Hitler's Foriegn Policy & Causes of WW2
- Created by: zuljupri
- Created on: 10-04-17 13:48
Hitler's Aims
1. Destroy the Treaty of Versailles, re-arm Germany and recover its lost lands.
- Changing the territorial settlement of the Treaty by regaining lands inhabited by Germans including the Saar & Danzig.
2. To bring all German-speaking people everywhere under German control.
- Bring the 7 million German speaking people in Austria and the 4 million in Czechoslovakia and Poland into his empire.
3. To expand eastwards in order to gain Lebensraum- 'living space' for German people.
- Build up the German army so that his aims could be supported by force if necessary.
4. To destroy the communist USSR.
- Expand in the east against communist USSR.
The Saar- 1935
The Treaty of Versailles took the Saar from Germany and placed it into control of the League. After 15 years, a plebiscite was to be held to decide whether the Saar should return to Germany.
The Campaign
- The Nazis mounted a huge campaign to persuade on the reunification with Germany.
- Any opposition were threatened and beaten up.
- An army of Nazi stormtroopers gathered on the border to intimidate them.
The Plebiscite:
- On January 1935, 90% of Saarlanders voted for the reunification, 8% with the League and 2% with France.
The Effects:
- The decision was very popular in Germany and the Nazi Party celebrated a great victory.
- They presented the reunification as the undoing of the 'first of the injustices of Versailles'.
- The success encouraged Hitler to challenge more of the Versailles provisions.
German Rearmament
Disarmament Rejection:
- Germany was allowed to join the League of Nations in 1926.
- The Disarmament Conference began in 1932, but France would never disarm fearing an attack
- In 1933, Hitler withdrew from the Disarmament conference and the League of Nations.
- He insisted he wanted peace and would be prepared to disarm if other countries did.
- Germany continued to rearm and introduced conscription in 1935.
Lack of Action:
- Britain & France didn't act was because of several disagreements between them.
- Britain believed the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh and needed to be revised.
- France wanted the Treaty to be strengthened even more, fearing a Gerrman attack.
- Britain started to sympathise with Germany not France.
- Hitler took advantage of this to further his foriegn policy aims.
- Every time he acted against the Treaty he followed them with 'promises of peace'.
German Rearmament
- In 1934, Hitler signed a '10 year non-aggression' Pact with Poland.
- This 'guarenteed' the boundaries of Poland.
- This satisfied the Poles that Hitler wouldn't try to take back the Polish corridor.
- It also pleased Britain, who saw it as further proof that Hitler's aims were peaceful.
Naval rearmament:
- In 1935, Hitler signed the 'Anglo-German Naval' Pact with Britain.
- It was proof for the British that Hitler's aims were peaceful.
- The treaty limited the German Navy to 35% of the strength of the British fleet.
- However, this didn't include submarines.
- The agreement weakened the Stresa Front as Britain didn't consult either Italy or France.
- It led to Germany proceeding with rearmament without opposition.
- By 1938, the German Army had reached 800,000 the Navy had 47 U-Boats,and the Airforce had over 2000 aircraft.
Remilitarisation of Rhineland- 1936
Event:
- On 7 March, Hitler ordered 32,000 troops and armed police to march into Rhineland.
- He feared that Britain and France would try to stop as his army wasn't strong enough for war
- He called it the 'worst few hours of my life', however, they didn't do anything.
- He chose his moment carefully, Britain and France were more concerned about Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia.
Response:
- The French government were divided and weren't prepared to act without Britain.
- Britain believed Germany was doing nothing wrong compared to the actions of Mussolini.
- The League condemned the action, but when a vote was cast only USSR voted for sanctions
Effects:
- Hitler followed up the remilitarisation with a promise to sign a '25 year non-aggression' pact.
- They said they had no further territorial ambitions in Europe.
- It was incredibly popular with the Nazis and Hitler used it as propaganda.
Results of Remilitarisation
Treaty of Versailles:
- Hitler successfully reversed the Treaty, giving him confidence to go further.
- The other territorial losses were Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
Popularism- Hitler's position in Germany was strengthened: he was right.
New Alliances:
- It led to the signing of the 'Rome-Berlin Axis' with Mussolini.
- They cooperated with fascist General Franco in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939).
- This gave Hitler an opportunity to test his forces, weapons and tactics.
- The new alliance meant the end of Britain/France's attempts to keep Mussolini as an ally.
- Britain started to move towards rearmament.
- French security wasn't affected as they had begun building the Maignot Line, a series of fortifications on the border.
- It marked the end of the League of Nations as a means of keeping peace.
Anshluss- 1938
Hitler was Austrian by birth, and wanted all Germans united in a greater Germany. He also wanted to overturn the Treaty of Versailles
Background:
- Hitler tried Anshluss in 1934, but was stopped by Mussolini who feared being on the border.
- In 1938, Hitler felt confident to try Anshluss again, this time with the support of Mussolini.
Event:
- Chancellor Schuschnigg heard of a plot from Austrian Nazis, and asked Hitler for help.
- Hitler refused and pressurised him to appoint Seys-Inquart, leader of Austrian Nazis, as Minister of the Interior, head of police.
