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Conflict And Tension > Origins And Outbreak Of WWII > Flashcards

Origins And Outbreak Of WWII Flashcards

1
Q

Hitlers aims (USE CV)

A
  • unite German speaking people
  • make Germany strong
  • take more land to the East (lebensraum)
  • destroy communism
  • cancel ToV
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2
Q

Non-aggression pact with Poland (1934)

A

Both countries agreed to settle any disputes peacefully -> this made Hitler looked peaceful and reduced Polish fears of German aggression

Gave Germany the chance to rearm and upset france who were an ally of Poland

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3
Q

The Dollfuss Affair

A
  • chancellor of Austria (dollfuss) established a dictatorship in 1933, outlawing other political parties including the Nazi party
  • Hitler encouraged the Austrian Nazis to create chaos within Austria
  • 1934 -> Dollfuss was assassinated by 10 Austrian Nazis
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4
Q

Significance of the Dollfuss Affair

A
  • Hitler knew he would need to build up the power of Germanys armed forces
  • Italy had shown Britain and France that they could be a useful power against Germany -> the allies would hope to keep Italy on their side
  • Hitler would be determined to try again
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5
Q

The Saar plebiscite

A
  • a plebiscite among the German people was to be held after 15 years to decide whether it should returned to Germany
  • an international force of over 3,000 soldiers from the UK, Netherlands, Italy and Sweden patrolled the Saar to make sure the vote was conducted fairly
  • in January 1935, 90% of the people voted in favour of returning to Germany
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6
Q

Significance of the Saar plebiscite

A

Hitler gained the coal resources for Germany and the victory in a legal vote was useful for his propaganda

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7
Q

Disarmament conference

A

1932-33

  • Hitler brought up how it was unfair Germany was disarmed but members of the LoN weren’t
  • in 1933 he walked out of the conference and left the LoN -> gave him the legal justification to begin rearmament
  • in 1935 Hitler held a rally where he announced that he had already begun conscription and building a new air force , the luftwaffe
  • by 1939 he had 1 million men in his army
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8
Q

The Stresa Front - April 1935

A
  • agreement between Britain, France and Italy which formalised opposition to German rearmament
  • it aimed to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and agreed to resist any future attempt by Germany to change the ToV
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9
Q

Anglo-German Naval Agreement

A

June 1935

  • The British signed an agreement with Hitler that effectively bypassed the ToV and allowed Germany to rearm its navy
  • the German navy would be allowed to increase, but would be limited to 35% of the British navy
  • but the German navy was also now only 15% smaller than France’s
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10
Q

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

A
  • whilst the rest of the world was watching Abyssinia, Hitler ordered his troops to occupy the Rhineland
  • he used the excuse of that he felt encircled by France and Russia from the Franco-Soviet Pact in 1936
  • 32,000 armed troops
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11
Q

Why was Hitler nervous about remilitarising the Rhineland

A
  • his troops were in no position to fight the French if they reacted
  • Hitler sent in 22,000 soldiers who were on strict order to retreat if they met resistance
  • German financial ministers warned Hitler if he failed Germany would have to pay large fines they couldn’t afford
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12
Q

Why was there no resistance to the remilitarisation of the Rhineland

A
  • France was preoccupied with domestic issues and a general election
  • French generals overestimated the number of German troops
  • many French troops were in Tunisia in case they were needed to deal with the Abyssinian crisis
  • Britain and France worried one another wouldn’t back each other
  • many within the British government believed Germany had a right to revise the ToV
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13
Q

Significance of the remilitarisation of the Rhineland

A
  • Hitler gained confidence that he could get away with breaking the ToV
  • showed Hitler that he didn’t have to worry about the League -> condemned him but didn’t bring in any economic sanctions
  • Britain and France started rearming
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14
Q

Rome-Berlin Axis

A

July 1936

Pact with Germany and Italy

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15
Q

Anti-Comintern pact

A

1936 - Between Germany and Japan
1937 - Italy also signed (axis alliance)

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16
Q

Significance of axis alliance

A

Mussolini initially stopped Hitler attempt to force union with Austria in 1934 but now Mussolini was on his side he could try again for Anschluss

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17
Q

What was Austrias new chancellor called after Dollfuss

A

Kurt Schuschnigg

18
Q

How did Schuschnigg attempt to keep peace with Germany

A
  • German-Austrian Agreement (1936)
    -> recognised the independence of Austria but that Austria’s foreign policy was consistent with Germany’s
19
Q

How was Schuschnigg undermined

A

In 1936 when Hitler and Mussolini formalised the Rome-Berlin Axis
-> Austria lost the protection of Italy and was vulnerable to German attack

20
Q

What did Hitler and schuchsnigg do in 1938

A
  • Austrian nazis had a plot to get rid of Schuschnigg but the police prevented it
  • schuchsnigg compromised with Hitler and allowed a Nazi member (Seyss-Inquart) to be in charge of the police
  • this meant the police started to ignore the actions of Austrian Nazis
21
Q

