Unit 5 Lesson 8: Aggression Overseas and Isolationism at Home

Question 1

what was the politcal situation in Germany and Italy?

Answer 1

In Italy and Germany, totalitarian leaders exerted complete control over the government and society. These dictators were fascists (FASH ists). Fascism was rooted in militarism, extreme nationalism, and blind loyalty to the state.

Question 2

How were the ways communists and fascists got support differed?

Answer 2

While Communists drew much of their support from the working classes, fascists found allies among business leaders and landowners.

Question 3

Fascist dictators vowed to create what?

Answer 3

Fascist dictators vowed to create new empires.

Question 4

What was fascism?

Answer 4

Fascism was rooted in militarism, extreme nationalism, and blind loyalty to the state.

Question 5

Who was the leader of fascist Italy?

Answer 5

Benito Mussolini

Question 6

How did Mussolini gain power in Italy how did the Versailles Treaty play a role?

Answer 6

In 1922, Benito Mussolini and his Fascist party seized power in Italy.
* He played on anger about the Versailles Treaty ending World War I. Many Italians felt cheated because the treaty did not grant Italy the territory it wanted.
* Mussolini also used fear to gain power.

• Economic unrest and fears of a communist revolution plagued Italy, and many looked to Mussolini to stabilize the nation.

Question 7

How did Italy change under Mussolini rule?

Answer 7

Once in power, Mussolini outlawed all political parties except his own. He controlled the press and banned criticism of the government. Critics were jailed or simply murdered. In schools, children recited the motto “Mussolini Is Always Right!”

Question 8

How did Mussolini distract Italians from the economic problems?

Answer 8

In the 1930s, Mussolini used foreign conquest to distract Italians from economic problems. Promising to restore the greatness of ancient Rome, he embarked on a program of military aggression. Aggression is a warlike act by one country against another without just cause.

Question 9

Which country did Mussolini invade in 1935? How did the battle go?

Answer 9

Mussolini invaded the African nation of Ethiopia in 1935. The Ethiopians fought bravely. However, their cavalry and outdated rifles were no match for Italy’s modern tanks and airplanes.

Question 10

What caused Ethiopians to lose the war?

Answer 10

Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie (HI lee suh LAS ee) asked the League of Nations for aid. The League responded weakly. Britain and France were caught up in their own economic problems and unwilling to risk another war. Without help, Ethiopia fell.

Question 11

What was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and why did it come to be?

Answer 11

In Germany, Adolf Hitler brought the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, or Nazis, to power. Like Mussolini, Hitler played on anger about the Versailles Treaty. Germans bitterly resented the treaty because it blamed their country for World War I and made them pay heavy war costs.

Question 12

Who was the leader of the nazi party?

Answer 12

Adolf Hiter

Question 13

How did Hitler use a scapegoat to bring Germans together?

Answer 13

Hitler assured Germans that they had not lost the war. Rather, he said, Jews and other traitors had “stabbed Germany in the back.” The argument was false, but in troubled times people were eager to find a scapegoat—a person or group on whom to blame their problems.

Question 14

How did Hitler rise to power?

Answer 14

Hitler was a powerful speaker and skillful politician. By the time depression struck, many Germans looked to him as a strong leader with answers to their problems.

In 1933, Hitler became chancellor, or head of the German government. Within two years, he ended democratic rule and created a militaristic totalitarian state. In Nazi Germany, the government controlled the press, the schools, and religion.

Question 15

What was the week long rally in Nuremberg?

Answer 15

The following year, Hitler organized a week-long rally in Nuremberg. Crowds chanted slogans praising Hitler. Uniformed soldiers marched in endless parades and engaged in mock battles. American reporter William Shirer described the Nuremberg rally.

Question 16

What happened to Jews in Germemy?

Answer 16

Hitler preached that Germans belonged to a race that was biologically superior to Jews, Gypsies, and other peoples. The Nazi government singled out the Jews for special persecution. Jews were deprived of their citizenship, forbidden to use public facilities, and driven out of almost every type of work. Later, Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, prison camps for civilians who are considered enemies of the state. In time, Hitler would unleash a plan to kill all the Jews in Europe.

Question 17

What is a concentration camp?

