4: Outbreak of World War II in Europe – Review Flashcards

Context: World Situation Before WWII

• Post–WWI Optimism (1919{-}1929)
  • Paris Peace Conference (1919) appeared to inaugurate an era of lasting peace.
  • Late-1920s economic boom: world trade expanded; U.S. Dawes & Young loans stabilised the German mark, permitting French withdrawal from the Ruhr.
  • Optimism short-lived: rising imperial tensions in Europe & Asia–Pacific foreshadowed renewed conflict.
• The Great Depression (after U.S. crash of 1929)
  • Global economic collapse exposed the fragility of the post-war order.
  • Governments embraced economic nationalism: protectionist tariffs, calling-in of foreign loans, competitive devaluations, and rearmament to shield domestic economies.
  • Socio-economic despair fuelled radical ideologies—Nazism in Germany, Fascism in Italy—undermining democratic stability.

Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations (LON) in the 1930s

• Foundational Aims
  • Resolve disputes peacefully (collective security) and achieve multilateral disarmament.
• Structural Concerns & Weaknesses
  • Absence of the USA and later withdrawal of Japan, Germany, Italy undermined universality.
  • Reliance on moral authority and economic sanctions; no standing army.
• Early Disarmament Efforts (outside direct League control)
  • Washington Naval Conference (1921): set capital-ship tonnage ratios (e.g. 5{:}5{:}3 for USA, UK, Japan) – not a League initiative.
  • Locarno Treaties (1925): Franco-German border guarantees accepted Versailles; again, outside LON.
  • League Commission for World Disarmament (1926): UK & France refused parity, stalling progress.
  • Kellogg–Briand Pact (1928): 63 states renounced war but lacked enforcement.
• World Disarmament Conference (1932{-}1934)
  • 60 states (incl. USA) convened; failed to define “offensive” v. “defensive” weapons.
  • Consensus collapsed over Germany’s demand for equality of armaments; Germans walked out (Oct 1933) and quit LON, beginning secret rearmament.
• Abyssinian Crisis (1935{-}1936)
  • Mussolini exploited Walwal Oasis skirmish to invade Abyssinia (Ethiopia).
  • LON sanctions excluded vital commodities—oil, coal, steel—owing to British/French commercial interests.
  • France & Britain kept the Suez Canal open; secret Hoare–Laval Pact (Dec 1935) proposed gifting \tfrac{2}{3} of Abyssinia to Italy.
  • Result: Italy conquered Addis Ababa (May 1936) → Rome–Berlin Axis (Nov 1936); LON prestige shattered, encouraging Hitler (e.g. unopposed remilitarisation of Rhineland).

Hitler’s Ideology, Aims & Early Aggression (1933{-}1937)

• Core Beliefs (Mein Kampf)
  • Abolish the Treaty of Versailles (TOV).
  • Destroy Communism/Bolshevism.
  • Gain Lebensraum in Eastern Europe.
  • Elevate German racial nationalism & militarism.
• Domestic Strategy
  • Radical nationalism: primacy of Volksgemeinschaft.
  • State-directed economic revival via public works (Autobahnen) & massive rearmament.
• Foreign Policy Actions
  • Withdrawal from LON & Disarmament Conference (Oct 1933).
  • Saar plebiscite (1935): 90\% vote to rejoin Reich.
  • Conscription & open rearmament announced (Mar 1935); Luftwaffe revealed.
  • Rhineland remilitarised (Mar 1936) – direct TOV & Locarno breach; no Allied response.
  • Spanish Civil War intervention (from 1936) – testing ground for Wehrmacht/Luftwaffe.
  • Anti-Comintern Pact (1936) with Japan (Italy joined 1937).

Policy of Appeasement

• Definition: Conceding to aggressive states’ demands to avert war.
• Principal Architects: UK (Neville Chamberlain), France (Édouard Daladier after 1938).
• Motivations
  • Collective trauma of WWI – “Never Again”.
  • Perceived LON impotence; bilateral diplomacy seen as the only lever.
  • Desire to buy time for rearmament (e.g., RAF fighter production, French Maginot Line).
  • Sympathy for German grievances regarding TOV “harshness”.
  • Anti-Communist calculus – Germany viewed as bulwark against USSR.
  • Economic constraints during Depression; limited public support for war.
• Critiques (contemporaneous & historiographical)
  • Emboldened fascist aggression; sacrificed smaller states’ sovereignty.
  • Misread Hitler’s ideological rigidity; assumed demands were finite.

