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Italy Invades Ethiopia
In 1935, the League of Nations was faced with another crucial test. Benito Mussolini, the Fascist leader of Italy,
had adopted Adolf Hitler's plans to expand German territories by acquiring all territories it considered German.
Mussolini followed this policy when he invaded Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) the African country situated on the
horn of Africa. Mussolini claimed that his policies of expansion were not different from that of other colonial
powers in Africa.
The aim of invading Ethiopia was to boost Italian national prestige, which was wounded by Ethiopia's defeat of
Italian forces at the Battle of Adowa in the nineteenth century (1896), which saved Ethiopia from Italian
colonization. Another justification for the attack was an incident during December 1934, between Italian and
Abyssinian troops at the Wal-Wal Oasis on the border between Abyssinian Somaliland, where 200 soldiers lost
their lives. Both parties were exonerated in the incident, much to the disgust of Mussolini, as he felt Abyssinia
should have been held accountable for the incident. This was used as a rationale to invade Abyssinia. Mussolini
saw it as an opportunity to provide land for unemployed Italians and and also acquire more mineral resources to
fight off the effects of the Great Depression. The rest of the world was aware of Mussolini’s actions and choose
to do nothing.
Germany rearms
In 1933, Hitler ordered his army generals to prepare to treble the size of the army to 300,000 men. He ordered
the Air Ministry to plan to build 1,000 war planes. Military buildings such as barracks were built. He withdrew
from the Geneva Disarmament Conference when the French refused to accept his plan that the French should
disarm to the level of the Germans or that the Germans should re-arm to the level of the French. Either way, the
two main powers of Europe would be balanced. Hitler knew that the French would not accept his plan and
therefore when he withdrew from the conference, he was seen by some as the politician who had a more
realistic approach to foreign policy and the French were seen as the nation that had caused Nazi Germany to
withdraw.
For two years, the German military expanded in secret. By March 1935, Hitler felt strong enough to go public
on Nazi Germany's military expansion - which broke the terms of the Versailles Treaty. Europe learned that the
Nazis had 2,500 war planes in its Luftwaffe and an army of 300,000 men in its Wehrmacht. Hitler felt confident
enough to publicly announce that there would be compulsory military conscription in Nazi Germany and that
the army would be increased to 550,000 men.
How did Europe react to this flagrant violation of Versailles?
Essentially, the French and British did nothing. Britain was still recovering from the Depression which had
devastated her economy. She could not afford a conflict. The French preferred a defensive policy against a
potential German threat and she spent time and money building the vast Maginot Line - a series of vast forts on
the French and German border. The most Britain, France and Italy did (at this time, Italy did not view German
as a potential ally as the above was pre-Abyssinia) was to form the Stresa Front which issued a protest against
Hitler's rearmament policy but did nothing else.
It seemed that Britain was even supporting Germany’s breaking of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty had
clearly stated what Germany’s navy should be - no submarines and only six warships over 10,000 tons. In June
1935 the Anglo-German Naval Agreement was signed. This allowed Germany to have one third of the
tonnage of the British navy’s surface fleet (probably the largest in the world at this time) and an equal tonnage
of submarines.
Germany Occupies the Rhineland
Under the terms of Versailles, the Rhineland had been made into a demilitarized zone. Germany had political
control of this area, but she was not allowed to put any troops into it. Therefore, many Germans concluded that
they did not actually fully control the area despite it being in Germany itself.
In March 1936, Hitler took what for him was a huge gamble - he ordered that his troops should openly re-enter
the Rhineland thus breaking the terms of Versailles once again. He did order his generals that the military
should retreat out of the Rhineland if the French showed the slightest hint of making a military stand against
him. This did not occur. Over 32,000 soldiers and armed policemen crossed into the Rhineland
France was going through an internal political crisis at the time and there was no political leadership to
concentrate against Nazi Germany. Britain generally supported the view that Nazi Germany was only going into
her own "backyard" and that this section of Versailles was not needed to be enforced in the mid-1930’s. It was
believed that Germany was behaving in a reasonable and understandable manner.
Therefore, no action was taken against Nazi Germany, despite Hitler’s later comment that the march into the
Rhineland had been the most nerve-racking 48 hours of his life.
Germany annexes Austria
On March 12, 1938, German troops march into Austria to annex the German-speaking nation for the Third
Reich.
