World War II: The Roots Of Aggression (1985)

[Music] Toward the end of the 1920s, most of the world seemed to have recovered from war. In the United States, Charles Lindberg became famous for flying across the Atlantic. Herbert Hoover became president. In Russia, Lenin died and Joseph Stalin took over. In France, Andre Majano, Minister of Defense, planned a line of forts to be built on the German frontier. In China, the Guin Dang party led by Jiang Kaishek was taking control, forcing back the communists who were led by Ma Sidong. And on the international scene, representatives of 23 nations signed an anti-war treaty drafted by US Secretary of State Kellogg and French Foreign Minister Bion. But in spite of the Kellogg Bion pact, war was on its way. World War II. [Music] One situation leading toward war was that many banks had loaned huge sums of money to be used for speculative ventures. Japan's bankers and businessmen experienced a crash in 1927, the United States in [Music] 1929. Around the world, prosperity ended. Jobs and savings were lost. There was insecurity and fear. During such times, people and nations may behave [Music] irrationally. Late in 1931, on the railroad at Mukden Manuria, a group of Japanese soldiers claimed to be injured by an explosion. They showed reporters a section of track apparently damaged by a bomb and they claimed the Chinese troops were sabotaging Japan's Manurion operations. Whatever the truth was, Japan's army commanders used this Mukden incident as the excuse for a police action which turned into a war against China and the occupation of Manuria. The League of Nations after months of debate ruled that Japan had broken international law. They centured the Japanese who walked out of the League but stayed in Manuria where they ruled repressively. And so the international system for maintaining peace was broken. Meanwhile, in depression racked Germany, a veteran of the World War was trying to interest others in his ideas. He was Adolf Hitler, leader of the National Socialist or Nazi party. The Nazis were a small radical group who believed that Germany's new democratic government, the Weimar Republic, was weak and ineffective. During the prosperity of the 1920s, Nazi opinions got little hearing. But Hitler and his people hammered away at their favorite themes. That most Germans were members of a superior race, the Aryans, and that all other peoples, including Slavs, gypsies, and especially Jews, were inferior to German Aryans. In Munich in 1923, the Nazis had led a disorganized attempt to overthrow the democratic regime. When it failed, Hitler and others were tried for treason. During nine months in prison, he wrote his political manifesto, mine comp, my struggle, in which he stated, "The weapon of brutal force persistently and ruthlessly applied can lead to a decision for the side it supports." Sadly, his observation was true. When the depression struck Germany, millions of Germans supported Hitler. In 1928, only 12 Nazis sat on the German parliament, the Reichag. By 1932, there were 230, a strong enough plurality to make their leader the chancellor of Germany. On March 5th, 1933, another election and a coalition with a nationalist party gave Hitler a small majority. But he needed a 2/3 majority to change Germany's government. So the Nazis arrested many Reichto members who opposed them. On March 23rd, those who remained filed into their meeting hall where a huge majority voted to give their own powers and those of their country's constitution to Adolf Hitler. As the sound of the Nazi anthem, the horse vessel song rose over the meeting, the people of Germany could look forward to what Hitler was promising when he wrote in Minecom. There is on this earth an immense area of unused soil. It exists for those people who have the power to take it. By those people, Hitler meant Germans. By unused soil, he meant farmlands, mines, and seapports for German victims of the depression. But since people were living on virtually all the land of Europe, how could this promise be kept? It began with an order to build the German army beyond the limits allowed by the treaty of [Music] Versailles. When the lead disapproved, Germany followed Japan and resigned. So at the end of 1933, both Germany and Japan, two of the world's most important nations were out of the lead, and their actions were to become increasingly aggressive. Now with pension growing, with prosperity fading into memory, every year brings unsettling new [Music] events. 1934, Japanese shipyards begin building battleships. 1935, the Italian army invades Ethiopia. King Hali Salassie protests at the League of Nations, which brings pressure to bear on Italy. Not enough pressure. League members continue to supply Italy with strategic fuel oil. 1936, German troops march into the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone in Germany. Demilitarized. No more. Hitler fortifies the area. Later, Hitler meets with Japanese diplomats. Germany and Japan sign a treaty. Italy also will sign, and these three nations will become allies. 1937, the Japanese attack China's industrial and commercial centers. Beijing [Music] Tian Jin, [Music] Shanghai, Nan [Music] Jin, in Germany. Some who oppose or are persecuted by Hitler leave for America. Among them are Thomas man, author, Bertold Breck, playwright, Ludvig Mi Vandereo, architect, Albert Einstein, physicist. 1938, the German army invades Austria. For the first time, Hitler violates a neighbor's frontier. And he continues bullying Czechoslovakia into turning over the Sedatan land, a border territory inhabited by Germanspeaking people. Oddly, he is helped by Czechoslovakia's friends, the French and British. Britain's Prime Minister Chamberlain urges the checks to give in. On the radio, he tells his people, "We cannot undertake to involve the whole British Empire in a war. If we have to fight, it must be on larger [Music] issues." In China, hostilities also continue as the Japanese capture Hango, a key industrial city. And then in 1939, the pace of aggression quickens. February, the Japanese move southward. They take Hainan Island, threatening British communications between Hong Kong and Singapore. March. German troops take the rest of Czechoslovakia and Mimo, Lithuania. They claim this is to protect pro-German minorities. April, Italy's army occupies Albania, moving closer to Greece and Yugoslavia. May, Hitler and Mussolini turn their treaty into an alliance, the Rome Berlin Axis. The leaders of Britain and France now understand Hitler's plan. By inspiring agitation in European nations, then entering with military force, the Germans plan to expand Germany's frontiers. June, Britain and France ask Russia to join their anti-German alliance. Stalin declines unless Russian troops are allowed to enter Poland and other border countries. The British and French will not agree to this. July, the United States reduces trade with Japan. August, the German government signs a non-aggression pact with Russia. Now Hitler can strike at Poland without Russian interference. On September 1st, 1939, on the southern border of Poland, not far from the city of Krakow, the Germans [Music] attack. Their excuse is a lie that Polish troops have made the first move. As Germans rapidly move into Poland, the Japanese express anger at Germany's new treaty with Russia. And Mussolini announces that Italy is not yet ready for war. But the dye has been cast. With or without their allies, Germany is once again on the march. It is 1939 and World War II has begun.