The Search for Peace and Nazi Germany Lecture Notes

The Search for Peace and Security in the World: 1919-1946

• Overview and Post-WWI Context

  • An armistice was called at $11:00\,am$ on November $11$, $1918$.

  • The Treaty of Versailles (ToV) was signed on June $28$, $1919$, officially ending WWI.

  • The world faced moral and economic devastation; three great empires collapsed, revolution was rampant, and up to $15\,million$ individuals had perished.

  • The peace settlement aimed to restructure Europe and maintain hard-fought peace through international treaties, disarmament, and eventually, the policy of appeasement in the $1930s$.

• Chronology of Key International Events

  • $1919$: Treaty of Versailles ends WWI; League of Nations (LoN) formed.

  • $1921-22$: Washington Naval Conference limits naval construction (US, Britain, France, Italy, Japan).

  • $1922$: Mussolini's Fascist Party takes power in Italy.

  • $1925$: Locarno Treaty signed (peace in Western Europe); Hitler publishes Mein Kampf.

  • $1928$: Kellogg-Briand Pact outlaws war.

  • $1930$: London Naval Treaty signed by Japan and Britain.

  • $1931$: Japan invades Manchuria, marking the start of the Fifteen Year War.

  • $1933$: Hitler becomes Chancellor; Germany and Japan resign from the LoN; Germany leaves the Disarmament Conference.

  • $1934$: Hitler becomes Führer; Germany and Poland sign a $10$-year Non-Aggression Pact; Japan abandons the Washington Naval Agreement.

  • $1935$: Germany introduces conscription; Anti-German Stresa Front formed by Britain, France, and Italy.

  • $1936$: German troops reoccupy the Rhineland; Rome-Berlin Axis and Anti-Comintern Pact formed.

  • $1937$: Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact and leaves LoN; Japanese invasion of China and Nanking Massacre.

  • $1938$: Anschluss (union) with Austria; Munich Conference hands Czechoslovakia to Germany.

  • $1939$: Germany invades the rest of Czechoslovakia; Pact of Steel signed (Germany/Italy); Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact; Germany invades Poland (September $1$); Britain and France declare war on Germany; WWII begins.

  • $1940$: Italy enters war; Tripartite Pact (Germany, Japan, Italy) signed.

  • $1941$: Japan/USSR neutrality pact; Germany invades Soviet Union; USA enters war after Pearl Harbor (December $7$).

  • $1943$: Italy surrenders; Moscow Declaration signed; Tehran Conference with the "Big Three" (Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt).

  • $1944$: Dumbarton Oaks Conference proposes the structure for the United Nations.

  • $1945$: Yalta Conference; Hitler suicide; Germany surrenders in May; Potsdam Conference; Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima (August $6$) and Nagasaki (August $9$); Japan surrenders; UN Charter signed.

  • $1946$: Nuremberg War Crimes Trials begin; LoN officially ends.

The Intentions and Authority of the League of Nations and the UN

• Post-War Challenges to International Peace

  • Nationalism and Self-Determination: Adjusting boundaries led to competing nationalism as ethnic groups were often split.

  • Humiliation of Germany: Germany was excluded from the LoN and faced severe terms in the ToV.

  • Collapse of Allied Unity: Unity dissolved immediately following the Paris Peace Conference.

  • Secret Treaties: Resentment grew in Italy and Japan as Britain and France secured the "spoils of victory."

  • Middle East Instability: British and French control led to borders that created long-term instability (e.g., conflicting promises to Arabs and Jewish people regarding Palestine).

• The League of Nations (LoN)

  • Structure: Assembly (all members vote), Council (Britain, France, Italy, Japan), and Secretariat (administrative).

  • Concept: Collective Security—an attack on one member was an attack on all. Mechanisms included trade sanctions and military force.

  • Successes: Settled Aaland Islands dispute (Finland/Sweden, $1920$); ended invasion of Albania ($1921$); avoided war between Greece/Bulgaria ($1925$); established Health and Refugee organisations.

  • Weaknesses: Lacked a military force; required unanimous Council decisions; lacked major powers (US never joined, Germany joined $1926-33$, USSR excluded until $1934$, Japan/Italy left in the $1930s$).

