Ch26: WW2 Causes

• Hitler's Foreign Policies:

  Anschluss - joining Germany with Austria by forcing Nazis into Austrian government

  Sudetenland - joining Germany with German-speaking Czechoslovakia

  Rebuilding the German army + navy - Treaty of Versailles restricted the German army to 100k soldiers and no machinery. Hitler realised the restriction for German army was based on the British army and didn't care about restrictions, restoring the army
• The Munich Agreement (September 30th): Britain, France & Italy agreed to give Sudetenland to Germany as long as they promised not to invade any other countries. This made Hitler happy but it also meant that Czechoslovakia had lost its best defences against invasion from Germany.
• Hitler invaded Poland on 01 September 1939. Two days later, Britain and France declared war, marking the beginning of WW2.
• Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact: Hitler and Stalin agreed to a 10 year period to not attack each other and a secret clause to partition Poland among them.