Road To War Flashcards
Hitler’s 4 aims
- Abolish the treaty of versailles. He beilievd it was injust. The treaty is a reminer of defeat and humiliations in WWI, he promised to revert it
- Expan territory, wanted the territory taken from them in WWI. Wanted to unite with Austria and minorities in other countries and Czechoslovakia to have more space to live in ‘lebensraum’
- Defeat communism. Beleived Balshucks wanted to take over Germany
- Unite all German speaking people in one plac
How Hitler appealed to different groups to gain power: Junkers
Feared communism and wanted rearmament, promised to abolish communism, promised both
How Hitler appealed to different groups to gain power: middle class
Needed them for law and order and feared communism
How Hitler appealed to different groups to gain power: working class
Wanted jobs, promised to end with unemployment
How Hitler appealed to different groups to gain power: the church
Supported hitler because communists were atheists
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1933
Took Germany out of the League of Nations; began rearming Germany
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1934
Tried to take over Austria but was prevented by Mussolini
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1935
Held massive REARMAMENT rally in Germany
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1936
Reintroduced CONSCRIPTION in Germany; sent troops into the Rhineland; made and anticommunist alliance with Japan
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1937
Tried put Germany’s new weapons in the Spanish Civil war; made an anticommunist alliance with Italy
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1938
Took over Austria; took over the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia
Hitler’s actions between 1933 and 1939: 1939
Invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia; invaded poland; war
3 things that Hitler promised
. Promised a strong government
. Hitler believed that the Weimar Republic was weak, Hitler would get rid of it
. Promised to get rid of the treaty of Versiallles by taking back land and rearming
What other factors helped cause ww2
. The weakness of post war treaties
. Actions of leading powers such as Britain, France, the USA and USSR
. Thw worldwide economic depression
Main interpretations of historians about causes of ww2
- Until the 1960s historians believed that Hitler planned it all step by step leading to the war
- However in the 1960s: A.J.P Taylor came up with a new interpretation. He thought that Hitler was a gambler instead of a planner
- He thought that Hitler took the logical next step to see what he would get away with, he was bald. Kept his nerve as other countries gave in to him and allowed to get away with each gamble, became balder and risked more
When did Hitker begin to rise
1923 when he attempted the Munich Putsch. Although he failed he used it as propaganda to gain piblicity. While he was in prison he wrote the main Kampf setting out his ideas, this time He decided to take power legally, using democratic system, which he then planned to destroy
Rearmament: Why did Germany want to have large armed forces
Because he believed that without large armed forces he wouldn’t be able to achieve his goals
Rearmament
Hitker came to power in Germany in 1933. One of his first steps was to rearm Germany’s armed forces. Thousands of unemployed workers gained jobs because of the army, solving quite a big part of the problem Germany had with unemployment. It also helped him deliver one of the promises he had of making Germany strong again and challenge the TofV
How did Hitler rearm
Although the German people would support rearment, it could cause alarm in other countries. So he started to rearm secretly. He made a great display of not wanting to rearm Germany -> that he was only doing it because other armies refused to disarm.
Rearmament: 1935 and 1936
In 1935 Hitler openly staged a massive military rally celebrating the German armed forces. In 1936 he even introduced Conscription again. He was breaking the TofV but guessed correctly that he could still get away with it. Rearmament boosted Nazi support.
How did he increase his army? From 1932 to 1939
Warships: from 30 -> 95
Aircraft: from 36 -> 8,250
Soldiers: from 100,000 -> 950,000
Why did Britain not oppose to German rearment more strongly
- Britain believed that the limits put on Germany’s armed forces by the TofV were too tight.
- It also thought that a strong Germany would be a good buffer against communism
- British had problems of their and did not want to be deeply involved in European affairs
- It still had quite the economic depression -> Britain did no longer want to spend more money on increasing his armed forces
Why did France not oppose more strongly to german rearmament
- France put its efforts into defending France with the Maginat Line, a line of heavily armed concrete forts built along of theFrench border with Germany.
- Thy didn’t want to enter a conflict with Germany without the Maginat Line been finished
How did Italy, oppose Hitler’s early moves to expand German power
Mussolini placed army units in threatening positions on border of Italy and Austria,
Stresa pact
It was signed in 1935 by the ministers of France, Britain and Italy. It was signed in Stresa Italy.
- It was a formal statement against German rearmament and unite against Germany.
- However, it was a very uneasy peace because events in Manchuria and Abyssinia had shown that two of the most powerful nations, France and Britain were not prepared to make a country follow their laws.
Saarland: Why was the saarland so valuble
Contained coalfields, factories and railway centres. Was also valuable frontier with france land and France was Germany’s main enemy
Saarland: The saar plebiscite
It was signed in 1935, the plebiscite was for people to vote on whether their region should return to German rule. The choices were to remain under the Legaue’s control, to be under French control or return to Germany. Around 90% of the people in the Saar voted to return to the German rule
- This was entirely legal and withing the terms of the Treaty.
After the vote Hitler declared he had no further territorial intentions on France.
- This resulted in the first small step towards lebensraum. The result was also a claim of the support towards his government