KQ3: Why had international peace collapsed by 1939?

• peace treaties left nations dissatisfied with what they had lost or gained
• Germany was most dissatisifed overall with the Treaty of Versailles
• it led to the rise of Hitler and other militaristic leaders as people turned to extreme parties who would reverse the treaties
• Hitler's aggressive demands e.g. desire for lebensraum (living space) threatened war in Europe
• Britain and France used appeasement in order to preserve peace
• overall: the peace treaties led to extremist parties getting into power who had aggressive foreign policies which led to war

• left Disarmament Conference in 1933 and quit the League of Nations
• January 1935, people of Saar voted to rejoin Germany
• March 1935 Hitler announced Germany had an airforce and conscription
• June 1935, Anglo-German Naval Treaty signed - Germany could rebuild it's navy to 35% of Britain's navy
• March 1936, remilitarisation of the Rhineland, Rome-Berlin Axis signed with Italy and Anti-Comintern Pacts signed with Italy and Japan - Germany developing friendships with other extremist and militaristic countries

• step one of Hitler's foreign policy: Austria
• attempted coup by Nazis in 1934 - Austrian Chancellor Dolfuss was murdered and the coup failed as Mussolini wouldn't support it
• January 1938 Austrian police discovered Nazi plot to take over the government
• Schuschnigg (Chancellor of Austria) tried to appease Hitler by agreeing Nazis to join his government - hoped to preserve independence
• Schuschnigg announced a plebiscite allowing Austrians to vote on whether to remain independent or not
• Hitler was worried about the plebiscite and so invaded in March 1938
• April 1938 the Austrians voted over 99% to approve Anschluss (union of Austria with Germany)

• border between Germany and Czechoslovakia is the Sudetenland - over 3 million Germans live there and Hitler demanded it be given to Germany
• without the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia would be defenceless
• 1938, Chamberlain met Hitler to give him Sudetenland if done peacefully
• a week later, they met again and Hitler demanded the Sudetenland much sooner than was agreed, if not then there would be war
• 29th September 1938: Munich Conference where Chamberlain, Hitler, Daladier and Mussolini met to give Hitler what he demanded and the Czechs weren't allowed to join in the meeting - they were forced to agree
• Hitler and Chamberlain signed a treaty and it was 'peace for out time'
• March 1939, Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia
• it was clear that appeasement had failed
• Britain promised Poland that if Hitler invaded, then Britain would guarantee its independence

• in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had lost the Polish Corridor and Danzig - Hitler wanted these back
• Hitler and Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact in August 1939 where they would split up Poland between them which was devastating for Poland
• Hitler could now invade Poland without the interference of the Great Powers - Britain and France were too far away to intervene
• Hitler invaded Poland on 1st September 1939
• Britain and France were forced to declare war two days later
• Britain had guaranteed Poland its independence but this did not save Poland - within three weeks, it ceased to exist
• Britain had to declare war to remain a powerful country - if it did not stick to its word, then no other nation would take Britain seriously

For

• treaty was harsh on Germany - people had sympathy for Germany
• it avoided war - memories of WW1 were fresh and no one wanted war again
• at the time the threat of communism was more obvious than Hitler
• Britain wasn't ready to fight - appeasement gave Britain time to rearm

Against

• it was morally wrong and other countries were destroyed e.g. Czechoslovakia
• appeasers misjudged Hitler and thought he was a rational human being
• it meant that the appeasers missed excellent chances to stop Hitler
• it didn't work - it just meant that Hitler kept demanding more