Aggression, Appeasement and War PDF

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Aggression, Appeasement and War Austria - Czechoslovakia - Poland - Germany needs to take land in order to grow resources, they look to the Eastern front in order to expand. These lands are more less occupied by jews, so German felt they deserved the land Appeasement Britain: costs of war - Faced the ww1, the memory of how much it costs questioned France: Defence - Had the largest army, defensive psychology - Line of fortifications along France's Eastern borders ○ Prevent Germans from daring to attack ○ Only problem is that it what about an offensive ○ Called the Maginot line Hitler: Man of Peace - Brought up questions that actually sort of made sense - Self determinism - Germany being bulwark against Bolsheviks ○ Prevented the spread of communism to the Western side 1935: Airforce; Military draft - Announced that Germany is rebuilding air force, instituting the draft, remilitarize the Rhineland (Not allowed to in Versailles Treaty) - Growing Weakness of Democracy? Austria -Hitler's background - 1934: Austrian promotion of nazis - 1938: attempt on austrian government to prevent or stop further german occupation - Austria told by British and French that they won’t go to war over this - Austrian chancellor calls national plebiscite on independence - 1938 sends troops into Austria to take it over Czechoslovakia Sudetenland: 2.8 million Germans - Unite all the Germans, large ethnic Germans living here Czech - This was the offensive part for czechs - Had a line of fortifications in sudetenland - Had alliances with Britain, France, USSR - Ethnic Germans were oppressed ■ Weren’t getting government jobs

Munich Agreement (1938) - Neville Chamberlain and Hitler meet - The significance of this meeting was about Czech ■ But the Czech government not allowed to come 1939 Slovakian Independence - There are their own nation March 1939: German occupation of Czechoslovakia - Although there was an agreement for Hitler to have sudetenland, they were taking over the whole nation - No excuse to cover this up, Hitler wanted to take over, not unite Germans Poland: The Final Crisis Geography - One of the great problems being located in between two great states a. Germany and Russia Demands on polish lands Hitler’s demands 1. Polish corridor - Germany should have own roads and have German jurisdiction or control over the rails and roads there 2. Return of former German port city, Danzig. Of course Poland refuses, vital to them 3. Germany demanded that Poland sign onto anti-comintern pact a. This was a treaty between Germany and Japan, which was about the oppression of communism - There were looked at as ways to slowly break down poland - April 1939: Br and Fr guarantee that there will be there for Poland Pact of Steel (May 1939) - Military alliance between Italy and Germany - Come to each others aid if any of them were attacked - Italians thought a war would not happen for a few more years Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (Aug 1939) - Germany’s POV for this was that they don’t have a war on two fronts, secondly, if the Russians sit this one out, then maybe without the Russian counterweight, they wouldn’t go to war over Poland. Could one of the sides pickup Russia as an ally - Russians didn’t like how allies sent low level diplomats and by ship took a long time Soviet union not ready to fight, Stalin purged a bunch of top generals in 1939 1. Public 2. Secret a. Germany and soviet would carve up Poland after defeating it, Germans recognized Russia would take control of lithuania, latvia, etc. Extend control to the sea

War in Europe Poland German troops move into Poland sept 1 1939. - Blitzkrieg (lightning warfare), different strategy then - Use tanks and airplanes to destroy armored defence, then infantry will come in - Attempt to knock out a country as fast as possible - Bombed Warsaw repeatedly, you could demoralize a country very quickly by bombing civilian cities - Government flee to London - Soviets invade september 17 to take the Eastern front - September 27; Poland surrenders - French don’t take the war to Germany Northwest Europe (Phony war, Sitzkreig) - SEPT 1939- April 1940 - French sat behind Maginot line Germany starts by invading Denmark surrenders with hours - Norway invaded as well, strategically important because of warm water ports - Controlling norway would allow the uninterrupted shipment of iron ore to home Winston Churchill replaced Chamberlain as British PM appeasement Western Europe May 10 1940: invasion of Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg - Dutch surrendered in a few days, Belgium lasts quite a bit with British aid May 17 1940: dutch surrender Evacuation Of Dunkirk May 26-4 June 1940 British and French forced to flee to English Channel Dunkirk: French seaport; 338 000 British and French troops ferried to Britain - The british government thought that they could get 60 000 troops back but accomplished this goal - Downside is that they had to leave a lot of resources in France France German Blitzkrieg 10 June 1940: Italy invade south of France - try and get some spoils - French army was not stable at the time 22 June: Marshal Philippe Petain - Negotiates an armistice, a surrender for France Hitler wanted to settle this in the train car that Germany once had to do when they lost WW1 Germany takes back Alsace and Lorraine - Long awaited France divide into two parts - Northern part is occupied by Germany to watch for Britain - Southern part is where the government still is

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) - Free French Forces ■ Get french people to work against Germany` Significance - Poland, Denmark, Norway, Netherland, France ■ Were all destroyed within a year ■ Resembling the true power of the Nazis Britain Operation Sea lion - German invasion of Britain - This is a problem since its an island nation ○ German promise of defeating the British air force then soften navy ○ This would allow them to then invade Britain Battle of Britain begins August 1940 Churchill: “never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few” British advantages 1. Related to the slow pace at which Britain rearmed in the 30s, would have more of the newer planes in their airforce 2. Technological: use of radar important for British defence, along the coast of Britain they would have early warning systems, could conserve fuel, takeoff into the air only when they needed to 3. German air force unable to defeat September 1940: German planes accidentally bombed British cities - The Blitz (London) Hitler then ordered all around bombing especially on London - Could demoralize the citizens, force government to peace - The Blitz did not do this, people united together, subway stations as bomb shelters - Reinforced morality rather than knocking it out...