→ In June 1932 the Lausanne Conference succeeded in canceling reparations.
INCREASING PROBLEMS
→ 1933 Hitler came to power in Germany. Hitler’s first moves in foreign policy were cautious because Germany was economically, militarily and diplomatically weak. In October 1933 Hitler withdrew from both the Disarmament Conference and the League (claiming that the other powers didn’t treat him as an equal).
→ In July 1934 a Nazi-inspired putsch led to the assassination of Dollfuss (Austrian Chancellor). Mussolini rushed Italian troops to the Austrian border as a warning to Hitler. Hitler did nothing, and the putsch failed.
→German Polish Pact- In January 1934 Hitler surprised many of his followers by signing a 10 year non-aggression pact with Poland.
→ March 1935 Hitler declared Germany had a Luftwaffe
→ April 1935 British, French and Italian leaders met in Stresa and condemned Hitler’s action and to resist any future attempt to change the existing treaty settlement by force.
→ 1934 The USSR joined the League of Nations and signed treaties of mutual assistance with France and Czechoslovakia in 1935.
→ British-German Naval agreement, Germany could build up to 35% of Britain’s capital ships.
→ ABYSSINIA
Mussolini wanted to increase Italy by taking over Abyssinia (Ethiopia), one of the few African countries still free from European support.
-January 1935 France promised Mussolini a free hand in Abyssinia, while Britain made it clear it objected to the Italian annexation of Abyssinia.
-October 1935 Italy invaded Abyssinia.
Haille Selassie (Abyssinian Emperor) immediately appealed to the League of nations
The British government supported the League against Italy, and France did likewise.
All imports from Italy and some exports to it were banned.
-December 1935, the British and French Foreign Ministers proposed a compromise settlement, whereby Italy would get over half of Abyssinia. They soon abandoned the plan due to an upset in Britain. This caused a major split between Italy and Britain & France. This also led to Mussolini’s moves closer to Hitler.
-May 1936 Abyssinia became part of the Italian Empire
The Abyssinia crisis caused a final blow to the League of Nations which again failed to halt the aggressor.
→ The Rhineland
March 1936 Hitler sent German troops into the demilitarized Rhineland (violating treaty of Versailles & Locarno). France and Britain did nothing.
→ July 1936 Spanish Civil War broke out. Hitler benefited from the war, because he got to test new weapons and led to improve his relationship with Italy.
→October 1936 Rome-Berlin Axis
→November 1936 Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, an agreement to stop Communism (Italy joined 1937).
THE TENSION MOUNTS 1937-1938
→ 1937 Neville Chamberlain became British Prime Minister.
→ Appeasement- policies of giving in to threatening demands in order to avoid war.
→ the Hossbach Conference
November 1937, Hitler had a meeting with his leading commanders where he outlined his aims for the German foreign policy. His main aim was getting lebensraum which could only be achieved by war. The first objectives were to takeover Czechoslovakia and Austria.
→Sino-Japanese War
started in July 19637 when Japanese forces took over large areas of China. Great Britain hoped Japan would be defeated.
→The Anschlusssss (union)
To unite Austria and Germany was forbidden by the treaties of Versailles and Saint Germain.
Since 1934 the Austrian government had struggled to keep the Austrian Nazis under control. Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, got bullied and threatened into including Nazi’s into his government. He held a plebiscite on whether Austria should join Germany. This was an attempt to destroy Hitler’s claim that most Austrians wanted union. Hitler demanded the cancellation of the plebiscite and threatened war. Schuschnigg resigned and Austrian Nazis took power and invited Hitler to send troops into Austria to preserve order. Hitler declared Austria was to be fully integrated into the Third Reich. Great Britain and France did nothing (France simply protested).
THE PROBLEM OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA
→Czechoslovakia- only about half of the 15 million population was Czech. 3.25 million Germans lived in Sudetenland and were the biggest minority.
By 1938 the Sudeten German Party was demanding either home rule or union with Germany. In March 1938 Hitler instructed Sudeten leaders to make demands to the Czech government which could never be satisfied. If Germany invaded Czechoslovakia then France might go to her aid, which would force Britain to help. In May 1938 after false reports of German troop movements, the Czechs mobilized some of their reserves and prepared for war. Both Britain and France warned Hitler against attacking Czechoslovakia. He was not planning and invasion, but was now determined to destroy Czechoslovakia. He met with German military leaders and warned them to prepare for war by September 1938. In September Hitler demanded self-determination for the Sudeten Germans and assured them they would be neither defenseless nor deserted.
