foreign policy

Question 1

what is structuralism?

Answer 1

hitler responding to events, opportunism, driven more by external factors

Question 2

what is intentionalism?

Answer 2

long planned, hitlers true intentions, driven by him, uses evidence such as mein kampf

Question 3

what factors caused ww2?

Answer 3

• treaty of versailles - resentment, unstable international situation, other nations become tolerant to expansionism
• economic - depression
• social - expectations of german public
• nazi foreign policy - expansionism/racial purity
• international/other countries foreign policy

Question 4

what was aryan racial theory

Answer 4

• pan-germanism - wanted to unite all german speaking peoples by capturing other countries and clearing them of non speakers for pure germans
• led nazis to form alliances with ‘racially acceptable’ countries like britain
• favoured expansion eastwards
• didn’t stop hitler from making alliances with inferior countries - seen as necessary evil

Question 5

how was hitler inspired by the first and second reich?

Answer 5

• third reich wanted more land in the east than germany had in 1914
• first reich - holy roman empire of charlemagne
• second reich - german empire founded by bismark in 1871, created alliances with other nations, may have influenced hitler
• propaganda focused on glory of these empires

Question 6

what were the benefits of taking inspiration from the first and second reich?

Answer 6

gave nazis credibility - used glorious past as a reason to restore germany after ww1

Question 7

what were the effects of ww1 in germany?

Answer 7

people felt betrayed by november criminals
- unpopular government
- gov and army both said germany could have won
- soldiers joined paramilitary groups
- 1919-23 - 376 political murders, mostly from right wing groups
- kapp putsch 1920 + munich putsch 1923

Question 8

what did hitler do during ww1

Answer 8

• hitler was a soldier, wrote about experiences in mein kampf
• raged about politicians, used this as decision to become politician

Question 9

what did hitler do after ww1?

Answer 9

• april 1920 - nsdap, hitler was one of the leaders and had 25 point programme
• 1923 munich putsch - wrote mein kampf after being sent to prison

Question 10

what were the terms of the treaty of versailles?

Answer 10

• loss of land - polish corridor, lost 6.4m germans
• disarmament, no submarines warships tanks or airforce, 100k army troops
• no army in rhineland
• 132 billion gold marks reparations 1921
• war guilt clause
• diktat

Question 11

what effect did the treaty of versailles have on foreign policy?

Answer 11

• opposing it made political parties popular
• trade was difficult
• self determining states post treaty had large german populations
• 1935 - anglo german naval agreement broke limitations on germany army
• encouraged nazis to expand germany further and build stronger military

Question 12

how were colonies thought of in weimar and the third reich?

Answer 12

• weimar - revisionist, wanted to return to germany as in 1914 with colonies
• hitler - wanted to expand to pre 1914 bordered, didn’t want colonies

Question 13

how did the second and third reich and weimar want germany to become a world power?

Answer 13

• kaiser - wanted power through war, didn’t care about ethnicity of allies/people in conquered lands
• weimar - didn’t openly discuss expansion past 1914 borders
• hitler - large german empire through alliances or war, only alliances with countries with ‘acceptable’ ethnic mixes

Question 14

how did the second and third reich and weimar want to achieve lebensraum?

Answer 14

• kaiser - had ideas to expand, but with a lot of colonies
• weimar - inapplicable
• hitler - to meet economic needs due to shortage of raw materials and farmland, should come from countries in the east with high slavic population + german speakers, land should be cleared of non ‘pure’ germans

Question 15

what did hitler think of jews and bolshevism?

Answer 15

believed conspiracies about worldwide jewish governments, stirred up anti german feeling in other countries, anti communist, believed germany would have to go to war with eastern europe to take land and defeat communism

Question 16

what evidence is there that hitler had a masterplan?

Answer 16

kept many foreign minister officials from before he came to power in until 1936
- could be evidence he didn’t impose a plan
- aims in mein kampf vs speeches

Question 17

what evidence is there that hitler always intended for war?

