1. The Road to WWII
Appeasement

2. Hitler’s Goals Overturn the Versailles settlement
Create a new European order around race
Wanted to regain lands lost at Versailles
Wanted to subdue France and bring Britain to friendly terms
Wanted to conquer Slavic Europe
Wished to eliminate cultural destroyers

3. Appeasement
To avoid another war, the western democracies engaged in appeasement
Driven by several concerns:
Lack of preparation for war
A fear of Soviet communism
General feeling that the horrors of WWI should not be repeated

4. Chronology
1931- Japan invaded Manchuria. The League of Nations protests and Japan withdraws for the League
1933 – Hitler withdraws Germany for the League of Nations and the Geneva disarmament conference
1934 – an attempted Nazi overthrow of the Austria government fails

5. 1935 Hitler repudiates the Versailles provisions to demilitarize
Great Britain allows Hitler to build up his navy
Mussolini invaded Ethiopia
Britain and France put half hearted economic and military sanctions on Italy

6. 1936 Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland
General Francisco Franco aided by Fascists attempts to overthrow the Spanish Republic
Spanish Civil War begins
Became a “warm up” for WWII
Hitler and Mussolini sign the Rome-Berlin Axis
Sign the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan

7. 1937 – Hitler outlines his plans for the absorption of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland into the German Reich
Japan launches and all out invasion of China

8. 1938
Hitler marches into Austria, directly incorporating it into the German Reich (Anschluss)
Hitler demands the incorporation of 3 million Germans in the Czech Sudentenland
Munich Conference is held between France, Britain, Germany and Italy

9. 1939
Hitler marches into the Czech portion of Czechoslovakia, creating a protectorate
Mussolini moves into Albania
Shift in public opinion about appeasement
France and Great Britain are unable to win over the Soviet Union into an alliance

10. Hitler and Stalin sign the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Hitler wants to invade the Polish Corridor
Secret protocol divides Poland, the Baltic States and Finland between Germany and the USSR