“ PRELUDE TO WAR ” 1942 FRANK CAPRA WWII WAR DEPARTMENT FILM (FULL FILM) 51244

One of seven “Why We Fight” series films, “Prelude to War” was (:15) produced by Frank Capra for the War Department (:29). Narrated by John Huston. Pearl Harbor (2:07) on Dec. 7th, 1941. Germany attacked Britain & France in 1940 (2:16). Eiffel Tower (2:34) and Arc de (2:39) Triomphe. Japan invaded China in 1937 (2:46). Czechoslovakia (2:54). Norway (2:59). The Ju 34 Kurierflugzeug over Greece (3:28). Soviet T-34 tank (3:50). The US war industry (4:13). George Washington statue (5:50). Thomas Jefferson (5:53). Lafayette Square, Washington (5:55). The Liberty Bell, Washington monument and the White House (6:45). The Axis spread across Europe (7:06). Following WWI the Italians were faced with unrest and unemployment (7:29). Mussolini (7:49). Hitler was moves through crowds (8:10). The German Army (8:45). Hitler sought to overthrow the Weimar Republic (9:12). Emperor Hirohito and Tojo gained support in Japan (9:29). The Italian black shirts (10:22) and the Wehrmacht brownshirts (10:25). Hirohito (11:23). Hitler delivers speech during the Election of 1938 (11:52). Hirohito prior to the Manchurian Incident (12:13). The Reichstag (12:24). The Palazzo Montecitorio, house of government in Rome (12:31). The Diet is pictured in Tokyo (12:34). Beginning of the end of the freedom of the press in Germany (13:00). Joseph Goebbels, chief propagandist (13:08). Labor unions abolished (13:23) and forced labor camp set up. The SS (13:53). Adolf’s Mein Kempf was extremely influential in swaying public opinion (14:01). A fascist Italian army, the 13th legion in Turin, Italy (14:12). Hitler executes anti-Nazi leaders headline (14:49). Socialist leaders executed in Italy (15:05). Viscount Saito was assassinated (15:20). The Nazis turned on the church (16:16). Dr. Alfred Rosenberg was one of the early members of the Nazi party (16:22). The Catholic and Protestant cross replaced by the swastika (16:45). The courthouse in Bremen, Germany (16:52). Protestant youth organizations disband (17:07). Priests and pastors targeted including Pastor Niemoeller (17:18). Julius Streicher (17:40) delivers a speech. Nazi salute in class (17:56). Students salute Mussolini (18:32). The Imperial flag (19:02). Italian Army in front of the Victor Emmanuel Monument (19:42). Hitler Youth march (19:53). The Japanese Imperial army mobilized students (20:09). 1921 Disarmament conference (22:56). The Kellogg-Briand Pact 1929 (23:20). Warships scrapped (23:50) American opinion against joining the war (24:16). FDR (25:33). Hoover Dam (26:00). New York Times headline about League of Nations (26:20). President Taft (26:35) and candidate Dewey (26:37). Hitler poster (26:44) and stacks of ballots for the dictator (26:51). Nazi book burning (27:01). American youth at a roller skating rink (28:46). German youth load guns (29:00). The Japanese Imperial Army child soldiers (29:02). Italian soldiers strap on gas masks (29:19). Hitler smiles at his army (29:48). Nazi officials including Rudolf Hess (30:41), Goering (30:42), Goebbels (30:54), Dietrich (30:59) and Reinhardt (5:04). A map notes how the Axis powers planned to divvy up European countries (31:55). Baron Tanaka Giichi (31:50) and Japan’s dream of world domination. Admiral Yamamoto (32:32). The White House (32:58). Propaganda campaign (33:26). Master race theory explored (36:27). Babies in nursery (36:38). Mussolini(37:03). The German military budget increased (37:17). Panzer divisions (11:38). Motorized divisions (37:47), the infantry (37:45) and the Luftwaffe (37:46). Roosevelt’s military spending (38:09). Japan increases garrison in Manchuria (39:07). False flag operation in Manchuria (39:36).Japanese Army moving across the Korean border (40:07). “Manchuko” declared (40:25). Emperor Puyi of the Qing dynasty (40:27). Secretary of State Stimson (40:42) and UN members General Frank McCoy and Lord Lytton (40:52). Japanese leave League of Nations (41:13).Homes burn in Manchuria (41:54). Japanese gunboats near Shanghai (42:25). Bodies line the streets (43:10). Strong resistance in Shanghai (44:20). Chiang Kai-Shek (44:36) is pictured. Mussolini appears before the Coliseum (46:00). The Ethiopian Army stands without machine gun or tank (46:31). A one plane air force (46:35). The Italian Air Force takes to the sky (46:41). The Welwel settlement was the target (46:52). In October of 1935, Mussolini’s army moved through the Suez Canal (47:11). Emperor Halle Selassie (47:17). Selassie (47:58). Tanks and weaponry of the Italian Army (48:17). 13th battalion (48:27). FDR asks for the declaration for war (49:03) Ethiopia conquered by Italy. The End (50:50).

