Hitler's Foreign Policy and Appeasement

Hitler's aims
1. Make Germany a great nation again
2. Unite all German speakers
3. Create Lebensraum
4. Destroy communism
5. Create a master race
How could Hitler be successful in furthering his aims?
1. Change the land settlement of the treaty
2. Unite 7mill German speakers in Austria and 4mill in Czechoslovakia and Poland
3. Expand Eastwards
4. Build up the German army
5. He wanted to gain the friendship of Italy and Britain
How did he go about his early gains?
1. He began to rearm
2. Attended disarmament conference 1932
  1. French refused to disarm
    1. Hitler took Germany out of the League
3. USSR joined league in 1934, afraid of German expansion
4. Exploited Britain and France
5. 10 yr non-aggression pact with Poland-1934
How did Hitler break TofV
1. Rearmament 1935
  1. Hitler introduced conscription
  2. Anglo-German naval agreement
    1. German navy no more than 35% of Britain's
  3. Britain agreed to German rearmament
    1. Weakened Stresa Front
      1. Agreement between Italy, Britain & France
  4. By 1938 army-800,000 navy-47 U-boats air force-2000+ aircraft
    1. By 1939 army was 1mill+
2. Re-occupation of Rhineland 1936
  1. 7th March Hitler put troops in Rhineland
    1. This undermined TofV and Locarno pact of 1926
      1. He told his troops to retreat if faced with opposition
        Britain and France didn't stop him they only condemned the act
        USSR voted to impose sanctions
        They were worried about Abyssinia
        France didn't want to act without Britain
        Britain thought Hitler was only going into his 'backyard' and was doing nothing wrong
        They thought the Treaty was too harsh anyway
  2. Signed 25 yr non-aggression pact with France
  3. Promised he had no further territorial demands in Europe
Effects of remiliterisation
1. Britain &France could have stopped Hitler
2. Britain wanted to sort out Germany's genuine grievances so there would be no more complaints
3. Hitler gained popularity & confidence to go further
4. Signed Rome-Berlin Axis 1936
  1. Chance to test army in Spanish civil war 1936-39
  2. Hitler gained Italy as an ally
    1. Britain and France weren't willing to oppose these two leaders
      1. Need for rearmament in Britain
Anschluss
1. 1934
  1. Attempted to join with Austria
  2. Encouraged civil disobedience from Austrian Nazis
    1. Resulted in murder of Austrian chancellor Dolfuss
  3. Mussolini stopped Hitler by moving his army to the Austrian border
    1. Hitler was too weak to fight back, retreated and started to build up his army
2. 1938
  1. Hitler was now allied with Mussolini
  2. Encouraged Austrian Nazis to overthrow the government
    1. Austrian chancellor asked for Hitler's help
      1. He didn't help
        He demanded that the Austrian Nazis become a part of the government
        He forced Schuschnigg to appoint Seyss-Inquart as Minister of the interior
        Hitler and Seyss-Inquart encouraged Austrian Nazis to riot
        Schuschnigg ordered a plebiscite to decide whether Austria remained independent or not
        Hitler told Schuschnigg to cancel it and resign
        Britain and France did nothing
        Seyss-Inquart became chancellor
        German troops entered the country on 12th March
        In April, 99.75% of Austrians agreed to unite with Germany.
        Hitler used this as evidence that he was following the 14 points
Effects of Anschluss
1. Victory for Germany
2. Hitler gained land, army and money from coal and steel
3. Hitler's popularity and confidence grew
4. Germany surrounded the Sudetenland
Consequences of Hitler's violations of TofV
1. Britain and France were seen as weak
  1. Aggressive powers ally with Hitler
2. Rome-Berlin Axis 1935
  1. Hitler encouraged to take more risks and expand
    1. Built forts around Rhineland
3. Smaller countries started to worry
Britain and appeasement
1. Policy adopted by Britain 1919-39
  1. Closely tied to Neville Chamberlain 1937-39
    1. He felt that the TofV was too harsh on Germany
2. Chamberlain knew there were risks but if Germany was satisfied, there would be no chance of war
3. Appeasement depended on:
  1. Hitler's honesty and trustworthiness
  2. How reasonable Hitler's demands were
Pros and cons of appeasement
1. Pros
  1. War delayed
  2. Gave time to prepare for war
  3. Germany had 'genuine grievances'
  4. They feared Communism more than Nazism and wanted to create a 'buffer zone' between themselves and Russia
  5. They didn't have the support of the USA as the USA was isolated
2. Cons
  1. Hitler wasn't trustworthy
  2. Made Britain look weak