- A series of Nazi riots took place in Austria, and Seys-Inquart did nothing to stop them.
- Schushnigg called a plebiscite to ask the Austrian people for independance.
- It was clear that Schushnigg had defied Hitler by calling the plebiscite without his permission.
- Hitler moved the German troops to the border to intimidate them, and forced Schuschnigg to call off the plebiscite and resign from office, after it became clear Britain & France were not going to help.
Anshluss- 1938
Aftermath:
- Seys-Inquart replaced Schuschnigg and invited the Germans into Austria to restore order.
- The German Army entered on March 12.
- Hitler eliminated his opponents- around 80,000 were put in concentration camps.
- Seys-Inquart gave power to Hitler and Anshluss was proclaimed.
- After this, there was a plebiscite in April, and 99.75% voted for Anshluss.
Response:
- Britain and France protested but did nothing.
- The League of Nations wasn't consulted.
Appeasement
Appeasement- the name given to British foriegn policy in 1919-1939, but paticularly associated with Neville Chamberlain.
- Appeasement for Britain was to give Hitler some of what he wanted.
- Chamberlain thought he could reasonably negotiate with Hitler.
- Wanted Hitler to be at least partially satisfied.
- It was very clinical- Britain practically 'chose' which countries to give to Germany.
Why did Britain and France follow Appeasement?
- France supported appeasement because of the increased security it had with the 'Maignot Line'
- However, they were more likley to be 'following' Britain's lead, as both countries couldn't do something without the other's approval.
- Chamberlain as well as the British people felt the Treaty was too harsh on Germany.
- He wanted to show him that reasonable claims can be accepted by negotiations.
Sudetenland Crisis- 1938
Background:
- Czechoslovakia had a large army and strong military defences in Sudetenland.
- Hitler wanted Sudetenland because they were all German-speaking people for Lebraunsam.
- Hitler urged the leader of the Czech Nazi Party, Konrad Henlein to demand that the Czech governenment make concessions to the Sudeten Germans.
Event:
- In April 1938, German troops began massing on the Czech border.
- Czech President Edvard Benes mobilised his troops.
- On 12 September 1938, Hitler encouraged the Sudeten Nazis to riot but were stopped by the Czech government. Hitler threatened war.
Response:
- Chamberlain stepped in to put appeasement in action, and met Hitler on 15 September 1938
- He persuaded the Czechs to transfer Germany the German parts of the Sudetenland.
- However, Hitler wanted the all of the Sudetenland and threatened war. Chamberlain refused.
Munich Agreement- September 1938
Munich Conference:
- War was looking inevitable.
- However, Mussolini persuaded Hitler to attend a 4-power conference at Munich, 29 Spetember.
- At the conference, Hitler=Germany/Mussolini=Italy/Chamberlain=Britain/Daladier=France.
- Czechoslovakia weren't invited.
- All countries agreed that Sudetenland would become part of Germany.
- Britain and France forced Czechoslovakia to accept this agreement.
- German armies occupied the Sudetenland on 1 October.
- Hitler then signed an agreement in which they promised to consult each other and never to go to war against each other.
- Chamberlain used this Agreement to buy time for British rearmament.
Occupation of Czechoslovakia- March 1939
Background:
- Czechoslovakia had lost its strong defensive system.
- It had lost industrial areas.
- It lost territory to Poland and Hungary.
Event:
- In 1939, the Slovaks demanded more rights.
- The new president, Emil Hacha, appealed to Hitler for help.
- In the end, Hacha had no choice but to invite Germans in Czechoslovakia.
- On 15 March 1939, the Nazis marched into Prague and took control.
Response:
- The occupation wasn't opposed by Britain or France because the Germans were invited in.
- It marked the end of appeasement.
- Hitler couldn't justify his actions and shown himself to be the aggressor.
- He had broken his promise to Chamberlain, and so Britain introduced conscription.
Role of USSR in Causing WW2
Background:
- Hitler hated Communism.
- It was on of his top aims to get rid of communism.
- The USSR was communist therefore, the two countries were enemies.
British-USSR Talks:
- Britain hated Communism more than Nazism.
- The USSR was also suspicious of the British and French aims.
- Felt that they were trying to direct Hitler towards the east not the west.
- Britain and France showed no urgency in trying to make an agreement with USSR.
- Stalin grew tired of this delayment and had already made his decision.
- Britain & France also took Stalin as less capable, thinking they could take advantage of this.
- Stalin saw this and chose to agree with the Nazis.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Terms of the Pact:
- USSR and Germany agreed not to attack each other.
- They also agreed to attack Poland and divide it between them.
- USSR gained the land it lost in WW1.
- Germany gained the west of Poland- including the Danzig and the Polish Corridor.
Effects:
- The pact showed Hitler's invasion on Poland was inevitable.
- Hitler had prevented the danger of a war on two fronts.
- Hitler presumed Britain would not oppose the attack on Poland.
- He felt the Danzig was clearly German and the Polish Corridor East Prussia and Germany.
- Britain & France lost another possible ally in the USSR.
Reasons for the pact:
- Germany- preventing a war on two fronts, which was the fault of WW1.
- USSR- Stalin lost patience with British/ Stalin would gain time to re-arm against a German attack.
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