World War IIPart 1

Hitler’s Aggression and British Appeasement

Hitler’s Popularity

• He criticized the Treaty of Versailles from WWI for being unfair to Germans.

• March 1935 he says Germany will build a new air force and increase the army.

Hitler Does What He Wants

• 1936 Hitler orders troops into the Rhineland.

What is the Rhineland? A German territory west of the Rhine

River along the French border.

France Gets Scared

• France doesn’t feel safe with the German military so close but can’t act without British help.

The British Don’t Want a Fight

• The British choose appeasement instead of force to deal with Germany’s actions.

A. What is Appeasement?

• The idea that if you give into another government’s demands, you can avoid war and keep peace.

Hitler Continues to Get What He Wants

Hitler gains an ally in Italy’s Benito Mussolini

Hitler takes over Austria because it’s a German speaking nation

Hitler wants the Sudetenland

Sudetenland- an area in western Czechoslovakia where many German people live

Compromise???

• At the Munich Conference in September 1938 Britain and France agreed to allow Hitler to take the Sudetenland.

• Hitler, in turn, promised not to expand Germany’s territory any more.

Chamberlain Declares Peace

• British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returns from the Munich Conference and declares “Peace in Our Time”

Surprise, Surprise Hitler Lied

• In March 1939, German forces take over Czechoslovakia.

• Hitler then demands control of Danzig, a German city inside Polish territory.

Adolph Hitler: “Poland, Nazi-Germany demands

the city of Danzig!”

Great Britain: “Poland, if Hitler’s Germany invades there will be

WAR!!!”