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What were the long term consequences of the treaties?
Dissastisfied powers: Japan was not given a racial equality clause, Italy wanted a greater share of Ottoman and German colonies. Germany was unhappy with the treaty of Versailles. These powers were likely to seek changes to their treaties.
Germany’s potential: The Treaty of Versailles punished the country enough to anger the Germans but still left them with enough resources that they were able to bounce back.
Hitler’s Foreign Policy: Destruction of Versailles was Hitler’s main foreign policy agenda.
Impact on British Opinion: People began to view the treaty as very harsh. This meant that the British viewed Hitler’s demands as understandable and felt like it was their duty to help them.
What were the consequences of the LoN’s failures in the 1930s?
Manchuria: Proved to both Italy and Germany that taking territory by force was a solution that would likely be successful.
Abyssinia: Further aggressive behaviour from Italy was likely and Hitler would also have the confidence to destroy the ToV
Not rearming: Britain and France didn’t rearm their forces during the LoN’s rule for various reasons, but after the failure, they decided that rearming was the main way to deter Germany and Italy from further action.
Starting to appease: Britain and France adopted the policy of appeasement in an attempt to buy time to rearm their forces.
What her Hitler’s foreign policy aims?
Destroy the Treaty of Versailles
Creater a Greater Germany by uniting all German speaking people and acquiring lebensraum (living space)
Destroy communism
Build up a central European empire
How were Hitler’s actions in 1933 directed towards war?
In 1933, Hitler refused to pay any more reparations, walked out of the World Disarmament Conference and left the League of Nations. These were Hitler’s first strikes against the Versailles Settlement. Germany also began to rearm in secret.
How were Hitler’s actions in January 1934 directed towards war?
In January 1934, Hitler signed a 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland. This meant that there was unlikely to be war with Poland if they made a move against Austria or Czechslovakia.
How were Hitler’s actions in July 1934 directed towards war?
In July 1934, Hitler attempted Anschluss with Austria, following the murder of Austrian Chancellor Dolfuss. Hitler was ready to unite but Mussolini signalled his disapproval by moving Italian troops to Brenner Pass. Hitler backed down.
How were Hitler’s actions in January 1935 directed towards war?
In January 1935, the Saar plebiscite took place, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler was worried about whether Germany would win and so a propaganda campaign ran by Goebbels was held in the Saar. When it was time to vote, over 90% were in favor to return to territory. This is seen as the first step to war despite it being legal and peaceful - Germany had regained its first piece of lost territory, validating Nazi regime and the future claim of uniting German speakers.
How were Hitler’s actions in March 1935 directed towards war?
In March 1935, Hitler reintroduced conscription, which was a direct violation of the treaty and an attack to the Allied powers. The Allies responded with the Stresa Front but was undermined when they wrote the Anglo-German Naval Agreement. The British ultimately appeased Hitler as they felt the Treaty had tight restriction when it came to the army, so Hitler got away with it but France and Soviet Russia as well as Czechoslovakia and Soviet Russia signed mutual assistance pacts following this.
How were Hitler’s actions in June 1935 directed towards war?
In June 1935, the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was drafted. This allowed Germany to have a naval fleet that was 35% the size of Britain’s and 45% the number of submarines. Essentially legalised naval rearmament. Italy and France were not consulted, giving the impression that countries could pursue national interests regardless of other nations. Mussolini felt encouraged to apply this same principle in extending Italy’s colonies.
What happened in the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
In March 1936, German troops marched into the Rhineland, directly going against the ToV. Hitler’s orders to his troops were to retreat if faced with opposition. France and Britain didn’t oppose and so the Rhineland was remilitarised without any incident.
Why did Britain and France not oppose the remilitarisation of the Rhineland?
The British believed that the Germans were going into their “own backyard” and so that term of the treaty didn’t need to be enforced. France was going through a financial crisis and an election and so they didn’t want to go into war without British support.
Consequences of the remilitarisation of the Rhineland
He could gamble on France not going against Germany’s foreign policy acts. He could also start testing his limits in destroying the Treaty of Versailles as the British were unlikely to respond.
