Britain and France declared war in Germany on Sept 3, 1939.
This was triggered by Germany invading Poland. The USSR and Germany signed a pact and Britain signed a pact with Poland in response. When Germany invaded Poland, Britain had to respond.
Before this, Britan, France and Italy signed a treaty with Germany which basically let them have Sudetenland??. This is an example of appeasement. There was no appetite for war after WWI. People were kind of hoping Hitler would just chill tf out of they gave him some stuff, including permission to re-militarize. LMAO.
Italy wanted to take advantage of the war to gain territory, so they linked up with Hitler. They were also colonizers in Africa (along with Britian, Germany, France) so fighting happened there too. Italy’s war in the Balkans got Britain to respond (gotta protect the oil!) which then got Germany involved.
Other aggressions that were largely ignored but the allies:
Japan invading China
Italy invading Abyssinia (Ethiopia and Eritrea).
Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941. And that point the USSR joined the Allies with the Anglo-Soviet agreement.
For some reason the US was taking part in the Atlantic Charter (August 1941) months before they entered the war?? The US and China didn’t enter the war until December 1941, but this was because they were attacked by Japan. The US declared war on Germany and Italy a few days after they declared war on Japan, the did so after Germany and a Italy declared war on them.
I’m not an expert or even really an enthusiast, so this is pretty simplified. If I want to take it a step further I would say the war was about protecting empires (including colonies), more than opposition to Nazis.
No?
Britain and France declared war in Germany on Sept 3, 1939.
This was triggered by Germany invading Poland. The USSR and Germany signed a pact and Britain signed a pact with Poland in response. When Germany invaded Poland, Britain had to respond.
Before this, Britan, France and Italy signed a treaty with Germany which basically let them have Sudetenland??. This is an example of appeasement. There was no appetite for war after WWI. People were kind of hoping Hitler would just chill tf out of they gave him some stuff, including permission to re-militarize. LMAO.
Italy wanted to take advantage of the war to gain territory, so they linked up with Hitler. They were also colonizers in Africa (along with Britian, Germany, France) so fighting happened there too. Italy’s war in the Balkans got Britain to respond (gotta protect the oil!) which then got Germany involved.
Other aggressions that were largely ignored but the allies:
Germany invaded the USSR in June 1941. And that point the USSR joined the Allies with the Anglo-Soviet agreement.
For some reason the US was taking part in the Atlantic Charter (August 1941) months before they entered the war?? The US and China didn’t enter the war until December 1941, but this was because they were attacked by Japan. The US declared war on Germany and Italy a few days after they declared war on Japan, the did so after Germany and a Italy declared war on them.
I’m not an expert or even really an enthusiast, so this is pretty simplified. If I want to take it a step further I would say the war was about protecting empires (including colonies), more than opposition to Nazis.