<P> Nazi Germany was allied with Fascist Italy and the Empire of Japan (the Axis powers). At the time, Germany and the Soviet Union had signed a non-aggression treaty under the Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact, and had jointly effected the Invasion of Poland (1939), a Realpolitik deal that remained effective until the Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, in 1941 . </P> <P> Roosevelt's address was "a call to arm and support" the Allies in Europe, and, to a lesser extent, arm and support the Republic of China (1912--1949), in total war against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan . "The great arsenal of democracy" came to specifically refer to the industry of the U.S., as the primary supplier of matériel for the Allied war effort . </P> <P> The slogan "Arsenal of democracy" refers to the collective efforts of American industry in supporting the Allies, which efforts tended to be concentrated in the established industrial centers of the U.S., such as Chicago, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, and other places . </P> <P> In 1918, Doubleday executive Herbert S. Houston analyzed World War I with an article titled "Blocking New Wars". He wrote that American business was the "Protector of Democracy" while the American free press was "one of the most effective weapons in the arsenal of democracy ." </P>

Why was the united states referred to as the arsenal of democracy
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