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[Applause] [Applause] causes and events leading up to our entry into the war well what are the causes why are we Americans on the march is it because of Pearl Harbor is that why we are fighting what is it because of Richard France China Czechoslovakia Norway Oh Rhys Belgium Albania Yugoslavia our Russian Just what was it made us change our way of living overnight but turned our resources our machine our whole nation into one vast awesome producing more and more weapons of war instead of the old materials of peace what put us into uniform ready to engage the enemy on every continent and every ocean One of these two worlds of which mr. Wallace spoke the free and the slave let’s take the free world first our world how did it become free only through a long and unceasing struggle inspired by men of vision Moses Muhammad Confucius price all believe that in the sight of God all

Men were created equal and from that there developed a spirit among men of Nations which is best expressed in our own declaration freedom we hold these truths to be selfish that all men are created equal it is the cornerstone upon which our nation was built and the ideal of all the great liberators

Washington Jefferson Garibaldi Lafayette Kosciusko Bolivar Lincoln lighthouses lighting up a dark and foggy world that government of the people by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth fighting living dying for what for freedom that which men have fought since time began to be free Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery forbid it Almighty God I know not what course others may take but as for me give me liberty or give me death but what at this other world here man

Insisted that progress lay and killing freedom here they were putting out to the lighthouses one by one here the march of history was reversing itself in Italy it began when an ambitious rebel rouser said his followers marching on Rome the country like every other country after the last war was torn by

Political unrest hard times unemployment new courses were available to the Italian people they could solve their problems in a free democratic way or they could let someone else do the solving for them they made the tragic mistake of choosing the second course they put their trust and faith in this

One man they believed he represented them actually he planned to betray them for the selfish interests of himself and the group back of him just as he had earlier betrayed those who first supported him in Germany another need a more forceful demagogue said his followers marching from the Munich Beer

Hall he too had the sinister opportunity to take advantage of post-war chaos [Applause] But he also had certain distinctive German characteristics to play off to start with the Germans have an inborn national love of regimentation and harsh discipline he could give them that The German army and flew them the people have never acknowledged German defeated the last war and were anxious for event that too he promised them the wealthy and powerful industrialists were fearful of losing any of their wealth and power and were ready to back anyone who would

Retain it for them he promised to take care of them too this man cunningly played all these ends against the middle and ruthlessly set out the murder the newborn German Republic he says the will of the Emperor and the Japanese people the Emperor is gone taking advantage of their fanatical

Worship of the god Emperor it was no great trick to take away what little freedom they had ever known yes in these lands the people surrendered their liberties and through where their human dignity They gave up their right to the individual human being [Applause] became a part of a mass a human herd although these countries were far apart and different in custom and in language the same poison made them much alike each got a new uniform in Italy the new

