Appeasement - Mrs. Jarzen: 7 & 8 Social Studies st ... › ... › notes-_appeasement.pdf · 1938 • Appeasement: Foreign policy of France and Britain • This is making concessions,

Appeasement

1936• Hitler’s armies invade

the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles

• Rhineland: economically prosperous area along French-German border

• After WWI: demilitarized zone, due to border disputes

1936 -Rome-Berlin Axis• Formal alliance

between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy

• Focused on common goal of building empires and seeking revenge for the Treaty of Versailles

1938• Appeasement:

Foreign policy of France and Britain

• This is making concessions, or giving in to keep peace

• Due to economic and social problems after WWI, these nations did not want another war

1938• Hitler declares

Austria as rightfully part of Germany (Aryan)

• Nazi troops march in, and a puppet gov’t approves the German Anschluss (annexation) of Austria

https://youtu.be/hqZ-wcwLZcI?To 3:25

1938

• Hitler also wanted to control the Sudetenland, because it was populated mostly by Germans.

• This area was part of Czechoslovakia (formed after WWI)

1938 - Munich Conference• Hitler meets with

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

• Also present were Mussolini and French Premier Daladier

• NOT present: Czechoslovakia

Decision: Hitler could keep Sudetenland, and non-Germans had to leave

• Chamberlain returned home to Britain and was cheered: he had achieved “peace for our time”

https://youtu.be/hqZ-wcwLZcI 3:30 - end

1939• March: Hitler annexes Czechoslovakia, violating

the Munich Pact

• August: Hitler & Stalin sign the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact): Agreed not to attack one another, and would share the land in Eastern Europe (This is a trick by Hitler - now he only has to fight a one front war!!)

• September 1: Nazi invasion of Poland; Britain & France declare war on Germany, and WWII begins

Blitzkrieg: Lightning War

• Overwhelming build-up of offensive weapons (tanks, planes, artillery) along a narrow front to smash through opponent’s defenses

https://youtu.be/8ha0qKquG2E?