History Flashcards
What was the Nazi Foreign policy?
(two big ideas)
- germans are racially superior to everyone especially:
-Jews
-Poles
-Slavs (mostly Russians) - German people need “Living room”
What did Hitler do to expand Germany during the invasion of Austria?
He defies the treaty of Versailles by sending German troops into the Rhineland on 1 March 1936. He takes a huge risk as the French army could easily have outnumbered the German forces.
Why did the British and French not act?
- France was in the middle of a difficult election campaign which made it difficult for them to act. They also needed British support before taking any action.
- Many British approved of what Hitler had done; this was German territory, and they thought the German army had a right to be there.
What was the importance of the Rhineland occupation?
1) It demonstrated that western democracies, like Britain and France, were not prepared to stand up to Germany and defend the treaty of Versailles.
2) It showed key divisions between France and Britain that Hitler could exploit.
3) Hitler took advantage of the fact that Britain and France were reluctant to get involved in any more conflicts after the Abyssinian crisis.
Why did Hitler want to invade Austria?
Hitler wanted all German speaking nations of Europe to be part of Germany which is why he wanted to unite with Germany. However unification of Germany and Austria was FORBIDDEN under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
What happened in Anschluss (The German take over of Austria)?
in 1938, the Austrian leader Schuschnigg met with Hitler.
Hitler demanded that Austrian Nazis be allowed to join the Austrian government and be given control of law and order.
Schuschnigg agreed to the terms as he was concerned about Hitlers threat of force.
In 1938 Schuschnigg called a referundrum to decide if Austrians wanted their country to remain independent.
Hitler was outraged by this. German troops invaded Austria in 1938 UNNOPPOSED. Hitler now had control of Austria.
Why did the British and French not act during the invasion of Austria?
- The French government resigned two days before Germanys invasion of Austria. They were not in a position to oppose the invasion.
-The British were against the idea of another European war. Germany uniting with Austria was not seen as a threat to Britain. Both Austria and Germany were German-speaking nations so it made sense for them to unify.
What was the consequence of Anschluss (Germany uniting with Austria)?
-Germany added 7 million people and an army of 100,000.
-The balance of power in south-eastern Europe shifted in favour of Germany increasing their influence in the Balkans.
-Czechoslovakia was now surrounded on three fonts by Germany.
What were Hitlers intentions with Czechoslovakia?
Hitler wanted to use the Sudeten Germans to create trouble in Czechoslovakia and, as he had in the Rhineland and Austria, use this as a reason for invading and restoring order.
His intention was to invade the whole country rather than a small part of Czechoslovakia. He viewed the Czechs and Slovaks as (subhuman)
Why did the British and French not support those in Czechoslovakia?
-Britain had no treaty in Czechoslovakia, leaders of the British armed forces could not see any way that Britain could help.
-France had signed a treaty with Czechoslovakia offering military support if attacked by Germany. But a change in government meant that France was not keen to go to war with Germany over Czechoslovakia.
-When representatives from a few European countries met at Munich Germany to discuss the Sudetenland problem. Neither the Czechs not their allies Russia were consulted. Hitler promised peace in Europe for Sudetenland. The Czechs had to either accept of face the German army alone. They accepted.
Partition of Czechoslovakia?
-Gemany entered the Sudetenland on October 1st 1938. Hitler now had control of the Czech fortifications and this would make his next act of aggression much easier.
-Czechoslovakia was further divided when, encouraged by Hitler, Hungary took control of the region of Ruthenia and Poland claimed Teschen.
-Czech military effectiveness had been fatally weakened. Britain and France had lost the help of a strong ally for the sake of a few months to rearm their forces.
-Russia was offended at being left out and more suspicious of Britain and France.
What does Appeasement mean?
The policy of giving in to your principles and granting concessions to your enemies in order to avoid war.
What four factors led Chamberlain to believe in appeasement?
Chamberlain was. described as a pacifist and was traumatised by ww1.
He was a believer in talk and negotiations.
Chamberlain thought that an aggressive policy towards Germany would split the British empire.
America was is no position to fight and were not too concerned with European affairs. British leaders had been convinced that soviet military help against Germany was of little use.
Appeasement would give Britain more time to rearm. Hitler wondered if he had not made a mistake and felt cheated by the Munich deal.