Bosses wore black shirts in Germany the shirts were Brown in Japan they hid behind the uniform of the army but really they belong to a sinister secret society their symbol was a black dragon the other fellows had to had a symbol to Germany a swastika in Italy the old

Roman symbol of the passengers in Germany the whole the new order National Socialism or Nazism In Italy they had a shorter word fascism in Japan had lots of names for a new era of enlightenment the new order in Asia the co-prosperity sphere but no matter how you slice it it was just plain old-fashioned militaristic imperialism the Japs would get the prosperity and

The others would get the coal they say trouble always comes in trees take a good close look at this trio remember these faces remember them well if you ever meet them don’t hesitate stop thinking and follow me cried Hitler I will make you masters of the world and the people answered [Applause]

Stop thinking and believe in me beloved Mussolini and I will restore the glory that was wrong the people answered Luce Luce [Applause] stop thinking and follow your God Emperor cried the Japanese warlords and Japan will rule the world and the people answered Banzai Banzai each system was alike and if the constitutional

Lawmaking bodies gave up their power the Reichstag in Berlin the House of Deputies in Rome the diet in Tokyo and these elected representatives became collections of Stooges rubber stamp organizations applauding on cue the words of the leaders each system did away with free speech and free assembly

Each system did away with a free press and substituted a press controlled by the party through their ministries of propaganda each took complete control of the fair the movies the radio every cultural activity in every channel of information was controlled by the most important members of the park each did

Away with three courts and trial by jury and substituted courts and judges run by the party each abolished labor unions and the rights of bargaining for wages I don’t fix that IU level team with ice that I I know little tipsy bank I’m bummed thank you that’s the device to our by right and under the pretext of patriotism established a system of forced labor each enforced its decreased by an army of secret police who held the power of

Life and death over every individual and for the few who still believed in freedom and said so so as already answered A greatest intellect in the world can be silenced with this that is an exact translation of the words these black shirts cheer so lustily sorry no so field finish that’s what cool to hear a thank Irish oh not many more going on whenever I hear anyone mention the word

Culture the first thing I do is reach for my gun yes they had the answer a blackjack on the gun In Italy they did it different While in Japan – their names can be added those of hundreds and thousands of others who stood in the way of the new order finally there is only one obstacle left [Applause] the word of god and the word of purées cannot be reconciled then God must go I am absolutely clear in my own mind and I think I can speak for the Fuhrer as well that both the Catholic and Protestant churches must banished from the life of our people thus Spoke dr. Alfred Rosenberg and if you have any doubt that he spoke for his Fuhrer here’s what happened [Applause] Thousands of other men of God Protestant Catholic Jewish were persecuted arrested confined in concentration camps our Fuhrer is the intermediary between his people in the throne of God everything the pure others is religion in the highest sense it is only on one or two exceptional points that Christ and

Hitler stand comparison for Hitler is far too big a man to be compared with one so petty for German classrooms [Applause] [Applause] yes take children from the faith of their fathers and teach them the state is the only church and the head of the state is the voice of God [Applause] That was the way of life or better the way of death in that other world now what if our world the Democratic world what did we what did we do about it first of all we wanted peace and security and to prove our sincerity in 1921 we initiated the Washington

Disarmament conference this resulted in two vitally important treaties one to reduce the size of the British Japanese French Italian and American fleets and the other the nine power treaty which guaranteed the integrity of China and incidentally one of the powers signing this was Japan later on in 1929

We signed the kellogg-briand pact which was supposed to abolish war as a means of settling international disputes this pact was signed by 47 nations including Germany and Japan president I have the honor of having you hit the London Naval Treaty faithful to our treaty obligations we scrapped more than 60% of our naval

Tonnage and our army was reduced to a standing force of a hundred and thirty six thousand men smaller than that maintained by the state of Romania we let our hopes for peace become so strong that they grew into the determination not to fight and less directly attacked we let ourselves

