Filmstrip Worksheet: Foreign Policy From 1921 to 1945

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2. In 1918, parades of celebration here in New York City and around the world marked the end of World War I. The United States had joined other nations in defeating ___________ and its allies.

11. French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand signs an agreement that he and American ___________________________ Frank Kellogg proposed in 1928. Known as the Kellogg- Briand Treaty could not be enforced, nearly every country eventually accepted the agreement.

12. In 1929, the United States plunged into the _____________ ____________, a period of terrible suffering caused by widespread economic failure. Many Americans, like this man, faced unemployment and hunger. Foreign trade declined sharply. The Depression forced American leaders to concentrated less on guaranteeing world peace and more on reviving the economy and keeping the nation safe from distant troubles.

13. Meeting here at the Capitol, Congress passed a series of bills called the Neutrality Acts. The ______________ ____________ were intended to prevent the United States from becoming involved in international disputes. They prohibited aid to countries at war.

16. In 1933, Adolph Hitler gained control of the German government. He led Germany's National Socialist Party, whose members were know as _______________. Hitler had vowed that Nazi rule would restore Germany to a position of strength. Although many people despised the Nazis, few could predict the terrible vents that began with Hitler's rise to power.

17. Several years earlier, Benito Mussolini had won control of _______________ government. He too led a nation eager for a return to greatness. In 1936, Mussolini and Hitler signed an agreement that their nations would work together. Many people feared that he military partnership between Germany and Italy would plunge Europe into a second world war.

18. War had already broken out in Asia. In 1931, Japanese soldiers attacked China, where Japan wanted to acquire ______________. American leaders declared that the Japanese invasion violated the Kellogg-Briand Treaty, which outlawed war. But American protests had little effect.

21. The three figures in this cartoon represented the leaders of Japan, Germany, and Italy. Hungry for conquest, they chip away at a battered, unhappy world. By the late 1930s, the three nations were working together. They were known as the _____________ powers.

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22. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stated that the United States must take a stand against the Axis nations. But few Americans agreed. In 1938, Hitler openly threatened Czechoslovakia and other neighboring countries. When France and ________ ____________ protested Hitler's plans, the Nazi leader replied that he only wanted to control areas where large numbers of Germans lived.

25. On September 1, 1939, newspapers announced that Germany had invaded Poland. Soon after, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany. Although most Americans hoped that the Axis powers would be defeated, few wanted their country to join the conflict. By June 1940, however, Germany had defeated _____________ and had driven British forces into retreat. In the United States, support for entering the war began to grow.

26. The British, led by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the man at left with cane, launched new attacks against the Germans. Eager to help and impressed by Britain's' courage, President Roosevelt asked _____________ to pass the Lend-Lease Act. It would allow Roosevelt to send weapons to Great Britain.

29. In 1917, a revolution in Russia had established a Communist government led by Nikolai Lenin, shown speaking to his followers. Eventually, Lenin's government ruled Russia and several neighboring lands. These territories came to be called the __________ __________. Lenin frightened and enraged many international leaders by promising to promote Communist revolutions throughout the world.

34. In a surprise attack on December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes bombed the American naval base at _____________ ________________, in Hawaii. This military disaster sparked outrage among the American people.

38. In 1943, Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill met for a conference in Tehran in ___________. Among other tasks, the Allied leaders devised strategies for the fighting ahead.

39. On June 6, 1944, Allied soldiers stormed the coast of Normandy in ________________.

The Normandy invasion opened a campaign to free Europe from German control.

40. In 1945, Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin held a second meeting, this time at Yalta in the Soviet Union. Expecting the war to end soon, they discussed political and economic problems that the world would face after the fighting stopped. They also made plans to establish an organization called the _______________ __________________. They hoped it would settle future international disputes peacefully.