result of French military
action. It was not only the interest of France that was at stake, but that of Western
security and, consequently, that of the United Kingdom. (…) The joint action of France
and Great Britain was still capable of dominating Hitler. The military authorities of the
two countries knew it and Hitler himself will later admit it.
Baron P. Van Zuylen: The free hands. Belgian foreign policy. 1919-1940, Brussels, 1950.
 MUNICH CONFERENCE 29 SEPTEMBER 1938

The Munich Conference was an international meeting that began on 29th September 1938, to settle
the dispute between Germany and Czechoslovakia over the Sudetenland. The Munich Conference was organised by
Mussolini of Italy and Chamberlain of Britain. However, there was controversy over the attendees: Hitler from
Germany, Chamberlain from Britain, Daladier from France and Mussolini from Italy. Czechoslovakia was not invited,
despite the Sudetenland being part of its territory. At the Munich Conference, it was decided the Sudetenland was to be
transferred from Czechoslovakia to Germany. Germany gained the Sudetenland, along with 29,000 square kilometres
of territory and a population of 3.6 million. Without French protection, Czechoslovakia was forced to accept the break-
up of its country. After the Munich Agreement, Chamberlain and Hitler signed a document promising that Britain and
Germany would promote peace in Europe.
 MUNICH CONFERENCE 29 SEPTEMBER 1938

TO SUM UP
THE MAIN EUROPEAN POWERS ALLOWED HITLER TO ANNEX
THE SUDETES IN EXCHANGE THAT HE WOULD NOT INVADE
MORE TERRITORIES AND THUS GUARANTEE PEACE IN EUROPE
 AXIS POWERS

ROME – BERLIN – TOKIO AXIS

 MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT
23 AUGUST 1939
SECRET ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL

German-Soviet nonaggression pact signed by

The treaty included a secret protocol, which
Molotov and Ribbentrop, which provided a written
defined the borders of Soviet and German spheres
guarantee of peace by each party towards the
of influence across Poland, Lithuania, Latvia,
other and declared that neither government
Estonia and Finland.
would ally itself to or aid an enemy of the other.
 PHASES OF THE WAR
0 - The trigger of the conflict. 1st September 1939

1ST German Offensives: Blitzkrieg 1939-1941

2ND The globalization of the conflict 1941-1942

3RD The turn of the conflict 1943-1944

4TH The defeat of the axis and the end of the war 1944-1945

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 MAIN
EVENTS BY
FRONT
(THE
COLOUR
TELL US IF
IT IS
WESTERN,
EASTERN,
AFRICAN,
PACIFIC
FRONT)
CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE CONFLICT
 Consequences
Of World War II
It was the greatest catastrophe that humanity has known due to…
the global extension of the conflict
the character of total war (military and civil)
the destructive power of the new weapons
the bombing of cities
the genocide
Between 55 and 100 million of casualties
(considering dead, wounded and missing)
 Population
displacement due to
the Nazi occupation,
the changes of
borders at the end of
the war, the crisis
and the destruction
(about 40 million
uprooted)
Due to the destruction of cities and infrastructures, there were serious problems of food supply,
homelessness of the civilian population. due to war and reconstruction needs, there was a high
volume of debt and prices skyrocketed (inflation) The war accelerated the decline of the old
European powers and the United States consolidated its economic hegemony (agricultural,
financial and industrial) the USSR was confirmed as the second world power

LONDON, England DRESDE, Germany CAEN, France

WARSOW, Poland STALINGRAD, USSR NAGASAKI, Japan

 Because of the destruction of cities and
infrastructures, there were serious problems
of food supply, homelessness of the civilian
population.

Due to war and reconstruction needs, there

was a high volume of debt and prices
skyrocketed (inflation).
Intense moral trauma and questioned all ethical values. The
total war devastated the civilian population with
unprecedented cruelty and generalized violence due to the
bombings, the massacres, the atomic bomb...
 The war accelerated the decline of the old European powers, and the
United States consolidated its economic hegemony (agricultural, financial
and industrial) the USSR was confirmed as the second world power.
The genocide of the death camps caused between 5 and 6 million victims.
the international court was established to judge crimes against humanity.
 PEACE CONFERENCES

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UNITED NATIONS