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Appeasement Before World War II - HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles, Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More

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HISTORY CRUNCH - History Articles, Biographies, Infographics, Resources and More

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The policy of appeasement that was carried out by Britain and France is often considered to be one of the main causes of World War II and began by Germany carrying out actions against the basic terms of the Treaty of Versailles that Germany was forced to accept at the end of World War I. For example, one of the first steps Germany took was to remilitarize the Rhineland. The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to keep the Rhineland (a region in Germany that bordered with France) free of any kind of military forces. However, on March 7th of 1936, Nazi Germany remilitarized the Rhineland under the direction of Adolf Hitler. France was angered by the move but lacked the ability to respond and did not have the support of Britain as Britain did not fully denounce the move. This lack of a response by both Britain and France to the remilitarization of the Rhineland only confirmed for Hitler that he would not be challenged as he expanded his aggression.

Next, Nazi Germany carried out the annexation of Austria in 1938. The Treaty of Versailles forbid Germany from uniting with Austria but Hitler, who was born in Austria, wanted to unite all Germany speaking people under his control. The German annexation of Austria was known as the Anschluss which was the Nazi German term for bringing together all German speaking people in the region. In order to conquer Austria, Hitler threatened invasion of the nation-state and forced the Austrian Chancellor to hand power of the country over to the Austrian Nazi Party. After obtaining power the Austrian Nazi's "invited" the German forces into the country and the annexation of Austria was complete. Britain and France protested the move by Germany but did not respond in any meaningful way, which furthered Hitler's belief that the Allied nations would not stop his aggression.

The policy of appeasement unfolded again with the German aggression towards Czechoslovakia in 1938. Czechoslovakia, as a country, was created after World War I and parts of it included German-speaking people, such as the Sudetenland. Again, Hitler pressured Europe with his military aggression in the goal of uniting all German-speaking peoples under the control of the Nazi's. A two-day conference in Munich was held in 1938 in which the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Germany met to discuss Germany's desire to take over the Sudeten region. The deal was an even bigger defeat for the Western powers, as they allowed Hitler with no resistance to take over the Sudeten region. As well, the outcome of the conference angered Czechoslovakia as they were not allowed to represent themselves and their interests at the time. Western powers had pledged to protect Czechoslovakia, but failed to follow through and left the meeting relying on Hitler's written promise that Germany will not seek any more territory in Europe. The Munich Conference was an embarrassment for Neville Chamberlin, who returned to Britain and announced that he had helped ensure "Peace in our time" while holding up the agreement signed by Hitler. For Hitler, the conference furthered his belief that the Western democracies were weak and that they would not act in the face of Nazi aggression. Germany soon took control over the remainder of Czechoslovakia through a series of invasions.

Next, German forces invaded Poland on September 1st, 1939 and used blitzkrieg tactics to conquer Poland. This action was what finally caused the Allied nations to stand up against Germany and Britain and France both declared war on Germany on the 3rd of September. Europe was again at war, only two decades after the end of the First World War.​

Once World War II was over, the policy of appeasement practiced before the war was criticized because it was thought that it directly helped Germany to strengthen its economy and military. Some historians have argued that if the British and French had acted earlier than the German invasion of Poland, then they may have been able to stop Hitler and the Nazi's and avoided the devastation of World War II. As such, many now look to the failure of appeasement as a reason to not use the same foreign policies in modern-day global conflicts. On the other hand, defenders of the policy argued that appeasement was a reasonable approach to avoid the bloodshed of global war and that Britain and France were faced with no other alternative since they lacked the military forces to properly confront Germany.

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Appeasement Before World War II - History and summary of appeasement before World War II. Includes details on Nazi Germany's rise to power and the following events related to appeasement: remilitarization of the Rhineland, buildup of the German army, anne

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Invasion of Poland 1939

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The invasion of Poland is seen as one of the most significant events of World War 2. Not only did this event signify the beginning of the World War 2 but it also started the most significant war in Modern history.