Be influenced by those who said that we could find security through isolation the confusion in our way of thinking is apparent in the slice of public opinion as it appeared in pate news in 1939 Another one that’s for me this time America should keep out and I know I will if war breaks out in Europe I think that this country should heed the advice of a choice president and avoid all foreign entanglements I am the slightest idea of European

Affairs in the events of war in Europe I think we should stay out of the truth styling and all our efforts should be made to keep out of the fight but your fight alone batteries they mean nothing to us we simply did not want to understand that our individual and

National problems were and always will be dependent upon the problems of the whole world and we had individual and national problems to worry about plenty of them just as Germany Italy and Japan but we faced them in a democratic way we passed laws to give working men a chance to improve their lot

We established an insurance program for those without jobs they began to give all folks protection against wanton hunger we organized the CCC to provide our young men with healthy and useful employment A federal works program came into being it changed the face of our nation with new roads bridges schools They built great new dams which brought the miracle of electricity to millions of our people these were some of our accomplishments but there were others not so creditable turned our backs on the League of Nations we passed the tariff act to set a higher wall of isolation around us we

Encouraged lawlessness with the farce of prohibition but in spite of these mistakes we never had a thought of losing our free institutions John Q public still ran the country he had his choice of voting for doing Wilkie Roosevelt or anybody else in Germany they had the choice of voting for Hitler

Hitler or Hitler over here john q still read what he please and although he heard of books being burned in other countries he would have laughed if anyone had told him his books would ever be burned On Sunday if he felt like it John Q went to Anna Church he pleased [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Most of all he got a kick out of seeing his kids go The average American was quite unconscious of the fact that some people had this in line for the Little John McHugh Yes while that children were being trained to kill John Kim’s kids were giving their pennies to help them have life And when we saw these men in the newsreels quite often we left to us they looked like characters in a musical comedy but they weren’t coming they weren’t funny they were deadly serious they were out for world conquest and what made it doubly serious was that there were 70 million Japanese

45 million Italians and 80 million Germans all chopped up the same idea their leaders told them that they were supermen Taron for the Nazi Scotland the master race destined to rule all other peoples on earth take a good look at these humorless men these were to be the rulers of that

Ruling race blindly and you will attain the rightful place in the world all the people will be your slaves that’s what they promised them that Americans Chinese Russian South Americans all free peoples would work for them and make them rich We shall restore the glory that was wrong today we rule Germany tomorrow the world the Pacific is our It was inevitable at this country should gang up on us the little solo is our pal Kurisu who smile his way into our hearts in December 1941 here he and his friends are busy carving up the world in advance staking out their claims take a good

Look at these claims here was the Italy that miscellany took over in 1922 and almost his first act was to tell the Italians they were the rightful owners of Corsica nice savoia Albania Tunisia Ethiopia and a land corridor linking it with Libya later on he had an even

Bigger dream the old Roman Empire isn’t existed nearly 2,000 years ago to dominate all the lands adjoining the Mediterranean mara nostra our see they called it just as the ancient Romans did as for the Japanese they had some ambitions to by 1920 they had grabbed off Formosa Korea from the southern half

Of the island of Sakhalin then Baron D XI Tanaka the Prime Minister carefully set down Japanese aims in a document called the Tanaka memorial it was presented to the Emperor July 25th 1927 here was their dream Manchuria for raw materials China for manpower then a triumphant march through Indochina Siam

Burma India the East Indies turn on through Australia New Zealand and in the north all they claimed was that part of Russia east of Lake Baikal that was to be the new order Rene’s [Applause] then the Japs would move eastward to crush the United States and really start their co-prosperity sphere now take a look at the bike the Nazis reserved for themselves here’s the Germany Hitler walked into and here’s what he wanted first Europe under his complete political or economic control leaving

New Selenia share of the loot if he behaved himself then the drive to the east through the rich oil lands of Iran the Nira into India another push south through Africa then from Dakar jump off to meet the honorary Aryans who were to move in on South

