Unit 3 The League and the 1930’s

The Rise of Extremism

 Summary
 In the 1920s the nations that led the league achieved limited
success in achieving peace. Yet in time, the league was becoming
largely ineffective in maintaining post war order.
 The situation became desperate amid the climate of the 1930s as
a result of economic depression and the rise of extremist leaders.
The emergence of these dictatorships had a major effect on
international relations. Fear of communism spreading across the
rest of Europe meant that Soviet Russia was isolated and therefore
vulnerable. The alliance between Britain, France and Russia, which
had proved so vital to success in the First World War, was no
longer possible. The ultra-nationalist and aggressive foreign
policies pursued by Hitler and Mussolini posed a significant threat
not only to the USSR, but also to other European countries. The
Spanish Civil War was an omen of things to come. By the late
1930s the world will be in the grips of another horrible war, World
War II, spanning the globe and costing the lives of millions.
 The Great Depression
 The Great Depression was the worst
economic crisis in modern history, lasting
from 1929 until the beginning of World War
II in 1939. The causes of the Great
Depression included slowing consumer
demand, mounting consumer debt,
decreased industrial production and the
rapid and reckless expansion of the U.S.
stock market. When the stock market
crashed in October 1929, it triggered a
crisis in the international economy
 Black Tuesday
 On October 24, 1929, as nervous investors began selling
overpriced shares en masse, the stock market crash that
some had feared happened at last. A record 12.9 million
shares were traded that day, known as “Black Thursday.”
 Five days later, on October 29, or “Black Tuesday,” some 16
million shares were traded after another wave of panic
swept Wall Street. Millions of shares ended up worthless,
and those investors who had bought stocks “on margin”
(with borrowed money) were wiped out completely.
 As consumer confidence vanished in the wake of the stock
market crash, the downturn in spending and investment led
factories and other businesses to slow down production and
begin firing their workers. For those who were lucky enough
to remain employed, wages fell and buying power
decreased.
 General Impact of the Great
Depression
Manufacturer's cut production
Unemployment

o USA unemployment rate exceeded 20 percent at its highest point.

o Unemployment began to rise as countries reduced their industrial output to pre-war
levels.
Protectionism

o USA practiced protectionism, imposing high tariffs in order to protect its industries.
o In retaliation, many countries imposed tariffs of their own.
Deflation
Debt payments

o At the same time, countries had to repay their war debts. Soaring inflation, high
unemployment, falling standards of living and limited prospects for the future
Political and social

o These issues combined to cause anger and resentment amongst the unemployed and
deprived. This raised concerns of a revolution in all countries, even those with long
standing democratic institutions
Bank Runs
 Impact in Particular countries
 The Depression affected virtually every country of the
world. However, the dates and magnitude of the downturn
varied substantially across countries. Great Britain struggled
with low growth and recession during most of the second
half of the 1920s. The country did not slip into severe
depression, however, until early 1930, and its peak-to-
trough decline in industrial production was roughly one-third
that of the United States. France also experienced a
relatively short downturn in the early 1930s. The French
recovery in 1932 and 1933, however, was short-lived.
French industrial production and prices both fell
substantially between 1933 and 1936. Germany’s economy
slipped into a downturn early in 1928 and worsening by
1929. The decline in German industrial production was
roughly equal to that in the United States. Germany
obviously could not pay back their reparations during this
time. This in turn affected BR, FR, Italy who relied on the
Political impact of the Depression
 It is in such dire economic conditions that extremism
thrives. Fear of communist revolution – to which Russia had
already succumbed – spread throughout Europe. So too did
a different type of extremism, one that saw communism as
the arch-enemy. This was fascism. Even in Britain, with its
long tradition of constitutional government, extremist
groups seemed to pose a threat to democracy.

 New democracies weak and ineffective in addressing these

problems, especially in Germany, Japan and Spain.

 Economic despair caused people to lose faith in democratic

government and turn to an extreme ideologies like
fascism.
 Rise of Extremists
Many countries that lacked democratic institutions proved unable to resist the
pressures of extremism.
As early as 1922, Benito Mussolini had led his Fascist Party to power in Italy.
After the death of Lenin in 1924, Stalin took control and established a totalitarian
state with complete political and economic control. Fear of communism spreading
across the rest of Europe meant that Soviet Russia was isolated. The alliance between
Britain, France and Russia, which had proved so vital to success in the First World War,
was no longer possible.
By 1933, Adolf Hitler had gained supremacy for his Nazi Party in Germany.
Between 1936 and 1939 the rival forces of fascism, communism and democracy
fought a long and bloody war for control of Spain, culminating in victory for the semi-
fascist General Francisco Franco.
This was merely and unfortunately just a prelude of horrible things to come.
 In the 1920s and 1930s, nationalism
increased
and totalitarian dictators came to power
Totalitarian leaders
came to power
by promising jobs
and promoting
nationalism
Dictators controlled
all aspects of the
nation by
eliminating rivals,
denying liberties,
using censorship,
secret police
 Fascism vs. Communism
Differences
Fascism Communism
 Extremely nationalistic  Internationalistic (system
(Fascism is for the good should spread throughout
of a particular country the world.)
alone.)  Revolutionary--- seeks
 Reactionary --- Seeks destruction of the past
glorification of the past  Seeks a “classless society”
 Does not seek a  Made up of urban working
“classless society”. lower classes (Russia) and
 Made up of aristocrats, peasants (China).
industrialists, war
veterans, and lower
middle class.
 Fascism AND Communism
Similarities
 Both were ruled by dictators.
 Both believe in heavy government intervention in
the Economy
 Both allowed only one-party rule.
 In both, the state was supreme.
 Neither practiced democracy or respect individual
rights
 .
 Both replaced religion with some kind of competing
belief system (atheism—in the case of the
communists; religion of racial superiority—in the
case of the Nazis)
Rise of Stalin
 Marx’s Theory
 Communism is based on the theories of German
philosopher Karl Marx.
 According to Marx, History is a struggle of classes in
conflict. History moves through a dialectic process of
class struggle by which each stage experiences
contradictions that ultimately doom it. From its ashes
a new system is built that strives to continue the
process of exploitation of the individual for the benefit
of the rich through ownership of the means of
production. Historical process of exploitation in each
historical stage of production has alienated the
individual from his labor. Every institution of society,
dance, art, religion, is a reflection of materialistic
impulse of the rich to exploit the poor. These
institutions create what Marx calls a false
 February Revolution (1917)
 1917- protests spread through
St. Petersburg and the Royal
palace was taken over
 Tsar Nicholas abdicated
 Provisional government (Duma)
takes control led by Alexander
Kerensky
 Provisional government was
unpopular after decision to stay
in WWI
Lenin
 Amnesty granted to all
political prisoners in March
of 1917
 Lenin, with Germany’s help,
came back to Russia
 A tremendously charismatic
personality
 “Peace, Land, Bread”
 “All Power to the Soviets”
 He preached that the war
was a capitalist/imperialist
war that offered no rewards
for the peasants/workers;
he also felt the war was
over with the czar’s
abdication
 Bolshevik party membership
exploded; their power was
consolidated
 October (Bolshevik)
Revolution-1917
 Led by VIadmir Lenin:
• “Peace, Bread, and Land”
• Popular with peasants
 Began a Civil War in Russia from
1917-1922—ultimately overturned
the Provisional Government and
created the Soviet Union in 1922
 Civil War between Bolsheviks (red)
and Mensheviks (white)
Ending World War I in 1918

 1918 March The Bolsheviks accept

the peace of Brest‑Litovsk, ending
WWI with Germany
Russia Reaction to Treaty of Versailles

Russiahad not been consulted at all about the terms to be imposed on the
defeated nations, and a considerable amount of land that had once made up
the Russian Empire was lost to newly created states in the months after the
First World War.
At the War’s end, Russia lost Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia and
Finland – areas that contained much of Russia’s best farmland, raw materials
and heavy industry. In all, Russia lost 25% of its population, 25% of its industry
and 90% of its coal mines.
This left Russia under the Bolshevik government feeling isolated and resentful.
 1919-1920 Russian Civil
War
 1919 White Armies (Royal and
Menshevik troops) attack the Reds
(Bolsheviks) from all directions
 The far eastern front in Siberia was
particularly nasty

 Grain was “requisitioned” from

farmers as needed
 1920- Bolsheviks win
Casualty numbers of Russian
Civil War
 300,000 military deaths (red & white)
 450,000 disease deaths in the military
 250,000 executions of “enemies of the
people”
 3-500,000 Cossacks
 100,000 Ukrainian Jews
 3,000,000 died of typhus in 1920 alone
 6,000,000 died of starvation 1920-1921
 Problems with Poland in the 1920s

Of Poland’s population of 27 million, less than 18 million were Poles

and more than 1 million were German-speakers. These statistics,
together with the fact that there were 14 different political parties in
the country, meant that attempts to maintain true democracy led to
weak and unstable governments.
In1920, Polish troops invaded Lithuania over the city of Vilna after
Soviet forces took the city
Also in 1920, Polish troops entered Russian territory and took control
of Ukraine. Despite the fact that a Russian counter-offensive was only
defeated with French help, the Treaty of Riga (1921) added a strip of
land some 160 km (100 miles) wide to Poland’s eastern border.
The USSR’s and Comintern
 The Bolsheviks’ rise to power in Russia in November 1917 caused
alarm across Europe. France and Britain were especially concerned, as
they lost a vital ally when the new Russian government withdrew from
the First World War by signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with
Germany.
 It soon became clear that Lenin intended to spread revolution as far as
possible. Russian agents and propaganda appeared in all the major
European cities.
 In March 1919, communists from all over the world were invited to a
conference in Moscow, which marked the inauguration of the Third
International, or Comintern.
 Given the political and economic turmoil that faced Europe at this
time, widespread revolution advocated by the communists seemed
real.
 Some countries (including Britain, France, the USA and Japan) actively
supported the Bolsheviks’ opponents in the Russian Civil War.
 By 1921, however, tensions had eased. Their hopes of a worldwide
communist revolution under Russian leadership had not materialised.
 The Rapallo Pact 1922
 Treaty of Rapallo, (April 16, 1922) treaty between
Germany and the Soviet Union, signed at Rapallo,
Italy.
 It reestablished normal relations between the two
nations. The nations agreed to cancel all financial
claims against each other, and the treaty
strengthened their economic and military ties.
 As the first agreement concluded by Germany as
an independent agent since World War I, it
angered the Western Allies.
 Death of Lenin in 1924
 Lenin Dies, leaving a power
vacuum
 Leon Trotsky vs. Joseph Stalin
 Stalin takes control
 Now must decide how he will
maintain power
 Decides to create a totalitarian
state
After Vladimir Lenin’s …Joseph Stalin gained
death in 1924… control of the Soviet Union

Stalin was Communist and He used a

seized all property, farms, secret police and
factories in order to control the the Great Purge
economy and create equality to eliminate rivals
1: CULT OF PERSONALITY
Stalin established a
cult of personality to
keep control of the Soviet
Union

A cult of personality is
similar to hero worship

A cult of personality
arises when an individual
uses mass media and
propaganda to create an
idealized and heroic public
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
 2. radical ideology
Marxism-Leninism the driving rationale for
Stalin’s power grab. But Stalin altered the
ideology to serve his personal nationalist
ambitions.