It began before Dawn on the 1st September as the German air force flew over Poland. Known as the Luftwaffe. They began a heavy bombardment across Poland with the main focus been strategic points of the county. It was just the beginning of what could be expected of the Blitzkrieg tactics made famous and used tactfully by the Nazi army throughout the war.

The Polish army were unprepared for these attacks and the army was divided into seven separate groups along its borders. With little else available the German army attacked Poland's western frontier as well as striking south from Pomerania and East Prussia.The scale of the attack from the Luftwaffe was severe and deadly to Poland. Within just two days the German air military had gained a stronghold of the air and controlled that space. The Polish defence was subsequently shattered and the groups were broken further.

The German army had a clear plan which involved a double pincer movement. The inner pincer targeted locations close to Warsaw whereas the Outer Pincer met at River Bug at Brest Litovsk some 100 miles East of the Polish capital.This movement and outer encirclement was completed on 14th September. Things continued to escalate and ultimately the fate of Warsaw and Poland was sealed three days later when the Red Army invaded from the East.

It wasn't until the 27th of September that Warsaw unwillingly surrendered to the Nazi army followed by Modlin commonly known as the fortress city. The Polish resistance continued until the 5th October where again they were overcome by the sheer force of the Nazi army in Kock; south east of Warsaw.

The invasion of Poland had a huge impact on the country as well as it's people. Families lost loved ones, individuals were separated and the whole country was now taken over by Hitler and the Nazi regime. Casualties were severe with over 66,000 Polish dead as part of the conflict with 200,000 wounded. Another telling figure from this attack was the amount of prisoners taken by the Nazi regime. It's estimated that nearly 700,000 were taken as prisoners of war as a result of the invasion.

On the other hand the German casualties were extremely small in relation to those of the Polish. It's estimated just 10,500 died in the conflict with 30,000 wounded.

This was seen as a victory for the German army however globally recognised as a huge tragedy and one of the many poignant moments of the second world war.

Timeline to the Beginning of the Invasion of Poland:

Below is a key timeline which shows the steps and dates leading up to the beginning of the war.

20th August: Polish Crisis Breaks out
23rd August: Britain warns Germany that they will honour and fulfil their agreement to protect Poland if they are attacked.
24th August: British Parliament Approves Emergency powers bill
25th August: Britain and Poland sign mutual assistance treaty
31st August: Hitler demands and orders the attack on Poland from the Nazi army.
2nd September: Allies of Poland in the shape of France and Britain issue final ultimatum to Nazi Germany.
3rd September: War is declared on Germany as they fail to comply with the ultimatum.

Source:
World At War - Robin Cross

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Link will appear as The Invasion Of Poland: https://worldwar2.org.uk - WorldWar2.org.uk, July 3, 2014

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The invasion of Poland is seen as one of the most significant events of World War 2. Not only did this event signify the beginning of the World War 2 but it also started the most significant war in Modern history. It began before Dawn on the 1st September as the German air force flew over Poland.

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The annexation of Austria 1939

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Nazi Parade in Austria, 1938.

On March 12, 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in what has popularly referred Anschluss. The idea of forming a "Greater Germany" by uniting Austria and Germany began immediately after the Unification of Germany in 1871. The unification had excluded German Austrians and Austria from the German Empire. Austria is a sovereign country in Central Europe divided into nine federated states. The land-locked country is bordered by Germany to the north. It is a predominately German-speaking country with the majority of the population communicating informally in several Bavarian dialects.

Historical Background of the Annexation

The ideal of all Germans forming one nation-state was floated in the 19th century, following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1809 and was debated until the fall of the German Confederation in 1866. Austria wanted the German states to unite under the leadership of German Austrian, which would have meant German states, as well as non-German regions of Austria, would have been part of the Greater Germany. After the end of World War I and the subsequent fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a new country called the Republic of German- Austria was formed comprising mainly of the German-speaking population within the fallen empire. The new country attempted to form a new union with Germany by the union was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Treaty of Saint Germain (1919)

Nazi Germany and Austria

When Nazi, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, rose to power in the Weimer Republic, the government of Austria withdrew economic ties. Austria became a great target for German capital investment. By 1937, German's interest in annexing Austria had increased. Austria was rich in labor and raw material and supplied its neighbors, especially Germany with resources such as magnesium, iron, and textile. In 1920, Hitler who was an Austrian German, and his National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) began demanding for the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany. The Nazi Party was determined to unite all the Germans including those who lived outside the German Reich.

