German expansion events & historiography

The Washington Naval Conference 1921-1922

The Washington Naval Conference 1921-1922

• most successful disarmament conference however successes were limited and temporary

• naval armament ratio of 5:5:3 agreed to for US:UK:Japan

Four Power Treaty 1921

• signed at the Washington Conference 1921-1922

• involved the UK, US, France and Japan

• they agreed to defend each other in the event of an attack

• agreed on all their rights to their possessions in Asia

• replaced the 1902 Anglo-Japanese Treaty, change benefitted the US

Nine Power Treaty 1922

• last Treaty signed at the Washington Conference

• US, UK, Japan, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, China

• signatories would respect the territorial integrity of China

• recognised Japanese dominance in Manchuria but that all nations had interests in doing business in China

• collapsed in 1931 when Japan invaded Manchuria

Geneva Disarmament Conference 1932-1934

• organised by the League of Nations and attended by over 60 nations

• Germany demanded ‘equality of status’ — Hitler would disarm if all nations disarmed, contradictory to the Treaty of Versailles

• tensions with France led Germany to leave the Conference and League of Nations in October 1933

• Britain convinced Germany to return to Geneva by proposing that Germany and France should both have armies of 200,000 but Germany’s Air Force should be half the size of France’s

‘the Stress Front’ 1935

• after Geneva Hitler reintroduced conscription and re-established the Luftwaffe

• by 1935 Germany had an army of 800,000, 2000 aeroplanes and 47 U-boats

• Britain, France and Italy met at Stresa to discuss Germany’s defiance of the agreement at Geneva

• formed the ‘Stress Front’ which was a treaty of mutual assistance to protect peace in Europe

London Naval Conference 1930

• US, UK, France, Italy & Japan met to revise the Washington Conference agreements

• naval armament ratio changed to 10:10:7 for US:UK:Japan

• France and Italy continued the ban on building ships for an additional 5 years

• Treaty signed remained in place until 1936

Weakness of the League of Nations

• did not include the US and USSR

• had to co-exist with the Conference of Ambassadors (Britain, France, Italy & Japan), which was sometimes more powerful

• dominated by Britain and France who did not agree on whether the League should be used to enforce the Paris peace treaties

Attempt at Anschluss 1934

• Hitler signed a 10 year non-aggression pact with Poland in January 1934 to appear peaceful

• then encouraged Nazis in Austria to stage an uprising, they assassinated Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss who wanted Austria to retain its independence

• Hitler backed down when Mussolini sent 100,000 troops to the Austrian frontier

Return of the Saarland 1935

• Treaty of Versailles put the Saarland under the League’s control for 15 years

• anti-Nazis fled to the Saarland after 1933

• Nazis in the Saarland believed it should belong to Germany again, formed a ‘German Front’ with the Catholics & were helped by the Gestapo

• Nazi Saarlanders threatened to impose Nazi rule, stopped when Britain offered to send soldiers there to keep peace

• vote held on January 15 1935, 90.3% voted to return to Germany

• Judges from Italy and Holland, US history professor oversaw the plebiscite and deemed it fair

• necessary first step on Hitlers Road to War

Reoccupation of the Rhineland 1936

• encouraged after regaining the Saarland, Hitler sent German troops into the demilitarised zone of the Rhineland

• breached the Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Pact

• Britain did not see the re-occupation as important

• gave him confidence to be more aggressive

German rearmament 1936-1937

• Hitler instructed Goring to have the German army operational and economy fit for war within 4 years in October 1936

• On November 5 1937 Hitler led a meeting with his military chiefs outlining his plan to acquire Lebensraum

Support of General Franco in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939

• initially the Great Powers agreed to stay out of the war

• Hitler and Mussolini sent troops to help the Nationalists

• Britain, France & the USA stayed neutral

• in 1937 the Spanish city of Guernica was heavily bombed by German planes

Pacts & Axes with Italy and Japan 1936-1937

• Hitler described Mussolini as the ‘leading statement in the world’ and the two were further aligned via the Spanish Civil War

• Rome-Berlin Axis signed in 1936

• Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936 which threatened the USSR from the east and west

• in 1937 Mussolini joined the Anti-Comintern Pact leading to the formation of the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis 1937

Anschluss with Austria 1938

• on 12 February 1938 Hitler attempted to force Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg to give Austrian Nazis a large share in government

• Schuschnigg called for Austrian’s to vote on whether they want to retain their independence, led to his resignation

• replaced by Nazi leader Seyss-Inquart

• Austria received no international support

• German troops entered Austria on 13 March 1938 and Anschluss was declared

Sudetenland demands for independence 1938

• successor state formed at the Paris Peace Conference, 3.5 million Germans lived in the Sudetenland which bordered Germany and was rich in resources

• in April 1938 the Sudeten German Party began riots and demands for independence in the Sudetenland

• Chamberlain & French PM Daladier, then Mussolini urged the Czechs to preserve peace

• Czech Premier Benes agreed to self governance for the Sudetenland on 5 September

• Hitler told the Sudetenland Nazis to reject self governance

Munich Conference 1938

• high point of appeasement

• last minute meeting on 29 September 1938 on Mussolini’s request

• Mussolini, Chamberlain, Daladier & Hitler met to decide the faith of Czechoslovakia

• decided that Czechoslovakia should give Germany the Sudetenland

• Czechs were forced to give in

Invasion of Czechoslovakia 1938

• German troops entered the Sudetenland on October 1 1938, faced no opposition

• By 15 March Germany had taken Bohemia and Moravia

• Poland and Hungary took land

• Slovakia was made an independent state under German protection

• appeasement destroyed the Czechs

• British and French appeasement was over by the end of 1938

‘Pact of Steel’ & Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939

• Hitler & Mussolini signed the ‘Pact of Steel’ in May 1939

• Did not want to fight on two fronts

• Hitler took advantage of Stalin’s suspicion of Britain and France

• Hitler and Stalin agreed not to attack each other, would divide Poland between them

• Pact revealed to the world in August 1939

• Stalin knew Germany would eventually attack the USSR

Invasion of Poland 1939

• Hitler sought the ‘Polish Corridor’ and Free City of Danzig which were created by the Treaty of Versailles, end East Prussia’s isolation

• On March 31 Britain and France pledged to support Poland if it was attacked

• In March Hitler ordered his army to be ready to invade from September 1

• Hitler moved troops into Poland in September 1939

Outbreak of World War II 1939

• On September 3, two days after the invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany

• Meant the war would involve German military actions on its eastern and western fronts

Orthodox view, also called the Intentionalist School

• assumption of the Nuremberg Trials was that Hitler planned the war before coming to power, Mein Kampf used as evidence

• first criticised by A.J.P Taylor

Revisionist-structuralist view

• rejects the idea that Hitler had firm control of foreign affairs and a master plan

• Hitler improvised his foreign policy

Historian A Bullock

• connection between Mein Kampf and Hitler’s later foreign policy direction

• concedes that Hitler used opportunism as a tactic in the short term

Historians G Weinberg and M Hauner

• Hitler had a personal direction in foreign policy thus strong control over it

• Hitler did not let competing views or factions disrupt his foreign policy direction

Historians A Hillgruber and K Hilderbrand

• Hitler was following a careful plan for world domination

• Hitler intended to go beyond Europe in his conquest which would culminate in a war against the USA

Historian K D Bracher

• Hitler’s foreign policy was spontaneous and based on internal problems and external opportunities

Historian T Mason

• Hitler’s foreign policy was limited by economic problems in the 1930s

• more confused than planned

• Hitler used foreign policy to try escape Germany’s economic problems