7.6

Question 1

Why was the Treaty of Versailles unsustainable?

Answer 1

• reparations was undoubtedly going to ruin the German economy. Combined with hyperinflation, the German economy was on the brink of collapse during the Great Depression
• Germans were pushed to extremes, as they were humiliated by the War Guilt Clause and economically suffering during the interwar period
• the Treaty mandated that Allied forces occupy the Rhineland, creating rising tensions

Question 2

Explain the succession of events that led to Hitler’s rise in power.

Answer 2

Following WWI, the German kaiser Wilhelm II was replaced with a parliamentary government called the Weimar Republic. Weimar policies did little to improve the economy or Germany’s humiliation and was viewed as weak. It was challenged by the Nazi party.

Nazi party was elected into power of the parliamentary in 1932
- nullified Treaty of Versailles
- had goal of purification of German population
- strengthened central authority

1933: Hitler appointed Chancellor, officially ended Weimar Republic.
1934: Death of German president Paul Von Hindenburg; Hitler became president
- used scientific racism
*anti-semitism –> Jews were the force undermining traditional German culture, and required removal throughout Europe
- fascist
1935: Nuremberg laws marginalized Jews: defined them officially as people having one Jewish grandparent, banned sexual or marital relation between Jews and Germans, removed German citizenship of Jews
1935: Hitler breaks Treaty of Versailles, builds up military
1936: Hitler establishes alliance w/ Italy - the Rome-Berlin Axis
1936: Hitler sends troops into Ally-occupied Rhineland, threatened to invade Austria. Threatened Austrian chancellor into giving Nazi party power in Austria… they grew in power and welcomed Hitler’s rule in 1938
1938: Munich Conference - (France, Britain, Germany, Italy) agreed that Germany could take Sudetenland if Hitler stopped there. It was appeasement. Britain and France’s weak responses to his demands inspired his further expansion
1936: Hitler signs Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, directed against Communist International (indirectly, against the USSR)
1939: ghettos are established, Jews are confined
1939: Germany invades Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland), targets Poland’s port of Danzig next. Britain puts it’s foots down, agrees to protect Poland.
1939: Hitler invades Poland, Allies declare war on Germany
1940: Japan joins in the Rome-Berlin Axis alliance, called the Tripartite Pact

Hitler desired lebensraum for the German purified population, led to military expansion.

Question 3

What is another term for the Nazi Party?

Answer 3

The National Socialist German Workers Party

Question 4

What is the word used to describe the “living space” Hitler desired for non-Jews throughout Europe?

Answer 4

lebensraum

Question 5

What is the German name for the night of broken glass?

Answer 5

Kristallnacht

Question 6

What instigated the Kristallnacht, and what was it?

Answer 6

A German diplomat was killed by a Jewish teen. The Kristallnacht was a night of riots in which Germans looted and destroyed Jewish businesses and synagogues. Over 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Over 90 Jews were killed.