Download Hitler*s Five Steps to War

Hitler’s Five Steps to War
(The Drift to war)
Between 1936 and 1939 Hitler took 5
steps that eventually led to war
• Preparations:
• From 1935, Hitler built up the German army
until they were much more than the 100,000
men permitted by the Treaty of Versailles
• He made an alliance with Mussolini by signing
the Rome-Berlin Axis in 1936
Step 1: The Rhineland
• Under the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was
forbidden from entering the Rhineland
• In March 1936 Hitler’s army occupied the
Rhineland
• France and Britain took no action
• This lack of response encouraged Hitler to
continue
Step 2: Austria
• Hitler believed that all German-speaking
people should be united in a greater Germany
• The people of Austria spoke German and
many of them supported the Nazis
• Hitler created Anschluss (unity) with Austria
by invading it in March 1938
Step 3: The Sudetenland
• Hitler now demanded control over the
German-speaking western part of
Czechoslovakia (The Sudetenland)
• Czechoslovakian leader asked Britain and
France for help
• The British and French prime ministers met
Hitler at a conference in Munich
• There they decided to appease (ignore) Hitler
• They allowed him to invade the Sudetenland
and he promised not to invade any other
territories in return!
Step 4: The rest of Czechoslovakia
• Within months Hitler invaded the rest of
Czechoslovakia to make “living space” for his
“master race”
• Britain and France promised that if Hitler
invaded Poland (which seemed to be next on
his “living space” list) then they would declare
war on Germany
Step 5: Poland
• Stalin and Hitler made an agreement called
the Nazi-Soviet Pact
• Under the pact they divided Poland between
them and agreed not to attack each other for
the time being.
• Hitler was now free to invade Poland, which
he did on 1 Sept 1939
• Two days later, Britain and France declared
war on Germany. WORLD WAR 2 had begun.