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Japan invades Manchuria for its’ resources—LoN protests

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Japan invades Manchuria for its’ resources—LoN protests

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Japan withdraws from LoN, no consequences

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Japan withdraws from LoN, no consequences

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Germany begins to rearm under Hitler’s leadership violating ToV

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Germany begins to rearm under Hitler’s leadership

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U.S. gov’t passes the Neutrality Acts—banned loans and sale of arms to nations at war

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U.S. gov’t passes the Neutrality Acts—banned loans and sale of arms to nations at war

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Italy invades Ethiopia seeking revenge

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By WEBB MILLER, United Press Staff Correspondent

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Hitler remilitarizes the Rhineland—buffer zone on German-French border

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On March 7, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent over 20,000 troops back into the Rhineland, an area that was supposed to remain a demilitarized zone according to the Treaty of Versailles. The area known as the Rhineland was a strip of German land that borders France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. This area was deemed a demilitarized zone to increase the security of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands against future German aggression. This area of Germany was also important for coal, steel, and iron production. Back in 1935, Adolf Hitler took over control of the Saar region, which was also taken away from Germany in the Treaty of Versailles to reduce the industrial capabilities of Germany. When Great Britain and France did nothing in reaction to this, Adolf Hitler was emboldened to reoccupy the Rhineland and reunify Germany. In May 1935, France and the USSR signed a treaty of friendship and mutual support. Hitler resented this and argued that it was a hostile move against Germany, and the area of the Rhineland could in turn be used by France to invade Germany. Hitler used this as an excuse to send German military forces into the Rhineland. This move was the first of many direct violations of the Treaty of Versailles by Adolf Hitler. Again, like with the Saar region, Great Britain and France did nothing substantial in reaction to this break of the treaty. Due in part to this lack of reaction, Adolf Hitler would begin to take over other lands throughout Western Europe.

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Hitler Reoccupies the Rhineland - Ohio History Connection

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On March 7, 1936, Adolf Hitler sent over 20,000 troops back into the Rhineland, an area that was supposed to remain a demilitarized zone according to the Treaty of Versailles. The area known as the Rhineland was a strip of German land that borders France, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

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Spanish Civil War begins—Hitler and Mussolini send troops to help Francisco Franco and the Nationalists

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THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (1936-1939) – The Nation in Its Labyrinth: An Introduction to Contemporary Spain since 1898

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Germany, Italy, and Japan begin to create the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis become known as the Axis Powers

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Japan invades China—Rape of Nanking takes place—Japanese treat Chinese brutally—rape over 20,000 women

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Japan invades China. | World War 2 Facts

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The Second Sino-Japanese War war ignited from a conflict between Chinese and Japanese troops for control of Chinese mainland. The Second Sino-Japanese War was

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Hitler again violates the ToV by creating Anschluss—union between Germany and Austria, he annexes Austria

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The Anschluss ('fusion') of 12 March 1938 was the annexation and formal union of Austria with Germany. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the Nazi leader of Germany, dreamed of an empire which enclosed all German speakers, his 'Greater Germany'. Hitler's military invasion met no resistance or meaningful response from foreign powers, and so Austria was absorbed into the Third Reich.

Many in Austria were sympathetic to the idea of joining Germany, but there were also those who knew their sovereignty would be lost for as long as Hitler was in power. Hitler was additionally attracted to occupying Austria since the Anschluss would give him access to new resources such as manpower for the military, raw materials, and a large quantity of cash and gold. The Austrian government was dissolved, and the very name Österreich (Austria's name in German) was banished from public use. The Nazis were not slow to begin imposing their ideology on Austrians and imprisoning those they identified as enemies. The union very swiftly became an occupation by a totalitarian regime.

