✓ The influence of German history on Nazi foreign policy - EFFECT OF WW1 (not incl notes) Flashcards
What did many Germans feel after the loss of WW1?
that they had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the ‘November Criminals’ (politicians in the gov who had signed the TofV)
- they thought they were winning = increased resentment for gov
What did H highlight in Mein Kampf?
outlined his political theories & wrote abt his experiences as a soldier in WW1
incl. how he felt abt the armistice, abdication of the kaiser, replacement of empire w a republic
in hospital at the time, felt all suffering of WW1 was in vain
raged against the politicians & then became a politician
Which political party did Hitler first join & when did it change its name?
DAP (Deutsche Arbeitspartei)
&
April 1920 = NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeitspartei) aka the Nazi Party
What role did H play in the NSDAP?
H was one of its leaders
&
its 25-Point Programme contained many ideas ideas abt race & German expansion that H had outlined in Mein Kampf
What did WW1 do to lots of other soldiers?
disillusioned soldiers joined paramilitary groups after WW1 - often associated w political parties
What changed in the levels of political violence when the disillusioned soldiers joined?
increased = 1919-1923:
376 political murders (majority rw)
&
rw attempts to overthrow gov -
Kapp Putsch (1920)
Munich Putsch (1923) = Hitler
How did the terms of the TofV increase resentment?
terms seen as unfair by almost everyone in G & even some of the Allies (espc. USA & a bit Br)
What terms humiliated G the most?
lost status in Europe, lost ability to defend itself, humiliated Germans:
- lost land (Danzig, Danzig Corridor - cut off from East Prussia etc. = 6.4 million Germans outside the new borders)
- G told to disarm (no submarines, no heavy warships, no tanks, no air force, army of 100,000 soldiers that couldn’t leave G)
- couldn’t enter Rhineland (buffer zone for Fr)
- heavy reparations (132 million gold marks in 1921)
- clause to accept responsibility for war
- not allowed to join LofN
- no say in terms (‘diktat’ dictated peace)
What do many historians argue abt the relationship between the TofV and WW2?
many argue, as did critics of the Treaty at the time, that:
the TofV laid foundations for WW2 by its effects on G & other countries
Did Germany follow the TofV to the letter?
NO
- Weimar & Reichstag worked against it & turned a blind eye to rearmament
- politicians protested openly
- diplomats worked for change e.g. Gustav Stresemann
How did the G army ignore the TofV?
army view was not defeated but undermined so could rearm:
- secret rearmament agreements made w USSR for G armaments to be made on Soviet soil, by Soviet companies
- 1926 Russian tank-training school near Kazan began to train German soldiers
- 1928 tanks for G being built & tested in Russia
- gov knew abt secret rearmament & funded through gov projects
e.g 1927 Phoebus Film Company had a secret fund of several billion marks that army used to support rearmament
some members of army felt Weimar wasn’t legal gov = army only legitimate gov so could make its own decisions
How did the TofV affect Nazi Foreign Policy?
opposing it made any party popular
= Nazis rejected it too
could blame TofV for problems rather than the war
e.g. econ disruption (in all of Europe)
= reparations struggle
e.g. political disruption in Europe (no part of central & eastern Europe had same gov as in 1914)
= self-determining states decided by treaty were weak & difficult to govern
How did other countries undermine the TofV?
Br PM made clear he thought it was too harsh & would lead to war in 25 years time
&
Fr said similar even tho originally harsh
&
G never paid an installment on time, either w goods or money
&
other countries turned a blind eye to rearmament
&
1935 - Br signed Anglo-German naval agreement
Why did the other countries undermine the TofV?
desire for peace
- didn’t enforce treaty to satisfy G so didn’t expand further = avoidance of another war
BUT
made Nazis look like they were reversing TofV & encouraged them to expand G further & gave them time to build a stronger military force
