The Road to War

The Road to War

The Nazi Soviet Pact 1939
1. Having agreed to appeasement with Hitler, everyone realised that Hitler was targeting Poland
  1. Chamberlain (Britain) had promised to protect Poland from German attack but really they were too far away and had only a small army
    1. So in April of 1939, Stalin suggested an alliance should be formed between Britain, Russia and France against Germany to protect Poland
      1. Germany would not attack Poland if it would risk war with Russia
      2. However discussions dragged on because:
        Britain did not like communist Russia
        Poland didn't want Russian Soldiers in Poland
        Russia did not trust that France and Britain would resist Germany
        Suddenly, in August that same year, Hitler had made a deal with Stalin, called the Nazi-Soviet Pact, to not go to war with each other and secretly to invade Poland and split it between the two of them
        This news shocked many, but from Stalin's point of view
        He would need to re-arm before Hitler invaded Russia if he had allied with France and Britain
        Stalin would have to go to war if he joined with Britain and France but if he joined with Hitler he would receive half of Poland and not have to go into war
        In 1940 Hitler broke the pact and invaded Russia
Hitler's Aims
1. The main objective behind Hitler's aims was to turn Germany into the great power it had formerly been and he planned to do this by:
  1. Destroying the nationally reviled Versailles settlement
  2. building his army/ rearmament
  3. Recovering lost territory such as the Saar and the Polish Corridor
  4. Bringing all Germans together within greater Germany and carving out an empire in Eastern Europe to give Germans extra "living space"
Rearmament 1934-1939
1. In an attempt to evade future casualties as bad as the First World War the reduction of weapons was widely suggested however no country was actually to follow through with this
  1. Aggravated that no one else would disarm Hitler withdrew from the disarmament conference and set about rebuilding his army
    1. At this point Britain and France were expected to intervene but didn't because
      1. Rearmament was seen as a legitimate way of reducing unemployment in an economically distraught country
      2. Britain as well as many other countries thought the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh and it was unfair that Germany were so vulnerable to attack
      3. A strong Germany would be a strong buffer against communism
The Saar 1935
1. The Saar was returned to Germany after a plebiscite resulting in a 90% vote in favour
  1. Hitler declared all causes of grievance between France and Germany had been removed
The Rhineland 1936
1. Encouraged by Mussolini's fall out with Britain and France, Hitler took the risk of sending troops into the demilitarised zone of the Rhineland in March 1936
  1. Though troops had orders to withdraw at the first sign of French opposition no more than the usual protests were offered so the risk paid off
    1. This had provided Hitler with buffer to stop French troops from coming to aid the Eastern European allies
      1. The French and British didn't intervene because:
        The French didn't want to go to war without Britain's backing
        Many British politicians felt that Hitler should be allowed to go "back into his own garden"
        The British public did not yet see Hitler as a threat, rather he seemed a strong potential
The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
1. The Spanish civil war was a conflict between fascist rebels, lead by General Franco, and and the left wing republican government
  1. Hitler was quick to see the opportunity and respond by providing aircraft and 6000 German troops to Franco
    1. This was the first time that aerial bombing had been used against civilians most notably in the bombing of Guernica
      1. The Spanish Civil War ended in a fascist victory for General Franco in 1939
        Most people saw Hitler's involvement in the war as an excuse to try out new warfare techniques
Anschluss with Austria 1938
1. The Austrian Nazis staged massive demonstrations calling for union with Germany that Chancellor Schuschnigg could not control
  1. Schuschnigg announced a plebiscite to determine whether or not Austria should once again be united with Germany
    1. Afraid that the plebiscite would go against his favour, Hitler sent in German troops to ensure a "trouble-free vote" which resulted in 99.75% of Austrians supporting the union with Germany
      1. Britain did not protest because they felt it Germany and Austria's right to unite and the Treaty of Versailles was wrong to punish them
        Czechoslovakia was now afraid due to the fact that they could be attacked from the North, South and west
Appeasement
1. This was the policy of giving in to some of the demands that dictators like Hitler and Mussolini in the hope that they would be satisfied and not ask for me
  1. This policy has been most closely identified with British and French foreign policy in the 1930s lead by Neville Chamberlain
    1. It was a very popular part of British Foreign Policy
The Sudetenland and the Munich Agreement 1938
1. Following Anschluss Hitler turned his attention to Czechoslovakia, the three million Sudeten Germans inhabited by it and the fact that Germany bordered it on 3 sides now
  1. Czechoslovakia was a country created following the end of WW1 however no part of it had ever been part of Germany before so it did not break the terms of the treaty
    1. The Sudeten Germans inhabited the most wealthy and industrially successful areas of Czechoslovakia
      1. Hitler and encouraged the demands of Sudeten Germans who wanted to join Germany which resulted in numerous riots and marches
        In order to resolve the situation Chamberlain met Hitler on three occasions
        Berchtesgaden- 15th September 1938
        Chamberlain made it clear to Hitler that Britain would accept self-determination for the Sudetenland but secretly Hitler wanted ans excuse to invade the whole of Czechoslovakia, not just the Sudetenland
        Godesberg- 22nd September 1938
        Britain and France planned to give Hitler the parts of the Sudetenland that he wanted but Hitler wante the whole of the Sudetenland
        Munich- 29th September 1938
        Britain, France, Italy and Germany decided to give Hitler the Sudetenland and in a separate meeting Chamberlain also agreed a pact promising peace between the two countries
        Outcomes of the Sudeten Crisis
        Hitler Became Increasingly popular in Germany achieving Victory without war
        Czechoslovakia was destroyed
        The USSR had not been included in the Munich Agreement and Stalin felt compelled to develop his own arrangement with Germany
        Chamberlain bought time at Munich, time in which Britain could rearm for conflicts in the future
        In March 1939, Hitler's conquest of Czechoslovakia was completed making it clear he could not be trusted from now on

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