Hitler had harboured ambitions to build a German empire or 'Greater Germany' ever since his book Mein Kampf (published in 1925), in which he described the need for Lebensraum (living space) for the German people - new lands where they could prosper. The Nazi party rose in popularity through the early 1930s, and Hitler was eventually invited to become chancellor in 1933. Quickly establishing a dictatorship through such measures as the Enabling Act, Hitler soon turned to an aggressive foreign policy that aimed to recover Germany's territorial losses following the Treaty of Versailles that had formally concluded the First World War (1914-18). Hitler had noted the lack of power of the League of Nations in the early 1930s. The League, formed after WWI with the goal of keeping world peace, had failed to act meaningfully to Japan's invasion of Chinese Manchuria in 1931.

Possession of Austria would improve Germany's strategic position in Europe & allow a much easier invasion of neighbouring states.

Hitler gave world leaders mixed messages, insisting Germany should be allowed to rearm and break the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles on its military capabilities but, at the same time, promising his commitment to world peace. The treaty specifically forbade the union of Germany and Austria. Hitler stated in 1934 that he had no intention of merging Austria into the Third Reich as his new German state was now called. Domestically, Hitler's policies were clearer. He had consistently promised the German people that he would reverse the points of the Treaty of Versailles - points which he felt were holding Germany back from achieving its full potential. The first practical step came with a plebiscite in the coal-rich Saar region, once part of western Germany but governed by the League of Nations since the end of WWI. In March 1935, the voters decided overwhelmingly to rejoin Germany. Hitler announced conscription in Germany in 1935 and began rearmament in earnest. The League of Nations was again shown to be impotent to acts of aggression when Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935. No doubt, Hitler once again took note.

In March 1936, German armed forces occupied the Rhineland, an industrialised area between Germany and France which the Treaty of Versailles had stipulated should not have any military presence. The League offered no response to the reoccupation, which was, after all, only Germany 'taking control of its own back garden', a phrase coined by the British Times newspaper. Hitler had been prepared to withdraw his troops at the first sign of resistance, but the bluff had worked. In October 1936, the Spanish Civil War broke out, with both Italy and Germany directly involved and glad to test out their new military hardware. From July 1937, China was at war with Japan. In this background of international turmoil, Hitler felt the time was right to further expand the Third Reich by absorbing Austria, the country of his birth, into the growing state of Greater Germany.

Why Austria was Attractive to Hitler

The Anschluss, which translates as 'fusion', was, for the Nazis at least, an inevitable part of their plans for the domination of Europe, a plan which began by pulling all the German speakers into one state. Austria had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, but this had been broken up after WWI. In the interwar years, Austria had a population of 6.7 million and covered 84,000 square kilometres (32,400 square miles). Austrians mostly spoke German, and there were many points of culture, politics, and history common to that of Germany.

Thanks to rearmament, Germany had achieved near-full employment by 1938. Hitler had fulfilled his promise to the German people, but Germany's new war machine came at a cost. Rearming necessitated huge imports of raw materials, and these could not be bought for much longer as Germany's balance of payments was soon to go into the negative. Occupying territories where these resources could be found seemed a simple solution to the problem. Crucially, Germany had an arms advantage over its enemies, but this situation would not last long. A union with Austria would immediately give Hitler access to raw materials, increase Germany's overall energy and industrial production, and tap into a huge reserve of potential soldiers. In addition, possession of Austria would improve Germany's strategic defences in Europe and allow a much easier invasion of other neighbours, particularly in the Balkans and Czechoslovakia. Naturally, there were many in Austria who wished to preserve their independence, but Hitler was determined to use force, if necessary, to push through his plan of unification.