  • Failures: Failed to act against Japan in Manchuria ($1931$) or Italy in Abyssinia ($1935$—oil sanctions were exempted to avoid pushing Italy toward Germany). Failed to intervene in the Spanish Civil War ($1936$).

• The United Nations (UN)

  • Context: Established to succeed the LoN after the death of up to $75\,million$ people in WWII. Charter signed June $26$, $1945$; officially formed October $24$, $1945$.

  • Structure: General Assembly (all nations equal); Security Council (true power, $5$ permanent members with veto: China, USSR, France, US, Britain; $10$ non-permanent members on $2$-year terms).

  • Powers: Approve peacekeeping, issue ceasefires, impose sanctions (arms embargoes, travel restrictions, financial penalties), and authorize force.

  • Achievements/Failures: No wars on the scale of WWI/II since its birth; improved health and education. However, it failed in complete disarmament, was unresponsive to some genocides, and the P5 veto often undermines objectives.

The Ambitions of Germany and Japan

• Germany's Ambitions in Europe

  • Ideology: Driven by racial supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, and Lebensraum (living space in the East).

  • Goals: Restore German honor, destroy the Weimar legacy, revise the ToV, and unite German-speaking peoples.

  • Actions: Hitler withdrew from the LoN ($1933$), reintroduced conscription ($1935$), and signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement (limited German navy to $35\, \%$ of British navy).

  • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: Shocked the world; Hitler aimed to avoid a two-front war, while Stalin wanted time to build defenses.

• Japan's Ambitions in the Asia-Pacific

  • Discontent: Resented unequal treatment at the Paris Peace Conference and limitations from the Washington ($1922$) and London Naval ($1930$) Treaties.

  • Expansionism: Domination in East Asia was seen as essential for security and raw materials. Invasion of Manchuria ($1931$) led to the puppet state Manchukuo.

  • Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere: A self-sufficient coalition of Asian nations led by Japan, intended to remove Western colonial influence.

  • Pearl Harbor: Following US embargoes on oil and war materials, Japan launched a surprise attack on December $7$, $1941$.

Life in Nazi Germany: Workers, Youth, and Women

• Workers and the German Labour Front (DAF)

  • Trade unions were smashed on May $2$, $1933$, and replaced by the DAF under Robert Ley.

  • Strength Through Joy (KdF): Provided cheap holidays (cruises, concerts, sports). Stephen H. Roberts noted the benefit of "Beethoven for sixpence."

  • Beauty of Work (Sda): Improved conditions with canteens and bathrooms.

  • Control: Striking was banned; "workbooks" tied workers to specific jobs; wages remained low; by $1938$, workers could be directed to any job in Germany.

• The Hitler Youth (HJ) and League of German Maidens (BDM)

  • Purpose: Ensure a continuous flow of dedicated Nazis for the "thousand-year Reich." Focus on fitness for soldiers (boys) and mothers (girls).

  • Structure: Pimpfen (under $10$), Jungvolk/Jungmadel ($10-14$), Hitler Jugend/BDM ($14-18$).

  • Compulsion: Membership mandatory from December $1936$. By $1939$, $7.28\,million$ out of $8.8\,million$ eligible youths were members.

  • Indoctrination: Indoctrination was ceaseless. Activities prioritized over schools; curriculum changed to include "German Physics" and pro-German history.

  • Failure: $1.6\,million$ youths refused to participate due to resentment of conformity, poor leadership, or parental disapproval.

• The Role of Women

  • Slogan: Kinder, Kirche, Kuche (Children, Church, Kitchen).

  • Marriage Loans: Under the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage ($1933$), couples received a loan of $1,000\,marks$; for each child, $250\,marks$ was forgiven.

  • Motherhood Cross: Awarded on Hitler's mother's birthday for high birth rates.

  • Lebensborn: Program where unmarried women met racially pure SS men to conceive. First home built outside Munich; later expanded to occupied Norway.

  • Restrictions: Married women were removed from civil service; barred from becoming judges, lawyers, or doctors; makeup/trousers/slimming were discouraged.

Cultural Expression, Religion, and Minorities

• Religion and the Concordat

  • July $1933$: Concordat signed with the Vatican; Nazis promised to respect Catholic rights if the Church stayed out of politics.

  • Reich Church: Created under Ludwig Mueller; attempted to remove the Old Testament.

