uńit 3 Flashcards
Name 4 of Hitlers foreign policies
Defeat Communism
Rearmament
Lebensraum - “living space” for Germans
Destroy ToV
Explain the significance of Hitler withdrawing from LoN
Significance:
• This allowed Hitler to begin to rearm as he was no longer
constrained by two powerful organisations.
• By making the point that Britain and France were unwilling to
disarm down to the same level as Germany, Hitler was able to avoid
looking like an aggressor – he was merely withdrawing in protest at
not being treated as an equal.
Explain the significance of the Saar plebiscite
Significance:
• He was able to reunite previously lost land for the first time and
reintegrate German speakers into the Reich (Greater Germany).
• Although intimidation was used during the plebiscite, the vote was
unanimous and he did not need to use military force, so he did not
look like an aggressor (the T of V had even allowed for a plebiscite).
• First significant overturning of the T of V, so gained Hitler much
popularity at home.
• Now had access to valuable coal mines which he could use to power
German economic recovery and rearmament.
Explain the significance of the Anglo-German Naval agreement
Significance:
• This gave Hitler the opportunity to rebuild his navy, something that
had been largely forbidden by the Treaty.
• A strong navy would enable him to overcome the problem of being
blockaded as happened in WWI.
• By making the deal with Britain, it gave legitimacy to Hitler’s
actions.
Explain the significance of remilitarising the Rhineland
Significance:
• Hitler knew that this was risky – for the first time he was sending
troops into land that he was forbidden to do so – this risked war
with France.
• He knew that his army was unprepared to face Britain and France,
therefore he gave orders to retreat if fired upon – “this was my
greatest gamble” and his gamble paid off!
• The failure of France (there was an election at the time) and Britain
(unwilling to start a war and preoccupied with the Abyssinian Crisis)
showed that they were prepared to appease Hitler and gave Hitler
more confidence to behave more aggressively.
Explain the significance of the Spanish Civil War
Significance:
• This gave Hitler the opportunity to build a Fascist alliance by
fighting alongside Mussolini’s Italy and Franco’s Spain (up until this
point Germany had been isolated).
• This also gave Hitler the opportunity to test out his new airforce
(Luftwaffe) and perfect their dive-bombing techniques on modern
cities – he knew a future war would partly be fought from the air.
• The devastation of packed cities full of civilians such as Guernica
also sent a message to the world that Germany was a serious
military force once again and was to be feared and respected.
• It also gave him the opportunity to try to stop the spread of
Communism.
Explain the significance of Anschluss with Austria
Significance:
• This was expressly forbidden in the T of V and so was one more
example of Hitler overturning the hated treaty.
• It provided Hitler with valuable Austrian resources and soldiers.
• It was personally very important to Hitler’s plans of creating a
Greater Germany (especially as he was an Austrian himself).
• It reflected the changing relationship with Italy and the changing
balance of power between the two countries – Italy did not oppose
Germany this time.
• Most Austrians were happy to unite with Germany, showing that
this action was fairly popular and did not require war.
• The British did not see this as a problem – essentially it was the
willing unification of German speakers – this continued
appeasement gave Hitler further confidence to behave aggressively.
Explain the significance of the Sudetenland Crisis
and Munich
Agreement
Significance:
• Hitler was able to secure the return of 3 million ethnic Germans and
the entire Sudetenland (part of his plans for a Greater Germany).
• Another revision of the Treaty of Versailles.
• Now had control of valuable Czech industrial lands and also the
area where most of the Czech fortifications were – the Czechs were
now unable to defend themselves against a future German
invasion.
• Hitler had changed his demands from the German majority parts of
the Sudetenland to the entirety of the Sudetenland – he mistook
Chamberlain and Daladier’s appeasement as a sign of weakness.
Explain the significance of the Nazi Soviet Pact
Significance:
• This was a disaster for Poland and marked their certain destruction
and defeat – they would be simultaneously invaded from both sides
by much bigger armies.
• This removed the threat of Germany having to fight a war on two
fronts (this had been their undoing in WWI) as the Soviet Union
would not declare war on Germany.
• Peace with the Soviet Union also made it less likely (or so Hitler
thought) of Britain and France declaring war on Germany.
• The pact also brought valuable agricultural products to Germany in
exchange for machinery.
What was appeasement
Appeasement was a policy followed by Britain and France for most of the 1930s when neither
country was prepared to risk another war. The aim was to prevent dictators from starting wars by
finding out what they really wanted and then agreeing to those demands which seemed reasonable.
What is Lebensraum
“Living space”, the idea of expanding German territory for resources and settlements
