Hitler's foreign policy and the origins of WWII

Appeasement

appeasement is a word used to describe Chamberlain's (new rime minister of Britain) policy.

dictionary deffinition : to pacify or placate (someone) by ascending  to their demands. 

For

people wanted to avoid war.

genuine attempt to keep the peace.

Many people agreed with hitler that the treaty was unfair in many ways. Most of the unities with germany (The saar, Rhineland, Austria- later explained, thanks to hitler) wanted to be part of germany anyway.

British politicians wanted a strong germany as a barrier again communism.

Britain was not ready for war, it bought time in a sense.

with appeasement, Britain had the moral advantage ('being the better man') and people went to war knowing it was for a could reason, to stop hitler.

against

It was argued that it was useless to try and negotiate with a man like Hitler.

It made hitler think he could score easy victories against britain and france.

Chamberlain lost opportunities to stop hitler, he was allowed to grow strong (so it took the world to stop him) 

In the end, it was described as a defeat and humiliation for britain.

Hitler's aims

Adolf Hitler became chancellor of germany in 1933, he had four main policies:

-to destroy the treaty of versailles, re-arm germany and recover its lost lands.

-to bring all german speaking people under german german control

-to expand eastwards in order to gain Lebensraum.

-to destroy the communist USSR.

Overturnings of the treaty of versailles

Re-armament

as soon as he came to power, hitler re-armed germany, arguing that it must defend itself, he also withdrew germany from the disarmament conference in 1933 claiming that germany was only prepared to disarm if its neighbours did the same. Germany withdrew from the league of nations in 1933 as well. 1935 he reintroduced conscription, and started building his army, in the same year Britain recognised their right to re-arm and made a naval agreement with Germany, that they would make their navy no bigger than 35% of that of Britains.

The Saar 1935

As part of the treaty, the Saar was removed from germany and given to the league of nations for 15 years, followed by a plebiscite.

The voting day approached and the Nazis mounted a huge campaign to encourage saarlanders to vote for them. Nazis storm troopers gathered around its borders, but they were disbanded by threats from britain and france.  

In January 1935, 90% saarlanders voted for germany and it was widely celebrated as the first territorial undoings of the treaty of versailles.

The Rhineland 1936

The Rhineland became a demilitarised zone due to the treaty of versailles, but it was still part of germany. As a direct challenge to the…