The Failed Coup

The 1938 Anschluss was actually Hitler's second attempt to unify Germany and Austria. Four years before, he had tried and failed to grab his southern neighbour. When Hitler had gained power in 1933 and then established himself as a dictator, sympathetic Austrian Nazis began to plan for a coup d'etat in Austria in February 1934. In the spring of 1934, pro-Nazis were tasked with causing trouble for the Austrian regime by blowing up train lines and government buildings, and attacking government officials. Weapons and explosives were supplied by Germany. Austria had been beset by a long line of weak coalition governments as no single party was able to dominate the political stage. Underground groups like the German Brotherhood worked for unification with Germany and were appalled at the growing dominance of the increasingly autocratic chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss (1892-1934). Dollfuss was pro-Italy and anti-Germany in his politics; he banned the Nazi party (and any other party besides his own) in Austria in June 1934. On 25 July, Dollfuss was gravely wounded in a Nazi attack in his office. The attackers were members of a special branch of German-organized SS stormtroopers dressed in Austrian army and police uniforms. Dollfuss died a few hours later having bled to death because his attackers refused to allow him medical treatment. This political assassination became known as the Dollfuss Affair.

The reaction of the world powers to the Anschluss was muted, most governments preferring to voice no more than a dissatisfaction with Hitler's methods.

In August, a new Chancellor of Austria was appointed, Kurt von Schuschnigg (1897-1977). It was Schuschnigg, with the backing of the Austrian military, who had ensured the German-backed putsch (takeover) had failed. The fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), also contributed to the coup's failure. Mussolini had his own ambitions for Austrian territory and did not support Germany's plans for a takeover. After the assassination of Dollfuss, Mussolini moved four divisions of Italian troops to the Italy-Austria border, ready to honour a treaty between the two states that called for mutual protection if one was the victim of outside aggression. Dollfuss had particularly cultivated relations with Mussolini and even drawn up a new fascist constitution in 1934, but the chancellor had at the same time gained enemies for his authoritarian approach to government. Then the governments of Italy and France made a joint declaration that they supported Austrian independence. The last straw was the fact that Dollfuss' wife and children were guests of Mussolini when the chancellor had been shot. 13 of the putsch ringleaders were caught and hanged. Hitler decided to distance himself from these unsavoury events and to prudently wait for a better opportunity to take over Austria. Hitler publicly declared on 21 March 1935 that "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria or to conclude an Anschluss" (Shirer, 296). The same month, Hitler formally repudiated the Treaty of Versailles. Foreign powers did not quite know what to make of Germany's foreign policy, if indeed it had a coherent one at all. Many leaders and diplomats, eager to avoid the horrors of another world war, were prepared to give Hitler the benefit of the doubt and listen only to his more peaceful overtures.

The Second Attempt at a Coup

Back in Austria, Schuschnigg tried to ward off Hitler's unwanted attentions over the next couple of years by giving Germany certain concessions, although he also introduced compulsory military service in April 1936. The German-Austrian agreement of 11 July 1936 promised that Austria would remain independent, but the country must follow a foreign policy that was in line with Hitler's, and (more secretly) all Nazi political prisoners must be given an amnesty. Then in October, Hitler pulled away from Austria the crucial support of Mussolini. Germany and Italy became formal allies with the Rome-Berlin Axis. In November 1936, Italy and Germany (and later Japan) signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, a treaty of mutual cooperation in empire-building and a united front against communism. According to Albert Speer (1905-1981), Hitler's chief architect and future armaments minister, "For years to come he [Hitler] would recall how magnanimously Mussolini had given his consent to the invasion of Austria. He would remain eternally grateful to the Duce for that, Hitler said" (Speer, 167).

Hitler met Schuschnigg in person in Germany on 12 February 1938 and now insisted that Nazis be permitted to hold positions of power in the Austrian government. Hitler warned Schuschnigg that the international community would not side with Austria in the case of a German invasion. Schuschnigg, still hoping a policy of appeasement might maintain Austria's independence, agreed in February 1938 to appoint the Austrian Nazi Arthur von Seyss-Inquart (1892-1946) as the minister of the interior, which meant he was effectively in charge of state security. Schuschnigg was also to appoint the pro-Nazi Edmund Glaise-Horstenau (1882-1946) as minister of war.