 Stalinism refers to a brand of communism

that is both extremely repressive and
nationalistic.
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
 3. Loyal organization
Soviet communist party effectively
solidified Stalin’s power. Party cells
operated in every workplace & classroom,
with party members reporting on anyone
who was not loyal enough.
4. No Individual Rights
Stalin declared men and
women equal in the USSR;
women could vote and join
the Communist Party

Women were expected to

work in factories and on
collective farms like men
5: A MASS MURDER
 An important thing to
know about Joseph Stalin is
that he was as murderous
as any dictator in history
 Stalin was also ruthless
in protecting his own
power and ultra-paranoid
of those around him
 Stalin would “purge” his enemies, both
real and imagined, executing anyone he
thought was “disloyal” or a threat to him
 The Gulag
 Gulags were slave
labor camps for
critics, former
capitalists, non-
cooperative peasants
& party rivals.

 “Corrective labor
camps”

 Several million
inmates
 Holodomor
 The Holodomor, also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine, was
a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that
killed 3 to 5million Ukrainians.
 The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–
1933 which affected the major grain-producing areas of
the Soviet Union.
 Many scholars suggests that the cause of the famine was man-
made, constitutes a genocide and conclude that the famine was
planned and exacerbated by Joseph Stalin in order to eliminate
a Ukrainian independence movement. Others suggest that the
famine was primarily the consequence of rapid Soviet
industrialisation and collectivization of agriculture.
 Ukraine was one of the largest grain-producing states in the
USSR and was subject to unreasonably higher grain quotas,
when compared to the rest of the USSR. This caused Ukraine to
be hit particularly hard by the famine.
 The Great Purge/The Great Terror
 In 1934 Stalin became paranoid that people
were attempting to take his power.
 The Great Purge/Terror was a series of
campaigns of political repression and
persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated
by Joseph Stalin in 1934–1938.
 It involved a large-scale purge of the
Communist Party and Government officials,
repression of peasants, Red Army leadership,
and the persecution of unaffiliated persons,
characterized by widespread police
surveillance, imprisonment, and executions.
 The Great Purge

Stalin led the Great Purge to eliminate potential

rivals in the Communist Party (Stalin executed
possibly as many as 20 million Russians)
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
 6. Creation of secret police – the
KGB.
• The KGB (КГБ) is the common
abbreviation for the (Komitet
gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti or
Committee for State Security).
• It was the national security agency of
the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991,
and its premier internal security,
intelligence, and secret police
organization during that time.
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
7. central control of the Economy
 News media: no independent press; only

 Heavily centralized “command economy.”

Stalin’s 1st goal to create an advanced
industrial economy.
• An economy where supply and price are regulated
by the government rather than market forces.
Government planners decide which goods and
services are produced and how they are distributed.
 Peasants resisted; killings; exile. Severe
agricultural losses & famine. After a decade,
millions dead.
Stalin’s Five Year Plans transformed the Soviet Union
into an industrial and military power by 1939
 Collectivization

Stalin seized 25
million acres of
private farms
and combined
them into large
government-
controlled
collective farms
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
 8. Control and manipulate the Media

 All media were controlled by the

government
 Pravda was the paper of the Communist
Party
 Izvestiya was the paper of the Soviets
 Radio stations conveyed the official party
view
 Stalin used propaganda and censorship to control
information and began education programs to teach
communist ideals and loyalty to Russian children
 Stalin’s totalitarian
elements
 9 Control all Social and Cultural
institutions
Stalin attacked
all religion
and created a
nation of
atheists (no
emphasis on
religion);
Stalin ordered
destruction of
Orthodox
churches and
Jewish
synagogues
 Stalin Foreign Policy
 Soviet foreign policy underwent a series of changes during
Stalin's rule.
 1920's Anti-West. Soon after assuming control of the party,
Stalin oversaw a radicalization of Soviet foreign policy that
complemented his strenuous domestic policies. To heighten
the urgency of his demands for modernization, Stalin
portrayed the Western powers, particularly France, as
warmongers eager to attack the Soviet Union.
 Soviet policy after Great Depression. At the beginning of
the Great Depression, the USSR had envisioned a world wide
capitalsit meltdown. The end was near for the rich capitalist
nations. This served both to vindicate Communism and
validate Stalin's government. As a result, Stalin committeed
renewed efforts in support of socialist movements world wide,
through Comintern.
 The Comintern under Stalin

 The Comintern under Stalin directed the various Communist

parties to ally with any group that was "antifascist," be it the
Kuomintang, the British Tories, or the French bourgeoisie.

 In the international communist movement, the Comintern

adopted the popular front policy of cooperation with socialists
and liberals against fascism.

 The Comintern, instrument of a world-wide Moscow-guided

revolution, was an eyesore to the democratic allies.

 Stalin's hope and conviction that, under the guidance of the

Comintern, popular uprisings would break out in any country
that dared to wage war on the Soviet Union, was never realized.
 Anti Fascism
 The dynamics of Soviet foreign relations changed drastically after
Stalin recognized the danger posed by Nazi Germany. From 1934
through 1937, the Soviet Union tried to restrain German militarism
by building coalitions hostile to fascism.
 Attempts were made to secure agreements with Britain and France,
but failed because both under the chaos of the great depression,
political stability was threantened in both nations.
 In 1934 the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations, where many
advocated disarmament and collective security against fascist
aggression.
 In 1935 the Soviet Union concluded defensive military alliances
with France and Czechoslovakia,
 From 1936 to 1939 it gave assistance to antifascists in the Spanish
Civil War.
 The menace of fascist militarism to the Soviet Union increased
when Germany, Italy and Japan (itself a threat to Soviet Far Eastern
territory in the 1930s) signed the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936.
 Non-Aggression Pact
 The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression
pact signed in 1939 by Nazi Germany and the Soviet
Union shortly before World War II. In the pact, the two
former enemies agreed to take no military action
against each other for the next 10 years. With Europe
on the brink of another major war, Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin viewed the pact as a way to keep his
nation on peaceful terms with Germany, while giving
him time to build up the Soviet military. German
chancellor Adolf Hitler used the pact to make sure
Germany was able to invade Poland unopposed. The
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact fell apart in June 1941, when
Nazi forces invaded the Soviet Union.
The Rise of Fascism

Video Link: “The Rise of Fascism”

The Rise of Fascism (9:58)
 Fascism
 Political ideology invented by
Mussolini and introduced in
Italy in the 1920s.

 Word derived from the Latin

“Fasces”~ meaning “bundle
of sticks”.

 A bundle of sticks wrapped

around an axe became the
symbol of the Fascist party
in Italy.
Fascism
 Benito Mussolini founded
Italy’s Fascist movement.
 Fascism was an
aggressive nationalistic
movement
 Fascists place national
unity above the individual
and supports a centralized
autocratic government
headed by a dictatorial
leader, severe economic
and social regimentation,
and forcible suppression
of dissent
Characteristics of Fascism
 Ultra- conservative (reactionary) nationalism.
• Constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols,
songs, etc.
• Flags are seen everywhere.
• Create a patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate
a common threat or “enemy” Can be racial, ethnic,
a religious minority, liberals, communists, etc.

 Totalitarianism
• Demands absolute obedience to the state and to
an authoritarian leader.
• Government controls all aspects of society.
• One-party dictatorship. People denied individual
rights.
• Anti-democratic
Characteristics of Fascism (con’t)

 Organized violence used to suppress

opposition.

 Militaristic, expansionist foreign policy.

 Preserves capitalism, but with state control of

large corporations.

 Main supporters: Upper and upper-middle

classes and industrialists

 Enemies: Labor unions, socialists, and

communists .
The Rise of Fascism in Italy

Benito Mussolini
 In Italy, Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party
seized power by promising to revive the
economy, rebuild the military, and create
a new Roman EmpireMussolini’s “march on Rome”

The “Blackshirts”
 Italy resentment after World War I
 To the majority of Italians, the Versailles settlement
was a bitter disappointment.
 Although Italy had gained Trentino, the South Tyrol,
Istria and Trieste, its claims to parts of Dalmatia,
Adalia, Albania, Fiume and some of the Aegean
Islands had been ignored.
 It seemed that other countries, particularly
Yugoslavia, had gained at Italy’s expense.
 Italy Recession after World War I
 Having borrowed heavily to finance its involvement in the
First World War, Italy’s attempts to repay these debts led to
soaring inflation.
 The value of the Italian lira fell from five to the dollar in 1914
to 28 to the dollar by 1921.
 In addition to this massive increase in the cost of living,
Italians also faced high unemployment as industry reduced
production to pre-war levels, and the number of people
seeking jobs was increased by the return of more than 2
million soldiers.
 Italy political problems and the
Communists
 Italy’s parliamentary system, based on proportional representation, was ill-
equipped to cope with these problems. With nine or more different political
parties, it was impossible for any one party to gain an overall majority.
 Between 1919 and 1922, Italy had five different coalition governments, none
of which could provide the decisive leadership necessary to confront Italy’s
post-war problems.
 These circumstances inevitably led to disorder. Strikes organised by trade
unions in 1919 and 1920 quickly descended into rioting and looting. Workers
began occupying their factories, while socialist leagues of farm workers started
seizing land from wealthy farmers and establishing their own co-operatives.
 Factory councils, similar to the Russian soviets, appeared in many industrial
cities. With the formation of the Italian Communist Party in January 1921, it
seemed only a matter of time before a revolution began. It was primarily the
threat of communism that provided Benito Mussolini, a former teacher and
journalist, with the opportunity to gain power in Italy.
 Rise of Mussolini
 It was primarily the threat of communism that provided
Benito Mussolini, a former teacher and journalist, with the
opportunity to gain power in Italy.
 On 23 March 1919, he formed a Fascio di Combattimento
(‘Fighting Group’) in Milan, and this marked the origins of his
Fascist Party. Initially a socialist organisation, the party’s
failure to win any seats in the 1919 elections made Mussolini
realise that he needed to attract financial support from
wealthy businessmen and landowners.
 The Fascist Party emerged as the defender of private
enterprise and property, its blackshirted groups regularly
attacking communist headquarters and newspaper offices.
Mussolini’s Private Army - The Black Shirts
 March on Rome 1922
 Despite its violent methods, the Fascist Party rapidly gained the
support of those sections of Italian society that had most reason to
fear communism – industrialists, landowners, middle-class
property owners, the Roman Catholic Church and the king, Victor
Emmanuel III.
 Although the Fascist Party gained only 35 seats in the 1921
elections (compared to the 123 taken by the socialists), the
number of fascist squads throughout the country grew rapidly.
 In 1922, the communists called for a general strike.
 Mussolini boldly announced that if the government did not put a
stop to this then his own men would. In October 1922, some
50,000 fascists began what became known as the March on Rome,
while others moved into key northern industrial cities
 Mussolini Takes Control
 The Italian prime minister, Luigi Facta, wanted to use the army and
police to disperse the fascist columns, but the king, Emmanuel III
refused and instead invited Mussolini to form a new government.
 Far from the ‘great battle’ portrayed in Mussolini’s subsequent
propaganda, the March on Rome had been an enormous bluff.
 The fascist groups could easily have been held back by the army,
and in fact Mussolini remained in Milan rather than leading his
men into ‘battle’.
 Nonetheless, the threat of violence alone led to the creation of the
world’s first fascist state, a precursor to later regimes such as those
of Adolf Hitler (Germany), Francisco Franco (Spain), António de
Oliveira Salazar (Portugal) and Juan Perón (Argentina).
March on Rome [1922]
 Mussolini Consolidates power
 In the elections of 6 April 1924. The national alliance, consisting of Fascists,
most of the old Liberals, and others, won 64% of the vote.