In early 1938, Austrian Nazis conspired for the second time in four years to seize the Austrian government by
force and unite their nation with Nazi Germany. Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg, learning of the
conspiracy, met with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the hopes of reasserting his country's independence but was
instead bullied into naming several top Austrian Nazis to his cabinet. On March 9, Schuschnigg called a
national vote to resolve the question of Anschluss, or "annexation," once and for all. Before the plebiscite could
take place, however, Schuschnigg gave in to pressure from Hitler and resigned on March 11. In his resignation
address, under coercion from the Nazis, he pleaded with Austrian forces not to resist a German "advance" into
the country.
The next day, March 12, Hitler accompanied German troops into Austria, where enthusiastic crowds met them.
Hitler appointed a new Nazi government, and on March 13 the Anschluss was proclaimed. Austria existed as a
federal state of Germany until the end of World War II, when the Allied powers declared the Anschluss void
and reestablished an independent Austria. Schuschnigg, who had been imprisoned soon after resigning, was
released in 1945. The world powers verbally punished Hitler for this action.
Czech Crisis
Czechoslovakia had been created in 1919. The new nation was created out of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire
and it contained numerous nationalities :
3,200,000 Germans 7,450,000 Czechs 2,300,000 Slovaks 720,000 Magyars 560,000 Ruthenes 100,000 Poles
It was almost inevitable that trouble would occur between the various nationalities. This was especially true of
the Germans who resented living under the rule of foreigners. The Germans mostly lived in the region on the
western border with Germany - the Sudetenland.
In 1931, they created the Sudeten Germans Peoples Party led by Konrad Henlein. Its most pressing demand was
for the Sudetenland to be put under Germany control. i.e. that the region should be transferred to Germany. The
party had great support among the Sudeten Germans but it was not recognized by the Czech government.
The Sudeten Germans Peoples Party received both verbal and financial support from Hitler. Hitler had
constantly talked about putting all Germans into one Reich and that no true German would have to live outside
of Germany. In 1938, Hitler ordered his generals to start to make plans for the invasion of Czechoslovakia. He
also ordered Henlein and his followers to start to create trouble in the Sudetenland, therefore proving to the
outside world that the Czech government was incapable of maintaining order in its own state. Hitler planned to
use this chaos to put his army into the Sudetenland to restore law and order.
Hitler's plan was risky not least because the Czech army was strong and professional. The terrain from Germany
to the Sudetenland was very steep and it was very likely that the Wehrmacht’s use of Blitzkrieg would have
been of no value in such a hilly and wooded area. Likewise the fortifications at the border between Germany
and Czechoslovakia would have given many advantages to the defending army.
Also, France had signed an agreement with Czechoslovakia offering support if the country was attacked.
However, Hitler could all but guarantee that in 1938, the French would do nothing. The USSR had also given
Czechoslovakia a promise of help but the USSR was in internal chaos during this time and unlikely to help
Czechoslovakia out. If war did break out, it seemed likely that it would be between Germany and
Czechoslovakia. However, victory for the German army could not be guaranteed.
The attitude of the British tended to reflect the view of the majority in Britain at this time. If there was the
chance of negotiating a peace, then that chance should be taken. The policy of appeasement has been criticised
over the years since 1938, but the fear of war in 1938 was very real. The images shown in the cinemas of the
horrors seen in Guernica during the Spanish Civil War terrified many - and Germany had openly displayed the
might of the Luftwaffe with its many bombers from 1936 on. It was also German bombers that had caused such
devastation in Guernica.
Britain, under Neville Chamberlain, chose to negotiate with Hitler over the Sudenten crisis. Chamberlain knew
very well that Czechoslovakia was a land-locked nation and that Britain’s military strength - its navy - could
play no part in a conflict here. Britain’s army - though professional - was small. Britain’s air force was far from
strong and undergoing change from a bi-planed force to using the new monoplanes which were still not ready
for combat.
His military chiefs had advised Chamberlain that over one million people would be killed by bombing raids in
just 60 days and that mass graves would be needed as there simply would not be enough wood for timber
coffins. Any form of conflict with Germany was fraught with dangers – hence Chamberlain’s desire for a
negotiated peace. Many British people supported Chamberlain at the time and before the meetings took place
no-one would have known what it would be like negotiating with Hitler. It seemed right that a negotiated
settlement should be tried and the attempts to succeed started in September 1938.
At the suggestion of Mussolini, a four-power conference was held to resolve the problems. This was the third
meeting which was held at Munich. Germany, Britain, France and Italy were represented - Czechoslovakia was
not. Neither was the Soviet Union, which greatly angered its leader, Joseph Stalin.