Schuschnigg tried to strengthen his government and position with Hitler by calling a referendum on the idea of the Anschluss with Germany. The vote was planned for 13 March 1938. Schuschnigg announced the referendum on 9 March. Hitler, shocked at this development and worried that the plebiscite would reveal a no vote to a union, had to act fast. As he had in 1934, Hitler first ordered Austrian Nazis to create as much trouble as possible for the Schuschnigg government. The idea was to create such civil unrest that Germany could justify an occupation of Austria as the only way order and public safety could be guaranteed. The German army, in Operation Otto, was then partially mobilised, and troops entered Austria on 12 March, the pretext being a fictitious telegram from a local official calling for urgent help to restore public order. The German forces crossed the border above Linz and moved eastwards to Vienna. The Austrian government, realising it could not win an armed contest (Austria had neither modern tanks nor planes) and wary that a sizeable portion of the population was, in any case, in favour of unification, capitulated. Radio broadcasts urged Austrians not to resist the invasion.

Pro-Nazis ensured that Hitler was given a welcome of cheering crowds when he toured Linz on the afternoon of 12 March, a scene repeated in Vienna on 14 March. Some historians have suggested that Hitler was surprised by the positive crowds and this made him determined to fully absorb Austria into a Greater Germany rather than settle for a mere Nazi puppet government. However, secret orders to the German generals may indicate Hitler planned a full occupation all along, perhaps from Schuschnigg's announcement of a plebiscite or quite possibly even earlier. Certainly, he had repeatedly threatened Schuschnigg with Germany's military capabilities. Whatever the real plans, Hitler, and not for the first time, had combined preparation with spontaneous decision-making in reaction to the moves of his enemies. And once again, largely using bluff and without significant violence, the Nazi dictator had acquired a vast new slice of territory.

From Union to Occupation

Although welcomed by half of the Austrian population (since Germany was prosperous and Hitler seemed to be going places), the Anschluss became a terrible reality for many. Schuschnigg was obliged to resign. Seyss-Inquart, who had briefly been chancellor in the few days before the Anschluss, now took over the role of president from Wilhelm Miklas (1872-1956). The unification of Germany and Austria became enshrined in a law passed on 13 March. Internally, Austria was reorganised along German lines with Nazi regional governors or Gauleiters. Seyss-Inquart added to his titles by becoming Reich governor of Austria and head of what was now a provincial government within the Reich. Austria sent 73 representatives to the German parliament in Berlin. Josef Bürckel (1895-1944), as 'Reich Commissioner for the reunification of Austria and the German Reich', was in charge of overseeing the details of the Anschluss.

Ultimately, 100,000 German troops were stationed in Austria. From 14 March, Austrian armed forces members had to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler. Eventually, the Austrian army was assimilated into the German army. On 17 March, Austrian civil servants also had to swear an oath of loyalty to Hitler. Those Austrians who were against the union had no means to protest other than to leave, which tens of thousands did. With the German army came more sinister Nazi elements such as the Gestapo (secret police) and the SS paramilitary group who repressed resistance groups (although not always successfully). Those found guilty of expressing anti-Nazi sentiments were arrested and sent to concentration camps in Germany. Soon Austria had its own concentration camp, located at Mauthausen near Linz. Deportations involved as many as 70,000 Austrians. As in other places, the Nazis were keen to achieve a veneer of popular endorsement. In a rigged plebiscite in Austria on 10 April, 99.08% of the voters endorsed the Anschluss (a similar figure was produced in a German plebiscite). In short, Austria was no more.

Bürckel, as Hitler's personal representative, had absolute power in Austria, now called Ostmark (meaning 'Eastern Borderland'). The old name Österreich was banished from public use. Ostmark, like Germany, was now part of a totalitarian regime, with Hitler as its indisputable head. Meanwhile, lesser Nazis were already busy emptying Austrian banks of their foreign currency reserves. The Austrian Federal Bank's reserve of 1,368 million Reichsmarks was gratefully poured into the relatively empty coffers of the German Reich Bank, which then had a mere 76 million Reichsmarks. Austrian raw materials like iron ore, oil, and magnesite were transported to factories in Germany. The next phase of the occupation was the dissemination of Nazi propaganda and the rounding up of those people identified as enemies of the Reich, notably the Jews (as loosely identified by the 1935 Nuremberg Laws). Jews were strongly encouraged to leave - the wealthy had their assets confiscated, a policy which paid for the tickets of those who could not afford them. By the end of 1939, 60% of the (at least) 150,000 Jewish people in Austria before the Anschluss had left the country. Those who remained faced the increasingly violent methods the Nazis employed to eliminate Jews and other 'undesirables' from the Reich, methods which culminated in the 'Final Solution', the Holocaust where millions were killed in death camps.

