3c+-+CAUSES+OF+WWII

__**THE BIG QUESTION**__ **Why had international peace collapsed by 1939?** __**HEADLINE QUESTIONS**__ What were the long-term consequences of the peace treaties of 1919–1923? What were the consequences of the failures of the League in the 1930s? How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939? Was the policy of appeasement justified? How important was the Nazi-Soviet Pact? Why did Britain and France declare war on Germany in September 1939?
 * __THE CAUSES OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR 1919-1939 __**

__**CONTENT THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW**__ The collapse of international order in the 1930s; The increasing militarism of Germany, Italy and Japan; Hitler’s foreign policy up to 1939; The Saar, remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland; The Nazi-Soviet Pact; <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Appeasement and the outbreak of war in September 1939. **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why had international peace collapsed by 1939? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">What were the long-term consequences of the peace treaties of 1919-1923? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Germans resented the loss of territory and the demilitarisation of the Rhineland.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Extremists, like Hitler, were able to play on people's fears and humiliation.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It created weak coalition governments in the Weimar Republic, which were unable to cope with the Depression.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It created a feeling that Germany had been treated too harshly, leading to appeasement.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Japan resented the failure to gain land in Manchuria.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Italy was denied the territory promised in the secret Treaty of London.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Both Japan and Italy retaliated by seizing land in 1931 and 1935.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">What were the consequences of the failures of the League in the 1930s? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The failure of the League to act in 1931 and 1935 led to the creation of the Axis.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The dictators of Germany, Italy and Japan gradually formed an alliance that the League was unable to act against.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">How far was Hitler’s foreign policy to blame for the outbreak of war in 1939? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1933, Adolf Hitler ordered the German delegates to walk out of a Disarmament Conference organised by the League of Nations.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He stated that Germany was prepared to disarm if other nations did so as well. He then left the League immediately afterwards.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In January 1935, the people of the Saar, an area that had been administered by the League of Nations since 1920, voted by 477,000 to 48,000 to rejoin Germany.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This was a massive propaganda victory for Hitler and a reversal of the Treaty of Versailles.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; text-decoration: none;">Rearmament

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1935, Hitler began rearmament. Conscription was reintroduced and the army, navy and airforce were all built up.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">All members of the German armed forces had to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler personally.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Anglo-German Naval Treaty **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This was an agreement that allowed Germany to build a navy up to 35% the size of Britain's.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and encouraged Hitler to go even further.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">'The forty-eight hours after the march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of my life. If the French had opposed us we would have had to withdraw. Our forces were not strong enough even to put up a moderate resistance.’
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Rhineland **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Rhineland had been demilitarised under the Treaty of Versailles. The Allies were to occupy the area for fifteen years, or for longer if necessary.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Allied troops were withdrawn from the Rhineland in 1935. The following year, Hitler reoccupied it.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On 7 March 1936, Germany denounced the Locarno Pacts and reoccupied the Rhineland. The crisis over the Italian invasion of Abyssinia influenced Britain not to interfere.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler later commented:
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The reoccupation of the Rhineland convinced Hitler that Britain and France were unlikely to act against further aggression
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Britain and France were concentrating on the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Britain refused to act; one politician said that it was only Hitler going into his own backyard.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; text-decoration: none;">The Anschluss

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Anschluss meant the union of Germany and Austria, which had been specifically banned by the Treaty of Versailles.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why did Hitler want to unite Germany and Austria? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler had been born in the town of Braunau-am-Inn in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was not technically a German citizen, even though he had lived in Germany since 1913.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler wanted to destroy the Treaty of Versailles, which he regarded as a humiliation for Germany. This would be one way of achieving his aim.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler wanted to create a Greater Germany, which would include all German-speaking peoples. Austria was an obvious step.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The first attempt at Anschluss took place in July 1934 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">After Hitler became chancellor there was increasing Nazi agitation in Austria, until the Nazi Party was dissolved in June.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In February 1934, the chancellor of Austria, Engelbert Dollfuss, ordered attacks on the Austrian Socialist Party, which was then dissolved.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">From April 1934 Dollfuss began to rule as a dictator.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On 25 July Nazis entered the radio station in Vienna and forced the staff to announce that Dollfuss had resigned. They then entered the chancellery and shot and killed Dollfuss.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The murderers were quickly arrested by the Austrian armed forces, and Italy and Yugoslavia moved forces to the Austrian border to prevent German intervention.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Between 1934 and 1938 relations between Austria and Germany deteriorated. In 1937, Mussolini also informed the new Austrian chancellor, Kurt Schussnigg, that Italy would not help Austria in the future.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">A second crisis over Anschluss developed in 1938 **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">February 12 - Schussnigg met Hitler and agreed to appoint some Nazi ministers to the Austrian Cabinet. Arthur Seyss-Inquart became Minister for the Interior.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">March 1 - Unrest broke out in parts of Austria caused by Nazis. Soon the whole country was in chaos.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">March 11 - Hitler sent an ultimatum demanding the resignation of Schussnigg. German troops were massed on the border. Schussnigg gave in and Seyss-Inquart became chancellor.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">March 13 - Austria and Germany were united.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">April 10 - A Plebiscite was held which gave a 99.75 % majority in favour of Anschluss. Austria was immediately incorporated into the German Reich.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The speed at which these events took place made reactions by Britain and France difficult.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The two countries protested, but did little more, especially as Mussolini refused to join in the protests or any possible actions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Anschluss meant that Germany now surrounded Czechoslovakia on three sides.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; text-decoration: none;">Czechoslovakia 1938