Answer 17

Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps, prison camps for civilians who are considered enemies of the state. In time, Hitler would unleash a plan to kill all the Jews in Europe

Question 18

Why did Hitler beilve he could do whatever he wanted with no consequences?

Answer 18

Hitler claimed that Germany had a right to expand to the east. In defiance of the Versailles treaty, he began to build up Germany’s armed forces. Although the League of Nations condemned his actions, Hitler predicted that the rest of Europe would “never act. They’ll just protest. And they will always be too late.”
In 1936, German troops moved into the Rhineland, near the border with France and Belgium. The Versailles treaty had banned German troops from this region. France and Britain protested, but they took no other action.

Question 19

Totalitarian leaders also came to power in the Soviet Union and Japan how did they differ from the leaders in Italy and Germany?

Answer 19

Totalitarian leaders also came to power in the Soviet Union and Japan. Unlike Italy and Germany, these leaders were not fascist. They did, however, seek complete control. They were unhappy with the terms of the Versailles Treaty and hoped to bring new glory to their nations. As in western Europe, the political changes underway in these regions drew the world closer to war.

Question 20

Who was Joseph Stalin?

Answer 20

Vladimir Lenin set up a communist government in the Soviet Union. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin gained power.

Question 21

How did Stalin rule?

Answer 21

Stalin ruled as a totalitarian dictator. In a totalitarian state, a single party controls the government and every aspect of people’s lives.

Question 22

Was Stalin open to criticism?

Answer 22

Citizens must obey the government without question. Criticism of the government is severely punished.

Question 23

How did Stalin take care of the soviet industry and agriculture?

Answer 23

Stalin took brutal measures to modernize Soviet industry and agriculture. He ordered peasants to hand over land and animals to government-run farms. Millions who resisted were executed or sent to labor camps.

Question 24

What did Stalin do to his political enemies?

Answer 24

Stalin also staged trials and executions of his political enemies. Many confessed to false charges under torture. Many millions of people were known to have perished by the hand of Stalin’s ruthless dictatorship.

Question 25

Japan’s economy suffered severely during the Great Depression. As many Japanese grew impatient with their democratic government what happened?

Answer 25

Military leaders took power

Question 26

What was Manchukuo and what was its relation to Jpan?

Answer 26

The military rulers set out to expand into Asia. In 1931, Japanese forces seized a region in northeastern China known as Manchuria. The region was rich in coal and iron, two resources scarce in Japan. The Japanese set up a state in Manchuria called Manchukuo.

Question 27

What did the miilatry leaders who ruled Japan belive?

Answer 27

Like Hitler, these leaders preached racial superiority. They believed that the Japanese were purer than, and superior to, other Asians as well as non-Asians.

Question 28

What did the United Nations do about Japan getting new land?

Answer 28

China called on the League of Nations for help. The League condemned Japanese aggression but did little else. The United States refused to recognize Manchukuo but took no action.

Question 29

What were the Neutrality Acts?

Answer 29

In 1935, Congress passed the first of a series of Neutrality Acts, which banned arms sales or loans to countries at war. Congress also warned Americans not to travel on ships of countries at war. By limiting economic ties with warring nations, isolationists hoped to stay out of any foreign conflict.

Question 30

Closer to home, the United States tried to improve relations with Latin American nations. In 1930 President Hoover did what?

Answer 30

In 1930, President Hoover rejected the Roosevelt Corollary. The United States, he declared, no longer claimed the right to intervene in Latin American affairs.

Question 31

Concerned about the problems in Asia and Europe, Franklin Roosevelt worked to build friendlier relations with Latin America. What was the Good Neighboor Policy?

Answer 31

Under his Good Neighbor Policy, FDR withdrew American troops from Nicaragua and Haiti. The policy also emphasized trade and cooperation. Roosevelt also canceled the Platt Amendment, which had limited the independence of Cuba.

Question 32

What was Americans relationship with the Soveit Union?

Answer 32

Roosevelt also improved relations with the Soviet Union. He restored diplomatic relations with the Soviet government in 1933, although he remained wary about allying too closely with the communist nation. In addition to benefiting the American economy, Roosevelt had hoped improved relations with the Soviet Union would decrease Japanese expansion in Asia.