Germany

German Timeline

  1. 1918

    • November: Germany signs armistice to end World War One

    • November: Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates; Ebert takes over as president of the new Weimar Republic

  2. 1919

    • January: Spartacist uprising

    • June: The Treaty of Versailles is signed by Germany

    • September: Hitler joins the German Workers’ Party

  3. 1920

    • February: The German Workers’ Party is renamed the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (or NSDAP)

    • March: The Kapp Putsch

  4. 1923

    • January: French troops occupy the Ruhr

    • January: Germany faces hyperinflation

    • November: Beer Hall Putsch

  5. 1924

    • August: The Dawes Plan is implemented

  6. 1925

    • October: The Locarno Treaty

  7. 1926

    • September: Germany joins the League of Nations

  8. 1928

    • August: Germany signs the Kellogg–Briand Pact

  9. 1929

    • October: The Wall Street Crash in the USA

    • October: The death of Stresemann

  10. 1930

    • May: The Young Plan

    • September: The Nazi Party gains 18.3% of the vote in the Reichstag elections

  11. 1932

    • July: The Nazi Party gains 37.4% of the vote in the Reichstag elections

    • July: Unemployment reaches 4.9 million

  12. 1933

    • January: Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany

    • Leaves the League of Nation (October)

  13. 1934

  1. 1935

  2. 1936

  • Austro German Agreement

  • Remilitarization of Rhineland

  • 4 Year plan

  1. 1937

Hossbach memorandum

  1. 1938

  • Germany declares Anchsluss with Austria

  • Sudeten crises

  1. 1939

Liquidation of Czechoslovakia

Pact of Steel 

Soviet and German Non-Aggression pact

Invasion of Poland

Weimar Republic

  1. Kaiser Wilhelm loses military support due to sailor mutinies 

  2. Create democratic Weimar republic 

  3. Gust Stresemann gets elected that leads to Weimar golden age

  4. Dawes plan leading Italy to get the Ruhr again

  5. Locarno treaty respects the Treaty of Versailles

  6. Great Depression happens leading to rise of extremist parties 

  • Spartacists launched unsuccessful rebellion against president, other leftwing parties also launched rebellions but crushed by Freikorp

  • Freikrop members overthrew the government, Kapp claimed to strengthen Germany. Workers strike, Kapp fled.

  • Political assassinations by right extremists against left, rampant and unpunished, wanted to replace democracy

  • France and Belgium invade Germany for Reparations. Germany ordered "passive resistance,” but still pays workers leading to hyperinflation

Mein Kampf

12 million copies sold, mandatory reading. 

Revision of the Treaty of Versailles 

  1. He would abolish the Treaty of Versailles

  2. This would be done by increasing the army to over 100,000 troops

  3. Saw the treaty of Versailles as dictated by the west

  4. Believed the socialist government that signed the treaty betrayed them

'Gross Deutschland' 

  1. Wanted the unification of all German people to create a better Germany

  2. Anschluss with Austria

  3. Parts of Poland and Czechoslovakia

Race 

  1. Saw the Aryan race as the superior race being the master race (Germans, Nordic and Anglo 

  2. Hatred to Roma, Slavs, Blacks and Jews were seen as sub humans

  3. A person could also be half Aryan 

  4. No intermarriage between different races  

  5. Believed in Social Darwinism

  6. Legitimized the holocaust

Lebensraum 

  1. Germany was overpopulated and it needed more living space

  2. This space would be mostly taken from the Slavic people

  3. This living space would surround Germany being agricultural while Germany industry would be as its heart

  1. Third Reich 

  1. Meant third empire

  2. Hitler wanted to create this reich so that it would last a 1000 years.

  3. Hitler believed that his empire would be like the holy Roman Empire and Germany before WW1.

  1. Anti-Communist 

  1. Hitler as a fascist was deeply anti communist believing them to be the enemy of the state. 

  2. Believed this to be created by the Jews 

  3. Believed that the destruction of Russia was the ultimate goal

  1. Enemies 

  • Western nations such as Britain, France, and the US but especially France

  • The soviet union

  • Poland 

  1. Potential allies 

  • Italy due to similar fascist ideologies 

  • Japan due to similar ideologies and communist hate 

Origins of Foreign Policy

  • Treaty of Versailles hugely unfair and seen as a dictat creating hate against western powers

  • Stab in the back myth of WW1 where the Jews and Socialist government betrayed Germany

  • A “Gross Deutscheland” unifications of all Germans through Anschluss but also form territories of Czechioslovakia and Poland

  • The Aryan was seen as the superior race which needed living space (lebensraum) dispossessing land from inferior people such as the Slavs, Ukranians, Poles and Russians

  • Anti-Semitism, around for hundreds of years across Europe but Hitler fanned the flames

  • Natural enemies were the communists and France, Britain and Italy were seen as allies due to Britain’s opposition to the control of the Ruhr in 1923 and Italy’s similar ideology

While Hitler seemed to have clear aims for his foreign policy he did not have plans to achieve them. However it is argued wether he had plans or not. Some saying that tHitler had similar foreign policy tho that of the Weimar republic such as wanting the Treaty of Versailles to be rewritten.

