International Peace Collapsed

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  • Created by: Rhian
  • Created on: 25-05-13 10:57

Need to Think and Know About

  • What were the long term consequences of the peace treaties 1919-1923
  • What were the consequences of the LON failures
  • How far Hitlers foreign policy's were to blame
  • Was the policy of appeasement justified
  • How important was the Nazi-Soviet Pact
  • Why did France and Britain declare war on Germany 1939
  • The collapse of international order
  • The increasing military from Geramny, Italy, Japan
  • The Saar, remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland
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Hitlers Foreign Policy Aims

  • Abolish TOV
  • Rearm Germany
  • Remilitarize the Rhineland
  • Unite all German speaking people
  • Expand German Territory
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German Rearmament

  • Began in 1933
  • At first it was done in secretcy, this was done by industrialists who produced new tanks, aircrafts and other weapons
  • 1934 Geneva Disarmament Conference, Hitler said Geramny was treated unfairly as he did not get equality with the French army
  • 19355 Anglo-German Naval agreement allowed Germany to increase there Navy beyond TOV. The French were furious and believed Britian was being too soft
  • 1935 Hitler declared he was increasing the Geramn Army to 500,000, and announced the German Air Force
  • Rearmament was very popular in Geramny and boosted the support for the Nazi's
  • Britain and France were divided, Britain felt TOV were too harsh.
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The Saar Plebiscite

  • TOV placed the Saar - coal mining area - under the LON's administration for 15 years
  • In January, 1935 the people of Saar was given a chance to vote in a plebiscite on whether they wanted to become French or Germany. 477,000 to 48,000 to return to Germany.
  • 1919 - The Saar was removed from Germany and put under the control of LON. All the profits from the coal to the French as payment for reparations.
  • 1933 - when Hitler comes to power, some of his opponents took refuge in the Saar
  • 1935 - The LON held a plebiscite on whether the Saar should reunite with Germany. They voted 90% or 10% in favour to return Germany.
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Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

  • TOV forbade Geramny from having any armed forces in the Rhineland
  • `This was done to stop Germany from attacking Belgium and France
  • However, both France and Belgium exploited this by invading in 1923 to force Geramny to pay the reparations
  • Everyone was focused on Abyssinia when Hitler marched his troops into the Rhineland in March 1936. Britain and France did nothing.
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Austria (Anschluss)

  • Hitler believed that as Austria was a German speaking country it should join with the greater Germany, this was strickly forbidden under TOV
  • There was a strong Nazi Party in Austria, Hitler made them stir up trouble to make it seem that they wanted to be part of Germany.
  • They staged demonstrations calling for pollitical union with Germany (Anschluss), some of them turned into riots
  • In February 1938, Hitler called a meeting with the Austrian Chancellor Herr Schuschnigg, the meeting ended with Hitler threatening him
  • He tried to fight Hitler by calling a plebiscite on staying independent from Germany
  • On March 11, Hitler demanded the vote should be stopped, Schuschnigg resigned and Germany invaded
  • Chamberlain thought that Austria and Germany had the right to be uniited and that TOV was wrong to seperate them
  • The lack of opposition from Britain and France made Hitler confident. He was aware that people in Britain thought that TOV was too harsh and that they didn't want another war.
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Appeasement Czechoslovakia

  • After the Anschluss it was clear that Czechoslovakia was the next port of call.
  • The leader of Czechoslovakia, Edward Benes was horrifieed at Anschluss. He realised his country would be next as it had 3 million ethnic Germans living in Sudetenland
  • Czechoslovakia has an army well equiped which was similar in size to Germany and the country had a lot of natural resources and thriving arms industry
  • By 1938, Germany was ready for war but Britian was not
  • A few weeks after Anschluss the Nazi in Sudetenland claimed they were being treated badly
  • The USSR offred to help as long as France did, Czech and French armies were getting ready
  • At a last ditch attempt to keep peace Chamberlain flew to Germany - 15th September 1938
  • 19th September Britain and France put it to Benes and it was rejected - leaves defenseless
  • 22nd September Hitler went back on his word
  • 29th September the leaders of Britain, France and Germany to the Munich Agreement, Hitler got the demands he wanted but was not allowed to take anymore of Europe, both Czech and USSR was not part of the agreement
  • Chamberlain said it would give 'peace in our time'
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Appeasement

  • A strong Germany could help Britain in a future war against communism
  • Appeasement was based on that Hitler could be trusted
  • Britain did not have allies that was willing to fight Geramny in 1938
  • It gave Britain time to rearm
  • Britain and France was still feeling the affects of the Great Depression
  • In opinion poll, British people were not prepared to fight for Czech
  • The horror and sacrifices of the Great War
  • Give Hitler what he wants he will leave us alone
  • Hitlers demands weren't unreasonable
  • Appeasement scared the USSR as it said that Britain and France would not stand in Hitlers way
  • It gave Geramny more time to build weapons
  • It encourage Hitler to be more agressive
  • It just put the war off
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The End of Appeasement

  • At Munich Hitler gave Chamberlain meaningless promises
  • Hitler took the whole of Czechoslovakia on the 15th March 1939
  • Appeasing Hitler made him more aggressive and his promises were worthless
  • On the 15th March German forces crossed the Czech border and invaded the country
  • Czechoslovakia was unable to put up resistance because of the Munich Agreement
  • Both Britain and France did nothing, Britain was only beginning to rearm and France was not prepared to go to war without Britain
  • However for the British people this was a step to far for Hitler as he had broken promises but was taking land that never belonged to Germany
  • For Hitler it was about Lebensraum - living space
  • As part of a secret deal he gave part of Czechoslovakia to Hungary and Poland grabbed some territory
  • It was clear that Poland was Germany's next target
  • Britain and France were determined to make a stand and on the 30th March promised to help Poland if Geramny attacked
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The Nazi-Soviet Pact

  • Geramny had lost a lot of land to Polandand the Germans living there were forced to move by the Polish Army. Hitler was keen to get this land back and act revenge
  • Britain declared that they would protect Poland if Germany attacked
  • Britain tried to make a deal with USSR to help defend Poland but because of the Munich Agreement the USSR not longer trusted Britain and France
  • In 1920 Poland took land from Russia
  • 1935 USSR joined LON
  • 1935 France signed a treaty to help Russia if Germany attacked
  • 1936 LON proved to be weak with Abyssinia
  • 1938 the USSR was not invited to the Munich Agreement
  • After Czechoslokia Stalin (USSR leader) thought Britain and France weren't strong enough
  • When Britain declared to protect Poland Stalin took it as they were defending one of his enemies
  • August 1938 Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. They agreed not to attack each other for 10 yrs, Germany agreed to share technology with USSR, while USSR agreed to supply raw materials, oil and food if Germany was attacked
  • In secret clauses they agreed to split Poland between they, to get back the land TOV and from 1920
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German Invasion of Poland

  • 1st September 1939 crossed into Poland
  • Hitler was convinced of an easy victory and that Britain and France would not go to war Poland
  • Both countries sent an ultimatum which Hitler ignored
  • 24 hrs later both countries declared war on the 3rd September 1939, Hitler carried on
  • Due to the distance and speed Britain and France couldn't help Poland
  • 17th September USSR invaded Poland, within a month Poland was defeated
  • Summer 1939 German newspapers were putting out anti-Polish propoganda
  • 6th October Polish forces were finally defeated at the Battle of Kock
  • Thousands of Polish went to North Africa to join up with the British soldiers
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