 On 31 December 1924, militants in his own party met with Mussolini and
gave him an ultimatum: crush the opposition or they would do so without
him. Fearing a revolt by his own militants, Mussolini decided to drop all
pretense of democracy.

 From 1925, Mussolini styled himself Il Duce (the leader).

 A law passed on 24 December 1925—Christmas Eve for the largely Roman

Catholic country—changed Mussolini's formal title from "President of the
Council of Ministers" to "Head of the Government", although he was still
called "Prime Minister" by most non-Italian news sources. It also outlawed
opposition and made him only accountable to the King

 Mussolini initiated the "Battle for Land", a policy based on land reclamation
outlined.

 By 1934, 75% of the land and industries are state directed

 Main characteristics of Mussolini’s style of
government
•Lack of democracy: Italy became a one-party state. Members of the Fascist Party
were seen as the élite of the nation and great emphasis was placed on the cult of
their leader, Mussolini himself.
• Totalitarianism: the interests of the state were more important than the interests
of individuals. Therefore, the government attempted to control as many aspects of
people’s lives as possible.
•Autarky: the idea that Italy should become economically self-sufficient. In order to
achieve this, the government sought to control and direct all parts of Italy’s economy.
• Extreme nationalism: although Italy had once been the heart of the great Roman
Empire, its power and prestige had been allowed to decline. Mussolini was
determined to restore Italy to its former glory.
• The use of violence: Mussolini had seen how the mere threat of violence had
enabled him to gain power. He believed that violent methods were the key not only
to maintaining control in Italy but also to ensuring a successful and glorious foreign
policy in which the Italian Empire could be expanded. As he once remarked: ‘Peace is
absurd; fascism does not believe in it.’
 Socialism similarities in Fascism
 An important part of fascism which is
consistent with socialism is the
emphasis that the economy is a
product of state goals.
 However, in fascism there is profit
making, private property, and private
ownership. There is a collusion of
private and state actors achieving
state objectives
 Benito Mussolini Rises to Power in
Italy

“My objective is simple. I want to make Italy great,

respected, and feared.”
- Benito Mussoli
Mussolini’s aims for Italian Diplomacy
 In line with the aggressive nationalism that characterised fascism, the main
aim of Mussolini’s foreign policy was to make Italy ‘great, respected and
feared’. He declared that ‘the 20th century will be a century of Italian
power’.
 In the period from the end of the First World War until Mussolini’s rise to
power in 1922, Italy had been neither great, respected nor feared.
 The Paris peace settlement had not granted Italy many of the territorial
rewards it had expected as a result of its contribution to the Allied victory.
 To the majority of Italians, this was both humiliating and a reflection of
their government’s weakness. Mussolini was determined to establish
Italy’s credibility as a major European power, and his early actions certainly
seemed to reflect these grand aims.
 Fiume (March 1923)
 Italy’s claim to the city and its surrounding area – based on the fact that
the majority of its population was Italian – had been rejected by the Paris
peacemakers.
 Instead, they had declared Fiume a ‘Free City’ that was to be used jointly
by Italy and Yugoslavia.
 An Italian poet and nationalist Gabriele D’Annunzio led a force of around
300 ex-soldiers into Fiume in September 1919 and declared it part of Italy.
The Italian government sent in troops and forced D’Annunzio to leave the
city so as not to piss off the League. To the anger of the Italian nationalists,
the government renounced its claim to Fiume.
 Later, in March 1923, the local government in Fiume became threatened
with rebellion and revolution, and Mussolini ordered Italian troops to
move in and restore order. Yugoslavia had little choice but to accept the
situation, and Fiume effectively became part of Italy.
 The Corfu Incident (August 1923)
 In 1923, a border dispute between Greece and Albania was referred to the League
of Nations, which established a commission to determine where the boundary
should be. This commission was led by an Italian, Enrico Tellini.
 Greece consistently showed little willingness to co-operate with the commission,
and when Tellini and three of his Italian assistants were killed by unknown
assailants.
 Mussolini was convinced that Greece was responsible. Italy sent an ultimatum to
Greece, demanding financial compensation and the execution of those responsible.
 When these conditions were not met, Mussolini ordered the bombardment and
occupation of the Greek island of Corfu, resulting in the deaths of a number of
civilians.
 Despite an appeal to the League of Nations, Greece was forced to apologise and
pay the full amount of compensation Italy demanded (50 million lira) in exchange
for the withdrawal of Italian troops from Corfu. Although Mussolini had refused to
accept the League of Nations’ right to determine the outcome of this issue, Italy’s
success in the matter heightened his prestige.
 Friendly relations 1923 -
1934
 He attended the Locarno Conference in 1925, where he forged
effective working relationships with representatives from Britain,
France, Germany and Belgium.
Italybecame the second European country (after Britain) to formally
recognise the USSR, and Mussolini signed a non-aggression treaty
with the Soviets in 1933.
The Stresa Front, as the resulting alliance became
known, condemned Germany’s actions. It reaffirmed the Locarno
Treaties, pledged continued support for Austrian independence and
asserted its intention to resist Germany’s attempts to increase its
armaments. Despite all this, the Stresa Front took no practical action
against Hitler.
 No Anchluss. Hitler intended to force a union between Germany
and Austria in July 1934 as a result of domestic instability caused by
Nazi Austrians. Hitler’s troops were ready to enter Austria on the
pretext of restoring order, but in the event, they were forced to back
down when Mussolini sent Italian regiments to the Austrian border.
 Invasion of Ethiopia 1935
By 1934, therefore, Mussolini was widely respected abroad.
However, little progress had been made towards achieving the ambitious aims of which he
had boasted when he came to power. The country was in the grip of a severe depression
and Mussolini’s popularity with the Italian people was declining.
Therewas clearly a need for some spectacular success overseas to give Il Duce a
propaganda boost. He was impressed by Hitler's defiance of the Treaty of Versailles and
how this increased his popularity with his people. He also saw the League's weak
response.
InOctober 1935, Mussolini ordered the invasion of Abyssinia (modern Ethiopia) – the only
remaining independent state in Africa.
This
was not the first time Italy had attempted to seize Abyssinia. An invasion in 1896 had
ended in an embarrassing defeat at the Battle of Adowa.
Now Mussolini was determined to succeed where others had failed, arguing that this
colonial expansion would provide Italy with much-needed raw materials and a new market
for Italian products.
 In 1935, Mussolini began his
campaign to create an Italian
Empire by invading Ethiopia

Ethiopian soldiers
defending their country
from the Italian military
The League of Nations condemned
Japan and Italy but did nothing to
stop
 World’s Response to Ethiopia
Although the Abyssinians, under their emperor Haile Selassie, did all they could to
resist, they were no match for troops armed with modern European weapons. An
Italian victory was inevitable from the outset.
Hitler was the only world leader not critical of Mussolini's actions in Abyssinia
The League of Nations condemned this act of Italian aggression, but took no real
action against Mussolini despite impassioned pleas from Haile Selassie.
Some economic sanctions were applied, but this was a token gesture and had no ill-
effects on the Italian economy. The League’s weak response was mainly because
neither Britain nor France was prepared to risk going to war with Italy over the
independence of an African state.
Such
matters were considered insignificant compared to the growing menace of Nazi
Germany, and Britain and France wanted Italy as an ally rather than an enemy.
 Mussolini abandons Friendly
League Relations
 Ironically, the fact that the League of Nations had imposed
sanctions – ineffective though they were – angered Mussolini
and led him to forge closer links with Hitler, the one European
leader who had not openly condemned Italy’s invasion of
Abyssinia.
 Having once referred to Hitler as ‘that mad little clown’,
Mussolini became increasingly infatuated with the German
leader’s audacious foreign policy, and eventually reached the
conclusion that there was more to be gained by a close
relationship with Germany than with Britain and France.
 As a result, Mussolini completely reversed the thrust of his
foreign policy. Rather than fearing and resisting the resurgence
of German power, Mussolini began to support and imitate it.
 Italian Diplomacy with Germany in
the 1930s
 Mussolini suggested an anti-French Italo-German alliance in 1932
before Hitler assumes power. The German government responded
favorably albeit with the condition that Germany needed to rearm first.

 On 25 October 1936, Mussolini agreed to form a Rome-Berlin Axis,

sanctioned by a cooperation agreement with Nazi Germany and signed in Berlin.
 The following month, in 1936 he joined the Anti-Comintern Pact
with Germany and Japan.

 In 1938, Mussolini was initially against Austrian Anchluss, largely due

to his concern that Hitler would eventually press for the return of
Italian territories which had once been ruled by Austria. Mussolini
went so far as mobilize troops to the North. The failure of efforts to
stop Hitler and as a result of the events of the Abyssinian War obliged
Italy to accept a compromise with Germany over Austria

 The Axis agreement with Germany was strengthened by signing the

Pact of Steel on 22 May 1939, which bound together Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany in a full military alliance, pledging mutual support in the
event of war. Italy was now committed to providing Hitler’s Germany
with full military support.
 Italian Fascist Support Spain
 Mussolini could see the value of having a third fascist state in Europe, especially
one that was situated on France’s southern border.

 The most pressing reason was to gain respect and achieve greatness. This was
especially important for Italy during a time of an extreme economic crisis. The
Spanish civil war would provide the propaganda Mussolini needed to restore his
image and as a hero against Communism

 Italy did have plans of gaining a naval base in Spain however.

 Consequently, both Germany and Italy supplied Franco with military equipment
and troops.

 In total, Italy provided the Nationalists with around 700 planes, 150 tanks, 800
artillery pieces, 10,000 machine guns, and 240,000 rifles and 50,000 troops.

 The Corps of Volunteer Troops was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military
volunteers
 Italian relations with England and
France
 In January 1937, Britain signed a "Gentleman's Agreement"
with Mussolini intended to limit Italian intervention in Spain,
and was seen by the British Foreign Office as the first step
towards creating an Anglo-Italian alliance

 In April 1938, Britain and Italy signed the Easter Accords

under which Britain promised to recognize Ethiopia as Italian
in exchange for Italy pulling out of the Spanish Civil War.