Aftermath

The reaction of the world powers to the Anschluss was muted, most governments preferring to voice no more than a dissatisfaction with Hitler's methods while recognising the overwhelming popularity of the move as indicated by the plebiscites. Meanwhile, Hitler marched on into other parts of Europe. In the Munich Agreement of September 1938, Germany was permitted to keep the Sudetenland, the industrialised region of Czechoslovakia Hitler wished to occupy - the excuse being a German minority there was being repressed. The Munich Agreement was signed between Germany, France, Italy, and Britain, and it accepted Germany's new, expanded borders. Peace was not to last. In March 1939, German soldiers marched into the rest of Czechoslovakia. In April, Mussolini occupied Albania. In August, Germany and the USSR signed a military alliance, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ( Nazi-Soviet Pact). Then, at last, Hitler's invasion of Poland in September 1939 brought a formal declaration of war from Britain and France. 18 months after unification, Austrians found themselves involved in a world war that many considered against their own interests.

Schuschnigg, who had been imprisoned and moved to a Nazi concentration camp, survived until his release by the Allies at the close of the Second World War (1939-45). Seyss-Inquart, who had become Nazi governor of the occupied Netherlands, was tried at the post-war Nuremberg Trials, found guilty of crimes against humanity and hanged. Bürckel died of natural causes in 1944. Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker in April 1945. In 1943, the Allies formally recognised Austria as being the first victim nation of Hitler's empire-building. Accordingly, after the Allied victory in the war in 1945, Austria was removed from the defunct Reich, and its sovereignty was restored.

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The Anschluss ('fusion') of 12 March 1938 was the annexation and formal union of Austria with Germany. Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the Nazi leader of Germany, dreamed of an empire which enclosed all German...

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Munich Conference, Hitler demands the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia—France and Britain give into Germany to preserve peace—they give him the Sudetenland (Stalin upset)

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When Germany, France, Britain and Italy signed the Munich Agreement in the early hours of September 30, 1938, the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, where mostly ethnic Germans lived along the Czech borders. The treaty also enabled Germany to take over Czechoslovakia, which they did officially on March 15, 1939. Notably, Czechoslovakia was not represented at the conference that decided that country's fate. The agreement is viewed in hindsight as a failed attempt to avoid war with Nazi Germany.

The Sudeten Germans speak out

After World War I, borders had been drawn within the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, and these borders had triggered resentment and local conflicts. The German minority in post-World War I Czechoslovakia had yearned to become independent, not satisfied with its status in Czechoslovakia between the wars. When Germany annexed the Sudetenland, the majority of the 3.5 million Germans living there were ecstatic. By 1935 Konrad Henlein, a Sudeten German himself had built his pro-Nazi Sudetenland German Party (SDP) into the second largest political party in Czechoslovakia. Much friction evolved between the government and the party when the Czechoslovak administration blatantly refused to give the Sudetenland autonomy, one of its demands in the Carlsbad Program. In 1938, Adolf Hitler supported the Sudeten Germans' desire to build a close relationship with Germany. Hitler aspired to aid the Sudeten Germans and destroy Czechoslovakia.

Pressure from Britain, France, and Germany

While France and the USA were set on avoiding war, Britain supported the Sudeten Germans' plight. Czechoslovakia relied heavily on support from Britain and France, but they did not receive any. On the contrary, Britain and France pressured Czechoslovakia to yield to the Sudeten Germans' demands. However, the Czechoslovak government was not to be swayed. Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš even mobilized the army. Because the Germans wanted the Western Powers to abandon the Czechs, they had fictitious accounts of Czechs abusing Germans published in the press that August, the same month that Germany placed 750,000 soldiers along the Czechoslovak border.

