Download AP EURO: LECTURE OUTLINE pp

AP EURO: LECTURE OUTLINE pp. 771-776
PRELUDE TO WAR (1933-1939):
Failure of collective security in the 1920’s
1. League of Nations - failed
2. Attempts at disarmament - failed
3. Pacts and treaties - failed
Nazi Germany - deliberately in the 1930’s overthrows the postwar settlement
Power Vacuum in Europe 1. Britain and France = anything to avoid another war
2. Soviet Union = communist/outcast of Europe
3. United States = isolationism/ignore Europe
4. Eastern European states = too weak/turn to authoritarian government
Nazi Germany = revived and militarized/wants lebensraum - land for expansion
THE ROLE OF HITLER:
Hitler’s ideas of building a great civilization were based on 1. Aryans - the superior race
2. Lebensraum - living space in the east and south
3. Power depended on the amount of land a nation occupied
4. Slavic peoples were inferior and would be used as slave labor
5. Conquest of eastern Europe and Russia
6. Belief that only he could create the Aryan racial empire = ‘the thousand year Reich’
7. Impatience - it had to be done immediately
THE “DIPLOMATIC REVOLUTION” (1933-1936):
Between 1933 and 1936 achieves a ‘diplomatic revolution’ in Europe
When Hitler comes to power in 1933 1. Germany seemed weak
2. Demilitarized zone in the west along the border with France
3. In the east countries had defensive alliances with France
4. Germany’s military was limited by the Treaty of Versailles and no air force and limited naval forces
5. But - Germany was the second most populous country and had industrial capacity
Hitler’s plan
Ignore/scrap the Treaty of Versailles
Restore Germany’s strength
Rebuild the military
Prepare for war and conquest
Pose as a man of peace who only wanted Germany to be treated fairly
Hitler could have been stopped at any point between 1933-1936 = he was violating the Treaty of Versailles
Britain and France do nothing
Germany and Hitler see the lack of response as weakness and it encourages to be bolder
Oct. 1933 - Germany withdraws from Geneva Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations
Oct. 1935 - Mussolini invades Ethiopia
March 1935 - Hitler announces German military rearmament
Oct. 1936 - Hitler and Mussolini form the Rome-Berlin Axis/intervene in Spain on the side of General
Franco in the Spanish Civil War
Nov. 1936 - alliance between fascist Germany, Italy, and Imperial Japan = the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis
March 1936 - Hitler reoccupies the Rhineland
Why did the Western democracies do nothing 1. Fear of another war/memories of WW I
2. Focus on domestic problems and the economic crisis of the Great Depression
3. Cutbacks in military spending and preparedness made them weak
4. Nazi Germany would provide protection against Soviet communism
5. Belief that Hitler was not unreasonable and was peaceful.
APPEASEMENT = give Hitler what he wants and there would be peace and stability in Europe
By the end of 1936 1. Germany was strong
2. Western states looked weak and fearful
3. Hitler prepared for war
THE PATH TO WAR (1937-1939):
Nov. 1937 - Hitler holds secret meeting with his generals
1. Ultimate goal is conquest of living space in the east
2. This might lead to war France and Britain
3. First goal was to deal with Austria and Czechoslovakia
Neville Chamberlain 1. Prime Minister of England
2. Main advocate and architect of British appeasement
AUSTRIA:
The Anschluss = the Nazi takeover of Austria
Mar. 1938 - Hitler threatens the Austrians /the government ‘invites’ Hitler to send in army to maintain law
and order/Hitler announces that he will formally annex Austria
Britain and France do nothing
Hitler’s next goal is Czechoslovakia
CZECHOSLOVAKIA:
The Sudetenland = area of northwestern Czechoslovakia which had a large population of ethnic Germans
Sept. 1938 - using the language of the Treaty of Versailles/’national self-determination’ Hitler demands
that the Sudetenland be allowed to leave Czechoslovakia and decide to join with Germany
Hitler threatens war to achieve this
The Czech crisis leads to the Munich Conference on Sept. 29, 1938 1. Hitler gets what wants, control of the Sudetenland
2. War is avoided
3. Chamberlain returns to England and says that Munich means ‘peace for our time’
4. Hitler believes that the Munich Conference reveals that Britain and France are weak and will not fight
5. Hitler secret plans to take all of Czech lands
Mar. 1939 - Hitler arrives in Prague and announces that all Czech lands will join the Nazi Reich
POLAND:
Hitler’s takeover of Czechoslovakia reveals that he is a liar and that the Western democracies were wrong
to have tied to deal diplomatically with him
Hitler demands return of the German city of Danzig on the Baltic coast of Poland and he demands a ‘Polish
Corridor’ between Germany and Poland to give Germany access to Danzig
Britain signs a security treaty with Poland pledging to defend them if they are attacked
France and Britain begin negations with the Soviet Union and Stalin to try to form an alliance
Hitler prepares to invade Poland
Aug. 1939 -the Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact 1. The Ribbentrop-Molotov treaty
2. Germany and Soviet Union agree not to fight
3. They secretly agree to divide up Poland
4. This gives the green light for Hitler to invade Poland
Sept. 1, 1939 - Germany invades Poland/WW II begins