→Munich Conference
15 September 1938 Chamberlain flew to meet Hitler at Berchtesgaden to try to maintain peace. The two leaders reached a rough agreement. Chamberlain accepted Hitler’s main demand that the areas in Czechoslovakia in which Germans composed over 50% of the population would be handed over to Germany. In return Hitler would not attack Czechoslovakia until Chamberlain had consulted with the French and Czechs. The Czech government had little option but to accept the offer.
22 September 1938 Chamberlain flew back to Bad Godesberg to meet Hitler. Hitler now said that the previous proposals were insufficient. Polish and Hungarian claims to Czechoslovakian territory also had to be met. And Hitler demanded the right to occupy the Sudetenland no later than 1 October 1938. Czechoslovakia stated that the proposals were totally unacceptable and mobilized its forces. Both Britain and France prepared for war. On 27 September Mussolini agreed to use his influence to persuade Hitler to reconsider.
29 September 1938 Daladier, Chamberlain, Hitler and Mussolini met in Munich. (Without Stalin or Beneš). The agreement reached was very similar to Hitler’s first demands.
Germany gained Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia lost Teschen to Poland and south Ruthenia to Hungary.
→ Britain and Germany signed a joint declaration by which both pledged to do all they could to preserve peace.
THE COMING OF WAR
→ December 1938 a Franco-German agreement was signed which expressed mutual goodwill and respect for frontiers.
At the beginning of 1939 Chamberlain received a number of (incorrect) intelligence reports predicting German moves against Poland, Czechoslovakia, Holland or Switzerland.
→ After the Munich conference Czechoslovakia faced serious internal problem. In early March President Hacha, proclaimed martial law (this desperate attempt to preserve the Czech state, actually sped up its downfall). Hacha asked to meet Hitler hoping he might do something to help. Hitler told him, that the German army intended to enter Czechoslovakia and that his only choice was war or a peaceable occupation. Hasha broke down under Hitler's threats and agreed to his demands. A German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was established while Slovakia became formally independent. This time Hitler could not claim that he was uniting German speakers within one Germans State. There was no question of Britain and France going into war.
→ Mid March 1939 Hitler forced Lithuania to hand back the town of Memel, lost by the Germans in 1919. Britain & France took no action. But Poland now seemed Hitler's next target.
→ German relations with Poland had been remarkably friendly since the signing of the 1934 non-aggression treaty. In October 1938 Ribbentrop asked the Poles to give up Danzig. In return Poland would receive guarantees of its borders and the prospect of territory in the Ukraine. In January 1939 Hitler the Polish Foreign Minister, and added a demand for a German controlled road or railway link across the Polish Corridor. The Poles refused to consider Hitler's proposals. By late March there were rumors of a German attack on Poland.
On 31 March 1938 Britain & France offered a guarantees to Poland, Poland accepted. The guarantees were designed as a clear warning for Hitler.
→ Anglo-Soviet relations
In the event of a German attack, only the USSR could offer Poland immediate military help, so the only sensible thing to do for Britain and France seemed to be to ally with them. In Chamberlain's view, there were many good reasons for not allying with Stalin, who by 1939 had a far worse record of mass murder than Hitler. But Chamberlain under pressure from France and the Parliament so in late April Britain opened negotiations with Russia. Their main aims were to satisfy opposition at home and use the possibility of an Anglo-Soviet alliance as a further warning to Hitler. The Anglo-Soviet discussions were complex and slow. The talks finally deadlocked when the Russians asked whether Poland would accept eh entry of Russian troops before the even of a German attack. The Poles, suspicious of Russian intentions, would not accept this issue. The Soviet Government maintained that this attitude convinced them that Britain and France were not in earnest in their negotiations. Stalin had no wish for an alliance with the west.
→ Nazi-Soviet Pact
From 1933 the USSR had occasionally made approaches to Germany suggesting better relations. But in 1939 Hitler realized that a deal with Stalin would strengthen his position, at least in the short term, and hoped it would frighten Britain and France into backing out of their guarantees to Poland. On 23 of August the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was signed. Secret clauses of the pact divided Poland and Eastern Europe into spheres of German and Russian influence. The way was now open for the German attack on Poland, which was planned to start 26 August.
→Hitler was prepared to risk, but he didn’t want a two-front war. Hitler was surprised and shaken by Mussolini's announcement that Italy intended to remain neutral, decided to postpone his invasion until 1 September. On the evening of the 31 August 1939 Germany claimed that one of its wireless stations near the Polish border had been attacked y the Poles. This claim, totally fabricated, was used as the excuse for war. 1 September German troops invaded Poland. 3 September Britain and France declared war (after an ultimatum was sent to Germany, but no reply was received).
