outbreak of world war 2. hitler’s expansionist goals unite the german volk into one nation...
TRANSCRIPT
Hitler’s Expansionist Goals
• Unite the German volk into one nation
– Nationalism: One racial group, unified under one government
– Removal of the Jews and other non-German peoples
• Expand borders– Lebensraum: living space
for German people– Seize Poland and Ukraine
for living space and food production
– Unite a “Greater Germany”: Austria, Sudentenland, East Prussia
– Destroy the legacy of the Treaty of Versailles
Failure of League of Nations
• League created in 1919, as discussion forum to end war, but lacked military
• Lacked USA, Russia, Germany (until Locarno); USA refused to ratify Versailles treaty; Germany later joined and then left (Hitler pulled out of League when Germany was criticized for human rights abuses against Jews)
• Lacked Security Council, so required majority of all members for security issues
• Treaty of Versailles included promises to reduce arms for all countries
• 1931: Japan’s invasion of Manchuria brought only a weak condemnation of Japan
• 1935: League only condemned Hitler’s announcement to begin militarization
Italian Invasion of Ethiopia
• 1935: Italian invasion of Ethiopia (“Italo-Abyssinian Wars”)
– official condemnation from League (Mussolini replied to criticism over human rights that Ethiopians weren’t fully human, and so didn’t have human rights)
– weak economic sanctions against Italy, but not for oil sanctions
– But Britain allowed Italy to use Suez Canal, so invasion succeeded
– Alienated Mussolini turned to ally with Hitler
• Nazi Remilitarization of the Rhineland
– Britain and France registered complaint with League, but no other action
“The man who took the lid off” 1935
Anschluss
• 1934 attempt to annex Austria had failed due to Italian threats
• 1938, after alliance with Mussolini, Hitler bullied Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg to let Austria be annexed by Germany
• Schuschnigg began to organize a plebiscite, so Hitler invaded preemptively
• Anschluss left Czechoslovakia encircled by Germany
1938 Czechoslovakia Crisis
• 3.5M Germans lived in Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, born of A-H empire in 1919
• Hitler hoped to destroy Czechoslovakia, pro-western, allied with France and USSR
• Hitler organized Nazi sympathizers in both Czech and Slovak areas to divide country against itself
• 1938: Hitler Nuremberg speech caused pro-German rioting in Sudetenland
Appeasement: Munich Conference
• Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler three times in September
• Forced Czechoslovakia to surrender Sudetenland, lest England and France abandon the country altogether
• At 1938 Munich Conference, Germany, France, England, Italy agreed that Sudetenland would become German, leaving Czech. surrounded by Germany
• Hitler renounced further territorial aims, but then occupied Prague in 1939
Poland
• 1939: Hitler demanded that Poland give Danzig to Germany and allow access to East Prussia
• England and France publicly allied with Poland, but Hitler did not take alliance seriously
• 1939: Public Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact
– Also called Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
– Soviets feared that west intended USSR to bear burden of defending Poland
– secretly promised USSR eastern Poland and Bessarabia
• September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland; Britain and France declared war
Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact.
Behind him are Ribbentrop and Stalin.
Conclusions
• Chamberlain, perhaps misguided by apparent success of earlier negotiations to avert war, underestimated Hitler’s desire for land
• Hitler, perhaps misguided by earlier successes of brinkmanship, underestimated Britain and France’s seriousness in defending Poland
• Hitler’s demand for a Greater Germany was a plausible rationale for the Anschluss and Czech crisis, but was less convincing for invasion of Poland