World Events Set Stage for Isolationism

1. What was the Japanese reaction to the Treaty of Versailles? (pgs. 4 - 5)
Some of the Japanese believed that Japan should become part of the League of Nations and support the international system as means of obtaining the natural resources and markets it's growing economy needed. While others believed that the great powers, (ex. United States, Britain, France) would never treat Japan fairly and with respect, they were just competing for markets and resources in Asia. Others worried that the League of nations would make Japan a second-tier power. The Japanese were discriminated against at the League of Nations and were treated unfairly.
2. Read the pull-out box on page 4 entitled, "Japan Becomes a Great Power." Cite specific evidence Japan was becoming a strong power that rivaled European & American interests. And, why specifically was Japan threatened by U.S. actions?
Japan was becoming a strong power because their economy was growing rapidly. The military of Japan was growing at a rapid pace as well. Japan made a navy like Britain's, banks like the United State's, and an army like Prussia's. All of the goods and services produced by Japan tripled between 1885 and 1920. Japan beat Russia in the Russo-Japanese war and got parts of Manchuria while also annexing Korea. The increasing presence of the United states in the Pacific, which had annexed Hawaii and taken the Philippines and Guam from Spain in 1899 had begun to pose a threat to the Japanese plans of expansion.

3. Why was the Washington Naval Conference convened and what was accomplished? (pg. 6) (Note: Japan signs the agreement.)
The conference was convened because the United States believed that Japan's growth as a naval power in the Pacific threatened U.S. interests. As a result of the conference, parties agreed to limit the size of naval ships, put a halt on building new battleships, outlaw the use of poison gas, and limit the use of submarines in future wars. Also, all nine nations agreed to open trade with China.

4. The Senate's willingness to ratify the Kellogg-Briand Pact relected two strong and widely held sentiments. What were they? (pgs. 6 - 7)
The two sentiments were that Americans remember the carnage of WWI and wanted strongly to avoid being dragged into another European war. The other sentiment was that policy makers continued to resist the obligations of permanent alliances and wished to preserve the ability to act when and where they wanted.


5. Why did Hitler enjoy popular support in Germany for most of the 1930s? Give three reasons. (pgs. 9 - 10)
1. Because he improved the economic situation.
2. He reduced unemployment.
3. He restored national pride for Germans still humiliated by the defeat in WWI and by how poor they had become.

6. Japan voiced its intentions to invade China for what two reasons? (pg. 10)
1. To obtain raw materials.
2. Increase Japan's power.

7. Compare the Reichstag fire and the explosion on the Japanese railway in Manchuria. What did they accomplish?
The Reichstag fire was in the parliamentary building in Germany. Hitler blaimed the fire on the communists who he said were planning to overthrow the government and incite a civil war. Today many believe that the Nazis started the fire so that Hitler had an excuse to suspend the freedoms guaranteed by the German constitution. (Ex. Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly.) The explosion on the Japanese railway in Manchuria was blamed upon the Chinese by the Japanese so the Japanese could invade. The Reichstag fire and the explosion on the Japanese railway are alike because most historians believe that the Germans set the fire on purpose and the Japanese exploded their on railway as an excuse to take away freedoms and an excuse to invade. The Germans and the Japanese accomplished because the fire and explosion created a way to blame the communists and an excuse to invade.


8. Why was the united States unable to oppose Japan in the early 1930s with a significant military force? (pgs. 11 - 12)
They were unable to oppose Japan in the early 1930s because the United states gad drastically reduced the size of it's military since World War I and by 1932 it only had 244,900 troops, which was unable to stand up to Japan.

9. Describe the major similarities and differences among liberal democracy, fascism, and socialism. (pg. 8)
Fascism is a political philosophy that advocates a strong, centralized, nationalistic, government headed by a powerful dictator and that is the belief that the power should belong in the hands of fewer people to have control of more people. Socialism is the belief that the people should rule and it is for the ordinary people where there is a greater political and social change. The two are different because socialism is where the government is very involved and it is run off what the people want and what is "best for the people," and fascism is where the government is not involved at all and the people have no say whatsoever in what goes on in the government. They are alike because both ways the government rules over the people and it never works out with out lives being lost because not everyone believes in the ideas proposed by the government and the only way to settle that is death. The liberal democracy is somewhere in between the two where there is moderates and they can think as both socialism and fascism.