ww2

• The policy of appeasement, pursued by Western powers in an attempt to avoid war, ultimately failed to deter Hitler's aggression and instead emboldened him to pursue further expansion.
• •  explain the key clauses of the Treaty of Versailles
• •  distinguish between communism and fascism
• • explain the rise of fascism around the world in the interwar years.
• explain how the Nazis achieved power in Germany through democratic means by Jan 1933
• By the end of 1918, the European powers had fought each other to near exhaustion in “ The Great War ”.
• The Russian Empire collapsed the previous year and had been replaced by a Communist dictatorship.
• A few weeks before the war’s end, the German Kaiser (king) abdicated and Germany became a republic, known as the Weimar Republic.
• Despite clearly losing the war, when a halt was called, German forces still occupied land in France and Belgium. Germany itself was relatively untouched by the fighting.
• An ‘Armistice’ was enacted at 11am in 11 November, 1918. The Armistice was not a formal surrender by Germany; it was simply a pause in the fighting -- with strings attached.
• Negotiations for a peace settlement took months and the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919.
• Article 231 became known as the ‘war guilt’ clause as it put restrictions on Germany's ability to wage war in the future and made Germany ‘pay’ for the war.

  Germany’s army could have no more than 100 000 men (in 1918 it numbered 4.6 million soldiers). It's navy was greatly reduced and it could have no submarines. Nor was Germany allowed to possess an air force.
• The Treaty stripped Germany of approximately 65 000 square kilometers of territory, 7 million of its population living in those areas, most of its overseas colonies and territory it took from the Russian Empire when it collapsed in 1917 and Russia made peace with Germany.

  Germany was also expected to pay roughly US$270 billion (in today’s dollars) to the Allies. (It's repayment finally ceased in 2010)
• The treatment of the Jews deserves special attention as it had a number of causes that made it so ‘palatable’ to the majority of the population. 

  • European anti-semitism (anti-Jewish) was not new.
  • Jews were distinct from other Germans by culture and ethnicity.
  • Much of the finance industry (banks etc.) were controlled by Jews.
  • “Bolshevism” was often thought of as a Jewish ideology.
• Adolf Hitler joined the political party (which would eventually be known as the Nazi Party) in 1919, rising to become it's leader in 1921.
• Hitler lead a failed revolution, known  as the Munich (or Beer Hall) Putsch,  in 1923. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison -- being released after only 9 months.
• As a politician, his results were mixed. Hitler spoke well, bringing a mix of promises of work and prosperity along with blaming scapegoats for Germany’s defeat in The Great War and its economic problems since. His paramilitary supporters, the brown-shirted ‘SA’ used violence against opponents of the Nazis.
• When the Reichstag (Parliament building) caught fire in February, Hitler blamed a young communist and banned the Communist party. He then intimidated the Reichstag members to pass the ‘Enabling act’, which gave Hitler emergency powers to govern without having to consult parliament. Hitler abolished other political parties in July.
• A year later (after hitler was put into power/ in the government), Hitler ordered the murder of many of his rivals, including an old friend and the head of the SA, Ernst Rohn. Hitler’s personal bodyguards, the SS, where used for the purge. It became known as ‘The Night of the Long Knives”.
• In 1934, the Reichstag enacted the Nuremberg Laws. The purpose of the laws was to exclude Jews from the wider society. For example, Jews couldn’t marry non-Jews, work as doctors or teachers or for the government. Jews also lost their citizenship. The previous year, Hitler had already declared a national boycott of Jewish shops and businesses.
• In November of 1938, anti-Jewish mobs went on a rampage throughout Germany and Austria, burning damaging and looting synagogues and Jewish businesses. The destruction became known as Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. 
• The German army and navy grew far beyond the restrictions placed on it in 1919 -- the army was 37 times larger in 1939 that it had been after the war.  Pilots for the new air force would train in civilian ‘aero clubs’.
• Following The Great War, Germany was not allowed to have troops stationed in the Rhineland, an area of western Germany that bordered France. In March of 1935, Hitler sent in two divisions (about 20 000 men).
• Later that year, Germany made an agreement with Great Britain, France and Italy to take over a strip of Czechoslovakian land on the German border. The Czechoslovakian government were not consulted. It was known as the Munich Agreement. Britain and France hoped that by appeasing Hitler they would avoid another war with Germany. 

  Hitler broke his agreement in March of 1939 by invading the remainder of Czechoslovakia.
• In late August 1939, Germany demanded that Poland ceade some of the territory it gained following the end of The Great War. Poland refused and Britain and France pledged to come to Poland’s aid if Hitler invaded.

  German troops crossed into Poland on the 1st of September. Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declared war on Germany on September the 3rd.
• Japan fought China in 1894-95 and the Russian Empire in 1904-05, gaining Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), the southern half of the Sakhalin island and influence in Manchuria. The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was the first time an Asian nation defeated a European power in modern times.
• With the defeat of France by Germany, Japan took control of French Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) in September 1940; in part, as a way around the US oil embargo. Western nations countered by further isolating Japan economically.
• The Japanese never hoped to defeat the United States. Rather, they hoped that the US would be unwilling to fight over foreign territories after the initial setback of Pearl Harbour.
• The term ‘Nazi’ comes from shortening the German translation of “National Socialist German Workers Party”, which Adolf Hitler joined in 1919 -- it was called the German Workers Party at that time, changing its name in 1920.
• The basic ideas of Nazi ideology were:

  • only the strong survive
  • Communism is a Jewish ideology
  • the Germanic master race must defeat its racial enemies, especially the Jews
  • Germany must gain Lebensraum (“living room”) for its expanding population by taking land from non-Aryan races
  • the Führerprinzip (leader principle) dictates that all opposition must be crushed and there must be total obedience to the leader.
• • Racial superiority -- the idea, supposedly with scientific support, that some races (people groups) are genetically superior to others. This idea was popular at the time but is not backed up by any scientific evidence.
• • Authoritarianism -- the view that power must be concentrated in a person or small group of individuals. It is anti-democratic; criticism or views other than those in power are not tolerated. 
• They appealed to German nationalism by blaming others for their defeat in the Great War (such as politicians and Jews) and for their treatment since by other nations in the loss of territory and war reparations. 
• Goals of the Party

  Overturn Treaty of Versailles and reclaim territory

  Unite all German-speaking people in a Third Reich (Empire)

  Take territory from Slavic ‘racial inferiors’ in Soviet Union

  Destroy Communism

  Control supply of resources for Germany

  Protect the Aryan (German) peoples by eradicating ‘inferior races’.
• • The invasion of Poland
  • 1 Sept 1939 – 6 Oct 1939
  • European theatre war
  • Germany invades Poland, initiating World War II in Europe. This is known as the start of World War 2
• • The Fall of France
  • 10 May 1940 – 25 June 1940
  • European theatre war
  • Germany attacked france which forced them to sign an armistice. In this Germany also attacked the low countries.
• • Operation Dynamo
  • 26 May 1940 – 4 June 1940
  • European theatre war
  • The evacuation of British and french soldiers from Dunkirk. It involved 380,000 men to be rescued and is also known as the miracle of Dunkirk.
• • The Battle of Britain
  • 10 July 1940 – 31 Oct 1940
  • Pacific theatre war
  • It was the first military campaign to only involve the airforce. The Battle of Britain was the successful defense of Great Britain against the air raids conducted by the German air force in 1940 after the fall of France during World War 2
• • The Italian invasion of Greece
  •  28 Oct 1940 – 23 Apr 1941
  • European theatre war
  • The Italians tried to attack greece but were met with a lot of resistance as well as mountains and muddy terrain and Greece ended up winning against the Italian invasion.
• • The Battle of Midway
  • 4 june 1942 - 7 june 1942
  • Pacific theatre of war
  • Japanese aircraft carries attacked a US military base on the island of midway in hopes to secure parts of the pacific islands and east asia. The US navy decided to fight back against the Japanese meanwhilst the japanese aircrafts went to refuel. The battle lasted 3 days and approximately 3,419 men lost their lives.