The Move to Global War

This is a great unit to study alongside the Causes and Effects of War and Authoritarian States.

The two case studies that must be covered are:
  • Japanese expansion in East Asia between 1931 and 1941
  • German and Italian expansion between 1933 and 1940

For both case studies, students must examine:
  • The causes of expansion
  • The actual events of expansion
  • The international response to expansion
Case Study
Causes
Events
Reaction
Japan
  • Japanese Nationalism and Militarism
  • Japanese political and economic issues
  • Chinese instability
  • Japanese invasion of Manchuria
  • Sino-Japanese War
  • Tripartite Pact, the advent of WWII in Europe and Pearl Harbor
  • League of Nations and the Lytton Report
  • Chinese response
  • International response, particularly the US response
Germany and Italy
  • Fascism and Nazism
  • Domestic economic issues in Germany and Italy
  • Change of diplomatic alignments in Europe, the end of collective security and appeasement
  • German challenges to post-war settlements
  • Italian expansion: Abyssinia, Albania and entry into WWII
  • German expansion: Anschluss, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia and Poland, Pact of Steel and Nazi-Soviet Pact
 
  • International responses to German aggression
  • International responses to Italian aggression
  • International responses to German and Italian aggression