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On September 12 1938 Hitler demanded self-government for the German speaking Czechs in the Sudetenland.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, had been expecting Hitler to try to seize the Sudetenland for some time.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He had already decided that, as soon as it happened, he would go to meet Hitler face to face and settle the matter. Chamberlain called this Plan Z.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On September 15 Neville Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler at Berchtesgaden and agreed to his demands.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He returned to Britain and persuaded Edouard Daladier the French prime minister of the need to support him.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Czech government was informed of Chamberlain's decision, but was not invited to the discussions.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On 22 September Chamberlain returned to meet Hitler at Bad Godesberg. But Hitler now had new demands.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler told Chamberlain that the Sudetenland must be handed over to Germany immediately and that Polish and Hungarian claims for Czech territory must also be met.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Chamberlain returned to London. He believed that war was inevitable. Evacuation began in London and 1,000,000 volunteers were called for by the government.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But at the last moment war was avoided, the Italian dictator Mussolini suggested a four power conference.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The four powers, Germany, Italy, Britain and France, met at Munich on 28 September 1938.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">They agreed to let Hitler have the Sudetenland. Hitler and Chamberlain signed an agreement that Britain and Germany would never go to war again. This was Appeasement.



<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; text-decoration: none;">Was the policy of appeasement justified?

 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Appeasement was the belief that the Dictators could be pacified if their demands were met.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">With the benefit of hindsight, Appeasement was a serious mistake. It failed completely, and, in fact, merely encouraged the Dictators to make even more demands.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Changing Attitudes towards Hitler **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">With hindsight it is obvious that Hitler was very dangerous indeed, but in the 1930s some people saw things differently.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There was a strong view that the Treaty of Versailles had been too harsh and that, therefore, it was not unreasonable to allow Hitler to break some of the terms.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Britain had already allowed Germany to build more warships because the reduction of the German forces in 1919 was thought to be too severe.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Hitler was also admired by some people for the way that he had rebuilt Germany after 1933.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Unemployment was cut from 6,000,000 to 500,000 and industrial production rose dramatically. This was in comparison to events in Britain where the government seemed to be doing very little.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Until the late 1930s the worst aspects of the Nazi rule were not made public.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936 were used as giant propaganda exercise.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Visits to Germany were organised for groups of ex-servicemen from Britain where they were introduced to Hitler. He explained how reasonable his demands were.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Fears of War **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In the 1930s more and more attention was paid to what future war would be like. People became more and more convinced that bombing would be highly dangerous.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Added to this was the fear of poison gas, which had been used for the first time during the First World War.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Bombers, high explosive and poison gas meant that the war would affect people in Britain far more than ever before.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Rearmament **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many people saw the RAF as Britain’s main defence and by the mid-1930s the RAF had few modern planes.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This was seen by many people as a strong argument for avoiding war at all costs. Britain needed time to build up her defences against Germany.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Memories of the First World War **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Probably the most important reasons for Appeasement were the British people’s memories of the Great War, as it was known until the Second World War.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">What had made these memories all the more vivid was the fact that in 1914 the war had been greeted with great enthusiasm.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">By 1918, however, there were very few people who did not view the war with horror.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">French governments were more inclined to oppose Hitler in 1936-38, but were afraid to do so without support from Britain.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">France was dominated by the Popular Front, a left wing coalition, until 1938. This supported the policy of non-aggression.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Most French governments were coalitions, which made firm action difficult.

<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Events in 1939
<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In March 1939, Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. This was a clear violation of the Munich Agreement and showed that Hitler was not just aiming to unite all German speakers in a Greater Germany.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">April 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> Britain made defensive alliances with Romania and Poland. These meant that if either country was attacked Britain would go to war to defend them
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">June – **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">August 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> France, Britain and the Soviet Union discussed an alliance against Hitler.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">August 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Germany and the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">How important was the Nazi-Soviet Pact? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">On the face of it the Nazi-Soviet Pact was a simple non-aggression pact between the two countries. They both agreed not to attack the other.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But the Hitler and Stalin had been bitter enemies and the agreement astounded politicians throughout Europe. It was clearly the prelude to something dramatic.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In fact there were a number of secret clauses that were not public. The Soviet Union agreed not to interfere when Germany attacked Poland and also would allow Hitler a free hand in Western Europe.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In return, Germany would allow the Soviet Union to occupy eastern Poland and would not interfere if Stalin occupied the Baltic States and Finland.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">It was, therefore, a cold-blooded and calculated agreement to interfere in the lives of helpless and innocent people.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">25 August 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> Britain responded by signing a formal alliance with Poland.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">1 September 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> Germany invaded Poland.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">2 September 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> The British Government sent an ultimatum to Germany demanding that all forces should be withdrawn from Poland or war would be declared. This was ignored.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">3 September 1939 **<span style="font-family: 'calibri','sans-serif';"> Britain declared war on Germany.