Conflict and tension

• Mein Kampf


  Book written by Hitler in 1924 outlining his aims
• Hitler's aims


  • To make Germany great again
  • To rearm Germany and recover its lost territories
  • To unite all German-speaking people under his control
  • To expand in the East and gain Lebensraum (living space) for the German people
• What Hitler argued was necessary to achieve his aims


  • Destroy the Treaty of Versailles
  • Destroy the power of France
  • Destroy the USSR
  • Win the friendship of Italy
  • Become an ally of Britain
  • Change the territorial settlement of the Treaty of Versailles by regaining lands taken from Germany including the Saar and Danzig
  • Bring the 7 million German speaking people in Austria and the 4 million in Czechoslovakia and Poland into his empire
  • Build up the Germany army
  • Expand in the east, probably against communist USSR
• Key events in Hitler's foreign policy

  • Rearmament
  • Saar
  • Rhineland
  • Anschluss
  • Sudetenland (Munich Conference)
  • Czechoslovakia
  • Nazi-Soviet Pact
  • Poland
• Rearmament

  1. 1933 – withdrew from disarmament conference and League of nations and started rearming

  2. 1935 introduced conscription

  3. 1935 – Anglo-German Naval Agreement

  4. 35% of the British fleets strength – not including submarines

  5. Because there had been no agreement on disarmament Britain was protecting her own interests by making an agreement on limiting the German Navy

  6. 1938 – 800,000 men, 47 U boats, 2,000 aircraft

  7. Britain allowing Germany to rearm
• Why the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was a threat to peace


  • It was an opportunity to stop Hitler in his tracks and could have stopped him from pursuing his aggressive foreign policy
  • Hitler took a calculated risk as his troops were too weak to stand up to the French army
  • Britain felt the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and that Hitler was doing nothing wrong by taking back land that had once belonged to Germany
  • Britain and France were more concerned about Mussolini's invasion of Abyssinia
  • Hitler's success convinced him that Britain and France would not try to prevent him achieving his other foreign policy aims
• The union of Austria and Germany was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles
• The British and French governments complained about the German violation of the Treaty but took no action
• There was a feeling among some in Britain that the treaty had been harsh and Britain should not defend it
• Why Britain and France did nothing about the Anschluss


  • Britain had sympathy because the Austrians were German speaking and had German culture and tradition
  • The Austrians wanted the plebiscite
  • Feared Communism and wanted a strong Germany as a barrier to communism
• The Anschluss


  Led directly to Hitler taking over the Sudetenland and Czechoslovakia
• Why the Anschluss was a threat to peace

  • It was another triumph for Hitler's aggressive foreign policy
  • It made Germany stronger with the resources, army, iron and steel of Austria
  • It grew Hitler's confidence and encouraged him to take further aggressive actions
  • It possessed land on 3 sides of Czechoslovakia, making the Sudetenland and invasion of Czechoslovakia the next obvious steps
• The Anschluss was not unpopular with Austria - the Austrian people wanted it
• Britain and France did not want a war, they felt they were not strong enough to go to war. They were prepared to give Hitler what he wanted
• Reasons why appeasement was followed

  • Chamberlain believed that if Hitler's claims were reasonable, it was fair to give Germany what they wanted, as long as his aims were limited, and he could be trusted
  • As the League of Nations had failed, Chamberlain decided to use personal diplomacy and deal directly with Hitler
  • The Treaty of Versailles had given Germany 'legitimate grievances'
• The Anschluss made Hitler confident and was another reversal of the Treaty of Versailles, but his foreign policy was already in motion by this point and there was no stopping him
• The re-militarisation of the Rhineland was the bigger threat because it was the missed opportunity - Britain and France could have stopped Hitler at this point but did not
• Reasons why appeasement was followed

  • Chamberlain believed that if Hitler's claims were reasonable, it was fair to give Germany what they wanted, as long as his aims were limited, and he could be trusted
  • The League of Nations had failed, so Chamberlain decided to use personal diplomacy and deal directly with Hitler
  • The Treaty of Versailles had given Germany 'legitimate grievances' and it had been unfair, so Germany was right to ask for it to be reversed but only through negotiation not force
  • The French felt safe behind the Maginot line
  • People did not want another war like WWI
  • Britain needed time to prepare for war by rearming - appeasement bought time
  • Some saw Germany as a barrier to Communist expansion
• Britain and France were rapidly re-arming and it was accepted that the policy of appeasement had failed
• Appeasement failed to prevent the outbreak of war because Hitler's foreign policy aims were not limited
• The Munich Conference


  Was a success because it avoided war and obtained peace, even though Hitler gained the Sudetenland

  Was a failure because it brought war closer - it weakened Czechoslovakia, made Hitler more confident, and led to the Nazi-Soviet Pact which divided Poland