**Adolf Hitler (Germany-Axis Powers)
**Benito Mussolini (Italy-Axis Powers)
**Winston Churchill (Great Britain-Allied Powers)
**Franklin Roosevelt (U.S.-Allied Powers)
**Tajekai To Jo (Japan-Axis Powers)
**Joseph Stalin (Soviet Union-Allied Powers)
Consequences brought to Germany from the Treaty of Versailles:
■World War II started because Hitler and Stalin were trying to take back land that they had lost in the Treaty of Versailles
Military:
■Germany lost land to Belgium, France, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, and Poland because they were given Germany's land at the Paris Peace Conference
Hitler invaded these countries and wanted all German speaking people to be a part of Germany
■German's army was drastically reduced to 100,000 men by the Treaty of Versailles and they were not allowed tanks or an airforce
■France established an area of land known as the Rhineland between them and Germany where there could be no military equipment
■This was set up so that if Germany tried to invade, France could stop them
■Hitler told the German people he was going to rebuild their army, and militarize the Rhineland again
■He realized that the League of Nations was going to let him get away with anything so he started taking over countries
Financial:
■Lost industrial territory such as the Saar and Upper Silesia because of their coal supply
■Caused a vital economic loss
■Germany had to pay back their debts which caused them to almost go bankrupt and prices inflated
■Was also forbidden to unite with Austria to form one superstate
■The Treaty of Versailles' War Guild Clause said that Germany was responsible for the war and had to pay for all the damage
■This was considered a national insult to Germany and Hitler used this to appeal to the German people
The League of Nations:
■This was Woodrow Wilson's final and main point in his Fourteen Points campaign
■It was meant to be a peace keeping organization that would hopefully prevent any future wars
■One of the league's biggest weaknesses was that the U.S never joined
■At the time, the U.S. was more isoaltionist and didn't want to get involved with European conflicts
■They thought it would put us in wars constantly
■This really hurt the prestige of the league because the U.S. was the most powerful nation at the time
■The league also did not have their own military which weakened them even more
■It also required unanimous vote to make decisions so things did not get done fast enough
■If we had joined, Hitler may not have become so powerful
Germany:
■Was the most impacted by the Treaty of Versailles
■The geography of Europe was changed greatly due to the countries that took Germany's land
■Had a Parliamentary Republic during the war
■Set up the Weimar Republic which was the first time they ever had a democracy
■Hitler was appointed as chancellor by President Hiddenberg because he was really enthusiastic and wanted to rebuild Germany
■The Nazi's and communists came in and took advantage of the struggles they were having with the new democracy
■They blamed the Weimar for causing all the problems
■Hitler immediately got rid of/dissolves the democracy and made himself "De Feur" or leader and basically started a dicatorship in Germany
■Hitler got them back on their feet and promised jobs to people
■When he became leader, he delivered those jobs which was huge during their great depression
■After he got the economy back on track, he made them powerful again
■Also took back some of the land they had lost
■Wanted Europe to be the supreme power again and get rid of "undesirable" people, i.e. the Jews
■Killed off his opponents so that he would have control over everything
■Took away rights from the Jews to destroy their way of life at first
■Then they were put into concentration camps and put to work
■His final solution was to kill them all
■Basically wanted to undo the Treaty of Versailles
■Military strategies: Hitler used Blitzkreige (lightening warfare) to take over countries. Believed in offensive strategies
■Used airplane attack while tanks and soldiers were coming in to soften the target country's military and mess things up
■Worked very well
■Allies were Japan and Italy
■Called the Axis Powers
■After the war was over, Germany was split into East Germany and West Germany until 1991
■German cities were bombared and destroyed and thousands of soldiers died
Italy:
- Italy was an ally of the U.S. in World War I
- They were angry because they did not get all the land they were promised
- Had a constitutional monarchy at first with King Emmanuel
- Benito Mussolini worked his way up through the military and the king helped him develop his own government
- Part of the Facist party
- Basically a dictatorship where everything you do should benefit your country
- Italy was very weak militarily
- The king asked Mussolini to become the leader because he knew he would not allow communism
- Mussolini gave army jobs, stregthened the military/economy, and kept out communists
- Mussolini got a big head and wanted to dominate the mediteranean area and as much of Africa as possible
- War strategy: Mussolini built up his navy and army so they could dominate the land and sea
- They were allies with Germany because Hitler and Mussolini were good friends
Soviet Union:
- The Treaty of Versailles did not impact them too much
- Before WWI they annexed Ukraine, Georgia and a few other countries
- Became communist in the Bulshavick Revolution and dropped out of the war
- Ended up losing a lot of land to Germany including Poland, Ethiopia, Lativia, etc
- Joseph Stalin took over for Vladimir Lenin when he died
- Started becoming a dictator and pushed for industry, telling farmers how to plant their crops
- He started Five-Year plans where he wanted to increase agricultural and industrial output over the course of five years
- Nationalization-Industry
- Government took over all industrys in the Soviet Union
- Collectivization-Farms
- Government took over farms
- People fought back because they didn't want their farms and businesses controlled by the country
- About 10 million people died during the time when Stalin was taking over businesses in the Soviet Union
- ***Was building tanks instead of food so people were starving
- Their military was strong but their people were suffering
- Killed any opponents too
- More people died under his reign than under Hitler's
- His goal was to improve the economy's output
- Military strategy: had red army
- Stalin was not ready for the German army
- Destroyed everything during their retreat so that Germany could not use anything
- Allies with Germany at first in the Soviet-German non-Agression pact where they agreed not to fight
- Soviets invaded Poland and did a bad job and Germany invaded them
- Then throughout most of the war they were allies with Great Britain, France, and the U.S.
- Winston Churchill said we should be more concerned with the Soviets than Germany
- Soviets had the highest number of causualties in WWII
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