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hello and thank you for checking out
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this audio revision guide from WWE mr.
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Alsup history comm you can visit my
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website to download free history
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revision podcasts on this topic and a
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whole load of others in this podcast
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we're going to focus on the road to war
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the origins of world war ii as we've
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seen from the challenges to the League
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of Nations in the 1930s international
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tension was increasing massively and by
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1939 this would develop into all-out war
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this podcast is designed to consider the
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key reasons for the breakout of world
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war ii by discussing the different
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impacts of hitler's aims and actions the
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policy of appeasement the problems
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caused by the peace treaties the
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nazi-soviet pact and the failures of the
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League of Nations with the wall street
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crash in its ensuing world depression
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from 1929 the Nazi Party was back on the
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scene in Germany in 1933 they took
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control of the Reichstag the German
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parliament and Hitler quickly secured
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complete control of the governmental
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system and began working towards three
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key aims he had made it clear in both
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his election speeches and in his
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autobiography mine camp that he believed
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the Treaty of Versailles was unjust and
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that he aimed to overturn its
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limitations although by 1933 Germany had
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stopped making reparation payments many
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of the treaties terms were still in
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place the second aim of Hitler was to
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expand German territory uniting with
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Austria was just one part of his plan
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which clearly was a direct challenge to
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the demands of the Treaty of Versailles
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but it was also the embodiment of
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Hitler's plan to extend German land into
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Eastern Europe for Lebensraum or living
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space for the German people Hillier was
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also ardently anti-communist and wanted
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to remove the threat of communism to
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Germany in mine camp he clearly stated
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how the first essential is the expulsion
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of the marxist poison from the body of
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our nation therefore it is possible to
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map the event
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leading to world war two against
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Hitler's three broad aims for Germany
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the abolition of the Treaty of
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Versailles the expansion of German
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territory and the defeat of communism
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hilah's first action after becoming
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Chancellor of Germany in 1933 was to
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begin rebuilding the German armed forces
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he prepared his military commanders for
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an increase to three hundred thousand
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men in the army from the one hundred
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thousand permitted by the Treaty of
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Versailles he ignored the treaties
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demands for now air force and prepared
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to build a thousand warplanes all this
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took place in secret at first as at the
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same time he was arguing at the Geneva
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disarmament conference that the French
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should disarm to the level of the
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Germans or that the Germans should rearm
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to the level of the French when the
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French unsurprisingly refused he
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withdrew from the conference but was
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seen by the world's I as a politician
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who had tried hard not to rearm Germany
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in fact when he openly showed the growth
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of his armed forces at a military rally
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in 1935 the rest of the world did little
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to stop Hitler's clear breaking of the
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terms of the Treaty of Versailles
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Britain France and Italy formed the
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stresser front which issued a polity
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against Hitler's rearmament but in real
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terms did nothing to stop him in fact
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countries such as Britain were beginning
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to believe that the treaty had been too
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harsh on Germany in the first place and
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that Germany should be allowed more
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troops to improve its chances of
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defending itself against attack
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particularly as it was in the perfect
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geographical position to act as a buffer
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against communism of which Britain was
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also scared but that wasn't all that
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Britain did in fact Britain could be
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seen to have begun its policy of
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appeasement in 1935 when it signed the
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anglo-german naval agreement which
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allowed Germany to increase its Navy to
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around a third of the size of Britain's
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a massive challenge to the Treaty of
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Versailles Hitler had begun to push
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Britain and Britain gave way allowing
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Hitler to get away with this blatant
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disregard for the agreement at
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Versailles surely Hitler must have
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thought if you could get away with
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rebuilding his armed forces to such an
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extent you will be able to challenge
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other terms of the treaty
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well yes and he did just that the
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rhineland had remain part of Germany
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after the treaty but was made into a
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demilitarized zone although the Locarno
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treaties signed by Germany in 1925
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accepted that the Rhineland needed to
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remain demilitarized many Germans felt
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angered and weakened by the fact that
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they had an area of their country that
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they couldn't defend and one that was
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right on the border with France so in
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May 1936 while the world's attention was
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turned to Mussolini and the Italian