America through the Pacific at the same time start across from the Scandinavian countries to hook up with his buck-toothed pals coming over from Siberia to join in the conquest of the United States there it is gents all they left us with shangri-la and they claim that too if

They knew where it was they had a chance listen when war comes between Japan and the United States I shall not be content merely to occupy Guam the Philippines Hawaii and San Francisco I looked forward to dictating the peace to the United States in the White House at

Washington Yamamoto wrote those words on January of 1941 yes the conquering [ __ ] army down Pennsylvania Avenue that was the final goal you will see what they did to the men and women of Nanking Hong Kong and Manila imagine the field day that enjoyed they’d marched to the streets of Washington but before

Striking a preliminary step was necessary from Berlin from Rome from Tokyo the campaign started propaganda to confuse divide soften up their intended victim put them on the defensive scream your abuse shelter the world’s wrong you’re right if you speak it loud enough and often enough they’ll believe you

Above all use their free press and their free speech to destroy them we are leading song when it works cannot Ravens wrong they demanded living room our lands are overcrowded but at the same time they gave prizes to mothers who bore the most some they brought together large groups of

Young men and young girls for human reading one of the leaders wrote Of course the children from this assembly line belong to the state to be scientifically trained for conquest [Applause] another how was the lack of raw material they claimed they were the hapless and we were the heads but how did this supposed lack they built up the greatest

War machines the world has ever known These are the published figures from the German military budget actually between 1933 and 1939 Hitler’s program of rearmament cost more than 80 billion dollars the Natchez alone assembled a striking force over 30 Panzer divisions 70 motorized divisions a hundred and forty infantry divisions plus the Luftwaffe the world’s largest air force and they

Had no raw materials think of the bread the automobiles the good things of life that the German Italian Japanese leaders might have given their people if they expect this money for peace instead of war you know what billions we are now spending to match their military force

No no these arguments were all smoke screens when war came the democracies proved to be the have-nots in our enemies the hands and when war came where did it come That date September 18th 1931 a date we should remember as well as December 7 1941 or on that date in 1931 the war we are now fighting began the place was Manchuria the northernmost province of China six thousand miles from San Francisco Manchuria the first objective

In the Tanaka plan by September 18th the Japanese who by treaty patrolled the southern Manchurian railway and secretly and illegally increased their Garrison’s on the Korean Manchurian border an entire Japanese army was assembled conveniently equipped for a winter campaign all they needed was an excuse they made their own at 10:30 that night

Just after the Moncton Express it passed by the section of track was dynamited causing damage to one rail and two fish plates Japan’s honor had been violated the Japanese railroad garrison launched a coordinated attack on the barracks and the sleeping Chinese army at Mont slaughter was appalling by midnight the

Conveniently-placed japanese army poured across the Korean border and the first open act of aggression the invasion of Manchuria was off in four days they had occupied the whole of southern Manchuria and shortly after the whole country Manchuria became man to cool puppet state with an obedience to John

The throne Henry Paul Yi a weakling whom the Japanese had prepared for the job was seven years of women the song in Washington Henry L Stimson men’s Secretary of State now Secretary of War sent out a blistering denunciation of the attack the League of Nations sent a

Committee of five headed by Lord Lytton and including our own general Frank McCoy to Manchuria to investigate in October of 1932 the committee issued its report we found that the Japanese occupation of this large part of China was not justified on the ground of self-defense and that the new state

Which had been set up with a Japanese protectorate rather than a genuine case of Manchurian self-determination shortly after the league condemned Japan as an aggressor nation led zepplin and caught on actions in America it is a matter of common knowledge that defense policy is fundamentally inspired by a genuine desire to guarantee peace

In the party and to contribute to the maintenance of peace throughout the world Japan however find it impossible to accept that it adapted by the assembly in answer the Japanese delegates knowing there were no guns behind this condemnation smiled took up their briefcases marched out of the league more than Manchuria was dead

