9.2.6 Nazi Germany prepares for war -TEACH-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

AGE 9. The Time of World Wars

9.2.6. Nazi Germany prepares for War

The main question that is answered in this lesson:

How did Hitler manage to break the rules of the Treaty of versailles one by one, adding territory to Germany, and building up an enormous army....

WITHOUT THE FORMER ALLIES STOPPING HIM?

Hitler's territorial goals:

To reach these goals, Hitler would have to break several of the Treaty of Versailles rules.

By doing this, Germany risked another war with Britain and France

1. Heim ins Reich > ethnic Germans in Germany
   
2. German autarky > self-sufficiency 
3. Lebensraum (im Osten)
   

people in this lesson

Benito Mussolini

Italy

Adolf Hitler

Germany

Edouard Daladier

France

Neville Chamberlain

Great Britain

How was Hitler going to do that?

By testing the allied leaders; see what he could get away with,

presuming the Allied leaders were "spineless", lacking the will and strength to stop Hitler.

Step 1: get back the Saar region

Step 2: conscription and rearmament

Step 3: remilitarise the Rhineland

Step 4: Anschluss with Austria

Der Anschluß

March 1938

• Hitler wants all Germans in one Great German Empire (Heim ins Reich).
  
• He cleverly abuses the political chaos in Austria and responds to the feelings of the Austrian people.
  
• He takes in Austria and declares it as a part of the German Empire
  

in short:

Like Austria, the Sudetenland is covered by the Heim ins Reich policy, where all areas with Germans have to belong to Germany again. Sudetenland became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia after the First World War.

Hitler's next victim: Czechoslovakia

Step 5: use Munich Conference to get the Sudetenland 

Chamberlain

Daladier

Hitler

Mussolini

Munich Conference 

September 1938

• France and England have been shocked by the Anschluß.
• Hitler promises that there will be no war if he still gets Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia.
• Germany, England, France and Italy come to an agreement.

in short:

Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

March 1939

• Although Hitler had said in Munich to settle for Sudetenland, he occupied Czechoslovakia half a year later.
  

• England and France condemn the occupation, but do nothing.
  

Goal of the conference: find a peaceful solution for the Sudetenland crisis.

Not invited: Stalin and Czech prime minister.

Why? They would never give Hitler what he wanted. Therefore: no peaceful solution

• The outcome: England and France gave Hitler what he wanted.
• In return Hitler promised that he had no more territorial claims.

"Peace in our time!"

Step 6: Germany annexes the rest of Czechoslovakia

Why did the Allies not stop Hitler?

• England and France followed a policy of APPEASEMENT.
• This was: the policy of Britain and France to give in to Hitler's demands because they believed this was the best way to keep the peace in Europe.

more reasons for appeasement:

• England and France were not ready to start a new war.
• They did not want to repeat the horrors of WW1
• Maybe the Treaty of versailles was too harsh for Germany
• At least Hitler stood up against communism

Germany prepares for war 

copy and fill in the overview to create your own summary

A statement:
2. The stock market crash of 1929 in the United States is a cause of the economic crisis. Due to the Dawes Plan, this world crisis spread to Europe.
Provide an argument showing that this statement is correct.
Do it like this:
- First indicate why the stock market crash is a cause of the economic crisis in the United States,
- And then how the world crisis in Europe was caused by the Dawes Plan.

congratulations

congratulations