Jenna Barker Sara Baker Mr. Rozell Block 4B

Jenna Barker
Sara Baker
Mr. Rozell
Block 4B
Neville Chamberlain, Britain’s prime
minister, felt that Germany was treated
unfairly after WWI, and that they had
grievances that needed to be
addressed.
Neville believed that if he catered to
demands of Hitler and Mussolini, Britain
could avoid another European war.
Neville firmly believed that if he catered to the demands of
Hitler and Mussolini, Britain could fully avoid another war in
Europe.
This policy became known as “appeasement”, which is
defined as “the policy of granting concessions to potential
enemies to maintain peace.”
Overall, communism was dreaded more (by capitalists) than
Nazism. Even though Chamberlain feared Hitler, he feared
communism and revolution more. Hitler was the “lesser of
two evils”.
Communism was abhorred because it destroyed established
order, caused famines, Red Terrors, as well as fear and
violence among people of different nationalities.
Soon after the end of WWI, a
strict leader named Benito
Mussolini set up authoritarian
rule in Italy.
In 1935, a border dispute between the Italian Eritrea and Ethiopia
caused Italy to invade and attack Ethiopia without an official
declaration of war.
This went against what the League of Nations stood for and they
quickly declared Italy an aggressor.
In response to this, the League simply lifted the minor sanctions
they had placed on Italy, but did not take any truly effective action.
Their true concern at the time was with Germany, not Italy.
As leader of Germany and head of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler made
many violations of the Treaty of Versailles…
Military expansion was only allowed 100,000 men, and Hitler tripled
the allowed capacity.
Hitler also constructed the Anschluss, uniting Germany and Austria.
After Hitler became chancellor, demand grew for the unification of
Austria and Germany.
On March 13th, 1938, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, head of the Austrian
Nazi Party, asked the German Army to occupy Austria.
The uniting of Austria and the new German Republic was called
Anschluss, and it was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles.
Germany refused to pay reparations under the “War Guilt Clause” in
1933.
Along with military expansion, Hitler also began to rearm his country,
which put military hardware at high demand.
Hitler also sent troops into Rhineland in 1936.
Interesting enough, the Allies did nothing in response.
Czechoslovakia had become a nation in 1919. It
was birthed out of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire, and was full of ethnic diversity:
3,200,000 Germans
7,450,000 Czechs
2,300,000 Slovaks
720,000 Magyars
560,000 Ruthenes
100,000 Poles
The Germans in Czechoslovakia created the Sudeten Germans
Peoples’ Party, which demanded that their western region
(Sudetenland) be put under German control.
The Czech government denied them; the SGPP gained Hitler’s
support.
Negotiations were made during three separate conferences over the
placement of Sudetenland.
During the first meeting at Bertesgaden, it was agreed that any area
that was more than 50% German should be given to Germany.
During the second conference at Bad Godesberg, Hitler demanded
German troops occupy Sudetenland. He also wanted lands with
majorities of Poles and Magyars be returned to Poland and Hungary.
The Munich Conference was the third of the three meetings held to
negotiate who the territory should go to.
The leaders of Britain, Italy, France and Germany who met here,
decided that Sudetenland be given over to the Germans
immediately…without consulting the Czechs.
The Czechs were told that if they wanted to keep the territory,
they would have to fight Germany alone.
On October 1st 1938, Czech frontier guards abandoned post
and the German troops now occupied the Sudetenland.
Polish and Hungarian troops took areas of Czechoslovakia
which contained the majority of Poles and Magyars.
The treaty violations, the Czech crisis, the Anschluss,
and the actions that Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini
were taking all planted the roots for WWII.
Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement was not as
successful as he had hoped, for once again Britain and
the world were on the road to war…
1.) How did Mussolini challenge the League of Nations, and what
was the response?
2.) List several ways that Hitler violated the treaty of Versailles.
3.)What was the Anschluss, and the Czech crisis?
4.) What happened at the Munich Conference?
5.) What is appeasement? What did the fear of communism have to
do with the policy of appeasement?
Appeasement
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWappeasement.htm
Accessed 5/28/03
-Definitely the best site we found, it gave us LOADS of great information as well as
pictures. It was complete.
Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com
Accessed 5/29/03
-Used to get definition of “appeasement”.
How The Versailles Treaty Was Ineffective At Preventing
World War II
http://www.essaybank.co.uk/free_coursework/2304.html
Accessed 5/29/03
-This site helped us with Hitler and the Versailles violations.
Czechoslovakia And The Crisis Of 1938
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/czechoslovakia_1938.htm
Accessed 5/29/03
-Great information on the Czech Crisis and the Munich Conference, all in one source!
The Bell Tolls For War
http://www.idiotsguides.com/Chapters/0028627350_CIG_WW2/file.htm
Accessed 5/30/03
-Good information on Hitler and Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia.
Road To War
http://www.historyman.co.uk/road2war/
Accessed 6/3/03
-Here we found what we needed on the fear of communism in Britain and the rest of
Europe.