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The Road to War
In what
ways Hitler
brought
about war.
When
Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany in January 1933, he exploited
the anger that Germans felt as a result of their treatment in the Treaty
of Versailles. He also played on their feelings of despair brought on
by the effects of the Depression to build up support for his foreign
policy. Hitler set out to destroy the Treaty of Versailles and challenge
the other countries of Europe:
In 1935 he began
Rearmament. He introduced conscription and began to build up the Luftwaffe
and the German Navy - these had all been banned by the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1936 Hitler reoccupied
the Rhineland, which had been demilitarised in 1919. This meant that
he was able to station forces on the French border.
In 1936 Hitler sent
forces (known as the "Condor Legion") to Spain to support
General Franco in the Spanish Civil War. This was an attempt to try
out the tactics of "Blitzkrieg".
In 1938 in March
he carried out the Anschluss. the Nazis stirred up trouble in Austria,
which Hitler then used as an excuse to invade. the Austrian Chancellor
Schuschnigg could do nothing about it.
On 12th September
1938 Hitler demanded self-government for the Sudeten Germans. these
were German speakers who lived in the state of Czechoslovakia, which
had been set up in 1919. the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain
flew to meet Hitler at Berchtesgaden on 15th September and agreed to
Hitler's demands. He then returned to London and persuaded the French
Government to agree as well. the Czechs were subsequently told to accept
Hitler's demands.
But
when Chamberlain returned to meet Hitler for a second time at Bad Godesberg
on 22nd March, he was presented with new demands. Hitler insisted
that the Sudetenland should be handed over to Germany and other territory
given to Poland and Hungary. Chamberlain was totally dismayed and returned
to London expecting that war would break out soon. He immediately set
up action plans to evacuate children and prepare air-raid shelters.
On 28th September 1938, Mussolini (the Italian dictator), suggested
a Four-Power Conference to settle the matter. the four powers would
be Germany, Britain, Italy and France. the leaders met in Munich on
29th September and signed the Munich Agreement. Hitler got everything
that he wanted. the following morning Hitler and Chamberlain signed
the "scrap of paper" by which they promised never to go to
war again. That afternoon Chamberlain returned in triumph to London.
In March 1939 Hitler tore up the Munich Agreement and occupied all of
Western Czechoslovakia. This became part of Germany. It was now obvious
that Hitler was only going to be stopped by force.
In April 1939, Britain signed agreements with Poland and Romania and
promised to defend them if they were attacked. In June, conscription
was introduced in Britain for the first time ever in peacetime. Hitler
took no notice and instead signed the Nazi-Soviet
Pact on 23rd August. On the face of it this was defensive alliance,
but it also contained secret clauses. the USSR would not intervene if
the Germans attacked Poland and would allow them a free hand in Western
Europe. In return the Soviet Union would be allowed to invade the Baltic
States and Finland; these had only become independent in 1919.
On 1st September 1939 Hitler invaded
Poland. the British Government issued an ultimatum asking the German
forces to leave by 11 am on 3rd September. This was ignored and Britain
immediately declared war on Germany. Hitler was apparently taken by
surprise. He had not expected Britain to react in this way. He did not
understand that once the British government had made a promise, it was
bound to keep it.
Why was
so little done to stop Hitler's aggression.
One major cause was
the collapse of the League of Nations, which many people and countries
hoped would help prevent a second war. Three of the five permanent Council
Members left the League in the 1930s; Japan and Germany in 1933 and
Italy in 1937. This left only Britain and France. In both countries
many politicians and voters went on believing that the League could
settle disputes until the late 1930s.
Britain and France
did not co-operate. In 1936 when Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, neither
Britain nor France was ready to act without the other. In fact it would
have been relatively easy to stop Hitler as he only had 30,000 trained
soldiers and his commanders carried sealed orders to retreat if they
were opposed. Hitler later said that the forty-eight hours after the
march into the Rhineland were the most nerve-racking of his life.
Both the British
and French Governments adopted the policy of Appeasement. This came
about as:
- Many
people were horrified at the prospect of a second war and did not
believe that Hitler was planning one.
- Hitler
was also respected for his success in tackling the effects of the
Depression and cutting unemployment.
- Some
politicians also saw Hitler as an alternative to Communism. they believed
that he would prevent Stalin increasing his influence in Western Europe.
- It
was believed that if Hitler's demands were met, he would be satisfied
and wouldn't make any more. Hitler continually stated that he had
no further demands to make, but each time broke his word.
Neville Chamberlain
believed in "Appeasement from Strength", but at the same
time he was horrified at the prospect of a second war; he had lost
a son during the Great War. It is very difficult to work out what
exactly he was trying to achieve at Munich. He seems to have believed
beforehand that if he met Hitler face to face all would be well. there
are, however, two possible explanations of his actions:
- He
believed that Hitler would keep his promise and that the sacrifice
of Czechoslovakia was worthwhile.
- He
was playing for time and sacrificed Czechoslovakia to put war off
for as long as possible.
At
the time the press greeted Chamberlain as a hero and a great peacemaker;
since then his reputation has suffered.
Why the war became worldwide.
War was also made more likely by the emergence of other dictators in
Europe and around the world such as Mussolini in Italy and Tojo in Japan.
the power of these dictators depended upon military success and their
combination with Hitler, the Axis, made war very difficult to avoid.
In a democracy war is less likely to occur, as the decision will not
depend on one person.
Japan was ruled by a military dictatorship, politicians had little influence,
the army wanted to build an empire in the Pacific. Japan had a growing
population and very little inhabitable land - only 15% of Japanese land
could be lived on. In 1931, despite criticism from the League of Nations
Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria. This showed the rest of the world
that the League of Nations was incapable of controlling the actions
of major countries.
Exactly the same thing happened in 1935 when Italy invaded Abyssinia.
On this occasion the League did order economic sanctions, which meant
that member countries could not trade with Italy, but oil was left off
the list. This was the one sanction that would have forced Italy to
withdraw. Italy resigned from the League of Nations in 1937.
To find out more about why Italy invaded Abyssinia,
look at the article on Mussolini.
In 1937 Japan attacked Shanghai. This was the first
action of the Second World War, although most books use the date 1939.
Japan soon occupied the coastline and most of the main cities in China.
As a result of these aggressive Japanese actions America stopped supplying
Japan with oil which infuriated the Japanese as they were reliant on
these imports - having only a limited supply of oil and raw materials
themselves. Japan retaliated by attacking America without warning, trying
to catch them off-guard. they had convinced themselves that such actions
were inevitable if they wanted to control the Pacific.
On 7th December 1941 Japanese forces launched a surprise attack upon
the US naval base of Pearl Harbor on Hawaii. the US forces were caught
completely by surprise, even though they had intercepted radio messages
warning them of the attack. 3,400 Americans were killed, eight battleships
were destroyed and about three hundred aircraft, but the main target
of the attack, the three American aircraft carriers escaped; they were
at sea undergoing trials. the USA immediately declared war upon Japan
and Germany.
SUMMARY
the
Second World War in Europe began on 1st September 1939, when Germany
invaded Poland. No one could have predicted the scale and length or
this war. Europe had underestimated Hitler and his ambitions.
Answer!
1.In what ways did Hitler bring about war?
2.Why was so little done to stop Hitler's aggression?
3.Why did the war become worldwide?
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