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To fight Communism
To get rid of the Treaty of Versailles
Wanted to get rid of the TOV to make Germany strong again and to restore
German pride
To get more land for Germany
Hitlers actions:
Rearmament
Anschluss
Rearmament
But no action was taken against the German troops by France and Britain
Anschluss
In response, Hitler sent his troops to the Austrian border and ordered him
to resign
Anschluss was achieved but no action was taken against Germany
Inherent weaknesses
Alternatively, Britain could prevent Italy from using the Suez Canal to ship
supplies to Abyssinia
But did not do so to avoid a war with Italy
But the Hoare-Laval Plan was abandoned due to public protest in Britain
and France
Significance: the crisis showed that the LON had failed to use collective
security to protect countries from aggression by major powers
Failure of Disarmament
Massive unemployment
Democratic governments failed to reduce unemployment rise of
authoritarian governments
1.
Memories of WWI
Not enough troops to keep order in the colonies and fight a war in Europe
at the same time
5. Buying time to modernise armies
How Appeasement Worked
Reasons for Hitler wanting to control Czechoslovakia:
Rich in resources
Czech President, Edvard Benes believed that Britain and France would stop German
invasion
But British PM, Neville Chamberlain wanted to avoid war and was a firm believer in
appeasement
In Sept 1938, Chamberlain met with Hitler, hoping to defuse the threat of war
The Munich Agreement was signed by Britain, France, Italy and Germany
Czechoslovakia and the USSR were not invited to the Munich Conference
1. Britain ended the policy of appeasement
Hitler did not keep the promises made at the Munich Conference
Stalin felt that Britain and France would not form an alliance with Russia to fight
Germany
For Russia: need not have to fear about German invasion, land in Poland,
time to rebuild military
Increased his desire to also attack Western Europe, leading to the outbreak
of WWII
Hitler believed Britain and France would not go to war over Poland
3.