  3. Hitler gained confidence and strength
Sudetenland crisis 1939
1. After the Anschluss, Hitler wanted to take over Czechoslovakia as there was 3mill German speakers (this was his excuse)
2. It was one of the strongest states created by TofV
3. It had strong fortifications
4. It was industrially rich
5. He was encouraged by the policy of appeasement
6. He had the guaranteed support of Mussolini
How did Hitler take over Czechoslovakia?
1. Konrad Henlein (leader of Sudeten Germans) helped Hitler by ordering Nazis to attack Czechs and Jews
  1. Hitler hoped that the Nazis would have to step in to take control and promised Henlein he could depend on Hitler
    1. Britain and France did nothing
      1. 15th September 1938 Chamberlain flew to Berchesgaden to find out what Hitler wanted
        He demanded the German speaking parts of the Sudetenland after a plebiscite
        Chamberlain forced Benes (the Czech President) to accept
        Benes realised he couldn't depend on BR & FR
        He thought he could depend on USSR
        22nd September Chamberlain returned to Germany
        Hitler, amazed that his demands had been met, asked for more
        He wanted his requests met immediately with no plebiscite
        Chamberlain returned to London and prepared for war
        He then received an invitation to a 4 power Munich agreement
        The 4 powers were:
        Britain & Chamberlain
        France & Daladier
        Italy & Mussolini
        Germany & Hitler
        Czechoslovakia and USSR weren't invited
        30th September 1938 Munich
        Agreed that:
        Sudetenland would become German
        BR & FR would protect the rest of CZ
        The Czechs were forced to accept
        Hitler & Chamberlain met secretly to agree never to go to war with eachother
Consequences of Czechoslovakian takeover
1. Hitler was able to expand
2. Czechoslovakia had been betrayed
3. Peace maintained
4. Hitler gained confidence
5. Germany gained resources
6. Appeasement was a failure
7. Hitler allied with Japan and Italy to make the great Fascist union (Pact of Steel 1939)
8. USSR felt betrayed
What happened to Czechoslovakia
1. Lost 70% of it's heavy industry
2. Poland got the province of Teschen in October 1938
3. Lost entire defence frontier
4. Lost huge deposits of coal, iron ore and lignite
5. Lost 3.5mill Sudeten Germans
Effects of the takeover of Czechoslovakia
1. Marked the end of appeasement
2. Hitler proved he couldn't be trusted
3. Chamberlain felt betrayed
4. Lithuania was forced to surrender Memel
5. Hitler demanded the return of the port Danzig
6. BR & FR signed a guarantee to protect Poland if invaded
7. Mussolini conquered Albania
8. Conscription introduced in Britain
9. Signing of Pact of Steel
10. Hitler withdrew non aggression pact with Poland and Naval agreement with GB
Role of USSR
1. USSR could help Poland
  1. Too far away from BR & FR
2. BR & FR tried to make agreement over Poland
3. Poles were scare of Soviets as much as the Nazis
4. Stalin aimed to make a pact with Hitler (Nazi-Soviet pact August 1939
  1. The world was amazed as they were sworn enemies
5. Went against anti-commintern pact 1937
Why was the Nazi-Soviet pact signed?
1. Britain failed to gain alliance so Stalin resorted to Hitler
2. Stalin thought BR & FR were trying to encourage the allinace
3. Germany and Russia agreed not to interfere with each other in the event of war
4. Secret clauses also meant they would get half of Poland
5. Both countries had time to prepare for war
6. An attack on Poland was inevitable
Why did Russia change her attitude to Germany 1938-39
1. Britain and France were weak and Stalin knew they would be a poor ally
2. Hitler was moving further East and Stalin needed to stop him
3. Russia was militarily weak
4. Britain and France were too slow
Why did BR & FR change their attitude towards Germany 1938-39?
1. Hitler broke Munich agreement
2. Change in public opinion
3. Support of the white dominions (Australia, NZ, Canada)
4. Rearmament
Poland and the outbreak of war
1. Hitler demanded 90% of Danzig
  1. Poland refused
    1. Hitler was amazed
      1. He expected BR & FR to give in again
        BR told Hitler it would protect Poland
        1st September Hitler invaded Poland
        3rd September BR declared war on Germany
        Germany and USSR overran Poland in 4 weeks
Why did war break out in 1939?
1. Actions of Hitler
2. Appeasement
3. TofV too harsh
4. Depression
5. Failure of LofN
6. Nazi-Soviet pact
7. Change in public opinion

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Hitler's Foreign Policy and Appeasement

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