From Appeasement to War World History

Goals

Aggression goes Unchecked Throughout the 1930’s Mussolini, Hitler, and Japan took aggressive military action with no recourse This was because there was a strong desire to avoid another global war Japan took over Manchuria They then expanded their empire over much of Eastern China This is all while ignoring the League of Nations as they protested Japan’s actions

Hitler and Mussolini Benito Mussolini of Italy, decided to retaliate against Ethiopia for a loss in the battle of Adowa from 1896 Italy was able to easily defeat Ethiopia because of their outdated weapons The League of Nations merely issued citations Hitler built up his military well beyond what he was allowed by the treaty of Versailles He then sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland bordering France, another violation of the treaty Once again, the Western powers stated their displeasure but did nothing They adopted a policy of appeasement, the idea of giving in to the demands of an aggressor in order to keep peace

Keeping the Peace The western powers refused to use military force for a variety of reasons France was suffering from political divisions at home The British had no desire to fight Hitler Some even thought his actions were justifiable The Great Depression had zapped important resources Some thought Hitler’s actions were a way of stopping communism Widespread pacifism, or opposition to all war, and disgust of destruction from WWI still hung large

Keeping the Peace In the mid 1930’s the United States began passing Neutrality Acts These forbade the sale of arms to any nation at war, outlawed loans to warring nations, and prohibited Americans from traveling on ships of warring powers. The fundamental goal of American’s was to stay out of war Seeing the weakness of the western powers Germany Italy and Japan formed the Rome- Berlin-Tokyo Axis These three axis powers agreed to fight Soviet communism together They also agreed to not stop the others territorial expansion

Third Reich Hitler’s goal was to bring all German speaking people into the Third Reich He also wanted to clear living space for those Germans to cohabitate He believed that he “had the right to remove millions of an inferior race that breeds like vermin” In March of 1938, Hitler was ready for the Anschluss, or the unification of Austria and Germany The German Army occupied Austria and Hitler made a speech from the Hofburg Palace, showing his dominance over the people

Third Reich Germany then turned to Czechoslovakia At first he demanded that the Sudetenland, a western region of Czechoslovakia be given autonomy When the western powers did nothing, Hitler demanded that they be annexed At the Munich Conference of 1938, British and French leaders chose appeasement and allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland without a fight He assured them that his plans for expansion were done

Towards War In March of 1939 Hitler broke his promises and took over the rest of Czechoslovakia The western powers then vowed to protect Poland, the next likely target of Hitler IN August of 1939, Hitler signed a non- aggression pact with Joseph Stalin, the leader of Russia The Nazi-Soviet Pact bound Hitler and Stalin to peaceful relations Secretly they had agreed to not fight each other and then divide Poland between the two powers

Towards War This pact was based upon mutual need Hitler wanted a free hand in Poland and to avoid a two front war, Stalin wanted the western powers concentrating on one enemy allowing him to do as he pleased in Russia On September 1, 1939 German forces invaded Poland Two days later, Britain and France declared war on Germany