Road to World War II Revision

If you click on the yellow pointers, you will reveal all the facts that you ought to remember.     
Try to remember BEFORE you click!

•  HITLER'S AIMS
  • Abolish the Treaty of Versailles (5 points).
    • Thought it was unjust and humiliating.
    • Tiny armed forces.
    • Rhineland demilitarised.
    • Anschluss with Austria forbidden.
    • Germans forced to live in Czechoslovakia (Sudetenland) and Poland (including Danzig).
  • Expand German territory (2 aims).
    • To unite Austria with Germany.
    • To get extra lebensraum [living space] for Germans.
  • Defeat Communism (2 reasons).
    • Believed Bolsheviks helped cause German defeat in WW1.
    • Feared Bolshevik takeover.
•  HITLER'S STEPS TO WAR [memory phrase: CRAMCUP]
  • Conscription and Rearmament (4 things)
    • Began in secret
    • Took Germany out of League of Nations.
    • 1935 (5 actions):
      • Introduced conscription
      • Increased spending on arms
      • Huge rearmament rally.
      • Naval agreement with Britain allowed German navy of 35% of British navy.
      • Increased airforce to 8,250 by 1939.
  • Rhineland (4 things)
    • 7 March 1936: moved troops in, breaking Treaty of Versailles and Locarno Treaty.
    • Justified it by claiming that USSR + France agreement threatened Germany.
    • German army (only 22000 soldiers) had orders to withdraw if opposed.
    • France and Britain did not stop him/ League of Nations powerless, didn’t want to risk war.
  • Anschluss (5 events)
    • 1934:
      • Failed attempt.
    • Feb 1938:
      • Hitler encouraged Austrian Nazis to stir up trouble.
      • Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg sought British and French help, but was refused.
    • 9 March 1938:
      • Schuschnigg called for a plebiscite on union.
    • 11 March 1938:
      • Hitler sent in troops, then held a plebsicite
    • 10 April 1938:
      • 99.7% voted for union.
  • Munich (5 events)
    • April 1938:
      • Many Germans Nazis lived in the Sudetenland – they stirred up trouble,.
    • 15 Sept 1938 Berchtesgaden:
      • Hitler agreed to those areas of the Sudetenland which voted for unity with Germany.
      • He promised that the rest of Czechoslovakia was safe.
    • 27 Sept 1938 Bad Godesberg:
      • Hitler demands immediate control of Sudetenland.
    • 29 Sept 1938 Munich Agreement:
      • Britain, France and Italy gave the Sudetenland to Hitler.
    • 30 September
      • Chamberlain calls Munich: “Peace for our time”.
  • Czechoslovakia (3 events)
    • 15 March 1939: German troops took over the rest of the country.
    • No Czech resistance.
    • Britain and France abandoned appeasement.
  • USSR-Nazi Pact (a date)
    • 23 August 1939, Nazi-Soviet Pact shocked world; frees Hitler to attack Poland.
  • Poland (a date)
    • 1 Sept 1939 Hitler invaded Poland – Britain and France declared war on Germany.
•  APPEASEMENT – Britain and France (5 events)
  • Accepted re-arming of Germany (British naval agreement, 1935)
  • No action over re-occupation of Rhineland (1936)
  • Allowed Hitler to use German bombers in Spanish Civil War (1937–39)
  • No action over Anschluss (1938).
  • Gave in over Sudetenland at Munich (1938).
•  WHY APPEASEMENT (6 reasons)?
  • Chamberlain feared another war. People wanted peace so....
    • Chamberlain would not have had enough public support to go to war.
  • Belief in the League of Nations to solve problems so...
    • they did not threaten Hitler with war.
  • Britain too weak for war in 1938, needed time to re-arm so...
    • appeasement bought Britain a year to re-arm.
  • Treaty of Versailles was considered unfair so...
    • many British people sympathised with Hitler's demands.
  • Chamberlain misjudged Hitler so...
    • he trusted Hitler's promises that Sudetenland was the last thing he wanted
  • Fear of Communism so...
    • people let Hitler grow strong because they thought a strong Germany could stop Russia.
•  APPEASEMENT WAS ABANDONED IN 1939 (8 steps)
  • Feb:
    • Franco (a Fascist) won the Spanish Civil War so...
      • It seemed Fascism was on the increase everywhere.
  • 15 March:
    • Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia so...
      • People realised that only a war would stop him.
  • 15 March:
    • Chamberlain promised to defend Poland which...
      • Made war inevitable when Hitler invaded Poland.
  • 15 April:
    • Mussolini conquers Albania which...
      • Made it seem that Fascism was wanting to take over the world
  • 15 May:
    • Pact of Steel [Hitler and Mussolini] which...
      • showed Hitler was building up his forces for war.
  • 15 Aug:
    • British alliance with USSR failed, but 23 August Nazi-Soviet Pact so...
      • Hitler was free to invade Poland.
  • Aug:
    • Hitler stirred up trouble in Danzig and demanded the Polish corridor, then
  • Sept:
    • Hitler invaded Poland.
•  AUG 1939: ANGLO-SOVIET TALKS FAIL [memory word: SCAB]
  • Suspicion
    • Chamberlain didn’t trust Stalin – Communist/dictator.
    • Stalin didn’t trust the British [thought they wanted to trick him into war with Germany]
    • Poland didn’t trust USSR.
  • Choice
    • If Stalin allied with Britain, he would end up fighting in Poland on Britain’s behalf
    • Hitler was promising half of Poland for doing nothing.
  • Appeasement
    • Stalin didn’t think Britain would honour its promise to Poland
    • He thought he would be left fighting Hitler alone.
  • Britain delayed, Aug 1939
    • Britain sent an official (Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax) to USSR by boat - too slow
    • An admiral, he was not important enough to make decisions.
•  WHY A NAZI-SOVIET PACT [memory word: THUG]
  • In August 1939 the USSR signed an agreement with Germany.
  • Time to prepare for war.
    • It gave Russia 18 months to make military preparations.
  • Hope to gain
    • Stalin hoped Germany, Britain and France would wear themselves out in a long war.
  • Unhappy with Britain
    • Stalin turned to Germany when Britain was too slow.
  • Germany's Motives
    • Hitler thought it would make Britain back down over Poland.