Collective security was dead the green light had been given the aggressors we in the rest of the world knew that these aggressors should be stopped and punished but we were unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to back up that opinion it was impossible to convince a

Farm boy in Iowa for a driver of a London bus or a waiter in a Paris cafe that he should go to war because of a mud hut in Manchuria yet the subsequent course of history makes it clear that that incident so many miles away is one of the main

Reasons that you and millions of others are in uniform today the Japs had Manchuria phase number one that the Tanaka plan was completed phase number two the conquest of China in 1932 without warning the Japs attacked the Chinese city of Shanghai Here they met such stubborn resistance they had to pour more than 75,000 troops in the local battle before capture in the city this resistance made them decide to ship their campaign to the Lord and in 1933 they added the province of a halt to Manchuria yes the Japs launched the second phase of

The Tanaka plan but they had yet to finish it a United Nation stands against under the inspired leadership of general Chiang kai-shek the Chinese people from and still fight on meantime one of Japan’s partners what helped us people were they planning to bomb slot/drive into slavery Hitler was not yet ready

But Mussolini was Mussolini had to be his people were growing restless fascism hadn’t produced the heaven on earth that he had promised them so he pulled the old trick of launching a foreign war to divert attention from troubles at home so most emini beat his chest like Tarzan

And looked around for a worthy foe he found one Ethiopia good country for the beginning of a glorious Empire its army had no machine-gun it’s army had no tanks its army did have an Air Force exactly one old airplane one airplane against the nation which had developed the new theory of total

Air war of the Blitz which would wipe out cities destroy civilians man woman and child in October of 1935 following the Japanese example an incident was provoked and that the little settlement of war wall near the border of Ethiopia an Italian Somaliland hitless honor had been violated refusing any arbitration

Mussolini moved the whole might of his army through the Suez Canal to overrun the undefended country Ethiopia’s emperor haile selassie appeared before the League of Nations I must still fight on until my tardy allies appear and if they never come I say to you without bitterness the West will perish

Members of the league half-heartedly stopped trading with Italy but refused the only thing that will stop any aggressor force Ethiopia was left to herself native leaders came to pledge their allegiance The people of Ethiopia with their Spears and bare hands faced the guns in the tanks of the invaders fighting desperately and gallantly to save their country from Congress They fought and they died but in the end there could be but one result might trialed italy conquered ethiopia many of our elected leaders warned us of danger without a declaration of war and without warning or justification of any kind civilians including vast numbers of women and children are being ruthlessly

Murdered with bombs from the air but we were still hypnotized by the fact that two broad oceans stood between us and the rest of the world we didn’t realize that the time when months were needed to span these oceans was ended that the steamship had cut these months to days

And that now the whole earth’s surface could be covered in the space of hours yes we’re a nation that wanted peace but we hadn’t yet learned that peace for us depends on peace for all nobody would run the risk of war because of some mud huts and barren plains in ethiopia any

More than we would run the risk for some similar huts and plains in Manchuria correctly interpreting our attitude the aggressors were all de sure that they could get what they wanted Japan had started on her march of conquest Italy had begun her new empire and now the third gangster what about him

We’ll take him up in our next film be sure how he joined his partners and put in his bid for this is what we are fighting freedom’s oldest enemy the passion of the feud to rule the many this isn’t just a war this is the free peoples life-and-death struggle against those

Who had put them back into slavery the free peoples of America and Britain of Russia and China of Canada Australia and all the 40 United Nations that have sworn of man shall still remain free that is the cause in which we fight we lose it and we lose everything our homes

The jobs we want to go back to the books we read the very food we eat the hopes we have for our kids the kids themself they would be ours anymore that’s what’s at stake it’s us or them the chips are down to world stand against each other one

Must die one must live 170 years of freedom decrees are answered [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause]