Chapter 21 - Germany's Challenges to Versailles

• What happened in January 1934?

  Non-aggression pact with Poland
• What happened in January 1935?

  Saar plebiscite
• What happened in March 1935?

  Hitler announces Germany's remilitarisation plans
• What happened in June 1935?

  Anglo-German Naval Agreement
• What happened on 7th March 1936?

  Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
• What happened in March 1938?

  German troops ordered into Austria
• What happened in April 1938?

  Austrian plebiscite
• What were the long term aims of Hitler's foreign policy?

  Since the early stages of his political career, Hitler had asserted that:

  • The terms of the TOV should be abolished - land given to Poland and Czechoslovakia should be restored to Germany and union with Austria should be allowed
  • All German-speaking people's must be united under one Reich
  • Germany must acquire Lebensraum in Eastern Europe and the USSR - according to Nazi ideology, the German people (Aryans) were superior to other races and deserved to conquer their territory
  • The USSR, believed by Hitler to be a communist state run by Jews, should be destroyed
• What is meant by the term "Lebensraum"?

  • Translates as "living space"
  • According to Nazi ideology, German race was superior but needed more resources
  • Germany should therefore expand and colonise land belonging to "inferior races" such as Slavs
• What does Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" contain?

  • Contains much evidence of his FP objectives
  • In the opening chapter he insisted on the achievement of an Anschluss with Austria, which had been a goal of many German and Austrian nationalists since the 1848 revolutions
  • Bismarck, whom Hitler greatly admired, had opposed German union with AH due to its ambitions in the Balkans
  • Hitler (born in Austria) however, was inspired by the idea of a glorious, united Germanic empire
• What did Hitler later assert about Lebensraum?

  • Said it was Germany's most important goal and that the country would collapse altogether if new land was not acquired
  • After coming to power in Jan 1933, he told army officers that together they would achieve "the conquest and ruthless Germanisation of new living space in the East"
  • This aim was to be vigorously reasserted at the Hossbach conference in 1937, after a number of FP victories for Germany
• What were Hitler's short term FP aims?

  • Hitler sought to weaken existing international agreements which could serve as a barrier to his long term aims, such as French influence in Eastern Europe
  • However, following Hitler's early success with the Saar plebiscite, the Anglo-German Naval agreement and public announcement of remilitarisation without punishment by the LON, his confidence increased and his tactics became more ambitious
  • Intentionalist historians argue that Hitler was working to a long-term plan to implement his FP from the moment he took power
• Where has evidence of Hitler wanting an immediate world war been found?

  • In the "Four Year Plan" document (1936) and the Hossbach Memorandum (1937)
  • Some historians claim he hoped to use military actions as a method of alleviating domestic problems, especially the "overheating" of the German economy caused by rearmament
• What was the Hossbach Memorandum 1937?

  • In Nov 1937, Hitler met with 3 commanders in chief, War Minister Blomberg and FM Neurath
  • Hitler claimed Germany needed to go to war to ensure its survival and that Lebensraum must be pursued as early as possible
  • After Blomberg and Field Marshal Fritsch voiced doubts over Germany's ability to fight a war in 1940 and questioned the assumed non-intervention of Britain and France, Hitler had them removed and appointed himself as a Commander in Chief of the German army in Feb 1938
• How did Hitler use military means to achieve his aims?

  • Ordered secret rearmament of Germany 3 days after becoming Chancellor
  • By 1939 military spending had increased to 23% of gov budget from 1% in 1932
  • However, in his first few months, Hitler continued to play the reasonable statesmen and German delegates continued to attend the World Disarmament Conference
  • He correctly calculated that the French would refuse to disarm immediately and used this as an excuse to withdraw from it
  • Also withdrew from LON and so was free to pursue bilateral agreements with other powers
• When did Germany withdraw from the World Disarmament Conference?

  October 1933
• When did Germany withdraw from the League of Nations?

  14th October 1933
• What is meant by the term "bilateral agreements"?

  Agreements between two powers, rather than a wider international understanding
• When was the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact?

  January 1934
• Describe relations between Germany and Poland in 1934

  • German rearmament and Hitler's publicly declared intention to reclaim East Prussia was a direct threat to Poland, its Eastern neighbour
  • By 1934, Poland had a strong army of its own, bordered as it was by two potentially aggressive powers, Germany and the USSR
  • The Poles considered a pre-emptive strike on Germany before it could remilitarise any further, but support from its Locarno ally France was not forthcoming
  • Nevertheless, Polish military manoeuvres in Danzig convinced Germany to negotiate - with its rearmament programme in its infancy, it was not ready for war
• What did the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact 1934 say?

  Each power promised not to go to war with each other for at least 10 years
• What were the two major consequences of the German-Polish Non-Aggression Pact 1934?

