*Chapter Five: The Road to War The underlying and immediate causes of the war in Europe

1. Long term cause: the Treaty of Versailles The humiliating terms of the Versailles Treaty left many Germans bitter The Versailles Treaty created smaller countries on the eastern borders of Germany – Poland, Czechoslovakia – which were too weak to defend themselves from a united and resurgent Germany

2. The Great Depression. Its effect on Germany

Great Depression: Its effect on Britain and France The British and French governments became too weak to deal with international problems. They were unwilling to use collective action to check the expansion of Japan, Italy and Germany

Great Depression: Its effect on US Foreign Policy Neutrality Acts of the 1930s: US cannot supply war materials to any country at war.

The Weakness of the League of Nations Great Depression b. No collective army c. US not a member of the League d. Useless economic sanctions

The Abysinnian crisis: Italy’s invasion of Abysinnia

Ethiopian emperor Haile Salessie

Abysinnian Crisis: The Hoare Laval Pact Give Mussolini what he wants in exchange for Italy’s support against German territorial expansion.

4. Hitler’s Aggressive Foreign Policy: Rearmament Conscription – 600,000 men Navy + Air Force + Armored Panzers (tanks)

Occupation of the Rhineland (former Demilitarized zone) in March 1936

New Deal with other expansionist countries – Italy and Japan November 1936: Rome-Berlin Axis Non-aggression Pact November 1936: Anti-Comintern Pact (Germany and Japan) November 1937: Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact

Spanish Civil War 1936 - 1939 Germany supports General Franco and the Spanish Loyalists and assists militarily in the Spanish Civil War. A fascist dictatorship is set up

Anschluss (Union) with Austria Seyss-Inquart, a pro-Nazi Austrian Chancellor, takes power after Germany threatens to invade Austria.

The Sudetenland Crisis

The Munich Agreement: Appeasement policy

The annexation of Czechoslovakia

Immediate Cause: The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression pact (Ribbentrop, German ambassador), Stalin, Molotiv)

The Invasion of Poland