World War II

The Causes

McKay 971-975 Section 21.105

Today’s Agenda

• WWII: The Causes

• Quiz (#1-15) 12 minutes (42 seconds per question)

World War II

1919 1923 1929 1933 1935 1936 1938 1939

Treaty of Versailles

France occupies Ruhr

-Beerhall Pustch

Wall Street Crash

Nuremberg Laws

Germany occupies Austria

Hitler named

ChancellorGermany Invades Poland

Rhineland Reoccupied

Munich Conference

Germany occupies

Czechoslovakia (Sept.)

Warsaw, Poland September 1, 1939

Warsaw, Poland 1944

World War II• Fought on 6 of the 7 continents• More than 100 million soldiers mobilized• Resulted in the deaths of 50 to 70 million people

– 40-50 million were civilian– 26 million from Soviet Union– 5.5 million Poles

• 3 million were Jewish Poles– 6 million Jews perished by the perversion of

Darwinism, nationalism, Nietzscheism, & the utilization of scientific management principals

• Resulted in the development of Nuclear Weapons• Resulted in the emergence of two superpowers• How could this happen in the same civilization

that produce humanism, secularism, humanism, secularism, individualism (priesthood of all believers), individualism (priesthood of all believers), constitutionalism, universal rights, religious constitutionalism, universal rights, religious tolerance, the tolerance, the Mona Lisa, The Birth of Venus, Mona Lisa, The Birth of Venus, Principia, Two Treatise on Government, “Liberty, Principia, Two Treatise on Government, “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”Equality, and Fraternity”?

Causes of WWIILong Term

• Treaty of Versailles– Diktat, War Guilt Clause, Reparations, Polish Corridor

• Weakness of League of Nations – US not a member

• Pacifism & disunity of the Powersdisunity of the Powers• Weakness of Weimar Republic

– “November Criminals” who “stabbed army in the back”• Wall Street Crash

– Dawes Plan loans dried up credit for Weimar gov.– Depleted savings of middle class Germans– Disillusioned with capitalism, democracy

• Zeitgeist of the 20s and 30s– Nietzsche philosophy glorified violence, struggleglorified violence, struggle– Lunatic fringe movements seemed viable to some

• Fascist movements in Italy, Germany, Poland, Belgium, and even France, and Great Britain (Oswald Mosley)

– Western democracies embraced pacifismWestern democracies embraced pacifism• Reluctant to make mistake of WWI again

• Adolph Hitler– Evil demagoguery spoke to the Freudian “Id” of German populace

Treaty of Versailles• Wilson’s Fourteen Points largely ignored• Article 231 (War Guilt Clause)

– Placed blame of war entirely on Germany

• GB’s aim was to retain colonies (disliked Wilson’s self determination clause)

• FranceFrance motivated by security and revengesecurity and revenge• Demanded reparations, Alsace-Lorraine, Alsace-Lorraine,

demilitarized zone in Rhinelanddemilitarized zone in Rhineland• Germany lost large part of Prussia to

“Polish CorridorPolish Corridor”• DiktatDiktat

– Germany had no say in the treaty– It was “dictated to them”

Click for excellent clip

Weakness of League of Nations & Pacifism of West• League of Nations had little power to enforce peace

– US and USSR were not members• Washington Naval Conference (1921-22)

– First disarmament conference in history– 9 Pacific region nations attended– USSR not invited– Led to Four Powers Treaty

• US, France, GB, and Japan• Agreed to maintain status quo in Pacific region• But Treaty resulted in rise of Japanese Empire

• Locarno Pact (1925)– Germany and European powers agreed to settle settle

all disputes peacefullyall disputes peacefully• Spirit of Locarno

– Hope from 1925 to 1920 that international peace was at hand

• Kellogg-Briand Pact (1928)– Agreement signed by 62 nations declared “war

illegal”– Dubbed Parchment Peace

The Pacifism of the West• West (US and GB) believed WWI was a mistake and found reasons to

avoid war– Believed propaganda and arms manufactures led the world into war– Treaty of Versailles was too hard on the Germans– Germans and Italians needed room to expand– Democracy was not suited to all nations

• France– Lost 50 percent of the 20 to 30 year olds in WWI– Built the Maginot line (French Wall of China) up to Ardennes– Internally ideologically divided

• Conservative right leaning toward fascism and admired Hitler– Action Française & Croix-de-Feu

» Founded after Dreyfus Affair» Right-winged fascist groups » Anti-foreigner, anti-Republican» Romantic “Blood & Soil” notions of peasants» Pro Catholic (but condemned by Pope)

• Popular Front – Coalition of socialist, leftists, and communist– Led by Leon Blume– Formed out of fear of the Right

• US and Britain adopt defensive postures– Oxford students pledged in 1933 pledged in 1933

never to take up armsnever to take up arms for their nation under any conditions

• US became increasingly isolationist– Peace movements arose in

universities– The extremes of both the Left

(Stalin) and Right (Hitler) made a unified foreign policy difficult

– Congress forbade loans, export of munitions, use of shipping to any belligerent