Why did Hitler sign the nazi soviet pack?
He hated communism but knew he had to make a deal with Stalin as he wanted a secure victory with Poland.
He wanted to prepare and plan a much larger was in the future against USSR.
Why did Stalin sign the Nazi-soviet pack?
Stalin did not trust Hitler. He knew in the future Hitler would attempt to involve the USSR.
He wanted to buy up time to prepare the USSR for war.
Why did Stalin choose to make a deal with Germany instead of Britain?
Stalins beliefs was a communist about the fascist and dictatorships and western democracies.
Stalin viewed Germany, Italy, Britain and France as all capitalist countries and potential enemies of Russia. He needed to ensure that they did not unite to fight against Russia in any future conflict.
He was willing to do a deal with any of them to make are that Russia was on the winning side of any future conflict between capitalist countries.
How did the nazi-soviet pack lead to the outbreak of ww2?
In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. The pact had encouraged this.
The British Government had realised that its policy of appeasement had completely failed. By giving in to Hitler, it had only encouraged him.
After so much failure of action in the past, the British and French this time guaranteed to defend Poland if attacked.
In September 1939 Poland wad invaded. Two days later the British Government declared was on Germany. WW2 had begun.
What happened during Germanys invasion of Poland?
(Blitzkrieg)
Germany invaded Poland on September 1st 1930
On September 3rd The French army and the British government declared war on Germany
Blitzkrieg involved the use of overwhelming force, in as short time as possible, in order to crush the enemy.Extensive use was made of tanks and other armoured vehicles.
What was the phoney war and what happened?
There was a little fighting between Britain, France and Germany. This period became known as the phoney war.
The French and British started mining Norwegian waters to stop the trade in iron ore.
Germany responded by invading Norway and Denmark.
What happened which became known as the fall of France?
A British army was forced to flee from the continent back to Britain from the port of Dunkirk.
He wanted Italy to get some of the rewards to victory.
The British airforce, the RAF fought back and the clash of the two airforces became known as the Battle of Britain.
Hitler was obliged to send German forces to North Africa and to Greece in order to help his ally.
Hitler turns east?
Germany invaded the Soviet Union in an operation known to the German leaders as Barbarorsal.
German troops were not equipped for the freezing Russian winter because Hitler thought that the war would be over in three months.
America joins the war?
The result of this was that the usa joined forces with Britain and the USSR to fight Germany Japan and Italy. In the end this was to swing the balance of war decisively against Germany.
The Holocaust?
The way many of Jewish civilians were systematically murdered in Europe. This is known as the holocaust.
German leadership decided on a ‘Final solution’ to the question of how Jewish people should be treated by the Nazi authorities. Death camps were set up to exterminate the Jewish population. Many were gasses to death, others were used as slave labour until they died.
The end of WW2?
Germans abandoned the siege of Leningrad which had beed going on for over two years. By the summer of 1944 the Germans were in retreat across the Soviet Union.
Over 170,000 Japanese soldiers were killed before the capital, Manila, was taken. German power in Europe finally collapses in April 1945. Soviet forces captured Berlin and Hitler committed suicide.
why did the second ww2 break out?
Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939.
What did this lead Hitler to do and why?
He invaded Poland. He thought Britain and France would not try to stop him, as they took no action when he invaded Czechoslovakia.
How did Britain and France view appeasement after the fall of Czechoslovakia?
As a failure. Chamberlain said, “After this I cannot trust the Nazi leaders again.”
What commitment did Britain make to Poland in the event of invasion by Germany?
They would help Poland defend herself if she was attacked by Germany.
Explain why Britain and France wanted to stop Hitler from invading anymore countries.
Britain wanted to stop Hitler as they were concerned he could break up the British Empire.
France wanted to stop Hitler from dominating Europe and controlling France.
How did Hitler overestimate the Nazi-Soviet Pact on Britain and France?
He thought that a non-aggression pact between Germany and Russia would make Britain and France less inclined to risk war with Germany. However, they did not think much of the Soviet army so were not concerned about Russia’s neutrality.
How did Italy and Japan react to the Nazi-Soviet Pact? How did their reaction help Britain and France?
They were annoyed by the news of the pact and refused to support Hitler.
What other countries abandoned appeasement and assured Britain of their support?
The dominions of Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
