German expansion events & historiography

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27 Terms

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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

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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

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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

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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

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‘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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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‘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

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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

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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

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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

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Revisionist-structuralist view

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

  • Hitler improvised his foreign policy

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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

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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

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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

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Historian K D Bracher

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

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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