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MODERN WORLD HISTORY

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 1900-1939

Road to World War Two

Hitler's aims and actions





HITLER'S AIMS AND ACTIONS



Easy to blame Hitler for starting the war:



Hitler's aims were aggressive, and were openly stated in his book "Mein Kampf" in 1924:

1. destroy the Treaty of Versailles

2. Create a Greater Germany (a country of all the Germans)

3. Lebensraum (living space) to conquer land for Germany in Eastern Europe



Once he came to power, Hitler started doing exactly what he had said he would do:

- 1935

   ~ rearmament

- 1936

   ~ remilitarisation of the Rhineland

- 1938

   ~ anschluss with Austria

    ~ annexation of the Sudetenland

- 1939

   ~ invasion of Czechoslovakia

   ~ invasion of Poland

HITLER'S ACTIONS TO 1939



1. 1933: LON

- Hitler leaves the LON

2. 1934: Austria

- Hitler tries to take power in Austria

- Austrian Nazis murder the chancellor, Dolfuss

- Italy moves its army to the border

.: Hitler backs down

3. 1935: Saar

- as planned in the Treaty of Versailles (Saar given to France for 15 years)

   ~ people of Saar vote to return to Germany

4. 1935: Rearmament

- Hitler increases the size of German army to half a million members

- Britain, France and Italy do nothing

5. 1935: Anglo-German Naval Treaty

- Britain signs an agreement to allow Germany a navy one-third of the size of Britain's

.: helps Germany break the Treaty of Versailles

6. 1936: Rhineland

- German troops re-occupy the Rhineland

- given orders to retreat if France offers any resistance

- France does nothing

7. 1936: Guernica

- German bombers helping the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War

- Hitler tests his armed forces -- German bombers bomb the Spanish town of Guernica

.: civilians in Britain and France are frightened

8. 1937: Anti-Comintern Pact

- Alliance of Germany, Japan and Italy against communism

9. 1938: Anschluss

- Hitler occupies Austria

   ~ encourages he Austrian Nazis to demand a union with Germany

   ~ invades when the Austrian chancellor announces a vote to see what Austrians want

   ~ after German invasion, 99% of Austrians vot "Ja"

- Britain and France do nothing

10. 1938: Sudetenland

- Hitler bullies France and Britain into giving him the Sudetenland

11. 1939: Czechoslovakia

- Hitler invades Czechoslovakia and takes control

12. 1939: Poland

- Hitler invades Poland and provokes World War II

The above information was taken from a BBC website: BBC - GCSE Bitesize, from the History Section