d Britain and France to enter the war. Dunkerque and the fall of France contributed greatly to the start of W.W.II. In 11 days, the German army was able to push the British and French forces back to a narrow beachhead around Dunkerque. The next day the Belgian kind surrendered his army. On June 5th Germany launched a new assault on France, and five days later Italy likewise declared war on France (and Britain). An armistice was signed on June 25, dividing France- adding half of yet another country to the German territories, and allowing Marshal Henri Philippe Petain to take control of the other, smaller, half of France- Vichy France. Germany had added more land to its empire, and more fuel to the fire of World War II by taking France.One major event that led the US into W.W.II was Italy (under Mussolini)'s invasion of Ethiopia. Right after the invasion took place (in 1935) President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed the neutrality of the US. FDR then invoked the mandatory arms embargo. The embargo would hurt Italy more than Ethiopia, since Ethiopia lacked dollars to buy arms, or so the US thought. The arms embargo actually did Italy little harm, because the Italy had its own munitions industry. It was a "Moral Embargo"- and most US oil companies did not go along- so Italy was not even hurt by the Oil industries in America. The US, later, would slowly slip toward aiding the allies, and eventually for joining the war on the allied side. This was one event that FDR, and many other Americans looked at as a case where the US had not done enough- and that feeling may have contributed to the United States' entrance into the war. The Japanese invasion of China certainly had an effect on the US's view of W.W.II, because the United States had an interest in China. Americans had sympathy for China and its struggle for statehood because of the years of missionary attempts in the country. The public sympathies in America were wholly on th...
