You thought the Great War was bad? Well, I’ve got some bad news… There’s a Second World War… WWII. It’s the big one. It’s roughly 3x as large as the First World War (WWI). We’ll get to all the madness that took place in the actual war. But, this section is all about the CAUSES. This is a pretty big topic, but don’t get lost here go with what the College Board says. They break it down like this: Terrible peace treaties and systems (Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations) that couldn’t keep the peace; the lingering effects of the Great Depression; the continued growth of the Western Empires (from Unit 6); and the rise of Fascist and Totalitarian regimes like Hitler and Stalin. The LITERAL cause here in the ATLANTIC THEATER was Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 and in the PACIFIC THEATER, it was Japan’s invasion of China in 1937.
1. CAUSES OF WWII from HEIMLER’s HISTORY
2. INSIDE PICASSO’S GUERNICA PAINTING from the BBC
3. SIGNING OF THE MUNICH AGREEMENT, 1938
4. APPEASEMENT
5. SPANISH CIVIL WAR from the ARMCHAIR HISTORIAN
6. CAUSES OF WWII in 90 Seconds
1. APPEAL TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, Haile Selassie, 1936
2. ON THE CONFLICT IN THE FAR EAST, Ambassador Hiroshi Saito, 1937
3. THE MUNICH AGREEMENT, September 1938, Nazi Germany, UK, France, Italy
4. PEACE FOR OUR TIME, Speech by Neville Chamberlain, September 1938
5. THE LAW OF POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITIES, Francisco Franco, 1939
1. STEPPING STONES TO GLORY, David Low, 1936
2. GUERNICA, Pablo Picasso, 1937
From right to left, foreground to background, the speech bubbles say:
「日本兵隊サン来ル モウ大丈夫アル バンザイバンザイ」
"The Japanese soldiers have come! We are safe now! Banzai! Banzai!"
「支那軍閥 ナカナカ悪イ 日本兵隊サン バンザイバンザイ」
"The Chinese Warlords are quite terrible! To the soldiers of Japan, Banzai! Banzai!"
「抗日支那軍 悪イコトアル」
"The Anti-Japanese Armies are terrible things."
「日本兵隊サン 掠奪シナイアル 安心安心 バンザーイ」
"The Japanese Soldiers do not pillage! We are Safe! Banzai!"
