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WWll in Europe, Hitler Expansionist policies., weakness of the LOn, Major…
WWll in Europe
Hitler Expansionist policies.
Germany withdrawal from the LON and the Geneva conference.
at the Geneva conference, Hitler demanded that France Disarm to the level of armaments that the TOV allowed Germany. Otherwise, Germany should be allowed to rearm to the Level of the French.
When France objected, Hitler used their objections as an excuse to withdraw from both the league and the conference.
This meant that Germany was not bound by the league or obliged to accept that decisions.
This allowed Hitler to pursue his aggressive foreign policy without having to regard to the objections from the league
He took this as an opportunity to rearm Germany, enhancing its military capabilities towards achieving his expansionist aims which were lebensraum, establishing the superior Aryan race and greater Germany
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Hence this brought Germany into direct clashes with other countries thus leading to high tensions in the region and subsequently war in Europe
rearmament
Hitler wanted to restore Germany's pride and strength after the humiliation of the TOV,
From 1933-1934, the Nazi stepped up their secret rearmament program and conscription program but did not announce it to the world till 1935.
Hitler kept emphasising that he was committed to the peace to allay the allies' fears
However, due to the pacifism of the strong European powers and the weakness of the LON, the allies only made verbal protest instead of imposing sanctions on Germany, giving Hitler the freedom to transform Germany into a formidable and dangerous military power.
At the same time, Britain signed the Anglo-German Naval agreement with Hitler allowing Germany a limited build up of its navy
This helped boost Germany military capabilities and helped to boost their war machinery, which further enabled Hitler to carry out his expansionist policies
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This increased tensions, threatened peace in Europe, and eventually brought Germany into direct conflict with the Allies, leading to the outbreak of war in Europe.
remilitarisation of the Rhineland
Hitler violated the TOV by remilitarising the Rhineland. he used the signing of the Franco-soviet pact to justify the remilitarisation as a defence action against possible threats from France and the USSR
The LON condemned Hitler's action but did nothing else as it was distracted by the Abyssinian crisis. Britain sympathized with Germany and had a pacifist mood. While France was holding elections at the time, no French polition wanted to be seen starting a war with Germany.
The inaction of both Britain and France meant that the gamble that Hitler took paid off because his military forces were not very strong then and he had given orders to withdraw troops if there was opposition from France or Britain.
The allies also lost a vital opportunity to check Hitler when his power was still not strong.
Germany's success in remilitarizing the Rhineland boosted his popularity and political status and he gained more support for his expansionist policies.
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This made Hitler bolder in the pursuit of expansionist policy and paved the road to eventual war.
German involvement in the Spanish civil war
Hitler sent soldiers, equipment and warplanes to support the Spanish nationalist forces.
he portrayed himself as the defender of civilization against communism and exploit the fears of Britain and France about the dangers posed by the communist involvement on the republican side of the conflict.
this involvement was designed in part to divert British and French attention from his plans of expanding into Eastern Europe.
It also gave him the opportunity to test out his army and airforce.
despite the governments appeal to the LON< it took no action against Germany.
The lack of intervention by Britain and France strengthened Hitler's view that they were weak and reluctant to stand up against aggression.
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Germany Involvement in the civil war convinced Hitler that Britain and France would not do anything to check huis aggression and this encouraged him to be more aggressive in carrying out further expansion, thus threatening peace and eventually leading to war
The Anschluss (connection)
Germany's union with Austria was Hitler's first concrete step towards expansion of Germany.
Hitler encouraged Austrian Nazis to make trouble and push for Anschluss with Germany
Hitler pressurized the Austrian chancellor into agreeing thus leading to the chancellor unwillingly calling for a plebiscite to see if the people supported the Anschluss
Austrians voted for the union and Germany took over Austria without any conflict. this allowed Hitler to gain valuable resources, such as gold and iron further strengthening Germany's military.
Although the Anschluss was a clear violation of the TOV, Britain and France did not check on Germany annexation, which encouraged Hitler to be even bolder in pursuing his expansionist policy.
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Thus the Anschluss emboldened Hitler to proceed to take over more countries, leading to Germany being in direct conflict with the Allies and eventually to war.
The Sudetenland Crisis and Munich agreement (1)
In line with his plan to create a Greater Germany, Hitler, eyed Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, where the population was largely Germans.
Under the influence of the Nazi party leader in Sudetenland, these Germans demanded to be part of Germany, and Hitler threatened to go to war for the Sudetenland if necessary.
to keep with the policy of Appeasement to avoid waging war in Europe, the leaders of Britain, France along with Hitler and Mussolini signed the Munich Agreement on 29 Sep 1938, Deciding if Germany will gain control of Sudetenland
This was despite Britain and France promising to help Czechslovakia if it was attacked,
the Munich agreement allowed Hitler to gain control of Sudetenland without having to put up a fight.