 After the Pact of Steel alliance 1939, the British and French
were still concerned with communism and the Soviet Union
and took no actions against it.
 Albania 1939
Emboldened by Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia, Italian
troops invaded Albania in April 1939. This was little more than a
propaganda exercise, since Albania had long been effectively
under Italian control anyway.
However, it enhanced Mussolini’s image as a conquering hero
who was leading Italy back to its former glory.
Japanese
Militaris
m
 Cooperation after WWI
Japan had seemingly changed its policy of expansionism in the Far
East with the Washington Naval Conference and Kellog Briand Pact
Historians
disagree about the reasons why Japan was prepared to
abandon this policy.
• Some claim that, confronted by the combined power of Britain and
the USA, the Japanese realised that they had little choice but to
reach agreement.
• However, the opposing view is that rather than being forced into it,
Japan reached agreement because it genuinely wanted to. Many
Japanese realised that such multinational co-operation would not
only guarantee Japan’s security but also enable it to continue its
economic expansion in China.
 Democracy in Japan 1925
 Japan seemed to be changing in other ways, too. It began to adopt a
more democratic system of government. The period from just
before WWI to the mid-1920s was known as the, Taishō period,
 It was a constitutional monarchy with a democratically elected
parliament.
 In 1925, all adult males were given the right to vote.
 New political parties, more concerned with domestic reform than
pursuing a militaristic foreign policy, were beginning to emerge.
 However, just as in Italy, Germany and Spain, problems began to
emerge during the 1920s and early 1930s
 The democratically elected governments seemed incapable of
overcoming.
 Why Democracy collapsed?
Many politicians were corrupt and open to bribery. Political rivalries between
parties frustrated the nation.
It's Democractic institutions were relatively new, only around since 1889
Theagreements that Japan signed as a result of the Washington Naval Conference
were not popular. Most Japanese citizens were strongly nationalistic and held anti-
Western views (state Shintoism)
Army and navy had grown stronger and felt threatened by the government.
The military felt that the Japanese government was being too ‘soft’ on China, and
that China’s weakness should be exploited to allow for expansion.
Theeconomic boom Japan experienced as a result of the First World War had
ended by 1921. Unemployment began to rise in the industrial cities of Japan. At the
same time, farmers were hit by falling prices. Attempts by workers and farmers to
form unions were suppressed by the government.
Japanwas badly hit by the world economic crisis after the Wall street crash 1929.
Japanese exports dropped, leading to further unemployment. As poverty spread
 Manchuria and the descent into military
dictatorship
Itwas events in Manchuria, a large province of China, that finally caused
the collapse of Japanese democracy. Japan had developed extensive trade
and investment interests in Manchuria, protected by a military force known
as the Kwantung Army.
After the Manchurain incident in September 1931, the Kwantung Army
mobilised and, over the next six months, took control of the whole of
Manchuria and established the state of Manchukuo in its place. This action
was taken without the permission of the Japanese government.
After criticising the invasion the prime minister, Inukai Tsuyoshi, was
assassinated by a group of army officers in May 1932.
Emperor Hirohito deplored the attack on Manchuria but steadfastly refused
to order the Kwantung Army to withdraw
The emperor replaced the elected government with a military government.
 Diplomacy after Manchuria
 Although the Japanese invasion of Manchuria was criticised by the
League of Nations and the USA, neither took any action.
 This weak international response to such blatant aggression in
defiance of international agreements led some of Japan’s military
leaders to call for further inroads into China.
 Japan withdrew from the League of Nations in March 1933, and
rejected arms control.
 The agreements made at the Washington Naval Conference were no
longer valid.
 In November 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with
Germany, subsequently joined by Italy in 1937. the Pact was
intended to provide support in case of an attack by the USSR
 Later, Japan signs Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy in
September 1940.
International Response to Anti-
Comintern
The Rise of Fascism in Spain

Dude
 Spain in the early 20th Century
 Spain had experienced little of the rapid industrialisation that had
characterised the increasing power of Britain, Germany and France in the
later 19th century.
 By 1920, Spain was still a largely agricultural country, the majority of its
farmland divided up into enormous estates (latifundia) owned by a
relatively small number of wealthy landowners.
 Around 2.5 million Spaniards earned their living as landless labourers,
providing a seasonal agricultural workforce. Living in poverty, and with no
rights and no guarantee of being able to find employment, they made up a
large and discontented group that posed a threat to civil order.
 Spain was a deeply divided country. Different parts of Spain – separated by
mountain ranges – developed their own cultures, customs and languages.
 Many Basques, Catalans, Andalusians, Aragonese and Castilians felt that
preserving their regional identity was more important than allegiance to
Spain. Several separatist groups formed, demanding independence for their
region.
 Political Division in Spain
 Since 1885, Spain had been governed under the
constitutional monarchy of King Alfonso XIII. This had
never been a particularly efficient system, and it came
under increasing threat as a result of political divisions
within the country:
• Monarchists and landowners wanted to preserve the power of the
king and the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
• Liberals wanted to create a modern democracy in which the powers
enjoyed by the king and especially the Church were reduced.
• Socialists and republicans wanted to remove the king altogether.
• Communists wanted a Russian-style revolution.
• Separatists wanted independence for their regions.
• Anarchists wanted no government at all.
 Dictator Rivera in Power
 The lack of effective leadership led to a bloodless coup in
1923, when Miguel Primo de Rivera seized power.
 He governed Spain as a military dictator for the next seven
years. Realising that this was the only way to maintain some
power of his own, King Alfonso supported Rivera, referring to
him as ‘My Mussolini’.
 Unlike Mussolini, however, Rivera was not a fascist
 His period in power witnessed the development of roads,
railways and industry within Spain.
 However, the world economic crisis that followed the Wall
Street Crash led to high unemployment. Having lost the
support of the army, Rivera was forced to resign.
 The New Republic of Spain 1931
 In the local elections held in April 1931, the republicans gained
control of all Spain’s major cities.
 Fearing bloodshed, King Alfonso abdicated and the new Republic of
Spain was proclaimed.
 Soon the socialists were the largest party.
 They faced an ever-deepening economic crisis. With unemployment
soaring, wages being cut and standards of living falling, urgent
action had to be taken if the government was to retain the support
of the working classes.
 they embarked on a radical program of reforms. These included:
• reducing the power and authority of the Church
• reducing the threat of the army by removing a large number of senior
officers
• allowing an element of self-government to the region of Catalonia
• trying to increase the wages of industrial workers
• introducing nationalisation of large agricultural estates.
 Conservative Reaction
 Inevitably, these measures infuriated the Church, the army, wealthy landowners,
industrialists and businessmen.
 The Army launched an attempted coup in 1932 but failed
 A new right-wing party, the Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (CEDA),
was formed to defend their interests.
 Between 1933 and 1936 both the CEDA and the left-wing groups (socialists,
anarchists and communists) --- Popular Front --- won alternate elections, indicating
the unhappy divide that existed among the population.
 The popular front organised a general strike in 1934, and the
number of riots and acts of violence increased.
 Army leaders began planning another coup in 1936 but were
discovered and exiled.
 In July 1936, a leading right-wing politician was killed by police. This convinced
right-wing groups that a military dictatorship was the only way to deal with the
escalating violence in Spain.
 On 17 July 1936, a group of army generals turned to General Francisco Franco to
assume leadership of the conflict. The Spanish Civil War had begun.
 The Spanish Civil War
 If the army had expected a rapid and straightforward seizure
of power, it was bitterly disappointed.
 Many Spaniards were prepared to resist a military takeover.
Anarchist trade unionists in Barcelona defeated the army
insurgents and executed their leaders. The republican-led
government of Madrid issued workers with guns, which
allowed them to overcome local army regiments.
 By the end of July 1936, Franco’s nationalists controlled much
of northern Spain and the southern areas around Cadiz and
Seville. The republicans controlled the centre and north-east
of Spain, most significantly the major cities of Madrid and
Barcelona
 Foreign involvement
 When the republican government of Spain asked for British
and French assistance against Franco, politicians in those
countries adopted a more pragmatic approach.
 Desperate to avoid any action that might provoke Germany,
Britain established a Non-Intervention Committee to ensure
that no foreign aid entered Spain.
 Germany and Italy joined the committee, but both ignored it.
 Without British or French assistance, the republicans turned
to the only country that seemed prepared to help – the
USSR.
 By the end of 1936, The Spanish Civil War had become an
international battleground for the rival ideologies of fascism
and communism.
 Germany and Italy Involvement
 Realizing that taking full control of Spain was going to be
difficult, Franco appealed to Hitler and Mussolini for
assistance, claiming that he was fighting to prevent a
communist revolution in Spain.
 Neither Hitler nor Mussolini had any real interest in Spain, but
both could see the value of having a third fascist state in
Europe, especially one that was situated on France’s southern
border.
 Consequently, both Germany and Italy supplied Franco with
military equipment and troops.
 Their involvement in what was basically a private Spanish
affair was to have a major impact on international relations.
 Italian Involvement
 Mussolini could see the value of having a third fascist state in Europe, especially
one that was situated on France’s southern border.

 The most pressing reason was to gain respect and achieve greatness. This was
especially important for Italy during a time of an extreme economic crisis. The
Spanish civil war would provide the propaganda Mussolini needed to restore his
image and as a hero against Communism

 Italy did have plans of gaining a naval base in Spain however.

 Consequently, both Germany and Italy supplied Franco with military equipment
and troops.

 In total, Italy provided the Nationalists with around 700 planes, 150 tanks, 800
artillery pieces, 10,000 machine guns, and 240,000 rifles and 50,000 troops.

