Hitler's Foreign Policy and the road to war

Question 1

What happened at the disarmament conference in Geneva 1932-34?

Answer 1

1.May 1933 hitler attends
2 agreed to disarm if all other nations did so too in 5 years
3 others refused, hitler withdrew from League of Nations October 1933
4 withdrew with short letter say my Germany is equal and already disarmed
5 claimed victory and held a vote in Germany to rearm -95% agree

Question 2

How did Hitler rearm 1935-39?

Answer 2

1 march 16 1935 hitler announced Germany would rearm
2 clear violation of treaty of Versailles
3 announced Air Force already under way
4 conscription to start 1935
5 tested new weapons in Spanish civil war 1936 in Guernica
6 France and Britain took no action even though treaty of V breached
7 instead Britain and Germany signed Anglo German Naval Agreement allowing 35% of Royal Navy tonnage and equal number of subs

Question 3

What were his foreign policy priorities?

Answer 3

These were set out in his book Mein Kampf 1924
Hitler promised to abolish Versailles and
1 lebensraum- living space for German people - this would be recovery of lost traditional German speaking lands
2 irredentism- desire to unite all German speakers
3 aryan - the superiority of German master race

Question 4

What was the impact of Versailles on Germany?

Answer 4

1. Germany full of poverty homelessness refugees and starvation
2. Germany scuttled their fleet - no navy left
3. Communism grew in Germany
4. Believed they lost the war
5. Germans blamed their own government for Versailles terms
6. Germany lost land in east, west and north
   7 these lands Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Alsace had many German speakers
   8 reparations of £6.6bn

Question 5

What was German reaction to Versailles?

Answer 5

Germans were angry and wanted revenge to make Germany great again
Hitler promised he would get rid of treaty of Versailles

Question 6

Rearmament facts

Answer 6

Army 1933restricted to 100,000 - 1935 showed off illegal army of 300,000
Conscription 1933 banned - 1935 public announced compulsory conscription
Luftwaffe - 1933 no Air Force allowed - 1935 had 2500 war planes
Navy 1933 no subs & only 6 battleships - 1935 equal subs and a third of British battleships as signed Anglo German naval treaty

Question 7

Why was hitler allowed to remilitarise Rhineland?

Answer 7

1 hitler chosen moment 1936 was disaster year for L of N distracting France and Britain - allies did not want to act
2 French govt divided - could not act as no agreement on what to do
3 some British politicians sympathetic to hitler- didn’t want to act
4 Britain and France in economic depression in 1930s - couldn’t act
5 public opinion thought TofV too harsh - didn’t want to act
6 conflict would cause more British deaths - didn’t want to act
7 99% of Germans supported it - could not act against it
8 fear of soviet Russia and Germany would keep communism away - did not want to stop him

Question 8

What events lead to ww2?

Answer 8

1933 hitler leaves League of Nations
1934 hitler tries to take power in Austria - Austrian nazis murdered Austrian Chancellor - Italy stops it
1935 - people of Saar vote to become German
1935 - rearmament to 500,000 troops -allies do nothing
1935 Anglo German naval treaty -breaks treaty of Versailles
1936 German troops occupy Rhineland- France does nothing
1938;Anschluss - hitler occupies Austria - 99% vote yes to reunification - allies follow appeasement policy, not stopping hitler, hoping he will stop but he didn’t
1938 allies let Germany have Sudetenland
1939 Czechoslovakia invaded by hitler
1939 Poland invaded and ww2 starts