Outbreak of World War 2

1. Outbreak of World War 2

2. Hitler’s Expansionist Goals • Unite the German volk into one nation • Nationalism: One racial group, unified under one government • Removal of the Jews and other non-German peoples • Expand borders • Lebensraum: living space for German people • Seize Poland and Ukraine for living space and food production • Unite a “Greater Germany”: Austria, Sudentenland, East Prussia • Destroy the legacy of the Treaty of Versailles

3. Failure of League of Nations • League created in 1919, as discussion forum to end war, but lacked military • Lacked USA, Russia, Germany (until Locarno); USA refused to ratify Versailles treaty; Germany later joined and then left (Hitler pulled out of League when Germany was criticized for human rights abuses against Jews) • Lacked Security Council, so required majority of all members for security issues • Treaty of Versailles included promises to reduce arms for all countries • 1931: Japan’s invasion of Manchuria brought only a weak condemnation of Japan • 1935: League only condemned Hitler’s announcement to begin militarization

4. Italian Invasion of Ethiopia • 1935: Italian invasion of Ethiopia (“Italo-Abyssinian Wars”) • official condemnation from League (Mussolini replied to criticism over human rights that Ethiopians weren’t fully human, and so didn’t have human rights) • weak economic sanctions against Italy, but not for oil sanctions • But Britain allowed Italy to use Suez Canal, so invasion succeeded • Alienated Mussolini turned to ally with Hitler • Nazi Remilitarization of the Rhineland • Britain and France registered complaint with League, but no other action “The man who took the lid off” 1935

5. Anschluss • 1934 attempt to annex Austria had failed due to Italian threats • 1938, after alliance with Mussolini, Hitler bullied Austrian chancellor Schuschnigg to let Austria be annexed by Germany • Schuschnigg began to organize a plebiscite, so Hitler invaded preemptively • Anschluss left Czechoslovakia encircled by Germany

6. 1938 Czechoslovakia Crisis • 3.5M Germans lived in Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, born of A-H empire in 1919 • Hitler hoped to destroy Czechoslovakia, pro-western, allied with France and USSR • Hitler organized Nazi sympathizers in both Czech and Slovak areas to divide country against itself • 1938: Hitler Nuremberg speech caused pro-German rioting in Sudetenland

7. Appeasement: Munich Conference • Chamberlain negotiated with Hitler three times in September • Forced Czechoslovakia to surrender Sudetenland, lest England and France abandon the country altogether • At 1938 Munich Conference, Germany, France, England, Italy agreed that Sudetenland would become German, leaving Czech. surrounded by Germany • Hitler renounced further territorial aims, but then occupied Prague in 1939

8. Poland • 1939: Hitler demanded that Poland give Danzig to Germany and allow access to East Prussia • England and France publicly allied with Poland, but Hitler did not take alliance seriously • 1939: Public Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact • Also called Molotov-Ribbentrop pact • Soviets feared that west intended USSR to bear burden of defending Poland • secretly promised USSR eastern Poland and Bessarabia • September 1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland; Britain and France declared war Molotov signs the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. Behind him are Ribbentrop and Stalin.

9. Conclusions • Chamberlain, perhaps misguided by apparent success of earlier negotiations to avert war, underestimated Hitler’s desire for land • Hitler, perhaps misguided by earlier successes of brinkmanship, underestimated Britain and France’s seriousness in defending Poland • Hitler’s demand for a Greater Germany was a plausible rationale for the Anschluss and Czech crisis, but was less convincing for invasion of Poland