  • Opposition: Confessional Church (Martin Niemoller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer) resisted Nazi influence.

• Cultural Expression and Joseph Goebbels

  • Goebbels headed the Reich Chamber of Culture (RKK). Literature, art, and music were used for "spiritual direction."

  • Degenerate Art: Modernist and abstract styles (cubism, jazz) were banned as "un-German."

  • Book Burnings: May $10$, $1933$, in Berlin, targeting "impure" works (Marx, Freud, Einstein).

  • Architecture: Albert Speer and Hitler favored neo-classical styles on a monumental scale for the planned capital, "Germania."

• Persecution of Minorities

  • Eugenics: Science of selective breeding applied to achieve "racial hygiene."

  • Disabled: Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring ($1933$) led to over $400,000$ sterilisations. T4 Programme ($1939$) resulted in the secret gassing/starvation of over $5,000$ disabled children and $72,000$ total adults.

  • Anti-Semitism:

    • $1933$: Boycott of Jewish shops (April $1$); Jews banned from government jobs.

    • $1935$: Nuremberg Laws (Reich Law on Citizenship and Law for the Protection of German Blood and Honour) stripped Jews of citizenship and banned intermarriage.

    • $1938$: Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass, Nov $9-10$); $191$ synagogues and $814$ shops destroyed; $100$ Jews killed; leaders ordered Jews to pay a fine of $1\,billion\,marks$.

  • Gypsies (Sinti/Roma): About $26,000$ in Germany; deemed social nuisances; lost citizenship in $1938$; later deported.

  • Homosexuals: Imprisonment rose from $766$ ($1934$) to $8,000$ ($1938$); roughly $5,000$ died in camps.

Opposition to the Nazi Regime

• Types of Resistance

  • Youth: Edelweiss Pirates (working-class, beat up HY members); White Rose (Sophie and Hans Scholl distribued anti-Nazi leaflets, executed $1943$); Swing Kids (middle-class, preferred jazz/English style).

  • Church: Bishop Galen spoke against euthanasia in $1941$; Pope Pius XI issued "With Burning Sorrow" ($1937$).

  • Military: Several attempts on Hitler's life, most notably the July Bomb Plot ($1944$) by Claus von Stauffenberg at the "Wolf's Lair."

  • Political: SPD and KPD were destroyed by Gleischaltung by $1934$. Undergroumd cells like Rote Kapelle (Red Orchestra) gathered information.

Questions & Discussion

• Search for Peace Questions

  1. Describe the purpose and the power of the LoN.

  2. Explain why the LoN failed to preserve peace.

  3. Explain the cartoonist’s message (The gap in the bridge) on page $5$.

  4. Why was Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union omitted from the cartoon?

• Nazi Germany Questions

  1. Explain what influenced Nazi foreign policy.

  2. Outline Hitler’s foreign policy goals.

  3. Why was Hitler looking to form an alliance with Britain?

  4. Assess the significance of the German invasion of Czechoslovakia.

  5. Explain how the ambitions of Nazi Germany undermined the search for international peace and security.

  6. Explain Japan’s discontent after WWI.

  7. How did Japan react to its growing discontent?

• Sample HSC Question ($6\,marks$)

  • Question: Describe similarities between the ambitions of Germany in Europe and Japan in the Asia-Pacific.

  • Sample Answer Summary: Both shared political, economic, and military objectives; believed in racial superiority (Lebensraum vs. Japan as the superior race in Asia); sought to reclaim lost territory or resources (Sudetenland vs. South-East Asia); and aimed for economic security following the Great Depression.

AJP Taylor's quote suggests that the effectiveness of postwar settlements and whether peace can be achieved without sacrifices from all parties are critical to understanding historical conflicts. E.H. Carr emphasizes the importance of examining the motivations and actions of historical figures to understand the implications of historical events. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. likens history to collective memory for nations, implying that understanding past events is crucial for shaping a nation's identity. Eric Hobsbawm presents history as a diverse landscape, suggesting that it is dynamic and subject to exploration. Howard Zinn stresses the necessity of historical knowledge, claiming that ignorance leaves one unanchored in reality. Will Durant believes that our habitual actions define who we are, implying that history shapes societies based on repeated successes or failures.