 The Corps of Volunteer Troops was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military
volunteers
 German Involvement
 The Spanish Civil war provided an opportunity to test the
efficiency and capabilities of the German rearmament
program
 Hitler saw the importance of a third fascist state in Europe
 Hitler encouraged Italian involvement in Spain in an effort to
distract Mussolini from Germany’s own plans to force a union
with Austria. To prolong the Spanish Civil War, Germany not
only supplied Franco’s nationalists with men and equipment,
but Hitler also allowed German firms to sell arms to the
republicans
 Soviet involvement
 Soviet leader Stalin also had a vested interest in prolonging the Spanish Civil
War. Sensing that the fascist governments of Germany and Italy posed the
greatest threat to the security of the Soviet Union, Stalin had worked hard to
maintain good relations with both Britain and France. While he certainly did
not want Franco to take control of Spain, which would pose yet another
fascist threat to the USSR, he was also aware that neither Britain nor France
would tolerate a communist government in Spain. As a result, Stalin
authorised just enough aid to ensure that the republicans could maintain their
resistance, but not enough to enable them to gain outright victory.
 The International Brigade
 Franco’s well-armed professional soldiers met determined, if
disorganised, resistance.
 The people of Madrid, encouraged by communist leaders were
prepared to repel the nationalist assault. Both men and women
enlisted and were given basic training in methods of warfare.
 They were supported by International Brigades, communist-organised
armies of foreign volunteers.
 British, French, Italian, German, Polish, Russian and American civilians
poured into Spain by sea from Marseilles or along pathways across the
Pyrenees. Some were driven by a desire to halt the spread of fascism,
but many were simply in search of adventure.
 Despite Franco’s heavy bombing of Madrid and Barcelona, the
nationalists failed to take these key cities, and this proved an obstacle
to winning total control of Spain.
 The fighting was bitter, and atrocities were committed by both sides.
 Franco’s Victory
 In January 1939, Barcelona finally fell to the nationalists. Madrid fell two
months later. The Nationalist were victorious.
 Why was Franco able to win?
• • He had managed to maintain the unity of right-wing groups (the Church, the
army, monarchists, the Falangists (Spanish Fascists).
• • The republicans were far less unified, the various left-wing groups all having
their own, often contradictory, aims.
• Unlike the well-trained professional soldiers under Franco’s command, the
republicans were simply armed workers who lacked military organisation and
discipline.
• • Assistance from Germany and Italy (and, to a lesser extent, Portugal) had
proved decisive. Italy had provided over 50,000 troops and considerable air
power (Nazi Condor Legion). Germany had given untold numbers of planes and
tanks. Franco gained further support from Germany in exchange for a 40% share
in the Spanish iron mines.
• the USSR stopped sending supplies and ammunition to the Spanish republicans
by late 1938.
 Franco’s Government
 Adopting the title Caudillo (leader), Franco set
about establishing a form of government that was in
many ways similar to those of Mussolini and Hitler.
Repression, military courts and large-scale
executions became as common in Spain as they
were in Italy and Germany.
 However, Spain did not completely follow the typical
pattern of a fascist state. This was most evident in
the fact that Franco was an ardent supporter of the
Church, restoring its control over education.
 Franco’s Involvement in WWII
 As events unfolded towards the end of 1939, Hitler expected Spanish
support, but Franco kept Spain out of direct involvement in the Second
World War.

 However, he encouraged volunteers to go fight. Some 50.000 people in

total fought in that unit. Franco allowed German submarines to resupply
in Spanish territory and supplied key war material like Tungsten.

 Hitler wanted wider support from Franco in the way of veteran soldiers
and specially free way for his army to take over Gibraltar and choke UK
communications and supplies from middle east. Franco refused.

 While Hitler and Mussolini were ultimately defeated, Franco survived

and continued to rule Spain until his death in 1975.
The Rise of Nazism in Germany

Adolf Hitler
 Germany’s Defeat in WWI
Germany signed an armistice in November
1918, ending the First World War. Though the
war wasn’t fought in Germany, the once proud
German nation was ruined by the war. The
Army was demoralised and there were mutinies
which, as they weren’t stopped quickly by the
Kaiser, spread from the Navy to the Army and
to the workers.

Germany was almost bankrupt from fighting the

war. Industry was mainly directed towards the
war effort and production levels were down,
which meant many were surviving on low
wages. People were starving and existing off a
diet of mainly turnips and bread bulked out with
saw dust. A terrible influenza epidemic spread
throughout Europe killing millions of already
weakened people. Over 1 million German
soldiers had been killed in the war, leaving
600,000 war widows relying on war pensions.
Germany Government: Weimer Republic

 The Weimar Republic was the new

system of democratic government
established in Germany following the
collapse of the Second Reich .

 The first elections for the new

Republic were held on the 19 January
1919. They used a voting system
called Proportional Representation .

 As Berlin was still in the grips of

revolution, the market town of
Paul von Hindenberg
Weimar was chosen as the meeting President of Weimar Republic
place. This venue gave the new nation
Weimer Republic Details and Structure

 The Weimar Republic adopted a new constitution , different to that of the previous
monarchy . Under the new republic, all adults over the age of twenty could vote.

 Instead of a monarch, there was a president elected every seven years. The
president’s power was limited by the Reichstag . However, in the state of an
emergency, Article 48 of the new constitution gave the president ultimate authority
to rule by decree.

 There were two parliamentary houses in the Republic, the Reichstag and the
Reichsrat . The chancellor was the leader of the Reichstag. The chancellor held
similar position to the British Prime Minister, and was appointed by the President.
Typically, the chancellor would be the leader of the largest party, although this was
not always the case.

 The Weimar Republic was a federal system. It was split into eighteen different
states called Länder, each of which had their own local government. The Länder
could send representatives from their local government to the Reichsrat.
 Political instability in the Weimar
Republic
 The new Proportional Representation system of voting in the Weimar Republic
caused political instability.

 Many different parties gained a small amount of seats in the Reichstag. This
meant that no one party had an overall majority, and parties joined together to
rule in coalitions.

 In these coalitions, each party had different aims which often led to disagreements
on policy. These disagreements made it difficult for the Reichstag to govern. In the
early 1920s there were many changes of government, which made managing
Germany’s political and economic problems very difficult.

 In addition to this difficulty, the unpopular reparations payments, which Germany

were forced to pay through the Treaty of Versailles , put a huge amount of
economic pressure on the government.

 These tough economic and political circumstances made people susceptible to

extreme political views.

 In order to keep control and peace in the early 1920s, Friedrich Ebert relied
heavily on the traditionally right-wing army and Freikorps .
 Hyperinflation and the invasion of
the Ruhr
 Throughout the war, the value of the German currency, the Reichsmark, fell considerably.

 To try and meet the requirements of government spending, the government had little
choice but to print more money. This in fact made the inflationary situation worse

 Meanwhile, in the midst of this economic crisis, Germany continued to attempt to pay the
reparations as dictated by the Treaty of Versailles. The reparations had to be paid in gold
marks, which maintained its value, whilst the German currency declined. This made it more
and more expensive to pay.

 In 1922, Germany requested permission to suspend their payments whilst their economy
recovered. This was refused by the Allies. By 1923, Germany reached breaking point as
inflation started to run out of control. They were unable to continue paying reparations.

 On the 9 January 1923, in response to the lack of payment of reparations, France and
Belgium invaded the Ruhr.

 German factory workers refused to co-operate with the occupying French and Belgian
armies. With the German governments support, the workers went on strike. This led to
violence on both sides.

 With the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, goods in Germany became even more
difficult to obtain, and therefore very expensive. To fix this problem and pay the striking
Ruhr workers, the government again printed more money. This led to hyperinflation.
 The Nazis were a fascist Adolf Hitler was
group in Germany that an early Nazi recruit
wanted to overthrow the and quickly rose to
disloyal Weimar Republic power in the party

Hitler was impressed by

Mussolini and used many
of his ideas to make the
Nazi Party strong in Germany
 Hitler after the War
Following the end of the First World War, Adolf Hitler was one of
thousands of demobbed soldiers returning to Germany defeated
and angry at the politicians who had signed the Armistice. Though
it is clear now the war was lost for Germany before November
1918, many soldiers, like Hitler, were shocked and heartbroken at
the news of the Armistice. They blamed the new Government for
‘stabbing them in the back’.
Hitler longed for the return of a strong leader
like the Kaiser and traditional German values
that he felt had been destroyed by the war.
He despised the rise of the Socialists and
Communists in Russia and Germany, and
blamed Jews and Communists for the
problems Germany was suffering.
 Hitler joins the Nazis
• In 1919 Hitler joined the German Worker’s Party in
Munich, a group influenced by the extreme and
occult ideas of a secret society called Thule and a
poet, Eckart. Hitler possessed an incredible ability
to inspire and enthuse beerhalls full of people in
Munich to his right wing ideas of racial superiority
of Aryans and the need to abolish the Treaty of
Versailles.
• By 1921 he had become the leader of the National Socialist
German Workers’ Party (Nazis) after replacing the original
leader, Anton Drexler.
• Its members were mainly unemployed youths and soldiers
returning from the First World War. Disenchanted and with little
hope for the future, these men might have turned to
communism, but instead they were drawn to Hitler’s magnetic
speeches.
 Nazism core Beliefs
1. Extreme nationalism
2. Jewish Conspiracy

3. Racial superiority
• A belief that Germans were
a superior people destined to
rule all of Europe.
• A belief in the expulsion of
inferior peoples.
Hatred of Jews
Hatred of Slavs

4. Anti-communism
 Nazi political Insights
 • Hitler claimed that the German army had never been defeated,
and blamed politicians (the ‘November Criminals’) and Jews for
the end of the war.

 • These same politicians had betrayed the country by signing the

hated Treaty of Versailles, a dictated settlement that was the root
cause of Germany’s problems.

 • Germany should ignore the Treaty of Versailles. A program of

rearmament would create jobs in the army and munitions
factories.

 • The new democratic constitution, which was based on

proportional representation, would lead to weak coalition
governments.

 • Germany faced the threat of a communist revolution, which

must be resisted at all costs
 Beer Hall Putsch
In 1923, Hitler decided the time was right for
the Nazis to stage a Putsch against the Weimar
Republic. On 8th November 1923, Hitler
attempted to overthrow the Bavarian
Government with 600 of his Stormtroopers, the
First World War hero General Ludendorff and
his key followers by storming a meeting of the
Bavarian Government, led by Gustav Von Kahr.

Hitler expected the people of Munich and the

Bavarian Army and Police, where the Nazis had
their majority of power and popularity, to rise
up and join them in a revolution – like had
been seen in Russia.

Hitler massively misjudged the mood of the

people and popularity of the movement and
the Putsch was stopped by force on the
morning of 9th November. 16 Nazis were killed
as were three police officers – Hitler ran away
Photo courtesy of German Federal Archive (via Wikimedia commons) - granted under creative commons licence – attribution

from the scene but was arrested and charged

with treason.
Hitler’s Mein Kampf outlined
his plans for Germany
He wrote that Germans were
members of a master race
called Aryans and
all non-Aryans were inferior
He declared that Germans
needed lebensraum (living
space) and should conquer
Eastern Europe and Russia
He called the Treaty of
Versailles an outrage and
vowed to regain land taken
from Germany after the war
 Germany's recovery in the mid to
late 1920's
 In the wake of the putsch, Hitler was arrested, put on trial and
sentenced to five years in prison.
 In the event, he only served nine months of this sentence, during
which he wrote Mein Kampf (‘My Struggle’), a book in which he
outlined his political philosophy. Many historians have subsequently
used this book as proof that it was always Hitler’s intention to cause a
European war. The national revolution had been an ignominious
failure, but at least it provided Hitler with national publicity.
 Upon his release, Hitler found Germany somewhat revitalised. US
loans under the Dawes Plan had helped to stabilise the economy, and
Germany was forging better relations with other European nations
through the Locarno Treaties.
 While this was good for the country, it did not bode well for Hitler’s
future success: with the situation improving in Germany, there would
be less support for a political party built on extremist views. In the May
1928 elections, the Nazi Party gained only 810,000 votes out of the 31
million cast.
 Nazi success in the Great
Depression
 It was the Wall Street Crash and the ensuing worldwide depression
that breathed new life into Hitler’s political career. US loans, on which
Germany’s new prosperity was entirely dependent, suddenly stopped.
 The country was plunged back into a period of economic chaos and
massive unemployment as Americans recalled German Loans.
 Wealthy businessmen turn to the NAzis as they became afraid of
worker support for communists.
 With funds from industrialists support for the Nazis began to grow, and
in the elections of 1932, they gained 37% of the total votes cast (230
total seats in the Reichstag). Although they still did not have an overall
majority in the Reichstag (the German parliament), the Nazis had
become the largest single party.
 Hitler demanded to be appointed the position of chancellor – he was
initially refused.

