1.4 The origins of the Second World War

• Key point


  Throughout the 1930s, Hitler took increasingly aggressive steps until finally war was declared in September 1939
• Disarmament Conference 1932


  1. Recognised it was unfair that only Germany had been forced to disarm as a result of the Treaty of Versailles

  2. Struggled to find an agreement for disarmament
• Hitler took power in Germany and immediately began rearming in secret


  1933
• Hitler walked out of the Disarmament Conference

  October 1933
• Hitler openly announced rearmament (Freedom to Rearm)


  1935
• By this time, other nations had suspected German rearmament and had themselves begun to rearm
• Hitler was unchallenged when he bombed Guernica and seized control of Austria
• Civil war broke out in Spain between a Republican force and a Fascist force


  1936
• Britain and France refused to intervene militarily in the Spanish Civil War
• The German air force bombed and effectively destroyed the Republican city of Guernica


  26 April 1937
• The bombing of Guernica highlighted the military strength of Germany and the inability to act by Britain and France when Hitler was clearly acting against the terms of the Treaty of Versailles
• The Austrian people voted in a plebiscite to join with Germany and Hitler marched troops into Austria


  March 1938
• Nothing was done to stop Hitler from uniting with Austria, despite a clause in the Treaty of Versailles banning this
• Appeasement


  A policy pursued by Chamberlain to prevent war
• Hitler's campaign to annex the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia


  1. Claimed he wanted to bring Germans back into the Fatherland

  2. Czechoslovakia had promises from Britain and France that they would protect the country against a German invasion

  3. Chamberlain organised a conference in Munich between Britain, France, Italy and Germany

  4. Czechoslovakia was not invited

  5. Hitler initially demanded just some of the Sudetenland, then when the British and French agreed, he upped his demand to the whole of the Sudetenland

  6. The British and the French gave in and the Munich Agreement was signed

  7. Chamberlain arrived back in Britain a hero, claiming 'Peace in our time'
• Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia

  March 1939
• Britain and France promised to declare war on Germany if it invaded Poland
• Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler, secretly dividing Poland into two halves


  August 1939
• Hitler invaded Poland


  1 September 1939
• Britain and France declared war


  The following day
• The Second World War had begun