The+Causes

Germany
 Germany participated in World War 2 because of the effects of World War 1. After World War 1 Germany was left in ruins, and they were ordered to pay reparations. Germany also had to take the war guilt and surrender the land and all their military. After World 1 Germany's economy went down, which was a cause of The Great Depression. Germany had no employment and they were in debt.

Hitler was furious when he heard what Germany had to give up after World War 1, especially the military. Hitler blamed all the Jews for the economic problems that were happening in Europe. Hitler wanted Europe to be a vast new empire. His decision to make Europe an empire was made when he invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. Hitler and his military just started destroying countries and killing Jews. media type="youtube" key="kMN8sVm3PBk" height="364" width="445" []
 * by Cassie G.**
 * Edited by Kyle J.**

Italy
When the Nazi's invaded Germany Italy still remained neutral at that time. Italy remained neutral for the next 10 months even though they were part of the Axis. Benito Mussolini and the Fascist Party came to power in 1922, and seven years later the established a one-party state. By the outbreak of the Second World War the fascists influenced all aspects of the Italian Army. The promotion of officers who supported Mussolini lowered standards and seriously damaged morale. **Edited by Kyle J.**
 * By: Derek E.**

[|Italy] [|Italy in the Second World War] []
 * Italy**

In October 1922, King Victor Emmanuel III appointed the leader of the Italian Fascist Party, Benito Mussolini, as the prime minister of Italy. After a short while this man became the dictator of Italy.

In 1938 the German Nazi took over the Fascist Italian regime and passed antisemitic laws. The Antisemitic Laws forbid Jews to marry non-Jews and Jew teachers from public schools are forbidden to teach and other things that include Jews. Foreign Jews lived as refugees in Italy and were confined into internment camps. Italy joined World War II in June 1940 as a German ally, hoping to establish a new Italian empire. Italy occupied territory in Yugoslavia, Greece, and a small part of southern France.

On October and November 1943 Germans, rounded up all the Jews in Rome, Genoa, Florence ,Milan, Trieste, and other major cities in northern Italy. All those jews were forced to go to concentration camps around Germany or Poland, although there is one concentration camp near Italy, Italy did not want to be involved in the concentration camps. Thats why all the jews were taken to Germany or Poland. Under German occupation, Nazi officials deported about 8,000 Jews from Italy to Auschwitz, Begen Belsen, and other concentration camps.

At that time Benito Mussolini just came into power. Mussolini promised Italy that he would help improve the economic condition and help Italy regain the power it had in the Roman Empire, WW2 helped do that. Towards the end of the war he was overthrown and Italy surrendered.

Benito Mussolini had dreams of creating an Italian empire in the Med. Once he was sure that Germany was going to beat France he declared war and joined Hitler. He hoped to grab some land at France's expense and that the war would soon be over. Instead his poorly developed country embarked on campaigns in Greece and North Africa that it was unprepared for. As a result, Italy spent the rest of the war, up until their surrender, taking orders from Germany.

[] [|http://www.historystudycenter.com/search/displayMultiResultStudyunitItem.do?Multi=yes&ResultsID=12689F6D80D&fromPage=] [|search&ItemNumber=5&QueryName=studyunit] []
 * By: John M.and Jamie W.**
 * Edited by Kyle J.**

Japan
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United States Neutrality
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