Upload
esther-montgomery
View
218
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Appeasement and the Road To War
The Anschluss 1938
Aims:
To identify why Austria was important to Germany.
To examine the events leading up to the Anschluss.
Europe 1938
Class Discussion
Why do you think union with
Austria was so important to
Hitler?
Hossbach Memorandum 1937
‘The aim of German policy was to
secure and preserve the racial
community and to enlarge it. It was
therefore a matter of space..’
‘Germany would always be faced by
two hate-inspired antagonists,
Britain and France’
Hossbach Memorandum 1937‘Germany’s problems could only be solved by means of force…’
‘Germany had to act before 1943 1945 or the other powers would catch up in the arms race, just as Germany’s weapons were becoming obsolete’
Hossbach Memorandum 1937
‘For the improvement of our politico-
military position our first objective, in
the event of our being embroiled in
war, must be to overthrow
Czechoslovakia and Austria
simultaneously in order to the remove
the threat in our flanks in any
possible operation against the west.’
Hossbach Memorandum 1937
‘Difficulties connected with the Empire, and the prospect of being once more entangled in a protracted European war, were decisive considerations for Britain against participation in a war with Germany…An attack by France without British support …was hardly probable’
Key Figures
Kurt von SchuschniggAustrian Chancellor
Neville ChamberlainBritish Prime Minister
Artur Seyess-InquartAustrian Nazi Party
The Anschluss – Timeline of Events
January 1938
Austrian police raid Austrian Nazi Headquarters
11th February 1938
Schuschnigg meets Hitler in Germany. Schuschnigg arranges plebiscite for 13th March.
The Anschluss – Timeline of Events11th March 1938
Czech government told
‘Czechoslovakia has nothing to fear from the Reich’.
Hitler demands cancellation of plebiscite. German troops are moved to the border. Schuschnigg resigns and is replaced by Seyss-Inquart who telegrams Germany for ‘help’.
The Anschluss – Timeline of Events
12th March 1938
German troops move into Austria.
13th March 1938
Hitler incorporates Austria into the Third Reich.
April 1938
Plebiscite held. 99.75% of Austrians voted for the Anschluss.
Consequences of the AnschlussGermany’s Position
• Strengthened – Hitler’s actions had again been unchallenged.
• Control of Austria’s iron and steel industries.• Now had the combined strength of the
German and Austrian armies.
Consequences of the AnschlussCzechoslovakia’s Position
* Now in a vulnerable position surrounded by the new ‘Greater Germany’
Consequences of the Anschluss
British Reaction
* Chamberlain – reproached Hitler for the Anschluss, but there was no use ‘crying over spilt milk’
• Chamberlain – ‘nothing short of an overwhelming show of force would have stopped it’
• Churchill – ‘ a programme of aggression, nicely calculated and timed’. This was a minority view
Consequences of the Anschluss
British Reaction
• Austria could not be defended due to its geographical position.
• Anschluss gave Germany what she had been denied by Treaty of Versailles.
• Appeared to be popular support in Austria for the Anschluss – welcome received by troops and result of plebisicite.