Landmark Appeasement Crises (1935{-}1939)

• Anschluss with Austria (Mar 1938)
  • TOV forbade union; Austrian Nazis fomented unrest.
  • Hitler marched troops under guise of ensuring a “free” plebiscite; vote (Apr 1938) claimed 99.75\% in favour.
  • Raw materials (iron ore, armaments capacity) added to Reich.
  • UK’s Lord Halifax hinted non-opposition → signal of weakness.
• Sudetenland & Munich Agreement (Sept 1938)
  • Region held 3.5 million ethnic Germans; Hitler threatened war.
  • Britain, France, Italy met Germany—without Czechoslovakia or USSR.
  • Sudetenland ceded; Chamberlain’s “peace for our time” speech.
  • Czechoslovakia lost defensible border & armaments industries (e.g., Skoda works).
• Final Collapse of Appeasement
  • March 1939: Hitler occupied rest of Bohemia–Moravia; Britain issued Polish Guarantee.

Nazi–Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (23 Aug 1939)

• Public Clause: 10-year pledge of neutrality.
• Secret Protocol
  • Partitioned Eastern Europe into spheres: USSR to receive Eastern Poland, Baltic states (Latvia, Estonia, Finland’s interests), Bessarabia.
• Hitler’s Calculus
  • Avoid two-front war; secure eastern flank for Polish campaign.
• Stalin’s Calculus
  • Distrusted feeble Anglo-French diplomacy; sought to buy time (≈ 18 months) to modernise Red Army after purges.
  • Hope to regain Tsarist territories without immediate conflict.
• Immediate Impact
  • Shocked global opinion; undermined anti-Hitler alliance talks in London/Moscow.

Invasion of Poland & Outbreak of WWII

• German Demands
  • Return of Danzig “Free City” (German majority) & extraterritorial corridor linking East Prussia.
• Polish Government
  • Refused concessions; relied on Anglo-French guarantees (Mar 1939).
• Operation Fall Weiß (Case White)
  • 1 Sept 1939, Wehrmacht crossed frontier; Blitzkrieg tactics achieved rapid breakthroughs.
• Allied Response
  • Britain & France issued ultimatums; declared war 3 Sept 1939.
  • Official start of World War II in Europe.

Thematic Connections & Significance

• Economic dislocation (Great Depression) ↔ rise of extremist regimes.
• Failure of collective security ↔ unilateralism & bilateral pacts (e.g., Munich, Ribbentrop-Molotov).
• Appeasement as both pragmatic delay and moral failure; still debated by historians (Orthodox vs. Revisionist vs. Counter-revisionist schools).
• Ethical dimension: small-state sovereignty sacrificed for illusory peace; precedent for modern discussions on deterrence & international law.

Exam-Style Essay Prompts

• "Assess the extent to which the Treaty of Versailles and the Great Depression caused WWII in Europe."
• "Was the League destined to fail because of inherent structural weaknesses rather than particular crises?"
• "Analyse motives behind appeasement and evaluate its success or failure."
• "To what extent was Hitler’s foreign policy the primary catalyst of war compared with other variables?"
• "Examine the strategic impact of the Nazi–Soviet Pact on the timing and scope of Hitler’s invasion of Poland."

Glossary of Key Terms

• Appeasement – granting concessions to avoid conflict.
• Anschluss – union of Austria & Germany (Mar 1938).
• Axis Powers – Rome–Berlin Axis (1936) later joined by Japan.
• Collective Security – mutual defence principle underlying LON.
• Disarmament – reduction of armed forces; ideal seldom realised 1920s{-}30s.
• Economic Nationalism – protectionist, self-sufficient policies post-1929.
• Fascism – ultranationalist, authoritarian ideology (e.g., Mussolini).
• Great Depression – world economic slump after Wall Street Crash 1929.
• Lebensraum – "living space"; Nazi territorial expansion doctrine.
• League of Nations – interwar peace organisation (est. 1920), fatally weakened by absent/withdrawing great powers.
• Munich Agreement – Sept 1938 settlement ceding Sudetenland.
• Nazism – Hitler’s totalitarian, racist, expansionist ideology.
• Nazi–Soviet Pact – Ribbentrop–Molotov treaty (1939) dividing Eastern Europe.
• Protectionism – trade barriers to shelter domestic industries.
• Remilitarisation of the Rhineland – German troops enter demilitarised zone (Mar 1936).
• Rome–Berlin Axis – Italian–German alliance (1936).
• Sudetenland – German-speaking borderlands of Czechoslovakia.
• Treaty of Versailles (TOV) – WWI peace settlement imposing reparations, territorial losses & armament limits on Germany.