Why Had Peace Collapsed By 1939? Flashcards
Why did Britain did Britain adopt a policy of appeasement?
- Belief ToV was unreasonable
- Memory of WW1
- Not economically stable enough - Great Depression, WW1
- Threat of communism
What were the main developments in Hitler’s expansionist foreign policy?
1.1935 Saar Plebiscite - 90% voted to return to German rule, having been run by the League of
Nations since 1919. Entirely legal, and a boost to Hitler’s prestige.
- 1936 Remilitarisation of the Rhineland - a gamble that paid off. France had just signed a treaty with
the USSR to protect each other against Germany; and Hitler used this to argue that Germany was
under threat and should be allowed to place troops on her own frontier; many in Britain felt
Germany was only going into ‘its own back yard’; the French would not act without British support;
the League issued a condemnation, but no more (its attention was distracted by Abyssinia at the
time). Another boost to Hitler’s prestige. - 1938 The Anschluss with Austria - easier to do now that Hitler and Mussolini were allies (Mussolini
had prevented it in 1934); Chamberlain felt that it should be allowed and that Versailles had been
wrong to forbid it; Hitler used the Austrian Nazi Party to stir up trouble and claimed that only an
Anschluss could sort it out. German troops marched in in March to guarantee a trouble-free
plebiscite on the issue, and under the eye of the Nazi troops 99.75% of Germans and Austrians
voted for it. - 1938 The Sudetenland - Konrad Henlein, leader of the Nazis in the Sudetenland, stirred up trouble
and demanded to be part of Germany; Hitler said that Germans in the Sudetenland were being
mistreated by the Czechs, and that he was prepared to fight Czechoslovakia for the Sudetenland.
International tension rose and war seemed likely; but after several meetings, the leaders of
Germany, Britain, France and Italy agreed at Munich to transfer the Sudetenland to Germany;
Chamberlain said this policy of Appeasement would mean ‘peace for our time’.
5.1939 Invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia - March 1939, with Czechoslovakia in chaos, German
troops took over the rest of the country, with no resistance from the Czechs. Britain and France
did nothing, except warn Hitler that if he invaded Poland they would declare war on Germany. It
was clear that Appeasement was over.
- 1939 Invasion of Poland - by the Nazi-Soviet Pact Hitler and Stalin decided to divide Poland
between them, and German troops invaded on 1 September 1939. Britain and France declared
war on 2 September.
What was the anti - Comintern Pact
A signed alliance by Japan, Italy and Germany 1937
What was the Nazi Soviet pact
A non aggression pact between enemies, later broken by Hitler
How did countries react to the Spanish civil war?
Britain: avoided war - policy of appeasement
France: avoided war with Britain
Germany: sent weapons & aircraft to support nationalists - tested Luftwaffe, alliance with Mussolini
Italy: weapons to support nationalists
USSR: weapons to support left-wing government - stop development of another fascist state
