Adolf Hitler

• A fascist leader who came to power after the Great War

• He believed in the superiority of the Aryan race and wanted to conquer as much land as possible to gain more lebensraum (living space) for Germanic peoples

• With the support of his followers and his Nazi party, Hitler conquered many countries and remilitarized Germany, violating the Treaty of Versailles on multiple counts

The Rhineland

• Supposed to be a demilitarized zone under the Treaty of Versailles

• However, Hitler sent German troops to invade the Rhineland and occupy it, violating the Treaty

• At first, countries like Britain and France allowed Germany to do this in hopes that Hitler would be satisfied

• This policy was called appeasement-- it was favored by the British prime minister Neville Chamberlain, but in the end, it only let Hitler grow stronger

Anschluss

• “union with Austria”

• Hitler was from Austria and also knew it had a large German population

• Because of this, he wanted to absorb it into the Third Reich (the German Empire)

• Many Austrians also supported a union with Germany

• Hitler sent his army to annex Austria

• Britain and France had pledged to prevent this but ignored that pledge in favor of appeasement

Sudetenland

• Soon after annexing Austria, Hitler turned his attention to the Sudetenland, a mostly German-populated region of Czechoslovakia

• Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia give him the Sudetenland

• The Czechs refused and turned to France for help

Munich Conference

• After Czechoslovakia requested France’s assistance, Britain and France were preparing to go to war

• Mussolini stepped in and proposed that Germany, France, Britain, and Italy all meet in Munich to discuss the matter of Hitler’s demand for the Sudetenland

• Britain and France believed that giving in to Hitler’s demand would be the best way to maintain peace, particularly Neville Chamberlain, who believed the policy of appeasement would be enough to eventually satisfy Hitler

• Hitler received the Sudetenland and pledged to respect Czechoslovakia’s borders

• However, he took control of the entirety of Czechoslovakia soon after

Poland and the Cause of World War 2

• After taking control of Czechoslovakia, Hitler wanted to retake the formerly German port of Danzig in Poland

• Poland refused and turned to Britain and France

• Britain and France decided Hitler had finally taken too much land, and they asked the Soviet Union to join them in stopping Hitler

• Stalin began discussing an alliance with Britain and France, but he also bargained with Hitler

• Hitler and Stalin eventually came to an agreement called the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact, which publicly pledged that Germany and Russia would never attack each other

• A second, secret part of their agreement stated that if Germany invaded and annexed Poland, then Germany and the Soviet Union would split Poland’s land between their two countries

The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

• Came as a huge surprise to the world for many reasons:

  • Germany was a fascist country, and fascists were strongly opposed to communism, but Germany decided to work with the Soviet Union, a communist country

  • Poland had expected the USSR to defend them the way it had defended Serbia in the Great War because of their large Slavic populations

  • The second part of the pact, which stated that Poland would be divided between Germany and the Soviet Union, was kept secret

• After this pact, Germany invaded Poland, and Britain and France declared war on Germany

Words cannot explain how much I hate myself for creating these images, but here is a visual representation to help you remember: