CIE IGCSE How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939?

5 Hitler’s Foreign Policies aims

1) Expand Lebrensaum

2)Overturn ToV

3)Strong Germany

4)Unite all Ethnic Germans

5)Stop Communism

What is Lebrensaum (4)

Living space in German.

Theory that Germans needed more territory so the population would grow

Germany should expand.

Slavs deemed racially inferior

How did Hitler expand Lebrensaum? (6)

Saar Region Plebiscite

Anschluss

Invasion of Sudetenland

Invasion of Czechoslovakia

Polish Crisis

Nazi Soviet Pact

What did Hitler do to Overturn the ToV (3)

Rearm

Remilitarize the Rhineland

Anschluss

What did Hitler do to make Germany Strong? (3)

Rearm

Spanish Civil War

Rome-Berlin Axis

What did Hitler do to stop communism (2)

Anti - Comitern Pact

What did Hitler do to unite Ethnic Germans (4)

Anschluss

Sudetenland

Saar Region Plebiscite

Invasion of Danzig

2 reasons why Hitler’s foreign Policy caused WW2, one reason against

Hitler was committed to a set of aggressive foreign policies which made war inevitable

Policies attacked international order set up prior by ToV and LoN

Hitler was an opportunist only did what he thought he could get away with

Quote about Hitler after Britain and France declared war.

Turned to his foreign minister and asked “What now” with a savage look.

2 long term causes of the ToV

Political Violence

Hyper-Inflation

How did Blame and Reparations cause WW2(2)

Built Resentment amongst Germans for the government who agreed to the ToV and Britain and France.

More likely to listen to Hitler who said he would get revenge and abolish the ToV

How did blame cause resentment amongst Germans(4)

Many Germans believed the war was in self defense

Conspiracy that Germany didn’t lose the war but were stabbed in the back by “November Criminals”

People wanted Revenge against Weimar government

More willing to listen to extremist parties like the Nazis

What did the failures of the LoN show and how did it lead to WW2(2)

Showed international law was a “paper tiger”

Showed Britain and France cared more about their own empire rather than protecting small nations

Led to Hitler gaining more confidence and caused the invasion of many areas.

Failures of the LoN in the 1930s

Abyssinian Crisis

Manchurian Crisis

2 points for Appeasement and 1 against

Many believed the terms of the ToV were overly harsh and Germany should have the right to be alleviated from some of them

Horrors of WW1 scared the British Public and they did not want a war, Government can’t do it if the public are against it, not decision by Chamberlain but by the whole country

Hitler was an opportunist and only did what he thought he could get away with, if firm action was taken early on war could have been prevented

Quote about Rhineland, proof or overly harsh terms of ToV

British Politician Lord Lathian said “After all they are only walking into their own back yard”

Quote about Rhineland from Hitler showing how he could easily have been stopped

“If French had then marched into Rhineland, we would have had to withdrawn with our tails between our legs”

Proof British Public didn’t want a war(1)

1934 peace ballot

How many died during WW1

17 million

How did the Nazi Soviet Pact cause WW2(2 for 1 against)

Avoided war on 2 fronts, remembered WW1 failure of Germany, gave Hitler confidence to invade Poland

Made the invasion of Poland inevitable, Hitler could invade Poland without USSR intervention, forcing Britain and France to honour military agreements

War already inevitable at that point due to the tension in Europe, only trigger

Why did Britain and France declare war on Germany(2)

Hitler had shown he could not be trusted

Britain and France committed to defending Poland, ultimatum, drew line in sand, after Hitler broke Munich Agreement, if they didn’t they would lose international credibility

German Rearment (5)

Anglo -German Naval agreement

4 year plan to speed up the production of arms

300 000 army, 250 000 luftwaffe warplanes by 1936

Conscription

Bread before Butter

Saar Land Plebiscite(4)

1935,

Plebiscite held in the Saar region whether it should remain LoN mandate or go back to Germany

Germany won with 90.3 %

Saar land returned to Germany

Rome Berlin Axis(4)

1936

Germany and Italy formalized alliance

More co-operation between Germany and Italy

Due to isolation of the 2 countries after Germany left LoN and sanctions on Italy

Anti Comitern Pact(4)

Germany Japan agree to co operate against Communism in 1936

Italy Join in 1937

Formed the foundation for the axis alliance

Hitler later broke this with the Nazi Soviet Pact

Remilitarization of the Rhineland(4)

1936

Hitler orders troops into Rhineland which was DMZ according to ToV

2 quotes

Anshluss(4)

1938

Union of Austria and Germany

Expanded territory and gained more resources

Nazi held rigged election in which 99 percent agreed to join Germany

Spanish Civil War(6)

Germany and Italy supported Facist General Franco against communists

Luftwaffe tactics testing ground

Luftwaffe bombed Basque

Germany and Italy transported national army from Spain to Morroco

Strengthened German and Italian bonds

1936 -1939

Munich Agreement(5)

1938

Germany allowed Sudetenland if he didn’t invade the rest of Czechoslovakia

Between Britain France and Germany

Sudetenland contained many ethnic Germans

Hitler later broke this agreement

Czechoslovakian Crisis(4)

1939

Hitler took over Czechoslovakia

Broke Munich agreement

First area he invaded not majority German but Slavs, expanded Lebrensaum

Nazi Soviet Pact(4)

1939

Agree not to attack each other

Privately agree to split Poland

Gave Hitler confidence to invade Poland

Polish Crisis (4)

1939

Hitler and USSR invade Poland

Britain and France declare war on Germany

Marks the start of WW2

Political Violence (4)

over 350 political murders between between 1919-1922

Caused by resentment for ToV

Most carried out by right wing extremists

set the scene for Hitler to get in power

Hyper Inflation(4)

Money lost all value

Prices sky rocketed

In Jan 1923 loaf of bread was 250 marks, by November in was 200 billion

Middle class Germans lost all their savings causing anger and instability

Appeasement definition

Policy in which Britain and France let Hitler get away with thing not usually allowed

Done in 1930s

Done to prevent war

Abyssinian Crisis

due to Walwal incident in 1935, border dispute

Italy invade Abyssinia

Instead of Britain and France helping, they signed Hoare Lavel Pact in which they agreed to give 2/3 of Abyssinia - Britain and France didn’t care about smaller nations

LoN discussed sanctions but couldn’t sanction oil which would have stopped the war due to lack of USA - showed weakness