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conquest of Abyssinia Hitler ordered his
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troops to move back into the Rhineland
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and thus break one of the key terms of
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Versailles it was an enormous gamble
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despite the growth of the military
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thanks to the rearmament program Germany
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would never had been able to defend
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itself if another nation tried to stop
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the remilitarization and Hitler himself
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would have been humiliated both at home
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and abroad
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however he'd watched the Manchuria
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crisis unfold and noted that the League
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of Nations had not acted against Japan
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despite clearly having the ability to do
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so the league was proving to be just as
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ineffective against Italy in Abyssinia
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Britain Hitler was convinced would not
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intervene as it generally believed it to
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be reasonable for Germany to have
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military control over her own backyard
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France despite being worried about the
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move was approaching an election and no
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politician there was prepared to
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potentially plunge France into another
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war against Germany in the end nothing
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happened yet again Hitler had
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successfully defied the terms of the
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Treaty of Versailles and got away with
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it it's possible to argue that if
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Versailles had not been perceived as
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harsh in the 1930s by countries such as
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Britain Hitler would have struggled to
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oppose it indeed the fact that he did
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oppose it yet nobody was willing to
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defend the terms of the treaty proved to
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Hitler that he was justified in his
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actions of denial but how far could he
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go in 1936 Hitler joined Franco in
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fighting the communist insurgents in the
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Spanish Civil War demonstrating the
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power and destruction of his new
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force at Guernica in 1937 the
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anti-common to impact of 1936 with Japan
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aim to limit communist influence and
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especially that of the USSR in 1937
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Italy joined as well forming the axis
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Alliance yet still the world looked on
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and refused to challenge Hitler even
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when he began to move towards unifying
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Germany in Austria again prohibited by
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the Treaty of Versailles there was no
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international response other than a
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suggestion from Britain's Lord Halifax
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that Britain would not resist Germany
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uniting with Austria with the Angelus
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therefore completed in 1938 after a
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plebiscite watched over by Nazi troops
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returned a result of 99.75 percent of
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all Austrians wishing to unite with
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Germany the nation soldiers weapons and
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natural resources were absorbed by the
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ever expanding Reich yet Hitler had
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again defied the Treaty of Versailles
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with no response from either Britain or
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France it was beginning to appear that
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whatever Hitler did Britain and France
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would just sit and watch they were
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simply not prepared to go to war to stop
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Hitler getting what he wanted
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thus appeasement which arguably began
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with the anglo-german naval agreement in
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1935 was the policy adopted by the
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Western powers throughout the 1930s
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there are a number of arguments for and
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against Neville Chamberlain's adoption
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of this policy of giving Hitler what he
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wanted but will just cover a couple of
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them here firstly as suggested by
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Britain's responses to some of Hitler's
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moves against the Treaty of Versailles
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many people felt that it was unfair to
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Germany and that it was justified in
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seeking changes to the treaty after all
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Versailles had ended the Great War and
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attempting to stop Hitler could have led
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both Britain and France back into
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another war even if it meant allowing
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Hitler to rebuild his strength could
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they afford such a war anyway even if
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they did fight it both Britain and
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France were suffering the effects of the
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depression and needed to use their
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finances to sort out their own internal
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problems first rather than worrying
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about upholding in turn
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treaty's they also knew that the USA
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wouldn't have stepped in to stop Hitler
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anyway after all it was America who had
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encouraged the founding of the League of
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Nations but then refused to become a
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part of it without America's help it was
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unlikely that Britain and her allies
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would have been strong enough to fight
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the rearmed Germany at the very least
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Britain itself would need time to build
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up its Armed Forces to a level where it
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could successfully engage Nazi Germany
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on the flipside the policy of
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appeasement was risky by refusing to
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stand up to Hitler's early Gamble's
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Britain and France encouraged him to
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take bigger and bigger risks which began
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over time to move away from Hitler
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suppose a dame of correcting the
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unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles
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and towards Nazi domination of countries
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for leoben's realm by assuming also that
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Hitler would honor the promises he made
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later over issues such as the
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Sudetenland Britain and France were
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ultimately trusting a liar it also gave
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Hitler the time to build up his army and