What happened in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)
Civil war broke out between the fascist army and Communist government in Spain. Hitler and Mussolini helped out their fellow fascist leader, Franco. Germany sent aircraft to help transport Franco’s forces and also participated in major bombing raids, such as the one in Guernica. With Italian and German help, the fascists were able to win the war in 1939.
What was the significance of the Spanish Civil War for Hitler?
- Important test for Hitler of his new air force before full-scale European war. Successful dive-bombing techniques on Guernica.
- Persuaded Mussolini to abandon their alliance with Britain and France and instead formed the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936.
- The Civil War served as a distraction for Hitler’s actions elsewhere, such as Anschluss and taking over Czechoslovakia
- Helping Franco helped fulfil one of his aims in eliminating communism in Europe.
What happened with Anschluss in 1938?
In February 1938, Hitler and the Nazis start bullying Austria and stirring up trouble there. Hitler demands Schuschnigg, the leader of Austria at the time, to unite with Germany, but he decides to hold a plebiscite. Hitler opposes this and threatens to invade Austria. Schuschnigg resigns and Seyss-Inquart, who was backed by Hitler, became the Chancellor of Austria. German troops entered Austria and ensured a trouble-free plebiscite in which 99.75% of the votes were in favor of Anschluss.
Why did the British and French allows Anschluss?
- Hitler had built up his armed forces rapidly and the British and French weren’t sufficiently armed to oppose him.
- British viewed Anschluss as a fair demand in overturning another harsh term of the Treaty.
- Mussolini stopped Anschluss in 1934 but there was no guarantee of another intervention due to the newly formed alliance between Italy and Germany.
Why did Hitler want to take over the Sudetenland?
- He wanted to fulfil his aim of uniting German speaking people
- The Sudetenland was important fortified area to defend against German attacks.
What happened during the Sudetenland crisis?
The leader of the Sudeten Nazis, Henlein, started stirring up trouble in Czechoslovakia and demanded unification with Germany. Hitler supported this and threatened war if these demands weren’t met, despite there being evidence that the Germans weren’t ready for war. The Soviets, French and British had agreements to help the Czechs if conflict arose so preparations for war were being made.
What was discussed when Chamberlain met with Hitler on 15 September 1938?
Hitler moderated his initial demands, saying that he wanted parts of the Sudetenland where majority of the population was German and only after a plebiscite. Chamberlain felt that this is reasonable and on the 19th of September, the idea was put forward to the Czechs.
What changed at the next meeting 3 days later (22nd September)?
Despite the previous idea having approval, Hitler demanded the whole of the Sudetenland instead of just parts and that the Czechs must withdraw by October 1 to avoid conflict. He justified his demands by claiming the Germans were being mistreated by the Czech government. Chamberlain told him his demands were unreasonable and war seemed imminent.
What happened at the Munich Conference on the 29th of September?
Chamberlain suggested an international conference to settle the dispute, this suggestion was backed up by Mussolini. Chamberlain (GBR), Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy) and Deladier (France) all attended. They came up with the Munich Agreement which said:
- The Sudetenland would be transferred to Germany over ten days
- Plebiscites would be held in areas where there was doubt over the dominant nationality
- The four powers would guarantee the remainder of Czechoslovakia once Polish and Hungarian claims had been met.
The Czechs and the USSR were not consulted. The following morning, Chamberlain and Hitler published a joint declaration.
Arguments for the Munich Agreement
- Neville Chamberlain believed that Britain wasn’t prepared to fight a war especially because their air defences were incomplete
- The British Dominions were not united behind the prospect of war in 1938. By September 1939 they were.
- A war in 1938 would have been seen as a war against the principle of self-determination. In 1939 it was seen as a war to prevent German domination of Europe.
Arguments against the Munich Agreement
- Britain and France had abandoned Czechoslovakia to her fate.
- The Munich Agreement came to be seen as the supreme example of the policy of appeasement.
- If war had broken out in 1938, Britain and France would have had the support of the 36 division of the Czech army fighting behind well-prepared defences
- In the event of war, they might have had the assistance or neutrality of Soviet Russia.
What were the consequences of the Munich Agreement?
