German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles. The aims of Hitler and the British response.

GCSE History

Detailed Events of Hitler’s Challenge and Exploit of the Treaty of Versailles

German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles included:

They were enraged when they saw the extremely harsh terms of the treaty.
They were not allowed to negotiate over its terms and were forced to accept it.
They felt that the terms of the treaty were extremely unfair and humiliating.
They felt that they should not have to accept responsibility for the war.
Many Germans started calling for revenge to reverse the effects of the treaty.
Germans attacked the new Weimar democratic government for signing it.
Many labelled the politicians who signed the treaty “November Criminals” who had “stabbed in the back” the army, which still controlled most of Europe in 1918.
The treaty undermined the new democratic government, led to the rise of the Nazi party and the Second World War.

The aims of Hitler’s Foreign Policy were:

To reverse the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.
To make Germany a great world power again.
To unite all German speaking people.
To rearm Germany and restore all its lost territories.
To conquer an Empire in the East to give Germany Lebensraum (living space).

The aims of Hitler’s Foreign Policy were based on the ideas of:

The Master Race (The Nazi racist idea that Germans as an Aryan people were a “master race” destined to rule “subhuman” peoples like Slavs.)
Pan-German Nationalism (The belief that all German speaking peoples should be united in one Greater Germany.)
Militarism (The use of military force to solve a countries problems is better than peaceful negotiations.)
Social Darwinism (The theory that in the world it was natural for stronger countries to conquer and rule weaker countries.)

German Rearmament:

Hitler argues the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and every country including Germany had the right to defend itself.
In 1933 Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference on the grounds no other country was disarming.
In 1934 Hitler ordered the German armed forces to rearm and prepare for war.
In 1935 Germany reintroduced conscription breaking the Treaty of Versailles. Germany built tanks, aeroplanes and submarines breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1936 Germany remilitarises the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Britain, France and the League of Nations did nothing to stop German ...

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German Rearmament:

Hitler argues the Treaty of Versailles was unfair and every country including Germany had the right to defend itself.
In 1933 Germany withdrew from the World Disarmament Conference on the grounds no other country was disarming.
In 1934 Hitler ordered the German armed forces to rearm and prepare for war.
In 1935 Germany reintroduced conscription breaking the Treaty of Versailles. Germany built tanks, aeroplanes and submarines breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
In 1936 Germany remilitarises the Rhineland in violation of the Treaty of Versailles.
Britain, France and the League of Nations did nothing to stop German rearmament even though it was breaking of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Saar Plebiscite (1935):

The Treaty of Versailles gave the Saar-land to the League of Nations for 15 years during which time France was to control all of its coalfields.
In 1935 a plebiscite (vote) was held in the Saar to see if its people wanted to return to Germany in which 90% of the people voted to return to Germany.
Hitler celebrated the plebiscite as a great victory because it was the first of Germany’s lost territories under the Treaty of Versailles to be returned to German rule.

The Remilitarisation of the Rhineland (1936):

The Rhineland was the part of Germany bordering France that had to be demilitarised (undefended) according to the Treaty of Versailles.
The Rhineland was demilitarised to prevent Germany from threatening or launching a surprise attack against France.
Hitler saw how the League of Nations failed to stop the invasions of Manchuria and Abyssinia.
Hitler saw how the League of Nations failed to stop Germany from rearming even though it was breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
Hitler ordered German troops to enter the Rhineland to remilitarise it even though it was breaking the Treaty of Versailles.
If France had intervened Hitler would have ordered his soldiers to withdraw from the Rhineland because Germany was not yet ready for war.
France did not stop Hitler.
Britain viewed the Treaty of Versailles as too harsh and that Hitler was doing nothing wrong other than “marching into his own backyard.”
The failure of Britain and France to stop Hitler encouraged him to continue his aggressive foreign policy to destroy the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

The Anschluss (union) with Austria 1938:

The Treaty of Versailles had forbidden Germany from uniting with Austria.
Hitler wanted to unite all German-speaking people into one Greater Germany.
The people of Austria were a German-speaking people and Hitler himself had been born in Austria.
The Austrian Nazi party began in 1938 to organise riots across Austria for union with Germany.
Hitler ordered German troops to enter Austria after a request was made by a Nazi Austrian Minister in charge of the Austrian police to help restore order to the country.
The Nazi’s then organised a plebiscite (vote) in which 99.75% of Austrians voted for union with Germany.
Italy supported Hitler’s actions due to the Rome-Berlin Axis signed earlier that year.
Britain, France and the League of Nations again did nothing even though Germany was clearly breaking the Treaty of Versailles.

The Sudetenland Crisis (1938):

In 1938 a crisis erupted when Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia hand over part of its territory called the Sudetenland to Germany.
The Sudetenland bordered Germany and had 3 million German-speaking people living there who wanted to be part of Germany.
Czechoslovakia had a powerful well trained and equipped army, as well as, defence agreements with France and Russia.
The Sudetenland was the key to Czechoslovakia’s defence against attack because it was where its military fortresses and military industries were based.
Hitler threatened war unless Czechoslovakia handed over the Sudetenland to Germany.
The Munich Conference was organised to find a peaceful solution to the problem.

The Munich Agreement (1938):

Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed to meet in Munich to hold a conference to find a peaceful solution to the Sudetenland Crisis (Czechoslovakia was not invited).
The British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, followed the policy of appeasement with Hitler by agreeing that the Sudetenland should become part of Germany.
The British policy of appeasement meant giving in to Hitler’s demands to avoid war.
In return Hitler signed the Munich Agreement with Chamberlain promising that both countries would negotiate any future problems and not go to war with each other.
Chamberlain returned to Britain a national hero for avoiding war although he was criticised by some politicians like Winston Churchill.

Arguments in Support of Chamberlain’s Appeasement Policy include:

The British people did not want another world war after experiencing the horrors of the First World War.
Many British people viewed the terms of the Treaty of Versailles as too harsh and unfair to Germany.
Many British people viewed Hitler’s demands that all German-speaking people should be allowed to live in one country as a fair and reasonable demand.
Many British people supported Hitler because he was anti-Communist and had restored order to Germany.
Finally the British armed forces were not ready for a world war with Germany in 1938.

Arguments against Chamberlain’s Appeasement Policy include:

Appeasement was wrong because Hitler was a dictator who could not be trusted to keep his word.
Appeasement made Britain look weak and encouraged Hitler to keep demanding more and more.
Czechoslovakia had not been invited to the Munich Conference and allowed a say in its own future.
Hitler had made clear that he wanted to conquer an Empire in the East to give Germany Lebensraum (living space) and would only be stopped by war.

Source: www.allertongrange.org/