Compromise and a resounding "no"

President Beneš realized that he had to compromise. He gave in to the Fourth Plan, which enforced almost all the German demands. But the Sudeten Germans would not give an inch, backing Hitler when he claimed that the Czechoslovak government wanted to exterminate all Sudetens. The German-speaking minority held demonstrations that the police had to break up. When British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, intent on avoiding war, met with Hitler, the Reich leader did not budge. Rather, he insisted that the Sudetenland become part of Germany. In the end, France and Britain gave the Czechoslovaks an ultimatum: cede all the territories with a German population of 50 percent or higher to the Reich in return for the security of knowing Czechoslovakia would remain independent. Czechoslovakia replied with a resounding "no."

More demands from Hitler

Finally, on September 21, Czechoslovakia agreed to the demands promoted by Britain, France, and Germany. A few days earlier, the leader of the Italian National Fascist Party Benito Mussolini had lent his support to Nazi Germany. Yet Hitler made more demands, this time concentrating on the ethnic Germans in Poland and Hungary. When Chamberlain met Hitler in Germany again, Hitler did not mince words. He wanted to destroy Czechoslovakia and the Czechs. Later, though, Hitler agreed to annex only the Sudetenland and not to trespass into any other realms if Czechoslovakia started to evacuate its German speakers by October 1.

Signing the Munich Agreement

The Czechoslovaks wanted to go down fighting and mobilized the army. A quarter of a million dissatisfied Czechs rallied in front of Prague's Rudolfinum concert hall, where high-ranking Communist official Klement Gottwald addressed them. France also began to mobilize its troops in the event of what looked like an impending war. President Beneš refused to instigate a war without the Western Powers backing him up. Although Hitler had demanded that Czechoslovakia cede the Sudetenland by September 28 or war would break out, the Munich Agreement was not signed until 1:30 a.m. on September 30, though it was dated September 29. The signatories were Hitler, Britain's Chamberlain, France's Prime Minister Édouard Daladier, and Italy's Mussolini. The Sudetenland would join the Reich by October 10, and the fate of other territories would be decided by an international commission. Britain and France put their foot down and told Czechoslovakia that they would have to fight Germany alone or act according to the Munich Agreement.

Consequences of the Munich Agreement: Czechoslovakia ceased to exist

By December of 1938, the Sudetenland was the most pro-Nazi region in the Reich as half a million Sudeten Germans had taken membership in the Nazi Party. Daladier was convinced that the agreement would not appease the Nazis and that disaster was yet to come while Chamberlain thought there was cause for celebration, mistakenly convinced that he had achieved peace. The day after the agreement was signed Germany took over the Sudetenland. The Czechoslovaks did not retaliate. On March 15, 1939, Hitler occupied Bohemia and Moravia, and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Slovakia had become an autonomous Nazi puppet state a day earlier. Many Sudeten Germans acquired jobs in the Protectorate or as Gestapo agents because they were fluent in Czech. Northern Ruthenia, hoping for independence, was taken over by Hungary.

More consequences of the agreement

Dismayed by the betrayal of his Western allies, President Beneš resigned on October 5, 1939, and soon fled to London, where he set up a government-in-exile. In the First Vienna Award of November 1938, Germany and Italy made Czechoslovakia hand over southern Slovakia and southern Ruthenia to Hungary while Poland took over the town of Český Těšín and the surroundings as well as two regions of northern Slovakia.

Refugees, Karel Čapek, and more

Not every German was enthusiastic about living in the Reich, however. Before the Occupation, approximately 30,000 Germans and 115,000 Czechs fled to the interior of Czechoslovakia. When well-renowned writer Karel Čapek, who fervently supported democratic ideals, died on December 25, 1938, Prague's National Theatre refused to raise a black flag in his honor. After the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created, the Communist Party was banned and stripped of its property. Communists were expelled from Parliament, too. The Liberated Theatre, which performed anti-fascist productions courtesy of the ingenious duo of actors Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich, was shut down.

