Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins of WWII

Description

Mind Map on Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins of WWII, created by catcatloughrey on 16/11/2014.
catcatloughrey
Mind Map by catcatloughrey, updated more than 1 year ago
catcatloughrey
Created by catcatloughrey over 9 years ago
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Resource summary

Hitler's Foreign Policy and the Origins of WWII
  1. Hitler's aims in Foreign Policy
    1. Make Germany into Great Power
      1. Unite all German Speaking people under his rule
        1. Gain Lebensraum in East for German people
          1. Achieving Aims
            1. Necessary to destroy TOV
              1. Change Territorial Settlement by regaining lands inhabited by German people that had been taken e.g Saar and Danzig
                1. Bring the 7 million German speaking in Austria and the 4 million in Czechoslovakia and Poland into his empire
                  1. Involved destroying the peace settlement of 1919
                  2. Build up German army so he was supported by force
                    1. Expand in the east, probably against communist USSR
                      1. Hitler hated Communism
                        1. Aim for the future when TOV had been overturned and German was in great power in Europe
                    2. 1st stage was the strengthen lands in Europe
                      1. Could not be done alone so Hitler felt that the main enemies of Germany- France and USSR- had to be enemies of Britain and Italy who they were already allied with
                    3. German Rearmament
                      1. Germany allowed to join League of Nations in 1926
                        1. One aim was to maintain peace by reducing arms of all countries
                          1. Little success by 1932 when the Disarmament Conference began
                            1. German allowed to attend
                              1. Hitler withdrew from the Conference and LEN
                                1. He insisted that Germany wanted peace and would disarm if other countries did
                                  1. 1935- Germany began to rearm
                                    1. 1935 Conscription in Germany
                                      1. Hitler's excuse was that France had increased its term of conscription from 12 to 18 months meaning the number of trained soldiers would increase
                                      2. Against TOV
                                        1. Why didn't France and Britain react?
                                          1. Only opposition was the short- lived Stresa Front to protest against conscription in German
                                            1. Soviet Russia joined the LON- afraid of Germany
                                              1. Many in Britain felt the TOV was unfair and unjust
                                                1. Differences between France and Britain
                                                  1. Hitler took advantage to further his aims in foreign policy
                                                    1. He often threatened to use force to achieve his aims
                                                      1. But whenever he went against the TOV he followed it with peaceful promises
                                                        1. Britain payed more attention to the peaceful acts than the reversal of TOV
                                                2. France felt TOV needed to be strengthened
                                                  1. Could they invade Germany?
                                                    1. Tried in 1923 when they occupied the Ruhr because Germany had fallen behind on reparation payments
                                                      1. Failed
                                        2. France wouldn't disarm because of fears that German would invade again
                                  2. 10 year non aggression pact
                                    1. 1934
                                      1. Hitler signed with Poland
                                        1. Guaranteed the boundaries of Poland
                                          1. Satisfied the Poles that Hitler would not try to take the Polish Corridor
                                            1. Pleased Britain who saw it as further proof that Hitler's aims were peaceful
                                              1. Germany had accepted the frontier with Poland set up in TOV
                                      2. Failed Anschluss
                                        1. 1934
                                          1. Hitler suffered knockback to his aims
                                            1. He encouraged the Austrian Nazi Party to rebel
                                              1. Resulted in murder of Austrian Chancellor, Dollfuss
                                                1. Looked as if Anschluss would be achieved
                                                  1. But prevented by Mussolini moving his army to the frontier of Austria and guaranteeing Austrian independance
                                                    1. Hitler realised his army was not strong enough so he backed down and denied involvement with the Austrian Nazi Party!
                                        2. Anglo- German Naval Agreement
                                          1. More successful for Hitler
                                            1. 1935
                                              1. Hitler's willingness to sign was further proof to Britain of his peaceful intentions
                                                1. TOV limited the Germany navy to 35% of British fleet excluding submarines
                                                  1. By signing, Britain were agreeing to Germany rearming
                                                    1. Britain now felt it was important to limit the size of the German navy
                                                      1. Success for Hitler because the agreement weakened the Stresa Front as Britain had not consulted France and Italy
                                                        1. Led to Germany proceeding with rearmament without opposition
                                                          1. 1938
                                                            1. German Army had 800,000
                                                              1. Navy- 47 Submarines and 2,000 aircrafts
                                            2. Return of the Saar
                                              1. January 1935
                                                1. Plebiscite was held in the Saar to decide whether
                                                  1. Remained under control of LON
                                                    1. 8%
                                                    2. Returned to German control
                                                      1. 90%
                                                        1. Nazi propaganda took advantage
                                                          1. Published as being a removal of an injustice of the TOV
                                                            1. Hitler announced to the world that all cause of grievance between France and Germany had now been removed
                                                              1. Return of the Saar was legal
                                                                1. TOV said after 15 years a plebiscite was to be held
                                                      2. Join France
                                                        1. 2%
                                                  2. Remilitarisation of the Rhineland
                                                    1. Events
                                                      1. 7th March 1936
                                                        1. German soldiers marched into the Rhineland
                                                          1. Against TOV and Locarno Pact
                                                            1. The German Government had willingly signed in 1925
                                                            2. Followed with promising that Germany would sign a 25 year non aggression pact and had no further territorial ambitions in Europe
                                                              1. France, Britain and LON should have acted against this
                                                                1. All that happened was that German action was condemned by the League
                                                                  1. When the vote was held, only Soviet Russia voted in favour of imposing sanctions on Germany
                                                                  2. Hitler had chosen the right moment
                                                                    1. Britain and France were more concerned about Mussolini
                                                                      1. He had invaded Abyssinia
                                                                        1. French government were divided and didn't want to react without the help of Britain
                                                                          1. Britain didn't think Hitler was doing anything wrong
                                                                            1. The TOV was unjust and so Hitler had a right to take back his own territory
                                                                              1. Unlike Mussolini who was invading another country