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This further exposed the weaknesses of the LON in checking aggression and showed Hitler that the League, Britain and France were not a threat to him.
This led to further tensions in Europe and eventually leading to war
Invasion of Czechoslovakia (2)
Despite Hitler promise that Sudetenland will be his last territorial demand. Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia.
This invasion exacerbated tensions between Germany and Britain and proved to British PM Neville chamberlain that Hitler could not be trusted and that appeasement had failed to check his aggression
This signaled the end of chamberlain's policy of appeasement and made Britain resort to using force to check Hitler's agression
Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia led to Britain and France giving Poland their guarantee that they would declare war on Germany if it attacked Poland.
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This heightened tensions in Europe and brought Germany into a direct clash with the Allies thus leading to the outbreak of war in Europe
Signing of the Nazi-soviet Non-aggression pact.
Hitler continued to set his sights on further expansion of Germany. He wanted to take over Poland and hoped that the Nazi-soviet Pact would allow him to do so without having to go to war.
the pact stated that the two countries would not attack each other and would resolve any problems in a friendly manner
a secret protocol in the pact also divided Eastern Europe into Soviet and German spheres of influence.
signing the pact ensured Hitler that Stalin would not intervene in his invasion of Poland and thus removed Hitler's fear of fighting a war on 2 fronts, which could jeopardize his chance of victory.
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This made it easier for Hitler to carry out the invasion of Poland. this gave the green light to take over Poland without Soviet intervention and it was the invasion of Poland that exacerbated tensions between Germany and Allied and started WW2 in Europe.
Invasion of Poland
Hitler demanded the "free city" of Danzig to be part of German as it was a port city and since most of the population was German,
he also wanted a railroad built across the Polish corridor to reconnect Germany with East Prussia,
however, polish leaders distrusted Hitler and feareed the loss of Poland's independence.
Tensions increased between Poland and Germany and when Britain and France tried to negotiate with Hitler, the negotiations broke down. Hitler then invaded Poland on 1 Sept 1939.
The negotiations convinced Hitler that the allies would not declare war on Germany, however Britain and France kept their promise and declared war on Germany on 3 Sept 1939 when Hitler refused to withdraw his troops.
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thus, Hitler invasion of Poland and his refusal to remove German troops from Poland was the immediate cause of war in Europe in 1939
weakness of the LOn
Failure to impose sanctions
Italy invaded Abyssinia, a clear breach of the league's convenant.
Abyssinia appealed to the LON for help. The league failed to take decisive and effective action to stop this act of aggression, thus allowing Italy to conquer Abyssinia by1936.
they were half hearted in imposing economic sanctions on Italy, fearing that it might affect the economic interest of member Countries. This undermined the effectiveness of the sanctions when the delayed ban on the sale of oil to Italy was finally imposed.
Member countries feared that an embargo of oil would mean Italy's alliance with Hitler
despite LON imposing bans on arms sales, loan exports of rubber, tin and metals to Italy, while allowing arms to be sold to Abyssinia, it was not enough to stop Italy from conquering Abyssinia
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other strong deterrents such as closing the Suez canal to prevent Italy shipment of war supplies were also not taken for fear of affecting British economic interest.
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It's failure in imposing such sanctions and concrete steps to stop Italy's takeover showed Hitler and Mussolini that the LON would not stand up to the face of aggression.
Failure to get countries to disarm
disarmament always seen as the most effective way to prevent another war and to establish peace.
in the 1920s and 1930s the LON had limited success in persuading countries to disarm as major powers refused to cooperate and disarm owing to distrust and suspicion.
they were afraid that disarmament would weaken their defenses against aggression and jeopardies their national interest.
Kellogg-Briand Pact
was also a failulre. It was negotiated outside the league that any conflicts would be resolved only by pacifist means. Due to the failure of a clear wayu to enforce the pact, the countries took matters into their own hands and solved conflicts through their own ways which led to higher tensions and war
world disarmament conference
was a failure as Germany insisted on matching with the other countries armament level and France refused to limit their own armament level. Both Britain and USA refused to commit to a level requested by France. Not only that but Germany withdrew from both the conference and LON
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Thus the league of nations' failure in getting the countries to disarm meant that their powerful countries still had the military capacity for war and that there was no deterrent to stop them from engaging in conflicts
This contributed to an atmosphere of distrust and tension paving the road to war in Europe.
Major powers acting on their own
due to the ineffectiveness of the LON, major powers like Britain and France had to take matters into their own hands
British and French foreign minister proposed a secret plan to give Mussolini 2/3 Abyssinia in return for his stopping the invasion.
this meant that the league was not consulted which was a breach of the Kellogg-briand pact.
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this undermined the credibility and ability in maintaining the world peace and was a failure of the Lon as they were not able to get the major powers to cooperate.