History - Steps To War Flashcards
What were Hitlers 4 main aims?
- Abolish the Treaty Of Versailles
- Unite all German Speaking people
- Lebenstraum - gain living space in the east
- Defeat communism in Russia
Which of Hitlers aims were Britain and France most worried about?
Uniting german speaking people and gaining living space - as this meant they would have a huge german army, meaning invasions more likely.
How did Hitler re-arm?
- He wanted to break the military restrictions of the TOV
- March 1935 he introduced conscription (by 1939 he had 950,000 men from 100,000)
- He got tanks, Luftwaffe, and 35% of the equivalent of the British navy (Anglo-German naval agreement)
- took germany out of the league
What happened in the Saar plebiscite 1935?
The Saar land was under league control for 15 years. After, there was a plebiscite to see if they wanted to go to Germany or France.
The votes came in 47000-4800 to hitlers favour (over 95%) in Jan 1935
Hitler promised to make no further claims on French territory and then placed troops in the Rhineland
What happened in the Demilitarisation of the Rhineland in 1936? Why was it a gamble and what did BRITAIN and France do
He marched troops into the Rhineland, despite the ricks that France could easily beat them if they chose to attack. He also had to go against his top generals orders, so if he lost everyone would have lost faith in him, thinking he was stupid, and he would lose power.
BRITAIN did nothing because they didn’t think the Germans were doing anything wrong, as most thought that the TOV was unfair anyway. They believed the Germans were protecting themselves against the French-Russian mutual assistance pact. They also didn’t want to break the Anglo-German agreement
FRANCE did nothing because they were distracted by the Abyssinia invasion, they couldn’t and wouldn’t act without BRITAIN, and with elections happening, no one wanted to risk the campaign by loosing the election.
What was the Rome-Berlin axis?
- Civil war broke out , and Hitler joined to fight against Communism and to try out his New armed forces and Luftwaffe
- Hitler won over Mussolini’s trust, they made an anti-communism pact
What happened in the Anschluss with Austria? March 1938
- Hitler wanted to join with Austria, so called for a plebiscite to let the Austrian public vote.
- He sent his troops in to ensure victory, he had a 99.75% success rate, voting yes to join with Germany
Why did Hitler want Austria?
- Lebenstraum ; living space in the East
- To unite all German speaking People
- To gain a larger army, more a,munitions and weapons, and tanks etc
- To gain land, and with it key factories and industry
- It was Hitlers home town
- To abolish the TOV
- There was a strong Nazi party in Austria
- He knew Britain and France would do nothing
Why did Britain and France use Appeasement?
- They believed it would give him what he wanted, and that he would stop.
- It would include standing up to communism, which Britain also wanted
- Hitler was right, the TOV was unfair, so by removing it there was no need to rebel
- They didn’t want another “Great war”, they weren’t ready economically or physically
What was wrong with appeasement?
1) It encouraged Hitler to be aggressive
2) It allowed Germany to grow too strong
3) It put too much trust in Hitler
What happened with the Sudetenland?
- The Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia contained over 3 million german speakers
- they had many weapon factories that Hitler wanted, so he sent in troops, but they got out in prison.
- Hitler claimed that Beneš was hurting his troops, and that he would invade Czechoslovakia
- Hitler demands part of the Sudetenland, and on the 15th of September they are given to him.
- He wants the whole of Czechoslovakia by 1st October, or else he would invade. He was given it on the 29th September
What happened in the invasion of Czechoslovakia?
On March 15th 1939, hitler took over Czechoslovakia and no one realised. Britain declared that if he invaded Poland, they would declare war on Germany.
1ST SEPTEMBER 1939 HITLER INVADES POLAND. BRITAIN DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY ON THE 3RD.
What happened in the Nazi-Soviet pact?
In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin made a pact. They hated each other, but both wanted Poland. Hitler wanted it to unite with Germany, but is worried that if he took it on his own, Stalin would order attacks and destroy him as the USSR have a stronger army.
They agree to split Poland and invade together, on the compromise that they do not fight each other.
However, in July Hitler invades the USSR, breaking his word (operation Babarosa)
Why did Stalin make the Nazi-Soviet pact?
- He believed France and Britain would not be strong enough allies against Hitler
- He hadn’t fully prepared his armies, so this bought him time
- He would gain territory, half of Poland.
Why did Hitler make the Nazi-Soviet pact?
- He wanted to invade and gain Poland, but was worried that the USSR would defend them and beat Germany. This pact guaranteed no attack from Stalin.
- This meant that the USSR wouldn’t fight Germany, which was good as Hitler would lose.
- It meant he could easily invade Russia later with the element of surprise
- He could abolish the TOV, and regain the Polish corridor
