While Fascist aggressors were chalking up victories across Europe, America, Britain, and France sat on the sidelines. The desire to avoid repeating the mistakes of World War I was so strong, no government was willing to confront the dictators. Economic sanctions were unpopular during the height of the Great Depression. The Loyalists in Spain were already receiving aid from the Soviet Union; therefore, public opinion was against assisting Moscow in its "private" war against fascism. As the specter of dictatorship spread across Europe, the West feebly objected with light rebukes and economic penalties with no teeth.

This section describes the fascist aggression and Allied appeasement leading up to the outbreak of World War II

Uses sources from the time and historians' interpretations to analyze National Socialism in Germany. Topics include: the history of racist thought and policy in Germany before Nazism; the Nazi movement during the Weimar Republic; the structure of the Nazi state; Nazi policy against Jews and other groups between 1933 and 1939; Nazi economic policy; mobilization for war and the war experience in central Europe; the Holocaust; and the political roles of Nazism and the Holocaust in post-Nazi Germany.

First shown at the 1937 International Exposition in Paris, Guernica stands today as a universal statement against the horror of modern warfare. The painting was the response of the Spanish-born artist Pablo Picasso to the bombing of Guernica, a small Basque town in northern Spain that was destroyed on April 26, 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

Explain the factors in Europe that gave rise to Fascism and Nazism
Discuss the events in Europe and Asia that led to the start of the war
Identify the early steps taken by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to increase American aid to nations fighting totalitarianism while maintaining neutrality