1. Chapter 6
War In Europe

2. Focuses Why did WWII break out in Europe in 1939?
Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s
Economic Problems of the 1930s
Policy of Appeasement (Allied Powers)
What were the immediate causes of WWII in Europe?
Britain Ended the Policy of Appeasement
The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
Hitler’s Invasion of Poland

3. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Hitler’s foreign policy aims:
To get rid of the Treaty of Versailles
To make Germany strong again
To get more land for Germany
To create ‘Greater Germany’
To create lebensraum (living space)
To fight Communism

4. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
To get rid of the Treaty of Versailles
Terms of the TOV were harsh and humiliating to Germany
Kept Germany politically, militarily and economically weak
Wanted to get rid of the TOV to make Germany strong again and to restore German pride

5. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
To get more land for Germany
Wanted to take back all the land lost in the TOV
Wanted to take away the surrounding territories with German-speaking populations
Wanted to unite all the German-speaking people under ‘Greater Germany’

6. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
To get more land for Germany
Germany would need more living space (lebensraum) for its growing population
Living space = lands east of Germany

8. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
To fight Communism
Wanted to conquer Russia
to get living space for the Germans
to destroy Communism

9. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
2. Hitler’s actions:
Rearmament
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
Anschluss

10. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Rearmament
1932 Disarmament Conference
Hitler demanded the right to build up Germany’s army but was rejected
Others countries also refused to disarm
Germany withdrew from the Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations
Increased the size of the army and weaponry
Reintroduced military conscription
But no action was taken against Germany

11. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
Placed German troops in the demilitarised zone of Rhineland
But no action was taken against the German troops by France and Britain

12. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Anschluss
Hitler wanted a political union (Anschluss) between Germany and Austria
Threatened to invade Austria if the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg did not agree to Anschluss
Schuschnigg planned a secret referendum to get the people to vote for independence
In response, Hitler sent his troops to the Austrian border and ordered him to resign
Anschluss was achieved but no action was taken against Germany

13. Hitler’s Expansionist Foreign Policy
Hitler’s foreign policy aims and his actions broke the terms of TOV  but no actions taken against Germany by LON  peace in Europe threatened

14. Failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s
Not all countries were members
No army of its own
The most prominent:
USA
Russia
Inherent
Weaknesses
Had to rely on the armies of
member countries
- Threat of economic
sanctions not effective
Failure of the League of Nations in the 1930s
Events in the 1930s
Failure of Disarmament
Manchuria Crisis, 1931
Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
Germany withdrew
from LON in 1933
Japan withdrew from LON in 1933
Italy withdrew from LON in 1937
These factors / events contributed to the failure
of the LON to maintain peace in the 1930s.

15. Failure of the League of Nations
Background
Who were the members of the LON?
Britain
France
Italy
Japan
China
Germany
What was the duty of the LON?

16. Failure of the League of Nations
Reasons for LON’s failure in the 1930s
Inherent weaknesses
Failed to deal with aggressors
The Manchuria Crisis, 1931 (Chapter 7)
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
Failed to get countries to disarm

17. Failure of the League of Nations
Inherent Weaknesses
Absence of the USA as a member
Members put their own interests first over collective security
No army of its own
Inability to stop acts of aggression by major powers
Failure to treat all its members with equal respect

19. Failure of the League of Nations
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935

20. Failure of the League of Nations
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy, invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
Revenge for a previous defeat
Natural resources
Emperor of Abyssinia, Haile Selassie, appealed to the LON for help

21. Failure of the League of Nations
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
LON’s response: imposed economic sanctions on Italy
But did not include coal, oil, iron and steel
Some LON members continued trading with Italy
Alternatively, Britain could prevent Italy from using the Suez Canal to ship supplies to Abyssinia
But did not do so to avoid a war with Italy

23. Failure of the League of Nations
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
Solution: the Hoare-Laval Plan
Britain and France secretly agreed to give Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia if he withdrew his troops

24. Failure of the League of Nations
The Abyssinia Crisis, 1935
But the Hoare-Laval Plan was abandoned due to public protest in Britain and France
Italy occupied Abyssinia in 1936 and left the LON in 1937
Significance: the crisis showed that the LON had failed to use collective security to protect countries from aggression by major powers

25. The source is a German cartoon from a magazine, 1936
The source is a German cartoon from a magazine, The warrior is delivering a message to the League of Nations: “I am sorry to disturb your sleep but I just wanted to tell you that you should no longer bother yourselves about this Abyssinian business. The matter has been settled elsewhere.”
Italy is portrayed as a tall and strong warrior.
How is the LON being portrayed? Why is it so?

26. Failure of the League of Nations
Failure of Disarmament
Disarmament Conference in Geneva, 1932
Germany was unhappy that only it had been disarmed and wanted other countries to disarm as well
Otherwise, Germany demanded the right to build up its military
Other countries refused to be ‘equal’ with Germany
Germany withdrew from the Conference and the LON in 1933
Rearmament programme was put in place

27. Failure of the League of Nations
Failure of Disarmament
The Anglo-German Naval Treaty, 1935
Germany allowed to increase its navy size up to 35% of the British Navy size
Germany allowed to have submarines
Significance: the TOV could be violated to serve the interests of LON members

28. Look at the source.
Do you think that disarmament was successful? Why or why not? What can you gather from the picture?

29. Economic Problems of the 1930s
The Great Depression
Massive unemployment
Democratic governments failed to reduce unemployment  rise of authoritarian governments
Protectionism  trade war  increased unemployment (Textbook pg.156)
Rearmament was used to create jobs  threatened peace in the 1930s

32. Policy of Appeasement What is Appeasement?
Refers to giving in to the demands of an aggressor so as to avoid war
A foreign policy adopted by Britain and France towards Germany

33. Policy of Appeasement Reasons for Adopting Policy of Appeasement
Memories of WWI
Strong anti-war sentiment due to great loss of lives in WWI
Economic impact of WWI and the Great Depression
Necessary to cut down government spending on military to rebuild the economy
Sympathy for Germany
The Treaty of Versailles was too harsh on Germany
Making changes to some of the terms was acceptable to make Germany a peaceful nation again

34. Policy of Appeasement Reasons for Adopting Policy of Appeasement
Fear of Communism
Communism posed a greater threat than Nazism
A strong Germany would prevent the spread of Communism
5. Overseas empire
Not enough troops to keep order in the colonies and fight a war in Europe at the same time
6. Buying time to modernise armies