...1889-1945 Nazi invasion of the Rhineland World War I began mid-1914, and ended with a peace treaty, aptly named “Armistice Day”, which fell on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles had been necessitated as to keep Germany from occupying Rhineland. The treaty was designed to give France an opportunity to regroup to better defend themselves in times of war, and most notably entered into the Versailles Treaty was Article 231, "War Guilt Clause,” which placed blame for WWI on Germany. The article required the defeated Germany to pay reparations to any civilian affected by WWI, to the tune of thirty-three billion in US dollars (valued at that time). Furthermore, the heavy fines were levied to stifle...
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...To what extent was the remilitarisation of the Rhineland a threat to European peace in the 1930s? To some extent, the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was not a threat as there was no war outbreak, because there was no threat of a war, Britain and France made what was happening in Abyssinia their main priority. They did not want to waste their time with Germany “walking into their own back garden.” Also, Britain had originally thought that the Treaty or Versailles was too tough on Germany and the Treaty was made such a while back; Britain wanted to move on and didn’t see what the issue was with Hitler moving his troops into the Rhineland despite it going against what was allowed. On the other hand, the remilitarisation of the Rhineland was a threat to an extent as it gave Hitler so much confidence. Hitler was at first testing the waters, wanting to see if Britain or France would stop him but once they didn’t, it gave him the confidence and make him feel even more unstoppable. If Britain or France had stopped him then he would have realised his attempts to go against the Treaty of Versailles wouldn’t go as planned. Because they didn’t, Hitler now thinks he is able to go through with more and more of his plans and initially breaking more and more rules. He’s now able to able to take over more land as his confidence grows; realising Britain and France aren’t going to do much to stop...
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...APPEASEMENT OF GERMANY After seizing power in Germany, Hitler set in place an ambitious foreign policy that aimed to undo the effects of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler wanted to: * re-take control of the territories that it had lost at Versailles, such as the Rhineland * re-arm its military forces - something forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles * expand its borders to provide Lebensraum (living space) for its population * unite all the German-speaking people of Europe under the control of Nazi Germany * Hitler was prepared to gamble that the other European powers would be reluctant to go to war to stop him. WHAT WAS APPEASEMENT After 10 million deaths in the First World War, many countries were determined to prevent any future conflict. In the 1920s the League of Nations tried to follow the idea of collective security: * the idea that countries acting together could discourage aggression and, if necessary, act together to stop aggressors. * This was not very successful as it proved hard for all the countries in the League of Nations to agree on a common policy. As a result a second idea was considered. Appeasement was a policy adopted by Britain during the 1930s. * This policy developed from the growing belief that some countries, especially Germany, had been unfairly treated in the peace settlement of 1918-1919. * When they began to demand aggressively that some terms in the Versailles treaty be...
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...answer “bad” and the second answer “good”. Things to think about: * Does it focus on the question? How do you know if it is focusing on the question? * Does it answer the question, e.g. does it focus on explanation or description, and does it come to a conclusion about which bullet point was most important? * Does it include irrelevant material, e.g. things which happened before or after the dates mentioned in the question? * Does the structure of the answer affect its quality? If so, how? * Is there anything good about the bad answer? Bad answer Hitler aimed to overturn the Treaty of Versailles, unite German speakers, conquer Lebensraum and defeat communism. In 1936 he marched his troops into the Rhineland. Britain and France could have stopped him but they didn’t because they were distracted by the Abyssinian Crisis and by their own economic problems. Then in March 1938 Hitler united Germany...
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...Britain didn’t intervene when Germany remilitarised Rhineland for a few reasons. One being that relations with Germany had vastly improved since the Versailles and Locarno treaty. With Germany not being considered a great threat to European peace. We know this as Germany had a restricted amount of troops (100,000) and no air force under the Versailles treaty. This tells us Britain didn’t intervene when Germany remilitarised the Rhineland they were presumed not to be a threat. Another reason is that British Government agreed with Public opinion of that its German land so why can’t they occupy it. We know this was the case as a taxi driver once said to Chamberlain, that Germany was only marching into “their own backyard”. Considering the public opinion was for pacifism they would agree to do nothing and therefore the Government would follow suit to keep supports happy. My third reason for Baldwin not acting upon Germany was because he didn’t know that Hitler would have withdrew his troops if France or Britain had taken action upon Germany. We know this because many historians discovered that Hitler once told a group of guest whilst having dinner soon after the event. Although Hitler was renowned for over exaggerating or lying to make Germany sound greater or other countries weaker as historians also discovered. My final point is that Britain were already following an approach of appeasement towards Hitler’s Germany. This is to keep the peace and try and use him as a “strongman...