 1933
Hitler Appointed Chancellor
 On 30 January 1933, Hitler was appointed chancellor of
Germany. Unlike Franco, who gained power by the use
of violence, and Mussolini, who secured control by the
threat of violence, Hitler became German chancellor
though legal and constitutional means. He exploited the
weaknesses in the German constitution

 Hitler supported by
conservative politicians and
key leaders in the army and
big business leaders.

 These leaders mistakenly

thought they could control
and use Hitler.
In 1933, Hitler was named chancellor (prime minister)
of Germany and used his power to become dictator
 Step 1: The Reichstag Fire
Just before the 1933
elections, the Reichstag
building was mysteriously
set ablaze less than a
month after Hitler was
appointed chancellor.
Hitler convinced citizens that
communists were the arsons,
and had them banned from the
Reichstag. However, today
historians believe Nazis did it.
 Step 2: The Enabling Act
Fights then erupted in the streets
between Nazi Brownshirts and
German communists. Property was
destroyed and chaos reigned.
Hoping to restore order and prevent
a communist takeover the Reichstag
agreed to the Enabling Act which
gave Hitler power to single-handedly
pass emergency laws for four years.
With the power to make his own
laws Hitler threw out the
democratic constitution, banned
other political parties, censored
the media, and spread Nazi
propaganda.

Goebbel
s
 Step 3: Winning the Army
The army still did
not support Hitler
because they
often fought with
his Brownshirts,
and viewed them
as competition.
To win over the army, in June of
1934 Hitler ordered the killing of
nearly 500 Brownshirt leaders on
what was dubbed the “Night of the
Long Knives.” Army generals were
now pleased and supported Hitler.
June 30, 1934
“Night of the Long Knives”
 Army saw SA radicals as a threat.
 To win support of the army, Hitler
purged Nazi Party of SA extremists.

 Hundreds of SA leaders who had

helped Hitler come to power were
arrested by the SS and executed
without trial. Hitler and SA leader
Ernst Rohm, who
Hitler had killed in
 German Army now pledged its 1934.
supported for Hitler.
 The SA (“Brown Shirts”)
 Hitler’s private army
 They bullied opponents into obeying
the Nazi Party
 However, once Hitler rose to power, he
had the SA replaced by a new
organization – the SS Ernst Rohm
 The SS
 The SS were Hitler’s private bodyguards
and were led by Heinrich Himmler
 They arrested and killed anyone who challenged Hitler
 The SS took over law enforcement in Germany and implemented
the ‘Final Solution’
Himmler
 The Gestapo
 The Gestapo were the secret
police of Nazi Germany
 They investigated treason,
espionage, and sabotage
cases against the Nazi Party
(i.e. Valkyrie)
 The Gestapo also set up and
administered the
concentration camps
 Step 4: President Hindenburg was Hitler’s last obstacle in
Eliminate the way of a total dictatorship, but in August 1934
political the aging Hindenburg died.
opposition
With Hindenburg gone,
Hitler declared himself
“Fuhrer” or ultimate
leader of Germany. A
plebiscite was held and
the Germans voted in
favor of having Hitler as
Fuhrer. Hitler had
obtained absolute
power, and Germany
became known as the
Third Reich
 Step 5: It was by using fear that Hitler had stopped
Terrorize freedom of speech and expression – everyone had
the to obey Nazi policy, or face the consequences!
population
 HITLER REICHSTAG
BECOMES FIRE ENABLING
CHANCELLOR (Communists ACT
(Power split blamed, street (Only Nazi
three ways) fights, chaos) party allowed,
censorship,
Reichstag
How Did Hitler powerless)
Become a Dictator?

DEATH OF NIGHT OF THE

TERRORIZE PRESIDENT LONG KNIVES
POPULATION HINDENBURG (Hitler purges
(subdue people) (All opposition Brownshirts - army
gone) now supports him)
 Hitler’s economic priorities

 1. Drag Germany out of the world

recession
 2. Solve unemployment
 3. Make Germany an “autarchy” – self
sufficient
 4. Get rid of Jewish industrialists and give
their businesses to “Aryans”
 4 Transform the economy to focus on
rearmament and war

Weimar and Nazi Germany 05/12/2024

14
Mass rallies staged to generate enthusiasm for Nazi goals
Nazi Anti-Semitism
 Hatred of Jews a key part of Nazi
ideology.

 Jews made up less than 1 percent

of Germany’s population, but
were made scapegoats for all of
Germany’s problems.

 Nazis passed laws (the Nuremberg Laws)

stripping Jews of their rights and eventually,
their German citizenship.
Road to War: Nazi Foreign Policy
 Aims and strategies of Hitler’s
foreign policy
 Germany was to be restored to its rightful position as a major
European power and undue the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler intended to achieve this by:
 recovering all lost territory, including the Polish Corridor (1939)
and the Saar coalfields (1935)
 developing the German army, navy and air force (1935)
 Forming a union (Anschluss) between Germany and Austria (1938)
 reuniting all German-speaking people under the government of
Germany. (1939)
 Expansion to make room for the German People (Lebensraum)
(1938-)
 Fooling the World
The period from 1934 to 1938 witnessed almost unqualified success for
Hitler’s foreign policy, despite the fact that his actions were frequently in
open defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. By his own admission, they were
also gambles with potentially serious consequences; he had no way of
accurately gauging what the reaction of other countries might be.
Little
by little, Hitler wore away the restraints that the treaty had imposed
upon Germany. He achieved this by convincing the major European nations,
particularly Britain, that his motives were entirely honourable, justifiable
and peaceful, while at the same time isolating countries that were the
targets of his desire for the expansion of German power. Whether Hitler
was following a meticulously devised plan of action towards war, or simply
improvising as opportunities presented themselves, has become an issue of
debate amongst historians.
Hitler's foreign policy strategy can be seen as attempts to Fool, Victimize,
 British and French view on Hitler
 French Views: The French consistently tried to keep Germany
weak, especially in terms of rearmament, as a safeguard
against any future German attack on France.
 British views: However, the British felt that Hitler’s request of
rearming to the same level as other was not
unreasonable. After all, Germany had complied with the
military restrictions imposed upon it by the Treaty of
Versailles. None of the other major European powers had
reduced their military capabilities in line with the
commitments they had made at the Paris peace talks. From
Britain’s perspective, Hitler was a peace-loving leader seeking
no more than just treatment for his country.
The World Disarmament Conference
1932–33
All
of Europe’s leading powers had committed themselves to
arms reduction both in the Treaty of Versailles and by the
Covenant of the League of Nations. With the exception of
Germany, no country had honoured its commitment.
The World Disarmament Conference, held in Geneva during
1932 and 1933 was intended to address this issue, in the hope of
avoiding the type of arms race that had characterised the build-
up to the First World War. Despite lengthy discussions, however,
none of the major European powers was prepared to reduce its
military capabilities, and the conference ended in disarray. For
most countries, national interests and security remained the
priority.
 Hitler Leaves League and World
Disarmament Conference

 German response: Nonetheless, France refused to

remove its objections to German rearmament, and
this allowed Hitler to find an excuse to withdraw
Germany from both the World Disarmament
Conference and the League of Nations in 1933,
blaming France for his actions.
 Effect: This had the effect of making the French seem
unreasonable, as well as causing a rift in relations
between France and Britain – both good outcomes
for Germany.
 Poland non aggression Treaty
 In January 1934, Hitler signed a ten-year
non-aggression treaty with Poland.
 This was intended to convince the Poles
that Germany had no plans to take back
the Polish Corridor, and to guarantee Polish
neutrality if Germany decided to take
action against Austria or Czechoslovakia.
 It had the added bonus of providing Britain
with further evidence of Germany’s
peaceful intentions.
 Rearmament---Wehrmacht
 Developing his armed forces was Hitler’s next objective. In March 1935,
he reintroduced conscription, claiming that this was in response to
increases in the British air force and the announcement that France was
to extend its conscription from 12 to 18 months.
 Hitler also declared his intention to increase the German army to a
strength of 600,000 men – six times higher than that permitted by the
Treaty of Versailles.
 Concerned about the possible implications of German rearmament,
Britain, France and Italy met at Stresa in northern Italy to discuss the
issue.
 The Stresa Front, as the resulting alliance became known, condemned
Germany’s actions. It reaffirmed the Locarno Treaties, pledged
continued support for Austrian independence and asserted its intention
to resist Germany’s attempts to increase its armaments.
 Despite all this, the Stresa Front took no practical action against Hitler.
 Rearmament---Naval
 Realising the weaknesses of the Stresa Front, Hitler set about
exploiting them. In June 1935, he signed the Anglo–German
Naval Agreement, agreeing to limit the German navy to 35% of
the strength of the British navy.
 While this guaranteed British naval supremacy, Britain was
effectively condoning a transgression of the Treaty of Versailles,
which limited the size of the German naval fleet.
 The fact that Britain signed this treaty without consulting either
France or Italy clearly demonstrated the fragility of the Stresa
Front alliance.
 With Britain’s opposition to German rearmament effectively
removed, Hitler continued to increase the size of his army,
ordered the building of new battleships and began the process of
developing a large and efficient air force.
 Hitler was symbolically tearing up the Treaty of Versailles – and
no one was stopping him.
 Remilitarization of Rhineland
 Hitler’s foreign policy thus far had been based on the assumption that
none of the other major European countries would take serious action
against him,
 In March 1936 Hitler decided to take another gamble. In defiance of
both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties, German
soldiers entered the demilitarised Rhineland (10 km West of Rhine
river)
 Hitler justified this by suggesting that he needed to secure his
borders from the FR USSR pact that was signed that year.
 Knowing that his army was not yet ready for a full-scale war, Hitler
issued strict orders that the troops should retreat if they met French
resistance.
 The French appealed to the League of nations citing that its security
was threatened. It requested collective action, but the
British vetoed arguing that it would not commit military forces. The
British position was negotation with Hitler, not war.
 Hitler claimed that he was merely righting the wrongs inflicted on
Germany by the Treaty of Versailles, and offered to sign a peace
treaty that would last for 25 years.
 Reasons for French lack of action
in the Rhineland
 France was in the middle of major economic
problems, facing bankruptcy, and the
deployment of its military would have cost the
French too much.
 France over-estimated the number of troops
and believed it would require the mobilzation
of all their troops, at a huge cost
 During an election year, the French
government was not to willing to to try to
justify this expenditure.
 France was very critical and did say it would
"place its forces at the disposal of the
Reasons for British lack of Resolve
in Rhineland
 Italian Diplomacy with Germany in
the 1930s
 Mussolini suggested an anti-French Italo-German alliance in 1932 before
Hitler assumes power. The German government responded favorably
albeit with the condition that Germany needed to rearm first.