The Annexation

The idea of Austria joining Germany had become popular and would have occurred through a democratic process had had the Austrian Nazi not begun a terrorist campaign. In early 1938, the Nazi Austrians conspired to forcefully seize the Austrian Government and unite Austria with Nazi Germany. When Kurt Von Schuschnigg (Austrian Chancellor) heard of the conspiracy, he reached out to Hitler with the hope of protecting his country's independence. Instead, he was forced into naming a cabinet that included Austrian Nazis On March 9, 1938, the chancellor called for a referendum to try and solve the annexation problem. However, the growing pressure from Hitler forced him to resign on March 11, before the vote. The following day (March 12), Hitler led his troops into Austria where he was received by a cheering crowd. He appointed a new Nazi government and proclaimed Anschluss on March 13 and Austria effectively became a federal state of Germany. The Anschluss was declared void after World War II and Austria was re-established as an independent state.

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3. What Was the Annexation of Austria?

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On March 12, 1938, Nazi Germany annexed Austria in what has popularly referred Anschluss. The idea of forming a "Greater Germany" by uniting Austria and Germany began immediately after the Unification of Germany in 1871. The unification had excluded German Austrians and Austria from the German Empire.

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The Munich Agreement and the destruction of Czechoslovakia - 1938

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MUNICH AGREEMENT 1938: What was the Munich Agreement? The Munich Agreement was an accord between Nazi Germany and the Western powers of France and the United Kingdom. The Agreement gave the green light to Germany to take over the borderlands of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland.

A map showing the location of the
Sudetenland in the 30s.
@ Munich Agreement 1938

Why did Germany want the Sudetenland?
Most of the region’s 3.5 million citizens were ethnic Germans – that is to say, they were German speakers who had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until its break up in World War One. Under orders from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, local branches of the Nazi Party had been stirring up support for unification with Germany.
This movement was known as the “Heim ins Reich” or “Home into the Empire” movement – ironic since the Sudetenland had never belonged to Germany in the first place. The Sudetenland was home to most of Czechoslovakia’s banking, industry, and power plants.
Much of the region was hilly, even mountainous, making it an ideal natural bulwark against any threat of invasion from Germany. The Czechoslovakian government had also heavily fortified the Sudetenland and the rest of the country was virtually defenceless without it. By getting the Western allies to give up of the Sudetenland, they were effectively giving Hitler de facto control of the whole country.

“Our enemies are small worms. I saw them in Munich.” - Adolf Hitler, on signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939

When and where did the Agreement take place?
The agreement was signed on September 19th, 1938 after a discussion called the “Munich Conference”. It took place the day before the signing of the pact in Hitler’s Munich headquarters, the Führerbau. The building is still used today as the Hochschule fur Musik (Music Collage).

At the Munich Agreement 1938. Pic: Wiki

Who was there?
Present at the signing were: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his aide Galeazzo Ciano. No Czechoslovakians were invited to discuss the future of their own country.

Sudetenland Germans removing the Czech
name from a sign in the disputed region.
@ Munich Agreement 1938

What happened after the pact was signed?
The Nazis took over the Sudetenland from October 1 to October 10 and put it under military administration. The region’s Jews started feeling the Nazi’s presence right away. Persecution began and synagogues were burned down during the Kristallnacht pogrom of November 9, 1938. The region became the most Nazi active area the Third Reich has ever had. At elections on December 4th, 97 per cent of voters chose the Nazi Party. The German Wehrmacht invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia on March 15th, 1938.
Czechoslovakian president Emil Hache was forced into a humiliating surrender. The Munich Agreement gave Hitler the impression that the Western powers were weak and would make large territorial concessions to Germany to avoid war. The Agreement paved the way for the Nazi warlord to invade Poland the following year and the outbreak of World War Two.