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...that gave Hitler authoritarian power. Tyranny must be fought when it first occurs as it is a virus that can spread if it is not eliminated. As Winston Churchill said, “I have always held the view that keeping peace depends on holding back the aggressor.” Unfortunately, Churchill’s predecessor believed in appeasement and diplomatic means when dealing with Germany, choosing not to believe that Germany had “made up its mind to dominate the world by fear” already. Unfortunately, by the time Great Britain, France, and Italy, had no choice but to knowledge this, plunging into WWII was their only chance of stopping Germany and Adolf Hitler’s reign of terror. There were many instances where one would hope that the international community would step in. The League of Nations was created by the Treaty of Versailles. However this organization did not react to earlier similar aggressions. For example,Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935. Haile Selassie was the emperor of Ethiopia at the time. He approached the League of Nations and asked them to defend them with military sanctions. They did nothing. Selassie’s response was that “God and history will remember your...
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...Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Finland, Hungary and Austria (Marshall, 478). It took them all of two months until mid-March when the Allies finally knew what to do with Germany. As the French and British wanted, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles would expose Germany to harsh punishments. Few of these terms consisted that Germany had to deplete its army to 10,000 volunteer men, destruction of all U-boats and left with six German battleships, the surrender of small amounts of German territory to Belgium, take all the blame for starting the war, and to pay for all reparations by themselves. Also they couldn't form union or anything with Austria, and they had to relieve the Rhineland of any military force because believed that if the Germans occupied Rhineland it would mean danger for the future of Europe (Meyer, 614). Woodrow Wilson would learn all the views of all the nations as he settled to view the talk. He built in the creation of the League of Nations, which was believed to prevent future wars. On June 16th, Germany was informed that they had a deadline of three days to sign the treaty, which was then push to 7 more days on June 23rd. If not the Allies would do the necessary steps to force them to sign. Allied agents reported that it was most certain that Germany would not accept the conditions of the Treaty. On June 20th Brockdorff-Rantzau quit as the head of the German de legacy and left politics all over The German population was not with the...
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...government, and did used violence against opponents in parliament. Adolf Hitler took the strategy of Mussolini’s to rise in power. Hitler was so angered and frustrated about the surrendering of Germany in World War. Hitler’s rise was assisted by the world’s depression, which was much worse in Germany due to the treaty of Versailles. Hitler became more popular because he was able to end the depression in Germany. He did this by ensuring that massive public projects, like road, and by using more government money on the military production of tanks, airplanes, and other goods. Productivity increased with unemployment decreased, and this helped to solve the economic crises. b) The British Government, wanted to help the Germans recover from it suffering so the slump was introduced. The slump came in...
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...although forcible acquisition of Lebensraum was mainly the goal of Hitler and his Nazis. Since the beginning of Hitler’s career up until the day he was dying Lebensraum was what really fueled Hitler to do the things he did. Though he could not just start by taking the land he wanted, Hitler had to openly violate the Treaty of Versailles to start his campaign and gain even more support from the German peoples. When WWI ended and the Treaty of Versailles was signed, Germany was angered. Reparations killed the German economy, land was lost, and Germany had to assume full responsibility for the war (The War Guilt Clause). Hitler said the treaty was “the greatest villainy of the century” and used it to gain power in Germany by promising to get her land back, and to stop the payment of reparations. Hitler’s first act against the treaty was in March of 1935, by introducing compulsory military conscription in Germany, and rebuilding the armed forces, after Goering announced the formation of the Luftwaffe. With Hitler’s stronger armed forces he and the Nazi’s reoccupied the Rhineland, a demilitarized zone along the Rhine River in western Germany. When this happened France and Britain did nothing; France was between governments at the time, and Britain was weak in her forces. Hitler took from this that he could get away with more aggressive actions because of Britain and Frances’ being weak. Once Hitler reoccupied the Rhineland, he was ready to fully implement the next phase of Lebensraum...
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...Hitler, Mussolini and the British, 1935-36 The year 1935 began with the question of Germany getting back its coal producing Saar region – a region just south of independent Luxembourg, and about as big. The treaty that had ended World War I, signed at Versailles, had entrusted the Saar region to the League of Nations and an occupation by France, and a plebiscite was to decide the region's future. A little over two thousand people (0.4 percent) in the Saar voted to join France; nine percent voted to remain under the League of Nations; and ninety percent voted to join Germany. Hitler responded by saying he was proud of the German people. He announced that Germany had no more territorial claims against France (in other words no claim on Alsace and Lorraine) and he spoke of hope that the decision regarding the Saar was a decisive step on the road to gradual reconciliation with Germany's former enemies. Instead of moving closer to reconciliation, as the year progressed Europe moved closer to war. In 1935 Britain announced an increase in armaments, and the French increased conscripted military service from one to two years because of a shortage of young men of draft age. Hitler said he was responding to the failure of other European powers to disarm and to the Soviet Union having enlarged its military forces. He announced to the world that Germany was rearming, that he was establishing military conscription, enlarging Germany's army to thirty-six divisions and increasing Germany's...