                                                                                1. No-one wanted war
                                                                                  1. Took more notice of the promise that followed
                                                                                    1. End of March 1936, Hitler held a vote in Germany on his policies
                                                                                      1. 99% in favour of them
                                                                              2. Hitler could have been stopped!
                                                                                1. He sent his soldiers against the advice of his generals who said the army were not strong enough
                                                                                  1. He also went against the advice of his financial ministers who feared the effect that economic sanctions could have on Germany
                                                                                    1. Hitler dismissed all of this advice
                                                                                      1. He judged foreign reactions perfectly
                                                                                        1. Germany could have been stopped but there was no support for opposition
                                                                                      2. Sanctions would have crippled Germany
                                                                                      3. When the soldiers were sent the generals ordered that if there was any opposition against them from the french they were to immediately withdraw
                                                                                        1. French army were much stronger than that of Germany in 1936
                                                                  3. Anschluss with Austria
                                                                    1. Union of Germany and Austria
                                                                      1. Forbidden by TOV
                                                                      2. Hitler was born in the boundaries of Austria and said in his book, "Mein Kampf" that he felt the rightful place of Austria was in union with Germany.
                                                                        1. In 1934 the Austrian Nazis, encouraged by Hitler, had tried to seize power after the murder of Dollfuss
                                                                          1. This had been prevented by Mussolini who had previously been prepared to give support to Austria
                                                                            1. 1938
                                                                              1. Situation had changed
                                                                                1. Mussolini was not allied with Germany and occupied in the Spanish Civil War
                                                                                  1. He was unlikely to give help to Austria
                                                                                    1. Hitler wanted to unite all German speaking people
                                                                                      1. Austrians were German speaking
                                                                          2. Nazi Party remained strong in Austria in 1938
                                                                            1. There were rumours of another Nazi plot to overthrow the Austrian government
                                                                              1. Schuschnigg, the Austrian Chancellor, appealed to Hitler for help to end the plotting
                                                                                1. Hitler refused
                                                                                  1. Instead of helping he put pressure on Schuschnigg and forced him to appoint Seyss- Inquart
                                                                                    1. Leader of the Nazi Party in Austria
                                                                                      1. This was followed by riots and demonstrations by the Nazis in Austria
                                                                                        1. In spite of his position, Seyss Inquart supported the demonstrations and did nothing to stop them
                                                                                          1. Schuschnigg, however, made a bold move the end them and save the independence of Austria
                                                                                            1. He called a plebiscite on whether the Austrian people wanted to remain independent or not
                                                                                              1. Alarmed Hitler
                                                                                                1. Hitler wasn't prepared to take the risk!
                                                                                                  1. It was clear that Schuschnigg had defied Hitler by calling the plebiscite without asking his permission
                                                                                                    1. He could not afford anything other than an overwhelming vote in favour of unification with Germany
                                                                                                      1. To make this certain Hitler moved German troops to the border
                                                                                                        1. He forced Schuschnigg to call off the plebiscite and resign from the office
                                                                                                          1. Schuschnigg was probably expecting Britain and France to give assistance to Austria
                                                                                                            1. When it was clear this wouldn't happen, Schuschnigg resigned to avoid blood shed
                                                                                                              1. Seyss- Inquart replaced
                                                                                                                1. He invited the Germans into Austria to restore order
                                                                                                                  1. German army entered on 12th March
                                                                                                                    1. 1st- Opponents of Hitler were removed
                                                                                                                      1. Around 80,000 were rounded up and put in concentration camps
                                                                                                                        1. Power was handed to Hitler and Anschluss was proclaimed
                                                                                                                          1. 14th March
                                                                                                                            1. Hitler processed in triumph through Vienna
                                                                                                                              1. Followed by plebiscite in April
                                                                                                                                1. 99.75% of voters agreed with Anschluss
                                                                                                                                  1. Hitler could now claim he was only fulfilling the idea of self determination expressed in Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
                                                                                                                                    1. Britain and France protested
                                                                                                                                      1. LON was not consulted
                                                                                                                                        1. Anschluss was against the TOV but Britain had sympathy for Germany because the Austrians were German speaking and traditionally German
                                                                                                                                          1. British government feared communism in the USSR more than it did Nazism
                                                                                                                                            1. Britain welcomed a strong Germany because it saw it a a barrier to the USSR and communism
                                                                                                                                              1. Hitler's anti communist views strengthened this
                                                                                                2. Many Austrians favoured Anschluss because they felt that the Austrian economy was too weak to remain independent
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