Chapter 6 War In Europe. Focuses 1.Why did WWII break out in Europe in 1939? –Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy –Failure of the League of Nations in.

Chapter 6

War In Europe

Focuses1. Why did WWII break out in Europe in

1939?– Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy– Failure of the League of Nations in the

1930s– Economic Problems of the 1930s– Policy of Appeasement (Allied Powers)

2. What were the immediate causes of WWII in Europe?

– Britain Ended the Policy of Appeasement – The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact– Hitler’s Invasion of Poland

Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy

1. Hitler’s foreign policy aims:– To get rid of the Treaty of Versailles

To make Germany strong again

– To get more land for Germany To create ‘Greater Germany’ To create lebensraum (living space)

– To fight Communism


To get rid of the Treaty of Versailles– Terms of the TOV were harsh and

humiliating to Germany

– Kept Germany politically, militarily and economically weak

– Wanted to get rid of the TOV to make Germany strong again and to restore German pride


To get more land for Germany– Wanted to take back all the land lost in

the TOV

– Wanted to take away the surrounding territories with German-speaking populations

– Wanted to unite all the German-speaking people under ‘Greater Germany’


To get more land for Germany– Germany would need more living space

(lebensraum) for its growing population– Living space = lands east of Germany


To fight Communism– Wanted to conquer Russia

to get living space for the Germans to destroy Communism


2. Hitler’s actions:– Rearmament

– Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

– Anschluss


Rearmament– 1932 Disarmament Conference

Hitler demanded the right to build up Germany’s army but was rejected

Others countries also refused to disarm Germany withdrew from the Disarmament

Conference and the League of Nations– Increased the size of the army and weaponry – Reintroduced military conscription– But no action was taken against Germany


Remilitarisation of the Rhineland– Placed German troops in the demilitarised

zone of Rhineland

– But no action was taken against the German troops by France and Britain


Anschluss– Hitler wanted a political union (Anschluss)

between Germany and Austria – Threatened to invade Austria if the Austrian

Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg did not agree to Anschluss

– Schuschnigg planned a secret referendum to get the people to vote for independence

– In response, Hitler sent his troops to the Austrian border and ordered him to resign

– Anschluss was achieved but no action was taken against Germany


Hitler’s foreign policy aims and his actions broke the terms of TOV but no actions taken against Germany by LON peace in Europe threatened

Failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s

InherentWeaknesses

Events in the 1930s

Not all countries were members No army of its own

Manchuria Crisis, 1931Abyssinia Crisis, 1935

The most prominent:- USA- Russia

- Had to rely on the armies of member countries- Threat of economic sanctions not effective

These factors / events contributed to the failure of the LON to maintain peace in the 1930s.

Japan withdrew from LON in 1933Italy withdrew from LON in 1937

Germany withdrew from LON in 1933

Failure of Disarmament

Failure of the League of Nations

Background – Who were the members of the LON?

Britain

France

Italy

Japan

China

Germany

– What was the duty of the LON?


Reasons for LON’s failure in the 1930s– Inherent weaknesses

– Failed to deal with aggressors The Manchuria Crisis, 1931 (Chapter 7) The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935

– Failed to get countries to disarm


Inherent Weaknesses– Absence of the USA as a member

– Members put their own interests first over collective security

– No army of its own

– Inability to stop acts of aggression by major powers

– Failure to treat all its members with equal respect


The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935



– Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) Revenge for a previous defeat Natural resources

– Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, appealed to the LON for help


The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935– LON’s response: imposed economic sanctions

on Italy But did not include coal, oil, iron and steel Some LON members continued trading with

Italy – Alternatively, Britain could prevent Italy from

using the Suez Canal to ship supplies to Abyssinia But did not do so to avoid a war with Italy


– Solution: the Hoare-Laval Plan Britain and

France secretly agreed to give Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia if he withdrew his troops



The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935– But the Hoare-Laval Plan was abandoned

due to public protest in Britain and France

– Italy occupied Abyssinia in 1936 and left the LON in 1937

– Significance: the crisis showed that the LON had failed to use collective security to protect countries from aggression by major powers

• The source is a German cartoon from a magazine, 1936. The warrior is delivering a message to the League of Nations: “I am sorry to disturb your sleep but I just wanted to tell you that you should no longer bother yourselves about this Abyssinian business. The matter has been settled elsewhere.”

• Italy is portrayed as a tall and strong warrior.

• How is the LON being portrayed? Why is it so?


Failure of Disarmament – Disarmament Conference in Geneva, 1932

Germany was unhappy that only it had been disarmed and wanted other countries to disarm as well

Otherwise, Germany demanded the right to build up its military

Other countries refused to be ‘equal’ with Germany

– Germany withdrew from the Conference and the LON in 1933

– Rearmament programme was put in place


Failure of Disarmament – The Anglo-German Naval Treaty, 1935

Germany allowed to increase its navy size up to 35% of the British Navy size

Germany allowed to have submarines Significance: the TOV could be violated

to serve the interests of LON members

• Look at the source.

Do you think that disarmament was successful? Why or why not? What can you gather from the picture?

Economic Problems of the 1930s

The Great Depression

– Massive unemployment Democratic governments failed to reduce

unemployment rise of authoritarian governments

– Protectionism trade war increased unemployment (Textbook pg.156)

– Rearmament was used to create jobs threatened peace in the 1930s

Policy of Appeasement

What is Appeasement?– Refers to giving in to the demands of an

aggressor so as to avoid war

– A foreign policy adopted by Britain and France towards Germany


Reasons for Adopting Policy of Appeasement 1. Memories of WWI

– Strong anti-war sentiment due to great loss of lives in WWI

2. Economic impact of WWI and the Great Depression– Necessary to cut down government spending on

military to rebuild the economy 3. Sympathy for Germany

– The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany

– Making changes to some of the terms was acceptable to make Germany a peaceful nation again


Reasons for Adopting Policy of Appeasement

4. Fear of Communism – Communism posed a greater threat than Nazism– A strong Germany would prevent the spread of

Communism

5. Overseas empire – Not enough troops to keep order in the colonies

and fight a war in Europe at the same time

6. Buying time to modernise armies

Chapter 6 War In Europe. Focuses 1.Why did WWII break out in Europe in 1939? –Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy –Failure of the League of Nations in.

Documents

hitlers actions

germany strong

germanykept germany

germany withdre

rhinelandplaced german

lon peace

living space lebensraum

europe threatened failure