Breakdown Of Peace Flashcards
When did Hitler gain power?
January 1933 - Von Papen and Hindenburg turn to Hitler as the Chancellor with Von Papen the Vice Chancellor. They believed they could control Hitler
What were Hitler’s aims as Chancellor?
Abolition of Treaty of Versailles:
- took Germany out of L o N and stopped paying reparations
- started rearming in 1933
Defeat communism:
- wanted to carve empire out of Soviet Russia
Expansion of territory
- unite with Austria
- wanted Germans to return to Germany
- tried to take over Austria
Outline Hitler’s withdrawal from the Disarmament Conference, 1933
Conference was already floundering before Hitler came to power
Hitler had no intention of disarming, so in October 1933 he withdrew from the Conference and the League of Nations, blaming the French
British delegation tried to convince Germans to return but this angered the French, who then withdrew with the ‘Barthou note’ - France would now focus on its own security only
Successful for Hitler:
- wrecked conference
- left him free to rearm however he wanted
- caused tension between French and British
Outline the Non-aggression Pact with Poland, 1934
Polish chief of state signed treaty, not to go to war for next ten years - soon followed by trade treaty
Hitler like bi-lateral treaties between him and another power
Left eastern border safe and have him time to rearm
After the treaty Poland actively neglected the L o N
Divided countries allied against him
When he was ready he invaded Poland anyway
Outline Conscription and Rearmament, 1935-6
Conscription was banned in Treaty of Versailles
Rearming had been going on since 1933, but Hitler held “Freedom to Rearm” rally in 1935
1936 - he introduced conscription
From 1932-39, amount of soldiers was increased 10 times (100,000 to 1,000,000) and number of planes grew 200-fold (36 to 8250)
Success for Hitler:
- no country questioned his breach of Treaty, they backed down and his prestige grew
- made him popular in Germany as it reduced unemployment
- made Germany strong and he defied the hated Treaty of Versailles
Outline the Anglo-German Naval Agreement, 1935
Due to Washington Naval Conference and London Naval Conference, Royal Navy was fixed proportionally to navies of USA, France and Japan
Foreign Secretary John Simon proposed Britain to make agreement that allowed German rearmament but limited it with a treaty
British accepted offer from Hitler for naval agreement in 1935:
- British allowed Germans to build their tonnage by 35% of whatever British tonnage was in various categories of warship
Success for Hitler (happiest day of his life):
- secured and validated his breaking of Treaty of Versailles
- underwhelmed security of L o N
- Britain made France furious
- gave him power over Britain, as he could cancel whenever they challenged him
- marked beginning of Anglo - German alliance that he could cancel at any point
Outline the Saar Plebiscite, 1935
Saar was run by L o N since 1919 but in 1935 they held promised plebiscite over the rule of the region
Hitler was initially wary as many of his enemies fled to the Saar but the L o N insisted on it
90% of Saar voted to return to Germany due to huge propaganda campaign from Goebbles
Hitler claimed he had ‘no more territorial demands’ after this
Outline the remilitarisation of the Rhineland, 1936
March 1936, Hitler made first military move by moving troops into Rhineland
Demilitarisation of Rhineland was part of Treaty of Versailles to protect France from Germany
Hitler wanted to remilitarise the Rhineland because:
- makes germany bigger
- gets closer to France
- gives Germany more power
Britain and France didn’t stop Hitler because:
- Hitler argued France + USSR posed a threat
- People in Britain believed it was fair (Hitler knew Britain wouldn’t act on it)
- League was preoccupied with Abyssinian Crisis
Outline the Spanish Civil War 1936-39
If Spain fell to Nationalist leadership, then France would be surrounded by fascist powers. This means one less power against the fascist plans to extend their borders.
Hitler and Mussolini sent thousands of troops to aid the Nationalist forces in order to strengthen Fascist powers in Europe. This would contain the spread of communism.
France and Britain were in middle - didn’t want Nationalist government which strengthens Fascist Europe, didn’t want a Republican government which spreads communism into Europe.