What were the reactions in….

...the United Kingdom?

Chamberlain was cheered by the British royal family and public, who wanted to avoid another war with Germany. But the British people quickly turned against him, and Chamberlain’s signing of the Munich Agreement has become known as the single biggest act of appeasement of the 20th century. Winston Churchill damned the Agreement, labelling it a “total and unmitigated defeat”.

….the USSR?
Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin crinkled his mighty eyebrow when he heard about the Agreement. Stalin saw it as an affront that he wasn’t invited to the meeting in Munich, as he had believed the Western Allies should have been working with Russia to stem the tide of Nazi expansionism. This led to Stalin turning against France and the United Kingdom and attempt to come to terms with Germany, in turn resulting in the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact of 1938.

….Czechoslovakia?
Although the ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland were extremely happy, everyone else in the country was shattered. The Czechoslovakian people must have felt that complete Nazi occupation was only days away, and they would have been right. Even today in Slovakia and the Czech Republic the Agreement is still sometimes known as the “Munich Betrayal”.

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Munich Agreement 1938 - an illustrated guide

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Munich Agreement 1938 - questions and answers about the Munich Agreement which led to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany. What was the Munich Agreement? The Munich Agreement was an accord between Nazi Germany and the Western powers of France and the United Kingdom.

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Black Thursday 1929

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stock market crash of 1929, a sharp decline in U.S. stock market values in 1929 that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Depression lasted approximately 10 years and affected both industrialized and nonindustrialized countries in many parts of the world.

During the mid- to late 1920s, the stock market in the United States underwent rapid expansion. It continued for the first six months following President Herbert Hoover's inauguration in January 1929. The prices of stocks soared to fantastic heights in the great "Hoover bull market," and the public, from banking and industrial magnates to chauffeurs and cooks, rushed to brokers to invest their liquid assets or their savings in securities, which they could sell at a profit. Billions of dollars were drawn from the banks into Wall Street for brokers' loans to carry margin accounts. The spectacles of the South Sea Bubble and the Mississippi Bubble had returned. People sold their Liberty Bonds and mortgaged their homes to pour their cash into the stock market. In the midsummer of 1929 some 300 million shares of stock were being carried on margin, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a peak of 381 points in September. Any warnings of the precarious foundations of this financial house of cards went unheeded.

Prices began to decline in September and early October, but speculation continued, fueled in many cases by individuals who had borrowed money to buy shares-a practice that could be sustained only as long as stock prices continued rising. On October 18 the market went into a free fall, and the wild rush to buy stocks gave way to an equally wild rush to sell. The first day of real panic, October 24, is known as Black Thursday; on that day a record 12.9 million shares were traded as investors rushed to salvage their losses. Still, the Dow closed down only six points after a number of major banks and investment companies bought up great blocks of stock in a successful effort to stem the panic that day. Their attempts, however, ultimately failed to shore up the market.

The panic began again on Black Monday (October 28), with the market closing down 12.8 percent. On Black Tuesday (October 29) more than 16 million shares were traded. The Dow lost another 12 percent and closed at 198-a drop of 183 points in less than two months. Prime securities tumbled like the issues of bogus gold mines. General Electric fell from 396 on September 3 to 210 on October 29. American Telephone and Telegraph dropped 100 points. DuPont fell from a summer high of 217 to 80, United States Steel from 261 to 166, Delaware and Hudson from 224 to 141, and Radio Corporation of America (RCA) common stock from 505 to 26. Political and financial leaders at first affected to treat the matter as a mere spasm in the market, vying with one another in reassuring statements. President Hoover and Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon led the way with optimistic predictions that business was "fundamentally sound" and that a great revival of prosperity was "just around the corner." Although the Dow nearly reached the 300 mark again in 1930, it sank rapidly in May 1930. Another 20 years would pass before the Dow regained enough momentum to surpass the 200-point level.

