History IGCSE Chapter 3 Rise of Hitler and End of Peace

History IGCSE Chapter 3

What were Hitler’s 3 main foreign policy goals?

-Abolish Versailles

• Saw it as an embarrassment

• Wanted to destroy it

• Named the Weimar leaders the November Criminals

-Expand Germany

• Wanted to reclaim old German territory

• Wanted ethnic Germans to be a part of Germany again

• Wanted Lebensraum in the East

-Wanted to Defeat Communism

• Believed the Bolsheviks wanted to destroy Germany

• Blamed Russia for the loss in WW1

• Was a rabid anti-communist

What happened in the 6 years leading up to WW2 through Germany?

1933-Left the League of Nations; Rearm Germany

1934-Tried to take over Austria but Mussolini stopped him

1935-Held rearmament rally; started conscription

1936-Remilitarized Rhineland; Pact with Japan

1937-Alliance with Italy; Spanish Civil War

1938-Took over the Sudetenland and Anschluss

1939-Invaded Poland and Czechoslovakia; started WW2

How did the Treaty of Versailles relate to the start of the War?

-Dissatisfied powerful nations; Italy and Japan

-Germany was not completely destroyed but heavily damaged

-Became Hitler’s main policy goal to rally Germans around

-British ended up feeling sympathy for Germany

Why did Hitler Rearm the way he did?

-Knew it was popular amongst Germans

-Wanted to use it as a way to curb unemployment

-Knew it would alarm the allies, so he did it secretly

-Wanted to reverse Treaty of Versailles

-Self defense since others refused to disarm

Why did the British not interfere with rearmament?

-Britain’s population felt sympathy

-Wanted a strong buffer against the USSR

-Thought Germany wasn’t strong enough to defend itself

-Actually, helped them through the Anglo-German Naval Pact allowing for Hitler to have 35% of Britain’s Naval Power

What were the key figures of Germany’s rearmament?

1932

• 30 Warships

• 36 Aircraft

• 100,000 Soldiers

1935

• 7.5% of German spending

1939

• 95 Warships

• 8,250 aircraft

• 950,000 Soldiers

• 23% of budget

1940

• 38% of Budget

What are the other factors which would contribute to Germany’s War?

-Economic Depression

-The weakness of post war treaties

-Actions of the most powerful nations

What happened during the Saar Plebiscite?

-Hitler won 90%

-Goebbels’ propaganda at work

What are the most important consequences of the Saar plebiscite?

-Boosted Hitler’s Moral

-Gave Hitler’s calls for German unity legitimacy

-Hitler’s enemies who fled to the Saar were eliminated

How and When was the Rhineland Remilitarization?

-1936

-20,00 German soldiers marched in the demilitarized Rhineland

Why did Hitler invade the Rhineland?

-Needed to defend himself against the newly formed pact between the USSR and France

-Knew the British felt sympathy to his situation

Why did Hitler order for his generals to retreat if they met resistance?

-France’s army was still much more powerful

-Lacked essential equipment and air support

Why did the allies not react to the Rhineland invasion?

-Distracted by the ongoing Abyssinia Crisis

-Britain didn’t want to intervene

-France refused to act without the support of Britain

-The French feared starting a long war due to the ongoing elections

What were the major effects of the remilitarization of the Rhineland?

-Emboldened Hitler due to the luckiness

-He may act in more aggressive ways if the allies reacted this way

What and when was Hitler’s interference in the Spanish Civil War?

-Civil War broke out between Franco Fascists and USSR republicans in 1936

-Hitler and Mussolini interfered after agreeing not to

-Sent in Luftwaffe

-Mussolini sent thousands of soldiers

Why was the intervention in the Spanish Civil War so important?

-Hitler tested and developed the Blitzkrieg tactics there

-Developed the tactic of bombing civilian targets

• Guernica

-fulfilled anti-communist aim

-Scared the British into rearming themselves because of their destructive and evil tactics

• E.g. Guernica

-Strengthen the bond between Mussolini and Hitler

-Made the USSR suspicious of the allies because of their inaction

-Further convinced Hitler the allies wouldn’t do anything against him

What were the two military alliances between the Axis?

Rome-Berlin Axis-1937

Anti-Comintern pact-1936

What happened to 1938 unification attempt in Austria?

-Mussolini didn’t intervene

-Hitler ordered Austrian Nazis to cause trouble and cause a plebiscite

-Schulssnig begged for allied assistance

-Germans invaded after the president’s departure and won a 99.75% vote (most likely fake)

Why was the Anschluss important?

-Allies further rearmed

-Hitler became even more embolden

-Furthers Hitlers anti-Versailles and German unification goals

What are some key Arguments for appeasement?

-Hitler was a buffer against the USSR

-Wanted to avoid another World War

-The British were not well-armed enough to face Germany; only started rearming after 1935

-American support, which was essential during WW1, was not guaranteed

-Members of the commonwealth were not guaranteed to join the war

-Britain and France were still having economic problems’

-British public though Hitler was just rectifying the evils of the Treaty of Versailles

What are some key arguments against appeasement?

-Alienated the USSR

-Hitler was rearming too quickly

-Hitler kept escalating

-Hitler kept breaking promises

Events of the Sudetenland 1938

-Germany threatened Czechoslovakia

-Edvard Benes beg the allies to help him

-Tensions rise across summer

• gas masks bought

• digging air raid shelters

-Gains support of German Sudeten

What were the events of the crisis talks?

-Hitler said he only want some of the Sudetenland

-Hitler rescinded his demands and now wanted all

Munich Agreement

-Chamberlain didn’t consult the USSR or Czechoslovakia

-Gave Germany all of the Sudetenland

What were the consequences of the Munich Agreement?

-Hungary and Poland took over parts of Czechoslovakia

-Benes resigns and chaos erupts

-Europe felt peaceful

-Emboldened Hitler to the rest of Czechoslovakia

-Hitler believed the allies would not do anything

Why was the invasion of Czechoslovakia important 1939?

-Start of Lebensraum

-Eliminated War on the Czech front

-Ended appeasement

-Coal and iron from the Skoda Works arms manufacturer

What were Stalin’s fears in 1939?

-Afraid of a German invasion

-The Abyssinia crisis and Manchurian crisis made him lose faith in the LoN even though he joined the LoN in 1934

-Britain, France, and USA were more afraid of the USSR and communism than fascist Germany, Italy and Japan

-Munich Agreement and Rhineland demilitarization convinced Stalin that they were useless

Why did Stalin sign the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

-Nazis actually took negotiations seriously and sent a senior official unlike the allies

-Able to regain former Russian lands (Poland and the Baltic States)

-Time to build an Army and prepare for invasion/ war

-France and the Uk felt untrustworthy

-Was waiting for Hitler to betray him

Why did Hitler sign the pact with the USSR

-Gain Poland and the Polish corridor

-unsure what the USSR reaction to an invasion of Poland might’ve been

-Stopped a two-front war

-Tricked the USSR into allying with an enemy

What were the main aftereffects of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact?

-Poland divided

-War with the allies

-No two-front war for Germany