 On 25 October 1936, Mussolini agreed to form a Rome-Berlin Axis, sanctioned by

a cooperation agreement with Nazi Germany and signed in Berlin.

 In 1936 he joined the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan and later in 1937 with Italy

 In March 1938, Hitler finally achieved Anschluss with Austria following

riots. As before, Britain and France protested but took no direct action.
The failure of efforts to stop Hitler, his alliance with Hitler, and as a
result of the events of the Abyssinian War obliged Italy to accept
a compromise with Germany over Austria

 The Axis agreement with Germany was strengthened by signing the

Pact of Steel on 22 May 1939, which bound together Fascist Italy and
Nazi Germany in a full military alliance, pledging mutual support in the
event of war. Italy was now committed to providing Hitler’s Germany
Germany in Spanish Civil War
 Hitler was motivated to support Franco's forces in the
Spanish Civil war. Franco's victory would ensure an
additional Fascist dictator in Europe and provide
naval stations for Germany.
 Hitler encouraged Italian involvement in Spain in an
effort to distract Mussolini from Germany’s own plans
to force a union with Austria. To prolong the
Spanish Civil War, Germany not only supplied Franco’s
nationalists with men and equipment, but Hitler also
allowed German firms to sell arms to
the republicans.
 German Numbers in Spain
 On 27th July, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent the the Nationalists 26
German fighter aircraft. He also sent 30 Junkers 52s from
Berlin and Stuttgart to Morocco. Over the next couple of weeks
the aircraft transported over 15,000 troops to Spain.
 Hitler soon gave permission for the formation of the Condor
Legion. The initial force consisted a Bomber Group of three
squadrons of Ju-52 bombers; a Fighter Group, a
Reconnaissance Group , reconnaissance bombers; and a
Seaplane Squadrons. The Condor Legion, was an autonomous
unit responsible only to Franco. The legion would eventually
total nearly 12,000 men.
 Adolf Hitler also sent four tank companies (about 600 tanks)
under the command of Colonel Wilhelm von Thoma. He was
also in charge of all German ground troops in Spain. They were
used to train Franco's tank force and to get battle experience
themselves."
 A total of 19,000 Germans served in the Spanish Civil War. Of
 Anschluss
 That Hitler fully intended to force a union between Germany
and Austria became clear in July 1934. With encouragement
from the Führer, Austrian Nazis staged a revolt and murdered
the Austrian chancellor, Engelbert Dollfuss.
 Hitler’s troops were ready to enter Austria on the pretext of
restoring order, but in the event they were forced to back
down when Mussolini sent Italian regiments to the Austrian
border. This unexpected setback highlighted the fact that
Germany did not yet possess the military strength to risk a
war against Italy, and Hitler had no alternative but to deny
any involvement in the actions taken by the Austrian Nazis.
 March 1938, Hitler finally achieved Anschluss with Austria in
clear defiance of the Treaty of Versailles. Following riots and
demonstrations organised by Austrian Nazis, which the
government of Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg was powerless
to control, German troops moved in and declared Austria
 British and French reaction to
Anschluss

 France was in no position to challenge

Germany since it faced severe economic
issues. Although there were some in the
British government such as Churchill who
wanted strong action against Germany,
Chamberlain had the support of British public
opinion and so did nothing.
 Both countries voiced their displeasure As
before, Britain and France protested but took
no direct action. Mussolini’s Italy, now
a German ally, also did nothing.
 The League of Nations used appeasement
to avoid war with Germany, Italy, and Japan
Mussolini Hitler Chamberlain

At the Munich Conference, 1938

 Demands on Czechoslovakia
 Having effectively isolated potential opposition from
Europe’s other major powers, and convinced that they would
take no action against him, Hitler now set about bringing
more German-speaking people into the Third Reich.
 There were around 3.5 million such people living in the
Sudeten area of Czechoslovakia.
 Under their leader, Konrad Henlein, they claimed that they
were being discriminated against by the Czech government.
 Riots and demonstrations broke out, many of them
orchestrated by the Nazis. Edvard Beneš, the Czech
president, believed that Hitler was deliberately stirring up
trouble in order to justify an invasion of Czechoslovakia in
the guise of restoring order.
 International Reaction to the
Sudetenland crises
 Hitler’s instinct that Britain and France would do nothing to hinder
his designs on Czechoslovakia proved correct.
 The British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, and his French
counterpart Édouard Daladier, desperately followed a policy of
appeasement with Germany.
 They put pressure on the Czech government to make concessions
to Hitler. Chamberlain believed that Germany’s claim to the
Sudetenland was reasonable – another error of the Treaty of
Versailles that needed correcting.
 The Czechs were naturally reluctant to hand over a part of their
country that was so vital to its industrial infrastructure. If
Chamberlain genuinely believed that Hitler’s plans for
Czechoslovakia would end with the acquisition of the Sudetenland,
he was wrong. Hitler had already informed his generals that ‘it is
my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia by military
action in the near future’.
 Munich Conference
Asthe prospect of war increased, a four-power conference was held in
Munich on 29 September 1938. Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and
Daladier discussed the best way of resolving the problem of Czechoslovakia.
It
was agreed that Germany should take immediate possession of the
Sudetenland.
The Czech government was not invited to the meeting – it was simply
informed that if it refused to abide by the decisions reached at Munich it
could expect no assistance from either Britain or France.
With resistance hopeless, the Czech government agreed.
Ata private meeting on 30 September, Chamberlain and Hitler signed a
document renouncing warlike intentions and agreeing to deal with any
future issues by negotiation.
 Munich Agreement Public reaction

