The Origins and the Outbreak of WWII

Question 1

What were the number of things Hitler intended to once he came into power?

Answer 1

• overturn the Treaty of Versailles
• rearm to make Germany strong again
• Take lebensraum - living space in the East - 13% of German land was redistributed by the TofV
• Unite Volksdeutsche and create a Greater Germany - 10% of the German population found themselves living outside the TofV
• Anschluss
• Destroy communism

Question 2

Why did these policies mean that Hitler was going to alarm other countries and lead the whole world to war?

Answer 2

• Lebensraum - Hitler wanted land in the East - to get this he would invade countries in Eastern Europe - would be considered an act of war and other countries might want to protect the ones being invaded
• Rearmament - Hitler wanted to introduce conscription and build a Luftwaffe to help reduce unemployment and make Germany strong again, but this would break international law, making countries suspicious
• Volksdeutsche and create a Greater Germany - planned to reclaim lands lost in the Treaty and unite areas , where Volksdeutsche were living - unlikely the other countries would give up these countries without a fight and it breaks international law
• Destroy communism - Hitler was provoking a powerful nation that was bound to fight back

Question 3

What was Britain’s reaction to Hitler’s foreign policy?

Answer 3

• British politicians were satisfied when Hitler signed a non-aggression pact with Poland in 1934, indicating that he didn’t want war at all
• many British people remembered the horror of WWI and wanted to prevent another
• ‘appeasement’ was used to give Hitler a little bit of what he wanted in order to prevent a full scale war
• public opinion changed on the TofV and they thought it was too harsh and they should be allowed to reclaim some land
• However Winston Churchill believed appeasement was a mistake
• Stresa Front was signed in 1935 in which the three nations promised to unite against Hitler

Question 4

What was France’s reaction to Hitler’s foreign policy?

Answer 4

• people suffered greatly in the depression and started rebelling against the government
• found it difficult to concentrate on the threat of Hitler, as they had so many problems of their own and wouldn’t have been able to afford war without the support of Britain

Question 5

What was USSR’s reaction to Hitler’s foreign policy?

Answer 5

• Stalin was concerned about Hitler
• relations started to improve when the USSR was allowed to join the LON
• believed it was worth cooperating with the capitalist states if it meant Hitler’s expansion in the East could be stopped

Question 6

What was USA’s reaction to Hitler’s foreign policy?

Answer 6

• focus was on creating jobs for the unemployed
• 1936 - promised to keep America out of any war
• 1938 - tried to get Hitler to promise he would stop invading but Hitler didn’t take his quest seriously
• US government started preparing its armed forces

Question 7

Key Dates

Answer 7

1933 - Hitler leaves the League of Nation disarmament conference
1934 - Dollfuss Affair - Dollfuss banned the Nazi party in Austria, so Hitler made the Austrian Nazis cause havoc and they murdered Dollfuss - plot failed as the Austrian army supported the government and because Mussolini moved his troops onto the Austrian border, to stop Hitler’s Anschluss
1935 - 13th January - Saar plebiscite - 90% of population voted to rejoin Germany, which proved his point of Volksdeutsche
1935- Rearmament (March)
1935- Stresa Front (April)
1935- Anglo-German Naval Agreement (June)