Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Failure of
disarmament
The Abyssinian
Crisis
Source 4.3
Germans in Sudetenland
thanking Hitler!
GERMAN
GERMAN INVASION
INVASION OF
OF
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
Who is
represented
in this
cartoon?
Why might
the countries
represented
dislike each
other?
Who is represented:
Hitler and Stalin, who represent Germany and Russia
The body on the ground represents Poland, apt since that
country was geographically between Germany and Russia
and they agreed to divide it between them
Why Germany and Russia might dislike each other:
Hitlers openly published book, Mein Kampf (1924), outlined
Nazi ideology. It was anti-communist and one of its stated
aims was to attack Russia to take its territory
Stalins communist state was on the opposite end of the
ideological spectrum from German Fascism
Russia had fought against Germany and helped cause its
humiliating defeat in WW1
The two countries were geographically close enough to be
suspicious of one anothers intentions
Invasion of Poland
Hitlers invasion of Poland was the last straw that triggered WWII.
On 29 August 1939, Hitler demanded Danzig and control of the
Polish Corridor.
Even at the last minute, Chamberlain was still hoping to come to
some agreement with Hitler
This convinced Hitler that they would not declare war on Germany.
Hitler went on to invade Poland on 1 September 1939 when
negotiations failed.
Britain gave Germany two hours to withdraw its troops from Poland
No reply from Hitler war was declared
Later the same day, France followed
World War II had begun
Worksheet 1:
Hitlers action
(month/year)
Withdrawal
from
the This allowed Hitler to pursue his aggressive foreign policy
League of Nations and without having to regard the objections and threats from the
the Geneva Disarmament League and allowed Germanys rearmament.
Conference
(Oct 1933)
Conscription and
rearmament
(October 1933 onwards)
German unification
with Austria
(March 1938)
Securing the Sudetenland Hitler was progressively creating his Greater Germany and
and signing the Munich
uniting the ethnic German people.
Agreement
(September 1938)
Signing of the Munich agreement showed a lack of
commitment of Britain and France to stop him. This
boosted his confidence further to carry out his expansionist
plans as he saw that the LON, Britain and France were not
a threat.
Invasion of
Czechoslovakia
(March 1939)
Invasion of Poland
(September 1939)
Appeasement :
Giving way to other countries in
order to avoid conflict and war.
Britain and France adopted a
policy of appeasement towards
Germany after 1933
Examples of Appeasement
Anglo-German Naval Agreement June 1935
TOV: 6 battleships and no submarines
Anglo-German Naval Agreement: 1/3 the tonnage of Britains
surface fleet and an equal tonnage of submarines.
It was hoped that these concessions would reduce German
anger at the treaty and stabilise Europe.
Sought to place limits on the German navy so that Germany
would not be a threat to Britain.
Seemed to be encouraging German rearmament
Examples of Appeasement
Lack of action against Hitlers acts
aggression
Munich Agreement
Event
Justification for
appeasement
Anglo-German
Naval Agreement
(June 1935)
Consequence on
Germany/Britain/Fra
nce
Hitlers standing
among the German
people and the
German army
increased.
Encourage Hitler to
make more attempts to
abolish the TOV.
Proved that Br and
France were not ready
to act against Hitler,
which made Hitler more
confident.
German
involvement in
the Spanish Civil
War
(April 1937)
Anschluss with
Austria
(March 1938)
Germany tested
weapons and planes
it would later use in
WWII.
Allowed Hitler to
assess the
readiness of the
German army to be
mobilised in
subsequent military
missions.
Continued trust in
Hitler allowed him
to take further
concrete steps in
taking over
territories to
achieve
lebensraum.
Sudetenland
and the Munich
Agreement
(September
1938)
Czechoslovakia and
the USSR felt
betrayed, causing
Britain and France to
lose credibility as an
ally that would
respond effectively to
Hitler.
Invasion of
Czechoslovaki
a
(March 1939)
Motivated Hitler to
pursue in his
subsequent invasion of
the whole of
Czechoslovakia.
Encouraged Stalin to
sign the Nazi-Soviet
Pact later to protect
itself, and encouraged
Hitler to attack Poland.