Chapter 17 : Hitlers Foreign Policy And The Outbreak Of WWII Flashcards
Hitlers foreign policy plans
Destroy the treaty of Versailles.
All German speaking Europeans were to be united into one large German empire.
Lebensraum is living space. He wanted to take over the Slavs in Eastern Europe.
Hitler dismantles the treaty of Versailles
1935 Increased the army from 100,000 as allowed in the T.O.V. to 550,000.
1936 Sent German troopers into the Rhineland even though it was forbidden by the T.O.V. Hitler told his troops to withdraw if France took any action, who condemned his action.
Hitler and Mussolini
Hitler and Mussolini both sent troops to Spain to help General-Franco win a civil war and establish a fascist government.
Hitler tested warplanes and tanks being built in German factories.
Hitler and Mussolini signed the Rome-Berlin Axis.
Hitler and Mussolini signed the Pact of Steel committing to help each other in any future wars.
Appeasement
France lost a lot of men in WWI and weren’t prepared to start another war.
The Maginot Line was a defensive fortification built along the border between France and Germany.
British thought it was time to forgive Hitler.
The British government led by Neville Chamberlain, allowed Hitler to revise some of the terms of the T.O.V. to avoid the outbreak of another war. This was called the appeasement.
America isolated themselves from Europe
The Anschluss
1938 Hitler invaded Austria who welcomed him because Hitler was born there and austria had become a weak power after WWI.
Hitler believed all German speaking people should be united under one leader.
This was prohibited under the T.O.V. but France and Britain took no action
The Sudetenland and Munich conference
Sudetenland was the border between German and Czechoslovakia which contained 3 million Germans.
Hitler encouraged the Sudetenland Germans to demand a union with Germany.
Hitler, chamberlain and Mussolini attended a conference in Munich in September 1938. Czechoslovakia was not invited.
Under the terms of the Munich agreement the Sudetenland was given to Germany on the condition that this was Hitlers last demand. The Czech government could do nothing to stop this.
Chamberlain was hailed as a hero and peacemaker on his return home.
The Sudetenland was given to Germany on the condition that this was hitters last demand. The Czech government had no choice but to accept the situation.
Chamberlain was hailed as a hero and peacemaker.
Winston Churchill opposed the appeasement, and felt that hitter was being given everything he wanted rather than having to fight for it.
The end of appeasement
1939 Hitler and his troops marched into Prague and took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. He was not welcomed in Prague. This meant that Hitler could no longer claim to be uniting German speaking people into one country.
Lebensraum - living space
Britain and France promised to go to war should Germany invade Poland which contained a German minority as it was newly established.
The Polish corridor separated east Prussia from Germany and was given to Poland, which gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea.
Danzig was in the polish corridor and contained Germans, so Hitler wanted a return of this area to Germany.
Nazi-Soviet pact
Hitler hated communism, but in 1939 he signed a peace deal with the Soviet Union.
Stalin knew that Hitler might invade his country in the future, but he needed time to build stronger defences.
Germany and the Soviet Union secretly decided to divide Germany between them in this pact. Hitler knew there was little Britain and France could do to save Poland.
The outbreak of war
1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland Britain and France gave him two days to remove his forces, but he didn’t, so Britain and France declared war on Germany.
