Short Term Causes of WW2 Flashcards
Anschluss
This was when Hitler sent troops into Austria in 1938 to oversee a vote to join Austria and Germany. The motion passed with over 99% approval, mostly because Hitler’s troops intimidated the citizens into voting yes.
What was the invasion of the Rhineland and why was it a cause of WWII? (Goosey, Goosey Gander, wither dost thou wander, only through the Rhineland, please excuse my blunder)
In 1936, Hitler sent troops into the Rhineland, an area that the Treaty of Versailles had given Germany control of as long as Germany never stationed troops there. Hitler’s troops had orders to retreat if they faced any resistance at all. No one attempted to stop the troops. By not standing up to Hitler early, the message the Allied countries of WWI were sending to Germany was that no one would stand in his way and that he could continue to break the Treaty of Versailles with no consequences.
What was decided upon at the 1933 Munich Conference?
A Britain, France, Italy and Germany decided that Hitler, after several attempts to take the Sudetenland (given to Czechoslovakia in the Treaty of Versailles), would be granted his wish.
Define appeasement and give an example of it from the period leading up to WWII.
Giving into someone’s demands in the hopes of maintaining peace. WWII examples could include Hitler’s invasion of the Rhineland, when no one stopped him, the Munich Conference when he was awarded for his aggression by being allowed to take the Sudetenland or Hitler’s policy of re-armament, despite strict guidelines regarding the size of his military laid down in the Treaty of Versailles.
Invasion on Czechslovakia 1939
The German occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945) began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. German leader Adolf Hitler’s pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by the ethnic German population living in those regions. New and extensive Czechoslovak border fortifications were also located in the same area.
Following the Anschluss of Austria to Nazi Germany, in March 1938, the conquest of Czechoslovakia became Hitler’s next ambition. The incorporation of the Sudetenland into Nazi Germany left the rest of Czechoslovakia weak and it became powerless to resist subsequent occupation. On 16 March 1939, the German Wehrmacht moved into the remainder of Czechoslovakia and, from Prague Castle, Hitler proclaimed Bohemia and Moravia the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939
An economic agreement, signed on August 19, 1939, provided that Germany would exchange manufactured goods for Soviet raw materials. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a ten-year nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939, in which each signatory promised not to attack the other.
Re-armament and conscription
Hitler had made it plain what the basis of his foreign policy would be. He had clearly stated that he would :
undo what had been imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles re-unite all Germans into one nation re-arm Germany “Mein Kampf” also clearly stated what he thought of east Europeans and the Jews.n 1933, Hitler ordered his army generals to prepare to treble the size of the army to 300,000 men. He ordered the Air Ministry to plan to build 1,000 war planes. For two years, the German military expanded in secret. By March 1935, Hitler felt strong enough to go public on Nazi Germany’s military expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Europe learned that the Nazis had 2,500 war planes in its Luftwaffe and an army of 300,000 men in its Wehrmacht. Essentially, the French and British did nothing.