Many factors likely contributed to the collapse of the stock market. Among the more prominent causes were the period of rampant speculation (those who had bought stocks on margin not only lost the value of their investment, they also owed money to the entities that had granted the loans for the stock purchases), tightening of credit by the Federal Reserve (in August 1929 the discount rate was raised from 5 percent to 6 percent), the proliferation of holding companies and investment trusts (which tended to create debt), a multitude of large bank loans that could not be liquidated, and an economic recession that had begun earlier in the summer.

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Stock market crash of 1929 | Summary, Causes, & Facts

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Stock market crash of 1929, a sharp decline in U.S. stock market values in 1929 that contributed to the Great Depression of the 1930s, which lasted approximately 10 years and affected both industrialized and nonindustrialized countries in many parts of the world. Learn more about the crash in this article.

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Japan withdrew the League of Nations (1933)

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Locarno Treaties (1925)

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Pact of Locarno: Pact of Locarno, (Dec. 1, 1925), series of agreements whereby Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy mutually guaranteed peace in western Europe. The treaties were initialed at Locarno, Switz., on October 16 and signed in London on December 1.

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USA Isolation Policy (1921-1933)

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League of Nations and The Covenant (1920)

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The League of Nations - the first 'world organisation'

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Treaty of Versailles (1919)

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The Italian invasion of Abyssinia (1935)

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Manchuria China&Russia Trade Area, Manzhouli, Hulunbuir, China

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Manchuria China&Russia Trade Area, Manzhouli, Hulunbuir, China

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Manchuria China&Russia Trade Area, Manzhouli, Hulunbuir, China

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Japanese Invasion of Manchuria (1931)

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Civil War 1936-1939 (Franco)

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The general and dictator Francisco Franco (1892-1975) ruled over Spain from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when, with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic. Adopting the title of "El Caudillo" (The Leader), Franco persecuted political opponents, repressed the culture and language of Spain's Basque and Catalan regions, censured the media and otherwise exerted absolute control over the country. Some of these restrictions gradually eased as Franco got older, and upon his death the country transitioned to democracy.

Franco: The Early Years

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was born on December 4, 1892, in El Ferrol, a small coastal town on Spain's northwestern tip. Until age 12, Franco attended a private school run by a Catholic priest. He then entered a naval secondary school with the goal of following his father and grandfather into a sea-based military career. In 1907, however, the cash-strapped Spanish government temporarily suspended the admission of cadets into the Naval Academy. As a result, Franco enrolled at the Infantry Academy in Toledo, graduating three years later with below-average grades.

Did you know? During World War II, Spanish leader Franco wrote a semi-autobiographical novel called "Raza," which was later turned into a film. Using the pseudonym Jaime de Andrade, Franco portrayed a family that strongly resembled his own, including a hero who valiantly fought against bloodthirsty Republicans.

After a brief posting back in El Ferrol, Franco volunteered to fight an insurgency in Spanish-controlled Morocco. He arrived in early 1912 and stayed there largely without break until 1926. Along the way, he survived a gunshot wound to the abdomen, received a number of merit promotions and awards, and took time out to marry Carmen Polo y Martínez Valdés, with whom he would have one daughter. At age 33 Franco became the youngest general in all of Europe. He was then chosen to direct the newly formed General Military Academy in Zaragoza.

Franco and the Second Republic

A military dictatorship embraced by King Alfonso XIII governed Spain from 1923 to 1930, but municipal elections held in April 1931 deposed the king and ushered in the so-called Second Republic. In the aftermath of the elections, winning Republican candidates passed measures that reduced the power and influence of the military, the Catholic Church, property-owning elites and other entrenched interests. Franco, a known authoritarian rightist, was reprimanded for criticizing the actions of those in charge and sent to an out-of-the-way post near El Ferrol. Moreover, his General Military Academy was shut down.

