Aggression, Appeasement & War
Chap 15: Section 4Ms. Garratt
CSS: 10.8. thru 10.9.1
What are the causes of world
unrest?
What is the purpose of the
hose?
The Rising Sun
• Militarists gain control over gov• Extreme nationalists, imperialists• Co-Prosperity Asian sphere • Manchuria 1931• League of Nations• Nanking 1937• Tripartite Pact (Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis)• Non-Comintern Pact
Rise of Fascism
• Political instability – dissatisfaction with democ• Economic problems • Communist threat• Dissatisfaction with Versailles Treaty• Militant, aggressive nationalism• Imperialist, social Darwinist agenda• Charismatic leaders promising hope• Paramilitary groups & use of violence
Italy Challenges Peace• Italy
– Violated League of Nations (LON) by invading Ethiopia in 1935
– LON voted sanctions but did not withhold oil which fueled their war machine
– Britain allowed Italy to use Suez Canal
– LON did not have military to enforce its will.
– This incident will be the first to show the impotence of the LON
Imperialism: Social Darwinism
Hitler’s Defies Versailles Treaty• 1935 rearmed Germany & Luftwaffe
• 1936 Army marched into Rhineland which was supposed to be buffer between France and Germany
• 1938 Implemented the Anschluss with Austria
• 1938 invades Czechoslovakia
• Neither Western nations nor League of Nations did anything to stop him.
• Hitler saw this as weakness and it gave him the green light to demand even more.
Why Appeasement?• Great Depression
• Brutality of WWI needed to be avoided at all costs
• Britain had always thought that the Versailles terms were too harsh
• France preoccupied with unstable domestic politics
Reaction in the US
• Isolationism
• Nye Committee
• Not part of LON
Rome-Berlin- Tokyo Axis
• Alliance of 3 fascist govs
• Each opposed Soviet communism – Anti-Comintern Pact
• Each had territorial ambitions
• Agreed to regional hegemony
Spanish Civil War
• Franco (fascist) overthrew the democratic gov 1931
• Nazis assisted Franco - was dress rehearsal (Guernica)
• Practiced bombing civilian targets in Guernica
• Franco won and supported Nazis during the war
Picasso’s La Guernica
Nazi Expansion: The Anschluss
• Austrian had German population that he wanted to unite with Germany
• Hitler brought pressure on Austrian gov to removed anti-Nazis from gov & give Chancellorship to Nazi
• Marched in without a single shot.
• Violated Versailles Treaty
Anschluss 1938
The Czechoslovakia Crisis• Hitler demanded the Sudetenland that was taken from
Germany in the Versailles Treaty
Munich Agreement Appeasement• GB & FR went to
Munich to reach an agreement with Hitler
• Czech president, Benes, not even invited.
• Gave Hitler Sudetenland in return for promise that that was last terr demand
Interpret
Neville Chamberlain
• Returned from Munich claiming he has achieved “peace for our time” and that he had “saved Czechoslovakia from destruction and Europe from Armageddon.”
• Winston Churchill comments that “They had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor; they will have war
Sudentenland
Why Appeasement• Great Depression
• Brutality of WWI – Peace at any price (demo gov)
• France plagued with political instability
• Britain felt FR was paranoia & felt the TOV was too harsh.
• Both saw Hitler as a defense against Communism
Did Appeasement Work?
Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939 - Why• Agreement
stipulated:– Not to fight if the
other went to war– They would divide
Poland up
• Why did Hitler need this?
• Why was Stalin desperate for it?
Invasion of Poland 1939
• How did Germany justify the invasion?
• What kinds of military tactics were used?
• How long before Poland surrendered?
• How did this affect British foreign policy?
• How did the USSR benefit from this?
• How did the Nazis treat the Poles & Jews?