Why did Hitler encourage Austrian Nazis to cause trouble

A

If he could prove Australian law had broken down he could justify marching German troops into Vienna to restore peace

22
Q

Schuschnigg’s plebiscite

A
  • to decide whether the people of Austria really wanted a union with Germany
  • Hitler feared ‘no’ could be the result and so mixed troops to the Austria border and threatened to invade if Schuschnigg didn’t resign
  • Seyss-Inquart became chancellor and invited German troops into Austria
23
Q

How much of the Austrian plebiscite did the Nazis win

A

99% (Nazis made the yes box a lot bigger)

24
Q

Significance of the Austrian plebiscite

A
  • Czechoslovakia feared they would be next as Germany now surrounded them in 3 sides
  • it made Hitler even more confident
  • made Germany more powerful -> natural resources, transport links, Hitlers army could easily access areas through Austria
  • B+F promised to help Czechoslovakia
25
Q

Why was Czechoslovakia vulnerable

A
  • it was a new country created by the Treaty of St Germain at the end of WWI
  • Hitler wanted to expand into the area of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland
    -> 3 million German-speaking people lived there (20% of the population)
  • had many factories and natural resources
26
Q

What did Hitler claim about Sudetenland in order to justify his invasion

A

Claimed that the German minority there were being persecuted

27
Q

Munich Agreement

A

Sept 1938
- Hitler met Chamberlain, Mussolini and the French PM at Munich

  • Czechoslovakia and USSR weren’t invited but were forced to hand over the Sudetenland to Germany
  • Hitler promised he didn’t want the rest of Czechoslovakia
28
Q

Significance of the Munich Agreement

A
  • Stalin wasn’t consulted -> made him feel he couldn’t trust B+F
  • Czechoslovakia lost its best defences to Germany
  • hitlers support grew
  • gave him more confidence to take the rest of Czechoslovakia in 1939
29
Q

Arguments for Appeasement

A
  • war cost lives
  • many still saw Germany as a buffer to the spread of communism from east
  • many British people felt Germany were mistreated with the TOV
  • French instability (24 govs in 10 years)
  • USA was following an isolationist policy
  • Italy had joined the axis alliance
  • B+F armies weren’t strong enough for 1939
  • in the Peace Ballot of 1934 11 million people voted against fighting
30
Q

Arguments against appeasement

A
  • Hitler had threatened violent actions in his foreign policy
  • Britain betrayed Austria and Czech by following it
  • Hitler couldn’t be trusted to keep his word
31
Q

Occupation of Czechoslovakia

A
  • At Munich Czechoslovakia lost 70% of its heavy industrial and its defensive frontier
  • March 1939 the Czech president was forced to hand over what was left to Hitler
32
Q

Pact of Steel

A

May 1939
- Hitler and Mussolini signed a pact which promised they would support each other in the future

  • Europe clearly divided into 2 sides and Britain and France began to look to USSR for support
33
Q

What areas of Poland did Hitler want

A

Danzig port and Polish Corridor

34
Q

Stalins choices

A
  • alliance with Britain -> would end up fighting a war with Hitler over Poland
  • alliance with Germany -> would get half of Poland and time to prepare for the war with Germany
35
Q

Nazi-Soviet Pact

A

23rd August 1939

  • guaranteed that the Soviets and Germany would not fight each other
  • in secret both powers agreed to divide up Poland if war occurred
36
Q

Significance of Nazi-Soviet pact

A
  • USSR had a huge army and could have been a problem for Germany
  • Germany would not face war in 2 fronts
37
Q

How did the Nazi-Soviet pact cause WW2

A
  • Hitler could now attack Poland without worrying about USSR trying to stop him
  • appeasement convinced him B+F wouldn’t do a thing either
  • Hitler wouldn’t have a war on 2 fronts
38
Q

Imvasion of Poland

A

Sept 1939
- Hitler demanded Danzig and Poland refused as B+F promised to defend them

  • 3rd Sept Chamberlain declared war on Germany
39
Q

How was Germany responsible for WW2

A
  • Hitler made impossible demands in Poland and invaded starting the war
  • wrote in Mein Kampf that he wanted to make Germany strong again
  • aggressive foreign policy (Lebensraum)
  • broke TOV a lot
40
Q

How was USSR responsible for WW2

A
  • Nazi-Soviet Pact cleared the way for German invasion
  • massive army -> powerful ally
  • Hitler wouldn’t have to fight on 2 fronts
41
Q

Britain as respsonubke for WW2

A
  • appeasement -> could’ve stopped Hitler earlier
  • didn’t act against the remilitarisation of the Rhineland
  • gave the Sudetenland to Hitler without consulting the Czechs
  • excluded Stalin from the Munich Conference -> pushed him to sign the pact
42
Q

France as responsible for WW2

A
  • distracted by their own domestic instability
  • appeasement out of fear

Conflict And Tension (6 decks)

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