French and British set up non-intervention committee which blocked international aid reaching to Spain. This benefitted the Nationalists as it couldn’t stop Germany and Italy from sending resources. Republicans had to rely solely on charity from Russia. US refused to boycott Nationalist Spain and continued to export oil to France’s forces.
Stalin couldn’t dedicate as much as Hitler and Mussolini because he was focused on fortifying Eastern Europe. This Stalin wanted to stalk Hitler with a long drawn out war which would deter him from containing communism.
Nationalist forces captured Madrid and won war in March 1939. Strengthened Hitler’s position in Europe with Franco as the dictator of Spain.
Outline the Anschluss, March 1938
[part 1]
Hitler wanted all German speaking people to be a part of Germany. This meant he wanted to unite with Austria and control the Sudetenland, which was an area within Czechoslovakia that bordered Austria. Hitler was determined to destabilise Austria and undermine its independence.
Dollfuss believed Nazis and socialists were tearing down his country, so he banned the Nazi party. In 1934 Hitler ordered the Austrian Nazis to wreck havoc in Austria, which turned into an attempt to overthrow the government. Dollfuss was murdered but coup failed as the military stepped in.
- Italy had agreement to protect Austria from aggression, so moved troops to Austrian - German border -
Schuschnigg tried to cooperate with Hitler without giving him excuse for invasion. He signed the German - Austrian agreement of 1936, which recognised Austrian independence but forced Austria to follow Germany’s foreign policy. It also allowed Hitler to have Nazi posts in Austria. This didn’t appease Hitler.
Schuschnigg’s position was undermined by the Rome-Berlin Axis during the Spanish Civil War. Germany and Italy were now firm allies, and Austria had lost protection from Italy.
In 1938, Schuschnigg agreed to let Nazi member to be minister of interior. Hitler then ordered Nazis to create as much havoc as possible to put pressure on Schuschnigg. If Hitler could claim Austrian law had broken down then he could justify marching into Vienna to ‘restore peace’.
Outline the Anschluss, March 1938
[part 2]
4 days in March:
- 9th March, Schuschnigg announced referendum whereby the Austrian people could decide for themselves if they wanted to be part of Hitler’s Germany
- 10th March, Hitler tells generals to prepare for invasion of Austria, tells Schuschnigg to cal of referendum, he gives in due to lack of support and resigns
- 11th March, Hitler reassures Czechoslovakia they have nothing to fear
- 12th March, German troops March into Austria unopposed and Hitler holds rigged referendum, which go in his favour
Foreign reaction:
- France… French politics were in turmoil in March 1938 so they were in no position to oppose the invasion
- Britain… government was also in turmoil, British people thought the Anschluss was reasonable, Chamberlain wanted to appease Hitler further
Results:
- Germany added 7,000,000 people and 100,000 man army to Reich
- Gained resources like steel and iron and Austria’s foreign exchange reserves
- Germany had more power now, especially over Balkans
- Czechoslovakia was now surrounded by three fronts of Germany
Outline what happened at the Sudetenland, 1938
March 1938, he turned his attention to German speaking people in Czechoslovakia.
Benes was horrified and concerned by the Anschluss. He sought help from Britain and France, who promised to help if he were attacked by Hitler. Henlein (German leader of Sudetenland) stirred up trouble and demanded it be given back to Germany. In May 1938 Hitler made it clear he would back the German Sudeten claims and fight Czechoslovakia.
September = crisis point
Chamberlain flew to see Hitler on September 15th, 1938. Hitler claimed all he wanted was German pet of Sudetenland, which Chamberlain proposed to Benes in order to appease Hitler. Hitler then said this was not enough, and he wanted the whole area.
Hitler claimed Germans in Sudetenland were being mistreated and he had to rescue them, which Chamberlain called unreasonable. War seemed imminent.
Munich agreement:
Was was averted by Mussolini who called meeting in Munich on 29th September. Decided to give Hitler what he wanted to avoid war - Czechs weren’t even consulted.
Was a huge gamble for Hitler that Britain wouldn’t declare war over this.
1st October 1938 Hitler took over Sudetenland.
Hungary and Poland helped themselves to parts with their people in it.
Chamberlain was saw as hero that prevented war.