  • Germany's eastern border was now secure and remilitarisation could be pursued and French diplomatic influence in Eastern Europe was severely reduced
  • It also reinforced the idea of Hitler's "reasonableness"
• What was the Defence Requirements Committee?

  A British gov committee established in 1933 to assess the potential need for rearmament in response to growing international insecurity
• When was the attempted Anschluss?

  July 1934
• What did the attempted Anschluss 1934 demonstrate?

  Served as an example of Hitler responding to events as they arose
• What was the attempted Anschluss 1934?

  • An attempt to create a union between Germany and Austria under Nazi control
  • Following Mussolini's attempt to install Engelbert Dollfuss as an anti-Nazi Austrian Chancellor, German Nazis encouraged their Austrian counterparts to murder Dollfuss on 25th July 1934 in an attempted coup d'etat
• What was the outcome of the attempted Anschluss 1934?

  • To prevent Germany seizing control of Austria, Mussolini sent Italian troops to the Austrian border
  • The German military was not ready for such potential conflict, so Hitler abandoned the immediate plan for such potential conflict, so Hitler abandoned the immediate plan for Anschluss, but not the long-term goal
  • Over the next 2 years, Nazi foreign policymakers cultivated a friendlier relationship with Italy to avoid another confrontation
• When was the Saar plebiscite?

  13th January 1935
• What was the Saarland?

  • Bordered France and contained rich resources of coal
  • Had been placed under the the protection of the LON, but at the end of 1934, the planned plebiscite was approaching
  • Many anti-Nazis had fled to the Saar when Hitler came to power, and there was a sizeable French minority living in the area
• Why was the Saar plebiscite 1935 important to the Nazis?

  • It was a test of the popularity of the Nazi regime, and Hitler could not risk a poor result
  • Local Nazis were instructed to harass potential opponents, but this attracted too much attention for Hitler's liking and the pro-Nazi campaign was scaled down
• What was the outcome of the 1935 Saar plebiscite?

  • The plebiscite was overseen by foreign officials who declared that the voting was conducted fairly
  • There was an overwhelming result of 90% in favour of returning to German control, perceived as a huge success to the Nazis, but was almost certainly rigged
  • Convinced many foreign powers of Hitler's moral authority - in a free election, people had chosen not just German rule, but Nazi rule
  • Gave Hitler a confidence boost as he later intended to unite German-speakers in Austria and the Sudetenland
  • However, the affair had not been easy as the Nazi propaganda campaign alarmed the British and French
• How did Germany go about rearmament and conscription in March 1935?

  • Having commenced the secret build-up of German armaments from 1933, in 1935 the Nazis were confident enough to announce their remilitarisation plans publicly
  • On 9th March, Minister of Aviation Hermann Goering announced the existence of a German air force, the Luftwaffe
  • A week later Hitler declared that Germany was to reintroduce conscription
• What did Hitler cite as the reason for rearmament in 1935?

  • British French an Russian rearmament following the failure of the Geneva Conference was used as an excuse
  • Therefore argued in a breach of the TOV that Germany would need 550,000 troops for defence, which would increase to 750,000
• What happened on 16th March 1935?

  In a display of Germany's increasing optimism and ambition, a "Freedom to Rearm" rally was held
• What is meant by the term "Wehrmacht"?

  The armed forces of Germany from 1935; it was disbanded by the Allies in 1945
• What did Germany do in June 1935?

  Sent foreign officer adviser Joachim von Ribbentrop to Britain to negotiate an agreement on Germany's naval rearmament
• Who was Joachim von Ribbentrop (1893-1946)?

  • Committed Nazi and diplomat
  • Trusted by Hitler to negotiate hugely significant agreements with other powers, including the naval agreement with Britain and the Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939
  • He replaced Neurath, who had questioned Hitler's F
  • Ribbentrop was hanged for war crimes after WW2
• Why did Germany want to reach a naval agreement with Britain in 1935?

  • Hitler surmised that Britain, with its superior navy and overseas empire, would be far more concerned with naval remilitarisation than military prep in Europe, just as Wilhelm II had done before WW1
  • Therefore, he sought permission from the British to increase Germany's battle fleet
• Why did Britain want to reach a naval agreement with Germany in 1935?

  • Under the terms of the Washington and London naval treaties (1921-22 and 1930), Britain's own naval rearmament was pegged to that of the USA and Japan
  • Therefore, an opportunity to set restrictions on Germany's navy in Britain's favour was welcome to London despite it breaking both the TOV and the Stresa Front
• What was the outcome of the Anglo-Naval Agreement June 1935?

  • Restricted the German navy to 35% of the size of Britain's
  • Hitler was very pleased to have reached an agreement with the British, whom he much admired, as it increased the Nazi regime's international prestige