Nevertheless, Franco was brought back into the good graces of the government in 1933 when a center-right coalition won elections. The following year he deployed troops from Morocco to Asturias in northern Spain to suppress a leftist revolt, an action that left some 4,000 dead and tens of thousands imprisoned. Meanwhile, street violence, political killings and general disorder were ramping up on both the right and the left. In 1935 Franco became army chief of staff. When a leftist coalition won the next round of elections in February 1936, he and other military leaders began discussing a coup.

Franco and the Spanish Civil War

Banished to a remote post in the Canary Islands, Franco initially hesitated in his support of the military conspiracy. He became fully committed, however, following the assassination by police of radical monarchist José Calvo Sotelo. On July 18, 1936, military officers launched a multipronged uprising that put them in control of most of the western half of the country. Franco's role was to fly to Morocco and begin transporting troops to the mainland. He also made contacts with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, securing arms and other assistance that would continue throughout the duration of what became known as the Spanish Civil War (1936-39).

Within a few months, Franco was named head of the rebel Nationalist government and commander-in-chief (generalísimo) of the armed forces. He unified a base of support by securing the backing of the Catholic Church, combining the fascist and monarchist political parties, and dissolving all other political parties. Meanwhile, on the way north, his men-who included fascist militia groups-machine-gunned hundreds or perhaps thousands of Republicans in the town of Badajoz. An additional tens of thousands of political prisoners would be executed by Nationalists later on in the fighting. The internally divided Republicans, who murdered their own share of political opponents, could not stop the slow Nationalist advance despite support from the Soviet Union and International Brigades. German and Italian bombardments helped the Nationalists conquer Basque lands and Asturias in 1937. Barcelona, the heart of Republican resistance, fell in January 1939, and Madrid surrendered that March, effectively ending the conflict.

Life Under Franco

Many Republican figures fled the country in the wake of the civil war, and military tribunals were set up to try those who remained. These tribunals sent thousands more Spaniards to their death, and Franco himself admitted in the mid-1940s that he had 26,000 political prisoners under lock and key. The Franco regime also essentially made Catholicism the only tolerated religion, banned the Catalan and Basque languages outside the home, forbade Catalan and Basque names for newborns, barred labor unions, promoted economic self-sufficiency policies and created a vast secret police network to spy on citizens.

Though he sympathized with the Axis powers, Franco largely stayed out of World War II (1939-45) but did send nearly 50,000 volunteers to fight alongside the Germans on the Soviet front. Franco also opened his ports to German submarines and invaded the internationally administered city of Tangier in Morocco. Following the war, Spain faced diplomatic and economic isolation, but that began to thaw as the Cold War heated up. In 1953 Spain allowed the United States to construct three air bases and a naval base on its soil in return for military and economic aid.

As Franco aged, he increasingly avoided daily political affairs, preferring instead to hunt and fish. At the same time, police controls and press censorship began to relax, strikes and protests became more commonplace, some free-market reforms were introduced, tourism increased and Morocco gained its independence. Franco died on November 20, 1975, after suffering a series of heart attacks. At his funeral, many mourners raised their arm in a fascist salute.

Life After Franco

Back in 1947 Franco had declared that a king would succeed him, and in 1969 he handpicked Prince Juan Carlos, the grandson of King Alfonso XIII, for the role. Though Juan Carlos had spent a good deal of time alongside Franco and publicly supported the regime, he pressed for change immediately upon taking the throne, including the legalization of political parties. The first post-Franco elections were held in June 1977, and, except for an 18-hour-long coup attempt in 1981, Spain has remained democratic ever since.

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Francisco Franco (1892-1975) ruled Spain as a military dictator from 1939 until his death. He rose to power during the bloody Spanish Civil War when his Nationalist forces overthrew the democratically elected Second Republic. Adopting the title of "El Caudillo" (The Leader), Franco persecuted political opponents and censured the media, among other abuses.

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Bolshevics Revolution (1917)

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Creation of Fascism (Mussolini 1922)

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The Treaty of Versaille