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readiness for war meaning that Britain
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and France would have a lot of catching
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up to do if they really were to stand up
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to him effectively all this is easy to
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say now however due to the gift of
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hindsight it would have been impossible
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for people at the time to have known
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what was to come
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by 1938 then Hitler's confidence was
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growing as all his previous challenges
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to the Treaty of Versailles had come and
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gone without interference from Britain
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or France Czechoslovakia meanwhile was
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beginning to feel very threatened after
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the Anschluss as they felt that they
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would be next on Hitler's list I give
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you my word of honor Hitler told
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Chamberlain that Czechoslovakia has
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nothing to fear from the Reich he lied
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Hitler intended to regain some territory
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lost at Versailles which contained large
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numbers of German people after
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sympathizers to the Nazis in the
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Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia began
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to stir up trouble and demanding to be
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part of Germany Hitler threatened the
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Czechs with invasion tensions were high
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throughout the summer and so on
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September the 15th the British Prime
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Minister Neville Chamberlain flew to
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Munich to meet with Hitler in the hope
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of avoiding war the talks appeared to go
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well but a week later Hitler increased
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his demands and told Britain that he
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wanted all the Sudetenland Britain began
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to mobilize but a final meeting on the
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29th of September led to Chamberlain
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agreeing that Hitler could have what he
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wanted the whole of the Sudetenland in
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return for a promise of no more
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territorial demands the Declaration
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which Chamberlain claimed would bring
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peace for our time was called the Munich
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Agreement but was ultimately not worth
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the paper it was written on just six
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months later on the 15th of March 1939
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Hitler's troops took over the rest of
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Czechoslovakia he had no excuse this
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time there were no Germans living there
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to unify no parts of the Treaty of
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Versailles to correct this was simply
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German expansion to create Levin's realm
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living space for the people of the Reich
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there was no doubt that war was brewing
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appeasement had clearly failed as
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Hitler's promises dissolved into the air
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the moment he made them it was of little
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surprise therefore that Hitler soon
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moved on to his next target Poland under
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the guise of regaining the Polish
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corridor lost in the Treaty of
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Versailles Britain and France Hitler
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felt were weak and unwilling to risk war
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for the sake of defending a distant
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country Russia meanwhile was less
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predictable and so for this reason
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Hitler forged an alliance with Stalin
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the nazi-soviet pact on the 24th of
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August 1939
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it's ensured that neither side would
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attack each other and secretly agreed to
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divide Poland between the two of them
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for Hitler it cleared the way for an
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invasion of Poland on the 1st of
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September 1939 Hitler didn't expect
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Britain and France to come to Poland's
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aid but they did on the 2nd of September
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they declared war on Germany Hitler's
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belief that Britain would stay out of
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his way was based on his understanding
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of the policy of appeasement he simply
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didn't believe that Chamberlain would
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change his strategy and go to war when
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for the past four years he had agreed to
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every one of Germany's demands some
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historians claim that appeasement was
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the wrong policy because it had
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encouraged Hitler to make ever
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increasing demands that sent the world
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into the Second World War
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others however claimed it to have
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successfully opposed Hitler Chamberlain
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would have needed to drag Britain into
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another war before it was properly ready
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to fight even the people of Britain as
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we discovered earlier were unlikely to
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have supported another war with the
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memories of 1914 18 still fresh in their
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memories Britain's Empire was unlikely
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to lend its own support and America was
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happily keeping itself to itself more
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importantly Britain's own army was not
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ready to engage Hitler in battle
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Hitler's rearmament from 1935 had made
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Nazi Germany considerably stronger than
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Britain and Britain needed to play for
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time to close the gap
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ultimately war broke in 1939 for a
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combination of reasons in your exam you
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may be asked to compare the relative
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importance of different factors or
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choose what you think was most important
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remember that you can't be wrong but you
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can answer badly if you are asked to
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compare a list of given factors make
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sure you include them all and if
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relevant refer to other factors that
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also had a part to play if you believe
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that one factor was more important than
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any other explain why and if you believe
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that factors were interlinked in a
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causal web be sure to explain it good
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luck
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