The Road to War: 1919-1939

Europe 1919-1938

German Geographic Problems--World War I

• short Atlantic coast• narrow access to the North Sea• the Alps limit movement south• Britain controls Gibraltar and the seas.• Germany had inadequate resources to

fight a two front war for very long.

German Geographic Problems--World War I

The Treaty of Versailles

• Austria-Hungary was dissolved• Russia became communist• Germany loses land to France

and Poland

The Treaty of Versailles

• This infuriated many Germans, including a young corporal named Adolf Hitler

Hitler in Prison• By 1924, Hitler led

the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) or Nazis

• led an unsuccessful coup attempt

• sent to jail• wrote Mein Kampf--

or My Struggle.

Mein Kampf• tells his master plan• Germans are Aryan

race

– the Master Race. – others, esp. Jews and

Slavs, are “sub-human.”

• blames the Jews

– for Germany’s defeat – links them to

communism.

• “Lebensraum”

Lebensraum• “room to live” in the East • occupied by Slavs, Jews, Poles, and other

“sub-humans.”

Hitler in Power

• By 1935, Hitler was “führer” or leader of Germany.

The Rhineland, 1936

• No German troops allowed under the Treaty of Versailles

• Hitler marches in

The Rhineland, 1936

• Hitler cancels the Treaty of Versailles

• Begins to rearm Germany

• British and French do nothing

– Want a strong Germany as a buffer between them and Soviet Union

– Felt Hitler was the lesser of two evils

German Geographic Problems

• couldn’t win a two front war• Britain & France might object to plans• Britain controlled the seas.

Western Front

Eastern Front

Lebensraum meant taking Poland

Germany and Poland

• short border with Poland • Poles would fight fanatically.

Czechoslovakia

• Hitler wanted to go around the Polish defenses.

• That meant Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovakia

• Sudetenland • mountains occupied by Germans• Czechs had it heavily fortified

Austria

• would go through Austria

The Anschluss of Austria--March 1938

• Austrian Nazi party wanted to join Germany.

• Italy and Spain abandoned Austria • Hitler forces Austrians to give up

planned elections • Nazi put in charge of the gov’t.• the Wehrmacht--the German army--

asked to “restore order.”

The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938

• Hitler said that Germans were being persecuted

• should be part of “Greater Germany”• The Czechs--strong army and mountains

The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938

• The Czechs asked for British and French help

• Hitler – said--surrender the Sudetenland or fight.– called the Munich Conference

• Germany, Italy, Britain, and France invited.

• Not Czech. or Soviet Union

The Sudetenland--Autumn 1938

• Br. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and Fr. Premier Eduard Daldier appease Hitler

• agreed to no further expansion

Appeasement• To allow an aggressor to

take what he wants rather than to fight him.

• was criticized by many, • Chamberlain and Daldier

chose to believe Hitler • The Czechs gave up in

October 1938.

Who’s this??

March 1939

• March 1939, takes the rest of Czechoslovakia. • British and French again did nothing, but begin to

rearm• Poland and the Soviet Union got scared

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

• Hitler preparing to invade Poland.

• Britain/France supported Poland

• Nazis talk to Joseph Stalin

• Stalin needed time – purges had killed off his

army officers– “commissars” controlled

officers

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

• August 1939 – allowed Hitler to

invade Poland

• Stalin – got eastern half of

Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania

– Time to prepare

• Poland would be isolated.

WONDER HOW LONG THE HONEYMOON WILL LAST?

Poland--August 1939

• Hitler-- Germans in Poland were being persecuted.• staged a fake attack on a radio station

September 1, 1939

• The Wehrmacht crashes into Poland.