Hitler

What led to the rise of Hitler

Weakness of Weimar Government

-Opposed by the Left When Weimar Government was first set up, first thing it did was to sign treaty of versallies. People were unhappy because they believed they have not lost thewar. German army leaders told citizens that they could have won, but Weimar officials backstabbed them, signing the armistice. However, their claim was not true, as Turkey and Bulgaria were ready to stop fighting, leaving Germany s south open to attack. Since 1915, British naval blockade of Germany s ports had prevented food and raw materials from reaching Germany. With no food and raw materials, they had to sign the TOV.

-Opposed by the Right Communists in Germany wanted to establish a Communist government. One group was the Spartacists, which took part in several revolutions in cities such as Berlin, Munich and Kiel. However, they were opposed by anti Communists, the Freikorps, resulting in many battles.

Hitler s abilities Excellent Speaker and Charismatic Leader -Hitler became the leader of the German Worker s Party soon after joining it in 1920. He was a charismatic leader and people would listen to him talk for several hours. He promised to bring back order to Germany and make it great again. Hitler was arrested in 1923 and tried for overthrowing the government. But the speech he made to the judge made them feel sympathetic towards him ,giving him only a 5 year jail term, and after 9 months, he was released on parole. =

Reorganized the Nazi Party After being jailed, Hitler realised that he could not take power by force. He decided to use legal means. He concentrated his efforts on reorganizing the party to win through elections. Between 1924-1929, 2 elections were held and they won only 3 percent in the 1924 election and 2.6 in the 1928 election. Exploited fear of Communism 1929, great depression occurred. Many Germans suffered and were unsupportive of Weimar Government, leading to people willing the accept extremist politicians which would give them a better life. Nazi Party and Communists became popular. He then said that communists were only interested in creating disorder and starting a revolution in Germany, and only Nazi Party can provide order and prevent a communist state. Nazis also told rich people that communists were going to steal the money away, and only the Nazis could prevent it. The rich people then gave financial support to Nazis, which built an army called stormtroopers, a 400000 men army. Skilful at making deals with politicians In 1928 elections Nazis won less than 3% of votes. In 1932 elections, they won over 37% of votes, the party with most seats in the government. He refused to join any coalitions, unless the became Chancellor. Von Papen suggested that Hitler be Chancellor, and he as vice chancellor can control him. But he failed. Within months of coming to power, Hitler ended Weimar Germany and started the third empire.

War in Europe Why was peace threatened in 1930s Hitler s foreign policy aims To make germany Strong again by breaking TOV The terms of TOV made sure Germany was weak to be unable to attack other countries. It took away Germanys land, and Hitler wanted to make the military strong again, and take back all the land Germany lost. To get more land for Germany Hitler wanted the land of all German-speaking countries like Austria to come under Germany as Greater Germany. He felt that Germanys growing population needed more room to live and grow food. He called this lebensraum. Fight Communism Hitler made a war with Communist Russia likely, as they wanted the land of Russia, believing that they can put it to better use than them. He also wanted to destroy communism, believing that if he did not, Communism would destroy Germany. Hitler s actions Rearmament Hitler needed a bigger army to go to war. In 193, a disarmament conference was held by LON. Purpose was to strengthen the commitments in TOV. France refused to disarm. Hitler said that he would only disarm if there was international disarmament. He wanted military equality, so he pulled out of the conference and the League. Then he announced that the army would be increased from 100000 to 300000. In 1935, he increased the army to 550000. Compulsary military service was also re-introduced in 1935 for male citizens. Remilitarisation of Rhineland Hitler placed troops in Rhineland which was supposed to be demilitarised. Some terms of TOV was constructed to prevent germany to attack france. If troops were placed in Rhineland, allied troops would reoccupy it. However, Hitler placed troops in Rhineland and told them not to retreat unless being fired at.

Failure of LON Italian Aggression in Abyssinia Benito Mussolini was the dictator of Italy. He wanted to conquer Abyssinia, as he wanted to revenge the humiliating defeat they suffered in the past, as well as the natural resources. In 1934, he planned to invade Abyssinia. The king of Abyssinia then asked the LON for help. LON met up, and took a long time to decide on banning imports of rubber and metal to Italy, and took a longer time to decide f it should ban the export of oil. British and France foreign minister held secret talks, and agreed to giving 2/3 of Abyssinia to Italy if they agreed to withdraw. Members of LON put their own interests first British and French governments were caught in an embarrassing bind because they felt they needed Italy to counter the grave menace posed by Nazi Germany. At the same time, they were members of LON. Mussolini was angry with Britain and France for giving up the plans of giving him Abyssinia. He became closed to Hitler as Hitler supported him during the Abyssinia crisis. Rome-Berlin Axis was formed, officially indicating that germany and Italy would work together. The battle lines were divided into 2 groups that strongly hated each other, the Axis countries and allied countries. LON could not make countries give up their weapons LON tried to encourage countries to disarm, but failed. Countries like france did not feel safe from Germany, so it wanted to be sure it could protect itself from another German attack, resulting in them not giving up the weapons. TOV said that if countries do not disarm to Germany s level, then Germany could build the army to their level. However, no one wanted to disarm to Germany s level. Economic Problems By 1930, great depression had started, causing all countries to suffer serious economic problems like unemployment. Economic troubles also encouraged many governments to use protectionism, which caused a trade war to break out. Many countries tried to sell more of their goods overseas cheaper than the local goods in that country. At the same time, they country tried to prevent foreign goods from being sold in their country, raising tariffs on foreign goods. The tariffs then made foreign goods more expensive than local goods. LON tried to hold a conference to stop countries from increasing tariffs but it failed. As the countries believed each country had to protect their own interests first. The trade war increased worldwide unemployment. Many countries then used rearmament to create jobs. Governments build many factories that made war-related goods. The factories could employ millions of workers, but also meant more weapons were being created, leading to war.

