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Outbreak of WW2 in Europe - Coggle Diagram
Outbreak of WW2 in Europe
Reasons for War in Europe
Rise of Authoritarian Regime
Economic Problems - Authoritarian Govt. are more agressive & prone to war - Trade war=>Economic Hardship=>Rise of Authoritarian Govt. (E.g. Germany & Italy)
Failure of League of Nations in 1930s
Italian Challenge to Peace (Benito Mussolini)
In 1934, a border dispute between the Italian Eritrea & Abyssinia caused Italy to want to invade and attack Abyssinia.
Emperor of Abyssinia asked the LON to help. All LON did was to stop the export of Rubber & Metal to Italy and not Oil. Britain also failed to stop the Italian troops sailing through the Suez Canal
Britain & France started secret talks with Italy
To give Italy 2/3 of Abyssinia if Italy agreed to not starting war.
Plan was abandoned when news of it was leaked and the pressure by British & France public, forces it to be dropped.
Italy with the help of Germans, was able to attack and conquer Abyssinia. Drew Closer to Hitler
Significance: LON lost its credibility
as a organisation to resolve international conflicts without war
Failure to dissuade Countries from Arm-race/Failure of Disarmament
1932 Disarmament Conference in Geneva
Disarmament concerning the types of offensive weapons to reduce.
France refused to disarmament as it was afraid of attacks by Germany (Memory of WW1)
Germany claims that since no one wanted to disarm to her level (TOV), then it has every right to arm herself. Her actions alarmed the rest and everyone started to make more weapons.
An arm race had started in Europe making War highly possible.
Selfish act of Bilateral treaties by members caused the breakdown of collective security.
Britain went to the extent of signing a treaty with Germany to allow Germany to have Submarines and to rebuilt the navy to 35% of British's. (even though this would have broken the terms of TOV)
Soon others followed such example.
Policy of Appeasement in 1930s (How war started)
Britain & France practiced appeasement to Germany after 1933.
Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minister 1937 - 1940) - well known for this.
Policy of appeasement was not a good one => Encouraged Hitler
Reasons for Appeasement
Memories of WW1 ( Just fought in it, traumatic )
Britain's other problems (conflict in India and Palestine)
Attitude towards TOV (felt that it was too harsh )
Attitude towards Hitler (thought that he was a reasonable man,
would stop demanding soon enough)
Attitude towards Communism
Lack of support from USA
Appeasement in Action
Anschluss with Austria, March 1938
Move was against TOV
Faced resistance from Italy in early 1930s
By 1938, Mussolini was now a friend of Hitler, did not
oppose
France and Britain only made verbal protest
(appeasement in action)
Until end of WWII
Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland Crisis, September 1938
Czech shared border with Austria, now with the merger of Germany with Austria,
Czech sharing border with Germany
Czech was a prosperous c’try, strong but small army=> no match for Hitler’s.
Moreover it has ethnic diversity, Hitler exploited this
Germans in Sudetenland were stirred, created problems for the Czech
Government
Munich Agreement
Britain and France could see trouble brewing in Sudetenland.
Persuaded Czech to give in to demands of Germans (APPEASEMENT
IN PRACTICE)
Chamberlain made a total of three trips to Germany to meet Hitler to
try and avoid War=> Kept giving concessions
Czech government tried to persuade France and Britain to resist Hitler
but failed.
Third Meeting at Munich 1938 (Munich Conference) Czech were not
allowed to attend.
Without France and Britain’s backing, the Czechs were forced to give in to Hitler’s demands.
France and Britain were happy as war was avoided.
End Of Appeasement
Hitler promised to stop at Sudentenland in Sep 1938.
He he had no intention of keeping his promises. Got what he wanted too easily, knew that B and F will give in to him again when he makes more demands.
March 1939: Invaded Czechoslovakia
He could nolonger pretend that he
was only taking land inhabited by Germans.
Britain and France Promise Poland (Next likely victim ) of support.
Hitler, in-spite of British and French support for Poland, demanded the Polish Corridor and Danzig to be handed over (Taken from GR in 1919)
Hitler thought that Poland was too far from France and Britain and that there would be little that they can do to help Poland.
Polish were determined to resist his advances => War.
5am, Sep 1939: began bombing of Poland
6am: German troops moved into Poland
Believed that B and F not sincere in their support for Poland as F had betrayed her ally Czech before.
Alignment of Axis Powers
Originally Mussolini was suspicious of Hitler
Hitler needed friends to prevent Anglo-French
alliance from becoming too powerful
Italy fighting in Abyssinia => French and Britain were critical about Italy => On the other hand, Hitler did not condemn Mussolini like the others
Rome-Berlin Axis agreement signed in 1936
1936-7 Anti-Comintern Pact
(Italy-1937/Japan/Germany)
Japanese Govt similar ideas as Nazis (Germany) and Fascists (Italy)
The Axis Alliance
Conclusion:
By 1938, Germany’s position was strengthened.
(Arm Forces/ Allies/ Broken TOV)
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Laying the grounds for war=> Hitler decided to get Russian neutrality in a war with Poland
The two c’try would split the “booty”. Both will get
back what they lost in WWI.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact allowed Hitler to risk war with France and Britain without having to worry about fighting Russia.
Stalin was happy with the agreement and refused to support France and Britain when he was approached
by them.
Hitler's/Nazi Germany's Agressive Foreign Policies
Rearmament: Resented TOV, which limited German Arm Forces
Regaining the Saar - Agreed Vote in 1935 in the Saar, in accordance to the TOV. Mainly Germans=>voted to join Germany, leave LON rule
Advancing into the Rhineland, 1936 - Troops moved into DMZ. Hitler gambled on little resistance, he was correct. B & F were preoccupied with Abyssinia
In 1933, left LON. In 1934, walked out of disarmament Conference at LON. - Sign that it no-longer wants to be bounded by international agreements.
Increase in Military spending
Conscripition (NS) 1935, this policy found favor with population as it bought employment.
Britain and France declared War on Germany=> WWII
had begun.
Could War have been avoided in
Europe?
No
Rise of Authoritarian Rule in Germany and Italy
Acts of aggression by these countries, especially Germany led by
Hitler
Alignment of the Axis power
Weaknesses of the League of Nation
Appeasement by Britain and France
Yes
If Britain and France was willing to take the lead in stopping the
aggression of Italy and especially of Germany in the earlier stages
If Soviet Union did not sign the non-aggression pact with Germany
If there was a fairer TOV then Hitler would not have had the chance to
come to power
If there was collective security in the League of Nations