Chamberlain brought back the joint declaration to Britain claiming he brought “peace for our time”. Hitler also had gambled that the British wouldn’t risk war and came out successful, speaking of the Munich Agreement as an “undreamt-of triumph, so great you can scarcely imagine it” as he got the Sudetenland while avoiding conflict. The Hungarians and the Poles helped themselves to the Czech land where Hungarians and Poles were living. Benes, the leader of Czechoslovakia, resigned.
Hitler ended up taking over the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939, why?
- It would start his policy of obtaining “lebensraum” or living space
- Czechoslovakia had considerable coal reserves and iron deposits and the Skoda works - all of which would be necessary for war
- A free and hostile Czechoslovakia would make it impossible to fight the West as he would then face a war on two fronts that he wanted to avoid.
What was the Nazi-Soviet pact (August 1939)?
As a shock to everyone, Stalin agreed to a 10-year non-aggression pact with Germany in late August 1939. They also privately agreed to divide Poland up amongst themselves when Hitler invaded. Hitler wanted this alliance to prevent Soviet opposition if he invaded Poland.
Why was Stalin worried about Germany?
- Hitler had made his intentions clear in invading Russian land
- Hitler hated communism and had imprisoned and killed Communists in Germany.
Why had talks for an Anglo-Soviet alliance failed?
- The British wouldn’t have allowed the Soviets to control Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
- The British didn’t trust the Soviets and thought they were tricking them into a war with Germany.
- The Polish thought that if Soviet troops entered Poland they wouldn’t leave.
- If Stalin supported Britain, they would have to fight a war for them on British behalf as they couldn’t send troops. Meanwhile, Hitler was promising peace, a sphere of influence in Europe and half of Poland.
- Stalin was convinced that Chamberlain would break its promise to Poland due to the policy of appeasement.
- The British kept delaying allying.
Why didn’t Stalin trust the British and the French?
- They had failed to tackle militarism of Mussolini or help against Franco in the Spanish Civil War and seemed to welcome German rearmament to fight Communism.
- He was not consulted over Munich, which Stalin felt proved that they were happy for Germany taking over Eastern Europe.
Why did Stalin choose to make the Nazi-Soviet pact?
- Time to prepare for war and mobilisation, which he knew was imminent despite Hitler’s denial
- He hoped to get power in Europe
- He was unhappy with Britain, who kept denying an alliance with the Soviets
- Germany and Soviet Russia would be united. Britain would not declare war if both nations invaded Poland.
Consequences of the Nazi-Soviet Pact
Hitler invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939. He was confident that despite Britain and France’s pledges to defend Poland against German attack, they would back out in order to avoid war. The British and French declared war on Germany on 2nd September, surprising Germany.
How was the policy of appeasement justified?
Hitler was standing up to Communism: Communism and their ideology were seen as a more significant threat at the time and Hitler had made his intentions to destroy communism clear. There was hope that Hitler would become an important ally against communism.
The British weren’t ready for war: They didn’t have the support of the US, which was powerful. They were also mobilising their army very slowly, they needed to buy as much time as possible to rearm.
Hitler’s demands were reasonable: There was the argument that Hitler’s demands were fair. The ToV was overly harsh and so it made sense to allow Hitler to reverse it.
Refusal to repeat WW1: The leaders wanted to avoid war unless it was the last resort. They didn’t want to repeat the war as it would cost a lot in terms of economy and death toll.
How was the policy of appeasement unjustified?
Hitler was encouraged by it: When you look at Hitler’s actions, he gambled boldly over the next few years. If Britain or France had opposed Hitler, it was likely that he wouldn’t have continued to be aggressive.
Hitler was not trustworthy: There was clear evidence that Hitler was a liar yet people kept trusting his word, the extent of his aggressive foreign policy was written in the Mein Kampf. There wasn’t any reason to trust his word.
Early appeasement increased German strength: There was a window of opportunity where the British and French could have stopped Hitler with little force due to the lack of a German army (due to the ToV).
It drove the USSR into Hitler’s arms: The policy of appeasement made it clear that the British and French were not strong enough to go against Hitler and it made them mistrust the intentions of the British and French.
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