The Versailles TreatyThe Versailles Treaty

A Weak League of Nations

A Weak League of Nations

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations

The Ineffectiveness of the League of Nations

No control of major conflicts. No progress in disarmament. No effective military force.

“ Failures” of the LON• Manchuria• Rearming of Ger.• Abyssinia Crisis• Sp. Civil War• Rhineland• Axis Pact• Anti-Comintern • Anschluss• Czech Crisis• Sov-Nazi Non Aggression Pact

The “Stab-In-The-Back” TheoryThe “Stab-In-The-Back” Theory

German soldiers are dissatisfied.

Decadence of the Weimar Republic

Decadence of the Weimar Republic

France – False Sense of Security?

France – False Sense of Security?

The MaginotThe MaginotLineLine

France – False Sense of Security?

France – False Sense of Security?

International AgreementsInternational Agreements

Locarno Pact – 1925 France, Germany, Great

Britain, Italy Guarantee existing frontiers Establish DMZ 30 miles deep on

East bank of Rhine River

Refrain from aggression against each other

Kellogg-Briand Pact – 1928 Makes war illegal as a tool of

diplomacy No enforcement provisions

International AgreementsInternational AgreementsWorld Disarmament Conf –

1932

Little Entente– 1921Czech. + Yugo. + Rom.

Stresa Front- 1935

Angelo-German Naval Agreement- 1935

Anti-Comintern Pact- 1936

The Great DepressionThe Great Depression

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

The Manchurian Crisis, 1931

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Japan Invades Manchuria, 1931

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Italy Attacks Ethiopia, 1935

Emperor Haile

Selassie

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

Germany Invades the Rhineland

March 7, 1936

U. S. Neutrality Acts:1934, 1935, 1937, 1939

U. S. Neutrality Acts:1934, 1935, 1937, 1939

America-First Committee

America-First Committee

Charles Lindbergh

Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936Rome-Berlin Axis, 1936

The “Pact of Steel”

Carlists [ultra-Catholic monarchists].

Catholic Church.

Falange [fascist] Party.

Monarchists.

Anarcho-Syndicalists.

Basques.

Catalans.

Communists.

Marxists.

Republicans.

Socialists.

TheNational

Front[Nationalists]

TheNational

Front[Nationalists]

ThePopularFront

[Republicans]

ThePopularFront

[Republicans]

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War:1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The American “Lincoln Brigade”

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

The Spanish Civil War: 1936 - 1939

Francisco Franco

The Spanish Civil War:A Dress Rehearsal for WW II?

The Spanish Civil War:A Dress Rehearsal for WW II?

Italian troops in Madrid

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

“Guernica” by Pablo Picasso

The Japanese Invasionof China (Nanking), 1937The Japanese Invasion

of China (Nanking), 1937

The Austrian Anschluss, 1938The Austrian Anschluss, 1938

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

The “Problem” of theSudetenland

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Appeasement: The Munich Agreement, 1938

Now we have “peace in our time!” Herr Hitler is a man we can do

business with.

British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain

• Munich Conference 1938– Mussolini hosted– Hitler, Chamberlain and

Daladier– Mussolini presents plan

(written by German Foreign office)

– Germany receives the Sudetenland

– Sovereignty for rest of Czechoslovakia is guaranteed by the four nations

– Czechs told if they resist they would receive no help from British or French

• Appeasement– Avoiding war with

aggressive powers by giving in to their demands (provided they were not too unreasonable)

– Two distinct phases

–Phase 1 Mid 1920s to 1937•Vague feeling that war must be avoided at all costs

•Britain and France accept various acts of aggression and violations of Versailles

–Phase 2 1937 – 1939•When Neville Chamberlain becomes Prime Minister he gives appeasement new life

•He hoped to find out what Hitler wanted and show him that reasonable claims can be gained by negotiation and not force

– Justification for Appeasement

– It was thought essential to avoid war (Britain had a strongly pacifistic public)

– Many felt Germany and Italy had justifiable grievances

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

Czechoslovakia Becomes Part of the Third Reich: 1939

• March 1939 Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

– With heavy industry and fortifications lost Czechs were in chaos

– Hitler pressures Czech president into asking for German help “to restore order”

• What role did appeasement play in international affairs 1933-1939?

– Profound effect on way international relations developed

– Many historians believe it convinced Hitler of complacency and weakness of Britain and France

– Mainly a British policy, French are not always in agreement

•Six samples of Appeasement at work–No action taken to check obvious German rearmament

–The Anglo-German Naval Agreement

–Half-hearted British action against the Italian invasion of Abyssinia

– The French did not mobilize their troops when the Germans remilitarized the Rhineland

– Neither Britain nor France intervened in the Spanish Civil War

– Britain and France strongly protested Anschluss but inaction encouraged Hitler to make demands on Czechoslovakia

• Hitler wants to destroy Czechoslovakia as part of Lebensraum

• His excuse was that the Sudeten Germans were being discriminated against (3.5 million)

• Poland– April 1939 Hitler demands

the return of Danzig and the Polish Corridor

– Not really an unrealistic demand but after Czechoslovakia no one believed this was all he wanted

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

The Nazi-SovietNon-Aggression Pact, 1939

Foreign Ministers von Ribbentrop &

Molotov

•Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (Molotov – von Ribbontrop Pact)

•Divide Poland between the two nations

•With Soviets neutral Hitler did not believe Britain or France would intervene

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Poland Attacked: Sept. 1, 1939

Blitzkrieg [“Lightening War”]

German Troops March into Warsaw

German Troops March into Warsaw

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, 1940

The Tripartite Pact