War erupts

After Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, Chamberlain declared war on the Nazis. World War II had begun. It is noteworthy that Britain and France entered the war over Danzig. One could argue that it made more sense to depend on an independent nation like Czechoslovakia than to deny Germany a corridor to East Prussia. Perhaps they realized that Hitler would stop at nothing.

The Beneš decrees

After the war, Czechoslovak President Beneš enforced his so-called Beneš decrees, which declared that Germans, Hungarians, traitors, and collaborators living in the Czech lands and Slovakia would have to give up their Czechoslovak citizenship and their property without compensation. Furthermore, approximately three million ethnic Germans and Hungarians were expelled from the country from 1945 to 1947. Some 19,000 Germans met their deaths in the process of moving, and another 6,000 were murdered. The controversial Beneš decrees are still in force today, causing much tension within the Czech Republic and abroad. Read more about the Benes decrees.

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September 30, 1938: The Munich Agreement

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When Germany, France, Britain and Italy signed the Munich Agreement in the early hours of September 30, 1938, the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, where mostly ethnic Germans lived along the Czech borders. The treaty also enabled Germany to take over Czechoslovakia, which they did officially on March 15, 1939.

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Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia—West does nothing

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Hitler and Stalin sign a Nonaggression Pact—publicly pledge to never attack each other

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The Nonaggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was one of the most important treaties signed in Europe during World War II. The pact was also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact after Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, was signed in August 1939.
Historically, the German Empire had sought to expand its borders in Eastern Europe into Russian and other territories held by the Soviet Union in order to gain land and resources to sustain its growing industrial power. However, with rising tensions between the Soviet Union and fascist Italy as well as Britain prior to World War II, both saw potential benefits in a nonaggression pact that would prevent any future wars or military disputes between them.

Why did Germany Want a Pact with the Soviets?

Germany sought the agreement for several reasons. First, it allowed them to turn their attention away from Russia and towards Poland - a move that eventually led to the German occupation of much of Eastern Europe.

Secondly, it provided Germany with assurances that Stalin's communist government to the east would not intervene if Hitler attacked Poland, thus ensuring that Hitler could take full control of Poland without fear of outside forces intervening.

What was in it for the Soviets?

The Soviet Union agreed to the Nonaggression Pact for a number of reasons. The pact provided them with the diplomatic assurance that Nazi Germany would not attack and invade Soviet territories. This would afford a degree of security for the Soviet Union in the midst of rising tensions between both Italy and Britain in Europe.

This was particularly important as Russia had just emerged from its own civil war and was still rebuilding its infrastructure at the time.

Secondly, Stalin saw potential advantages in forming an alliance with Germany rather than being left to fend off possible European aggression alone.

Finally, Stalin believed that it would be beneficial if both nations maintained a strictly neutral stance towards each other - allowing them to trade resources without any fear of military interference.

What were the Effects of the Nonaggression Pact?

The effects of the agreement were far-reaching; it effectively dictated Germany's foreign policy for several years until Adolf Hitler famously broke it by invading the Soviet Union in 1941.

It enabled Nazi Germany to establish many of its puppet states in occupied areas throughout Eastern Europe without fear of interference from the Soviets.

This ultimately meant that when Operation Barbarossa (Germany's invasion of the Soviets) did come around, there were no allies or buffer states on which Stalin could rely - allowing Nazi troops to sweep through Eastern European countries with ease until they reached Moscow itself.

The Nonaggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union set a dramatic precedent that reverberates even today - as nations seek diplomatic agreements in order to avoid war and achieve their own strategic objectives on the international stage.

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What Was Behind the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact? | Teach 'n Thrive

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The Nonaggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union was one of the most important treaties signed in Europe during World War II. The pact...