War in Asia-Pacific region

Why peace was threatened. Japan s foreign policy aims between 1931-1941 To build an empire in the asia pacific region Japan wanted an empire that matched its status as the leading country in the region. The army called for expansion into areas that belonged to Russia and China. Navy called for expansion into British Malaya, French Indochina and Dutch East Indies. To free Asians from western control Japan felt that Asia should be freed from western control, and it was the only country capable of doing it, being the strongest military power in Asia. They felt that they would lead the fight to end Western Imperialism. Find room for Japan s growing population Japan s population grew from 30 million in 1870 to 70 million in 1937. The rapid increase in population created a big problem as there was not enough land to house the people, as japan was a mountainous area with little flat land. The crops grown by farmers were also not enough to feed the people. To control resources Great Depression affected Japan s economy badly. Its industries needed cheap suppliers of natural resources and markets to sell its goods. Manchuria looked like the perfect solution to the Japanese, as they could provide them with: -cheap labour new overseas market raw materials like coal and iron.

Japan s military aggression Growing influence in Manchuria and mainland China Port Arthur was the first part of Manchuria to come under Japanese control. Japan won control of Port Arthur from the Russians after the russo-japanese war. They also inherited the south Manchurian railway, which allowed them special privileges to build houses, factories, railways and develop mines.

Mukden Incident In 1928, a train carrying Zhang Zuo-Lin, the Manchurian Warlord, was bombed while he was on his way to Mukden. This was done by the officers of the Japanese Army, hoping that the government in Tokyo would take control of Manchuria. However, it failed as they did not do so. However, the officers responsible for the bombing escaped punishment. This resulted in long-term consequences. First, it showed that the armed forces in Japan could act without orders from the central government. Second, Zhang Zuo-Lin s son, Zhang Xue-Liang took over him and opposed Japanese ambitions in Manchuria even more vigorously. As a result of Zhang Xue Liang s actions, the army leaders were more worried that they were losing control of situations in Manchuria. On 18 September 1931, a train carrying Japanese passengers were bombed, and the Japanese army accused the Chinese of doing so and invaded Manchuria. Marco Polo Bridge Incident On 7 July 1937, the full scale war between China and Japan started due to a Japanese soldier being missing during a regular patrol. The Japanese Army demanded to check the Chinese area for him, but they refused. Both sides exchanged fire. In the end, the missing soldier showed up, but the Japanese demanded the Chinese to withdraw from MarcoPoloBridge. Chinese refused, a futher exchange of gunfire between Chinese and Japanese troops carried on. Factors in causing MPB 1) The Japanese military felt that the Chinese had not put up much of a fight to defend the Northern Chinese provinces, thus thinking that they would not put up much of a fight for MPB. They also thought that it was the best time to invade China while their economy and military was still weak. 2) Japan feared a war on two fronts, with USSR and China. However with Stalin s purges of his officers and the growing military strength of Germany, Japan was confident that USSR would not attack Japan. 3)The Kwantung Army in Manchuria acted on their own again, and the Tokyo government felt that it was a humiliation if it retreated. Weakness of the LON League of Nations took a slow response to the crisis, and the leading members, Britain and France were so badly affected by the GD, so they were unwilling to send troops to Japan. They also put selfinterests first, with Britain and France more concerned with getting their economies to grow again. In 1932, Japan withdrew from the League after being criticised for invading Manchuria, but LON did nothing and Japan troops stayed on in Manchuria. This convinced Japan leaders that LON was too weak to stop them.

Why did war break out in the Asia-Pacific region? Japan s war against China Japan thought that the war in China would end quickly, but it dragged on for years, using up their resources like oil, rubber and tin. Without oil, ships, tanks and other vehicles would not be able to move. They had two choices, to invade British Malaya for their rubber, and to invade Dutch East Indies for the oil. Japan s neutrality agreement with USSR Both countries agreed not to attack each other, and Japan would not have to worry on fighting a war on two fronts. The threat was further reduced when Germany attacked USSR. War in Europe left Asian colonies undefended Events in Europe left Asian Colonies undefended, the British Malaya, Dutch East Indies were left undefended by the western powers, who had to fight for their own survival. This made invasion easy. Worsening relations between USA and Japan Throughout the 1930s, Japan thought USA was trying to stop their plan to control the Asia-Pacific region. USA had large reinforcements sent to Phillipines to defend them. Breakdown of USA-Japan talks in 1941 Last ditch attempts talks was held in 1941 to prevent war, but the two countries had too different aims to allow room for compromise. Hideki Tojo became PM Hideki Tojo became PM in 1941, and Tojo was a general which supported an aggressive foreign policy. With such a Prime Minister, war became more likely. Japan orders attack on Pearl Harbour On 2 December 1941, Japan ordered the attack on Pearl Harbour without notice. On 7 December 1941, the Japanese fleet arrived at pearl harbour and attacked without warning.