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...Hitler’s plans- Abolish the Treaty of Versailles – Hitler hated the Treaty and called people who signed it November Criminals., and was a living reminder of the losses in WWI; and that when Hitler came into power he would reverse ToV., and he stopped paying reparations. Expanding Territory- Hitler wanted to reclaim territory, and Anschluss with Austria., and German minorities to rejoin Germany, and give more lebensraum (living space.) Defeat Communism – A German empire carved out of Soviet Union would help Hitler to defeat communism, because Bolsheviks had brought the defeat of Germany in WWI, and believed they wanted control of Germany. Rearmament After coming into power in 1933, Hitler began to rearm, while thousands of unemployed joined the army reducing unemployment., a v large problem, and allowed him to deliver on his promise to make Germany great again, challenging ToV. He knew Gs supported rearmament, but others would not, so he rearmed secretly. He then chose to leave the league, following Japans example. 1935, Hitler formed a rally celebrating German armed forces, and in 36 reintroduced conscription, breaking the ToV and was getting away with it, in this point many other countries were using rearmament to fight unemployment. Failure of disarmament conference meant that other nations were not prepared to disarm. Hitler knew Britain had sympathy with Germany over armament, and the limits on Germany were too strict, and that Germany could be a good ally against...
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...Germany re-militarised the Rhineland in 1936? After World War 1, Germany was forced to sign a document known as the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty prohibited a lot of things that Germany had such as taking away land mass and reducing military size. One of the things that were banned was the ability to field a military force in the Rhineland. One of the reasons that Britain did not want to intervene when Germany re-militarised the Rhineland is that relations with Germany had improved vastly since the imposition of the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaty, with Germany not being considered a great threat to European peace despite the rhetoric of Hitler and the Nazi regime. So it would have been counterproductive to intervene when relations where getting a lot better and would possibly have led to another war. Another reason that Britain did not intervene when Germany re-militarised the Rhineland was because the British government was already following a policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany which was started by Neville Chamberlain. He believed that following this policy which meant giving Nazi Germany what they wanted would ease them into good relations so that they would not take revenge on Britain and France, this was a very popular at the time but obviously from hindsight it did not work. Furthermore, the government shared the view with many in Britain that Germany was entitled to reoccupy its ‘own back-yard’. Due to the Rhineland being a part of Germany...
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...History Revision Peace-making and the League of Nations The French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau wanted Germany punished for all the humiliation France had suffered in the past. Clemenceau wanted Germany to pay for the cost of the War, the damage and also wanted guarantees that it would never happen again. He wanted the Rhineland to be handed over to France and Alsace-Lorraine to be returned. Large areas of France had been destroyed and everyone blamed it on Germany. Some French Politicians wanted Germany totally destroyed. However Great Britain had not suffered to the same degree as France had during the war, but Britain had to pay an enormous cost for victory. The British people expected Germany to pay for the effects of the war. When it came to the Treaty of Versailles, the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George didn’t want Germany to be punished too hard, but be allowed to recover. The USA had not suffered any damage during the war. The President of the USA Woodrow Wilson arrived in Europe in 1918. His aim was to keep World Peace and to ensure that war could never break out again. So he decided to come up with his ‘Fourteen points’, one which suggested to set up the League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles was set up on the 28th of June 1919. The Germans were horrified with the Treaty as they considered it too harsh. They wanted to start another war, but it was impossible. The Germans expected that the Treaty would be based upon Woodrow Wilson’s ‘Fourteen points’...
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...is not a peace treaty, it is an armistice for 20 years” - Ferdinand Foch because it never did end the war, only stopped it for a while then led to a new war, a greater one. The treaty simply put too much loss on Germany which caused the civilians to suffer. This is when Hitler stepped in, he lolled the people into a sense of safety, so they followed him. What he had created in Germany is what caused the beginning of the Second World War, the peoples need for comfort and Hitler’s promise of it. The main points of the treaty of Versailles where to destroy Germany's military it accomplished this by reducing its army to 100000 men and no tanks, reducing their navy and not being permitted to build any submarines and having no air force. To return land including Alsace-Lorraine and all its colonies in Africa, china and the pacific islands. Their Rhineland was to be dematerialized causing a lot of financial loss, as well as they had to pay 33billion (US) in reparations. Union with Austria was forbidden and Germany had...
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...The Paris Peace Conference The Paris Peace Conference, convened to build a lasting peace after World War I, approved the proposal to create the League of Nations (French: Société des Nations, German: Völkerbund) on 25 January 1919.[24] The Covenant of the League of Nations was drafted by a special commission, and the League was established by Part I of the Treaty of Versailles. On 28 June 1919,[25][26] 44 states signed the Covenant, including 31 states which had taken part in the war on the side of the Triple Entente or joined it during the conflict. Despite Wilson's efforts to establish and promote the League, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1919,[27] the United States did not join the League. Opposition in the U.S. Senate, particularly from Republican politicians Henry Cabot Lodge and William E. Borah, together with Wilson's refusal to compromise, ensured that the United States would not ratify the Covenant." In other words it was created BECAUSE of WW1, to premote the peice and stop anything like that from happening again. "Germany expected a treaty based on these fourteen points. However, negotiations between the 'big four' Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson of America did not go smoothly. Wilson believed that his fourteen points was the only way to secure everlasting peace. The French however, wanted the defeated nations to be punished severely and believed Wilson's plan too lenient. Privately...
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