Download exercise number two

EXERCISE NUMBER TWO
In 1919, the German people were very angry about the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War.
They were unhappy that their leaders had agreed to surrender to the British and French. Germany couldn't
afford to pay the huge sums of money that the Allies said she must pay.
In the 1920s, Germany had a really bad time. Life in Germany was hard for some Germans. Unemployment
was very high. The German people were desperate. They wanted a better life. Then Adolph Hitler came
along. He promised that he would get people back to work. He told people that they were the Master Race
and that they would be great once more. This made Germans follow Hitler. By 1932, he ruled Germany.
There was no Parliament. He had all the power.
What did he do with the power ? He said that he would smash the Treaty of Versailles and regain the land
that had been taken away from Germany. In 1933, Hitler took Germany out of the League of Nations. This
was an organisation set up after the First World War to keep peace. Then he began to increase the size of
the army and to build more aeroplanes (the Luftwaffe). This was against the Treaty of Versailles, but
Britain and France did nothing to stop him. They said that perhaps the Treaty had been too hard on
Germany.
In 1936, Hitler sent his troops into the Rhineland. This was part of Germany but the Treaty of Versailles
had said that there must not be any German soldiers in the area. Hitler was worried about how Britain and
France would react to this. He ordered his troops to withdraw if Britain and France objected. But they did
not. German troops stayed there. Hitler had got away with breaking the Treaty. Why did Britain and France
do nothing ? They were afraid of another war. They thought that, if they let Hitler have his own way with
this, he would be satisfied. This was called APPEASEMENT.
They were wrong. Next, he marched into the German speaking area of Austria. Still Britain and France did
nothing. Then he took part of Czechoslovakia - the Sudetenland because most of the people were German.
He was bringing together the German people into one country again. Britain and France told him that they
would agree to this but no more.
Hitler had no intention of stopping. Six months after the agreement had been made in Munich, the German
army took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France now began to prepare themselves for war. In
August 1939, Germany and Russia made an agreement. They would split Poland between them. On 1st
September, German soldiers invaded Poland. Both Britain and France had promised to protect Poland. On
3rd September, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War had begun.
INSTRUCTIONS
1.
On the chart below, split up your causes into LONG TERM (things that happened a long time
before) and SHORT TERM (things that happened just before)
2.
Print out your work when complete
THE CAUSES OF WORLD WAR TWO
YOUR NAME:
LONG TERM CAUSES
SHORT TERM CAUSES