The Road to War: 1919-1939
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Transcript of The Road to War: 1919-1939
The Road to War: 1919-1939
Europe 1919-1938
German Geographic Problems--World War I
• short Atlantic coast• narrow access to the North Sea• the Alps limit movement south• Britain controls Gibraltar and the seas.• Germany had inadequate resources to
fight a two front war for very long.
German Geographic Problems--World War I
The Treaty of Versailles
• Austria-Hungary was dissolved• Russia became communist• Germany loses land to France
and Poland
The Treaty of Versailles
• This infuriated many Germans, including a young corporal named Adolf Hitler
Hitler in Prison• By 1924, Hitler led
the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) or Nazis
• led an unsuccessful coup attempt
• sent to jail• wrote Mein Kampf--
or My Struggle.
Mein Kampf• tells his master plan• Germans are Aryan
race
– the Master Race. – others, esp. Jews and
Slavs, are “sub-human.”
• blames the Jews
– for Germany’s defeat – links them to
communism.
• “Lebensraum”
Lebensraum• “room to live” in the East • occupied by Slavs, Jews, Poles, and other
“sub-humans.”
Hitler in Power
• By 1935, Hitler was “führer” or leader of Germany.
The Rhineland, 1936
• No German troops allowed under the Treaty of Versailles
• Hitler marches in
The Rhineland, 1936
• Hitler cancels the Treaty of Versailles
• Begins to rearm Germany
• British and French do nothing
– Want a strong Germany as a buffer between them and Soviet Union
– Felt Hitler was the lesser of two evils
German Geographic Problems
• couldn’t win a two front war• Britain & France might object to plans• Britain controlled the seas.
Western Front
Eastern Front
Lebensraum meant taking Poland
Germany and Poland
• short border with Poland • Poles would fight fanatically.
Czechoslovakia
• Hitler wanted to go around the Polish defenses.
• That meant Czechoslovakia.
Czechoslovakia
• Sudetenland • mountains occupied by Germans• Czechs had it heavily fortified
Austria
• would go through Austria
The Anschluss of Austria--March 1938
• Austrian Nazi party wanted to join Germany.
• Italy and Spain abandoned Austria • Hitler forces Austrians to give up
planned elections • Nazi put in charge of the gov’t.• the Wehrmacht--the German army--
asked to “restore order.”
The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938
• Hitler said that Germans were being persecuted
• should be part of “Greater Germany”• The Czechs--strong army and mountains
The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938
• The Czechs asked for British and French help
• Hitler – said--surrender the Sudetenland or fight.– called the Munich Conference
• Germany, Italy, Britain, and France invited.
• Not Czech. or Soviet Union
The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938
• Br. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Fr. Premier Eduard Daldier appease Hitler
• agreed to no further expansion
Appeasement• To allow an aggressor to
take what he wants rather than to fight him.
• was criticized by many, • Chamberlain and Daldier
chose to believe Hitler • The Czechs gave up in
October 1938.
Who’s this??
March 1939
• March 1939, takes the rest of Czechoslovakia. • British and French again did nothing, but begin to
rearm• Poland and the Soviet Union got scared
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• Hitler preparing to invade Poland.
• Britain/France supported Poland
• Nazis talk to Joseph Stalin
• Stalin needed time – purges had killed off his
army officers– “commissars” controlled
officers
Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
• August 1939 – allowed Hitler to
invade Poland
• Stalin – got eastern half of
Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
– Time to prepare
• Poland would be isolated.
WONDER HOW LONG THE HONEYMOON WILL LAST?
Poland--August 1939
• Hitler-- Germans in Poland were being persecuted.• staged a fake attack on a radio station
September 1, 1939
• The Wehrmacht crashes into Poland.