• Neutrality helped the aggressor nations in Europe

The Pacifism of the West

Disunity of the Powers• Soviet Union

– Resented cordon sanitaire (1919) which was the buffer states from Finland to Romania & meant to stop the spread of Bolshevism

– Still held to idea of world revolutioworld revolution – Still terrified of being attacked– Marxism made them inherently suspicious and

anti capitalistic – Western intervention against the Reds in 1919

confirmed this• Particularly alarmed by Germany

– Why?– Hitler’s Mein KampfMein Kampf spoke of destroying destroying

BolshevismBolshevism and taking parts of eastern Europe• Fear led them to join the League of Nations in 1934• Signed a treaty with France and Czechoslovakia in

1935• In light of the Great Purges and Show trials of the

1930s, the West mistrusted the Soviets

Wall Street Crash• Crash of ’29 led to US banks calling in loans

to Germany and denying any further credit• Disillusioned middle class with Weimar and

capitalism• As powers were distracted Japan invaded

Manchuria (China) in 1931– Mukden Incident

• Japan claimed that a section of RR in Mukden, S. Manchuria was dynamited by Chinese

• Used supposed sabotage as excuse for invasion

– Condemned by League but issued no significant sanctions

– Japan withdrew from the League• Hitler withdrew Germany from League in

1933– Began rearmament program

Stresa Front (1935)• Italy, Great Britain, and France• Met to discuss growing German aggressivenessGerman aggressiveness• Also opportunity for Mussolini to

propagandize himself as elder peace maker• GermanyGermany had withdrawn from League, began

rearmament program– Instituted conscription to increase army to Instituted conscription to increase army to

750 thousand men750 thousand men– Began building air force

• Hitler had sanctioned assassination of Austrian dictator DollfussDollfuss because he banned the Nazi party

• ResolutionsResolutions– Reconfirmed the Locarno agreements– Denounced Germany’s Denounced Germany’s violations of the

Treaty of Versailles and Locarno– Reaffirmed the independence of Austria

• Total failure– Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia– GB signed naval pact with Germany

Second Italo-Abyssinian War • Italians were dissatisfied with Versailles• Had not gotten what they thought they deserved• Memory of their defeat by Ethiopia at Adowa

in 1896 still haunted them• 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia• Used Mustard Gas & modern weapons• Over 500 thousand Ethiopians died• Denounced by League and members were

forbidden to sell necessary war materials (except oil)

• French actually sympathized with Mussolini and GB didn’t want a larger war so they did nothing– Even allowed Italians to use Suez

• Combined it with Italian Somaliland and Eritrea

• Haile Selassie appealed to the west at Geneva• League of Nations showed its weakness againLeague of Nations showed its weakness again• The Stresa Front dissolved• Mussolini referred to himself as “Invincible “Invincible

Duce”Duce”• Exposed weakness of League of Nations

The March of Nazi and Fascist Aggression • Hitler saw the weakness of

the coalition system and began a diplomacy of attrition to undo it – made small moves

• Rant that he deserved the whole cake and then assure everyone that he would be appeased with just a slice

• He would get the slice and start the process again

The Spanish Civil War, 1936 – 1939• 1931 Alphonso XIII (Bourbon) was deposeddeposed

• Spanish Republic began reform movement

• Passed anticlerical legislation

– Church and state were separatedChurch and state were separated

– Jesuit order was dissolved and its property was confiscated

– Schools were removed from clerical control

• Large estates were redistributedLarge estates were redistributed

• Movement was not extreme enough for radicals

– Strikes and uprisings erupted in Barcelona and Asturias (mining town) but were brutally put down

• Too extreme for the Church and conservative parties

Carlists [ultra-Catholic monarchists].

Catholic Church.

Falange [fascist] Party.

Monarchists.

Anarcho-Syndicalists.

Basques.

Catalans.

Communists.

Marxists.

Republicans.

Socialists.

Anarcho-Syndicalists.

Basques.

Catalans.

Communists.

Marxists.

Republicans.

Socialists.

