Hitler's Foreign Policy Flashcards
Gaining Power/Leading to War
Kurt von Schussnigg
Fascist leader/Chancellor of Austria before Hitler annexed it and enveloped it into the motherland. He was bullied by Hitler and had to concede due to his threat of war. Schussnigg spent the rest of the war in a position of servitude and was placed in a concentration camp.
Anschluss
“Connection” Word utilized when Hitler annexed Austria in 1938. Took it from Kurt von Schussing, the fascist leader of Austria during this time. Hitler attempted to bully him into agreeing. Schussing tried to defy the annexation but was forced to call a vote, but Hitler went nuts and arranged troops to march into Austria. Threatened Schussnigg, either annex or go to war. Schussnigg was treated horribly and sent to a concentration camp.
Appeasement
Chamberlain’s plan for handling Hitler and the Sudetenland issue and accepting German demands without reciprocal advantages. They’ll meet German demands without anything in return. Chamberland was a hero for this as they believed he had avoided another world war.
Neville Chamberlain
Britain’s Prime Minster from 1937 to 1940. Churchill replaced him. He greatly feared a repeat of WWI and another significant demographic loss. Died of cancer in 1940 and was forced from office from the poor way he handled the war.
Sudetenland
A border area in Czechoslovakia heavily populated by ethnic Germans. Hitler wanted self-determination for these ethnic Germans.
Non-Aggression Pact/Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
This is also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed in 1939. Key to the fate of Poland. Hitler has to make sure he doesn’t go to war with the Soviets if he invades Poland. He knows England and France will declare war but knows he cannot fight a two-front war. For this reason, he sought a nonaggression pact with the Soviets. Soviets agreeance is shocking to Germans. The secret section of the pact gave the Soviets parts of Poland and the Baltic States.
Hossbach Memorandum:
Documents were created in secret during a meeting with Hitler. Freidrich Hossback took written notes during the meeting, which confirms that Hitler was premeditating war as far back as 1937.
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Germany’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, completed the non-aggression pact alongside Molotov.
Austro-Fascism
It had its movement called The Fatherland Front and was led by Chancellor Kurt von Schussnigg and his Christian Social Party. They were not like Nazi Fascists, in fact, their anti-nazi. They resembled Mussolini’s fascism as they were traditionalist and tied closely to the church. They feared a dominant Prussian state and admiration for the old Hapsburg Empire and monarch rule. They identified as German but felt they were better than Nazi Germans. Not racist or anti-Semitic.
Rhineland
A defensive frontier that France gained during the Versailles Treaty. Hitler would remilitarize this area in 1936.
A buffer zone was created after WWI to create space between France and Germany. Hitler used the French-Russian agreement as a pretext to take over the Rhineland. France did nothing when Germany entered. It was significant because the French and Brits gave Germany the best possible buffer zone.
Munich Agreement
The Munich Agreement came from the Munich Crisis of 1938 over the issue of the Sudetenland—multiple meetings over time between Hitler and Chamberlain. Hitler’s demands grow higher during each meeting. The final meeting is in Munich, with Italy, France, and Britain represented. The Munich Agreement was settled and declared Hitler was allowed to annex the Sudetenland into Germany if Hitler pledged peace and no design to take over the remainder of Czechoslovakia (which had no representation in Munich). Hitler agrees but is deceptive. Within months, he made the country a German protectorate. This helps Hitler prepare to invade Poland and gain lebensraum in the East. It was significant because the lack of resolve of Britain and France convinced Stalin and Hitler that they didn’t have the political will to stop Germany.
Vyacheslav Molotov
was the premier of the Soviet Union. Key in signing the non-aggression pact with Ribbentrop.
Stresa Front
April of 1935. Italy, Britain, and France attempted to stop Hitler. This was a last-ditch effort diplomatic effort to hold the old alliance together, uphold the Versailles Treaty, and stop Hitler. Not shockingly, this would fail. This was bolstered when France made a defensive pack with Russia. This failed due to several reasons. One of the French foreign ministers who signed a deal with the Soviets died, leaving a man named Laval in his place. Laval hated the Soviets and would become a sympathizer and co-conspirator to the Nazis in France. The British were fuzzy on the Versailles Treaty and saw the German economy as too important for Europe. They signed an agreement that allowed Germany to rebuild its navy and agreed to allow them to build U-boats again. Italy had used gas in Ethiopia, which was abhorrent, but France and Britain would allow it if Italy stayed in a pact with them. Italy pulled out over Ethiopian discourse, and the significance of all this is that now Italy will move towards Germany rather than the allies.
