Monday- Wednesday- was in Disney
Thursday- Italy/ Ethipia Invasion
- Nov. 18, 1935, League of Nations sanctions begin
- Arms embargo, financial embargo, non-importation of Italian goods
- Feb. 29, 1936, FDR signed the 1936 Neutrality act
- Mandatory arms embargo with warring nations
- Mandatory ban on loans to warring nations
- May 5- Italy 1936 occupied Addis Ababa- annexed all Ethiopia on May 9
Generalissimo Francisco Franco and the Spanish Civil War- 1936
- Hitler and Mussolini send troops and weapons to help Franco win the civil war against the comunists
- This war served as an important training ground for HItler's and Mussolini's troops
Italy's Goals in WWII
- Make a new Roman Empire
- Make the Mediterranean an "Italian Lake"
- Take over north African colonies of Britain and France- especially Egypt
- Take over southeastern Europe- Greece and Albania
Italy and the Holocaust
- In 1938, Mussolini instituted laws discriminating the Jews
- 46,000 Jews in ITaly at the time
- After the Fascist government fell when the US invaded(1943), the Germans moved in and took control and started shipping Jews to camps outside of Italy
Why did Italy Lose?
- Italy was not prepared militarily to fight a prolonged war
- Germany had to constantly bail Italy out.
- Italian troops were spread too thin- Africa, Mediterranean, Albania, Greece, Soviet Union, France, Battle of Britain.
- The people of Italy were not prepared to fight or motivated to fignt. They were focred to fight.
- Overall, Italy was just a weak country
Impact WWII Had on Italy
- 410,000 dead--330,000 Military deaths
- Spent $94 Billion
- Italy had joined the Allies by 1943 so the big concern for the US was making sure Italy became a demoracy after the war and not fall to communism
- US gave millions of dollars to Italy(Marshall Plan) to help rebuild after the war
- Became a member of NATO in 1949
- Became a member of the United Nations in 1955.
Friday- watched "World Wars" episode
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