Long-Term Factors
The Treaty of Versailles 1919
• War Guilt Clause – Germany to accept blame
for WWI
• Reparations – Germany had to pay 63 billion
in damages (768 billion today)
• Disarmament – Germany only allowed to have
a small army and six naval ships (No tanks, no
air force and no submarines, the Rhineland
area de-militarized)
• Territorial Clauses – Land was taken away from
Germany and given to other countries. Union
with Austria was forbidden.
Other Long-Term Factors
• Discontent about Treaty of Versailles: German
people unhappy and thought treaty to be too
harsh
• Economic instability throughout Europe: an
economic crisis went through Europe during
the 1920s, Germany could not afford to pay
reparations
• Rise of totalitarian governments/police states
that existed in Russia, Germany, and Italy:
Government not able to fix social problems,
and with out a history of democracy Dictators
will emerge
League of Nations
 an international organization headquartered in
Geneva, Switzerland - established at the Treaty of
Versailles
 created after the First World War to provide a
forum for resolving international disputes
 proposed by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson in his
Fourteen Points speech
• Key Nations who were not members
– United States: refused to join to remain neutral
– Germany: not allowed to join because of war
guilt clause
– Soviet Union: not allowed to join because of
communist government
League of Nations
• What can they do?
– Verbal sanctions: issue warning
– Economic sanctions: trade restrictions
– Physical sanctions: military force
• Britain and France only countries with military
might - could not provide backing to the League
• both hurt financially and strength-wise from
WWI
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: September 1931 Nation: Japan
• Action: Invasion of Manchuria
• Reaction: Lytton Commission issued, Japan
withdrew from the League and created
international isolation
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: October 1935
Nation: Italy
• Action: Invasion of Ethiopia
• Reaction: League of Nations looks away,
removes sanctions placed
on Italy and recognizes their
control of Ethiopia
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: April 1936
Nation: Spain
• Action: Civil War began
• Reaction: Germany and Italy sent aide to the
Nationalist lead by Francisco Franco. Hitler and
Mussolini meet for the first time.
• Date: May 1936
Nation: Germany
• Action: Occupied the Rhineland
• Reaction: Western Europe adopted policy of
appeasement, felt a stronger Germany could help
repel the spread of communism
Occupation of Rhineland
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: July 1937
Nation: Japan
• Action: second Sino-Japanese War (rape of Nanjing,
China)
• Reaction: violated U.S. Open Door policy which held
that all nations should be able to trade freely in
China. U.S. placed Economic Sanctions on Japan.
• Date: March 1938 Nation: Germany
• Action: annexed Austria (Anschluss)
• Reaction: Hitler assured he may continue his
expansion without confrontation of Britain and
France because of appeasement
Second Sino-Japanese War
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: September 1938
Nation: Germany
• Action: took the Sudetenland
• Reaction: Hitler defended lebensraum, Chamberlin
maintained appeasement, the Munich Pact was
signed. Gave Hitler the Sudetenland but he agreed not
to invade Czechoslovakia
• Date: March 1939 Nation: Germany
• Action: Seizes Czechoslovakia violating the Munich
Agreement
• Reaction: Britain and France issue a warning that if
Germany invade Poland they would declare war.
Response to Munich Pact
• Neville Chamberlain announced that the
settlement meant “peace for our time”
• Winston Churchill's remark "You were given
the choice between war and dishonor. You
chose dishonor and you will have war."
Invasion of the Sudetenland
Partition of Czechoslovakia
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: April 1, 1939
Nation: Spain
• Action: the end of the Civil War
• Reaction: Francisco Franco became dictator of
Spain
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: April 7-12, 1939 Nation: Italy
• Action: invaded Albania
• Reaction: Economic sanctions given by the League
on Albania. Mussolini declared the Italian Empire
as emerging. Albania left the League (Italy left in
1937)
Immediate Factors to War
• Date: September 1939 Nation: Germany
• Action: Invaded Poland
• Reaction: Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland,
Britain & France
declared war on
Germany to begin
WWII.
U.S. declared
neutrality.
Invasion of Poland
Appeasement
• historian Paul Kennedy defined as “the policy of
settling international quarrels by admitting and
satisfying grievances through rational
negotiation and compromise, thereby avoiding
the resort to an armed conflict which would be
expensive, bloody, and possibly dangerous.”
• In summary, the term means the act of giving
something to an aggressive power to keep the
peace
Cause of Appeasement
• events occurred only a few years after
WWI
• misplaced sympathy over the harsh
peace terms of 1919
• felt better with a stronger Germany to
repel communism
• U.S. would not make a stand because of
strict Neutrality Act, 1935
Allowed Hitler to…
• implement his policy of increasing Living
Space (lebensraum) and Greater
Germany
• backed up these moves with the policy of
self-determination, claiming that he was
only occupying German lands
Non-Aggression Pact
•
•
•
•
signed in August 1939 by Hitler and Stalin
agreed not to invade one another
Hitler did not want to fight a two front war
Stalin did not trust Hitler, but did want to buy
Soviet Union more time to build up their army
Failure of Appeasement
• world community ignored the problem
hoping it would go away
• As a result
– Hitler felt he could ignore Britain
– betrayed Prime Minister Chamberlin
– invaded Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich
Pact and idea of German self-determination
• eventually leads to war