Answer 17

• openly defied versailles from 1935 onwards
• 4 year plan from 1936-39 shows he didn’t want to be reliant on other countries for war materials
• said he intended expansion not defence
• stressed overturning versailles diplomatically in 1933

Question 18

could hitler achieve his aims without war?

Answer 18

• lebensraum required war
• hoped to avoid war with britain but not france - didn’t think they would go to war with him over eastern europe

Question 19

how was the rhineland reoccupied?

Answer 19

• march 7 1936
• sends 22k men in
• hitler said he would turn around at the first sight of french militarisation
• britain and france preoccupied with italy and abyssinia - hitler grows confident

Question 20

what was the background to anschluss?

Answer 20

• 1934 - austrian chancellor dollfuss murdered by austrian nazis, austrian nazi coup suppressed, schuschnigg sets up right wing government, mussolini moves troops to brenner pass so hitler doesn’t invade and exploit crisis in austria
• july 1936 - austro-german agreement to respect austrian independence, austria to consider itself a german state, national opposition (pro nazis) given roles in government
• 1938 - economic issues led to support for joining with germany

Question 21

what were the key events of anschluss?

Answer 21

12 february 1938 - hitler gave schuschnigg a speech regarding tensions, intimidated him into signing a document which appointed seyss-inquart as interior minister, agreed to coordinated military and economic policy with germany

9 march 1938 - schuschnigg calls plebiscite on austrian independence to undermine hitlers position

11 march 1938 - hitler demanded for plebiscite to be cancelled, goering demands for schuschnigg to resign and seyss-inquart replaces him, goering requests entry of german troops, schuschnigg tells austrians not to resist

12 march 1938 - german troops enter at dawn w little resistance, hitler absorbs austria into germany, law on reunion of austria with germany issued, thousands arrested, jews attacked, austrian reichstag dissolved

10 april 1939 - hitler holds plebiscite, 99.9% of germans and austrians vote yes, britain recognises enlarged germany

Question 22

how was anschluss structuralist?

Answer 22

• france has its own political crisis, distracted
• britain had policy of appeasement
• austria no longer relied on italian support

Question 23

how was anschluss intentionalist?

Answer 23

• overturning of versailles
• 25p programme - wanted to unite all german speaking peoples
• 1871 - german state excluded austria, hitler considered it as incomplete

Question 24

what was the background to the invasion of the sudetenland?

Answer 24

• turned to cs encouraged by anschluss
• allied with france and ussr - far away, couldn’t help them due to lack of borders
• poland and romania wouldn’t let ussr through to cs
• 3m germans in sudetenland

Question 25

what were the key events of the invasion of czechoslovakia?

Answer 25

may 1938 - war scare, cs mobilises against feared german invasion initially denied by hitler. orders plans to smash cs by 1 october at end of month 12 september 1938 - hitler attacks cs in speech, french gov urges chamberlain to negotiate settlement and hitler agrees 15 september 1938 - chamberlain flies to see hitler and agrees that all areas 50%+ german should be given to hitler, britain and france urge czechs to agree 22 september 1938 - chamberlain gets benes to accept hitlers demands, hitler says he wants sudetenland by 1 october, munich conference proposed, hitler encouraged to go due to lack of enthusiasm for war 29-30 october 1938 - munich conference brokered by mussolini, agree to german occupation of sudetenland by 10 october. german troops occupy sudetenland and benes resigns and goes into exile slovakia established as satellite state by march 1939

Question 26

how was the invasion of the sudetenland structuralist?

Answer 26

- nazis in sudetenland agitated for union with the german reich like in austria - hitler exploited this - soviet union weakened by purges, czech seemed remote to britain and france - both committed to appeasement

Question 27

how was the invasion of the sudetenland intentionalist?

Answer 27

- versailles - 3m germans lost to cs due to new borders, - good source for raw materials - lebensraum - expansion to the east part of key ideology

Question 28

what was the background to the invasion of poland?