Excerpt: 

“Germany has an annual increase in population of nearly 900,000. The difficulty of feeding this army of new citizens must increase from year to year and ultimately end in catastrophe unless ways and means are found ... Nature knows no boundaries ... she confers the master’s right on her favorite child, the strongest in courage and industry ... Only a sufficiently large space on this earth can ensure the independent existence of a nation ... As members of the highest species of humanity on this earth, we have a[n] obligation ... [to] ... fulfil ... The acquisition of land and soil [must be] the objective of our foreign policy ... The demand for the restoration of the frontiers of 1914 is a political absurdity ... We ... are turning our eyes towards the land in the East ... The colossal empire in the East is ripe for dissolution. And the end of the Jewish domination in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state ... Today we are struggling to achieve a position as a world power; we must fight for the existence of our fatherland, for the unity of our nation and the daily bread of our children. If we look around for allies from this point of view, only two states remain: England and Italy.”


Once in power, Hitler would go on to pursue these foreign policy aims, which ultimately moved the international situation towards global war. The domestic economic crisis caused by the Great Depression was a key factor in bringing Hitler to power.

The NAZIs Rise to power

Grab to Power timeline

  • Political instability with many attempted coups in the early 20s saw Fascism as an escape

  • While the beer hall putsch was a failure it led to the publicity of NAZI ideology whch many people felt they agreed to

  • However, NAZI ideology lost ground a bit as the economy recovered back in the 1920s

  • Democracy from the 1920s was inexistent as Paul von Hindenburg had to pass emergency decrees as not enough seats in parliament

  • Fire of the Reichstag allowed Hitler to impose laws that gave him more power such as censorship of the press and indiscriminate targeting of communism

  • Enabling act which gave Hitler to pass laws without the consent of the Reichstag

  • In 1930 the Nazis increased their share of seats in the Reichstag from 12 to 107, winning almost 6 million votes.

  • Hitler stood in the 1932 presidential elections and won 13 million votes (36%) in the final round, though he lost.

  • The increasing popularity of Hitler led army leaders and right-wing nationalist politicians to consider bringing the Nazis into a coalition government.

  • Hitler refused to join unless he was made Chancellor, which was ultimately accepted by other politicians officials: former army officer Kurt von Schleicher and aristocrat Franz von Papen. They believed that it would be useful to have Hitler and his party on their side; they also believed that they would be able to control him.

  • From this position Hitler was able to consolidate his position as dictator of Germany by 1934 (Reichstag Fire thus Enabling Act, Nazification of everything, Persecution of Political enemies)

The Great Depression

  • The Great Depression was catastrophic on the Germany people

  1.  Unemployment: 5 million by February 1931 and 6 million in early 1932.

  2.  US loans were recalled and all financial support ended

  3. Industrial production dropped by over 50%

  4. Chancellor Heinrich Brüning pursued austerity policies but this led to wage cuts and more job losses

  5. In agriculture food prices fell and small farmers went bankrupt.

How the NAZI party capitalized

  1. Hitler promised 'work' and 'bread'

  2. Nazi propaganda claimed Germany had been 'stabbed in the back' by the 'November criminals' who still dominated the Weimar government

  3. This extreme economic situation led to a polarization in German politics - the far left and the far right

Nazi Economic Policies

  • Opposed to Soviet communist command system and US capitalist system

  • Economy aimed to be collectivist, authoritarian, nationalist and militarist

  • Central principle was autarky

  • High tariffs for imports. Encourage domestic substitutes

  • State control of trade

  • Long-term aim to capture resources via war (with the USSR)

  • Mixture of privatised and state run enterprises (initial privatisations to raise money for the state)

  • State directed investments and spending

  • The Labour Front controlled the workers

  • Strength through Joy organization to promote health and 'well-being'

  • Significant public works and infrastructure programs

  • Massive rearmament program

  • Success - Rapid fall in unemployment which was sustained

  • Failure - Consumer economy lacks recovery, long term failure

Four Year Plan:

