Zusammenfassung der Ressource
Hitler's Foreign Policy
(1934 - 1935)
- Remilitarization of the
Rhineland
- Gamble that Britain and France wouldn't
stop him
- Gamble paid off
- Gained the support of the German army
- Increased his confidence
- Nazi - Soviet pact
- Both invaded Poland
- Germany invaded from the west
- Soviet forces invaded from the
east
- Britain and France declare war on Germany
- Triggers the start of WW2
- Nazi's hated communism
- Joseph Stalin - USSR
- Made an agreement with France in 1935
- Promised to defend USSR if they were
attacked by Germany
- Munich Agreement
- Secret, Stalin didn't know
- Stalin didn't trust Britain and France anymore
- USSR didn't trust Hitler either
- Thought he wouldn't keep his word
- Read Mein Kampf
- Hitler wanted
Russian land
- Russian re-armed
- Britain prefferred Germany, they
thought they'd be a good buffer against
communism
- Disarmament conference
- Germany left as nobody was disarming
- French claimed they needed an army for
protection from Germany
- Hypocrisy
(hypocrits)
- Introduced conscription in 1935 and began to rearm secretly
- 10 Year non-aggression pact with Poland
(1934)
- Pleased Britain
- Saw Germany as trying to be "peaceful"
- Invaded Poland 5 years later (1939)
- False sense of security
- Buying time
- 3 Aims
- Defeat communism - USSR
- Anti-comunist
- Expand German territory
(Lebensraum)
- Invades Czechoslovakia on 15th March 1939
- Czechs did not do anything
- Britain and France said they'd declare war on
Germany if they invaded Poland
- Wanted an empire
- Anschluss
- He encouraged Austrian Nazi Party to rebel
- Resulted in the murder of the Austrian Chancellor, Dolfuss
- Prevented by
Mussolini by
moving his army
to the frontier of
Austria
- Hitler realised his army was not strong enough
and backed down
- Denied any involvement with the Austrian Nazi Party
- Abolish the Treaty of Versailles
- Reminder of defeat
- Unfair, stopped paying reparations
- Anschluss with Austria
- Gained all of Autria's soldiers, weapons, Iron and Gold ore and land
- Anchluss was not unpopular in Austria however the plebiscite
results were 99.75% Yes
- Showed the results were rigged
- Stresa Front
- Britain sympathised with Germany not France
- Protest against Germany
introducing conscription
- Anglo-German naval agreement
- Britain agreed Germany's navy was
limited to 35% the strength of
Britain's but did not include submarines
- By signing this agreement Britain agreed to
Germany re-arming
- Breaking the Treaty of Versailles
- Appeasement
(Avoiding war at all
costs)
- ARGUEMENTS FOR APPEASEMENT
- Germany deserved a fair deal - By the 1930's many people
thought that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh
- Fear of another world
war - Many people
would agree to almost
anything to prevent
another war
- Fear of Communism - Britain saw Germany
as a good buffer against Communism
- Many people thought it wasn't worth fighting Germany over Czechoslovakia
- There was no point in fighting Germany as
they had a bigger and stronger army than
Britain's, Britain needed time to rearm
- ARGUEMENTS AGAINST APPEASEMENT
- Appeasement encouraged Hitler to be more aggressive - He kept thinking he could get
away with everything
- Germany was growing stronger - Remilitarization of the Rhineland ment he could defenc Germany's border and Anschluss
meant Hitler gained soldiers, weapons and gold and iron ore deposits