Answer 28

- versailles gave land to poland w 800k germans - polish corridor - poland had agreement w france from 1925 locarno - hitler had non aggression pact with poland from 1934 but didn't care about breaking it - march 31 1939 - chamberlain announced british guarantee of poland

Question 29

what were the key events of the invasion of poland

Answer 29

april 3 1939 -hitler orders plan to attack poland may 22 1939 - pact of steel may 23 - decides on war against poland august 22 - hitler tells his generals international situation is favourable august 23 - ribbentrop goes to moscow to negotiate agreement. nazi-soviet pact non aggression for 10 years. secret clause - agree to help each other in case of war against poland. hitler announces invasion for 26 august, postponed to 1 september after britain ratifies agreement to poland + mussolini says italy not ready to fight august 31 - ss troops dress as polish soldiers and attack german border radio post, leaving behind dead prisoners in polish uniform, polish provocation used to justify war 1 september - invasion 3 september - britain and france declare war 17 september - ussr invades poland from east

Question 30

how was the invasion of poland structuralist?

Answer 30

- 1934 non aggression pact to buy time - policy of appeasement + stalin signing pact with germany in 1939 left poland vulnerable

Question 31

how was the invasion of poland intentionalist?

Answer 31

- always intended to destroy poland, saw slavs as subhuman to serve interests of germanic aryan race - 1937 hossbach conference - stated aim of eastward expansion - formation of polish corridor + loss of land after versailles

Question 32

what ideological divides were there that led to war?

Answer 32

- communist russia vs capitalist west - military dictatorships germany japan and italy - anti communist and initially appealed to britain france usa but became more dangerous

Question 33

what was the league of nations?

Answer 33

set up to resolve disputes between member countries

Question 34

what were the weaknesses of the league of nations?

Answer 34

- membership - not all countries involved, made it weak as a worldwide organisation, us refused to join - bureaucracy - slow to make decisions, rarely agreed to economic or military sanctions - enforcement - didn't have its own army, countries reluctant to supply their own troops, - countries negotiated increasingly independently of the league

Question 35

what was britain’s attitude during this?

Answer 35

- avoided alliance until 1939 but pursued appeasement to keep peace - colonies didn't want to go war after ww1, such as australia and south africa - political and public opinion hardened after kristallnacht and cs - appeasement contributed to war as it encouraged italy germany japan to seize more territory

Question 36

what was france’s attitude to this?

Answer 36

- resentment and anger until 1939 due to failure to meet terms of versailles - turned to appeasement after failed invasion of ruhr - fear of german invasion, militarised maginot line - lost lots of soldiers in ww1 - government changed 11 times between 1932 and 1935 - left wing gov in 1936 faced criticism - appeasement contributed to hitlers confidence

Question 37

what was italy’s attitude to this?

Answer 37

- also dissatisfied with versailles + anti communist - mutual interest in austria led to conflict - rome berlin axis agreement after spanish civil war - hitler refused military aid during abyssinia - pact of steel encouraged war

Question 38

what was the ussr’s attitude to this?

Answer 38

- isolated due to communist ideology - wanted to avoid war - joined league of nations as reaction to nazi-polish non aggression pact - suggested treaties with western powers - france agreed to some but britain didn't want a communist ally

Question 39

what was the usa’s attitude to this?

Answer 39

- isolationism and disarmament during 1920s/30s - neutral over abyssinia and spanish civil war - openly said it wouldn't go to war in 1937 and produced neutrality act in 1937 which encouraged hitler

Question 40

what was japan’s attitude to this?

Answer 40

- dissatisfied with post ww1 treaties - went to war with china in 1931 - left league in 1933

Question 41

what else influenced the move to war?

Answer 41

world economy after great depression led to growing support for extreme parties

Question 42

what was the september memorandum?

Answer 42

september 1914 said germany would expand if they won the war - luxembourg, belgium, buffer states in eastern europe

Question 43

what was the hossbach conference?

Answer 43

- hitler said it was the best time for lebensraum in 1943-45 but would do it earlier if other countries had internal problems - 1937