1. Unit 14 Part 3 The Road to World War II

2. ADOLF HITLER ADOLF HITLER

3. The Night of the Long Knives  June 30-July 2 1934: Hitler purges the SA and their leader Ernst Roehm –They had become too powerful (1 mil active and 2 mil reserves) and posed a threat to the regular army –1,000 people murdered without trials (Carried out by Heinrich Himmler and the SS)  August 2,1934 Hindenburg dies and Hitler combines the positions of Chancellor and President

4. The Police State and Anti-Semitism  Anti-Semitic laws –1933: Jews excluded from civil service and Jewish shops are boycotted –1935: The Nuremberg Laws took away citizenship (legal exclusion and humiliation) –1938: Kristallnacht The beginning of state sanctioned violence against the Jews. Synagogues and shops burned

5. Hitler’s inner circle –Herman Goehring (Luftwaffe) –Ernst Roehm (SA) –Heinrich Himmler (SS) –Karl Doenitz (U-Boats; Kriegsmarine)  Fuhrer # 2 –Joseph Goebbels  (Propaganda minister)

6. Himmler Goehring Heydrich Doenitz

7. THE GERMAN MILITARY STRUCTURE THE GERMAN MILITARY STRUCTURE  GERMAN MILITARY: THE “WERMACHT”  COMPONENTS: –“HEER”: GERMAN ARMY (INFANTRY, ARMOR, ARTILLERY, etc.) –“LUFTWAFFE”: GERMAN AIR FORCE (including airborne /paratrooper units) –“WAFFEN – SS”: SS COMBAT UNITS (infantry, armor, military police) – SERVED IN COMBAT ALONG W/ ARMY –“KRIEGSMARINE”: GERMAN NAVY –POINTS OF NOTE:

8. The Road to WW II  Hitler’s goals laid out in Mein Kampf –Unite all Aryan people, Lebenstraum, slavs) –Rid Germany of the Jews  Germany re-arms –Stopped reparation payments in 1933 –1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations –Signed a non-aggression pact with Poland (undermined France’s ability to contain Germany) –March 1935: Hitler formally renounced the Treaty by forming the air force (Luftwaffe) under Herman Goehring and conscripting a 250,000 man army

9. The League of Nations Fails  Japan grabbed Manchuria and they did nothing  Germany rearms they took no action  Italy attacked Ethiopia and their Emperor Haile Selassie in October of 1935 –Used poison gas to restore the Imperial “Glory” of Rome and distract from problems at home avenge loss in 1896 (1 million died from 1936-1941)

10. Remilitarization of the Rhineland  Hitler makes this decision based on the impotence of the League of Nations in the Ethiopian problem –March 7, 1936 marched troops into the Rhineland  Appeasement begins –Britain would not support any action and France could not stand alone (FEAR) –Great opportunity to stop him and no one did anything

11. Austria and the Anschluss  Hitler had attempted a Nazi coup in Austria in 1934 but was stopped when Mussolini moved troops to the Austrian border –1938: There was a new diplomatic situation and Hitler was ready to try again –The Austrian Chancellor called for a vote and Hitler sent his army into Austria on March 12 1938 –After the anschluss France’s ally Czechoslovakia was now surrounded on 3 sides

12. Czechoslovakia  Problems for Hitler: Czechoslovakia was democratic and pro-Western (allied to both France and the USSR)  He concentrates on a region known as the Sudetenland (3.5 mil Germans) –The Nazi party in this area continually demanded concessions from the Czech government –May of 1938 tensions were running high based on the rumor of a German attack (riot in September after a speech in Germany)

14. The Munich Conference  September 29 th 1938: Mussolini called for a meeting in Munich of Germany, Italy, GB and France (Edourd Daladier) to settle the Sudetenland question –Germany received everything they asked for and the Czechs lost their buffer German attack –Hitler promised that he had “no more territorial demands to make in Europe” –Neville Chamberlain of GB announces that they have achieved peace with honor and peace in our time” –Problem: Russia was not invited which cut them out of the anti-Hitler loop (led to non-aggression pact) –March 15 th 1939 Hitler violates the agreement and takes the rest of Czechoslovakia

15. Poland  The next target for Hitler was the formerly German city of Danzig on the Baltic Which was run by the League of Nations –Also he wanted direct access to East Prussia –Propaganda insisted that Germans were being mistreated by the Poles –March 31 1939 Chamberlain announces the Franco-British Guarantee of Polish independence –However..there was not a lot of support for war to defend Poland in either country (needed Stalin’s help)

17. The Nazi-Soviet Pact  August 23 rd 1939 Hitler and Stalin announce the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression Pact –Divided Poland and allowed the Soviets to occupy the Baltic States and take part of Romania –September 1 st 1939 Hitler invades Poland –September 3 rd Br/Fr declare war on Germany –September 17 th Russia invades Poland (occupied the Baltic States) –November the Russians invade Finland (took 6 months to defeat them)