Germany felt that the imposed conditions were too harsh, and in consequence of a massive rise in unemployment and poverty due to the debts which needed paying, a wave of bitterness rippled throughout the country. It was this desperation to end this economic depression mixed with a desire for revenge that helped Adolf Hitler’s’ rise to power. His party kept expanding, benefiting from growing unemployment, the fear of Communism, Hitler's self-certainty, and the diffidence of his political rivals. Hitlers’ rise to power eventually led to his becoming chancellor in 1933. His fascist beliefs soon gave him almost absolute power, which allowed him to put forth such irrational ideas without opposition. Some of these ideas were his foreign policies. One of these was his policy of ‘lebensraum’, which translates into English as ‘living space’. What Hitler intended by this was that he aimed on more living space for the Germans, on the German Reich's need for territory in which to expand. Another of his notorious foreign policies was the aim for the unification of all German speaking peoples . Hitler's ruthless programme for the accumulation of Lebensraum and unification of German speakers resulted in the Anschluss (union) with Austria, followed by the German invasions of Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1939, which eventually led to the outbreak of World War II.
Hitler used his foreign policies throughout the 1930’s as excuses for his actions, in fact every one of his earlier actions were excused very conveniently.
Hitler ordered his troops to reoccupy the Rhineland in March 1936, a direct violation of the treaties of Versailles and Locarno. The troops were told to withdraw if they encountered any opposition, but in fact it all went very smoothly and the German people living in the area welcomed the troops. Hitler’s excuse in this occasion was that he had held a plebiscite in 1935, and over 90% had voted to return to Germany, the plan also obeyed his foreign policies, it both provided lebensraum and unification of German speakers. Hitler was therefore let off by those appointed to prevent any such actions, the League of Nations. Hitler often admitted that if he had been stopped in his tracks at such an early stage, he would have been forced to withdraw, his army not being yet prepared for a confrontation.
The League of Nations was set up in 1919; its primary aim was to maintain peace by means of collective security. Its’ three main concerns were the reduction of national armaments, the preservation of it’s members from aggression, and the settlement of any international disputes by peaceful means. The League of Nations was therefore a seemingly brilliant idea, but there was only one big problem. The one great power that the League needed in order to settle disputes without confrontation didn’t want to join. The USA was scared that this temporary involvement would turn into a permanent responsibility from which many Americans had only recently fled.
The LON was therefore very cautious in any action it took. When Japan invaded Manchuria without provocation, it was an opportunity for the league to take action, but in fear of starting another war the only step they took was to set up the Lytton commission to investigate the incident, and then order Japan to evacuate Manchuria. Japan simply responded by withdrawing from the league and no further action was taken. The same occurred when Mussolini attacked Abyssinia, where an attempt to halt the attack failed.
All throughout Hitlers’ attacks on his neighbouring countries, the League could not agree on any action in fear of starting a war so soon to one which was still so fresh in many peoples’ minds. Hitler sensed this indecision, and gave him the impression that he could do anything without fearing opposition. And this is exactly what he did.
The policy of appeasement also gave Hitler the impression that he could continue getting away simply with taking the bits of land surrounding his borders. Appeasement was Britains’ main approach to the problem of Hitler during the years prior to the second world war. Chamberlain’s approach was to find out what Hitler wanted and show him that if his demands were reasonable, then they could be discussed. The problem with appeasement though was that it was indeed a very risky policy, as the success of it all depended on Hitler’s aims being limited ; in other words, Europe’s safety all depended on Hitler’s honesty.However, even though appeasement could prove to be very dangerous if failed, Britain and Europe accepted it mainly out of fear of causing another war. Many people also thought that the treaty had been unjust and should be allowed to rebuild. Communist Russia was also seen as a worse threat than Hitler, which could explain why many of Hitler’s actions passed unnoticed.
After Hitler had annexed Austria in March 1939 without any opposition from the league whotsoever, Hitler set his ambitions over to Czechoslovakia. It was at this point that Neville Chamberlain agreed that something had to be done about the situation. Chamberlain met Hitler at the Munich conference in September 1938. Here he negotiated a settlement with Hitler which stated that Hitler would only be allowed to take the Sudetenland, a strip of land in Northern Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain believed that he had finally managed an agreement with Hitler, and in fact when he returned to Britain he made a moving speech on how he had achieved peace in his time. This was not to be however. On 15 March 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia; this had certainly not been part of Chamberlain’s agreement.
In 1939, Britain and France promised Poland that they would declare war on Germany if it tried to attack. Britain and France were forced to resort to physical action after the failure of appeasement. The problem with this however, was that they were not in any position, geographically as well as Militarily, to defend Poland. Only the Soviet Union could do so. Hitler, sensing a possible alliance between Britain and the USSR, offered to sign a pact with Russia. This pact, called the Nazi-Soviet pact, stated that Germany would invade the Polish Corridor (a piece of land lost by Germany to the Treaty of Versailles) from the west and Russia from the east. The land would then be split, one half going to Germany and the other to Russia; Stalin agreed.
Hitler attacked Poland on the 1ST September 1939. Britain kept their promise and declared war on Germany on September 3rd, followed shortly after by France. World War II had begun.
