road to ww2

• Britain and France attempted to appease Hitler by allowing Germany to annex Austria and Czechoslovakia, but this only emboldened Hitler`s aggression.
• 1933 hitler comes to power
• 1934 dolfus affair
• 1936 remilitarisation of the rhineland
• 1938(spring) Anschluss with Austria
• 1938(autumn) sudetenland
• 1939 nazi-soviet pact
• hitlers foreign policy aims : defy the tov , Anschluss with Austria , lebensraum in the east , fight communism / make Germany a great power
• Hitler left the lon conference , 1933. Hitler demanded either all other countries disarmed to his level or Germany rearmed france refused so Germany left
• the dolfus affair 193: Hitler wanted to unite with Austia. the Austrian chancellor dolfuss banned the nazi party in Austria. Hitler instructed the Austrian nazis to cause trouble in the country dolfuss was murdered. hitlers aim failed because the Austrian army and Italian army didn't support him
• rearmamament , 1935. nazis organised a rearmament rally announcing the reintroduction of conscription and building an air force
• Saar plebiscite , 1935 was held in which 95% of the population decided they wanted to rejoin Germany not France
• the stressa font , 1935 France, Britain and Italy agreed that they would guarantee the Locarno treat , protect Austrian independence and stop Hitler from breaking any more terms of the tov
• the demilitarisation of the Rhineland was one of the terms in the tov . it also had been accepted by Germany in the Locarno treaty of 1925
• Hitler was taking a huge gamble when marching his troops into the rhineland because he would have faced humiliation and would have lost the support of the german army
• hitlers excuse was the Franco-Soviet pact with the USSR to protect each other against attack from Germany. hitler used this to claim that he was under threat
• despite the rearmament program, the Germany army was no match for the French army. it lacked essential equipment and Air Force
• France did not take action against Hitler because they were about to hold, an election, and none of the French leaders were prepared to take responsibility for plunging France into war, most of the French army was in Tunisia helping with the Abyssinian crisis
• Spanish Civil War, 1936-37: the early successes of 1933-36 grave Hitler confidence, in 1936 a civil war broke out in Spain between communists and right-wing rebels under general franco. Hitler saw this as an opportunity to fight against communism simultaneously to try out his new armed forces. german aircraft made devastating bombing raids on civilian populations in Spanish cities
• anti-Comintern pact, 1936-37: in 1936 Germany and japan signed the anti-communist international pact, and in 1937 Italy also signed it. this new alliance was called the axis alliance
• Hitler tried to take over Austria in 1934 but Mussolini stopped him
• By 1938, Germany and Italy were allies
• Hitler encouraged Nazis in Austria to cause trouble for the Austrian government by starting riots
• Hitler told the Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg that only Anschluss would stop the riots
• Schuschnigg asked Britain and France for help dealing with Germany, but they refused to help
• Schuschnigg called a plebiscite so the Austrian people could decide whether they wanted Anschluss with Germany
• Hitler sent his army into Austria in March 1938 to prevent the plebiscite from taking place
• Under the watchful eye of Nazi troops, 99.75% of Austrians voted in favor of Anschluss
• Germany took control of Austria and Britain and France did not intervene
• argument for appeasement: Versailles had been too harsh. Britain's own economic problems were more important to sort out than anything else. a strong Germany is better than a strong Russia. wanted to avoid the horrors of the ww1. gave Britain time to rearm. showed the US that Britain was not the aggressor
• In 1938, Edward Benes, the leader of Czechoslovakia, was worried that Hitler would invade them after Anschluss
• Britain and France had promised before to protect Czechoslovakia
• Benes asked Britain and France again to protect Czechoslovakia, and they reluctantly reaffirmed their promise
• Chamberlain asked Hitler if he planned to invade Czechoslovakia, and Hitler gave his word that he did not, but he was lying
• In May 1938, Hitler made it clear that he intended to invade Czechoslovakia if necessary to take control of the Sudetenland
• Chamberlain met Hitler again, and Hitler said he wanted parts of the Sudetenland and agreed to a plebiscite
• Hitler later changed his demands and said he wanted all of the Sudetenland
• The leaders of Britain, Germany, France, and Italy made the Munich Agreement, giving Hitler what he wanted
• Chamberlain was greeted as a hero back in Britain
• Chamberlain also ordered a massive increase in spending on the British army