![]() ![]() The Italians had been defeated by the Ethiopians in 1896 this time was different. In October 1935 Italy invaded independent Ethiopia from its colonies in Eritrea and Somalia. While Hitler was still consolidating the Nazi regime and rebuilding German armed forces in violation of the Versailles Treaty, Mussolini decided to act. The belief that their nation’s greatness lay in war and conquest was fundamental to fascist ideology in both Italy and Germany. The Road to War in Europe Ethiopian King Haile Selassie on cover of Time magazine, November 1930 Again, it is striking how similar the racial beliefs in the Japanese military were to those of the Nazis: the “Yamato” people of Japan had a special mission to dominate East Asia in the same way that the “Aryans” of Germany were destined to rule all of Europe. The last chapter presented how the Japanese military, taking the initiative against the weak objections of Japan’s elected government, initiated the conflict that would become World War Two by invading and occupying the northern Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. ![]() Germany was not alone in abandoning democracy and embracing authoritarianism-the same happened all over Eastern and Central Europe, Latin America, and, most importantly, Japan. Fascism and communism seemed to some to offer the only plausible reactions to the crisis-remember that although neither the Nazi nor the Communist parties in the German Weimar Republic ever won a majority in a contested election, by 1932 most German voters opted for one or the other, and essentially voting against liberal democracy. However, World War Two was also a result of the worldwide reaction to the Great Depression, which was seen by many as not only a failure of capitalism, but also a failure of democracy. The Nazi regime promised to reverse all of it, and place a powerful new German Empire as the dominant force on the continent-and perhaps the world. Germans supported Hitler and the Nazis because they promised to overcome the humiliation of Germany at the Versailles peace conference in 1919: being forced to admit “war guilt,” to pay massive reparations, and to limit the size and quality of their armed forces. In many ways World War Two was a continuation of World War One, especially in Europe. ![]()
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