Paper 1 - Germany

hitler’s consolidation of power

hitler’s consolidation of power

1934

• night of long knives 30th June

• Hindenburg dies

• army, navy, and airforce swear oath of allegiance to hitler

• begins re-armament in full

• no one in higher power to sack hitler like the king and Mussolini

1935

• airforce established

• conscription announced - 550,000 soldiers by march

• anglo-naval agreement in June

  • driven by imperial self interest for britain and an attempt at appeasement

foreign policies

• to start with Hitler viewed the British as germans - part of übermenschen

• hitler concludes expansion into Rhineland and other territories would be okay because France and Britain couldn’t retaliate - similarly to their lack of action against italy in Abyssinia

  • so he fortifies the Ruhr

• 1936: berlin olympics and Spanish civil war

• idea of lebensraum expansion into Eastern Europe

• his plan was to conquer Europe and then fight the US for international control

Austria

• march 1938: Anschluss (opposed ToV)

  • Kurt Schusnig (Austrian chancellor) replaced by Arthur Seyss-Inquart for two days before the Anschluss and Joachim von Ribbentrop was Germany’s foreign minister

  • the Anschluss had many supporters in both germany and Austria especially from the political left and centre

sudetenland crisis

• 3.5 million Germans lived in Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia

• the Skoda arms complex was also located in the Sudetenland - the largest military complex in Czechoslovakia

• president Hacha was determined to not submit to Hitler and refused Hitler’s “offer” (blackmail) to “cooperate” with germany or face an attack in 1938

• Konrad Henlein led German nazis in the Sudetenland to agitate for autonomy

• while Czechoslovakia had an alliance with France and the USSR in 1935 - the ussr would only support if France did and neither could easily get to Czechoslovakia

• in the Munich treaty 30th September 1938 germany was officially given the Sudetenland

Nazi Soviet non-agression pact

• 23rd august 1939

• also known as the molotov-ribbentrop pact

• secret agreement to invade Poland

• Germany invades Poland 1st September 1939 after staging a polish attack on a German radio station

• britain and France issue an ultimatum on the 3rd - Germany sends a response deliberately late

• USSR attacks on the 17th

• france and britain didn’t declare war or support Poland

Poland

• march 15th German army occupies Prague

• britain and France guarantee Poland if a third country invades they would intervene (this didn’t guarantee borders)

  • summer of 1939 Canada and Australia agree to support britain in the polish war

the USSR as the deciding factor of the war in Poland

• hitler discounted the British and French guarantees to Poland but recognised he couldn’t take on the USSR, UK and France

• April 1939 Stalin invited Britain and France to peace talks

  • france responds immediately

  • britain responds in July and went by ship not plane sending retired naval commanders instead of ministers of Chamberlain

  • the French could provide plenipotentiary power but the British could not - two divisions now and two later - this stalled negotiations significantly

• Hitler sent Ribbentrop to Stalin offering the price UK and France were unwilling to pay - Stalin’s free reign in Eastern Europe

why does war breakout?

1) soviet German pact makes hitler believe France and Britain won’t retaliate

2) German arms race - hitler is confident in the German military capabilities

3) appeasement - allies pursued appeasement for far to long to protect their imperial self interests and allowed hitler to expand

4) hitler’s idea of lebensraum and übermenschen

5) Hitler misjudged that Britain and France woulnd’t retaliate

• rearmament in britain and France as well as military support from the dominions enabled their involvement

6) Poland refused to submit to Hitler peacefully