Summary: The Long Slow Slide Into World War II

Japan and China had many contrasting responses to western penetration in the nineteenth century, including economic interaction - economically China suffered and Japan prospered, Japanese agricultural productivity increased while China’s did not, and China only accepted a small amount of goods while Japan accepted a wide range of goods- and political interaction - China went to war but Japan did not, Japan adopted western learning styles but China did not, and Japan heavily increased taxes on their people after 1890, while China did not -but had very comparable geographic traits – both had ocean borders – Japan was completely surrounded by water while China was bordered on a large percentage of itself, both kept their ports either fully

Both Hitler and Mussolini believed in totalitarianism between the two world wars. Mussolini supported Italian Fascism, while Hitler supported German Nazism. They had both great impact on the modern European history.

"My objective is simple. I want to make Italy great, respected and feared," (UXL Biographies 1). This was a quote from one of the most famous dictators in Italy, Benito Mussolini. Before World War One, Mussolini was director of the Avanti, a socialist newspaper in Milan, but he began to disagree with socialists so he broke ties and joined the military, reaching the rank of corporal. After he was discharged from the army, he created the fascist party and worked towards dismantling all socialist institutions (UXL Biographies 1). Mussolini was a powerful public speaker and delivered speeches mainly about how great he would make Italy. This allowed him to gain the public’s trust, leading to him becoming Prime Minister and later the dictator of Italy (UXL Biographies 1). In April 1945, Mussolini and his mistress were fleeing anti-fascist partisans disguised as German soldiers. When they were crossing the Swiss border, him and his mistress were captured by partisans and the next day were shot and killed. (Klein 1). The assassination of Benito Mussolini was justified because of he adopted Nazi ideals about Jews and he ultimately initiated the demise of his country and followers. Despite this many believe that Mussolini actually helped Italy.

Both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning, profound desire for their nations to become well-respected and invincible superpowers of the world. As a matter of fact, Hitler respected and admired Mussolini; Hitler was influenced heavily by Mussolini, in fact, he looked upon Mussolini’s work and imitated him, while adding his own personal style and flare.

The invasion of Manchuria was a pivotal point leading towards the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as the build- up of the tension between America and Japan. The minor engagement between the Chinese and Japanese troops conclusively led to undeclared war between the two nations. With China torn apart by revolution in the 1920s, Japan 's militarists viewed China, and in particular, its resource-rich northern

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese planned to expand to China. If Japan did, however, the United States would stop trading and giving Japan goods. Japan thought that the only way to solve their economic and demographic problems was to expand to China. The United States did not like Japan’s attitude

Another cause was that the Japanese could not be overlooked in the Pacific even with the "Europe First" approach. First actions were defensive, was to protect areas that were not being used by the Japanese. The Japanese Aggression known as the Second Sino-Japanese War was an invasion which arose after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This attack would become one of the superior conflicts of World War II as a main front of what is known as the Pacific War. The Great Depression had hit Japan's economy hard. Japan's military leaders argued that Japan could resolve its economic difficulties by expanding into other parts of Asia. The United States had refused to recognize Japan demands. To stop Japanese development, the U.S. forbidden exports of steel, oil and other supplies to Japan. Japan was focused on expanding; so, then the two binary countries debated so they can avoid a

During the time of World War II the most important thing to have was power. Countries did not care how they would achieve it they simply wanted it. The country of Japan was one of the many in seek of such control and power. That is when the Japanese decided to expand, and invade China. At the beginning the Chinese did not give in, they fought as much as they could to protect their land. This clearly angered the Japanese as they felt disrespected and did not like that they were being defied. They truly believe it was their right to expand. This was the main reason why they decided to increase their violence towards the Chinese once they arrived to Nanking (The Rape of Nanking). It is obvious that the Japanese felt as if they deserve to take over China. However, as time passed the Chinese fear the continuous violence against them and saw no other option than to give up. The people did not understand why this increase of violence was being directed at them. Unfortunately, this cause the Japanese to perceive the Chinese as weak. If you want to be in power, you cannot give up easily. Therefore, the surrender of the

During WWII Japan main intention was to become a strong nation and a world leader as well. The problem was that Japan was just a small island in the pacific and needed to import most of the natural resources needed from other countries. Japanese leaders considered they needed to acquire more land by invading other countries.

Hitler promised revenge for the defeat of Germany to the Germans. To do this Hitler first wanted to regain control of the German land lost during World War 1. In 1936 after gaining control of Rhineland, a German territory lost, Hitler signed an alliance with Mussolini forming a group called the axis

One major problem that Japan faced was the considerable lack of natural resources in the eastern Asian country. Likewise, the United States saw significance in these resources and put their economic relations with Japan at a minimum. Japan’s main goal was to expand its territory in the Pacific as a way to resolve economic issues and take control of the market. Because of this, Japan attempted to conquer China, which did not sit well with the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt then froze all shipping to Japan, which led the Japanese to plan a surprise attack.

While both Josef Stalin and Adolph Hitler’s overall goals were different, they were both very selfish in their desires. Adolph Hitler desired to make Germany a great nation

In the early 1930, before the start of WWII itself, Japan was already fighting and invading China. This was because Japan saw China was beginning to gain power and could possibly take back land Japan had taken in earlier war. As this happened, Japan began to lose power and, eventually, became desperate for resources and led to the eventual attack on Pearl Harbor.

'I want to make Italy great, respected and feared' said Mussolini in 1925. Mussolini's foreign policy included a number of positive and negative factors which all contributed to the rise, and the ultimately to the downfall, of both Mussolini and the Italian empire. Mussolini was intent on revising the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles and was very keen to show off Italy's power. He felt that Italy had been hard done by at the end of world war one and sought to claim what he felt Italy deserved. Mussolini's foreign policy clearly reflected his ambition to reinstate the Italian empire.

Fundamentally, both Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler had the same burning desire to each make their nation a respected and economically impregnable Great Power. Mussolini wanted to return Italy to its glory days of the ancient Roman Empire, a domestic policy amongst others which was used as propaganda and to ultimately consolidate his power. A strong economy and a united state were vital for both countries in case of the outbreak of yet another catastrophic war. "Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state", stated Mussolini in need of desperate backup at home. Post WWI left both Germany and Italy with grave problems economically, which further repelled into social problems such as high unemployment and