Events leading up to WWII
major events that influenced the start of the war
Rise of the Totalitarian Regimes
This lead to WWII because totalitarian countries like Nazi Germany and Japan were the ones who caused the conditions that led to the war. Totalitarianism itself caused the war since,for reasons like the USSR did not really cause the war to happen and it was totalitarian. But, it was the actions of totalitarian states that brought the war to begin.
Because Germany and Japan were totalitarian with military influences, their people were unable to have any control over foreign policies. The expansionist leaders of both countries were able to take steps (like invading China) that caused the war.
German U boats in the Atlantic
Germany announces the renewal of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic as German torpedo-armed submarines prepare to attack any and all ships, including civilian passenger carriers, said to be sighted in war-zone waters. Germany said unrestricted warfare against all ships, neutral or otherwise, that entered the war zone around Britain. A month later, Germany announced that a German cruiser had sunk the William P. Frye, an American merchant vessel that was transporting grain to England when it disappeared. President Wilson was furious, but the German government apologized, calling the attack a mistake.
Cash and Carry Policy
Cash and carry was a policy requested by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on September 21, 1939 to replace the Neutrality Acts of 1936. The revision allowed the sale of materiel to belligerents, as long as the recipients arranged for the transport using their own ships and paid immediately in cash. Cash And Carry was a provision added to the Neutrality Act of 1937 allowing the U.S. both to sell materials to European forces willing to pay up front and to provide transport.
Lend Lease Act of 1941
Lend-Lease Act was the program which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with material between 1941 and 1945. It was signed on March 11, 1941, Nine months before the U.S. entered the war in December 1941 however it effectively ended the United States' pretense of neutrality.
The Bombing Of Peal Harbor
When Pearl Harbor was bombed the United States immediately declared war on Japan. The resources were; soldiers, weapons, transportation, food, and fuel to operate. The military were spread a little thin because of the necessity to fight on 2 fronts.We had not been required to fight in the Pacific and Europe, either war would have gone much faster. The Japanese wanted to fight a weakened foe, that's why they tried to conquer the Pacific while the rest of the world was fighting.The attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the actual conflict.This pushed the American army against the Japanese, It also added American troops to the allied conflict in Europe.