TheNational

Front[Nationalists]

TheNational

Front[Nationalists]

ThePopularFront

[Republicans]

ThePopularFront

[Republicans]

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

Francisco Franco• Feb. 1936 elections

• Leftists Leftists (republicans, socialists, syndicalists, anarchists, communists) formed a Popular FrontPopular Front against the Right against the Right (old regime, monarchists, clericals, Falangist (Spanish fascists) and won

• But in July ’36, Military led by Franco July ’36, Military led by Franco moved against the Republican governmentmoved against the Republican government

• Civil war broke out as much of the country supported the Republican government

•  600,000 lives lost

• Franco won in March 1939

• 1939 Franco established a fascist type rule over Spain

Spain Splits the World• Spanish Civil War was

dress rehearsaldress rehearsal for WWII for WWII• Britain and France did Britain and France did

not intervene not intervene • U.S. maintained U.S. maintained

neutrality neutrality • Germany, Italy, and Germany, Italy, and

USSR intervenedUSSR intervened• German planes were

tested via bombings of Guernica (total war), Madrid, Barcelona

• Mussolini sent troops (100 thousand Italians)

Rome-Berlin Axis (1936)• After their cooperation

during the Spanish Civil War, Italy and Germany increased relations

• Rome-Berlin Axis 1936• Called Fascintern• Formal fascist alliance

between Germany and Italy

• Japan joined the Axis in ’36 under Anti-Comintern Pact

• Now Hitler was free to pursue union with Austria

Remilitarizing the Rhineland• Saar (through Nazi agitation) voted voted

to join the Reich 1935to join the Reich 1935• March 1935 Germany openly 1935 Germany openly

repudiated Versailles repudiated Versailles & began an arms build up while West did nothing

• Rhineland (1936)– In March 1936 Hitler repudiated

the Locarno agreements and sent sent troops into the Rhineland troops into the Rhineland (supposed to be demilitarized)

• French was stronger than Germany at this time– unwilling to act without GB

• Exposed weakness of League and Allies

• Two years later Hitler demanded that Germany be linked with Austria

Anschluss• Austrian gov being terrorized by Nazis

– Assassination of Dolfuss, bombings

• Hitler demanded that known Austrian Nazis be appointed to prominent gov positions

• Austria's Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg agreed

• Hitler ignored this and demanded Schuschnigg hand over gov to Austrian Nazis

• Schuschnigg planned referendum of union with Germany to discredit Austrian Nazis

– Government overthrownGovernment overthrown

• tried to hold a referendum for a vote on the issue

• In March 1938 Austrian Nazi party assumed power

• “asked” Germany to annex Austria

• Germany marched in without firing a shot

• PM Chamberlain rejected joining an alliance with France and Russia

• Believed he could negotiate with Hitler

The Munich Crisis: Climax of Appeasement • Anschluss

– surrounded Czechoslovakia – added 6 million Germans

• 3 million Germans lived in Czech (Sudentenland)

• Czechoslovakia – Had strong alliance with

France, USSR– Part of the Little Entente with

Romania and Yugo• Had strong army, highly dev.

Munitions industry, good fortresses in the North (Sudeten)– Sudeten population was

almost entirely German

The Munich Crisis: Climax of Appeasement

• Sudeten Germans agitated via German Nazis and demanded unity with Germany

• May 1938 rumors of German invasion caused Czechs to mobilize– French, Brits, and USSR

issued warnings and Hit backed down

• Allowed British PM Chamberlain to negotiate

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement (Sept. 1938)• Prime Minister Neville

Chamberlain • Hit raised demands higher and

mobilized war seemed imminent• Chamberlain “appeased” Hitler

by giving him Sudentenland if Hitler promised no more territorial demands

• Loss of mountainous region of Sudetenland left Czech defenseless

• Chamberlain – “peace in our time”

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do business with.

Western Democratic Weakness• Munich crisis revealed the weakness

of western democracies

• Western democracies were not prepared to take on an invigorated Germany

• By playing the “nationalism” card Hitler placed the West Hitler placed the West in a difficult difficult diplomatic situationdiplomatic situation

– Liberal West agreed with the concept of nationalism

• Saw fascism as a possible bulwark against the spread of communism

• Maybe Russia and Germany would destroy each other (they hoped)

End of Appeasement • In March of 1939 Hitler took the rest of

Czechoslovakia– protectorate of Germany

• Electrified Western European opinion– Hitler could not longer claim that he was

merely uniting Germanic peoples• Britain gave diplomatic guarantees to Poland,

Romania, and Greece• Difficult diplomatic position

– west wanted Soviet help, but the Soviets west wanted Soviet help, but the Soviets were communistwere communist

– Poles and Baltic states refused to allow Soviet troops in their borders

– Western powers had sent lesser diplomats to Moscow

• Chamberlain flew himself to meet Hitler

• Soviets were offended & suspicious – West would allow Soviets and Germans to

bleed each other out• West offered no territorial gains

The Nazi-Soviet Pact• AKA. The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact• Soviets believed the Anglo-French alliance

was a way to make the USSR to take the brunt of a Nazi attack

• Soviets openly signed a nonaggression pact with Nazi Germany 8/23/39– Secret clause was to divide Poland– USSR would retain control over the

Baltic states• Guaranteed Hitler a one front war

– No need for No need for Schlieffen PlanSchlieffen Plan • Stupefied the world

– Oil and Water Mixed?• Fascism & Communism are polar

opposites• Germany invaded Poland 8 days later

(September 1)• Britain and France declared war against

Germany (Sept. 3)• World War II has begun