Setup Germany so that it was ready to fight as in Hitler’s point of view rearmament wasn’t fast enough and the consumer economy was also starting to struggle in 1936 and also in 1939. Finance minster does not like this and resigns

  1. autarky

  2. closer party control of the economy in preparation for war

  3. speed up the pace of rearmament

Diplomatic Shifts

Britain:

Much of Britain’s resources were already used up with its main aim to keep the safety of the empire

British politicians considered the Treaty of Versailles as unfair and supported “legitimate grievances

Right win politicians in Britain were afraid of Stalin which caused their sympathy for Hitler (seeing him as a buffer")

France:

France was concerned about the possible German threat but was too weak to take action especially after the failure of the Ruhr intervention

It was politically divided, as they went through multiple government

Lacking support from Britain or USA for preserving the Versailles they built a line of fortresses called the Maginot line

USA:

First world war discouraged drastic moves

Great depression made countries more isolationists

US was not part of the league

Germany’s Road to War Events

Anschluss

Attempted coup (1934):

  1. When Mussolini first met Hitler  (1934) he was unimpressed with him, wanting to keep Austria as a buffer state

  2. Attempted coup d’etat by the Austrian Nazis supported by Hitler, assasination of Engelbert Dollfuss

  3. Mussolini stopped the attempted coup d’etat by mobilizing 100,000 troops to German border

  4. Thus Hitler for now backed out from trying to bide time, assuring Italy that Austria would not be annexed 

Anschluss:

  • During the interwar period Austria was fragmented 

  • Germany ordered the Austrian Chancellor (Schusnigg) to agree with a set of demands that would basically have Austria and Germany joined together

  • The Chancellor didn’t agree so tried to conduct a plebiscite that would show that Austria didn’t want to join

  • Germany invaded with Italian support and the Chancellor resigned

Other events

Rearmament (1933):

  1. In 1933 Hitler had informed his generals that rearmament was the top priority and as a matter of fact Germany had always went against the rearmament clauses of the Treaty of Versailles

  2. Army increased from 7 to 36 division when conscription was introduced in 1935 

  3. 1935 revealed existence of the Luftwaffe was announced with over 2,500 planes 

  4. Hitler justified his rearmament on the fact that France and Britain were also partly rearming

The Saar (1935):

  1. Small coal rich territory put under French control in accordance with Treat of Versailles

  2. In 1935 the territory held a plebiscite  (set in TofV) where they unsurpisingly voted in large majority (90.8%) to join Germany,

  3. Hitler turned this into a win

Spanish Civil War: 

  • Germany sent their condor legion and helped Italy moving their troops

  • Hitler worked in the war as he wanted a Spanish ally due to their minerals

  • Britain and France were non interventionist emboldening Hitler

The Hossbach Memorandum (1937):

  • Secret meeting on November 5th 1937 with top military and government leaders

  • Hitler shared is foreign policy goals 

  • Some military leaders disagreed hitler then removed them from power

  • Showed that he viewed war against Britain and France as inevitable

  • So he stated that Germany had to be ready for war by 43-45 at the latest

Rhineland (1936):

  • Demilitarized area under the terms of the ToV to provide security for France

  • Hitler wanted to remilitarize the Rhineland so that he could build a fortification to prevent an attack from France

  • Many German officials were hesitant in invading the Rhineland due to the possible foreign conflict it may cause

  • Germany invaded Rhineland with a weak military but France and Britain did not care

  • Hitler tried to introduce a peace offering with his invasion to make him seem peaceful

  • Hitler stated that he invaded the Rhineland due to the Franco-Soviet treaty

Sudeten Crisis (February 1938)

  • Neville Chamberlain due to appeasement gave Germany everything that they wanted

  • Mussolini was supposed to act as a mediator but more a meeting between Chamberlain and Hitler

  • Czechoslovakia did not participate

  • Germany wanted the german people in the Sudetenland  

  • Chamberlain allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland but then later Germany went against them acquiring the whole of Czechoslovakia

  • Chamberlain asked Hitler to sign that he would solve all disputes through consultation

Liquidation of Czechoslovakia (1939 March)

  • Hitler against the Munich conference invades the rest of Czechoslovokia

  • Final nail in the coffin for appeasement, humiliation for Chamberlain

  • March 15 Emil Hacha president was coerced into signing away Czechoslovakia

  • This made France and Britain start setting up war preparation and give a controversial security guarantee to Poland

  • Also led to the start of the failed Anglo-Franco-Soviet talks

Poland:

