World History - Appeasement
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Transcript of World History - Appeasement
From Appeasement to War
Mussolini, Hitler and the leaders in Japan
saw the western desire for peace as a sign of weakness and responded with new acts of aggression
Japan wanted an empire similar to those of Western powers.
It seized Manchuria in 1931 When the league condemned them they simply left the League
Their early success at colonizing areas in South East Asia with no intervention from the Western powers strengthened their military and desire for conquest.
Mussolini also set out on an imperialist mission
In 1935 Italy invade Ethiopia, located in northeastern Africa
Although Ethiopians resisted bravely their outdated weapons were no match for Mussolini’s tanks, machine guns, poison gas and airplanes
Ethiopian King called on the League of Nations who placed sanctions on Italy but were powerless to enforce them
By 1936 Italy had conquered Ethiopia
Hitler also saw the Western democracies as being very weak
First he built up German military
1936 sent troops to Rhineland which bordered France
Germans hated the Treaty and Hitler's challenges to it made him popular at home
Western democracies denounced his moves but took no real action
Instead the adopted a policy of appeasement
Appeasement Giving in to the demands of an aggressor in order to keep the peace
Why the West Appeased Hitler•Fear of the destructive power of
modern technology• Widespread pacifism (opposition to
war) following World War I• Hitler’s actions seen as a
justifiable response to the harsh Treaty of Versailles
• Widespread economic depression• Hitler’s fascism seen as a defense
against Soviet communism• Faith in diplomacy and compromise• Misreading of Hitler’s intentions
Agree or Disagree with the following statement:
“World War II was in large part a
continuation of World war I.”
Provide evidence from the chart and your
knowledge of history to support your view.
US passed Neutrality Acts Forbid the sale of weapons to any nation at war
Outlawed loans to warring nations Prohibited Americans from traveling on ships of warring nations
Main goal of the neutrality acts was to avoid US involvement in a European conflict not to prevent a conflict
In response to Britain, France and the US, Germany, Italy and Japan formed what became known as the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis.
Become known as the Axis Powers Three nations agreed to fight Soviet communism
Agreed not to interfere with each others plans to territorial expansion
1936 Spain has a civil war Conservative Francisco Franco led a revolt with fascists and nationalists backing him
Soviet Union sent soldiers to fight back Hitler and Mussolini sent troops to help Franco
War took more than 500,000 lives By 1939 Franco triumphed and created a fascist dictatorship similar to Hitler and Mussolini
Hitler wanted to bring all German speaking people into the Third Reich
Believed he had the right to remove any inferior group of people from lands to make more space for Germans
“Nature is cruel therefore we too may be cruel… I have the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin.”
Austria Annexed Hitler had a plan called Anschluss – unification of Austria and Germany
He forced the Austrian Chancellor to appoint Nazis to key cabinet posts
When the Austrian leader refused to give into Hitler’s demands Hitler sent in the German army
Western democracies took no action and Hitler made a speech from the Hapsburg Palace to indicate his position as the new ruler of Austria
The Czech Crisis After Austria Hitler turned his attention to Czechoslovakia
First Hitler wanted 3 million Germans in the Sudetenland (part of north Czech) to have independence from Czech
Britain and France were not willing to go to war to help Czech and so Hitler increased his demands and said he wanted all the land as a part of Germany
The Czech Crisis Munich Conference – 1938
British and French leaders chose appeasement
Caved unto Hitler’s demands and persuaded the Czechs to surrender the Sudetenland without a fight
In exchange Hitler promised that he had no further plans to expand his territory
Returning from Munich, British Prime Minister
Neville Chamberlain told cheering crowds that he had
achieved “peace for our time.”
British politician Winston Churchill who had long warned of the Nazi threat
judged the PM harshly and said, “They had to choose between war and dishonor and they chose dishonor, they
will have war.”
Just as Churchill had predicted, Europe plunged rapidly toward war.
March 1939 Hitler broke the promise he made at the Munich Conference and took over all of Czechoslovakia
Democracies finally accepted that appeasement had failed
They promised to protect Poland which was the next likely target of Hitler’s expansion
What was the policy of appeasement?
What convinced Britain and France to end their policy of appeasement?
Why?
August 1939 Hitler stunned the world by signing a non-aggression pact with his great enemy Stalin!
Publicly the Nazi-Soviet Pact bound Hitler and Stalin to peaceful relations
Secretly the two agreed not to fight if the other went to war and to divide up Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe between them
Pact was created not on friendship or respect but because of mutual need
Hitler feared communism as Stalin feared fascism
Hitler also did not want to fight western democracies and the soviet union
September 1939 A week after the Nazi Soviet Pact German forces invaded Poland
Two days later Britain and France declared war on Germany and World War II had officially begun