9.2.6 Nazi Germany prepares for war -TEACH-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 3

AGE 9. The Time of World Wars

9.2.6:  Nazi Germany prepares for War

The main question that is answered in this lesson:

How did Hitler manage to break the rules of the Treaty of versailles one by one, adding territory to Germany, and building up an enormous army....

WITHOUT THE FORMER ALLIES STOPPING HIM?

Hitler's territorial goals:

1. Heim ins Reich
2. Lebensraum (im Osten)

Hitler's territorial goals:

• To reach these goals, Hitler would have to break several of the Treaty of Versailles rules.
• By doing this, Germany risked another war with Britain and France

Heim ins Reich
Lebensraum (im Osten)

people in this lesson

Benito Mussolini

Italy

Adolf Hitler

Germany

Edouard Daladier

France

Neville Chamberlain

Great Britain

Germany prepares for war 

copy and fill in the overview to create your own summary

How was Hitler going to do that?

By testing the allied leaders; see what he could get away with,

presuming the Allied leaders were "spineless", lacking the will and strength to stop Hitler.

Step 1: get back the Saar region

Step 1:  conscription and rearmament (1934)

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Step 2: remilitarise the Rhineland (1936)

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Step 3: Anschluss with Austria (1938)

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Germany prepares for war 

Step 4: Munich Conference (1938)

Chamberlain

Daladier

Hitler

Mussolini

Goal of the conference: find a peaceful solution for the Sudetenland crisis.

Not invited: Stalin and Czech president.

Why? They would never give Hitler what he wanted. Therefore: no peaceful solution

• The outcome: England and France gave Hitler what he wanted.
• In return Hitler promised that he had no more territorial claims.

"Peace in our time!"

Step 5: Germany annexes the rest of Czechoslovakia (1939)

Why did the Allies not stop Hitler?

• England and France followed a policy of APPEASEMENT.
• This was: the policy of Britain and France to give in to Hitler's demands because they believed this was the best way to keep the peace in Europe.

more reasons for appeasement:

• England and France were not ready to start a new war.
• They did not want to repeat the horrors of WW1
• Maybe the Treaty of versailles was too harsh for Germany
• At least Hitler stood up against communism

Poland

September 1, 1939

Poland

September 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland

Poland

September 1, 1939

Germany invades Poland

Declare war on Germany

Nope

congratulations

congratulations