Chamberlain used the huge press coverage of his return to Britain as an

opportunity to demonstrate how successful he had been in gaining an
understanding with Hitler. Holding up the signed piece of paper, he explained ‘I
believe it is peace for our time’.
The British public was relieved that the threat of war had been averted, but many
were not convinced that Hitler could be trusted to keep his promises. One of
these was the politician Winston Churchill, who described the Munich meeting as
‘a total and unmitigated defeat’. He heavily criticized his own party and
Chamberlain for the treaty in October 1938.
Daladier was less convinced than Chamberlain. He understood that Germany's
success in gaining the Sudentenland would lead to further territorial
demands, give Germany more capacity, and undermine the league. Yet, the
French people applauded him for avoiding war.
Internationally, both men were applauded for perserving peace
USSR reaction
to Munich
Assessment of Munich
 Appeasement
 In five years under Hitler’s leadership, Germany had totally
overturned the Treaty of Versailles.
 It had regained territory in the Saar and the Rhineland,
taken possession of Austria and developed large, well-
equipped armed forces with experience of modern warfare.
German pride and prestige had been restored, and the
country had unquestionably regained its status as one of
the world’s most powerful nations. Moreover, while Hitler’s
actions had caused increasing alarm across Europe and
protests by various countries, no one had taken definitive
action to stop him.
 This refusal to make any serious move against Hitler’s
foreign policy is known as appeasement. In hindsight, it
seems incredible that he was permitted to so blatantly and
constantly disregard the Treaty of Versailles.
 Hitler stirs up trouble in Czech
border
It
quickly became apparent that Hitler had no intention of
honouring the agreements made at Munich.
Havingincited riots by encouraging Slovakia to seek
independence from the Czech government in Prague, Hitler
warned that Germany might have to take action to preserve
law and order. The new Czech president, Emil Hacha, was
summoned to Berlin and informed that Prague would be
bombed if he did not allow the German occupation of what
remained of Czechoslovakia. Hacha had little choice but to
submit and ‘invite’ the Germans to restore order in
Czechoslovakia.
The failure of the League of Nations to stop Italy or
Japan, encouraged Hitler to expand Germany too
By 1936, Hitler had
expanded the German
military and moved
troops into the Rhineland
In 1938, Germany
annexed Austria and
the Sudetenland
In 1939, Hitler invaded
Czechoslovakia
 Hitler takes Czechoslovakia
On15 March 1939, German troops crossed the Czech border.
Once again, Britain and France took no action.
Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. A country that had been created
as part of the Paris peace settlement had survived for just 20
years. Hitler was now convinced that Britain and France would
never declare war on Germany. This time, however, his instincts
were wrong. Whereas his earlier actions could be justified by the
claim that he was redressing the unfair terms of the Treaty of
Versailles, his acquisition of Czechoslovakia was different. He had
seized territory over which Germany had no justifiable right and
broken the promises he had made at Munich. No longer could
Hitler claim that he had only peaceful intentions.
 British Guarantee to Poland
 After events in Czechoslovakia it was clear that Poland
would be next. After all, there were a number of Germans
in Poland and the polish corridor had been a continuing
issue.
 Chamberlain's government reversed its policy having
done nothing in Cech situation and now gave a guarentee
of British support in the event of a German attack.
 Britain lacked the means to honor this agreement and
many felt that it would lead to British involvement in a
major war and would be fruitless, since it was seen as
was impossible for the British to win.
 Yet Chamberlain had intended this action to deter Hitler.
Chamberlain knew that many of Hitler's generals were
keen on adopting a more diplomatic approach and did
not want a major war.
 British Re-armament
 Faced with the prospects of another war, Chamberlain came on the
airways expressing that war was likely and that the British value
freedom above peace.
 In the years leading to this assessment, the British changed their
policy of military cutbacks started as early as the end of the Great war,
what was known as the 10-year rule.
 As international tension increased with the Japanese invasion
of Manchuria, the British government appointed a sub-committee
to investigate. War now seemed likely and the threat would be with
Japan and Germany.
 As a result military expenditures increased, especially after 1936.
Although appeasement would be the main policy, the British began the
process of adopting new capabilities in radar stations, anti aircraft
guns, newer planes, battleships and aircraft carriers --- less attention
was given to the army.
 After Hitler's demands in the Sudentland, The British sent an
expeditionary force to France (BEF).
 In 1939, the British passed the Military Training act, requiring all
fit men from 20-21, 6 months of military training.
 Demands on Poland
Despite the warnings of his army generals, Hitler remained convinced
that he could continue his aggressive foreign policy without other major
European powers intervening. He argued that it would be impossible to
maintain the German economy ‘without invading other countries or
attacking other people’s possessions’.
Hitlernow turned his attention to Poland. In April 1939, he insisted on
the return of Danzig and German access across the Polish Corridor. In
some ways these were understandable demands. Danzig’s population
was largely German-speaking, while the Polish Corridor had split East
Prussia from the rest of Germany.
Considering recent events in Czechoslovakia, the Poles were naturally
concerned that Hitler’s demands were the first step towards a full
invasion of Poland. Moreover, such moves were in defiance of the non-
aggression treaty that Germany had signed with Poland in 1934.
 Attempt to forge an Anglo Franco
Russian Polish Alliance
 After Hitler's demands on Poland, the
British entered into negotiations with the
French and the USSR with the aim of
defending Poland in case of a German
attack.
 Such an alliance would deter Hitler since it
would allow for a two-front war.
 Negotiations broke down since Poland was
unwilling to allow Soviet troops on Polish
soil and due to Western distrust of
Communism
 Soviet Reasons for The Nazi– Soviet
Pact
Believingthat Britain and France would do nothing to defend Poland from a
German attack, the main obstacle to Hitler’s plans was the USSR. Much of
Poland had belonged to pre-revolutionary Russia, and Stalin might well resist
any German attempt to take possession of it. Indeed, Stalin had long been
convinced that Hitler’s ultimate intention was to attack the USSR, and an
invasion of Poland could be seen as preparation for this.
Inan attempt to ensure the security of the USSR against a resurgent
Germany, Stalin had consistently tried to secure agreements with Britain and
France. Such attempts failed. Stalin sought a treaty with Germany for these
reasons: 1. due to the Western democracies’ fear of communism. 2. Polish
suspicions of Soviet intention. 3. British and French appeasement. 4. The
threat of an Eastern Japanese attack was imminent especially after Japanese
aggression in China. A two front war was possible and Stalin wanted a
western assurance. 5. A way of buying time (see below) 6. attrition of major
powers (see below)
 The Nazi– Soviet Pact
Justas Stalin feared and hated Germany’s fascist government,
so Hitler had spent his entire political career denouncing
communism.
Yet,
to the astonishment of the rest of Europe, Germany and the
USSR signed a treaty of friendship and non-aggression on 24
August 1939. The Nazi– Soviet Pact (also known as the Molotov–
Ribbentrop Pact ) was outwardly a treaty of non-agression and
eending trade.
A secret part of the agreement contained a promise of Stalin’s
non-intervention in Germany’s invasion of Poland, Hitler
promised that the USSR would receive eastern parts of Poland,
Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
Hitler's reasons for the Pact
 True intentions behind the Nazi-
Soviet Pact
 It is unlikely that Hitler intended to honour this promise, and
Stalin was fully aware of this. However, the Soviet leader
needed time to build up his armed forces in preparation for
war against Germany, and the pact bought him that time.
Besides, if Britain, France and Germany became embroiled in a
long war, this might be to the USSR’s advantage.
 Stalin informed one of his senior officials: ‘Of course, it’s all a
game to see who can fool whom. I know what Hitler’s up to.
He thinks he’s outsmarted me, but actually it’s I who have
tricked him.’
 The rest of Europe understood that this was a treaty of
convenience between two dictators who neither liked not
trusted each other.
 Events leading to the Invasion of
Poland
 With Soviet neutrality now assured, there seemed to be nothing
stopping Hitler from carrying out his planned invasion of Poland.
Although Britain had guaranteed support for Poland, Hitler
remained convinced that this was a bluff. Despite the uring of his
generals, he remained convinced that Chamberlain and
Daladier were weak and would seek some compromise.
Moreover, he felt that German Blitzkrieg in Poland will be so
rapid that the British and French would not have time to react.
 On Augsut 31 1939, Nazi soldiers wearing Polish
uniforms staged an attack on a German radio station, hoping to
fool the world that the Polish began the conflict.
 On 1 September 1939, German troops crossed the border into Poland.
 In 1939, Hitler demanded the return of
Poland
to Germany
Stalin and Hitlerbut wanted to avoid a war with
agreed
to the Nazi-Soviet the USSR
Nonaggression Pact,
promising to divide
Poland and to never
to attack each other
On September 1, 1939,
Germany invaded
Poland
On September 3, 1939,
Britain and France
declared war on the
Axis Powers (Germany,
Italy, and Japan) and
World War II began
 When World War II began,
German blitzkrieg tactics led to the
conquest of Poland, Denmark, Norway,
Netherlands, Belgium, France, the Balkans
…the Axis Powers seized North Africa
Sitzkrieg
 At 8am the same day, the Polish requested assistance from
Britain and France, yet received no support. Later that night
the British issues an ultimatum to withdrawl troops or Britain
would declare war.
 To Hitler’s surprise, at 11 a.m. on 3 September, Britain
declared war on Germany. France followed shortly afterwards.
The Second World War had begun.
 Britian passed the National Service act, making all men 18-
41 liable for conscription
 Having negotiated a ceasefire with Japan, Soviet troops
entered Eastern Poland.
Assessment of the 1930's
Causes
of World
War 2
Why did the League fail to keep the
peace? Failure of disarmament
 All signers to the League had committed themselves
to arms reduction, but with the exception of Germany
none had kept its word.
 The World Disarmament Conference was intended to
rectify this. But the Conference was undermined by
three issues:
o The Great Depression. During this crises many countries
wanted to retain their arms
o Japanese takeover of Manchuria. If Japan could simply
ignore the League's orders to withdrawal, then countries felt
that they needed their arms
o Hitler's rise to power and his willigness to increase German
Power. Many countries felt threatened and need arms in
protection.
Why did the League fail to keep the peace?
Lack of Commitment USA, ITALY, GERMANY,
JAPAN
 For the League to be effective it needed the commitment of
the most powerful countries to enforce the League's
decision. But, many powers did not join or left the league.
The main two BR and FR had their own national interests
and concerns that often worked against the league's aim.
 USA never joined
 ITALY. Mussolini, as an opportunist, was never committed
although it appeared as that for awhile. Italy leaves in 1937
 GERMANY. By the time Hitler assumes power, the dictator
was actively attempting to undermine the league and
withdrew in 1933.
 JAPAN. Although committed in the mid-920s to the
league, Japan's descent to a military government caused an
expansionist policy that led its withdrawal in 1933
Why did League fail to keep peace?
Lack of Commitment USSR, FR, BR
 USSR. The league was always viewed with deep
suspicious by the Soviets who did not attend the
Paris Peace Conference. It appeared that the
purpose of the League was to maintain USSR
isolation. But afte the rise
of fascism, circumstances changed by 1934
as Germany and Japan left and the USSR joined.
Yet, they were never fully committed and deeply
distrusted League's aims
 BR and FR by the 1930's were left alone and their
commitment to the League had faded, choosing
to engage more in secret diplomacy and politics
to achieve objetives that supported national
interests. Especialy during the Great Depression
Why did the League fail to keep the
peace? Manchuria 1931
 After Japan's invasion, China appealed to
the League which ordered Japan to
withdraw. A commission made up of USA,
BR, FR, ITY, GER investigated and drew up
a report – the Lytton report.
 The report indicated that Manchuria
should be returned. The League voted in
favor of accepting the report but took no
action.
 BR and FR were in no position to impose
economic sanctions at the height of the
Great Depression. No one was prepared
 Why did the League fail to keep the
peace? Abyssinia 1935
 Similar events occurred, when Italy attacked a League member,
Abyssinia who appealed for the League for help.
 The league condemned the action and recommended what members
would do to force Italy to withdraw.
 But there was no effective strategy because of the national interest of BR
and FR
o Italy was a vital ally versus Germany, (Stresa, No Anchluss)
o Mussolini threatened war vs nations that imposed sanctions
o BR and Fr would not risk war for a faraway African nation
 BR and FR faced a dilemma; do nothing and risk the credibility of the
league and future peace or act and risk losing a vital ally.
 They resolved this through secret diplomacy. Outwardly they encouraged
the League t0 impose sanctions. These sanctions were limited in nature
however. Secretly, they were meeting with Italy to discuss ways to
resolve conflict. The outcome was a proposal (Hoare-Laval Pact) which
would have divided Abyssinia in such a way giving Italy effective control
of Abyssinia
 When the public learned of the resolution, the outcry against it was
immediate. Many still felt supportive of the league. BR and FR were
Why did the League fail to keep the
peace? Spain and China
 Spain 1936
o In 1936 the Spanish Republican government appealed to the
League. Yet members in the league were not prepared to
intervene in an internal matter.
o The League did establish the non-intervention committee that
aimed to prevent foreign involvement which included 27 nations.
o Outwardly, it seemed that the League was correct since it was an
internal matter. But when it became clear of GER and ITY support
for the nationalists, the League refused to get involved, citing that
there was no evidence of foreign intervention – an obvious lie
 China 1937
o League again did nothing when Japan again attacked China in
1937. League condemned the attack but did nothing. why? 1.
The Great Depression 2. BR and FR did not want to risk war. GER
and JAP had formed an alliance in 1936
 Did Hitler Want War?
 Historians who argue in support state that
o Long term aim of the Nazi was the conquest of Rusia and the acquisition
of Poland – evidence comes from Mein Kanpf
o Germany's popluation was too large and needed Lebensraum
o German Third Reich was by nature expansionist
o Hitler needed another war to remove the stigma of the embarassing
defeat of WWI.
 Historians who disagree state that
o Hitler was an opportunist and his foreign policy was based on a step by step
approach
o Hitler was acting on the assumption of allied appeasement
o Evidence can be seen when he gave orders of troops marching to Rhineland to
withdrawal if allied forces intervene, and in the 1st Anschluss attempt in 1934
o Lebensraum was propganda
 Others say that Hitler did not want war with Britain and France
because his main concerns where with Stalin and Russia
Causes of BR and FR policy of
appeasement: Part 1
 Public Opinion in BR and Fr was against
involvement in another war
 Great Depression made preparations for War
difficult
o Invasion of Macnhuria 1931. BR and FR and trade with
Japan and did not want to lose them by imposing
economic sanctions
 National interest over League aims
o After the invasion of Ethiopia 1935, BR and FR did not
want to impose severe sanctions fearing losing a
potential aly against Germany.
 Reasonable demands
o Many of Hitler's requests were seen as reasonable
giventhe harshness of the Treaty of Versailles
Causes of BR and FR policy of
appeasement: Part 2
 The British and French military
trategy was based on self-defense.
o This is seen best with the French Maginot
line – a series of defenses bordering
Germany.
o British policy was based on the 10 percent
Rule, the belief that Britain would not enter
war for another 10 years.
o Providing miltary assistance to China and
Ethiopia was not possible
 Communism was a Bigger Threat
 Commintern was still a threat
 Although diplomatic relations were
restored in 1924 with USSR, the Br and
FR remained cautious, convinced that
Stalin was bent on conquest of Poland
 The USSR showed little interest in
forging relations. Stalin remained
critical of imperialism in the early 1930s
 But by 1934, relations began to ease.
 USSR relations improve
 In 1933 USA recognizes USSR seeing
Japan as a bigger threat
 In 1935 France and USSr signed a Treaty
of Mutual Assistance, agreeing to support
each other if attacked
 In 1935, France encouraged the League
to have USSr as a permament member
 After Anti-Comintern, the USSr has more
reasons to forge closer ties with the
West, albeit only for convenience
A divided Britain and France
 Hitler, skillfully played BR against FR,
e.g. the World disarmament
conference, the Anglo-German naval
agreement, and Rhineland
 British businessmen had an interest
in the regrowth of the German
economy. This flew in the face of the
French, who wished to keep Germany
weak
In 1941, Hitler broke the Nazi-Soviet Pact
and invaded the Soviet Union
 By 1941, Germany and
Italy controlled most of
Europe and North Africa

Meanwhile, Japan conquered new territories in

Asia and threatened Guam and the Philippines