  • Germans felt strong resentment against the treaty of Versailles as it had cut Germany into two

  • Germany asked to Poland that Danzig should be returned however the polish foreign minister sensed an attack on Poland

  • Britain March 30th decided to give Poland a security guarantee

  • Hitler didn’t believe the security guarantee

  • Used a staged attack on a wireless station as pretext for invading Poland

Phoney War:

  • Called Phoney war as nothing really happened

  • Britain tried to sent peace proposal to Germany but they did not succeed due to the lack of public support

  • Ended in May of 1940

Germany Road to War Treaties 

Germany leaves League of Nations, October 1933

  1. Left because league of nations didn’t allow for German rearmament 

  2. Symbolized how Germany Was starting to leave the world order, instead joining Japan

  3. Allowed Germany to violate the Treaty of Versailles and start its rearmament

  4. Hugely popular among the general population 98% agreed in the referendum

  5. No consequences for Germany when it left the League of Nations

Stresa Front Pact:

  • Pact signd by Britain, Italy and France which tried to stop German rearmement

  • However this pact was a failure mostly broken by Italy’s invasion of Abyssinia and subsequent response

Non-aggression Pact with Poland, January 1934

  1. Stipulated that Poland and Germany would not fight each other but broken by Germany in 1939

  2. Hitler used pact to reassure nations of his peaceful intentions while beginning rearmament and plans to invade

  3. Used to prevent a military alliance being signed between France and Poland

  4. Secure Germany's eastern borders

  5. Poland uses to maintain non aggression with both Germany and Soviets

Rome-Berlin Axis, October 1936

  1. Military and political coalition/alliance between Germany and Italy

  2. Formulated in 1936 and officialized through treaties like Pact of Steel in 1939

  3. Created due to similar ideological beliefs and political alignments (Fascism) and close partnership in the Spanish Civil War

  4. Used Italy's actions in Africa as a distraction for the European powers to rearm and pursue goals in Europe

  5. Foundation for Axis alliance and the later Tripartite pact or the Rome Berlin Tokyo pact

Anti-Comintern Pact, November 1937

  1. Signed between Germany and Japan in 1936, Italy later joins in 1937

  2. Showed how hitler was ready to wage war against communism and in specific the USSR

  3. Secret protocol in which if Soviet Union attacks any of the signatories they would end support for the Soviet Union and work together to preserve their mutual interest

  4. Brought Japan and Germany closer together and later Italy

  5. Helped solidify the sides in WW2

  6. However this pact was slightly broken in the Molotov Ribbentrop pact when Germany signed with the USSR

  7. Followed by the 1940 Tripartite pact

British guarantee to Poland, March 1939

  1. British promise to Poland to support them in the event of any action threatening its independence

  2. Marked the end of British policy of appeasement towards the Germans after the invasion of Czechoslovakia

  3. Pledge was also supported by France

  4. Germany would ignore pledge and invade Poland in September 1st 1939 which resulted in British and French 

Nazi-Soviet Pact, August 1939*

  1. A secret addendum divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence for Germany and the Soviet Union, which included partitioning Poland

  2. Soviet Union would be able to build its army broken by the Great Purge

  3. Soviet Union would give oil and Germany would give it money in return

  4. More beneficial to Germany than the Soviet Union

  5. Would not attack each other for 10 years

  6. Removed threat of two front war for Germany

Pact of Steel, May 1939

  1. A military and political alliance between Germany and Italy

  2. Mussolini initially wanted to delay war, but Hitler pressured him into signing

  3. Forfeited Italy’s own political agenda to Germany, forcing them to join the war

  4. Strengthened Axis Power unity and showed prep for large scale war

Tripartite Pact, September 1940

  1. Military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany

  2. Pact created year after WW2

    1. Agreement to work together to deter other powers

    2. Work to prevent US from joining the war

  3. Three parties have had many friendship pacts signed before this which solidified their alliance as the axis powers such as the steel pact and the rome berlin axis

  4. Pact was later broken due to lack of coordinate strategy the nations had with each other, and after Japan bombed pearl

The Nazi-Soviet Pact:

  • Stalin first wanted an alliance with France and Britain however there was mutual distrust and negotiations dragged on

  • While France had a defensive pact with the Soviet Union in 1935 but collapsed after the Munich agreement

  • Thus Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non aggression pact between each other that split Northern and eastern Europe between them and stated that they wouldn’t go against each other

  • Mostly because the Soviet Union wasn’t ready for war yet due to great purges, the ability to trade with Germany and gave considerable land to Russia