Topic 3: Hitler’s Foreign Policy and the Origins of the Second World War

Question 1

What is the Return of the Saar- 1935?

Answer 1

Industrial area taken from Germany by T of V and put under control of the League of Nations.
A plebiscite was held after 15 years to decide if it was to be returned to Germany- held in January 1935.
Results showed that over 90% of the population wanted to reunite with Germany.

Question 2

What is rearmament? (Link to conscription)

Answer 2

Increasing the German armed forces (secretly did this at first).
Hitler staged a huge military rally celebrating the armed forces of Germany in 1935.
Reintroduced conscription and announced an army of 550,000 in the same year.
Air ministry set up to train pilots and built 1,000 aircraft

Question 3

Non-Aggression Pact with Poland (1934)

Answer 3

Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland in January 1934. Reasons:

• Hoped to weaken the alliance between Poland and France
• Hoped to reduce the Polish fears of German aggression
• Wanted to show that he didn’t have a quarrel with Poland, merely the USSR

Question 4

Anglo- German Naval treaty (1935)

Answer 4

Britain believed terms of treaty were too harsh & that a strong Germany would be a buffer against communism.
Britain signed a naval agreement with Germany which allowed Germans to have navy fleet up to 35% of the size of the British fleet and same number of submarines

Question 5

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936)

Answer 5

March 7th 1936, Hitler moved German troops into the demilitarised area of the Rhineland.
Consisted of 22,000 troops
Neither French or British did anything

Question 6

Anschluss with Austria (1938)

Answer 6

Hitler wished to see Germany & Austria untried as one.
- Bullied Schuschnigg (Austrian Chancellor) into accepting Seyss-Inquart (Nazi) as Austrian Minister
- Schuschnigg ordered a plebiscite to find out if Austrians wanted to unite with Germany
-Hitler moved German troops to the Austrian border and threatened to invade if Schuschnigg didn’t resign
- Seyss-Inquart because Chancellor of Austria
Invited German troops into the country
12th March Germany army entered Vienna & Anschluss was complete.

Question 7

Define Appeasement

Answer 7

British followed the Policy of Appeasement from 1935-38
- This meant giving in to the demands that Hitler made when they believed the demands were reasonable
Mainly associated wi Neville Chamberlain(Prime Minister of Britian 1937-1940)

Question 8

Arguments for Appeasement

Answer 8

• Nobody wanted a repeat of WW1 & wanted to avoid at all costs
• Many believed Germany had been unfairly treated by the Treaty of Versailles
• Believed Germany would act as a buffer towards Communism as Hitler was anti communist
• Britain wasn’t ready to go to war
• Britain preoccupied with problems caused by the Depression

Question 9

Arguments against appeasement

Answer 9

• Hitler gained an advantage, he was growing stronger
• It wasn’t right that Britain and France were allowing Germany to break the terms of the T of V
• Appeasement encouraged Hitler to do whatever he wanted
• Missed opportunities to stop Hitler (e.g Reoccupation of the Rhineland in 1936)
• It didn’t prevent war

Question 10

The Sudeten Crisis

Answer 10

-Hitler wanted people from here back
- Ordered Konrad Henlein to cause trouble in the Sudetenland
- German newspapers printed allegations of crimes which had apparently been committed by Czechs towards the Sudeten Germans
- Hitler threatened to go to war if a solution wasn’t reached
[Chamberlain believed a peaceful solution should be reached]
- Chamberlain appealed to Hitler to give Beneš more time to find a solution

Question 11

Munich Agreement

Answer 11

• 29th September
• Chamberlain met with Daladier, Hitler and Mussolini to resolve the Sudeten Crisis
• Czechs made to hand over Sudetenland to Germany
• Chamberlain and Hitler also had a meeting where both agreed to not go to war- Hitler promised he didn’t want the rest of Czechoslovakia

Question 12

Collapse of Czechoslovakia (March 1939)

Answer 12

Hitler invaded and occupied the remains of Czechoslovakia in the March of 1939
- Bohemia and Moravia controlled by Germany

Question 13

End Of Appeasement

Answer 13

The occupation of Czech. Suggested war was eventually gonna happen

Question 14

What are Hitler’s aims in the foreign policy?

Answer 14

1. Destroy the Treaty of Versailles
2. Reunite all German speaking people
3. ‘Lebensraum’- conquer land for Germany in Eastern Europe

Question 15

End of Appeasement

Answer 15

When Hitler occupied the remainder of Czechoslovakia it suggested that war was eventually going to come.
The occupation of Czechoslovakia proved that the promises that Hitler had made at the Munich Agreement were not going to be upheld.
Britain and France were also now rapidly rearming and they accepted that the Policy of Appeasement had obviously failed.

Question 16

Role of the USSR

Answer 16

• The USSR was suspicious of the Western motives
• Stalin felt that throughout the 1930s that Britain had been trying to send Hitler over to the East
• Many British people did actually fear communism more than fascism.
• The USSR’s exclusion from the Munich Conference was evidence to prove this when the future of Czechoslovakia was also important to them.
• Britain and France didn’t really show any urgency in relation to making an agreement with the USSR in 1939.
• That made Stalin even more suspicious and contributed to him signing the Nazi-Soviet Pact.

Question 17

Poland and Outbreak of war

Answer 17

On the 1st of September 1939, Hitler sent German troops into Poland.
War was declared soon after
The USSR also invaded Poland on the 15th of September and took the territory which had been agreed in the Nazi-Soviet Pact.
Poland was defeated in 6 weeks.