The Road to World War II

Japanese Aggression

           Nationalists and militarists in Japan increased their power in the 1920s and 1930s.  As economic conditions worsened, they persuaded Japan's nominal ruler, the emperor, that the best way to ensure access to basic raw materials was to invade China and Southeast Asia and thereby give Japan control over Asia. 

           In the early 1930s, Japan posed the greatest threat to world peace.  Defying both the Open Door policy and the covenant of the League of Nations, Japanese troops marched into Manchuria in September 1931, renamed the territory Manchukuo, and established a puppet government.

           Despite its commitment to taking action against blatant aggression, the League of Nations did nothing except to pass a resolution condemning Japan for its actions in Manchuria,  The Japanese delegation then walked out on the League, never to return (the U.S. was not in the League). In the Manchurian crisis, the League, through its failure to take action, showed its inability to maintain peace.  Its warnings would never be taken seriously by potential aggressors.

Italy

         A new regime seized power in Italy in 1922.  Benito Mussolini led Italy's Fascist party, which attracted dissatisified war verterans, nationalists, and those afraid of rising communism.  Dressed in black shirts, the Fascists marched on Rome and installed Mussolini in power as "Il Duce."  Fascism -- the idea that people should glorify their nation and their race through an aggressive show of force -- became the dominant ideology in European dictatorships in the 1930s.

Germany

         The Nazi party was the German equivalent of Italy's Fascist party.  It arose in the 1920s in reaction to deplorable economic conditions after the war and national resentments over the Treaty of Versailles.  The Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, used bullying tactics against the Jews as well as Fascist ideology to increase his popularity with disgruntled, unemployed German workers.  Hitler seized the opportunity presented by the depression to play upon anti-semitic hatreds.  With his personal army of "brown shirts," Hitler gained control of the German legislature in early 1933.