Tension in Europe in the 1930s

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Military Ambitions Threatened Peace in the 1930s

The military ambitions of leaders in Germany, Italy and Japan in the 1930s posed a threat to international peace.

Germany

Hitler offered solutions to the German people, including rearmament, an end to the Versailles treaty, and state control of industry.
The German public responded well to Hitler's aggressive foreign policy because:
- Resentment was still held by some in the wake of WWI. Ebert and the others who had signed the Treaty of Versailles were still called the 'November Criminals'.
- The Great Depression caused rates of unemployment and poverty to boom.

Italy

Mussolini took control over industry and banks.
In late 1934, Mussolini used an attack on Italian troops at Wal-Wal, 50 miles inside Ethiopia, as an excuse to invade. France and Britain had troops in the area to assist the Abyssinians but chose not to intervene.
- Instead, they negotiated the secret Hoare-Laval Pact, giving Italy two-thirds of the country in exchange for support against Hitler. The plan was leaked and caused huge reputational damage to the League of Nations.
Mussolini ignored the planned agreement and supported Hitler, signing an alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis.

Japan

In 1931, Japanese soldiers disguised as Chinese staged an attack on a Chinese border.
- Used as an excuse to seize Manchuria, a fertile area in north-east China, good for farming.
China went to the League of Nations for help, but the investigating delegation took a year to report and only condemned the Japanese when it did.
The League did not have the military strength to threaten Japan.
Instead, the Japanese moved further into China, and in March 1933 Japan resigned from the League.

Appeasement of Hitler

Over the course of the 1930s, Hitler kept pushing his luck and the response was to appease him in the hope that he eventually became satisfied with his territorial gains.

Remilitarisation of the Rhineland

Hitler used the confusion of the Manchurian crisis to re-militarise the Rhineland. No one stopped him from stationing troops there and the German soldiers just marched in.
- This was one of many examples of appeasement during the period, when democratic countries and members of the League of Nations failed to challenge dictators.

Violated treaties

Hitler bombed the Spanish city of Guernica in April 1937 as a way to test carpet bombing tactics. In March 1938, Hitler violated the Treaty of Versailles by uniting Germany and Austria in the Anschluss.
Politicians like Neville Chamberlain appeased Hitler because they were scared of starting another war and hoped that he would eventually be satisfied with his territorial gains.

Czechoslovakia

After Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, the Munich Peace Conference was organised in September 1938 to negotiate the response.
Originally, Hitler had demanded only part of the Sudetenland, but by the end of the conference he had pushed for the entire region, to which Britain and France reluctantly agreed.
And so, the Munich Agreement stated that Germany could have the Sudetenland but provided Czechoslovakia with the guarantee that the rest of its land would be safe.

Perspectives on the Munich Agreement

Chamberlain thought that the conference had been successful in preventing a war from breaking out. The British public also believed that the negotiations had gone well.
However, Czechoslovakia and the USSR weren't happy because neither was invited to attend.

1Key Topics

1.1Conflict & Cooperation 1918-1939

1.1.1The Treaty of Versailles

1.1.2The Terms of Versailles 1

1.1.3The Terms of Versailles 2

1.1.4Versailles & the League of Nations

1.1.5LoN Successes & Failures

1.1.6LoN Failure - Upper Silesia

1.1.7LoN Failure - Corfu & Washington

1.1.8End of Topic Test - Treaties and Agreements

1.1.9The Great Depression

1.1.10Tension in Europe in the 1930s

1.1.11WWII & Failure of the League of Nations

1.1.12End of Topic Test - Tension in the 1930s

1.1.13Grade 9 - Conflict & Cooperation

1.2The Cold War 1945-c.1989

1.2.1Emerging US-Soviet Rivalry

1.2.2Communism in the 20th Century

1.2.3The Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan

1.2.4East-West Alliances

1.2.5Berlin Crises

1.2.6The End of the Berlin Wall

1.2.7End of Topic Test - East & West

1.2.8Build-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.9The Cuban Missile Crisis

1.2.10Cold War Conflict - Vietnam

1.2.11Cold War Conflict - Afghanistan

1.2.12End of Topic Test - The Cold War 1945-1989

1.2.13Grade 9 - The Cold War

1.3From the End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.1Reagan & Gorbachev

1.3.2Consequences of the Soviet War in Afghanistan

1.3.3End of Topic Test - End of the Cold War to 9/11

1.3.4Grade 9 - The End of the Cold War

2Changing Interpretations

2.1Changing Interpretations

2.1.1Appeasement

2.1.2The Responsibility for Cold War Tensions

2.1.3End of Topic Test - Appeasement

2.1.4Grade 9 - Changing Interpretations

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